'Green' Christmas

Hi!  So glad you're here!  I'm not trying to jump the gun on the upcoming holidays or anything, but I'm in a bit of a panic that I do not have many Christmas cards made and it is the end of October...

Fall break gave me some much needed time to do some sorting, cleaning, organizing, and yes, creating in my studio.  I even managed to use something that has been in my stash for quite some time.  

My DH loves to give me a difficult time about the odd things I save for creative projects, and I LOVE when I use something and can show him that I really did need to save whatever it was that he laughed at!  Several years ago, my MIL used some beautiful textured paper to wrap Christmas gifts.  I saved the paper for future use and about a year later, she gave me the remainder of the roll to use as well.  I decided to use the pretty paper to make some wonderful Christmas cards.  The paper was a bit tricky to cut because of the texture, but I decided that imperfect edges would work well with the shabby style I was creating.

a little inky goodness to add to the shabby effect...

changing up the sentiment on this one...

I think they turned out pretty cute and I'm happy to share that I used all of the paper from the wrapped gift!  I still have the remaining paper on the roll that I can still use for something fun too!  When I showed the finished cards to DH, he just smiled and shook his head.  I'm sure I will never convince him that saving these goodies is a wonderful idea, but he's learning not to ask "What are you going to do with THAT?!", so I guess I'm making a bit of a change in him!

I would love to see what you save and reuse on your creative projects! I think the oddest thing I've used was some funky, crinkly packing paper from Disney World!  If you have something to share, leave me a message with a link and I'll check it out!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Card Recipe:  Paper-Old olive, very vanilla, wrapping paper, Ink-memento tuxedo black, real red, soft suede, Stamps-Star Studded Season (1st card), Stampabilities Blessed Christmas (2nd card)

A little play time

Hello! We have finally made it to our fall break at school and I couldn't be happier!  It seems like since we've moved, I find so many other things that require my time and I have little time to be creative...  But now I have an entire week off of school and I'm determined to get some things accomplished in my studio!  The past two days have been spent doing laundry and catching up with neglected projects, and, now my focus is on working in the studio.  This will include a bit of cleaning, reorganizing, and maybe even a trip to find more storage pieces! So excited!!

This afternoon, I was able to sneak a little time to make some cards for my stash.  My organizers are pretty empty and there are birthdays and anniversaries just around the corner.  I decided to focus on anniversary today and pulled up a design I pinned a very long time ago.  It was actually a quilt block design, but I love altering those to make some cute quilt like cards!  Click here to see the original design.

I used 1" squares of whisper white and rich razzleberry from the Sycamore Street dsp.  Some were kept whole, while others were cut diagonally to make triangles.  Personally, I find that it's easier to glue my squares/triangles to a piece of copy paper and then run that through an embossing folder.  I'm not sure how else to keep the pieces together...  

I decided to mix things up a bit.  I did the first one with the sentiment stamped on the side and decided that I didn't care for that as much as I originally planned.  So the next one was stamped under the quilted piece.  I also changed the patterned paper behind the quilting. I'm not sure which I like better.  I think the multi colored piece makes the heart stand out more.

Well, I really don't have much more to share today, but I am so glad you stopped by!  I'm going to try to be super productive this week and hopefully will have more to share with you in the near future!  Have a wonderful day!

Card Recipe:  Paper-rich razzleberry, whisper white, Sycamore Street dsp, Ink-memento tuxedo black, Stamp Set-Wonderful Words, Accessories-big shot, square lattice embossing folder

Decoupage-Challenge accepted!

Hello! I am so glad you visited and even more happy that I've been able to make something to share with you!  

About a week ago, a co-worker was eating Oui yogurt with her lunch and we all commented on the cute glass jar that it came in. We discussed the recycling vs. plastic trash aspect of the container and someone commented that it would be a cute jar to hold little things like paperclips.  Then someone else mentioned making it a candle holder.  I suggested decoupaging it so it would be even cuter.  Dead silence.... Finally... "Deco what?" So I gave a short tutorial on the versatility of decoupage and how many different looks one could achieve through this medium.  This led my co-worker to hand me her empty jar with the challenge of "make something".  They all laughed as I asked what theme she would like.  She responded that Halloween or Fall would be great.  Our lunch ended with people guessing just how that yogurt jar would be made over.

