Deeply Rooted Life

Cowboy

2012-03-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

I've always heard that weather this time of year can be crazy, but Friday was taking that to the extreme!! You've probably seen on the news where the storm that passed through Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio last Friday was a whopper, and that's an understatement!
Businesses closed early on Friday afternoon (mine included!), people hurried home to hunker down and brace for whatever was to come. Our family was truly blessed, and even the rain that we experienced was nothing more than a passing storm. Just 4 or 5 miles away, people experienced golf ball to grapefuit sized hail and significant damage, and several tornadoes caused entire cities to be leveled throughout our state.
We are definetely counting ourselves as blessed, and are praying for the families who have been forever changed by this storm.

Cowboy

This is another page from my trip to Mimi's Getaway. I love scrapping with a group, because there's always a toy there that I don't have, and it's a great way to use new products! One of the ladies was nice enough to let me borrow the Paper Doily Sizzlits Die from Stampin' Up!, and they turned out beautifully! I paired the doily die with a masculine print from the Old School line from Pink Paislee. Even with adding a rhinestone brad from Stampin' Up! to the doilies, the page still has a great, masculine look.

Supplies Used:

Basic Grey Curio Upholstery
Pink Paislee Old School
Sizzlits Die Paper Doily
Stampin' Up! Rhinestone Brads
Stampin' Write Chocolate Chip
Making Memories Canvas Letters
Twine
Assorted Glue Dots

Another St. Patrick's Day Treat!

2012-02-29T23:54:00.001-05:00

It's a little known secret that my dream vacation is to Ireland. It's even in the top 5 on my bucket list! I love that Glue Dots® wanted us to make them a few St. Patrick's Day projects this month. I had a great time coming up with the four leaf clover hair clip I showed you yesterday, and this project was fun, too!

If you've been following me recently, you know that I'm in the process of moving, and all of my craft goodies are packed away! I perused Michael's for a quick project that wouldn't need too many supplies, and came up with this neat jumbo clip!

Side note: try creating with the tornadic mess my kids left behind (and didn't clean up before bed time!!). Whew!!

Supplies:

Jumbo Clip
Wooden Heart Shapes
Green Paint, brush
Ink for distressing
Fibers (I ended up just using baker's twine)
Craft Glue Dots®

Lightly paint the wooden pieces (I liked leaving a bit of the wood grain showing). Make sure you paint the majority of the back, too (the sides stick off of the clip). I used my ink to edge the hearts and a bit on the fronts for distressing.

Use your Craft Glue Dots® to adhere the hearts to the clip. I wrapped a bit o' twine (bwa ha ha!) around the top for some texture, printed out, cut and distressed my words, and cut some felt for the clover stem (also adhered with Craft Glue Dots®).

I can't wait to use this in my future new craft room! Happy {early} St. Patrick's Day, everyone!!

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® Design Team.

Clover Hair Clip with Glue Dots!

2012-02-29T00:19:00.001-05:00

I'm back!!! Well, partially. I'm still using the trunk of my car for the majority of my craft room storage (hey, I can't leave home without any of it!!), but I found a nice, little folding table with my name written all over it for a bit of craft time fun with Glue Dots!

This cute, little four leaf clover hair clip is going to look great in my daughter's hair for St. Patrick's Day!! It was super easy to make. Let me walk you through it!

Materials:

Glue Lines® (I used the continuous roll, but it would be just as easy to use the 1" lines)
Craft Glue Dots®
Felt
Ribbon
Hair Clip

Line the top of the hair clip with the Glue Lines®. Start the ribbon at the back of the clip with a Craft Glue Dot®, then fold the ribbon over the top. Finish lining the inside of the clip with Glue Lines® and the ribbon.

Now for the clover!

From a piece of green felt, cut four shapes (see those shapes? in the picture down there?), and string them on a piece of thread.

Tie the two ends of the thread together (pull tight!!) and knot the thread. You'll end up with a pretty little four-leaf clover! Adhere the clover to the hair clip with a Craft Glue Dot®.

Ta-da!!!! Quick, easy, and very adaptable for any holiday or occasion!

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team.

A Pinterest Inspiration with Friendship's Garden

2012-02-22T04:00:00.000-05:00

What a challange this week is!! I love being given a color combination and seeing what I can create. If you're like me, you get stuck in a 'comfort rut' of using the same colors, layouts, or your favorite 'go-to' materials. Becky provided us with this color inspiration:

Again, if you're anything like me, you have this paper pack that you've been holding on to because you love it just that much, and you don't dare use any of it!! That is me with about 99% of any of all of my K&Company paper. I flipped through my Berry Sweet line and came across this sweet owl paper with the perfect color comnination to match our inspiration. I used the front of the paper for the majority of the card, and I used the reverse of that paper for some accents. I accessorized with my precious (and rarely used!) chipboard elements from the same line. I finished it off with some ribbon, orange baker's twine, and a mini safety pin.

Get looking through your stash, pull out these colors, and get to work! Can't wait to see what you come up with!! Be sure to link it back to Friendship's Garden.

Happy Lucky Love

2012-02-17T22:50:00.000-05:00

True story: I'm still alive.
HA!
The move to the temporary home (a.k.a. my in-law's house!) is done, I've started my new job, and I'd love to say that things are slowing down a bit...but they're not!! While I'm working a difficult mid-day shift, my husband and father in law are working on our perminant house, while my mother in law takes care of the kiddos!
I got quite a few projects done at my little pre-move vacation to Mimi's Getaway, so I'll be showing you those until I'm able to start some new creations.
First up: Happy Lucky Love

This page came together pretty quickly, using a lot of pre-made elements and a fun patterned paper.

I knew that my picture (wonderfully edited by my friend Holly!) would need some muted colors with a similar rustic feel to enhance it well, so I went with this 12x12 paper from My Mind's Eye and dug into my amazing little pack of K&Company EcoModern Diecuts for my title. A rub-on by DaisyD balanced out the left side of the page (I didn't notice that it was a little serpent thing until it was already on there...creepy!!)

Two elements of this page that I LOVE: a) the dictionary page, and b) the doily.

A) The Dictionary Page. I love dictionaries. They have an aged look, they're a great size, and, minus the pages I rip out to craft with, it's a great reference for journaling! (hehe!) I flipped through the pages until I found a header with an appropriate word (this one says gentleman) and used that as a photo mat.

B) The doily. I am all about using typically feminine products to make amazingly masculine pages. I thought this element added the perfect amount of texture and interest.

Thanks for stopping by!! Leave me some encouragement/oh-my-goodness-did-i-really-just-pack-up-my-entire-life love, and I promise I'll bring you another project soon!!

erin.

It's a Love Thing Friendship's Garden Blog Hop

2012-02-08T03:00:00.000-05:00

Well, a big HELLO from the temporary Deeply Rooted house! We made the big move over the weekend, I started my new job this week, and I'm thoroughly exhausted! There are a few fixes and updates going on at the perminant house, so we're staying with family for a few more weeks until things are ready for us.
With that being said, I'm a bit sad to share with you that I don't have an entry for this week's Friendship's Garden blog hop. The other Garden Girls have done a great job with their examples, so I'm sure they won't steer you wrong! This week's challenge is a great one, so let's get you hopping!

Love is the theme, and your project must have at least 3 embellishments on your card! (Buttons, ribbon, lace, trim, bling, brads, die cuts, chipboard, etc.) As usual, you should make a project based on the theme and link it up to us. The usual rules apply, and we will choose the top 3 and winner of the gift certificate from Altered Angel via vote by the Garden Girls.

Now for the blog hop info ... Michelle at Designs on Cloud 9 was very generous and gave the Garden Girls a free file for us to work with, and if you win this blog hop, you could buy it for your very own with the $20 gift certificate to the Designs on Cloud 9 online shop!!!

Here are the rules, and they must follow this order:

First you must become a follower of this blog (if you haven't already). Leave us a comment saying you have done this.

Second, please go become a fan of Friendship's Garden on Facebook. Leave us a comment saying you have done this.

Next, go visit the Designs on Cloud 9 shop and pick out your favorite file and come back here and leave a comment telling us which file is your favorite!

Then you must go 'like' Designs on Cloud 9 on Facebook, then come back here and leave a separate comment that you've done that.

