Stationary Box

Yep, I jumped on the Stationary Box bandwagon. When I first saw this on Nancy Riley's blog, iSTAMP, I thought "How cool! I can do that!" The directions for the box are here. I absolutely love the new Bella Rose DS paper from SU! I just couldn't decide which combination I wanted to use to do the box. I think it turned out okay.

Here is the inside of the box.

Here is a view of the tags and 3 x 3 note cards outside of the box.

Here is the larger sized cards that I put in the box. I have no idea who this box is going to, but for now I made the cards and put my initial for my last name on there. I love the new Just Rite Monogram stamps that are out there, but just can't take that plunge yet, so this is my version on the monogram card. I used SU!'s scallop circle punch and the 1 1/4" circle punch and the retired set, Whimsical Alpha Upper for the letter "H".

If you make one of these boxes, I'd love to see it. Leave a comment with a link to your box. Hope you enjoyed this.

Rub On frame

Well, Camryn seems as if she is starting to turn the corner on this cold, but now......Emerson is sick. And my DH was complaining of a sore throat this morning. AAAhhhh, what a wonderful way to spend the holiday weekend. At least my DH will be home to help this weekend and hopefully I can sneak in some naps and maybe even some stamping time :)

I pick up this frame from Target dollar spot back while we were in Florida during the Christmas holiday. It came in a 3-pack for $2.50. Not a bad deal. I used the sentiment and flower from the rub ons in the current mini catalog. I haven't decided what I'm going to put in it yet, so it sits like it is in my craft room.

I had a workshop last night. Hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to take pictures of what we made and post them soon.

Thanks for stopping by....enjoy the weather!

Nestabilities Card

Here is the card that I made for my MIL for Mother's Day. My Nestabilities that I ordered from Cut@Home (http://www.ucutathome.com/index.php) FINALLY arrived in April from being on back order from February. You can sign up for their newsletter and use their 40% off coupon on the Nestabilities. While I'm not a patient person, I don't have an option since I'm a hobby demonstrator. I'm always looking for deals and have enough other stuff in my craft room to keep me busy until they arrive. I haven't had much time to play with them, but as soon as I got them, I made this card.

I used SU!'s Ginger Blossom paper...I can't get enough of this paper! I also made a bookmark for her (we gave her a book along with a nugget tin...I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her...sorry!) I used my Cuttlebug flower die cuts and chipboard to make the bookmark.

I'm off to bed.....Camryn hasn't been sleeping well, which means Mommy hasn't been sleeping well. I'm off to get some sleep while I can! Thanks for stopping by.

More Shower Goodies

I have some more shower things that I made to go along with the theme. First, here is the card I made to go with her gift. I was going to make all of her shower invitations using this Shower Time stamp set from MFT, but I just didn't have the time to get them done, so I found some great invitations on clearance at Hobby Lobby that I could just run through the computer printer and throw some toule and ribbon on and it looked like a bride. Not bad for $2.00 for 10!! I had to make this a 4x4 card because I only had a limited amount of this paper. I picked it up at my LSS and I got the last few sheets that they had. These colors matched my cousins colors of her wedding perfectly.

I also made up these toothpicks (the night before!!) I wanted a huge assortment of designs, but quickly realized that I wasn't going to have enough paper, so I had to do lots of the small flowers in order to make enough toothpicks.

We had different kinds of sandwiches on little breads along with different kinds of hummus to put on bread or crackers, so we needed something to help identify what was what. I created these little name tags for the food. I thought they turned out pretty cute!

Tuesday's is now my official Craft Night. I have lots of cards to make for May birthday's but first I have to clean my craft room so I can find things!! So, once I get it all cleaned, I'll have more things to show you. Stay tuned! Thanks for stopping by...enjoy your day!

Wedding Shower Favors

Now that my cousin's wedding shower is over, I can finally show all of you what I've been working on for her. First, I created these little tins for favors for all of the guest. They are "pop top" fruit can tins. You can pick them up in bulk at either Costco or Sam's Club. I used a safety can opener (my favorite is the Pampered Chef one!) on the bottom of the cans, had my girls eat lots of fruit (LOL!) and cleaned them out and recovered them. Because this paper was glossy, I had a hard time finding adhesive that would stick. After trying my Mono tape adhesive and then the Mono Multi adhesive in the green & white tube, I eventually had to use the Terrifically Tacky double-sided red sticky tape.

