Altered Pocket Calendar

Sorry this picture is so blurry.  I loaded all the pictures before we left for Florida, but didn't check to see if they turned out or not!  Camryn is still sick, so while everyone else is at the pool, I thought I could get in a quick post while I am home with her.

I recovered this pocket calendar for my grandmother for Christmas.  These are so cheap and easy to redo.  You can usually find them for $1 at the Dollar Store, but they usually have a cheesy picture on them.  I used my Petals and Prints (retired) DP paper from SU!, along with the coordinating stamp set.  I wanted something bright and fun for her and thought this stamp set and paper were perfect.  Thanks for looking and I hope you are all enjoying your holiday.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Petals & Paisley

Ink:  Old Olive, Pretty In Pink, Taken With Teal

Paper:  Petals & Paisley DP paper, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories:  Olive double-stitch ribbon (Michael's), Pink bling flowers from Target $1 spot

We Made It & A Doodle Wallet

We finally made it to Florida yesterday.  Two days, driving to Florida with 2 kids.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  Emerson did really well.....as long as the DVD player on!  Camryn did really well, except for the last 30 minutes.  She just cried and cried.  I think they were both just ready to get out of the car.  I'm just glad we got out of Michigan before all the storms came through.  My brother-in-laws and their wives are also coming down to Florida.  One couple arrived today but had several delays at O'Hare in Chicago.  Hopefully the other couple doesn't experience the same delays with the weather.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff!  I bought these Doodle Wallet project from SU! back while I was on bed rest.  I wasn't able to cut anything with my cutter while in bed, so I needed something that was pre-cut and this project perfect.  I started these while I was on bed rest and believe it or not, just finished some up!  They are so cute.  You can pull out the solid pieces of card stock and put pictures on the front and back.  If you flip over the envelopes, you can journal on the black portion of the paper.  I decided to leave my wallets blank and let the grandparents put in their favorite pictures of the kids.  (Actually, it was because I ran out of time, but they don't need to know that!!!)

Thanks for looking.  I hope everyone enjoys their holiday and will be back with another project on Wednesday.  I'm looking forward to going to the pool tomorrow!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Doodle This

Paper:  Marigold Morning, Old Olive, Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink:  Rose Red, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Marigold Morning

Accessories:  Black brads, black grosgrain ribbon, circle punch, 1/16" handheld punch

Paper Piecing

This is going to be a short post. Not much stamping has been done lately, or any packing for Florida. Emerson has a double middle ear infection and pink eye, all due from the nasty chest cold that she has had for over 5 weeks! Lucky me also has the chest cold. Last night, Camryn woke up in the middle of the night and threw up and now has a cough. Nothing like trying to pack your family for a 3-week trip and everyone is sick!


I finally tried the paper piecing technique a few weeks back. I had admired the cards on Charmaine's blog, but just never tried it myself. I liked how it turned out. Thanks for looking!



Supplies:
Stamps: You Take the Cake (MFT)
Paper: SU!'s Garden Green, Basic Black, Whisper White; Basic Grey's Pheobe Paper
Ink: Black StazOn, Blush Blossom, Summer Sun (for the candles)
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, White Organdy Ribbon

Magnetic Coaster Calendars

We were supposed to leave on our trip to Florida today, but that didn't happen. I've been soooo sick with a sinus infection. I took Emerson to the doctor on Monday, and she was diagnosed with pink eye and a double middle ear infection! YIKES! Hopefully that will be the end of the cold that she has had for the last 5 weeks! Now Camryn is starting to cough at night. Poor thing...it just brakes my heart when babies are sick. They can't tell you a thing...but their eyes say it all. We are planning on leaving tomorrow morning, so there won't be any posts for a couple of days while we travel. (yes, we're driving with two kids to Florida from Michigan....and yes, we're nuts!)

Okay, on to the good stuff! I made these two magnetic coaster calendars for my grandmothers for Christmas. I made some other goodies, but as you would know, I forgot to take pictures of them. Oops! I got the calendars from my local art & crafts store and the coasters from Emily when she was doing her coaster share.

Supplies:
Paper: SU!'s Petals and Paisely, other DP from Hobby Lobby (forgot the name!)
Ink: Old Olive (sponged around sides of coaster)
Accessories: Olive Double-stitched ribbon from JoAnne's and Blue Bayou double-stitched ribbon, calendars, coasters, round magnets

You Rock!

With life being so crazy lately, Sunday's seem to be my only time to stamp. Last Sunday, I was in the craft room most of the day.......if only every day could be like that! As most of you probably agree, stamping is my therapy. It brings me that inner peace that is often lacking throughout the week with the hustle and bustle of working, having a 3 year old and 6 month old and everything else that life brings. When I am in my craft room, I am in my own little world.

Anyway, I ordered several more Bella's a while back, but haven't had a chance to get them out and play until now. I was rockin' to music from Gina's blog, and so I decided to get out my Rockabella and play! I needed some funky paper for the background so I used this pattern from the All Dressed Up stack from DCWV. I got a little punch happy with my ticket corner punch, I know, but all-in-all, I like how it turned out. Thanks for stopping!

(Now that I have loaded my picture, I see that it's a little blurry. Someday I'll work on that. I figure I can spend time figuring out the camera and lighting or I could stamp.....hmmmm....I think I'll choose stamp!)

