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!