Pencil Holder #2

Here is the second pencil holder I made yesterday. As you can see, this one has a totally different look. I love this DCWV glittered apple paper I found while Shop Hopping last week. I also snagged a package of these mini chalkboards at a garage sale and I knew they would be perfect for this project!
Here's the close up shot:

I also added a heart shaped brad with a gem just to give it a little snazz. (I cut the prongs off of the brad before applying it with glue.) The monogrammed initials are American Crafts rub-ons. I think they add a very special "personalized" touch that, hopefully, will make for a memorable keepsake.

Supplies: Patterned paper: Apples- DCWV; Green- BoBunny, Chalkboard: Darice, Rub-ons: American Crafts, Red trim: Unknown, Gem & Brad: Unknown, Mod Podge

I Appreciate my Teachers

Teacher's Appreciation Week begins next week and today I worked on a simple gift for each one of my girls' teachers....today I will show you my first grader's gift.

I bought two of these Prima Craft pencil holders from a friend - a deal at $1.00/each. For this one, I had a pink/ivory theme in my head (this teacher loves the look of the Victorian style) so I began with a quick base of white craft paint. I didn't paint the entire holder, just the edges, top and bottom.
Next, I cut my Basic Grey scrapbook paper to fit the sides and adhered the paper using my trusty Mod Podge. A little goes a long way!

Once the holder was covered with the patterned paper I could move on to the next step, which is my favorite: embellishing. I went to my stash options and pulled items I thought would look good: ribbon, fabric brads, chipboard, lace trim, Prima flowers...sometimes I realize I have too much.

And here it is all fancied up and lookin' pretty. As you can see, I didn't use everything I pulled out (the gems didn't make it) but the elimination process is one of my favorite parts of creating anything. I love that I have options! Once I uploaded the pictures I thought, "Where are the pencils?" Don't worry, I'll have a fresh stash ready for next week.

And here's the close up (click on the picture to make it larger):

I hope she likes it. It isn't my usual style, and I even pulled out a lonely glitter bottle (two times in one week, what a record) to add a bit of shimmer to the flower petals, but I wanted something to reflect her style and look pretty in her classroom. She's one of the sweetest people I've ever met.

I'm also working on one for my third grade teacher and I'll share it later. Different style for a different gal!

Sources: Holder: Prima Craft, Patterned paper & Chipboard: Basic Grey, Solid pink paper: DCWV, Flowers: Prima, Lace Trim: Paper Studio, Border punch: Martha Stewart, Glitter: Making Memories, Rubber stamp: Kitchen Sink Stamps, Mod Podge

Glitter Me Pretty

I'll admit, I'm not a real "glitter" person...sometimes it's just too messy to deal with. But...this morning I found a quick tutorial on how to heat up your brads using a heat gun and then coloring them using embossing powder and glitter. Well, I tried it and....it didn't work. So, while I was working on this card, I decided to use another quick go-to method to make my own glittered brad embellishments. Here's the finished card:

And here's the tag close-up which shows my new brad...which started out as a boring, white brad:

The steps to make your own are easy-peasy.

All I did was take my brad, and using a pair of scrap tweezers and a Q-tip, I painted the flat side of the brad with Mod-Podge. After the brad was "painted" with the Mod Podge, I dipped it into my glitter bottle using my tweezers. (I'm using Making Memories glitter and the bottle has a very small neck.)

Once you've done that, just lay the brad on a scrap piece of paper and let it dry for 5 minutes. That's it! Now you can customize your plain brads using your glitter stash.



Supplies: Paper - blue & patterned: DCWV, die cuts: Sizzix, ribbon: Offray, stamped sentiment: Kitchen Sink Stamps

I can't believe I won!!!

Hey guys! I just took a peep over at Elizabeth Kartchner's blog (CK Scrapbooker of the year) and found out I won a blog makeover!! I am so excited! Anyone who knows me knows that I am not that computer savvy....and I want to be....so I am thrilled that she's given me the opportunity to spice up my little blog. I can't wait to share my new "look" with you guys. Stay in touch!

Challenge #50

Hey there! I decided to participate in Kristina Werner's Color Challenge #50 - this is a first for me, but she's got some fabulous prizes, so be sure to check them out! Here are the color swatches for her challenge:
And, here's what I came up with:

And here's the close up:

This challenge was a great one! I love all the colors and I also love pin cushion that was her inspiration piece. The brighter colors have definitely been calling my name lately. Kristina's work is awesome and I am so glad I could participate!

Supplies include: Patterned paper - yellow: Bo Bunny, blue: unknown, brown, white & red: DCWV, Flower - Prima Essentials, Chipboard - Heidi Swapp, Scallop punch - Stampin' Up, Swirl die - Sizzix, Scallop Circle - Spellbinders, Rub-on - Doodlebug

Top Note Thank You

I had some "Thank You" cards to make for some lovely ladies who helped with a Bake Sale that I co-hosted last Saturday (sorry no pictures - but our table looked great). We had so many lovely goodies brought in that I decided I could take a little bit of time to make some homemade cards as a Thank You + it gave me a great excuse to use some of my new supplies.
I made 5 of these cards using my new Stampin' Up "Top Note" die along with my Wingo Zingo alphabet strip. And, while I had my sewing machine out I decided to stitch along the edges to add some extra texture. These were fun!

