Wristlet Shop - ReOpened

I had another request for two of my Wristlet purses and a Backsack purse. So, today I got busy with my sewing machine and finished this one....
This purple/blue/green batik fabric is from my stash....I think I've had it for about 10 years now...I love the design and I think my "customer" will love it too.

And this is the card I made to "Thank" her for her order....I used a scrap from the trash bin to make a fabric flower....I also added some details to the card using my Fiskars Apron Lace edge punch, some stitching, a polka dot embossing folder and my Mixed Messages stamp set from PTI.

Here's the close up:

That's it....I'll be back with the other sewing designs as soon as they are finished.

Jillibean Goodies

Have you guys checked out the Jillibean Soup blog? What a neat place to hang out...here's the link. A while back I entered a daily giveaway and WON some really cool corrugated alphabets...I can't wait to use them.

But, the really exciting news is, when they sent my package of alphabets I was also given a bunch of other goodies....clear stamps, ribbon, felt embellishments, die cut journalling tags and...
all of this DOUBLE-SIDED paper!!! It's so hard to choose which side I like best....but what a great problem to have! I couldn't believe how generous they were!

They are also having a sketch challenge/contest right now that's open until September 14th....and you can win a $25 gift certificate!!! I'm planning to get something put together in the next few days. Be sure to give it a try!

A Few Fun Challenges

Hey there! Well today was the first day of school down here in sunny Florida and I had a nice day enjoying the peace and stillness of the house minus our two school girls. I also had a few minutes to look around [on the internet] and thought these two challenges sounded like fun...here's what I came up with for the current challenge over at the 2 Sketches 4 You blog:

Laura's Sketch 33 (my interpretation)

And the close up:

The supplies include: Card- DCWV; Patterned paper- (orange) Papertrey Ink, (black&white) Making Memories; Punch- Martha Stewart; Stickers- (cat) MAMBI, (tag) Making Memories; Twine- Martha Stewart.

Next, is my submission for the current challenge at the CPS blog, challenge 130. Be sure to check that one out....the prize is from Jillibean Soup!!

And here's the close up:

We found these fun dimensional stickers from "atd" at Hobby Lobby....I also paired it with an American Crafts journal sticker, Martha Stewart's new loopy punch and ribbon from my stash. The card base (white) is also from DCWV. I love their textured card stacks. The polka dot paper was a leftover sitting on my desk from MAMBI. And... I also used my ribbon punch tool from Making Memories on both cards, love that thing!

40 Random Things

I decided to participate in this week's challenge over at the American Crafts blog....here's the link so you can check it out. Basically, you need to create a layout using two American Crafts products and you also need to sew on your layout, either with a machine or you could even use the faux stitching technique with your favorite doodling pen. I thought, "2 American Crafts products and sewing....easy peesy!"

Here's my take....I feel like I'm a little rusty in the scrapbook department because I've been working on so many cards lately, but this one came together quickly, almost too quickly [and then I started second-guessing myself, maybe I need to add this, or maybe this would work]....anyways, here it is, and it fills up another page in my 40th birthday album.

I'm calling this one, "40 Random Things" ---
And here's the close up of the title tag:

I used an assortment of supplies including: American Crafts "Craft Fair" paper and letter Thickers; pink patterned paper by MAMBI; blue patterned paper by K&Company; black cardstock from Bazzill; Stampin' Up heart punch; Spellbinders Labels One die; letter stickers from EK Success; Self-inking stamp from 7Gypsies and the bubble letters were a garage sale find.

If you read the journalling, it includes things about me or things that I like/love....just a variety of random things.

See you later!

Bits & Bits

I feel myself s-l-o-w-l-y catching up on bits and bits of little stuff that need to be done, you know, the kind of things that can keep you awake at night....anyways, I thought I would share some quick pics with you of some of the little things I've done lately. Nothing spectacular mind you, but just a few little "day brighteners" as I like to call them.