That weekend, I got busy.  I thoroughly cleaned the jar, removed the labels and dug out my left-over fall papers.

The cute little yogurt jar

Next I tore some burlap print paper into squares and triangles, and began to decoupage the papers onto the jar.

After everything dried, I inked the white paper spots with various shades of brown ink, smudging and smearing it onto the paper.  A glittery silk leaf and a burlap flower were added to give the jar a bit of flair.

 I used rubber bands to hold the leaf and flower in place until the glue dried.

the finished product!

Monday morning, I went to my co-workers classroom and placed the jar on her desk.  Her face registered shock and amazement as she slowly realized this was her yogurt jar!  She was very pleased and I passed the decoupage challenge with flying colors!  Now everyone is saving their jars for me... What have I started?!

I hope my project and story have inspired you to look at your 'junk' with new eyes and find a way to brighten someone else's day as well!  Have a fabulous day!!

It's almost fall, y'all!

While it's not officially fall in the US yet, today's weather is letting us know that it won't be long.  Seems the wind and rain from Harvey decided to bring colder temperatures with them. Today was a dreary, cold, rainy day, but I'm counting my blessings that it could be much worse.  My heart aches for all those who have lost loved ones, homes, and possessions to this.  I'm praying that sunny days and plenty of help are heading to Texas!

On a totally unrelated topic, I had always thought that as my kids got older, I would have more free time to create and that once I had my own room for crafting, everything would just fall into place. HA!  It's funny how even though I'm doing less running with my kids, I still don't have a lot of 'free' time, and I am still trying to sort through boxes of craft and art supplies.  I'm hoping that the long weekend will afford at least one day to organize a little bit more and maybe even allow for some creative time.

I did take a few evenings to work on a little project for my mantle (which still is not in place...) and I'm pretty happy with the results.  I found the set of MDF letters unfinished at Hobby Lobby and they were 40% off! Of course, since I didn't have all of my supplies unpacked, I HAD to buy some new fall papers and some wonderful burlap flowers to dress those naked letters!

I started with a taupe colored acrylic paint and painted the sides and backs of the letters.  The next evening,  I traced and cut out the patterned paper, glued it on and let it dry overnight.  The next day, I trimmed and sanded the edges of the paper, added some ink to cover any white paper peeking through, and added a nice layer of crackle medium.

The next day I was a bit disappointed to see that the crackle wasn't at all what I wanted it to be. I could barely see the crack lines... I'm thinking the MDF absorbed more than I expected, and I really didn't want to add another layer, so I got out my sponge and a crumb cake ink pad and grunged up the edges.  It wasn't the look I originally planned, but it turned out ok.

My final step was to glue on some fall colored silk leaves from my stash and top them with the adorable burlap flowers.  I think they turned out pretty good and with my bargain shopping, they were actually cheaper than if I would have bought something similar!

I hope you enjoyed my project and just  maybe I inspired you to create your own seasonal decoration!  If so, I would love to see what you created!  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

A Sneak Peek!

Hello! I had promised a while back to share some photos of our remodeling process.  We're not quite finished with everything and my studio is far from ready for a photo shoot (unless you want to see a disaster area), but I did want to share a few of my organization areas.

I have never been a super organized 'matchy' kind of person.  I like to use found and repurposed items to add a bit of character and fun.  Not only has this managed to be quite cost effective, but it also helps create a cozy feeling to the rooms and that is exactly the style we wanted to implement into our home!  Here are a few pics of my studio space...

The black cabinet was originally from the daycare I taught at for over 15 years, so there is a bit of sentimentality attached to it.  It was white with bright red sides originally, and DH painted it a nice neutral black for me.  I love that it won't show inky dirty spots the way it did when it was white!  To the right of the cabinet are some stacked wooden crates I bought at Michaels. They work pretty well to hold my albums that aren't finished yet.  I wish they were a little deeper, but overall, I like them.

These are two of my favorite storage pieces!  The head vase was purchased for a song on EBay (I loved that it was all worn and has a small chip in the back!), and Humpty Dumpty was found at a local flea market/antique shop.  They both do a great job of holding things I use all the time and look super cute while they do it!

I use an assortment of glass jars to hold ribbon.  They work great for the ribbon that came from shares and swaps, and look so colorful sitting on my cabinet shelf. The jars were either thrift store finds or food jars with the labels removed.

