Shopping in the Wedding Aisle

My second grader wanted to get a jump start on this year's Halloween treats for her classroom so we went shopping at Michael's. We ended up in the wedding aisle and her mind was made up when she spotted these little favor tins. With a 50% off coupon they rang up at $10 for 30.
I decided to keep things really simple by using my "Batty for You" set from Stampin' Up along with a circle punch and my Spellbinders inverted scallops die.

We also added some bright purple seam binding to keep the tin closed along with some decorative googly eyes. When it gets a little closer to the holiday, I'll fill each one with M&Ms for a delicious little treat. It feels so good to get started early.

Time to Party - Card

I finished this card really quick on Sunday so that my oldest daughter could take it with her to another birthday party. I love these little glittered stickers I picked up at Hobby Lobby a while back. After my daughter selected the patterned paper, I went to my paper stash and pulled out the polka dot paper and my Stampin' Up scallop edge punch.
I also used my Stampin' Up Top Note die and some craft thread. To finish the card, I used my Simple Alphabet set from Papertrey Ink to add the words, "time to" to the "party" sticker.

When I showed up after the party to pick up my daughter, the Mom of the birthday girl could not believe I made the card and seemed to be really "Wowed" by it. I say it was a success!

"One Pretty Thing" Feature

I was so excited this morning to see that Rachel over at "One Pretty Thing" featured my Safari Snack Bouquet in her Crafty Food Roundup. Here's a shot at what you can find....

(click image to see it larger)

If you don't already visit her site twice a day (like I do) be sure to check it out this morning...her site is definitely one of the most inspiring out there. She features tons and tons of creatively genius people contributing ideas and tutorials to fill your head with some wondrous possibilities! This is my third feature and I'm thrilled to be a part of this crafty group!!!

Today's a "Happy Day"

I made this card for a birthday party my daughter is going to on Saturday. One of her close friends is turning the big "1-0" so I thought a pink & bling girlie girl card was appropriate. And, the best thing is, I went shopping in my own garage sale pile for these supplies. Funny thing what we can discover when we spend some time looking....

I'm not sure where the glitzy "Happy" sticker or the matching cake is from (garage sale/store???), but I decided to pair it with one of my Martha Stewart border punches and some pretty pink, yellow and white cardstock.
The flowers were cut out using my Sizzix die and actually, were the result of a doodling mistake I made and had to cover up. I originally thought some pink doodling around the green Doodlebug "day" stickers would look cute, but once I did it I changed my mind.....so, covering up the boo-boo then became my Plan B.

I used dimensionals to lift the stickers and the larger flower die cut. Here's the close-up:

I hope you're having a "Happy day!"

Weeding Out

One way I keep my scraproom neat, tidy and manageable is to participate in the garage sales at my local scrapbook stores. One particular store has an AWESOME sale twice a year and there is always so much to choose from and so many friendly faces buying your stuff! I go both as a seller and a buyer!

To keep my stuff sorted during the in-between times, I have a 14x14 box in my closet which I use to collect unwanted items as I find them. You know, when you're looking for something in particular and you come across something and say, "Why do I still have this?" That kind of item goes in this box until the next sale is announced.
Once the date has been announced, I collect my seller's number, my price stickers, clear cello bags and my trusty tape gun and I go to work. These items were priced last night and finished up this morning. Most items are priced at $1.00 and I don't think I have anything priced over $5.00. I try to be very reasonable with my prices because I know, like me, everyone is looking for a bargain and I would rather not bring anything back home.

Participating in the garage sale is not only a great way to pick up some fun stuff, but a practical way to collect a store credit for my unwanted supplies, which means free shopping later on. That's what I've been up to....how about you?

Spooktacular Card

Here's another quick one for you....this one is made using another image from Papertrey Ink's 2009 Halloween tags set, along with patterned papers from Making Memories. I decided to keep things simple and stick with one layer and embellishments I had on hand.

(click on the picture to see the card larger)

I used a little bit of Vintage Cream ink to distress the edges (it's a little hard to see) along with some stitching from the sewing machine. The orange and black twine is from Martha Stewart (one of my favorite products) and the dies are cut using my Spellbinders dies.

What next? I'll be working on some goodies next, but I need to narrow it down, there are so many great ideas out there.

