CFC #17

Good Wednesday morning!  So last night I decided to work on a card for CAS-ual FRIDAYS CHALLENGE!!!!!  The challenge this week was to use stickers :)

Now I don't have a ton of stickers, but I do have a little stash of American Crafts letter stickers and I had, what I thought to be, a GREAT idea to color my stickers in and use them to form a rainbow sentiment.  Well...it was not a great idea.  It was a flop.  Haha!

Enter Plan B:

I used my centering ruler and lots of American Crafts stickers to form my background.  I added some simple red Martha Stewart twine and a few little embellishments along with my sentiment.  Not bad for a Plan B :)

Have a great Wednesday and I'll see you tomorrow!  Thanks for passing through today!

Twill

Happy Tuesday :)  Did you have a good Monday?  Mine flew by, which is always fabulous when a Monday does that, don't you think? 

Over the weekend I was able to try my hand and using my spray mists to dye my own twill.  Now I had seen people using spray mists to dye seam binding ribbon but I couldn't find seam binding ribbon in the store and I'm way too impatient to wait for the post office to deliver.  So when I saw someone, Michelle Wooderson maybe, mention that they dyed twill tape with spray mists I knew I HAD to try it!

I bought my twill tape at Joann's, near where the thread and zippers were.  Mine was white to begin with.

I covered my work surface with a plastic grocery sack and sprayed my twill tape with my October Afternoon Sprinklers, in various colors.  Sort of mopping up the excess ink with my twill as I went along, until the whole piece of twill was colored.

Here's my finished product:

How fun does that twill tape look?  Can't wait to start using it!

This shot shows how awesome the Sprinklers covered the twill and also the detail of the twill tape.

I could have let these air dry, but again I'm impatient so I sped up the process with my heat gun and in seconds I these were ready to wrap around the above piece of cardboard.

That's it for today!  I have a card to share tomorrow using some of my new twill, but I also have an idea for a challenge I want to enter, so come back and we'll both be surprised about my post!  Haha!  Thanks for coming by today :)

PDCC96

Good morning lovelies!  Did you have a nice weekend?  Ours was just the right combination of relaxation and planned activities.  A nice balance for us :)

Amidst this balancing act of a weekend I got some crafting in and I was able to participate in THE PLAY DATE CAFE CHALLENGE for this week.

When I was heading to the website, I was thinking I would make a masculine card.  Then I saw the colors and that idea went right out the window.  I'm sure there are many talented crafters out there who could create a manly card with these three colors, but I am not one of them.  This is what I came up with.

The idea for this card came to me almost immediately after seeing the colors.  I thought it would look SO cool to emboss with Ivory on Ivory.  What do you think?

Here's a close up of the embossing.  I used just a touch of coral and mint green.  I really wanted the Ivory to be the star of this card :)

I'm looking forward to a quiet week this week.  Heading into a three day weekend for us, yippee!  Enjoy your Monday and I'll chat with you tomorrow my friends.  Thanks for stopping by today.

The coolest flowers EVER!

Happy Friday everyone!  This has been one of those weeks that Friday just couldn't come fast enough for me.  Work has been out of control and we've been busy with the girls first week full time at school.  I'm so ready for the weekend :)  But first I want to share with you the coolest flowers ever!

Remember the new die I showed you yesterday, that I picked up from Papertrey, and how I said I was having issues with it?  Well I resorted to the message board and it seems there were others that were having the same problem I was having.  I really wonder what we ever did before the Internet.  All I had to do was flip my die over and it cut through paper, first try.  Now why didn't I think of that?  Okay, you ready to see these flowers?

 

Ack!  Could you just die from the cuteness?

I'm in love.

Check out the dimension on these puppies!

And these are just plain old cardstock.  I'm picturing misted flowers, old book print flowers, patterned paper flowers, OMG GLITTERED FLOWERS!!!!  Seriously, I have to go now, the excitement is just to much for me.

Have an awesome weekend my friends!  Go forth and be crafty, that is my goal as well.  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you back here on Monday, same bat time same bat channel.

My last order...for awhile :)

A happy Thursday friends!  I got a package last Friday, my last one...for a bit anyway.  In this box were a few things I was out of, like twine and card stock, and a few new things that I couldn't resist!  Now I always try to buy things that I will get multiple uses out of.  I like to think of myself as a smart shopper.  Here we go!

Papertrey's new Gratitude Journal set.  This is one side of the CD case.  I have grand visions of making all sorts of grateful cards, mini albums and fun little projects this fall, all with this lovely little set!

Here's the other side of the CD/set.  The awesome thing about this set is the journaling lines and the numbers that came with it.  Multiple uses here people!  :)

 A lovely new tag die.  Christmas tags anyone???