Here is a top view of the can. I used my circle Coluzzle to cut the paper for the top of the can and tied ribbon around the ring.

I made 20 of these. Here is a view of all of them. I had fun making these, just wish I didn't have to mass produce them. That kinda takes the fun out of it! But all the ladies at the shower that these were the coolest thing. They thought I was Houdini or something! LOL!!

A Quickie

Do I have your attention now?? LOL! Quickie post and a quickie gift. Emerson has a party at her friends today, then another birthday party after that for my nieces and then an engagement party after that (Emerson is in the wedding.) Busy day!

I picked up this mug at the Dollar Tree and used my rub-ons from the Sale-A-Bration catalog. I think it turned out quite cute. You could use it to puts pens, markers, etc. in it. Not sure who it will go to.....maybe I'll keep it for myself :) Thanks for stopping by.....off to the first party!

MOM....Don't Look!!!

Mom, I'm not kidding.....don't look, unless you want to see part of your Mother's Day gift!

Okay, now that we have that part over with (LOL!). I have a TV update and a Mother's Day gift to show you today.

First, the TV passes have been working quite well. For the last two days, all 4 passes have been used up by 1:00pm, but that is her choice. It's actually quite nice to have the TV off in the afternoon without having to argue with her about it. When I was at IKEA, I got some Tupperware-like storage containers for odds-n-ends. So, I used a 3M plastic hook and attached it to the outside of the container and made a slit in the top large enough for the passes to fit through. The passes hang on the hook until she decides to use them, that way she knows how many she has left. When she chooses to watch a show, she takes a pass off the hook and puts it into the container. So far, so good!!

Now onto the Mother's Day gift. This is part of the gift for my mother for Mother's Day. I absolutely love this Berry Bliss paper. Well, I love all paper, but I really like the colors of this paper, so much so, that I had a hard time cutting it!! LOL! I used the Limitless Labels stamp set from PTI. I actually bought the stamp set from Christie Ortman from Paper Pretties. She accidentally purchased two of them, not realizing she already had one, so she was selling the 2nd one. I had been wanting this stamp set for quite some time and I thought this was "my sign" to get it. (Yeah, I know......just let me keep telling myself that....it's my way of justifying the money to buy it!!)

I stamped on three rows of the nuggets and used the Berry Bliss DP to wrap around another row (hidden underneath the band). I made a card for my Mom that coordinates with the nuggets, using more of the DP paper and of course my favorite CB folder, Swiss Dots.

Well, I have to go and get my laundry ready. Our washing machine has been on the fritz lately. We've had Sears out here twice, replacing parts, etc. and a plumber out here to make sure it wasn't our plumbing for some reason. Well, no one can figure out what is going on. Sears will be out here again on Monday. So in the mean time, I am doing laundry over at my neighbors house. I'm sure after Sears is out here again on Monday, we will be out buying a new washing machine Monday night!! With all the money we have spent on repairs, plumbers, etc. we could have paid for 1/2 a washing machine already!

Supplies:

Stamps: Taggers Dozen, All Year Cheer II, Limitless Labels (PTI)

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty In Pink

Paper: Berry Bliss DP, Purely Pomegranate, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink

Accessories: nugget tin (PTI), Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, ticket corner punch, Purely Pomegranate double-stitch ribbon, Scallop punch, 1 3/8 & 1 1/4 circle punch, CB Swiss Dots folder

TV Passes

I created these TV Passes because my daughter is a TV junkie. If that's all she could do all day long, she would! I have to make her play. Once she gets started, she can play for a while by herself, but getting her to do that is sometimes a battle. She is really into this creative stage right now where she has imaginary friends and she comes up with some great parties, etc. that her and "her friends" play. She even set up a place setting for them at dinner the other day!

Anyway, I created these TV passes as a way to help her and me. Sometimes I am just so tired, that I don't have the fight in me and I give in and let her watch more TV than she should be watching. Instead of it being a battle between Mom & Emerson, I've taken Mom out of the equation. There are 4 TV Passes. She can choose to watch them all at once, or spread it out throughout the day, but once the passes are gone, she is done watching TV for the day.

