A Few New Things

So remember in this post when I mentioned that I was going to share with you my new "solar powered" clothes dryer....(a direct quote given by my sister) well here's my new $2.00 Garage Sale find:

And now I'm just loving spending a few minutes in the mornings hanging my laundry out to dry.  It's a funny thing, one of my girls actually said, "What's that smell on my clothes?" And I realized they have never had their clothes hung on the line to dry (because we've always used the clothes dryer since moving into this new home 10+ years ago)....so I responded, "that's fresh air & sunshine!"

By the way, I didn't get a picture of it in the shot, but we decided that because this line is collapsible, we wouldn't mount it in the ground, but rather in a white bakery bucket filled with cement and a large PVC pipe. I wanted to be able to store the line if we needed more space on the patio.

Next, I wanted to show you the new shelf we bought on a recent trip to Ikea....it's a CD shelf and was a steal at $5.99:

I was looking for a way to store all of my Papertrey Ink CD cases together, but without taking up room on my countertop. My countertop space is saved for top priority items that I use every time I put something together and I didn't want to move anything....here's a closer shot:

I believe this shelf will hold a total of 76 cases, so that should hold me over for at least a little while. :) (Sorry about not getting the full-length shot, I was being a little bit lazy and didn't want to remove my zoom lens.)

Working on some spring cleaning, so I'll see you later!

What's New?

What's new? Yeah....what's new with you?  Not much new with me....I've just been enjoying some time at home getting all those daily "chores" done...and a few other things.

I just finished reading this nifty book:

This little doozy had lots of little tips and information on different things from sewing, homemaking, saving money, and much more.  I found it on the "new" shelf at my library and really enjoyed it.

Next up, is this one:

I prefer reading non-fiction and saw Nick Schuyler on Oprah a while back, so I thought this might be a good read.  So far so good.  It's a sad story and I couldn't imagine being in their particular predicament.

That's it for me....I'll be back tomorrow.

The Last of Six

Here's the last of the six cards I submitted to Papercrafts magazine.  This was my original card for the "love" category, but I made two because my sister didn't like this one:

Here's another look:

This one shows a different mix of colors, although I always love working with kraft cardstock even tho it doesn't photograph well.  These patterned designs are from Memory Box papers.

This last one has to be my favorite of the bunch. I love the two-tone stamping of PTI's leafy branch. I used two colors of grey ink on top of SU's Very Vanilla cardstock:

I added another row of the large scallops along with two butterflies from Stampin' Up and a few fancy embellishments including a Making Memories stick pin and a few gems to finish it off.

That concludes the "showing" of this group of cards.  I thought I might have better news, but I enjoyed the experience of putting them together.  I think I might move on to a few sewing projects lingering in my head.  I don't know about you, but those kinds of things keep me awake at night...that and anything else creative I might be thinking of.

More "Let Downs"

Here we go with a few more pictures of the cards I submitted in the Papercrafts Stamping Royalty contest...these were not winners, but I thought I would share them anyways.

First up is a card I put together because my sister didn't like the original card I made for the "Love" category....so, I decided to go out of my "comfort zone" and put this one together using a few of my favorite supplies:

I used my new I {heart} Hearts stamp set from Stampin' Up (love the woodgrain) along with PTI's Polka Dot Basics II.

A little bit of distressing ink along with a few rub-ons completed the card.

Next, is a little Christmas cheer in April:

I combined a few sets for this card including three from Papertrey Ink and one from Stampin' Up. The patterned paper had curved designs, so it was an easy way to dictate that part of the card design. The red "scallops" were made using my small circle punch and a pair of trusty scissors.

I love the color combo of aqua, red, white and light green.  I'll have to try that one out again!

Thanks for letting me share these with you!

A "Royal" Let Down

Well, I'll admit, I'm new to the "submission" process of sending in your cards to magazines for future publication....submitting some cards to Papercrafts' Stamping Royalty contest was the first time I'd ever seriously committed to a contest and followed through.  The "we will contact you" deadline has come and gone, so I thought I would share with you a few of the cards that, obviously, didn't make it.  I had fun putting them together and using my supplies, some of which were a little dusty.  It's a funny thing because you never know what they are looking for, or what will tickle their fancy....so we all just keep plugging away...oh well....here goes:

Most of the cards I made used a lot of Papertrey Ink products because, well,....they're my favorite and you can always count on their "work" performance being superior!!!  Here's one I put together with some fun colors and a cute felt emellishment from Basic Grey:

The loopy border punch is from Martha Stewart, the large scallops are from Quickutz and the label die is from Spellbinders.

Next up is a little card that honestly looks better in person than my photo shows....

I thought the colors on this card were really fun and cheerful....I love the Dot Spot stamp set and combined it with two other sets to get the sentiment. The round tab punch is from Stampin' Up. Here's the close up:

Lots of little touches...the butterflies and the multi-dot border punch.  I loved the colors on this one.

Well, I'll be back with more.

Any Given Saturday

On any given Saturday in Spring you can find me at one of these....