Next you must visit each of the Garden Girls blogs and leave a comment. Some of the Garden Girls are offering their own giveaway, so leaving a comment there gives you an extra chance to win a prize! Come back here and tell us that you have left a comment for all of the Garden Girls.
That gives you five (5) chances to win the gift certificate from Designs on Cloud 9!!! If you only do one, you get one chance, if you do 3 you get 3 chances, and so on. The winner for the $20 Designs on Cloud 9 gift certificate will by chosen via a random number generator from the comments received on this blog.

SHARON

SAM

JAMIE

ERIN {you are here}

DENA {go here next!}

I can't wait to see what you've come up with!!

A quick page at Mimis!

2012-02-03T17:40:00.001-05:00

Hello there!! Things are very stressful right now around the Deeply Rooted house: it's moving weekend!! While things were being loaded, packed, organized, I decided to be the best help I could possibly be and run away to my favorite scrapbooking retreat, Mimi's Getaway!!!
I've gotten a lot of work done so far, including this 100% Stampin' Up! Page:

I'll post more later, hope you're having as good of a weekend as I am!!

M-I-N-N-I-E M-O-U-S-E!!!!

2012-01-30T10:55:00.001-05:00

Ok, I realize the song is M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E, but this weekend at the Deeply Rooted House, it's was all about Minnie and a birthday party for a sweet little girl!

Her birthday isn't actually for a few weeks, but we'll be in a post-moving frenzy at that point, so we decided to celebrate a bit early.


There's more in here, right??

Love these Melissa and Doug dress up dolls!

Now, if you've seen my previous posts on this little missy's first birthday party (with the owl cake), or her older brother's Word World cake, you've seen that cakes are my 'thing' for their parties. I love making them, taking oodles and oodles of way-too-much time to make them completely awesome. And this year?

Epic fail.

So you've heard we're moving, right? Last week of work, packing, stress, and a busy (i-had-to-go-to-a-stampin'-up-party-that-morinig) day? Time escaped me, and alas, the cake didn't happen.
Cupcakes, however, did:

Did you know that when you put a Starburst in the microwave for 19 seconds, it becomes a pliable, but not-yet-sticky molding putty? I did!!! Chocolate wafers for the ears, white chocolate chips for the dots, and molded Starbursts for the bows. Yum!!

As crunched for time as I was, I did have a few minutes to make some totally cute party favors for all of the kids:

I decided I had enough time to make these about 15 minutes before the party started!! They're super, super easy!!

1. Cut circles from craft foam (I used one of the paper cups for the party to trace a circle)
2. Cut a curve from the circle so it will fit to the headband
3. Apply a 1" Glue Line® to the curve on the craft foam, adhere to the headband.

To go from 'Mickey' to 'Minnie', make a bow and stick it on between the ears using a Craft Glue Dot®.

Even after the party, they'll still love to play with them!

Another way to easily customize your party is to make cup cozies!

I used a coffee cup cozie as a template and traced that onto my patterned paper:

I used the Mickey Font cartridge on my Cricut to cut the Mickey shape with the '2'. While I was hurriedly cutting foam ears (remember? Just before the party started?), my husband stole the 1" Glue Strips®, glued these to fit the cups, and grabbed the Mini Glue Dots® to stick the shape on.

Parties can be exhausting! At least I always have six months to recover from one child's birthday before the next one rolls around!!

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team.

Sketch Challenge for Friendship's Garden

2012-01-25T03:00:00.000-05:00

Hello again!!
Things in the Deeply Rooted house are in full packing mode, which means chaos abounds! If you missed my last post, my family and I are packing up house and moving out of state...new job, new home, and hopefully some new crafty friends!!! There are a million things to due with half as much time to do them in, more projects in my head than hours on a clock face (am I describing most of your lives?!), and did I mention we're having a birthday party this weekend?? Yikes!! Little Miss O will turn the big 0-2 during the move, so we're having some family and friends over this weekend to celebrate a bit early.
You know, "Just another manic Monday"...and Tuesday...and Wednesday...

In the midst of the chaos of it all, I managed to sneak through my packed-into-boxes craft lair (that's a whole depressing post all in it's own!!) to mellow out and make a card for the sketch challenge over at Friendship's Garden.

Becky, our resident botanist, has given us a great sketch to create from this week:

I love the simplicity of this card! It would have taken no time to make, had the thread not run out on my bobbin and pierced holes where thread should have been! Yeeeeahh, with that being the last element to add to my card (and not wanting to start completely over!), I reloaded the bobbin, lined my card back up on the machine, and painstakingly cranked the hand wheel to exactly line up with the holes so lovingly punched the first go round. Live and learn, right?!

I can't wait to see what you come up with using this sketch!! Use the link on the Friendship's Garden site to show us your Valentines card. While you're working on that, I'll be trying to get "M-I-C-K-E-YYYYYY, M-O-U-S-EEEEEE" out of my head from this party!! I promise to do a post about it (and the cake...always the cake!) so you can share in my ~~misery~~ celebration! :)

Materials used in this card:
Cardstock base: Hollo's Papercrafts
Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye - Union Square
Letters: Thickers
Image: Vintage sewing pattern
Staples: Making Memories
Hearts: Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge, paper scraps from stash
Sewing machine with green thread

Tina's Big 3-0 Birthday Bash Blog Hop

2012-01-18T05:36:00.000-05:00

Tina's Big Birthday Bash Blog Hop!

First we would love to welcome you to celebrate Tina's Big 3-0 Birthday Bash Blog Hop. With that being said, Happy Happy Birthday Tina! We wish you the happiest of birthdays with all your wishes and dreams come true. This hop is to celebrate Tina's birthday and shower her with birthday wishes! Be sure to stop and make sure you wish Tina a Happy Birthday.

There is a phenomenal line-up today showering Tina with birthday wishes and don't want you to miss a single thing!!!

There is some wonderful blog candy if you remark on each stop along the birthday trail of wishes along with becoming a follower, if you aren't already! This blog candy will blow you away so, be sure to leave your comments along the birthday trail!!!

K Andrews Design Stamp Set- Scripture Sayings
$30 GC to Scraptastical Kreations!
11x14 Print from My Family Keepsakes

If you happened to visit my blog by accident, I want you to check out the complete hop by stopping first at the beginning of the birthday wishes! You should have come from visiting Enjoli's blog.

On to my project!

I created a Happy Birthday tag. I just got the My Mind's Eye Rosy "Everything" Stamps from the Lost & Found line, and I couldn't wait to use it! I used my typewriter to type the sentiment, and used the Wood Background Stamp from Scrappy Cat for the floral background (stamped with Studio G ink). The bracket is felt from Inque Botique, and I added a bit o' twine from Doodlebug.

Your next stop along wishing Tina the Big 3-0 Birthday Bash Blog Hop Wishes is Jamie's blog.

Just in case you get lost, here's the whole line up:

Thanks again for stopping and checking out my project for Tina today!!!! Happy Birthday Tina!

A CAS for Friendship's Garden from an upside-down house!

2012-01-11T03:00:00.000-05:00

While things are starting to wind down in recovery from the holidays in households across the world, things at my house are just starting to get crazy.

You see, in just three short weeks, we're moving!!

We'll be traveling 250 miles and 4.5 hours to a new job (for me -- hubby will still be a Stay-At-Home Super Man!) and temporary housing. The temporary arrangements will be nice, but as for the crafting space...that will be an issue! I'll be getting creative on crafting time, location, and hopefully not be using the same piece of paper for every project!!
If my projects come together as smoothly for my upcoming work as well as today's card did, I'll be good to go!!
Today's project for Friendship's Garden was to create a CAS (clean and simple) card using a sentiment. While my son was playing with his lego monster trucks at the kitchen counter, I ran downstairs, picked up materials for my card:

Using the monster trucks as inspiration (ha!), I picked one sheet of the 8x8 stack, sentiment sticker from MME, flower and ribbon. I folded the paper hotdog style (that's how my 3rd grade art teacher described it...), added my sticker, and finished it off with my ribbon and flower adhered with micro Glue Dots.

Love that flower! Prima Flowers (found at Hobby Lobby)

Total time for the card (including fixing El Toro Loco's body after crashes with Grave Digger) was less than 5 minutes!

And just to sneak one last picture in, here's a picture of my {almost} two year old daughter playing with her balloon just after nap time today :)

Get your CAS cards linked up to the Friendship's Garden blog! I can't wait to see which monster truck inspires you!!!