Supplies:
Stamps: Rockabella (Stamping Bella), Small Oval (A Muse)
Paper: SU!’s Basic Black, Whisper White, Pink Passion, DCWV All Dressed Up
Ink: Black StazOn, Wild Wasabi, Buckaroo Blue (re-inker), Pink Passion, Close To Cocoa (marker), Blush Blossom (marker)

Accessories: Small & Large Oval Punches, Ticket Corner Punch, Aqua Painter, Blender Pens, Ribbon, Diamond Stickles

Altered Notepad & note cards

Here is a little notepad that I recovered for my Secret Santa that we did at work. She's a young gal, I think still in high school, so I thought this would be fun. I got the notepad at Target. It came in a package of two for $1.99. It came with the line green linen binding on it as well as the green elastic at the bottom to hold it closed. I covered it with paper from the Nana's Kids stack from DCWV. I printed "Notes" on Whisper White from my computer and punched it out with the small oval punch from SU. I added some white grosgrain ribbon to the top and added 2 bling flowers from Target's $1 spot.

I also made these cards to give her. Her name was Ellen and I already had this "e" stamp for Emerson so thought I would break it in. I used some linen note cards that I had and wrapped coordinating ribbon around the top. I hope she likes them!

Supplies:

Notepad: notepad from Target, paper: DP-DCWV Nana's Kids, whisper white, pink passion; white grosgrain ribbon, small & large oval punches, flowers from Target $1 spot.

Note cards: linen note cards, Stamp: A Muse; assorted ribbon

Christmas Cards

I finally finished my Christmas cards for this year. (I only started them in October!!) I struggled so much with my cards this year. I originally picked out a card to case from the current SU! catalog. I even ordered all the paper for the card but when it came down to do the card, I didn't like the colors together (cool caribbean, rose red & certainly celery). I even tried switching to a different layout and it still wasn't working for me. I had to take a couple of days to regroup and get those colors and layouts out of my head. I had to call for "backup" and have my neighbor come over and help me with some ideas. We came up with this card. I just love these colors together. I thought I would have just enough paper to do all the cards I needed, but I didn't! I ran out of white paper and blue bayou. I had enough bases made, but I didn't have enough paper to finish the tent part of the card. Since I wasn't ordering any more paper until the new quarter, I had to come up with Plan B.

I had some old pre-made white cards stashed away. I decided to cover the cards with pretty Christmas paper to jazz it up. I used some clear acrylic stamps that I got for $1 for the set. The snowman and sentiment both came in the set as well as 4 other stamps. Not bad for $1!

Thanks for looking!

Supplies:

(1st card)

Stamps: Sidekick Sayings

Paper: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Whisper White

Ink: Blue Bayou

Accessories: Blue Bayou Double Stitch ribbon, Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder, ticket corner punch, staple

(2nd card)

Stamps: Studio G clear acrylics $1

Paper: pre-made white cards, Christmas Stack (Hobby Lobby brand), Pixie Pink, Bashful Blue

Ink: Pixie Pink, Markers-Pixie Pink, Bashful Blue, Gable Green

Accessories: 1 1/4 & 1 3/8" circle punch, blue organdy ribbon, Marvy punches in jumbo oval, mega oval, giga scalloped oval

Time Spent With Friends

I finally had a chance to play with the free set that demonstrators got from SU! This will be a level 3 hostess set in the new catty coming out. I can't wait to see it in it's entirety! Since I am out of white paper (you are probably sick of me mentioning that! Sorry!) I had to come up with something using vanilla. It was harder for me that I thought since I always pull out the white when I go to work on a card. These colors were very earthy and I thought they looked good together.....Rose Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron & Very Vanilla.

I made this card for one of the ladies from our playgroup. We get together once a month, WITHOUT the kids and it's a chance for us ladies to have some adult time with food and drinks.....and I'm not talking about animal crackers and juice! I made a few other things to go in the gift basket, but you'll have to wait for another post to see them. (while we're in Florida, I won't be stamping (eeekkkk!), so I need to have some projects on reserve for you to see.)

Supplies:

Stamps: Time Well Spent

Paper: Rose Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Very Vanilla

Ink: Timber Brown StazOn, So Saffron, Markers-Old Olive, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: blender pen (for the So Saffron), Coluzzle, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Vanilla eyelets, Cuttlebug embossing folder in D'vine Swirls, corner rounder punch

And the winner is.....

Cheryl KVD!

Here was Cheryl's comment:
I totally agree with you about blogging! I got addicted in May of this year!! It is so much fun to have so many cyber friends!! My favorite tradition is to open gifts one at a time. For my family of 17, it takes several hours to open gifts, but that way everyone can see what everyone got! Thanks!


Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:5
Timestamp: 2007-12-10 13:27:16 UTC

Thanks to those of you who played. It was fun to read everyone's Christmas traditions.

Holy Cow!

I was about 40 away from 1000 hits when I posted the candy on Friday. (see post below) I thought it would take me a week or two to hit the 1000 mark, but I've surpassed it! WOW! I didn't realize that there were that many people out there reading this. I will keep the goodies open until midnight tonight (Sunday) and draw a winner Monday morning. Be sure to check back to see if you've won. Thanks for stopping by....it makes me happy to share my crafts with others.

Almost 1000 hits!