Shop Hopping

Have you heard about the "Shop Hop?" If you don't live near northeast Florida, then probably not.....here's the logo for this year's event: A group of girlfriends and I have gone every year since it began (3 years total) and it is going on this week. We had a great time yesterday visiting four different stores, checking out all of their scrappie goodness and also participating in some exciting giveaways (this has to be the year one of us wins something). We also relaxed over a yummy lunch and shared some funny stories and a few giggles.

Saturday we are headed out of town to visit three more stores and then back into town for a few more. We are so fortunate to have some really great local scrapbook stores around.

Yesterday, I was able to find some really cute things which I will share later....either in a finished project, or maybe straight from my loot bag. So, if you are looking for me this week, I'll be shop hopping!!

Congratulations Katie!

One of the sweetest friends I have decided to become a Stampin' up demonstrator. She is so incredibly talented and crafty and I know she will be very successful! Tonight is her first "official" party so I thought I would give her a little card to celebrate the occasion. Here's what I put together: It's nothing really fancy, just using what I have on hand. I love anything polka-dot lately, and this yellow paper is no exception...it's from Bo Bunny, one of my favorite companies for papercrafting supplies. I used my Swirls Cuttlebug folder to emboss it. I also added a blue polka-dot fabric strip which I believe came from Heidi Swapp. The pink scallops are from Stampin' Up's fabulous scallop edge punch. The pink label die cut is from Spellbinder's Labels One collection.

And, because you can't celebrate without chocolate, I also wrapped a Hershey bar to give to her as well. (It's a good way to use your scraps.)

I can't wait for the party tonight, I know she's got some great projects lined up for us. Maybe they'll be tomorrow's show and tell. Congratulations and much success to you....Katie!

Another page to "Celebrate"

Here's another page I completed at the all-day crop....are you getting tired of seeing them already?
These are other shots I took while celebrating my daughter's 9th birthday. And, actually, this page was not totally my own....I found a similar page in my inspiration book and built it from there. I love the vibrant color combo and the addition of the black letters. They were cut using one of my favorite Cricut cartridges called "Cuttin Up."

I raised the "Technique Tuesday" chipboard polka-dots using glue dots. The yellow scalloped strip is from a "Just the Edge" package from Bazzill.

This page turned out to be one of my favorites!

Stuffed with Love

"Stuffed with Love" definitely defines my youngest daughter. She is sweet to the core and anyone who knows her can testify to that fact....it's not just coming from a boastful Momma!

I took these pictures of her one night while she was supposed to be settling down and getting ready for bed. Because there are very few shows at night that actually capture her attention, she is usually playing quietly while we watch a sitcom here and there. (I'm not a huge TV watcher, but I have a few favorites.)

Most of the time she likes to play library, veterinary clinic with our dog or, like on this particular night, she plays with her stuffed animal collection. This time, she decided to bury herself in our bedroom chair with all of her animals.
This image reminded me of the ET movie where he is hidden in the closet amongst all the stuffed animals and the person looking in doesn't even notice him.

I am using more of the Sizzix Big Kick dies with the brown swirls and Zingo alphabet letters. The butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch. The white flowers with gems are from Flora Doodles. They are a cinch to use because there is nothing to it, just place and stick.

In the Meantime

While I'm playing catch-up on a few projects, I thought I would begin sharing some of the pages I completed at the last all-day scrapbook crop I went to a few Saturdays ago. I love these opportunities to go from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. to crop all day with a few girlfriends. Some of the best pages I've done have come from one of those days. I'm a morning person, so it works out great for me!

This was a page I did to celebrate my daughter's 9th birthday. I couldn't believe how well this picture turned out with my new camera. The kitchen was dark and the only light was from the single candle on the birthday cake. I love the look of excitement on her face!
The striped paper on the left-side of the layout is where I got my color inspiration from.

I used my Cricut machine to die cut the title with my "Stamped" cartridge.

This picture shows off one of my favorite punches, the spiral punch from Stampin' Up, along with the new "Top Note" die from Stampin' Up which I used for my journaling.

I love it when you can combine some of your favorite tools with some easy techniques to get a cute layout done lickety-split!

This Challenge was a Real Challenge

Dawn's Challenge #3 this week was a real challenge! Although I could totally see using these colors as fabric elements in a room I had a hard time using them on a card. Once again, that's why these challenges are so great, because I would have never picked them out myself.
Here's what I came up with:

I am loving my new Sizzix Big Shot machine and used it to create these pink swirls. I went back to my trusty ole' original Sizzix machine to cut out the Nestabilities circles as well as for the embossing on the kraft cardstock (using my Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder).

The date circle is a rub-on from Creative Cafe, the butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart crafts and the flower punch is from EK Success. The last detail I added was a pearl center in each flower (and on the butterfly). (Sorry, I can't remember what company these are from.)

My sentiment will be stamped on the inside.

Thanks for looking!

Spring Green Pouches

I found a cute idea the other day from another blog and decided to create these really sweet pouches for a few of my scrapbooking friends. I filled them with Dove chocolate eggs. We all need something sweet for those day-long crops like we had yesterday....fun!

The measurements for my bags are 4.25" x 5.5" and one piece of standard-size felt (from Michael's) makes two bags.

I also found the cute chickie ribbon on sale at Michael's in their Easter section.