Snow Days Blog Hop * Day 2!

2012-01-07T23:49:00.001-05:00

We're so happy you could join us for Day Two of this super-fun hop showcasing cards, layouts and projects that feature everything about Snow Days!! You'll find an array of ideas throughout the hop -- We hope you'll enjoy each and every project along the way!!

If you'd like to join our Snow Days Fun, then you are in the right place. Keep alert for blog candy along the way as some hop stops will be offering some goodies...

For Day Two of the hop, I've re-purposed a Christmas card into an ATC (Artist Trading Card)! I had my first try at ATC's here with Friendship's Garden. I always hate throwing out (or worse yet, storing for no apparent purpose) Christmas cards every year, but I'd never come across a reason to keep them...until now! Depending on the design on the Christmas card, you can easily make two to three ATC's per card and end up with an entire set by the end of the Season!

I fancy cut around one of the trees to be able to pop it up off of the card a bit. All of the elements here are from the Christmas card, with the addition of a bit of ric rac trim, colored staples and some Stickles for a bit of shine! I stuck everything down with Glue Dots.

Hope you've enjoyed Day Two here at the Snow Days Blog Hop. Thanks for coming by! Hope you haven't thrown out those Christmas cards yet!! ... Now hop on over to Amy!

Here's a list of the entire hop, in case you get lost along the way or want to revisit anyone:

Snow Days Blog Hop * Day One!

2012-01-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Snow Days Blog Hop!!

We're so happy you could join us for this super-fun hop showcasing cards, layouts and projects that feature everything about Snow Days!! You'll find an array of ideas throughout the hop -- We hope you'll enjoy each and every project along the way!!

If you'd like to join our Snow Days Fun, then you are in the right place. Keep alert for blog candy along the way as some hop stops will be offering some goodies...

For the hop today, I've created a 12x12 scrapbooking page. I've had a few pictures of my little man in my 'to scrap' stack for years, and I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to get them out and finished!

Thank you again for checking out my project... Now hop on over to Amy!

Here's a list of the entire hop, in case you get lost along the way or want to revisit anyone:

Thanks for stopping by, please come back tomorrow for another great project!!

Materials Used in this Project:

DCWV Christmas Stack * Stampin' Up! Ornaments & Diecut Paper * Making Memories Staples * Making Memories Scrapbook Paint * Oriental Trading Rub-On's * Baker's Twine * Hobby Lobby Red Lace Trim * Tag - Hollo's Papercrafts * All adhesives from Glue Dots *

Friendship's Garden Bonus Week - ATC!!

2012-01-04T04:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning in the Deeply Rooted House

Christmas is over, the tree has been taken out, lights and decorations have come down and things are returning to a normal pace.....wait, right? Things slow down now right?? THEY DON'T?!?

Of course, my life would speed up even more!! Details about my upcoming ventures to come later, but don't you worry your little self. I'll still make time for crafting!!! And speaking of crafting....

It's a bonus week here at Friendship's Garden! Becky has challenged us to come up with ATC's in a vintage kid's theme. How fun!!

First things first, though...what's an ATC?!?!

Why, hello, Google!!


http://painting.about.com/od/paintingforbeginnersfaq/f/ArtTradingCard.htm

OOooook. My first challenge?? The size!! These babies are TINY! I started by cutting out a piece of plain cardstock that was 2.5" x 3.5" to give myself some guidelines.

My second challenge? Vintage kids theme? The other Garden Girls have made fabulous cards in past weeks using a vintage-y theme, but I haven't been able to hit the mark there yet.

So. Vintage.

Vintage, vintage, vintage.

{insert light bulb over the head moment here}

DRESS PATTERNS!

I found three or four older dress patterns at a yard sale this past Summer that would work perfectly for this!

I started by fussy cutting (cutting away all of the 'white space') one of the pictures from the front of the packaging.

I cut the fitting measurements from the back of the packaging for my background, and cut a piece of the actual pattern and sewed that onto the top.

I added my girl, a bunch of items cut from the packaging, an old button (threaded, of course), and some baker's twine.

Your turn!! Get your mind into 2.5" x 3.5" mode and show us what you've got!! Can't wait to see what you come up with! Make sure to post your projects here.

My First Mixed Media Canvas and a HUGE Thank You!

2011-12-21T22:36:00.000-05:00

Here it is!! My first mixed media canvas. I had a lot of fun making this. I did it in several steps, spanning over at least a week. I like to be able to do a layer, step back and take a second look at it, and come back to it with a fresh perspective (plus I needed a lot of drying time in between!). I have to admit that I got a lot of inspiration from a fabulously talented artist/designer/everything else named Mou Saha. Go check out her blog sometime. It's definitely worth linking up to! (and I'll just go ahead and admit now that attending one of her classes in Florida is on my bucket list!!)
This canvas was a Christmas present to a wonderful friend who is taking life by the horns and really proving and shaping themselves right now. I wanted to make something that would be an inspiration during the hard times and somewhat decent to look at during the good times :) Luckily, we exchanged gifts early this year, so I can finally post about this project!!!

I feel like I've crossed over from making projects to actually creating something with this piece. For the first time, I understand what artists feel when they are composing artwork. Each element, from the dress pattern layers to the color underneath, the images to the fibers, mean something to me. Every item added to this canvas has a meaning. And while someone might not 'get it', or even appreciate anything about it, to me, it means a lot (and hopefully to the recipient, too!!)

Babble, babble, babble, right?? Ok. On to the steps.

Step One: Prime canvas with gesso, let dry (overnight-ish). This particular canvas came pre-primed, but I'd rather play it safe.

Step Two: Get crazy with gelatos!! Faber Castell makes these amazing little color sticks called gelatos (more info about them here). They go on like a crayon, and once they're wet, they blend amazingly! I tried several different methods to blend my colors (wet paintbrush, baby wipes, fingers) and ended up liking using my hands the best. It was a lot easier to control how much got blended. Once you're happy with the coloring, let dry (doesn't take very long!)

Step Three: Next I decoupaged old dress patterns onto the entire canvas (they're in the bottom of that picture up there). No real rhyme or reason to this part, just overlapping a bit as a go. Drying time for this was a few days!

Step Four: Play!! Once your canvas background is all ready, you get to create and play! I inked up some Grungeboard letters and used some Grungepaper through the Cricut to cut out the bird house (from the Serenade cartridge). The bird was cut from the Serenade cartridge from cardstock, traced onto a piece of plain muslin, and decoupaged onto the canvas.

added some curled wire for detail

popped this off the canvas slightly

inspirational phrase

I can't wait for inspiration and a few extra days to work on my next one. I think I'm hooked!! (plus my canvas came in a two pack!)

This will definitely be my last post before I'm off on a holiday for a bit. Thanks, everyone, for a GREAT 2011! A huge thank you to Glue Dots and Becky at Friendship's Garden for taking me on as a designer this term. This blog was started because of you all, and it's turning out to be such an amazing journey!!

I'm looking forward to all 2012 has in store. It's going to be a great year!! Merry Christmas!!

All Aboard the Polar Express!!

2011-12-20T22:33:00.001-05:00

Toot tooooooot!!!!!

I have to admit, I've never seen the movie. I probably should. Pretty soon my kids will be to the age where they'd find that mesmerizing! In fact, not too far from our town, there's a place that reenacts the Polar Express, complete with a train ride to the North Pole (you can check that out here). I'm sure they'll love that in the coming years.

A friend of mine wanted to take her three grandchildren to this Polar Express event, and asked if I would make tickets for them.

Would I???

OF COURSE!!

Now remember, I've never seen the movie (I'm pretty sure the book had been read to me once upon a time, but that wasn't enough at this point). I Googled away, and came upon this great packet someone else had already made up, and it included the images of the actual tickets used in the movie! I'm not one to reinvent the wheel (why make more work for yourself!?) so I used these:

Reproducible Image from http://www.hmhbooks.com/features/thepolarexpress/pdf/polarpartykit.pdf

Now, here come the part I lllooooooovvvveeee!! Print it on paper? These will be given to kids. Torn and wrinkled in two seconds. Nooo, no, no, no. I had a better idea:

Grungepaper.

Yup, this is going to be awesome.

So. Grungepaper. Never heard of it? It's in the Tim Holtz line of Grungeboard, described as "a thinner form of Grungeboard with the same grungeable properties". Love. It. Completely pliable, able to alter in tons of ways, including writing, sewing, stamping and inking it (like printer ink?? You see where my mind's heading here...)

