Embossing Fun

I am having so much fun playing with my new embossing folders from the Cuttlebug line of products. A.C. Moore had a bang-up sale this past weekend and each folder, with the discounted sale + an extra 25% off came to a little over $2.00 - what a steal!! This is a card I put together tonight for my Mom's birthday. I always make her something with a feminine touch (a flower, stitching, etc.) so I thought this would be a little different. I love, love, love the embossed numbers. I knew exactly what I was going to do with this folder when I bought it...numbers = birthdays in my book. The ribbon was a $1.00 find from a while back at Big Lots. It is from the Heidi Grace line which I also love.

New Tools, New Layout

I ordered some new tools a few weeks back...a set of the Nestabilities dies with scalloped edges. Actually, I ordered two sets, the oval set and the circle set. I finally came to the conclusion that buying these sets (6 different sizes in 1 set) was WAY cheaper than purchasing individual punches at $9+/each. And....the best thing is....they are so much easier to store than all those bulky punches. I thought I would show you a picture of an entire set, plus the embossing pad and cutting pad. And another thing, these dies work very well with my trusty ole' Sizzix die cut machine. I didn't have to spend more $$ purchasing another tool I don't have room for.

Well, as the days of summer are settling in, I've finally been able to carve out some cropping time. I started on this layout last night and finished it this morning. It's not my usual "family" layout, but I thought the before and after pictures were worth remembering. I decided to make it just one page so the journalling didn't get really lengthy. I am also learning to like my handwriting on my layouts instead of using the computer all of the time. I entered a page contest at the last crop I went to and the girl working in the store actually loved the way my handwriting looked on my page...I was a little bit surprised.

Team Spikes

My oldest daughter, Cayla, played for a few months on a girls' volleyball team and had a blast! She was definitely in her element with this sport and it was so good to see her really enjoying the practices and the games and the friendships she made. Soccer was a little too sweaty, windy, and tiresome for her with all that running around. ??? Anyways, she thought she would enjoy volleyball much better and she was right. I tried several times to take some good shots of her while playing, but the lighting on the court was bad, the movements were quick and most of the shots came out blurry. After several attempts I just decided to go with it and call them "action shots." I found some really neat scrapbook paper to go along with my theme and finally put something together this afternoon. At the time I purchased the paper I wasn't thinking about their team uniforms being blue, so I pulled a blue element onto each page by adding a stapled trim of paper....I've been wanting to do this technique with either paper or ribbon for quite some time. I thought the distressed nature of the paper fit the technique perfectly. I also had a "WoW" moment when I went looking for some lined journalling paper and thumbed through Abby's stash and discovered some really neat and interesting papers....I will definitely keep this supply source in the back of my head for future pages. Sometimes you just have to think outside the box....or the scrapbook store.

Pawsitively Perfect

My youngest daughter wants to have a "Puppy" birthday party so I thought I would get a head start while things are a bit settled in the household. I put together these invitations which we are going to hand-deliver and/or mail to the friends she will invite. I had a hard time with this concept because I found myself wanting to make things a bit more difficult than they needed to be - it's a bad habit. Anyways, once we settled on the black, white and red theme for the party decorations, I went full speed with this design. It wasn't until I got them all done and carried one out to my husband did he say, "That's not really the correct shape for a paw print." (Keep in mind he is a very detail-oriented person when it comes to design.) My reply was, "Well, it's too bad because they are all done, and I was simply following a design that I found in the Family Fun magazine - and this is the shape that THEY used." [therefore, it had to be correct, huh?] The front of the card has the paw print design with details about the party, and the back of the card includes a small tag which tells each guest to bring their favorite stuffed puppy to show to everyone. (Sorry about the hi-tech use of a post-it note to cover up the personal info - I'm not really computer savvy and this was the quickest solution I could think of....) I will keep you updated on the other items we are putting together for her party including personalized dog bowls, a puppy cake and a few other surprises.

A Few Thank You's

First of all, is "You's" a word??? I had the chance today to sit down and put together a few thank you cards to be mailed to a few "special" people. [I hope they don't see the blog before they get their card.] One card was inspired by a recent magazine cover (3-flowers) and the other card was created using an idea from my inspiration notebook. I love this patterned paper and the coordinating colors...I also especially love the stitching on the second card.

Crazy, Busy, Happy

We've been busy lately, not necessarily crafty-busy, but home-improvement busy. We decided a long time ago to finally replace the broken down, beat up and well-loved carpet in our house with hardwood flooring. When would be a good time? Well, we decided once the girls got out of school we'd begin. It is now day "8" of the major overhaul and there are still a few finishing touches to be done, but the majority of the "big stuff" is completed. What a relief! I should mention that my husband was the one and only person working on it (he took a week off from work) so that might explain the lengthy process. No need to show you the before [yuck] picture, but instead, I'll show you what we see today when we look down....pretty, pretty.

T-Shirt Memories

Whew! I finally finished a sewing project for my friend's daughter's birthday. It was purely a "volunteer" project, but ended up being a little testy for my level of sewing ability. This shirt was worn by the birthday girl for her 1st birthday and I thought it would be neat to turn it into a pillow for her 6th birthday celebration this weekend. I drew my inspiration by looking at the original screen-print design on the front of the t-shirt. All of the pictures were made to look hand-sewn, so I traced the images onto white paper and then cut them into felt shapes and embellished them with embroidery thread. I applied the felt cut-outs using fabric glue. I also did a little hand-stitching directly to the shirt. For an extra little bit of "girly" touch I added a ruffled edge to the bottom of the shirt. Once the arms and neck were sewn shut I stuffed the shirt and then finished it by sewing it closed under the ruffle. To cover up a boo-boo I made along the neckline I added a really cute ric-rack trim around the top. I wanted her to see how much she's grown in 5 years! I hope she likes it!

Hoppy Summer

I made these cupcakes this morning for my daughter's kindergarten class party tomorrow. I found the idea on-line by doing a search for "frog cupcakes." I saw the picture and thought, "Oh, easy peasy." Well, it was going well until I had to do the black eyes. I started out with black gel, but it wanted to run...then I went to tinted black frosting and although the consistency was good, it wasn't black, but rather purple....so then I tried mini-chocolate chips, no good....so, back to the black gel. This time I layed the cupcake down, put the black gel eyes on and let it sit for a minute or two to "harden up" before I sat it upright. So far, so good!