I'm still in the process of getting another shelf/bookcase to hold a few more things, and I have several boxes of supplies that still need a home (I think they multiplied in the garage...), but as soon as my room is done, I'll share before and after pictures of the space!

Christmas in July!!

Hello, again! I'm so glad you stopped by today! I'm having a bit of a breakthrough/breakdown this week!  My breakthrough is finally making time to get a little creative and start filling my box for Christmas cards; the breakdown will probably come soon because we only a few more days to get everything moved from our former place and I'm overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that is currently residing in our garage...  Guess I can always shut the door, go the the studio, and pretend I'll deal with it tomorrow... Just call me Scarlet O'Hara!

But enough of my personal drama!  You came here to see something somewhat creative!  I had a bit of paper left from the Christmas card I made last week, so I decided to use it up and make two very simple cards.  You will notice that one has a very clean, crisp look, and the other was grunged a bit.  I would love to say that I was playing around and wanted to see the two styles side by side, but the truth is the grungy card is hiding some stamping boo boos.   The shepherds image has quite a bit of empty space between the star and the shepherds and I went a little ink happy and left a shadow above the lamb. You can still see it, but now it looks a little more like part of the weathered effect.  I actually like making some cards inky on purpose, but in this case, I think I like the cleaner card more.  What are your thoughts?

Well, I think I've hidden in my studio for as long as my family will let me, and those boxes are not going to sort themselves (believe me, I've given them plenty of time to do it!).  Thanks so much and I hope you'll stop by again.  My next post will share some pictures of my studio space which is not quite finished yet, but at least it gives me a place to hide, um... I mean work!  Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Card Recipe:  Paper-Raspberry Tart dsp (ret), whisper white, Stamp Set-Every Blessing, Ink- soft suede

Something Blue-It's wedding time!

Well, hello! I can not express how happy I am to be finding time to post on my blog more regularly again!  I know that creative blogs are sort of 'out of fashion' and many aren't using them anymore, but I really enjoy the combination of the written (typed) word and creating things.  It's a bit cheaper than traditional therapy too!

Today, I'm sharing a card I made for my nephew and his bride's wedding.  They are such a wonderful couple! Both are teachers and enjoy coaching sports, so they both have a great built in support system!  I don't usually like to do assembly line cards (several exactly the same), but when you're trying to finish remodeling, moving, taking care of parents, and running kids places-sometimes you just do what you must to get things done!  I ended up making six cards that were very similar and now have a stash of wedding and anniversary cards again.

This is the card I made for the happy couple.  Their colors were yellow and blue with hints of silver, and I thought the paper from Delicate Dots (very retired DSP) worked perfectly!  The card is elegant and simple which fits both their personalities!

The other cards are very similar to this wedding card and used most of the same supplies.

I am so happy you stopped by and hope you found some inspiration or ideas for your own creations!  Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting!

Card Recipe: Paper-Delicate Dots DSP (ret), So Saffron, Whisper White, Ink-Smoky Slate, Bashful Blue (ret), Stamp Sets-Blessed By God, Floral Phrases, Accessories-bashful blue grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Merry Monday- Ready for Christmoose?!

Hi! I'm feeling a bit giddy right now! I am finally finding time to resume playing along with challenges again!! I've always enjoyed the fun of coming up with an idea based off of someone else's suggestions.  When I saw the challenge at Merry Monday Christmas Challenges was 'use a moose', I knew I had to dig out one of the cute moose images I had!  

The stamp is from Riley & Co, but I don't remember what it was called, sorry!  I colored Riley and his penguin friend with markers and added a little crystal effects to the earmuffs and scarf.  A little snow-tex was added to the 'ground' to complete the scene.  I also managed to use one of the wooden snowflakes that I've had for some time.  I covered it in white craft ink and then covered it with dazzling details for some added sparkle! There is also a hint of pastels on the background to create the sky.  Not a super complicated card, but I had a lot of fun playing with some supplies that have been neglected for some time!