Off to the printer I went! I used a laser printer, if that matters to you folks, and this is what I came out with:

(I am in love)

I knew that my Stampin' Write markers from Stampin' Up! worked really well on Grungeboard (no pen lines, blends perfectly!), so I tested it on a scrap of the Grungepaper: worked like a charm!! I cut the ticket out and colored it to appear gold (like in the movie, I'm told) and then did some Christmas-y colors on the holly and ivy. The bell got a little daub of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint.

I added a rolled up letter from Santa and some awesomely huge jingle bells to finish it off.

I can't wait to make these for my own kids someday soon!!

Make sure you stop back by tomorrow...I'm giving out one of my favorite creations tomorrow, so I can finally blog about it!! (Can you say MIXED MEDIA?!?)

Handmade Christmas Giving...Pinterest Style!

2011-12-19T01:45:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!! I'll probably have another project to post between now and when the Big Guy arrives from Christmastown, but I'll say it now, just in case!

We did a lot of 'name drawing' this year for family Christmases. I love this idea, because it not only simplifies the shopping experience, it gives a little reminder that presents aren't the reason for the season. Along with having a specific person to get a gift for, there was a limit on $$. Twenty dollars used to buy a lot in this world (and I'll stop there, risking sounding like my grandparents).
Anyhow, I was able to find a cute bag to benefit breast cancer (found online here), and it was only half of the budget. I wanted to do something crafty (imagine that), and to get my creativity flowing, I went a-Pinterest-ing for ideas -- and found this yard wrapped letter. I can do that!

I used a couple of the Glue Lines occasionally through the wrapping process when my hands needed a break from holding the yarn (or when one of my kids needed me!)

Whew!! Ok, so I was a little ambitious using an 'S' as my first go at this! The curves were admittedly tricky. Too bad her name didn't start with an 'I'...
Anyhow, I added her favorite little cardinal bird onto the bottom of the finished 'S', and here you go:

I love how this turned out, even with the bumpy curves. Using a solid colored instead of the variegated yarn might have hidden my mistakes a little better. I'm sure practice makes perfect for these cute little things! If you're looking for a quick, easy (unless their names starts with an 'S') project, I promise your craft store won't be sold out of yard and paper mache letters like Toys R Us is sold out of Leap Pads!

A Christmas Card for Friendship's Garden

2011-12-14T03:00:00.000-05:00

So I know I've been in a bit of a posting lull...with the Christmas season upon us, time is in fast forward!! I do have a few AWESOME projects up my sleeve, but they're either projects I've made as Christmas presents (and since a lot of my friends read my blog, posting them would spoil their Christmas surprise!!) or they're super fun products I can't share about yet!!
SO! You just be ready...rest up now, while you have the time, because pretty soon I'm going to be going Blogger CRAZY!!! :D

This week at Friendship's Garden we made a free for all card, just incorporate a Winter, Christmas or New Year's theme!! I chose Christmas, and tried to go for a bit of the traditional color palate, but with a twist. I used patterned papers from Stampin' Up!, cut out petal shapes and stitched around the edges with my sewing machine for a bit of texture. I clustered those in the corner and added the Noel bling from Me and My Big Ideas. The background paper is from 7 Gypsies.
All of my elements were adhered with Glue Dots (of course!)

Get your Christmas, New Year or Winter themed cards (without stamping!) posted up to Friendship's Garden, and rest up...MUCH more to come in the weeks to come!!

Homemade Christmas Gift Blog Hop, Day 2!

2011-12-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and welcome to the Homemade Christmas Gift Blog Hop, Day Two! You should have gotten here from Carla's blog. If you just happened here and want to start from the beginning, click here to get to her blog.
We have 7 fabulous crafters again today who are going to share some of their ideas for Homemade Christmas gifts. What is better than making something personalized for someone you love. So sit back and enjoy.

Here's the lineup!

1. Carla

2. Erin (<-- You are here!)

3. JulieK (<-- Here next!)

4. Barbara B

5. Lynda

6. Ashley

7. Gina

Now on to my second handmade project!!

This little guy is a lot of fun, and you can really personalize it to whatever you want it to be!!
I started with a set of paper mache nesting boxes from my local craft store and painted them white. After that was dry, I dry brushed a light coat of midnight blue. Lastly, I painted the stars on the larger two boxes and the face on the smallest box.

You can pack these boxes with cookies or other treats and be the hit of the party.
I hope you've enjoyed these homemade goodies and gotten some great ideas for your next Christmas gift!

Homemade Christmas Gift Blog Hop

2011-12-09T03:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Welcome to the Homemade Christmas Gift Blog Hop. You should have gotten here from Carla's blog. If you just happened here and want to start from the beginning, click here to get to her blog.
Today we have 7 fabulous crafters who are going to share some of their ideas for Homemade Christmas gifts. What is better than making something personalized for someone you love. So sit back and enjoy. And make sure you come back to see what they’ve created on both days.

Here's the lineup!

1. Carla

2. Erin (<-- You are here!)

3. JulieK (<-- Here next!)

4. Barbara B

5. Lynda

6. Ashley

7. Gina

Now on to my first handmade project!!

I made this simple mitten garland from two old sweaters I had from years past. They're so (sew) easy!!! :)

Step One: Cut out mitten shape from sweater (be sure to leave the 'cuff of the mitten' along a finished edge of the sweater - either the sleeve or waist band). Cut both layers of the sweater (front and back) at the same time.

Step Two: Machine or hand stitch along the edges of the two mitten pieces together. Turn the band down to form the cuff of the mitten.

Step Three: String coordinating buttons along wire, adding the mittens as you go (the wire will string right through the knit of your mittens!).

Easy, simple and cute! (and refurbishing!!)

Be sure to head over to JulieK's blog next, and stop back by tomorrow for more handmade inspiration!!

New Garden Girls and a bonus video!

2011-12-07T18:53:00.001-05:00

Hey!! Sorry posts have been so infrequent! Things around here are crazy with Christmas.

I have some great news from Friendship's Garden! We announced our new design team members today in this post. Congratulations, Jamie, Chana, Sam and Sharon!!!! You'll start seeing their work in January. I personally can't wait!

Also, it's a bonus week at Friendship's Garden! Check out CherylAnn's amazing video on making these great tags here!!

Until next time....Merry Christmas!!

Another Quick Christmas Card!

2011-12-01T07:29:00.001-05:00

I love Christmas cards. I really do!! While store bought cards are nice and thoughtful, a hand made Christmas card brings a smile to my face. It amazes me that someone went through the time and effort - for me!!

I threw this together last night for a coworker's care package going overseas. I love using pre-designed paper for a cute background! The cardinal and holly paper is DCWV, accompanied by some SU! striped paper and rub-on. I added some Twinery twine for a splash of detail!

So remember, in your holiday preparations this year, a hand made card warms the heart like none other :)

A Christmas Inspiration!

2011-11-30T04:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been out of posting lately! What can I say...it's the Christmas season, and things always get a little crazy around here this time of year.
Today's challenge for Friendship's Garden was a color challenge from a Pinterest photo (here's a link to my Pinterest boards!):

And here's my project:

I stuck with Stampin' Up!'s Jolly Holly Designer Series Paper for all of my patterned paper. This line went perfectly with the inspiration piece!

I singed a piece of my lace doily (couldn't resist!) for a bit of texture, added a distressed, pre-fab dimensional sentiment embellishment (Me and My Big Ideas) and a bit of green fuzzy yarn.

I can't wait to see you take on this week's project!! Make sure to link it back here!

I'll be back soon with more Christmas (and beyond!) projects to inspire you this Christmas season!!

Art Journaling

2011-11-21T19:36:00.000-05:00

While I was waiting for paint to dry last night (literally), I made this little ditty in my art journal. Getting the hang of those gelatos finally!
Rough? yes.
Amazing? not really.
Part of me and where I'm going? yes.

Non-Christmas(ish) Party Fun with Glue Dots!

2011-11-20T16:02:00.001-05:00

I love birthdays! I love that everyone has that one special day that they get celebrated.
But.

{are there any Christmas babies out there??}

Yeah. Christmas babies tend to have their birthdays accidentally forgotten in the hustle and bustle of the season, or may get a 'combo gift'...
"This present is for your birthday and Christmas!"