Hauntingly Halloween Card

I squeezed in a little bit of time Sunday to come up with this concept on a card I want to pass out to my girlfriends this Halloween. I bought the 2009 Halloween Tags set from Papertrey Ink and some paper from Making Memories Spellbound collection. The tags set is so versatile I can't wait to use it on other projects, including the girls' classroom treats.
The spider web border was made using Martha Stewart's border punch, and the punched dies are from Spellbinders. Now I'm off to make a few more!

They Called, I Answered

I've been few and far between lately on the blog, but here's what I've been working on, along with subbing here and there:
Just in case you missed the announcement and you are a Jillibean fan like I am, you still have some time....the deadline for submitting your work is tomorrow at midnight. Nothing like working while the clock ticks away, but sometimes that's when we do our best stuff!!! I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch on this one because there are so so many talented gals out there....but I just thought I would give it a shot. Wish me luck!

Safari Snack Bouquet

I wanted to give my friend Katie a gift to say "Congratulations" on getting her own classroom...she's now a full-time 2nd grade teacher and we are all so excited for her. My first thought was "FOOD" and then the idea of a "bouquet" of food came to mind. Her classroom is set with a jungle/safari theme, so I went with that idea.

I headed to Michael's (where else? -- I can't help it....it's only 2 miles away) and picked up a medium-sized clay pot, along with some fun ribbon. I also had in my stash some rocks, floral foam, hot glue gun, black paper shred, skewers and large popsicle sticks. I also headed to the grocery store and picked up some tasty snacks including granola bars, trail mix, rice cakes and some chocolate....I was thinking "food" along the line of snacks to have when you get hungry and have a few minutes to spare (does that ever happen?) and I didn't want to totally junk her out.

Next, with hubby's help, we painted the pot using black exterior paint leftover from a project or two. Painting is definitely not my specialty, so his help was much appreciated. Next, I layered the inside of the pot with rocks (to give it some weight), floral foam cut to size and paper shreds adhered using my hot glue gun.

I made a bow with the ribbon I purchased and wired it to a large popsicle stick. To assemble the bouquet, I used my glue gun and attached the food items to popsicle sticks and wooden skewers. Then I began inserting everything to form a nice "arranged" look. I also found three wooden animals to complete the theme and attached them to skewers as well. (Here's a look from the back.) And here's the finished assembly!!! I thought it turned out great and I can't wait to give it to her. This project was very affordable and could be used for just about any theme.See you sooner than later....I've been busy working a few projects, but I promise to stay in touch!

Moxie Fab World - Beatin' the Deadline

Moxie Fab World's "Stamping Challenge" was so much fun for me! I came up with this idea last night....I was inspired by the really cute Rusty Pickle mitten paper you can see here in the background:
To begin, I cut a mitten shape out of chipboard and then traced each mitten onto smooth white cardstock. Next, I used my Stampin' Up ink pads in shades of Ruby Red and Tempting Turquoise along with the Polka Dot Basics stamp set from Papertrey Ink. To finish the mittens I used a Creative Memories journalling pen and some red pom pom trim.

I "hung" the mittens using some American Crafts ribbon and attached the "line" using two mini plastic clothespins. To finish the card, I went to my Simple Alphabet stamp set (also from PTI) and stamped the sentiment, "Cold hands but warm hearts." I also used my white gel pen to add a faux stitched edge. The patterned paper is from Hobby Lobby and the green card base is from DCWV.

Next up is my entry in the "Classy & Elegant" category. This style was a little bit harder for me to design, but here's what I came up with: My first thought was to go with grey, black and cream and then I decided to throw in the butterscotch color with the grossgrain ribbon. The grey cardstock is from DCWV and the black is from Bazzill. I also used my Fiskars Apron Lace edge punch along with some Michael's snowflake stickers and Kaiser Craft adhesive pearls. The stamped sentiment is from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages set.

Here's a better look: It feels great to have completed all of these cards.....I can't believe I am working on Christmas stuff in September, but I'm glad I did it....THANKS MOXIE FAB WORLD for a fun, fun challenge!

Moxie Fab - Vintage & Shabby

Here's another entry in the Moxie Fab World s-t-r-e-t-c-h your style challenge...this category is "Vintage & Shabby." This is a style I admire, but I must admit it was a bit of a stretch for me. My first thought was to make an ornament, but then I decided to use what I made as the embellishment on a card.