On a personal note, I can't believe that June is almost over and that means Christmas will be here well before I'm ready!  Good thing the Merry Monday ladies helped me get an extra card added to my very small pile of completed Christmas cards!  If you get a chance, be sure to visit their challenge site and see all of the super cute moose cards, or even better, make your own super cute card and join in the fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Card Recipe: Paper-whisper white, real red, Raspberry Tart dsp (ret), Ink-Memento tuxedo black, crumb cake, pumpkin pie, old olive, real red, creamy caramel, tip top taupe, Stamp-Riley & Co., Accessories-crystal effects, dazzling details, snow-tex, wood snowflake and white ribbon from stash

Birthday greetings and hazardous working conditions

Hi! I'm so glad you're here!  I took a break from my grown up duties this past weekend to do some card making!  During my unpacking and organizing, I came across Wildflower Fields DSP and remembered how much I liked the colors in this paper pack.  The patterns are great too since there is a nice mix of feminine and masculine prints.  My box of birthday cards was almost empty and I will need to send several very soon so I decided to take a break from working to 'work' on some cards.

Because I don't have everything unpacked yet and lots of stuff on my table, I kept things simple and let the great prints take center stage.

a design for the ladies

and one for the guys

I managed to make six cards from each sheet of pattern paper, with some scraps left over for another project.  Now my stash is a little better and I can get back to work again (yippee...), but before I go I want to share a couple of photos of my new work space.  I thought having my own room with my own table would allow me more freedom to leave projects and supplies out, instead of having to pack everything away when I was using the kitchen table.  What I didn't include in my plan was the perfect placement of my table under a wonderful window that allows a perfect resting spot for our cat...

She is so glad that we remodeled this house for her and especially likes the nice resting table in her studio!  Never a dull moment when she decides to join me...

chasing the cap to my glue bottle...

earning her keep as a paperweight...

As much as she drives me crazy, she really is a sweet kitty and something of a miracle since she was basically dying when my daughter rescued her-not that you could tell now!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope your day is filled with good things and your working conditions are a little less eventful than mine!

Card Recipe: Paper-Wildflower Fields dsp (ret), old olive, calypso coral, blackberry bliss, hello honey, whisper white, Ink-lost lagoon, Stamp Set-wacky wishes

Recycling numbers (the last of the graduation cards)

Well, hello again!  I am slowly but surely finding ways to use the numbers left over from my graduation card invitations(click here to see) and between thank you cards for DD1's party and graduation cards for her friends, most of the numbers have been used up!  Today, I'm sharing the cards I made to give to her friends who are also graduating.  Super simple design and these went together in a flash, which was great considering all of the things we had going on at the time!

In a few more weeks, we should be completely finished with our move and most of the interior remodeling/construction will be done.  At that point, I'll try to share some before and after photos of our home and some of the ways we repurposed things to be useful for us.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I am hoping to have some free time before too long to do some much needed scrapbooking and cardmaking.  I'm also long overdue on repaying blog visits and hope to catch up with all my blogland friends soon!

Taking a break to create!

Hello again!  We have been diligently working on our house, especially my craft room, and I am finally seeing an end to the 'to do' list!  We moved several pieces of furniture into my studio this week and I have been unpacking and finding a place for all of my goodies.  I even threw some things away and started a sell/donate pile-gasp!  Of course, DH thinks those piles should be bigger than they are, but that's ok because his shop in the garage looks quite similar to my stash...

I took a small break today to work on a few cards and thought I would share them with you.  The first group are the thank you cards for DD#1's graduation.  We recycled the numbers from her invitations to make the thank yous and the strip of black is leftovers from matting photos for her softball and music boards.  There are still a few numbers left, but I'm hoping to find a purpose for them somewhere!

I was in dire need of some feminine birthday cards, so I dug out some retired Raspberry Tart dsp from Stampin' UP. One sheet of the pattern paper made six cards.  The sentiment is an old one from Hero Arts.  I would love to say that my stash of retired paper was decreased from this, but using one paper from a rather large collection of packets is hardly progress...  Guess I'll just have to 'work' harder at making that container smaller! Ha!

Hopefully, by the end of the month, my room will be set and then I'll share some photos of how the room was updated and where I chose to put all of my precious supplies!  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

Card Recipe:  Paper-whisper white, real red, basic black, large numbers framelits

Card Recipe:  Paper-whisper white, Raspberrry Tart, rose red, Ink-rose red, Stamp-Hero Arts

Sunrise, Sunset...