So this year, I wanted to do something special for my 'Christmas baby' friend. We'll be having a normal, non-Christmas(ish) party for her this year. I was in charge of dessert and favors. (!!!)

As much as I love birthdays, I love a good sale, too!! In all of the crafty stores, Christmas displays and goodies are speedily being set up and readied for the upcoming Christmas season...with $ales!! I went shopping for favors and was viciously attacked by 50% off Christmas items!!

So with my non-Christmas(ish) party theme, I snatched up an arm-full of clear plastic Christmas ornaments :)

Favors:

These are super easy to make and a lot of fun, too!! I'll walk you through the steps. Ready?
You'll need the following supplies:

Clear ornament (I chose plastic...from experience!)
Glue Lines® and an assortment of other Glue Dots®
Coordinating glitter, ribbon and paper flowers
Glittered chipboard letters (I used Thickers)
Wood floor finish (I've used a few different brands that have all worked)
Small piece of plastic wrap

The first step is to pour a bit of the floor finish into the clean ornament, cover the opening with plastic wrap, and make sure the entire inside of the ornament is coated.

Once the inside is coated, pour out the excess liquid and pour in the glitter. Give it a good shake to make sure it gets everywhere! Put the hanger back onto the top.

Cut your ribbon to fit around the ornament and apply your Glue Lines® to the back.

Peel off the plastic from the Glue Lines® and adhere your ribbon around the ornament. Use Ultra Thin Glue Dots® to apply paper flowers and finish off with your chipboard letter!

For the second ornament, I glittered the inside and used varying sizes of Glue Dots® (Mini, Permanent, and Craft) and randomly adhered them to the outside of the ornament. Press the dots into the glitter and wipe off the excess. Decorate with paper flowers and chipboard letter.

Cake:
When it comes to cake, I ran straight to the cupcake shop!! I love making kids cakes, but thought cupcakes would be more appropriate for this party. I wanted to dress them up a bit, so I used the Cindy Loo Cricut cartridge to cut out cute butterfly cupcake wrappers. I cut out some coordinating paper to line the wrappers and used some Micro Glue Dots® to adhere them.

Can you see those micro dots?? They're there!! Get out the magnifying glass!!

Use a 1" Glue Line® on the end where the tabs are (I don't care for using the tabs...they always fall apart!), wrap the liner around the cupcake and glue for a perfect fit.

I love them! I think everything turned out really well and we'll have a great non-Christmas(ish) birthday party.

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team.

Thanksgiving Recipe

2011-11-16T03:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to another challenge from Friendship's Garden!!

Before I get to my project for this week, I wanted to let you know that we're planting a few more flowers at Friendship's Garden!! Our design team will be growing beginning in January. If you're interested in joining our Garden Girl team, please check out this post for more information!

This week we have another 'recipe' challenge: Thanksgiving Theme project using:

1 Die Cut,

2 Patterned Papers, and

3 Trims (ribbon, lace, etc.)

I did a Halloween project last month using this awesome Owl Punch from Stampin' Up!:

The dressed up little guys looked like this:

http://deeplyrootedlife.blogspot.com/2011/10/ghoultide-blog-hop.html

I thought I'd take a new season's twist on this punch and see what I could come up with for Thanksgiving! I thought about doing the expected 'turkey', but decided to get a bit more creative and make my little guy a Pilgrim!

I used the punch to cut most of the pieces, but I hand cut his hat and his collar.

My recipe was:

1 Die Cut = Pilgrim Owl

2 Patterned papers: Stampin' Up! Patterned Paper Pack

and 3 Trims: brown felt trim, yellow cording and orange baker's twine

Hope you enjoyed this recipe challenge. Can't wait to see what YOU come up with!! Make sure you post your projects back to Friendship's Garden here.

Quick page...and I mean QUICK!

2011-11-14T11:06:00.001-05:00

So I'm on my own for a bit! My wonderful hubby took the kids to visit his parents out of state until Thanksgiving. It's only been a few days since they left, and I think I've slept the majority of the time away!! Hopefully I'll be able to get quite a few posts up while I have a bit of extra time on my hands.

I've had this piece of cardstock since I started scrapbooking in 2008, and I could never figure out how I wanted to use it. It's a very bold image, and already had a title printed on it. This combination can either equal a quick page or a challenge that takes 3 years to figure out!

I bought it because I was sure my son, in the years to come, would do something that would make me want to use this paper. While I'm sure that he did, this cardstock still never 'spoke' to me. It wasn't until my daughter came along that I wanted to pull this out!

Cardstock is Write Print Crafters 'Engine Tach'

All I did to complete this LO was to trim my pictures down to fit into a cluster to the side of the title and add my beloved Thickers letters (these were Iguana). I had run out of i's, so I used one of the tilde pieces to replace it! This page might have taken me 5 minutes to complete!

Are you ready for my tip of the day when it comes to using a sheet of letters?

Use a water soluble marker to mark over the letters on the plastic packaging for the letters you'll need. You can easily tell if you'll have the correct letters for what you want to spell, and the marker will wipe right off with a tissue or baby wipe!

A lot of scrapbookers I've talked to say that they'd rather have their pages done, even if they don't love the page. While I have a hard time with this motto, personally, I think this page meets the best of both worlds!

All About Boys Blog Hop, Day Two!

2011-11-13T00:47:00.000-05:00

Welcome to All About Boys Blog Hop day two of two! {If you want to check out day one of the hop CLICK HERE}

I am so glad you joined us today!
Boy themed projects seem harder to come by, so that is why we have dedicated TWO whole days to nothing but boys! Hopefully you are able to walk away with some fabulous ideas in mind. We have a lot of very talented people that will be sharing their projects with you, and what would a hop be without a little prize at the end?? :)

There is a FANTASTIC prize package waiting for you! All you have to do to be eligible is...

1. Leave a comment on every blog BOTH DAYS

2. Become a follower on every blog (if you already are just put that in with your comment)

3. Become a fan of Paper Creations by Mindy on facebook (stop in and say hi too!)

Three easy steps and you're eligible for the prize!

Now .....what will you win?? (are you ready for this lineup?!?)

Scraptastical Kreations $20 gift certificate

Designs on Cloud 9 $20 gift certificate

Little Scraps of Heaven Designs $20 gift certificate

Paper Piecings by Nikki $20 Gift certificate

The Beary Scrap $15 gift certificate

Beary Sweet Designs $20 gift certificate

WOW! Wish I could enter the hop myself!
AND, to sweeten the deal, Mindy has her own personal "goodie bag" for you.

Now onto my project -

I had a print of my son enlarged, and I've been waiting for the perfect time to get it out and finish it!
I inked the fronts and edges of grungeboard for all of the lettering. The smaller prints at the bottom are taken from the proofs that are sent with my pictures when they come back from the developer!
I also hand drew some clouds from white cardstock in the same style as the clouds of the background paper to add some dimension and interest. I used Glue Dots to adhere everything to my layout.

Hope you enjoyed this page! Don't forget to follow my blog and leave a comment on this (and every!) post to be qualified for the goodies!!
Now hop on over to Melissa's Blog to see what she has in store for you.

In case you get lost - here is the line-up for Day 2:

A Throw It Together Thanks

2011-11-10T11:30:00.001-05:00

Last night, last minute quick thank you card!
I inked the edges and added some ribbon and chipboard letters. I stamped a flower in a light yellow to add some interest to the plain craft background.
An easy and quick way to make your card original is to round the edges of it. It adds interest without taking any time at all!
Check that off of the mile long 'to-do' list!!

A Quick Card for Frienship's Garden

2011-11-08T23:18:00.003-05:00

Isn't this how it always works?? You spend hours (and knowing me, DAYS) working on a project, only to never have it turn out the way it is in your head. I don't know how many frustrating moments I've had in my craft lair pulling my hair out trying to fix a doomed project.

Aaaaaaand then you have a challenge. A 15 minute challenge.

And in 12:55.9 minutes,

you create one of your favorite cards.

Ever.

I don't know. Maybe it's the unexpected black, red and green combo, or maybe it's the big, gaudy bow (along the lines of my Thanksgiving layout, too), but I really love this card!