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am huge, huge Garage Sale fan! I love the hunt and thrill of finding random major bargains.  Why pay retail? Heck, with Garage Sale prices, my philosophy is why even pay clearance? I was on a roll this afternoon, ready to take an arm load of photos to show you guys the good deals I've snagged these past couple of weeks, but then, poop ---- my camera battery died.  I did get this shot first:

I scooped up all of these serger spools (and two extras that wouldn't fit in the shot) for only $5.00!! I don't have a serger yet, but it is something on my *wish* list. (The retail price stickers on these spools were $2.99 & $3.99/each.)

I also found one of these:

but sadly, I decided to pass it up.  (Can you tell I'm regretting that decision now?) It was one of those times I talked myself out of something because I decided I really didn't need a second bundt pan....but how often do you find one like this....at a garage sale...for $3.00!!!  Argh!

Next up, is something that hubby decided to try out this afternoon:

And because I'm loving the food photography (in manual mode) right now, I decided to take a second shot...

He cooked up some homemade sweet potato chips...and boy were they delicious! I think I could have eaten the whole bowl.

Well, I promise to be back with another series of pictures, including my new "solar" powered clothes dryer, my new "Coach" and my storage solution for all of those Papertrey Ink CDs cases I've been "collecting."

Have a good one!

New Kitchen Toy

We did some shopping over Spring Break and I got my hands on this lovely new "toy" for my kitchen:

We have a couple of waffle lovers in our house so making belgian waffles from this lovely was really a treat. Today was the first morning we had a chance to try it out since purchasing it on Tuesday.  Let me just say...."They were great!"

No, that wasn't my plate....but I could have certainly eaten that many....actually, that is a picture of what was left once everyone was done.  And, another good thing we found out, they are the perfect size for our T-fal toaster.  We will be popping these babies in the toaster tomorrow before school for a quick and delicious breakfast treat. 

I also heard that you can use it to bake brownies and quick breads, so you know I'll be trying out that feature as well.

Money Well Spent

We visited the Riverside Arts Market again this weekend and I found a local farmer selling these gorgeous blueberries freshly picked and straight out of a freezer.

When we got them home, I dumped them out and started picking out stems and re-bagging them into smaller bags. At the Market I bought a gallon-sized freezer bag, approximately 4 1/2 pounds of berries for $8.00.  I thought it was a great deal. By the time I re-bagged them I ended up having 15 cups of berries!

I can't wait to make a new blueberry coffee cake recipe along with some fresh smoothies and maybe blueberry scones. As my good friend Debbi used to say, "De-lish!"

Scenes of the Day

Hello and Happy Easter! We are celebrating as a family today...no big plans, except being together and taking it easy for a little while...not to mention we are also enjoying our Spring Break holiday this week.

We made some really delicious Easter cookies using a simple recipe from Southern Living. It's a 5-ingredient recipe that makes a delicious shortbread/sugar dough.  I've always loved rolled out cookies and imagine all kinds of possibilities when it comes to decorating with piped frosting, sprinkles and such.  Sometimes the process can be a little intimidating, but with a little patience it can be a really fun experience.  We plan on making more with this easy dough.

Next up is a picture from this morning:

The girls had a fun morning tearing into their Easter baskets. These baskets are a little on the small side, but they still seem to hold lots of goodies.  Their loot included a little bit of candy along with a cute t-shirt, Littlest Pet Shop toys, a paintable craft, fun erasers and a golden egg which included a little bit of spending money.

Millinery Cards & Cute Felt Bags

I recently found these Easter cards in my "Correspondence" box.  I made these several years ago. The basic card is so simple, just a folded piece of purplish paper.  No embossing, no rounded corners, no stamping. The envelope was made using a tiny template of some kind.  And, I'm almost sure, the teeny tiny tag was made on the computer and then hand cut. 

I think the fanciest thing about the card is the little brad I attached to the tag.  I guess that was a big technique back in the day.  I thought the carrots were a sweet addition, but a little hard to mail in a flat envelope.  I picked them up at the craft store in the millinery section.

These are two little gift bags I put together with some Easter treats, including the bunny notepad, some chocolate and a little pillow box filled with jellybeans.  These bags are from Michael's.  At $1.00/each they were just too cute to pass up and much cheaper when you count supplies + time on my budget than homemade.  Sometimes homemade doesn't win. 

Bunny Notepad

I found these sweet notepads at Target's Dollar Spot.  As soon as I saw them I thought of Papertrey's famous skinny notepads with covers. 

After I grabbed a little cardstock, some paper scraps and a little bit of ribbon and sticky tape here's what I came up with:

The felt chick is an embellishment from Michael's.  When I'm in a time crunch I always fall back on embellishments vs. stamping or coming up with a paper-piecing, etc.....they save so much time and always look cute.  I also used my Martha Stewart fringe scissors and my reliable baker's twine.  The patterned paper is an old design from American Crafts.  You can't go wrong with pastel polka dots at Easter.

These will be a special tuck-in for some Easter bags I am giving away.