Well, we are almost at 1000 hits so I think that means it's time to celebrate! (Even though half of those hits are probably me & my friends & family!!) So, here is just a small thank you for coming to visit me. I started this blog to mainly share with my friends and family what I enjoy doing. Can you believe that I had never surfed a blog before I went on bedrest last winter? Now I am 100% addicted!

What you are playing for.........over 30 assorted 6x6 pieces of DP, a alterable 3.5x3.5 frame, over 5 yards of assorted ribbon and 4 flowers. (As I said, it's just a small thank you. I'm just a hobby demonstrator and don't make any money, but wanted to show my appreciation for stopping by.) If you are interested in winning this candy, please leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite Christmas tradition is. My favorite would be when I was younger, I would always get to open a gift on Christmas Eve, which was a new pair of pajamas. I would wear them that night and have new pajamas on for pictures on Christmas morning. Now I have carried that tradition on with my family. This year I have matching pajamas for the girls!

We leave for Florida on the 20th, so if we get to 100o hits before then, I will draw a winner. If not, continue to leave comments and I will draw a winner when we return (Jan. 7th). Thanks for playing and I look forward to reading all of your traditions.

Merry Christmas

Need to get into the holiday spirit?? Have I got the thing for you!
This was too hilarious not to show you all! I hope you enjoy it! Click here.

~Kelley

Food for Thought.....literally.

I know this is supposed to be my craft blog, but cooking is just another kind of craft, right? I've been busy in the kitchen the last couple of days pureeing up food for the girls. Formula and baby food prices have been rising and I am just getting sick of paying the prices. Formula cans went up almost $6 per can (depends on where you shop) to over $26 per can! I couldn't believe it! To save 50% per can, I switched to the off-brand. I talked to the pediatrician and she said that there isn't any difference. They are all approved by the FDA, so I wouldn't be doing Camryn any harm by giving her the off-brand. (Whew! Good to hear!)

So with Emerson always being a finicky eater (when she was born, she only ate every 6 hours! Scary at first and hard to get over what "normal babies do", but kinda nice. It was nice to run errands and not have to feed every 2 hours). Anyways, I saw Jessica Seinfeld on Oprah a few months back when she was talking about her cookbook Deceptively Delicious. I was hooked! I am not a good (healthy) eater myself (I have a texture problem with food), so I thought this book would be good for me and my kids. (My husband will eat anything that is edible, even the healthy stuff!) So I've been busy pureeing squash, potatoes, bananas, pears and today, broccoli. In the cookbook, there is a recipe for Chicken Nuggets using pureed broccoli. So I cut my broccoli into little florets and steamed them according to the directions. Then I tossed them into the blender to puree them. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time feeding something to my child (let alone me eating it) when it smells like fresh cut grass! I was just gagging! I put the lid back on and continued, but I just couldn't do it! I think I'll stick to the aforementioned veggies and fruits and stay away from the green stuff!

It's not always a better deal (money-wise) pureeing your own food. You are giving your kids healthier food and saving the environment (less plastic packaging, etc.), but sometimes it costs you more money. I bought 3 pears (1.69 lbs) for $2.52. Once steamed and pureed, those 3 pears filled 4 of the Stage 1 plastic rectangle food containers. When purchasing pears from the store, you get 2 rectangle containers per package which costs $0.92 each at my store. So that's $1.84 for the same amount that I paid $2.52 for, plus my time and energy to steam and puree the food.

Now, when I pureed butternut squash and a golden Yukon potato (I mixed the two together in the blender) it cost me $2.58 for the two. After steaming and pureeing them, I got about 4-4 1/2 cups of the squash/potato mixture, which equals about 8-9 rectangle baby food containers, which would have cost $3.68 for 8 containers. So in this case it WAS worth it to puree the food. I can also use this mixture to mix in with macaroni and cheese and hide the vegetables from Emerson (and me!)

No time for stamping as now I have to go and clean my kitchen! Thanks for listening!

Baby Announcements - Finished!

I finally finished up with the baby announcements that I was working on. (see earlier post) Since I am only a hobby demonstrator, I have to space out my orders so I can make sure that I have enough to meet my quotas every quarter. Saying that, I have absolutely no white paper left and am running out of many other staple colors that I use. So, I had to be crafty and do a card that I wasn't using too many layers on and had to use colors that I had. I was only able to make 10 cards for my friend....because I ran out of Whisper White paper! Have I said yet that I've run out of white paper???

Supplies:
Paper: SU! Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Groovy Guava, Barely Banana, Cool Caribben, Blush Blossom & Whisper White
Stamps: SU! Bundle of Joy, Punchy Words & Scalloped Frames and Doodles-GinaK Designs
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip, StazOn Timber Brown, Craft White
Accessories: Cuttlebug Spots & Dot Embossing Folder, Paper Piercer, Crop-A-Dile, Corner Rounder Punch, Word Window Punch, Marvy Uchida Giga Scalloped Circle Punch & Mega Circle Punch, Brown Watercolor Pencil, gamsol, blending stump, ribbon (from JoAnn's)

Photo Tile

I decided to be brave and finally try these photo tiles that everyone is doing. I suppose they turned out okay, but I'm picky and I can do better! There are 101 different way to do these tiles. I absolutely loved these tiles, but mine didn't out nearly as cute! I followed the tutorial from SCS . I didn't like this method as my tissue paper kept getting wrinkled. I've also read of where people use vellum paper (upside down) as well as regular copy paper. I'll have to give both of those methods a try next time. Thanks for looking!

