No, really... I was cleaning...

Hello! I am so glad you stopped by because I need to share a true story with someone who will understand, and possibly believe my story.  Because my family doesn't...

**Warning: Extremely Lengthy and Possibly Boring Story**

It all started as I was cleaning the kitchen earlier this week.  I did a major purge of my cabinets and pantry resulting in a lot of things ending up in a donation box or the trash.  I did not, however, throw away several different sized empty coffee containers.  They were moved to my craft area under the eye rolls of my family members.  I told them that if I couldn't come up with a use for them by the end of the month, I would get rid of them (the containers, not my family-although I was quite tempted...).

After the kitchen was cleaned, I realized I needed a better system for keeping our daily medicines organized.  Since we no longer have any littles, I don't worry about keeping things up high and out of sight.  So our vitamins, advil, and prescriptions are sitting on the counter, which is great until one of them gets knocked onto the floor and rolls under something or gets pushed to the back of the counter where it hides behind the whole wheat flour container (found some of my allergy meds there during the clean).  As I was pondering where I could find something that would look nice sitting on the counter, my eyes spied the stack of coffee containers. Hmmm...

The next morning instead of cleaning up my crafting space like I had planned, I got busy transforming the coffee canister into a lovely medicine bowl.  This would have been perfectly acceptable except that I shared my cleaning plans with DH so I would stay accountable.  His smug grin said it all.  Nothing wiped it off his face either-not my insisting that it was divine intervention that called me to use one of the containers, not the reassurance that this was actually finishing the kitchen clean up, not even the reminder that "Hey! I told you I'd find a use for those containers you rolled your eyes at yesterday!".

So now I have a perfectly lovely container that keeps our medicines and vitamins neat and tidy, and a super messy work space.  But like my fellow procrastinator Annie always says "Tomorrow... Tomorrow... I'll clean ya, tomorrow!  You're always a day away..." or something like that...  I'm pretty sure the mess isn't going anywhere and since we are scheduled for wind and rain tomorrow, it will be a perfect day for tidying up the ol' crafting space!

If you've made it this far, you will be glad to know that I do actually have a few pictures of the medicine container that is causing my family to doubt my ability to get the house organized.

I placed the plastic lid on the bottom since the edge of the canister was metal

and I didn't want to risk the can rusting. The crochet ribbon is hiding it from view.

The butterflies are covered in dazzling details but it was hard

to get a good shot of all of the glittery goodness.

Now you have heard my tale, sad but true, about a royal family who doubts their queen's ability to stop crafting long enough to keep the castle in proper order.  But I know that you saw the deeper meaning of this story.  The queen just saved one of the coffee containers from imminent doom, and I'll let you in on a little secret...she has plans for the other ones too!  Don't you just love a happy ending?

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a marvelous weekend!!

Project Recipe: Precious Butterflies and Inspired by Nature stamp sets, garden green & not quite navy ink, rose red & not quite navy cardstock, bitty butterfly punch, butterfly punch (ret), First Edition DSP, dazzling details, crochet ribbon

Pinterest isn't just for looking!

Hello! Seems like it's been so long since I blogged.  It has been extremely busy around here and I wish I could say I have been crafting up a storm, but sadly that is not the case...  I have been playing taxi driver for both of my girls and attempting to keep a small sense of order in our home-not an easy task when no one seems to be home.  If anyone can explain how a house can get so messy when nobody is there, please share your wisdom!  I did however spend a few late nights browsing my favorite time waster, Pinterest.  I do actually make some of the things I have pinned and have even tried some of the recipes with great success.  But like most people, I will never have enough time to make everything I have pinned to my boards!  I was feeling a bit guilty about this when I decided to print off some of the free downloadable art.  The post card is part of a set that is wonderfully aged, and the water lily is from a cigar box art set.  There were a lot of beautiful images to choose from, but I liked the way the water lily went with the postcard.  You can find both free downloads here.

I was also inspired by some goodies I purchased last weekend during a family shopping trip.  I bought a TH stencil that had all of these fabulous dots on it and thought it would be a fun way to ink the background.  

My oldest DD always has to check out the remnant racks in the fabric department.  She loves to work on sewing projects and probably has about as much fabric as my sister.  Since I don't sew, I often get to be the color coordinating advice giver as she pairs her fabrics for a new project.  While we were digging for a neutral piece of fleece, I came across this wonderful roll of pink organza.  I had a sudden vision of a pretty pink flower and I wondered how well my big shot flower die would do on this material.  I ended up buying not only the pink but also some white organza as well.  DH raised an eyebrow at my purchase but didn't utter a word.  He knows about my lack of sewing skills, but he has also been married to me for almost 20 years.  Such a wise man!