What's this you ask?  I'm working on a post for tomorrow with this one.  This die makes the MOST amazing flowers!  I'm having a difficult time right now with it, but am determined to make it work!

Check out these lovely tab dies!  They not only coordinate with the Gratitude Journal set, but think of all the awesome tabs I can make for cards and layouts now!!!!!

Last, but not least, Papertrey's most recent addition to their Think Big series.  I just love the Birthday Wishes sentiment.  Isn't that font beautiful?  Can't wait to make something with this!

So, I've been on a bit of a craft buying binge lately and have lots of new goodies to play with.  Now all I need is a bit of cool, rainy, fallish weather so I can craft!  Have a wonderful Thursday and I'll see you back here tomorrow, hopefully with some flowers.  If not, I'll have something else crafty to share!  Thanks for stopping in today!

Slow and steady.

Happy Wednesday!  Do you remember back about a month ago when I posted about the beginnings of my vacation album?  Well, I just now have finished my cover.  This is what I mean about slow and steady.  I love to make cards and tags and quick little projects because they're just that...quick.  An album, especially one like this, is a bit daunting to me.  I've made mini albums before, but this and the way I have it pictured in my head, is different than anything I've made before. 

So, I'm going to share it with you in stages.  As I finish it.  Today all I have is the cover :)

The black cover is Cosmo Cricket.  The paper and ticket is OA Boarding Pass.  I added red Thickers and PTI baker's twine and a Tim Holtz memo pin.

That's it folks! A quick and easy cover for you today.  Have a fantastic Wednesday.  See you tomorrow and thanks for popping!

So I tried something new...

and it didn't quite work out the way I planned.  Does that ever happen to you?  I saw THIS AMAZING and way cool idea awhile back and I wanted to try it out for myself.  I already had the large manila tags and I picked up the smaller ones at Joann's.  Why Joann's, cuz Staples wanted an arm and a leg for theirs, that's why!  They must be really, REALLY proud of their small manila tags ;)

Basically, you just ink up your stamp and stamp three times without re-inking.  Doesn't get much easier than that, right?

These are the smaller tags and they were a bit trickier, but only because I used a solid stamp.  (See picture below)

Check out this ugly puppy!  Yikes!  I had a really hard time when I would stamp off the tag and then re-stamp back on the tag it would leave lines with this solid stamp.  Not so much with the bigger stamp since it had a big pattern in it.  Make sense or am I blabbering?  :)

Did you have a good Monday yesterday?  I was swamped at work and I worked late last night.  I was happy to get home to my family!  Glad that it's Tuesday, I know that.  We're having another little heat wave.  I'm hoping I can get the girls to the pool this week, you know it could turn off and be freezing tomorrow.  Haha!  I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you back here tomorrow :)  Thank you so much for coming by to see me today!

An organizational post for your lovely Monday!

Good Monday morning!  I have a fun organizational post for you today.  Last weekend I was over on the message board at Papertrey Ink and I ran across this idea for die storage.  I can't remember who the person was, but they are really SMART!  :)  This person used it specifically for Papertrey's dies, but there are many dies out there that this will work for, and even other flat embellishments.  So, here we go.

I went to Target and bought this:

The Memorex File-n-Store CD and DVD box.  It was $14.92 at my Target and they had it in black and brown canvas.

It has built in rails and a hinged lid like this:

Which is nice because then I won't lose my top.  Haha!

The box comes with 40 hanging CD/DVD holders that look like this:

They are two sided, which is nice.  You know, for storage on both sides :)  Double the pleasure, double the fun.  Double the reason to buy more dies because you have all this room now to keep them!

Here's a look at all these pretty hanging CD/DVD holders in their box:

Check that out!  Isn't that niiiiiiiice (said in my best George St. Pierre accent)?  Pretty sweet if you ask me.

Now for the die part.  So easy.  Just put them in the CD/DVD holders like this:

 

I haven't labeled mine yet.  I'm debating on buying a label maker.  Do any of you have one?  I'm wondering about the pink one Michael's sells, because I can use a coupon on it :)

Oh, I will tell you, I tried to put my Cuttlebug folders in this and while they fit in the sleeves, they were too tall for the lid to close all the way on the box.  Any other ideas of what could go in here?

So that's my organizational post for today.  Not my idea, but I love the way it turned out.  Thanks so much lady on the Papertrey message board, you rock!

Have a fab Monday and I'll see you back here tomorrow!  Thanks for coming by today!

Something with Boarding Pass.

Good morning and happy Friday to you all!  I'm excited today to share with you a little project I whipped up with my new Boarding Pass goodies.  I made a little notebook to keep in my purse, this one is for sketches and lists about crafting.  It's really the perfect size to jot things down and whip out a quick sketch on the go.  I found it at Walmart for $1.50, super cheap!