Where's Emerson?

I have to share a funny story with you. This afternoon, Emerson was having quiet time in her room and Camryn fell asleep in her bouncy seat in the craft room. I decided to catch up on my email while bouncing Camryn. Camryn woke up and it was time for her bottle. I walked out of the office/craft room and the rug in the front entryway was rolled up. Nothing new...Emerson likes to pull my rugs all over the house so I didn't think anything of it. I stepped on the rug to get to the kitchen and there was something in the rug. I thought maybe Emerson has wrapped up her dolls or something inside of the rug. I was holding Camryn so I tried to unroll the rug with my feet, ya know, kinda kicking at the roll so it would unwind. All of a sudden, as I am kicking at the rug, I see a piece of Emerson's hair come out at the top of the roll! Emerson was in the rug!! I get down to help unroll the rug and there she is rubbing her eyes and her cheeks were all rosy. I asked her what she was doing. "Taking a nap, Mama." Yes, my daughter who has this beautiful bedroom and comfy bed, chose to roll herself up in a rug and take a nap!! I have no idea how long she had been in there, as I thought she was in her room with the door closed. It couldn't have been more than 30 minutes, but still! I felt horrible that I know she was in there. Just thought I would share the excitement we get daily from having a 3 year old.

NOTE: This picture is a reenactment. I couldn't let this experience go undocumented so I had Emerson "show me" what she did, so I could take a picture!

Birth Announcements

First, thank you to Deb & Allison for helping me with my color issues. (see earlier post) I think because I have two girls, I am always leaning towards "girlie" color combinations....teals, pinks, purples, etc. I just blank when I have to come up with a gender neutral card. I have more announcments to make and will take the color advice from Deb & Allison. But in the meantime, I made a couple of these up. I feel like they are a little boring, so I think by adding Bashful Blue and So Saffron (like they suggested), it will liven up the card a little more. I am making these for a surprise for a friend of mine who doesn't know what she is having. I hope she like them!

Camryn is down sleeping and Emerson is playing so quietly, so now is my time to get some cleaning done! Thanks for looking! (sorry the lighting is so bad in the picture...I just couldn't get it to turn out today.)

Supplies:

Paper: SU! Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery & Whisper White

Stamps: SU! Bundle of Joy, Punchy Words-GinaK Designs

Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip, StazOn Timber Brown

Accessories: Cuttlebug Spots & Dot Embossing Folder, Paper Piercer, Crop-A-Dile, Corner Rounder Punch, Word Window Punch, Marvy Uchida Giga Scalloped Circle Punch & Mega Circle Punch, Brown Watercolor Pencil, gamsol, blending stump, ribbon (from JoAnn's)

Cupcake Crayons

Here are some "Cupcake Crayons" that I made. I cased this idea from Emily over at Stamping and Stuff. I work part-time in the daycare at our local YMCA. We go through crayons like you wouldn't believe! We can put brand new ones out and within a few hours, they are already in pieces. One day when I was surfing Emily's blog, I saw this idea and thought this would be a perfect way reuse the crayon pieces.

Emily mentioned to use only Crayola crayons because they melted better, but I used a mixture, as we had MANY different kinds of crayons, depending on what people donate to us. I preheated the oven to 250 degrees and baked them for 9 minutes. I first checked them at 5 minutes, but since there were different kinds of crayons, there were different melting times, so I did it for another 4 minutes. Emily suggests putting them in the freezer, but since my freezers are jammed packed, I decided to just let them cool on the counter overnight. I loosened them, turned the pan over and "popped" them out.

Emerson loves this idea! Unfortunately, she has the crayons where you twist them up, hence no broken crayons! Which is great for Mommy, but doesn't work for this idea. I suppose she'll have to get some regular crayons in her stocking from Santa ;)

Camryn & Emerson

I just had to share these pictures. This first picture of Camryn just about sums it up!! She is telling me her opinion of me putting those ridiculous reindeer antlers on her!

Next is a picture of Emerson being her usual self....silly!

I'm Crazy About You!

This is going to be a short post.....my DH has to study for his MBA class, so I'm on duty. I finally got a chance to play with my Stampendous Coterie the other day. I tried to post the card then, but for some reason the camera software was acting up and I couldn't get the pictures off my camera. Anyway, I had fun playing with this monkey! I hope to get a chance to play some more after the girls go to bed tonight!

Supplies: Paper-SU! Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White, Ruby Red, Basic Grey Mellow; Accessories: Brads from Hendgehog Ink's share, Marvy Round Giga Scalloped Punch, SU!'s Ticket Corner punch & 1 1/4 & 1 3/8" round punches, ribbon from Michael's, dimensionals.

I need your help!!

