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