Long Time, No See

Whew! I can't seem to get caught up with "life" lately, so I've let some time slip between my blog postings. Please forgive me! I am hoping to have some creative post(s) up tomorrow....but I'm awaiting a package from the brown guy! Just wanted to say hi!

Quick Treat

This morning a friend at school asked me about making a "quick" treat. She mentioned that she needed something really easy because she had to make a large quantity (80). My first thought was a "Sour Cream Container." If you haven't heard of these they are so cute and so easy. (I had an example in a previous post a few months back.) I started out with a 6x6 piece of paper which I rolled up and applied adhesive to stick together. The next step is to press one end together and attach with adhesive and then run through a paper crimper. Next, fill with your goodies (mine has 8 chocolate kisses) and then adhere the opposite side in the opposing direction. (E-mail me if you need more specific directions.) I will see her later today and I thought when I gave her the directions I would also give her a sample of her very own. Using my Spellbinders die and a glittery sticker made this come together in less than two minutes.

Tickled Pink Thank You

My apologies for not posting sooner....it's been a little busy around here. I gathered up a few minutes this morning to post today to let you know what I've been up to. I had a wonderful Stampin' Up party Saturday with some really great friends but I forgot to take a single picture! I did get the chance to work on some Thank You cards yesterday for my friend's "Tickled Pink" party. I thought she could use these to send out to the friends who attended the party. Another event with no pictures....shame on me! I'll be in touch!

Goodwill Thrill

Last Monday I decided to hit the Goodwill store for an easy 30-minute escape from the huge list of chores and errands I had to do. There's something about garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores that just give me a huge rush....what's going to be there?...what are you going to find?...how cheap are you going to get it for?...what are you going to buy that you really don't need but can't pass up because it's so cheap?....all those questions race through my head the minute I walk up to one. Anyways, back to last Monday....I was at the check out and got by pretty cheap by only spending $3.00+ for a few little things. As I chatted with the lady behind me in line about the glorious "new" bike she had found for $15 she mentioned that they were bringing in lots of great stuff and, in fact, this was her second trip that day. As I headed out the door a little voice inside my head said, "Hmmm...perhaps they brought out some stuff while you were standing in line, you'd better go back and take a quick peek." When I did I couldn't believe what I found. They brought in this really pretty distressed white hutch that ended up being the perfect size for a small wall space in my kitchen. (Luckily, my husband was home so he could check the measurements for me.) Very rarely do I find something that does not need any tweeking and this was perfect, as is! I couldn't believe the steal of a price for only $49!! I'm so glad I listened to that voice inside my head.

Lined Up & Ready

I thought I would show you guys how I organize my pictures and paper when I get ready to go to a scrapbook crop. My friend showed me these awesome page planners from Cropper Hopper. They are so wonderful because they have several different sized pockets to hold many different things. They are usually sold in packages of 3 (I think) for around $5.00. I have found them everywhere from Michael's to Target. I love to organize my pictures, scrapbook paper, stickers, alphabets and whatever else I think I may use within these page planners. It saves so much time and creative brain power while you are actually at a crop by doing this ahead of time. You can just roll up with your stuff, sit down, grab a page planner and begin cropping some wonderful pages. These are all lined up on my desk today because that's where I'll be all day tomorrow. I'm going to an all-day crop for 13 hours - I'm so excited! Hopefully, I'll have some cool things to show you on Sunday.

Tickled Pink Invitations

I made these invitations last night for a "Tickled Pink" party we are having next week. A friend in our PFA just completed her last chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer and a small group of us are taking her out for a nice dinner and a few laughs. I almost didn't make these because I thought, "Well, everyone knows about it, and I can just let them know the details through their e-mail." But, I thought this occasion deserved a special invitation, something I hope everyone will remember. I've had this library pocket template for quite some time and they came together pretty quickly. I love the pink ribbon brad I found at the scrapbook store last week.

Just a Few Embellishments

After accumulating so many little boxes for different embellishments I decided to have my husband build me a cabinet to hold everything. We were able to find trays for the drawers at a local rubber stamp shop, so he built the cabinet design around the size of the drawer inserts. I absolutely love the usefulness of this piece of furniture. It holds 15 drawers of all kinds of embellishment tools, anything from buttons, beads, brads, eyelets, gems and much more. Having everything in one spot is also a big time saver. The original cabinet, if I were to purchase it, would have retailed for over $150...I think we were able to build this one for around $30.

Susan's Not Lazy Anymore

My organizational tidbit for today includes a new "Lazy Susan" that I found this weekend. We went to a flea market this past Saturday and a lady selling outside had lots of large bins of different items and everything was 25 cents each or 5 items for $1.00. I found this fantastic wooden Lazy Susan. I'm not sure what it's original purpose was, because it has divided sections grooved out of the base. I just wanted it because it had the "lazy" spinning mechanism on the bottom of it and for 25 cents who could refuse? My husband had some extra acrylic in his shed so he cut a piece to match the top. I'm using it on my desk top to hold my pen & pencil organizer along with some useful items like my paperclips, colored staples and binder clips. I love being able to spin it and get to exactly what I'm reaching for. What a great deal for 25 cents!