I'm stuggling here! I need your help!! I'm trying to make some birth announcements for a friend of mine (for a surprise for her) and I can't come up with a color combo. She doesn't know what she is having (this is her 3rd baby and already has a girl and a boy). I'm using the bear from the set Bundle of Joy, which I've already watercolored brown with colored pencils and gamsol. What other colors do I put with it?? I've already used the color combo thing-a-ma-jig from Scraptitude, but nothing is jumping out at me. I need another 1-2 colors to go with Chocolate Chip and Whisper White.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

Wooden Blocks

More Christmas gifts to show you. I loved these blocks when I saw them on Emily's blog, but haven't found the time to do them until now. Her's are cuter than mine, but it's my first time. And with the first time, comes mistakes. I was so intent on getting these done, that I got caught up in the Mod Podge groove and mod podged the whole block before I remembered to sand them and put the letters on. I was still able to rub the letters on, but I really wanted the rustic, sanded look to the blocks. Oh well, I'll remember that step for next time!



I used my new Cutie Pie DP paper that I got from the 3 for 1 sale from SU! Let's just say that I need a 12-step program for paper addicts. I stocked up with the SU! sale as well as more paper from Hobby Lobby since it was 50% off this week. I couldn't help myself!!! I used the 1 1/4" blocks from Hobby Lobby. They are $2.99 and I picked them up when they were 30% off. First, I painted them with white acrylic paint, covered them with the Cutie Pie paper and used rub-ons from The Paper Studio (also from Hobby Lobby). Since these blocks are going to the same person, I put "FAMILY" on one side of the blocks, and put "WELCOME" on the other. TFL!

Stampendous Coterie

I received my Stampendous Coterie today from Eclectic Paperie! I love to get fun things in the mail! My juices have been flowing lately so I better take advantage of it while it lasts. I'm hoping to get in the craft room tonight after Emerson's swimming lessons. (We are going to Florida for the holidays and Emerson hasn't been in a pool in a couple of years, so we thought she better do some more lessons to get her acclimated to the water again.)

In my Stampendous pail, I received Bee Buddies, Bee Wings, Bee Secret, Secret Admirer, Changito Logo, Changito Love Balloon, Changito Bouquet & Crazy About You. I look forward to showing you some goodies I've made with these soon.

Go Spartans & A Glass Ornament

We were gone all day tailgating for the Michigan State v. Penn State football game in East Lansing yesterday. The game didn't start until 3:30pm, but we were die-hard fans and arrived around 9:00 AM!! Our old neighbors and Penn State alums made the drive from PA and enjoyed the game with us. We had a blast....a little chilly, even with our propane heater, but definitely tons of fun!! It was a close game, but the Spartans were able to pull through in the very end. Go Green!

Today, I've been working in my craft room trying to get some more gifts for people checked off my list. I really liked the glass ornament that SCS did this week for its Holiday Tutorial Blitz and thought it would be a nice gift for someone. I had the darnest time trying to get a good picture of the ornament. With the iridecent bulb and the glare, it was hard to get a clear picture to show you. I followed the tutorial on SCS step-by-step and I think it turned out quite well!

Supplies: Stamps-Tags for All; Ink-SU! White Craft, Sharpie Markers, Black Stazon; Accessories: Clear (b/c I didn't have white) embossing powder, heat tool, 1/8" hand punch, dental floss (b/c I didn't have any silver cord), glue dot, red organdy ribbon, white glitter

Christmas Gifts

Here are a couple of things I have done recently for my MIL. She recently did a complete kitchen overhaul and she picked out these colors to accent her kitchen. First is a coaster pen/pencil box that I did for her. I really liked how it turned out. Not sure where the paper is from, as she picked it up for me. I sanded the edges and sponged them with Basic Brown. I used my CAD to punch the holes and thread the brown yarn. The Prima flowers are held together with a bronze brad.

This is the journal that she wanted to coordinate with the coaster box. I also fancied up a couple of jumbo paper clips to match the theme. I used the flower die cuts with my Cuttlebug and used E6000 to hold it all together.

Sorry for the short post....it's feeding time for Camryn! Thanks for looking!

Christmas Ornaments

Here is another Christmas gift I have been working on. My MIL ordered some of these to give to some friends of hers. I saw this idea on Trudee's blog and just loved the idea. These are really quite inexpensive to make. I got the ornament bulbs at Hobby Lobby when they were 40% off. So for $3.99 (less 40%) for 12 bulbs makes them about $0.20 a piece. I used DP from American Crafts which I also got at Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off. I added some Soft Snow Twinkle Flakes inside of the bulbs and then tied them off with red ribbon, which was $1.99 (minus 40% from my coupon) from JoAnn's. As I said, this was definitely an inexpensive gift.

(Sorry about the wild and crazy ribbon on these. I wanted to hurry and take a picture before I had to pack them off to my MIL this afternoon). TFL!

New Banner

Like my new banner? Beth Silaika over at Freckled Fun Designs does wonders with her designs. If you haven't seen her work yet, stop by Freckled Fun Designs and check out her amazing work! I haven't really played around with the colors of my blog yet to get everything to coordinate.....I'm just happy to have my banner!

Beth also created some watermarks for me so I can be legal in the blogging & copyright world when posting things. Now I just have to figure out how to use them!

Camryn has been teething big time the last few days....low-grade fever, runny nose which turns into congestion, irritability, drooling, etc. so not much has been done in the craft room. I get to "play" tomorrow night so I hope to have some goodies to share this weekend with you.

People Say We Monkey Around

I finally got a chance to play with my new Changito Monkey Pair. I've had this stamp for a while, but just haven't had the time to use it. I also got the Changito Monkey clear stamp set. Lots of cool stamps in that set.