Our pediatrician actually had me put the TV for her (Emerson) while she was eating lunch. She eats like a bird, but if the TV is on, she stays there long enough to eat some food and actually get some calories into her body without us having to use supplements like we used to. We'll see how lunch goes today :)

I laminated these sheets with my laminating machine that I got for my birthday from my parents. Yes, I asked for a laminating machine for my birthday....crazy, huh? My contact from my old job left the organization, so I had no way to laminate things anymore. So, now I have my very own. I just hope I don't get as crazy with it as I do my label machine!! LOL!

Earthquakes & Shopping

WOW! Yesterday was an interesting day. I woke up around 5:30 a.m. to my bed shaking. It felt like someone was standing at the foot of the bed, shaking the mattress. My DH was supposed to get up to go running around 5:45 a.m., so I thought it was him shaking the bed, trying to be funny. I looked around and didn't see anyone and went back to bed. Little did I know that it was the earthquake from Illinois that I was feeling. I couldn't believe that I could feel it all the way in West Michigan. WOW!!!

I got up a little while later and got ready to head off to IKEA. (It's about 2 hours and 15 minutes away) This was the first time I took the girls with me. Now that Emerson is potty trained, she can stay in the kids area. I tried to look up the details and instructions for the kids area at IKEA, but couldn't find anything. So the girls, my mother and I were off to do some shopping. We get there and they are only allowed to be in the kids area for 1 hour. I thought 2 hours at least. I wish they would have noted that on their website. So my mom, Camryn and I raced through the Marketplace (kitchen items, bedding, etc.) without Emerson. That's where we thought she would do the most damage!! It wasn't so bad going shopping with the girls. I would do it again believe it or not. I got some more white storage boxes for my craft room. Now I just need to get another shelf in my room to put the boxes on!!

I also found these adorable spice containers. I got 4 of them for only $2.99! Not a bad deal! I thought these would be cute to have on hand. You could whip one up with candy or whatever you wanted fairly quickly. I made one for my friend, Kristi. I recently joined in on Emily's ribbon share and knew that I wouldn't use it all, so I thought I would cut up some of it and put it in the jar. I hope she likes it! (Sorry about the picture...either my lighting is bad, my camera is mediocre at best or it's the user.....probably all of the above!!!)

I got some of these storage containers for my pantry. We have tons of food in our pantry, but Emerson doesn't eat most of it because she can't see it. (At least that's my theory.) I thought if I put it in clear containers, she could see it and want it eat it. Well.....it worked!! She wanted a mini trail mix of everything in there! Finally!! We can eat some of this food before it goes to waste! The had different size ones...they have another one that is more shallow. I might just use those ones in my craft room :)

Hope you all enjoy your weekend. We are sticking close to home and cleaning! This is our only weekend home without anything on our schedule until the middle of June! Wedding showers, weddings, birthday parties, our anniversary, etc. Busy, busy summer! Thanks for stopping by!

Altered Pocket Calendars

WOW! I just checked my blog and realized that I hadn't posted in a couple days. Where does the time go?? Let's see.....Thursday I had my last day of work....well not officially. I'm not scheduled to work anymore during the month of April, told them I needed a break. I just haven't officially told them that I'm not coming back. I'll do that before they make the next schedule. Too much drama for me to deal with.....that I don't need to deal with. I took the job the daycare at the YMCA to get me (and the girls) out of the house and I thought it would be fun. It was fun, but the drama with the "younger girls" and people not doing their job, it just wasn't something that I wanted to be a part of anymore. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