The material cut like a dream and I didn't even have to back it with anything!  The flower looked a little too pretty for my otherwise aged journal page, so I wrinkled it up a bit.  The fabric frayed a little through this process, but I rather liked the effect.  I also did a little touch up on the heart from the SU artisan kit.  I rubbed a little Inka Gold metallic rub over the top to make it a little more 'old' looking.

So now I can proudly say that I used two pins from my Pinterest board and found a wonderful use for fabric that requires zero sewing skills! Not bad for a day's play!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Spring break is this week, so hopefully I will have a little more time to play and share!

Journal Page Recipe:  Digital art printed on white cardstock, lace and heart from Artisan kit, pink organza and fun flowers die, vanilla brad, Trust God stamp set, inks-early espresso, crumb cake, rose red, Inka Gold metallic rub

Anything But a Card-Sparkle!

Hello! My poor little blog is feeling a bit neglected lately!  But I do have a new creation to share with you!  We are on week three of our SPARKLE challenge at Anything But a Card, and for my DT contribution, I made a scrapbook layout of one of my favorite stars who always has a sparkle in her eye!

The pink background, pink flowers, and glitter spray are from Kellybell Designs.  I also used #16 from the Days to Remember DSP, black grosgrain ribbon, whisper white scallop edge punch, and going gray star punch.

The photos are from my daughter's debut in her first musical, Mame.  She was a member of the chorus and had five dance routines to learn.  The singing and being on stage was a normal occurrence, but she was a bit nervous about the dancing.  Of course, if I wasn't her mother, I wouldn't have known that she was nervous at all.  She loved the costume changes and really enjoyed the whole experience.  Her final dress was a sequined flapper with a matching headband. Her earrings were very sparkly as well.  I knew right away that these photos would be my inspiration for Sparkle! After all, I can't think of anything that sparkled more than her smile on opening night!

I would love it if you would share your Glitter! Sparkle! creation with us!  Here is a summary of our current challenge...

The Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #33 - the word"SPARKLE"!! What does the word sparkle represent to you? Sparkle can be a personality trait, or a physical appearance, or an attitude. You could be inspired with the written definition; go with a passage from a book or poem - or even quote a song... and of course we include going crazy with bling!

In Colors? Who knew?!

I have a confession... I do not normally get overly excited about the In Colors.  Not that I don't like them, but since they are usually only available for a limited time I tend to spend my money on the products in the catalog that can be used longer.  I do buy the markers and a mixed pack of the paper so I can share the colors with my customers and also use them in my classes, but overall they don't get a lot of attention from me.  I remember when the latest colors came out thinking they reminded me of ice cream and that they were pretty-end of thought.  Until I made this card!

I started out using the baked brown sugar because I thought it would be a great color for the wood.  This led to pulling out the coastal cabana and crisp canteloupe for the coordinating colors.  By the time the card was finished, I was in love with this color combination! This coming from a girl who usually does not like pastel combos...

Now I'm thinking I need the stretchy ribbon (this stuff is SO COOL) in every color, and I know I need to get more paper!  In Colors! Who knew?!

I liked this card so well it became one of the cards for my stampin' club! Don't you just love the punched out heart? This great design was found here. I noticed after making my card that she used in colors too, just different ones!

I hope I've encouraged you to experiment with the In Colors or at the very least, step out of your color comfort zone and try something new!  Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Paper-crisp canteloupe, baked brown sugar, coastal cabana, whisper white, Ink-soft suede, coastal cabana, Stamp-Hardwood, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Hearts a Flutter, Accessories-heart punch, heart to heart punch, coastal cabana stretch ruffle trim, calypso coral bakers twine, vintage faceted buttons

Stamp Club- Super Simple birthday card!

Hello! I am so happy you stopped in to visit today!  I have a super simple birthday card to share with you today!  This also happens to be one of the cards that my stamp club is making.  While we don't always do really basic cards, I like to share this kind of design for quick cardmaking.  I found this fabulous layout here.

What makes this card super quick is using the circle framelits for the holes.  I randomly placed the framelits on the white cardstock piece and ran the whole thing through the big shot. All the holes in one run!  I think the hardest part may have been picking the paper scraps to place behind the holes... 

Since I was already prepping several cards for my club, I made some extras for my stash of birthday cards too.