You want to know the funny thing about that ribbon?  The back side of it is polka dot!  Never would have guessed that huh?  I just strategically placed a few glue dots and voila, solid ribbon ;)  I also trimmed around the world to squeeze the little green frame in.  Otherwise it wouldn't have fit!

The other thing I love about my new little sketchbook is my handy clothes pin.  I stamped the word notes right on the pin.  I'd seen Michelle Wooderson do this, but I hadn't tried it before.  It worked great and turned out super cute!

Do you have any fun plans this weekend?  I don't have anything scheduled, but you know how that goes :)  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Have fun and be safe!  I'll see you all on Monday.  Thank you so much for stopping by today!

New Schtuff!

Good morning!!!!!!  Happy Thursday to you!  These last two weeks have flown by for me I can't believe it.  Before we know it we'll be putting up Halloween decorations.  

So last week I mentioned a few packages I was expecting but I didn't get a chance to post about them until now.  Only two of them arrived.  The first one was this custom stamp:

I ordered it from THIS ETSY SHOP.  She had great, great customer service and I couldn't believe how fast my stamp came!  Lickety split!

Here's a pic of the stamp stamped :)

And now for my Two Peas order.  This made me very, very happy!

A couple of October Afternoon things from their Boarding Pass collection.  I'm hoping to pick up some Sidewalks and Farmhouse when they arrive!

And the only other thing I ordered were these super cool Martha Stewart Halloween cut lace tags.  You know how I love the white ones, and I even ordered the Papertrey die so I could make my own.  So when I saw these that had the Halloween feel to them, I HAD to get them!  I haven't seen these in the store either, another reason to pick them up from Two Peas!

Two Peas had a special "free gift" going on.  If you bought something you got a free gift.  I got this cute stamp set from Bella Blvd.  It will be great for Valentines or for boy cards.

They also threw in some beautiful trims.  This one up above...

And this one, up here.  Aren't they pretty?  Thanks Two Peas!

My other package is a cool new pair of sunglasses, so not anything crafty.  I'm just really excited to get them :)  I thought they would come last week, but things happen.  On a happy note...I placed an order with PTI on Monday and it should be here Saturday or next Monday! 

I hope you have a wonderfully fantastic Thursday.  Make the most of it and enjoy every second!  I'll see you tomorrow!  Thanks for coming by today!

Morning everyone!  How was your Tuesday?  Mine flew by.  That's the nice thing about not being in the office on Monday, my Tuesday FELT like Monday :)  Then here we are, Wednesday already! 

I want to share the little card I made for Landry's first day of pre-school.  She's not really old enough to "get the meaning" behind the card, BUT she is old enough to realize that her big sister is getting something and she isn't.  Plus, I want her to realize that we're just as excited about her first day of pre-school as we are Abie's first day of fourth grade :) 

This card was super easy to make and again I started with the butterfly first.  It's an old Close to My Heart stamp, Whimsy Garden.  I stamped it on that card stock you buy at Walmart, I love that stuff for these types of projects.  Then I colored it in with my Bic Mark Its.  I had a scrap piece of Kraft card stock that I folded in half and added another piece of scrap patterned paper to.  I used one of my white pens to give the look of faux stitching and then adhered my banner with my sentiment.  The last thing I did was stamp my butterfly in black in and then I adhered my colored butterfly on top.  That way I didn't have to worry about cutting out those dang antenna! 

I have training this morning for a couple of hours and then am headed in to the office.  After that I have a well overdue hair appointment.  Seems like I scheduled everything over the next couple of weeks.  I'll be glad when they're over!  Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you all tomorrow!

Getting ready for school.

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I just want to say thank you to all my blog friends that commented yesterday on my post.  You guys are really the best!  Thank you for your kind words about my cousin and sharing your stories about your loved ones that have battled breast cancer.  The more of us that are aware, the better, right? Right!  :)

Are your kiddos getting ready for school?  Abie starts tomorrow and we had meet the teacher last night.  Landry will move into her new pre-school class tomorrow as well.  I think to say that they're excited is an understatement!  As a farewell to summer, we took the girls to Schlitterbahn yesterday.  We kept it a surprise up until the last minute because we weren't sure what the weather was going to do.  We had so much fun, despite the grey, cooler weather :)  In fact, we sat in the parking lot until 12:30 PM because it was still raining when we got there!  The girls had a blast though, which is the important thing!

After we got home, we rushed around and ran up to the school to meet Abie's new teacher, Mr. Bonnel.  It's her first boy teacher and she is super excited because she "heard" he doesn't believe in homework.  Haha.  I told her he probably expects her to get it done in class and if not then she has to take it home, but won't ASSIGN homework.  I'm pretty sure she rolled her eyes at me.  Ha!  As a little hello gift, we took this with us for Mr. Bonnel:

This is a little clear paint can from Michael's that I picked up at 50% off.  I just embellished it a tiny bit, you know since the teacher is a boy ;)  I'm going to have a hard time this year with gifts and making them masculine.  Haha!