Hello again!  My school year is almost over and normally I would be counting the seconds until summer vacation officially begins.  This year will be a little different since DD1 is graduating.  Not only am I neck deep in party planning and getting photos ready for the big day, but I'm also trying to finally move into my crafting room.  DH was able to put the new hardwood in this week and now I'm scrambling around trying to unpack boxes, move furniture, and put things in some sort of order.  The only upside of this is it keeps me from focusing on the fact that my first born is approaching a major milestone and won't be around nearly as much as she is now...  I recently finished her softball photo board and could not believe how hard it was to look at those first years of softball pictures!

I have also been busy making invitations and thank you cards for her party.  Since we needed quite a few of these, I kept the design super simple and easy to assembly line.

When we had senior night for softball, we made cupcakes and arranged them in the shape of a softball.  Since we wanted the girls to each have their name on a 'softball', I came up with a banner for each girl.  Using die cuts made this super easy to put together.  I glued the banners to a cake pop stick and they looked pretty cute flying over the cupcakey goodness.

I'm sorry to say that my pictures of the girls with their cakes didn't turn out too well.  It was a hot muggy day and by the time the game was over and the girls could pose with their cakes, the icing was a bit melty... They tasted wonderful though!

I am hoping that within the next month or so, things will be settled and I'll be able to actually create again.  Assembly line crafts are great in a pinch, but I am really in need of some serious creative therapy!  Wish me luck!

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you'll come back soon!

Inspiration and Scrapbooking

Hello and welcome back!  I am so happy to be back on my lil' ol' blog and posting again! I'm still sharing things that I made during the time I was sans computer, but hopefully we will be finishing my crafting room soon and I can get back to making lots of new creations!   

I'm currently working on graduation invitations for DD1. It's a little hard to believe that I used to share photos of her grade school valentines and now I'm finishing up graduation cards... sniff! sniff!

As soon as they are finished, I'll try to remember to share a pic with you!

Today, I'm sharing a couple of pages I've added to my inspiration/quotes journal and a couple of scrapbook pages.

This was made completely from scraps from a 'green' project

I made long ago.  I love all of the different layers on this!

You can see the original project here.

This page was an effort to finish off a packet of dsp

that I've had forever and only had scraps left.  It's 

all gone now!! One down, 5,000 to go... 

This page also uses the last of the scraps. Notice those

teeny tiny tags? Yep, I used every possible piece!! I 

think the embossing folder added a nice 'quilted' touch 

to the patchwork of scraps.

Another 'use it up' page! The green, lacy trim has been in my

stash for a long time and the background page has as well.

I had a lot of fun journaling around the swirling vines!

Thanks so much for visiting again and I hope you were inspired to use up some of your bits and pieces as well! Have a fantastic day!!

Back in the saddle again!

Helloooooo... I'm hoping there's not too much of an echo in here and that some of my following peeps are still around! I have finally bought a new computer, mostly finished renovating our new to us house, and partially moved in (still no scrappy room...) and had a few minutes to post something on my blog again!

The cards were actually created a while back, but without a computer, they were never shared on my blog.  Nothing too fancy and for the most part they were made with scraps of paper that I felt the need to use up!

I love how the petite blue flowers on the umbrella and 

the blue cloud tie together to make a not so cloudy and gray card.

This one is a bit unusual for me-a card full of sticker embellishments!

My mom loves peacocks and the girls thought these stickers were

perfect for her birthday card. I have to admit, the 3D feathers are

very pretty!

Well, this is all for now. I hope you will get a little inspiration from my cards and I promise not to wait so long before I post again! Have a great day and happy crafting!

Sorta kinda crafty

Hello and happy new year! We started 2017 continuing to remodel our new home.  There have been some unexpected issues like broken plumbing, but for the most part, it's just been  a lot of removal,  painting,  and elbow grease.
I have been so busy that I still haven't bought a new laptop,  which is killing me... However,  I am taking the time to post from my phone to share some pictures of a work in progress. Here's a sneak peek at my future craft room.

Original- not a great shot of the room,  but you can see the 80's era carpeting and the beige-ish wall.

Bye bye carpet...

Hello, new wall color! It is now Sweet As Honey! The paper is covering the wall cabinets that were already installed. Hopefully,  I will be sharing completed room photos soon.  Until then, wish me luck!