It was very quick to throw together (obviously). I used the front and reverse of my Stampin' Up! cardstock, and the trim, circle and Santa embellishments were all pre-made. I inked the edges of {everything} - of course - and used Glue Dots to adhere everything to my card base. The bow was made from a remnant package I bought at Hobby Lobby (the whole package was on sale for $2!)

Now some of you out there know me well enough to expect a Christmas card in the mail in the coming weeks...when you open it, just pretend it's the first time you've seen it!!

Hop back over to Friendship's Garden to post your 15 minute creation!!

used in this project:

InLinkz.com

Art Journaling...just me!

2011-11-02T22:28:00.002-04:00

Journals have always been very popular. Remember back to your teen and pre-teen years when you had the journal with the little lock on it (that you thought no one could ever get in to...I mean, it had a lock on it, right?!)? Even scrapbooking {well heck, this blog!} is journaling. Visual journaling, I guess.
Well, a new {to me, at least} trend right now is Art Journals. These have also probably been around for eons, but they were probably just called 'sketch pads' until now. Also new to me is my very first art journal. I picked it up at Hobby Lobby tonight (it was on clearance for $2!).
Fair warning number one: I can't draw. Really, at all. I'm pretty horrible at it.
Fair warning number two: be kind. Like it says, this is me.

Here's my first entry:

I have aspirations for this book...here's hoping I can live up to my own visions :)

Autumn Leaves

2011-11-01T22:37:00.000-04:00

Without a doubt, this is my favorite time of the year! The sound of the leaves crunching, the chill in the air, and gorgeous colors everywhere you look...nothing's better!
This week at Friendship's Garden, we're taking the sights, sounds, and the feel of Fall and wrapping it up in a nice little card.

Autumn Leaves Card

During this time of the year, I think everyone tends to think a little bit more about what they're thankful for, so I designed this thank you card using the colors of Fall.
I started with a patterned background, then added my decorative trims (I, of course, burned the lace first. I think it's an obsession of mine!) The leaves went on next, and I adhered them with craft Glue Dots (just in the center, so their edges can still pop up off the page for some added depth)

I inked the edges of my chipboard letters before I applied the, then added a corduroy button, threaded with some orange floss, on top. My last embellishment was a piece of orange ribbon that I picked up from a scrapbooking yard sale a few years ago.

Thanks for stopping by, and if you're here from Friendship's Garden, be sure to get your Autumn Leaves card made and post it back to the blog!!

used in this project:

InLinkz.com

Friendship's Garden Halloween Tag

2011-10-26T03:00:00.000-04:00

Hello again! I had a great time this last weekend at my friend Holly's all-day crop. It was a great time to relax, catch up with some friends and get some work done! The first thing I got to work on was our next in between weeks challenge with Friendship's Garden!!
This week's challenge with Friendship's Garden is to create a Halloween tag with the following formula: 3 bling, 2 ric rac, and 1 image. Here's what I came up with:

I had a lot of fun with this little recipe of a project. Hope you enjoyed it, too!

Can't wait to see your 3-2-1 creations!!
You can post them here

used in this project:

InLinkz.com

Fall Owls

2011-10-20T20:23:00.000-04:00

This was a fun little project to make. I was able to use some scrap paper (that, when it was given to me, I though I'd never use!) to make all of the layered elements: the moon, owls, and tree branch.

I started with a piece of solid navy cardstock and cut it to the shape of my $0.50 thrift-store-find picture frame. I cut the owls and branch using the Pumpkin Carving Cricut cartridge. This cut the branch and an owl in a frame of it's own, and I pieced out the parts I wanted (they were cut at 8" and 4").

I used my walnut ink and a sponge dauber to tint the paper in varying shades of brown and I used my Daffodil Delight Stampin' Spot to color the moon (I cut that freehand).

I used a Q-tip to put tiny dots of my shimmer paint onto the navy background as stars.

Everything was adhered with my permanent Glue Dots® dispenser (I love that thing!)

What a quick and easy (and cheap!) homemade Fall decoration!!

InLinkz.com

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team

Vintage Halloween - Friendship's Garden Challenge

2011-10-19T05:46:00.000-04:00

Welcome to another great challenge from Friendship’s Garden. If this is your first stop along the hop, click here to start back at the beginning.

Our theme this week is Vintage Halloween. Vintage I like, but vintage Halloween is something I’ve never attempted before! Through the magic of Google, I found this vintage Halloween postcard that caught my eye:

The Mystic Light of Hallowe'en

First, I love the colors this postcard has: not your typical black and orange scheme, but more of an aged, weathered look, adding in blues and greens to the mix, too.

My favorite element from this inspiration piece is the pumpkin, so I used that as my guide to create this:

"all hallows eve may fear and fright for tricks & ghouls come out that night"

I hand drew the pumpkin and its face, used grungeboard stars and pumpkin stem, and sculpted the metal gate from crafting wire. To get the faded background, I used a piece of medical gauze and transitionally inked it from lightest to darkest with varying shades of blue.

All of my elements were adhered with Glue Dots®. I love how the micro dots are small enough to invisibly hold the wire down, yet strong enough to not let it move an inch!

Another element I love is the packing of the dots. I was able to use the size guide on the outside of the package to get the perfect sized circle for my stars.

Hope this helps you think outside of your comfort zone...it sure pulled me out of mine!!

Make sure you stop over at our blog sponsor, Altered Angel!!

Products used for this project are:

InLinkz.com

Thanks for such a blessing!

2011-10-17T22:51:00.002-04:00

I've been in card haven recently with blog hops and such, and during my last visit to the craft lair I saw some 12x12 calling my name!!
I started by picking out a photo mat from Me & My Big Ideas - Cornucopia. It has wonderful pinks, greens, browns, blues and oranges wonderfully juxtaposed together and makes it really easy finding colors that work together. From these colors, I picked my green background page, blue burlap accent (yard sale find!!), earthy brown paper, brown and pink ribbons, and Fall leaves.

I used a lot of walnut ink for distressing and crumpled my two photo mat pages before adhering them to add a bit more variation and interest. All of my elements were adhered using (none other than) Glue Dots®!!

Take advantage of free photo editing: I typed this journaling onto my picture before it was printed! (I use Picasa)

I think I need to take the idea of this page and mull it over a bit more...there is so much I have to be thankful for right now, and that is what I want future generations to see in my scrapbooks.

InLinkz.com

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team

It's My Birthday Blog Hop, Day 2!!

2011-10-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks for stopping back by!! Again, you should have gotten here from Gloria's blog. If this is your first stop, click here to start over back with the Birthday Girl!

I already had out all of the supplies for the first card, so I thought I'd make a coordinating, yet different card for my second project.

The materials are all pretty much the same for this card, keeping the ric rac trim as a common element. This card stock is the reverse of the piece used for yesterday's card. I used the same chipboard stickers, sentiment and leather trim as the first card, as well.

On this card I felt like there was a bit too much 'white space', so I spritzed a bit of walnut ink to take away some of the emptiness.

Hope you enjoyed these birthday cards!

Your next stop is over to Jennifer's blog.

(but here's the whole line up, just in case!)

Daphne

Jennifer {your next stop!}

Paula

used in this project:

InLinkz.com

It's My Birthday Blog Hop

2011-10-14T04:00:00.000-04:00

Well, it's not my birthday, but it is Alina's (she was your first stop along the hop!), so Happy Birthday, Alina! You should have gotten here from Gloria's blog. If this is your first stop, click here to start over back with the Birthday Girl!

I always find myself in a rush to get the kids in the car without food all over their clothes or faces to make it to birthday parties relatively on time, let alone remembering a card for the present! I tend to make super easy, quick cards that can be whipped up in a jiffy (and sometimes on the way to the party!!)

This card was easy to throw together. I started with a card base of 4 x 4 in. and layered a piece of patterned card stock just smaller than the card. I inked the edges of my chipboard sticker and used the same color to ink my Birthday Wishes sentiment.

For a final touch, I added some skinny off-white ric rac around the edges of the card. I used my go-to adhesive, Glue Dots® to tack everything down.

Be sure to hop on through tomorrow to see this card's counterpart!! (why not? I already had all the supplies out!)

Hope you enjoyed this card! Your next stop is over to Jennifer's blog.

(but here's the whole line up, just in case!)