Okay, that's it for me!  Have a wonderful Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping by today!!!!

So proud.

Good morning friends!  Did you have a nice weekend?  We were super busy, but it was GREAT!  I would have to say the high point of the weekend was yesterday morning when we went and walked with my cousin at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  My cousin, Jessica, is just 34 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer in June.  She had a double mastectomy three weeks ago.  She has chosen to FIGHT.  She is amazing.  Her attitude, her outlook, her spirit is inspiring.  I am so proud of her and how she is moving through this difficult time in her life.  She starts chemo in a week and I can't even imagine the emotions she must be feeling.  I will do whatever I can for her.

Abie and Landry got up at 5:00 AM so they could walk and support Jessica.  I was so proud of them :)

Here's Mike and my cousin, with her boxing gloves and all!  Mike raised $220 and ran his first 5K yesterday.  Another proud moment for me. 

I have to be honest here, I've never given breast cancer a second thought.  Until now.  One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.  Isn't that scary?  I want my girls to be aware, I want them to have Jessica as a role model, she is unbelievable.  I'm so proud she's my cousin.

Thanks for coming by today, and sharing in my proud moment.  I'll be back tomorrow with a regularly scheduled crafty post :)  Have a fantastic Monday.

Friday, yipee!

I can't believe how fast this week went by.  Can you?  It completely flew by here.  I was halfway productive last night but I still have a few things on my to do list for this weekend. 

I have a really fun card to share today that I'm in love with.  I've been falling in love with a lot of my cards lately :)  I wanted to make each of the girls a card for their first day of school, Abie for fourth grade and Landry for preschool.  The card I'm sharing today is for Abie.

I started this card kind at what I thought was backwards.  I cut the red spiral piece out first and stamped on it and then layered backwards towards the base.  But then I realized that's how I make almost all of my cards.  I start with my focal point and then work back, picking out papers that match and a card base.  Is that how you guys do it or do you work from your base up?

What's up for your weekend?  Mike and I are headed to the Chiefs Pre Season game tonight.  Mom and Dad are watching the girls!!!!  Yeah!  I'm hoping to get some miscellaneous things done on Saturday and then on Sunday we're doing the Komen walk on my cousin's team.  It's going to be a busy weekend!

I hope you have a wonderful Friday and a fabulous weekend!  Thanks for stopping by today!!!

How in the world did it get to be Thursday?

Seriously, it was just Monday and now it's Thursday.  When did that happen?  I have a bajillion things still to do this week and just not enough time to do them in.  Weeks like this drive me up the wall, how about you?  :) 

If you remember, I'm playing by my own rules with Splendid Stamping's  Art Journal Challenge.  So what that means is I'm joining along in the challenges that I have time for and sharing them here, but not on their blog because I didn't "officially" join.  This weeks challenge was to create a page with the concept of gratitude.

I originally wanted to use my new Claudine Helmuth paint and then stamp on it, but I didn't have the right kind of letter stamps.  Plus, my paint was brown and I was feeling particularly cheerful when I worked on this project so I wanted to use really happy colors.  This was just what I ended up with.

I have to say, I'm learning a few things about myself with this art journaling.  It's really hard for me to do it.  It's definitely outside of my box and I'm really uncomfortable doing this.  I'm not sure how to get to the level of art journaling that I want to be at, other than just continuing to do it...at least for a few more weeks ;)  haha!

Okay friends, I've got tons to do so you have a great and productive Thursday and I'm going to as well!  See you tomorrow and thanks for coming by today!

Operator error.

So I had this scheduled to post yesterday but guess what.  I saved it as a draft instead of actually scheduling it.  I would like to blame blogger here and say that there is something wrong with it but I must be honest and say it is just plain old operator error.  That's the second time in just a few weeks I've done this.  I really need to pay closer attention here friends.  I'm sorry :)

I have a fun layered up card for you today.  I got to use one of my new dies on this one.  I started to use some of my new October Afternoon Sprinklers too, but I ended up making the birdhouse a different color :)

I white washed the post card with some acrylic paint and spritzed the birdcage with Glimmer Mist.

 I just layered everything else on, until it looked perfectly layered to me :)

Here's the inside, just a simple sentiment.

I love being able to make a clean and simple card, like yesterday, and then turn around and make one that's all fun and layered up like this one.  What about you?  Do you stick with one style or do you like to switch it up?

I'm off to enjoy my fantastic Wednesday, I hope you will as well!  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll chit chat with you tomorrow my friends!