I used my new Basic Grey - Scarlet's Letter paper. Hobby Lobby recently had 50% off their paper, including their packaged paper, so I stocked up on some Basic Grey papers that I had my eye on for some time. I got Scarlet's Letter, Blush & Pheobe. Now if I could only find some more time to use it all. I used my oval Coluzzle to cut the oval shapes. Nothing fancy....just wanted to at least clock in some time in the craft room today....it seems to help the soul, YKWIM??

Supplies: Paper-SU! Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White, Basic Grey Scarlet Letter; Ink-Basic Brown, StazOn; Accessories-Black eyelets, Black brads, ribbon from Michael's, Coluzzle, SU! Ticket Corner Punch; Font-TIA Printalicious from Autumn Leaves

Thank You

Here is a card that I made for Kirsten to thank her for the Naptime Nuggets that I won. The base of the card is 5 1/4 x 5 1/4. I used the new DCWV glittered All Dressed Up stack. I just love that paper in that stack. I used my Coluzzle to cut out the two circles on the left side of the card and used decorative scissors to make the circle scalloped. The frame is from the Setting the Stage stamp set from MFT that I won from Kirsten, stamped with Jet Black StazOn on Very Vanilla from SU! The sentiment is from the set Much Appreciated from SU! And I used some black velvet ribbon from Michael's to finish off the card. I didn't really feel like I had to do much to the card since the paper was so ornate. I struggled for a while because I felt like I wasn't doing enough to the card, but the more I tried to do, it looked too busy. Since the paper was my inspiration, I left it at that. I hope she likes it!

Nuggets from Kirsten

A couple of weeks back, Kirsten (Confessions of a Naptime Stamper) had a contest going on over on her blog for some Naptime Nuggets. (I'm sure you have all seen Kirsten's work, but if you haven't, make sure you stop by her blog and check it out! She does AMAZING and INSPIRING work!) You could get a couple of entries in by answering a few questions and by posting a MFT (My Favorite Things) card that you had made. (here's mine) I had never left any comments for blog candy contests before, but since I had a MFT card that I had recently made, I figured "Why not?" And.....lone and behold......I won!!! I couldn't believe it! My first time playing and I won! This is what I won.....Setting the Stage stamp set from MFT, some Bazzill Cha-Ching brads, and some great May Arts ribbon. I hope to have some time soon to start playing with my goodies! Thanks Kirsten!

Long time no see...I mean post!

Sorry I've been MIA the past few days. We've been pretty busy.....plus I took a day and went to IKEA...again! I just love that place! I can never get enough. It's a good thing my credit card has a limit on it or I'd be in deep trouble! I had to return something by the 27th of October from my last trip there and you can never just return something....you have to peruse the store to see all the new stuff they got since the last visit and the next thing you know.....your cart is full! As my cousin and I were taking our full cart out to the van, I realized that I didn't have my keys. Yep, you guessed it, I left them in the ignition! I guess I was just so excited to have a day off from the girls and go shopping at IKEA that I just hopped right on out of the van....with the doors locked! I called a local tow truck company and they were going to charge me $50 to unlock the van. I don't think so! (I wasn't about to return any of my goodies just to get my keys out of the van!) My step-dad had a brilliant idea of calling the local Dodge dealership and have them make up another key. They did and delivered it to me in the IKEA parking lot. They didn't even charge me, so I had to at least tip the driver for bringing the key to me. I don't think I'll be living that one down for a while!

Okay, on to what I've been doing in my craft room. A couple of weeks ago, Peggy was looking through the galleries on SCS and came across the tiles that I had posted. She PM'd me and asked a few questions about the tiles. She mentioned she wanted to learn how to make the tiles because she wanted to do a charity benefit to help her young niece who has cancer. She also wanted to know if I had other craft ideas that were easy and inexpensive to make that they could sell at the benefit. So I emailed Peggy a bunch of pictures with directions, costs, etc. to help her begin her stash of goodies for the benefit. I told her that I would be happy to make some things and send them her way. Here are some things that I made for her.

Everything in this gift set coordinates together. All the paper is from DCWV. First I recovered a composition book. I purchased the book at Target for $0.12, like the one I re-did for myself. I used brown ric-rac ribbon on it to cover where the paper met. The alphabet stamps are from Hero-Arts and are stamped in Basic Brown from SU!. I added some Prima flowers and the pink brad in the middle is from the Target $1 spot.

Next I re-did a 4x6 acrylic picture frame. Again the paper is from DCWV, alphabet stamps are from the Target $1 spot, oval punches from SU!, post-it notes and medium calendar. The coaster box is covered in paper from DCWV and laced up with twine from IKEA. The pink Pentel pen just has a piece of the matching paper rolled on the inside.

I also recovered a photo album book and made two ornaments with the rolled up paper (like the ones on Trudee's blog), but I forgot to take pictures of them before I packaged up the box. Hopefully Peggy likes my goodies that I sent. It was for a good cause, I was happy to help. Thanks for looking, I'll have more tomorrow!