Alina

Anita

Haidee

Jen

Daphne

Jess

Gloria

Erin {you are here}

Jennifer {your next stop!}

Paula

used in this project:

InLinkz.com

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

2011-10-10T20:42:00.000-04:00

It seems like Fall is my busiest thank you card giving time. Just as the leaves begin to {crunch} underfoot, peoples generosity abounds, subsequently increasing my thank you card giving ten fold! While I tend to make cards in bulk for general thanking purposes, there are times when the kindness of the giver requires an extra special card in return. This, my friends, is one such card.

Most of you can understand my joy and excitement when a friend invited a group of us out for dinner and a concert - child free. Working full-time through the week and being on-call most every weekend, it's not very often ((at all)) that I get to go out with other adults and relax (with exponential thanks to my hubby for taking one for the team and staying home with the munchkins!). After such a fabulous evening, an equally fabulous card should be given in return, right??

So, TA-DA! Here's what I came up with:

This card is all about texture, texture, texture!! I started with one of my all-time favorite paper packs: an Amy Butler K&Company pack called Lotus (look familiar? I used it for my mini album, too).

I was drawn to the lace on this print and enhanced that element by adding my own (again, an element I used on my mini album). I bought a 25 cent lace doily at a garage sale a few months ago, promising the seller that it would go to a good home (...or homes -- pieces are ending up here, there and everywhere!).

I used my Micro Glue Dots® roll to adhere the lace. Those teeny tiny dots hid perfectly under the lace, and I know the hold will be strong enough to keep in from going anywhere!

For the other large flourish on this card, I pulled out a few flowers from a randomly assorted pack a friend gave me (yard sale find, I believe!). I used Stampin' Up!'s brads for the centers, and adhered them all with Craft Glue Dots®. The metal 'thank you' sentiment was reused from a thank you card given to me by a friend (waste not, want not...right?!?) and was adhered using 1" Glue Lines® (one line fit behind it perfectly!).
Also, I wrote the inside sentiment of the card on a separate piece of coordinating cardstock and adhered it with Removable Glue Dots®. This way the whole card can be passed on to thank someone else in the future! (I did sign the back of it and jot down by blog address, though!!)

I love how this card came together, and perhaps the best part was the reaction of the person opening it. Sometimes the best compliment is a smile that lights up the room!

Products used for this card:

InLinkz.com

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team

New Beginnings

2011-10-05T04:00:00.000-04:00

Hey guys!!
You should be finding your way here from Carolyn's blog. If this is your first stop of the Friendship's Garden Blog Hop, click here to get back to the beginning.

I'm completely thrilled to write this post, because today marks a great beginning for Friendship's Garden, a brand new challenge blog I'm thrilled to design for (along with some other fabulously talented ladies). Our Lead Garden Girl, Becky, has worked tirelessly getting this amazing project up and running, and it already seems to be a resounding success!

To start out this new venture, we are challenging you with New Beginnings. New job? New baby? New toothbrush? If you can make a card about it, we'll take it!! The only requirement for our challenges: no stamping!! I'll admit I wasn't a huge 'stamper' to begin with, but I feel myself reaching for the ink and clear blocks continuously (probably because I'm not allowed to...drat that rebellious side of me!!). I've found myself getting pretty creative in conforming to the 'stampless' rule, and that's probably (*definitely*) a good thing.
The twist for this stampless challenge was to utilize a window on a card front. Here's my result:

I used my Cricut to cut out the window and I chose paper within one paper pack (you're almost guaranteed a cohesive-yes-mismatched look going this route) for all of my cut outs. I used pop dots to raise two of the clouds.

A huge thank you to Altered Angel and Designs on Cloud 9 for sponsoring this blog challenge!! Make sure that you stop on by and 'like' the Altered Angel and Designs on Cloud 9 Facebook pages here:

Altered Angel Facebook

Designs on Cloud 9

and visit their websites here:

Altered Angel

Designs on Cloud 9

I'd love it if you followed by blog! Make sure to comment on this post and then hop on over to CherylAnn's page for her take on New Beginnings.

CherylAnn {is your next stop}

Becky

Happy New Beginnings, Friendship's Garden!!

World Card Making Day Blog Hop

2011-10-04T04:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Day Three of the World Card Making Day Hop! You should have popped over here from Gill's page. If this is your first stop, click here to back up one step and start at the very beginning.

I love the idea of having a day exclusively reserved for card making!! That's a huge step in the right direction for a perfect world...now let's just work on a Sleep All Day Day, a Calories Don't Count Day and a Free Diet Coke Day (a girl can dream, can't she?!?).

I made a set of cards using the DCVW Whimsy 8x8 paper stack. This color palate isn't my usual go-to look, but when you're using multiple pages out of the same stack, you're always going to end up with something unique and coordinating!

I love the look of the pre-made butterfly embellishments, especially with this paper, but I'm a do-it-myself-and-save-ten-dollars kind of gal! I made my own template out of a thick cardstock and used that to cut the layers. A 1" glue line from Glue Dots® was the perfect length and width for adhering my papers together. I added a bit o' bling down the middle of the body to finish them off.

I hope these cards inspire you to make something fabulously out of the box for World Card Making Day! Be sure to follow my blog for more creative ideas!!

Be sure to comment on each post along the way for a chance at the blog hop candy. I'd love it if you became one of my followers, too!!

While you head over to Patti's blog for more creative goodness, I'm going to write a nice little letter to my senator about setting up that Diet Coke Day...

{here's today's line up, just in case you get lost!}
Gill
Erin (you are here)
Patti (next stop is here)
Debbie T
Beckie D
Liz
Lisa W
Antia
Zentia
Heather

Winner Day!!

2011-10-03T12:56:00.001-04:00

Thanks to everyone who stopped by during the Ghoultide Blog Hop!! Everyone's creations were phenomenal. I loved seeing so many creative ideas just in time for our Halloween decorating.

The winners (thanks to Random.org) of my giveaway are:

Comment #8:

mamawcindy said...

I;m telling you Erin, I about can't take all of these Cuteness! I Love Owls and doing my Craftroom in them. I Love the little Mummy one and the Little Grey one the best. I would (LOVE) to win these little Cuties!!! I would keep them hung up in my Craftroom all of the time. Thanks for the chance. I am already a follower of yours. :0)

Comment #9:

Babe O'Mara said...

Love all your projects. Just so cute. I love the owl that thinks he's a witch!! New follower. TFS Love to win one of these.

and Comment #22:

AmyJRockstar said...

OMGoodness! I would LOVE to win some of these cuties! I absolutely adore them all! If I had to pick it would be the witch and then the mummy. They are even extra cute. Love your creations and became a new follower. :0)

Congratulations, ladies!! Watch for an email from me for shipping information.

Be sure to come on by again tomorrow for my stop on the World Card Making Day week long blog hop. You can start by visiting Gill's blog at HERE.

Ghoultide Blog Hop

2011-10-01T00:06:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Ghoultide Blog Hop!! If this is your first stop on the hop, click here to get back to the beginning at Angela’s blog (don’t worry, you’ll end up back here eventually!)

I love these little guys!! I’ve been mildly obsessed with owls for the last few years (I’d like to think that I was the beginning of the current owl trend). I’ve posted before about my daughter’s first birthday party with an owl theme and my little collection at home is growing.

I’m usually not one to buy punches. As a scrapbooker, first and foremost, a single image at a specific size gets a bit repetitive throughout an entire scrapbook, and I can’t justify spending the money on a punch when my Cricut is so much more flexible.

The exception is this:

Stampin' Up! Owl Punch

I love this thing.

When I first got it, everyone in the office knew it, because everyone got two or three little owls to hang around their area (I mean, since I love owls so much, they must, too, right??)

I’ve been looking for more ways to utilize it, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to punch away!

These were so fun to make. It was like playing dress up with my favorite doll and almost as fun as torturing a poor little dog with baby clothes and a hair bow.

The possibilities, and themes, are endless for these little guys! Not only Halloween, but Christmas, Easter, President’s Day (could you imagine these things on Mt. Rushmore?!)

Here's your chance to win!! Follow my blog and leave me a comment on this post of which H-owl-o-ween tag is your favorite! Three of you will each be getting two of these little lovelies just in time for your October decorating. I'll be using Random.org to choose the winners, and they'll be announced here on Monday, October 3rd, so be sure to stop back!!

Hope you enjoyed my project, and now you’re off to see what your nineteenth stop (Debbie Wilson) created (I’m sure it’s amazing!!).

Debbie’s Blog

Happy H-owl-o-ween!!