First up is a little candy box I decorated for the sweet gal who taught us how to make and roll the lumpias. I love these little clear plastic boxes and they make the perfect containers for sweet treats like chocolate kisses or, in this case, tangy flavored lifesavers. I don't remember where I picked up the bright colored ribbon, but it matched the theme. I also used my Spellbinder dies and a felt flower from Making Memories. The stamped flag is from Stampin' Up.
Next is one of two bags of Butterkrunch popcorn I made for Orientation at school yesterday. I thought the teachers might enjoy a light snack and it was too hot and steamy for chocolate. This recipe is soooo good (tx, Katie!) and it makes a ton. I was in a time "krunch" so I just went to my stash of school papers and grabbed a white tag. I also went to my sticker supply for the crayon. The "enjoy" sentiment is from PTI. Both of our teachers this year loved the gift and one even said, "Ooooh, you've got an A.....how did you know I could be bribed?"

Last is a quickie card I made using my new Hearts & Bracket die from Stampin' Up. I owed a card along with a baby gift to a friend I knew I would see yesterday at Orientation, so I whipped this "baby" up right before we left. I was afraid I would run out of time and not get a picture, but I managed to have an extra 10 minutes. I also used my Spellbinders scallop die and my SU spiral edge punch. The stamped sentiment is from PTI's Mixed Messages set as well as their simple alphabets. It's a little hard to see, but both of the hearts were embossed with the polka dot folder from Quickutz. Love the large dot sizes on that one.

And, that's it for today! Have a good one!

CPS Challenge 129

Here's the latest sketch from the Card Positioning Systems blog and I'll have to admit, this one was a bit of a challenge for me:
And here's my take....can you tell I had to flip it a bit??

And here's the close up:

Supplies I used include Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, Fancy Pants chipboard, BoBunny polka dot paper, Stampin' Up Hearts & Brackets die (mini heart), Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and a stamped sentiment from PTI (Mixed Messages)....we are in back-to-school mode so finding a little creative time this week has been a challenge.

I'll see you later!

Can you say Loom-Pee-Ah?

I went to a girlfriend's house Friday to make homemade Lumpia - pronounced "loom-pee-ah" and boy did they turn out yummy!

Here's the filling which consisted of lean ground beef, garlic, green onions, shredded carrots, one egg and some seasonings:
Next we filled the lumpia wrappers and rolled them up like little cigars. We used a tucking-in method (on the left) as well as an easier and faster method of rolling with no tucking in which you can see on the right.

To cook the lumpia and get the wrappers nice and crispy, we cooked them in oil on the stovetop. This took a little bit of time and it's important to make sure the oil isn't too hot. You don't want your wrappers to burn.

Here's our finished plate, along with another dish we made called Pancit, which is like the Chinese version of Lo-Mein.

Talk about yummy....these were both delicious and I can't wait to make more for me and my friends!

Happy Birthday to You!

Today is my high school sweetheart's birthday! Can you believe we've been together for 24 years [married for 15]? It doesn't seem that long ago....what a great way to spend my life...with you....Happy Birthday Dear!

Here's my guy as we see him everyday:
Here he is looking a little more business-like:

And here's the card I whipped up for him last night because he always makes me a card on my birthday:

The close-up:

Have a great Saturday!

My room's been published!

Well, not "my room" but my friend, Katie's room. Here she is at the CHA show in Orlando - I thought this was a great picture of her making a card at the Splitcoaststampers booth.
While at the CHA show, she won at Ottlite from the Ottlite booth. She contacted the people at Ottlite to say "Thanks" for the awesome light and along with her thank you she also sent a picture of her amazing craft space....isn't it pretty?

You may remember it from this post. Well, yesterday she visited the Ottlite blog and found out they published a picture of her room along with a short article about her. I just thought I would spread the news around and let ya'll get to know her a bit. She's so sweet and has a heart of gold. She's definitely one of those friends 'til the end.