Potty Talk & Pumpkins

I think I am going to throw in the towel and just start to buy Depends for Emerson! I don't think she'll ever be potty trained! Strong willed child + potty training = frustrated Mommy!!! We started training Emerson over a year ago when we moved into the apartment while our new house was being built. I figured I didn't care if she peed on their carpet! Then she was sick for a couple of week, which put things on hold. Then shortly after that, I got put on bedrest which meant potty training was being put off until a later date. After Camryn arrived, we figured we would give Emerson some time to get acclaimated to all the new changes and when summer came, we'd give it a shot again. We tried everything.....putting her in panties so she could feel herself get wet, get stickers on the potty chart and get to go to a park, Potty Pennies (get a penny for going pee-pee and two pennies for going poo in the potty), bribing with candy, TV, the computer.....you name it, we tried it. Finally the pediatrician said to put the diapers back on her and enjoy what was left of the summer. Well, she's now 3 and in my mind, it's about time. She knows how to do it and CAN do it, but she just chooses not to. After 4 wet panties/pants today, I had HAD IT! The diapers were going back on. She really wants to go to school, which we could do a second semester preschool starting in January, but if she doesn't get out of those darn diapers, she's going to be home FOREVER! I'm not prepared to homeschool! AAGGHHHHH! I know it is totally a control thing and they will do it in their own time, but it's just getting old. Okay, I digress. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

On to more exciting things......we went and picked out pumpkins tonight. Emerson had a great time. She wanted one of everything they had. So with 4 of us being in the house, we of course had to get 10 pumpkins!! I'm lucky we only walked away with 10....Emerson kept putting up more and more and more on the table. Here are a couple of pictures of Emerson and the pumpkins. Thanks for looking and thanks again for letting me vent about the potty issue.

HELP!! I can't stop!!!

I'm making up for lost time from being on bedrest! I didn't get to go shopping for months and no I am making up! I was at Michael's the other day and couldn't stop myself when I walked past the $1 bins. I went there to get 1 thing and walked away with two bags full of stuff! I think I need a recovery group or something......wait! Who am I kidding? I don't want to stop!

I picked up lots of those $1 clear acryclic stamp sets and some acrylic blocks to go with them. I think I picked up one of each of their sets, which means I picked up 8-10 of the sets! I even got some duplicates, so maybe I'll be giving them away in the future for some "candy".....Maybe when I hit the 1,000 mark!

I hope to get back into the craft room soon and create with some of my Michael's goodies! Thanks for looking and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Lions, Tigers & Bears, Oh My!......and Giraffes!

We went to the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, Michigan recently.....the zoo in Grand Rapids just isn't up to par lately. Anyway, they had this huge Safari exhibit. It was absolutely beautiful. The animals were so amazing! Here are so great shots of the giraffes. They were all lined up in a row waiting to get some biscuits from people. We bought a biscuit for Emerson to feed them, but when she saw their long tongues go through the net, she said "No way!!" I just thought this picture was too cool not to share! Thanks for looking!

Christmas Gifts

These are some tiles that I have made for a friend of mine. She came over to my house and went Christmas shopping in my craft room!!! She picked out all sorts of goodies for me to make for her to give as gifts for Christmas. Here are some tiles that she picked out for herself to go in her new family room. I made 8 coasters total, but here are just a sample of a few of them. She choose the same picture for all the tiles, but wanted them in different colors along with different sayings.

There are some great tutorials on SCS to do these tiles. I stamped on them with StazOn, baked them at 325 degrees for 15 minutes and once they cooled put a thin coat of sealant over them. I didn't really need to do ALL of those steps...I could have just baked them or just sealed them but I wanted to make SURE that the ink wouldn't run after they were used. TFL!

Added: I already had this all typed up to post but wanted to add a few notes. I've had several people from SCS email me regarding questions for the tiles.

TILES: I purchased them at Lowe's. You can get them at any home improvement place near you. The ones I got were 4x4 unglazed tumbled marble. 9 came in a box for $5.38, so they are about $0.60 each. I had to go through several boxes so I could pick out the good ones for stamping on. Some have really big "craters" in them and I didn't prefer those for stamping on.

INK: There are several options. For those tiles, I used StazOn ink. It's a permanent ink for non-porous surfaces. I've done other tiles where I stamped the image in black StazOn and then colored the image in with blender pens, by dipping it into a regular Stampin' Up! ink pad. You can also dab your blender pen into chalk, or color in with SU! markers, Sharpie Markers, etc.

SEALANT: I probably over did it, but I chose to bake them and then seal them with an acrylic sealant. When baking them, I did it for 15 minutes at 325 degrees. Once they have cooled, I put a thin coat of DecoArt Multi-Purpose sealer on them with a foam brush. You could also put a light coat of spray over them. (one coat or two, whatever your preference is) I have also used Plaid Clear Acrylic Sealer (matte). Make sure to spray at a distance. You just want to do a light coat. If you get too close, the pressure of the spray could smear your ink (that happened to me, so I had to start over with that tile!)

BACK OF TILES: I used small felt circles that I purchased at the dollar store. Some people prefer to put a 4x4 square cork on the back and adhering it with E6000 or Crystal Effects (or any type of strong adhesive). Also, if you are going to sell these at a craft show, don't forget to stamp the back of the tile (or cork) with an SU! Angel stamp.

PACKAGING: I usually wrap a pretty ribbon, taffeta, twine, etc. around them like you would tie up gift. That way people can see what they are getting, yet they look a little more finished with the ribbon.

Now, get out there and start creating! I'd love to see what you come up with! You can email me a picture of your tiles directly or leave a comment on this post and leave a link to your blog or SCS gallery so I can check them out! Thanks!