Friday, Emerson and I had eye doctor appointments. Her vision is good and mine isn't changing. But I am venturing out into the contact world! After getting the braces on this past January and wearing glasses, it's just more than my 30-something self wants to deal with. So, I am going with contacts. I'm a little nervous, as I've never worn them, but at least I don't have to spend 15 minutes looking around the house to find where I've put my glasses!! Oh, about the braces. While I was pregnant with Camryn, I noticed that my bite was different. Well, you know when you are pregnant and your ligaments stretch (which is why your feet grow), well, my jaw started shifting.....my bottom jaw was moving forward. I received two opinions and they both said that it would be a matter of time before my bottom jaw knocked out my front teeth!!! WHAT!?!?!? I wanted to keep my teeth! I really didn't want dentures in my 30's! So, in order to keep my teeth, I have to have jaw surgery in June '09. So I have braces for 12-18 months, then the jaw surgery with 6-8 weeks of having my mouth rubberbanded shut (they don't wire them anymore), and then another 3-4 months of braces. They told me that my facial structure would be different and I would look different. My jaw line will be different...I will have more pronounced cheek bones, etc. So they wanted to make sure that my DH knew that all of this would happend b/c apparently that have had some husbands furious that their wives didn't look like they used to. I will lose about 10% of my body weight and won't be able to take care of the girls for at least the first 2 weeks after the surgery. I told them no worries about the body weight.......as long as I was able to get chocolate through the straw, I would be good to go!!

Okay, enough rambling on....time for some calendars. I made these for my grandmother. I made one for her last fall and she asked if I would recover some so she could give them to her friends. She also noted that she wanted "bright & fun" colors. She didn't want them to look "old-ladyish." How cute is that??

Coaster Calendar

This is a coaster calendar that I made recently. I really like the Fall Flowers DS paper, along with the Time Well Spent stamp set.....I actually use this stamp set quite a bit....it must be because the saying says it all! I got these mini calendars at a local craft store. There is also a magnet on the back in case someone wanted to hang this on their refridgerator. Sorry for the short post today......Off to get ready to take Emerson to the doctor. We think she has a dairy allergy.....poor girl....her favorite thing is Strawberry milk!! Thanks for looking! If you have sunshine, please send this way! LOL!



Supplies:
Paper: Fall Flowers DS, Really Rust, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Stamps: Time Well Spent
Ink: Black StazOn, Old Olive, Soft Sky
Accessories: chipboard coasters, oval Old Olive eyelets, Soft Sky double stitch ribbon, calendar, magnet

Infinite Goodness Tile

When this stamp set came out, I just had to get it. I loved the images as well as the sentiment. I created this tile to show the guests at the workshop one of the many possibilities that you can use your stamps for, besides just card making or scrapbooking.


I used the masking technique from SCS when I did this tile. The french script is a really old background stamp that I had from when I first started stamping; it's stamped in Timber Brown StazOn. The pear is stamped in Always Artichoke and So Saffron craft ink and the sentiment is stamped in Always Artichoke craft ink. Many of them liked this idea, so maybe we'll do this in the future at a stamp club.

Sorry for the short post......Michigan State is getting ready to play shortly in basketball. It's a late game...hope I can stay awake for all of it. Go Green!

Burp Cloths #2

Here is the second set of burp cloths that I did for the baby boom going on amongst our friends. They are expecting their second boy any day now. Season wise, they are born only a month apart, therefore they have most of the clothes, etc. that they needed, so why not some new burp cloths...plus they are easy to mail!


Don't look too close at the stitching! I can do lines, but never promised that they would be straight!! LOL! I am a beginner/novice at sewing, at best. When I saw that camo. ribbon at the store, I couldn't pass it up. I wasn't sure if the black ric-rac was girlish, but it was all I had for the burp cloths. I loved the orange polka-dots when saw it....it made me think of Spring. I hope they like them! Thanks for looking! Enjoy your day.....the snow is finally melting here and it's starting to look like Spring out there. We'll see how long that lasts!

Burp Cloths - Part 1

We know SO many people having babies lately. Many live as far away as San Francisco, so I needed something that was easy to send in the mail. I made some burp cloths for my own girls, so figured why not do that for others. Our friends in SF recently had their first baby, a baby girl. I like to do colors other than pink because people tend to get lots of pink things when they are having their first baby girl. I hope they like these! I'll have some more to post for our other friends who are having a baby boy soon! Thanks for looking and enjoy your Saturday!

Ginger Blossom Mailbox

This is a mailbox that I recovered a little while ago. When I got my order of SU! goodies with the Ginger Blossom paper, I just had to rip it open and do something with it. I hadn't done a mailbox yet, so I thought "why not give it a try?" After I adhered the paper, I went to start to embellish it and realized that I didn't have any ribbon or anything else that matched the paper!! Poor planning on my part....I was just so excited to use the paper! I think the mailbox is a little plain without any ribbon, etc. I'll plan my project a little better next time :)

I have reserved ALL of Sunday to be in the craft room and get some things done. I can't wait!! I'll have some goodies to show you next week. Thanks for looking!