Cupcake Party - Part II

Hi there! I'm back with more [exciting] scenes from our cupcake party....here's our party table with some of the components from yesterday's post. I found the tablecloth at Target two weeks ago as part of their 50% off summer sale. I thought the colors were perfect for our party.
This is how I sorted the toppings that the girls used on their cupcake designs. I found this sweet divided tray at a garage sale for $1.00. We used two different kinds of sprinkles, flowers and dots, mini chocolate chips, and teeny tiny gummy bears. I also had cherries on stand by for toppers.

Next up is a picture of my kitchen/party craft space. I removed my kitchen table and chairs and brought in this 5-foot folding table and covered it with kraft paper. I also hung some Martha Stewart paper flowers that I found on clearance a few months back at Wal-Mart. They are so pretty, we don't want to take them down....what a bargain for $5.00/5. I also hung up my "Celebrate" fabric banner. On the table, each girl had their own place mat (neon copy paper) and supplies to create a set of cupcake stationery to take home. This was the set I bought from Oriental Trading and it was a huge hit. The cards each girl made turned out so pretty. We had some creative girls making some wonderful creations.

Here's a shot of the dining room table and the party girl. Right behind her is the chair I decorated just for her using two colors of ribbon and some tulle....this was really easy and she felt special having a particular chair for her very own. More Martha Stewart flowers, I had 10 in all.

And here's a cute picture of the birthday girl - not looking at me - which I thought was cool - and her pull-apart cupcake birthday cake. She didn't want a regular cake or an ice cream cake, she wanted a pull-apart cake this year so we watched a video from You Tube and came up with this design. It certainly beat out the $35 price tag from Publix. We think we invested about $7 on ours.

That's it for now...I may have a few stray pictures coming back to you now and then....I hope you don't mind. We had a great time!!

CPS Challenge 128

This week's sponsor over at Card Positioning Systems is Susan Tomaino, a consultant with "Close to My Heart" stamps....great!! Here's the sketch, #128:
And here's my take.....

I started off with a Halloween themed card, complete with black and white polka dots, but decided to change it up a bit and make it more of a "thankful" card....I was so wishing I had a stamp with the saying, "With Grateful Thanks" but I didn't so I used a sentiment from SU's Sweet Little Sentiments set which reads, "to wonderful you from thankful me." Here's the close-up:

Other supplies I used include patterned paper from Reminisce, chocolate brown cardstock and ribbon from PTI, brown and white polka dot paper from PTI, the card base is a kraft stock from Paper Reflections and the green solid cardstock is from DCWV.

I needed to send a "Thank You" out to a very generous person and this fit the bill perfectly! Thanks CPS!

Cupcake Party - Part I

We had such a fun time celebrating my daughter's 7th birthday yesterday with a custom-designed [by me, of course] Cupcake Party!!! There were lots of these....I baked 8 dozen for us to eat and play with...I happened on this professional cupcake pan at an antique store and it bakes two dozen at one time...what a time saver.
Next are the party boxes that each guest filled with their own cupcake creations. I found these for a good deal at the restaurant supply for 25/cents each. We painted each box with polka dots in pink, aqua and lime green. The cupcake name labels were found at the Dollar Tree just last week in their back to school department.

Here is how I sorted the three different frosting colors that the girls used to decorate their own cupcakes. I used some small Solo condiment cups that I found sold by the sleeve of 500 at the flea market for 50/cents. These always come in handy for craft projects to hold glue, paint and glitter.

Next is more cupcakes, these in vanilla and chocolate. These are displayed on a Pampered Chef platter that I've had for many years. It comes in handy once in a while and earned its keep in my dining room hutch. In the middle are the cupcake toppers I made from a download from Lollychops website.

And here's a cupcake tower that a friend gave me...I've been waiting since last December to use it and I loved it on the table. I'll have to find more uses for it because it's so pretty.

And that's it for now...but there's more to come....check back for Part II...tomorrow.