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!

Beginning of another week.

Here we are at the beginning of yet another week.  These days are just flying by and I wish I could slow them down somehow.  My girls are growing up so fast and we have had the best summer, I'm really trying to enjoy the last few days.  We had a heck of a rain storm on Sunday afternoon and it was fab-U-lous!  We didn't even mind the mini river running through our backyard afterwards. 

I have a very simple, one layer card to share with you today, using one of my most favorite stamp sets. 

The stamp set I used was Life from Papertrey Ink.  The sentiment came from Damask Designs, also from PTI.  I used Momento Inks and just layered the flowers on top of one another and then sort of nestled my sentiment in the flowers.  Very quick and easy.  This would also be great to do a set of note cards too.  Hmm, might have to file that idea away!

Do you have a busy Monday, a busy week ahead?  I'm in training today but the rest of my week looks pretty low key.  I have a few packages coming in the mail to me and I can't wait to share those with you as well.  Hopefully they will all get delivered.  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you all tomorrow!

Coloring on Kraft.

Are you as excited as I am that it's Friday?  The major week after week long heat wave has finally broken!  Now we still have awful humidity, but it's not 112 anymore :)  This means we might actually see some of our neighbors this weekend.  Haha!

Today I want to talk to you about coloring on Kraft cardstock.  I've seen people use colored pencils and that's what I initially tried.  It looked great, until I colored my second card with my markers.  Then it put my colored pencil card to shame!  I think I just need to go back over my colored pencils with some mineral spirits to even the color out a bit, then it will look just fine.

I used my Bic Mark Its on this and really love the way it turned out!  I added a bit of twine and stamped my sentiment and the card was finished!

What do you have planned this weekend?  We are taking it easy for the most part.  My cousins birthday party and then dinner afterwards on Saturday and I think that's about it for us!  I'm hoping to get some crafty time in, as usual :)  Have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend!  See you later and thanks for coming by today!

Good morning and happy Thursday to you!  I'm headed in to work for a couple of hours this morning and then I'm taking the girls to the dentist for a check up.  We plan on spending the rest of the day together, doing what I'm not sure, but I know they will keep me busy :)

Today I have another tag to share.  This one for my cousin's daughter's seventh birthday party which is this Saturday.  I was totally inspired by a card Dawn McVey made a couple of weeks ago with Hero Arts/Basic Grey's Hello Luscious flower set.  She stamped then layered the flowers together and it looked super cute!  You can check her card out HERE!

And now, for my tag...which I used several of my new goodies on that I posted yesterday about!

Sigh, I think I'm in love.  I used Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe papers on this...again ;)  I feel like I've made tons of stuff with this paper and I still have SO much left over from that little 6x6 pad.  I'm telling ya, 6x6 is the way for me to go!  Anyway, I used my *NEW* Hero Arts/Basic Grey stamps and my *NEW* border punch.  See, I told you you had to SEE it to see how pretty it was.  I never would have bought it otherwise.  I just love how this tag came together!

Okay, I'm off to spend the day with my girls!  Enjoy your Thursday to its fullest and I'll see you back here tomorrow!  Thanks for popping in today!

Some new goodies!

It's Wednesday my friends!  Woo hoo!  This week is chugging right along and I was halfway productive last night, just as I had hoped!  Awesome, right?

So you know a couple of weeks ago how  told you I was in the mood to shop a little bit?  Well...I've picked a few things up here and there and I thought I would share them with you.  Please hang in there with me.  I've got a lot of pictures, I didn't think to pile everything up and take one big picture until AFTER I put everything away :)

I picked these stamps up at Archivers.  My first set of Hero Arts/Basic Grey.  This set of flowers is Hello Luscious and I saw an awesome card Dawn McVey made and was so inspired, I had to pick them up!  The other stamp is from Unity Stamp Company and I grabbed it because a) it's adorable and b) it reminds me of our house...sort of.  Although Abie was quick to tell me it looked NOTHING like our house.  Aaahhh, the honesty of a nine year old ;)

This is my first pot of Claudine Hellmuth paint.  I've heard great, great things about this and tried to pick out a neutral color that I thought I would use a lot.  You know, I like to get the most bang for my buck.

Here's another first for me.  Some October Afternoon Sprinklers!  Super excited to try these out with my next purchase...

This is regular old twill tape that I got at Joann's.  Now, I've seen tons of videos where ladies have made wrinkle ribbon with that other tape stuff (the name escapes me now) but I can only find it online and I'm WAY to impatient to wait for delivery through the mail.  So when I saw someone use twill tape to make the stuff, only it wasn't as wrinkly, I can't even tell you how super excited I was!!!!

A new punch I picked up at Joann's.  40% off...of course!  I never would have bought this if I hadn't seen it used on a card somewhere.  So, so pretty!

Some Tim Holtz memo pins and small tags from Joann's, again 40% off.  Saw a super cool idea I want to try with those tags!

Get this...Tim Holtz dies at Joann's now?  Seriously, did I miss the memo on this one?  So excited when i saw these AND they were 40% off.  Now I can make all the same way cool UN-caged birds as Tracy! ;)

 
Last, but not least, some red Thickers, for my vacation mini, and yes...another punch.  This one I've wanted FOREVER!  I picked these up at Michaels with a 40% off coupon.

Whew, are you shopped out yet?  The only thing I still have on my wish list is the Martha Stewart Butterfly Large Double Punch.  Oh, and of course all that cool new paper from CHA in 6x6!  What about you.  What have you bought lately or what are you wanting to buy?

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow.  I have a super fun tag I made with some of my new goodies!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a fab Wednesday!!!!

Let's talk baby gifts.

Good Tuesday morning to you!  I want to talk baby gifts today.  There's a baby shower at work today I realized something when I was making the tag for the gift.  I don't make baby gifts look like baby gifts anymore.  HERE is one example and HERE is another.  While I may have baby elements incorporated, they may not be typical baby colors.  Do you ever notice things like this about your crafting?  Changes in your style, within certain themes?

Here's today's card/tag.

This little tag was super fun to make.  I stamped the background super quick with Papertrey Ink's Est. 1776 stars in Momento Tuxedo black ink and then layered on some Pink Paislee Hometown Summer paper.  I finished it off with a bit of twine and my sentiment, stamped in on Pure Poppy paper.  Ta Da!

My Monday flew by, I'm hoping the rest of my week does too :)  I have a lot of things I want to get done this week, after work, so I'm hoping I can be SUPER productive in the evenings.  Here's to a fast Tuesday during the day, but a slow and productive evening, right?  Thanks for coming by today and I'll be back tomorrow with some new purchases I've made recently!!  I couldn't resist the buying bug any longer!

Franklin.

So do you ever have one of those weekends that just flies by and you wonder where the time went and just what exactly, if anything, you accomplished?  That was my weekend :)  We were so busy, but I couldn't tell you exactly what we did.

I do know that at some point my sister came over we worked on a project for her classroom.  She teaches second grade and has a new class pet this year.  Meet Franklin.

 

Franklin gets to travel home with a different student each week and at the end of the weekend, the student writes in Franklin's journal about all of their fun adventures.  My sister and I made the cover for Franklin's journal  and she's going to take it to school and laminate it.

Here's the cover.  Jennie picked up several different sheets of patterned paper and we both liked the map paper best, to represent him traveling from student to student.  You can't really tell from the picture, but it's matted on black cardstock.

Did you have a busy weekend?  I can hardly believe July is over and today is the first of August.  We're preparing for school now and enjoying Abie's last days of summer vacation.  She is really excited for school to start back up though.  Have a great Monday everyone and I'll see back here tomorrow!