Supplies: Stamps-All SU!, All I Have Seen, Wonderful Words; Tiles-unglazed tumbled tiles from Lowes; Ink-All Stazon-Purple, Green, Brown; multi-purpose sealer

Acrylic Post-It Note Holders

Here are some more of the goodies that I have been making for a friend of mine. She ordered 7 post-it note holders to give to special ladies in her life. The initials correlate with their first names. Here are 6 of the 7 that I made. They are really quite easy to make. Some people have asked me what to do when the post-it notes are gone or when 2009 rolls around. Well, the post-it notes and calendar were attached with double sided red sticky tape. Since the last page is attached, just attach the new post-it note pad or calendar on top of the last page. Not perfect, but it does work. I really couldn't figure out a better way. Any suggestions out there???

Supplies: Paper-DCWV stacks, All My Memories, SU!-Blue Bayou, Pixie Pink, River Rock; Accessories: chipboard letters, Cuttlebug Olivia alphabet; SU!'s 1 3/8 & 1 1/4 circle punches, acrylic 4x6 frame, post-it notes, mini calendar.
Supplies: Paper-Flair Designs, SU!-Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, DCWV stacks; Ink: Craft Old Olive; Stamps: Canvas Background; Accessories: acrylic 4x6 frame, post-it notes, mini calendar, Super Oval Punch, chipboard letters, Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet.

Supplies: Paper-Flair Designs, SU! Close to Cocoa, DCWV Stacks; Accessories: acrylic 4x6 frame, post-it notes, mini calendar, chipboard letters, Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet, SU!'s 1 3/8 & 1 1/4 circle punches.

Altered Notebook

Here is an altered notebook that I made for myself. With a new baby and working part-time, I can't seem to remember anything! I have lists and sticky notes all over the place and can never seem to find the one I need when I need it! So, to try and solve the problem, I created this notebook for me.....a one stop shop :) You can see on the second picture that I have tabs created for the main things...my "To-Do" list, the "Budget", and don't forget the "Crafts"!

I picked up the DP from my local craft store on their clearance rack. You can't tell from the picture, but on top of the big flowers, it looks like Crystal Effects is all over it......it's raised and sparkly. I got the composition book from Target on their clearance shelves for $0.12! How could I pass that up?? I couldn't, so I grabbed 10 of them! I jazzed it up a bit with Prima flowers and the bling is SU!'s round rhinestones in green. I letters are from SU!'s Doodle Alphabet and the swirls are from the Doodle This stamp set.

I enjoyed making this, so I'm sure I'll be making more since I have 9 more in my stash! Thanks for looking. Enjoy your evening!

Supplies: Paper: DP-Cloud 9 Design, SU!'s Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Whisper White; Stamps: All SU!-Doodle Alphabet, Doodle This; Accessories: Prima Flowers, SU! round rhinestone, ribbon from Michael's; Ink: Black StazOn, Craft Old Olive, SU! Markers-Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Baroque Burguncy, So Saffron

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emerson!

WOW!! We finally have all of Emerson's birthday parties out of the way! When you have a big family, not everyone fits in the house all at the same time, so we divided it up into 3 separate family parties and then another parties with just her little friends. Next year, I'm going to rent a hall if I have to....4 parties is way too much!!! Anyway, here is the card that I made for her. I only did a 4 1/4 by 4 1/4 card because I had about 10 minutes to do the card before dinner was ready. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! I'm just diggin' this cute little ballerina stamp and saying from Hambo stamps. It just fit Emerson perfectly.....she wears her little ballerina tutu all the time....she even wore it to the grocery store last weekend while wearing her pajamas! If you ever need a conversation starter, we've got one you can borrow!

Here is Emerson after she opened her new baby stroller/jogger from Mommy, Daddy & Camryn. In less than a year, she wore out her other baby stroller so it was time for new one. I just can't believe how old she is getting. You really start to realize that when they can reason with you. The other night we tried to put her down a little early....because she needed the sleep...and she said, "I can't go to sleep yet...the moon isn't out." I was speechless. I didn't know how to respond. It's at that moment that you realize that they are too smart for their own good!

Thanks for looking and I hope to have more to share tomorrow.

Supplies: SU! Paper-Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Whisper White; DCWV Glitter Stack paper; Ink: Black StazOn, Pixie Pink Marker, Blush Blossom Marker, Creamy Caramel Marker; Accessories: Coluzzle, Giga Scalloped Round Punch, Jumbo Round Punch, Horizontal Slit Punch, Sparkle Ribbon, 1/16 Fiskars hand punch

Eyelet Share

I recently got my eyelets from the eyelet share that I joined from Heidi over at Hedgehog Ink. It was such a great deal that I even joined the brad share and am waiting for them to arrive! I took a couple of pictures to show you them. Sorry the lighting isn't the greatest.

I got the full share for 3000 eyelets. You get 50 of each 48 colors (the colors match SU! colors), 50 of 4 neutral colors (White, Sand, Gray, Vanilla), 50 of each "fresh" color (2006-07 In-Colors) and 100 black eyelets. You get all this for only $40. I didn't think it was a bad deal. Now I need to get more cases to store all these in.

Still no cards to post.....I'm hoping to find some time later this week. Hoping is the key word!