I got out my old notebook of plastic stencils and traced this ornament shape:
Next, I covered the chipboard with some holly designed patterned paper and distressed the edges using my Making Memories distressing blade. I also found a neat piece of trim in my fancy trim jar and added it to the ornament front. I completed the "ornament" by cutting some holly leaves which I scored using my Scor-Pal and then added some "berries" using small red Creative Cafe buttons.

I used brown StazOn ink on all of the edges as well as my sewing machine around the chocolate brown BoBunny polka dot paper. The sticker sentiment is from Melissa Frances.

I apologize for the "washed out" look in the first photograph...I had a hard time getting my flash not to fade out my vintage look....the colors are much better in the close up shot. I'm also so excited to have such a jump start on all of these holiday designs.....I'll be back with more for the "classy & elegant" category and the "stamped" category. This has been a lot of fun!

Moxie Fab - Fun & Cute

I'm back with another card for the Moxie Fab World challenge, this time it's something for the "Fun & Cute" category....here's what I put together this afternoon while jamming out in my craft room:
My inspiration came from the Imaginisce paper you can see in the background....aren't those trees cute? I decided to make my own trees using some BoBunny polka dot paper and a striped paper also from Imaginisce. The trunks on the trees and the heart garlands are also made using BoBunny paper.

The hearts were made using Stampin' Up triple heart punch, and the word stickers are from Pebbles, Inc. The star punch is from EK Success and the cute little red button is from Stickopotamus.

I love mixing old with new...some of these supplies are so old, I can't even remember where I got them from and some of the papers I just picked up this morning specifically for this challenge...don't ya love that?

Friday Morning Giggle

Are you ready to have a giggle? My daughter, Abby, took this funny picture of our dog yesterday afternoon:
And here she is looking like one of those "Big Dogs" with a really large head:

Abby was just goofing around with my camera because, like me, she doesn't sit still long enough to watch a television show and sometimes our dog is her best playmate....have a good one!

Clean & Graphic

Have you checked out the Moxie Fab World blog lately? They are having an amazing s-t-r-e-t-c-h your style challenge going on until September 7th....I've waited all week to put something together, because it seems I have ADD when it comes to choosing one thing to work on....I get in my craft room and all of a sudden I can't focus on one thing but instead, I go from one thing to the next....anyways, I put together this card tonight for the "Clean & Graphic" portion of the challenge...I think it qualifies:
Here's the close up, because you know those are my favorite:

All of these supplies came from my Christmas stash....they include patterned papers from Hobby Lobby, a pre-made card from K&Co, Martha Stewart's loopy punch, tree embellishments from MAMBI and red gems from K&Co.

As much as I wanted to do some sewing and add a few more layers, I held back to complete a "clean & graphic" style.

That's it for now...take care.

Jillibean Soup Challenge

Here I am again, with another challenge....I've been on a roll this week....although this one was a little tricky for me because I've never scrapped a round page before, (at least not that I can remember)....but here's the sketch challenge from Jillibean's blog:
And here's what I came up with using all of their papers....I just started cutting and slicing and gluing like a mad man.....I decided I wasn't going to hang on to (hoard) these puppies, but rather, spread them around as you can see in my past cards and stuff....I love them, they are so fun and they all go together tremendously well....just look at how many patterns I used on this one layout:

Here's the close up:

The only additional papers I used were the solids from my scrap stash. I also used these products: Chipboard from Basic Grey & Heidi Swapp, EK Success Bookworks stickers, Quickutz embossing folder, Stampin Up's Hearts & Brackets die, Spellbinders & Quickutz nesting dies, Martha Stewart twine and Stampin' Up dimensionals.

I'm off to get into another project before the troops get home...take care!

CPS Challenge 131

The gang over at the CPS blog have another great sketch this week....here it is:

CPS Sketch 131

and this week's sponsor is Jennifer Buck, an independent Stampin' Up demonstrator. The design team really put together some awesome pieces using products from Stampin' Up. Be sure to check them out.

Here's what I came up with today, using more of my papers from Jillibean Soup and PTI (solid brown):

All of the patterned papers are from Jillibean Soup, the tag is from Avery (I think tags are making a comeback), some recycled twill, Creative Cafe buttons and Martha Stewart's baker's twine in black and white.

I also used some of my favorite Stampin' Up supplies, including the Sizzix Hearts & Brackets die, the scallop edge punch and a stamped sentiment from the Smarty Pants set. Add a little sewing and a little distress ink and don't forget those SU dimensionals...what did I ever do without them?

Here's the close up:

I can't wait to send this one to someone special! I hope you liked it!