2nd Project from Workshop

I meant to post this a couple of days ago, but it's amazing how busy life gets and I don't even get a chance to get on the computer until the weekend!

Here is the second project that we did at the workshop....the 2-5-7-10 box. I used Charmaine's idea for doing a box. I used the tutorial from SCS to make the box. I used all solid color cardstock, along with the coordinating Print Designer Series papers. Pretty easy for everyone to have their own color of box since I am a paper addict, along with a punch addict, etc. I wish I would have brought my camera to show you how cool the boxes turned out. I wasn't sure if they would be "blah" since they would all be tone-on-tone, but they all turned out sooooo cute! On my box I used Apricot Appeal cardstock and DS paper, along with the Polka Dot & Paisley and Polka Dots & Petals stamp sets. I brought a few different stamp sets that people could use, but most used the same ones that I did.



I definitely liked the way that these turned out and will do more in the future. Thanks again for the idea to do these!

Hanging PIN Holder

WOW! Has it been ages since I've posted, or what?? I have had absolutely no time to stamp. I just feel lost without it! Starting this month, I have cut back my hours at work to try and get my life back in balance. I took the job to get a discount on the YMCA membership and I thought it would be nice to get out of the house once in a while and break up my week. Well, by doing that, I was no longer working out and I wasn't stamping. Well, needless to say, that just wasn't working for me. So starting this month, I am only working 3 days. I'm going to start working out more and start stamping again. (First I have to clean my mess of a stamp room, then I can start stamping!)

Another gift for my Mom for Christmas. Her new kitchen in her condo has cream or "bisque" cabinets with black accents, so I thought this would look nice in her kitchen by her telephone. I used two heavy chipboard coasters and used sticky tape to hold them together. I then modge podged the paper on the front and back. I punched holes in the top with my crop-a-dile and threaded through cream organdy ribbon and added the post-it notes and calendar. The font for "Notes" was printed on the computer.

Thanks for looking!

Diaper Bag Tags

I jumped on the bandwagon with the diaper bag tags (or whatever you want to use them for). When we go to the YMCA, the girls go to different areas in the daycare, therefore they both need their own bag. Can you try and visualize me carrying a bag for each of us, Camryn in her car seat and holding on to Emerson's hand as we try to get through the snowy parking lot? By the time I reach the building, who needs to exercise! I'm already out of breath by the time I get inside!!

Okay, I digress. As usual, I cased these from Emily Giovanni over at Stamping and Stuff. I like it.....she does all the hard work (the thinking) and then I case it! Ever since having Camryn, I still feel like my brain is a little mushy...KWIM?

I got the tags from Wal-Mart and used pieces of scraps to make them....and of course....Emerson's had to be PINK. I used 1" book rings to attach them to the bags. Now there will be no confusion when everyone brings in those free black diaper bags that they give you at the hospital. In the baby area, everyone always seems to bring those bags in.....they're free and ugly and won't care if someone accidentally walks off with it! Hope you enjoy your weekend! Time for me to get some beauty rest...this girl has gotta work at 8am tomorrow!

H is for Herrick

Here are some letters that I altered for my SIL's. I don't like the shape of the letters, but it's all I could find at the last minute and with trying to pack for Florida with a house full of sick people, these were going to have to do!

They are really pretty plain, but I wasn't sure how else to dress them up. I'll have to play around with more of these sometime to see what else I can do with them.

Altered Frame

This is a frame that I re-covered for my MIL to match her blocks that I did recently. I picked up the frame from Michaels for $1 or $2. I didn't realize how cheap it was....it doesn't even have glass in it! Oh well! I used the coordinating Cutie Pie paper that went with the blocks. The colors in her villa in Florida is yellow and blue and I thought this paper would give it just that little "punch" of color that it needed.

Sorry......I just now realized that the picture is blurry. Nothing I can do about it now since I already gave her the gift. I suppose that's what happens when you are in a hurry and trying to pack for a trip while half the house is sick!