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