Sneak Peek!

2011-09-29T23:18:00.000-04:00

I just couldn't help myself...I had to give you a sneak peek for what I'm contributing to the inaugural challenge with Friendship's Garden!

The blog hop/first challenge will be October 5th, with blog-candy-giveaway-goodness galore!!

Make sure to follow my blog, as well as Friendship's Garden's blog to not miss a thing!!

Blog Hopping 095

2011-09-27T12:41:00.000-04:00

(*Sorry for the weird look of this post before now...I tried mobile blogging, with an obvious epic fail!*)

Yep, this is a remedial course. Don’t worry, though, I don’t have out my red pen and I won’t be correcting any mistakes (except for grammatical ones…that’s genetic and I can’t help it). I’m not sure what I believe qualifies me to teach this course, except that if you’ve never hopped along on a blog hop, I’ve done one more than you have. Admittedly, this post isn’t going to be for everybody. This one goes out to all of my new blogging newbie friends and specifically all of my hometown peeps who I’m dragging into the blogging world kicking and screaming (ok, maybe not the kicking part, but I swear I’ve heard them screaming from time to time). Last weekend and this weekend was and will be two big firsts in my blogging career: bog hops. I ‘attended’ my first blog hop with The Twinery, and will be a host site in my first blog hop this coming weekend with the Ghoultide Blog Hop (and I have several more scheduled!). Hops are incredibly easy to participate in and you get tons of great ideas, tip and tricks along the way (and most of the times a chance at a bit o’ candy at the end if you follow all of the rules!) I’ll run down the basics (given my vast experience, and all…) of the how-to’s of hopping so none of you have any reason not to participate this weekend!

#1: Start with #1
Let’s start at the very beginning…a very good place to start…(sorry. Showtunes ~even annoying ones~ run in my blood, too)Logical enough, though, right? You always want to start with the first blog in the lineup so you don’t go getting yourself lost in the vastness of the interwebs without your trail of breadcrumbs leading you back home.The easiest way to get to the beginning of the hop is by either clicking the ‘button’ for the hop (located on my right hand sidebar – you know, the one that had the name and date of the hop on it) or by following the link that I’ll post to Facebook the beginning day of the hop. But, if you find yourself here and I don’t happen to be the first blog along the route, the beginning of my post on the subject will direct you back to the starting line.You’re usually allowed to do the blog hop at any time of the day (unless they’re getting extremely specific, which isn’t likely), just as long as you follow rule #3 on the day of the hop. Hops may span over one day, two days, a week or more.

#2: One links to the next
At the end of each post, you’ll be guided to the next stop with clear instructions, usually something along the lines of click here to visit the next blog post over at Susie Q’s. This part’s mildly self-explanatory.

#3: Leave some love
It’s usually a requirement, to prove that you’ve at least glanced at each blog, to leave a comment on the post. It’s also really nice when you choose to follow the site (but this might be more of a topic for Blog Hopping 101). Comments and followers to your blog makes the blog owner feel an odd sense of accomplishment and worth, even if it’s just an “I love your LO” blurb.

#4: Finish at the end
Again, hello. Not rocket science here, but make sure you start at the beginning and finish at the end. A lot of hops have what’s called Blog Candy (aka a prize) for hopping along the sites and commenting as you go (Yea! Virtual breadcrumbs!!)

Want to practice? Here’s the link for the first day of The Twinery’s blog hop (note: the individual blogs might have published another post since then, so the blog hop post might not be the most recent one anymore).

Like I said, I have a lot of these coming up in the next several weeks, so hit that little follow or subscribe button to get my updates!

Ok, now who’s with me?? Leave me a comment on this post for some practice in leaving some love and let me know if you’re in for the Ghoultide Hop this Saturday!!

Cleaning Up the Scraps

2011-09-19T21:33:00.001-04:00

I love using letters. Chipboard, felt, fabric, stickers...I use them all.
I usually buy them in sets like these:

Thickers, by American Crafts


Stampin' Up! Chipboard

But I always end up with this:

and rarely do I want to spell "vwxpk" on a project.
{maybe it would help to learn Pig Latin.}

I wanted to do a layout using random scraps of leftover letters, even altering some letters to fit the words I could come up with.

This is what I created:

I didn't want a fussy background, so I used a plain sheet of blue 12x12 cardstock and scored a few lines into it using a scoring board.

Here is a rundown of the altered letters:

Not my typical, fancy, frilly, clustered page, but I loved getting all of my spare letters out and actually using them!

I have to keep reminding myself that it doesn't always matter that a page is magazine worthy, just that it gets what's on your heart onto the paper for generations down the line to enjoy. I hope you did!

Talk about a challenge!!

2011-09-15T17:55:00.000-04:00

So it's been quite some since we've chatted! I know everyone says that life just keeps getting busier and busier as the kids get older, but I'm not sure that's physically possible!! I've been running around like crazy between work, teaching dance classes, meetings, deadlines and making sure to spend as much time as I possibly can loving on my kiddos.

Last night I took Bubby Boy with me on a few errands and took him to the library for the first time. He just turned three, and he was thrilled at all of the books on shelves just his size. After the library, it was off to check in on the musical rehearsal, pick up pizza for dinner, and back home in time to feed the masses and toss the kids in bed (which is when crafty time begins!!).

I was given the challenge to make a few cards. I'm a casual card maker, but I mainly stick to my comfortable 12x12's. Just think of a card as a mini-album with one page, right? The only rule for the design of the card was that nothing on the card could be stamped. Now usually you would expect to hear the opposite: everything stamped. Right? But think of the time savings by not getting out all of the stamping supplies! This should be a quick project and still get me into bed at a decent hour.

Ummmmm....right.

All went extremely well finding my card base and picking out some Stampin' Up! paper.

I used a little scrap piece of the same paper pack to make some grass: (this is where Martha Stewart's Fringe Scissors come in handy)

I added some ric rac to the top to pull out some of the contrasting colors in the paper, and theeeeeeeeen I needed words.

Without stamping.

My handwriting isn't atrocious, but it's definitely not front-of-the-card worthy.

Looking through my rub-on's, stickers and embellishments, I couldn't find anything that would really tie in to my cards, so I turned to the only other option I could think of:

My typewriter.

So technically, this is a stamp. I guess. Ink onto the page from a molded form. But for all intensive purposes, it's not today's 'classic stamp', so I'm letting myself off the hook for this one. I took a few more scraps of the same Stampin' Up! paper pack, typed away, and adhered them to the card, et voila! Card number one done!

I stuck with the same paper pack for my second card (hey, it was already out. It was getting late at this point. Oh, and look at that...the same ric rac :)

I took a duplicate piece of my background paper and traced one of the houses in my contrasting color: orange. I cut the traced shape out and adhered it with foam adhesive for some depth.

I inked up the edges (as always) of my scrap piece of layering card stock, as well as the scrap I used to type my phrase on. I Glue Dot-ted the ribbons to the top and the button in place, and BADDA BAM! Done.

In all reality, if I were to sit and make these cards again, they might take all of 10 minutes to complete. Stick with simplicity- one paper pack usually will coordinate with itself with endless combinations!

Simple, easy and cute!

*UPDATE* I'm thrilled to announce that this "challenge" was a kind-of audition for a new design team I've been chosen for: Friendship's Challenge! 'Like' them on Facebook here and look for lots more from that soon!!

{guess. what.}

2011-09-06T19:06:00.000-04:00

hey.

ppppppssssssssssssssssssstttt.

you.

yeah, you.

wanna know a secret??

i applied to be on a design team.
{a what?}
{a design team. kind of like working for a totally sweet company, but instead of getting paid in $$, you get to use their product. and i'm pretty sure i might get an awesome new apron}.

{i think}.

soooooo, without further adieu, I found out today that I was accepted to be......

A DOTTESS!

You regulars know that I'm always using Glue Dots.
Every project, every time.

So if this is your first stop in, consider me addicted! {oh. and welcome}.

I can't wait to see where this awesome road leads; i'm sure there is much, much more to come! Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Creating Keepsakes Sketch Challange

2011-09-04T14:59:00.001-04:00

I've been looking at a set of pictures for weeks now, having the desire, but no inspiration, to get them onto a page. I'd lay them out, sort through paper, dig through embellishments, just to put it all away again, getting nowhere.

This is where sketches and sketch challenges spark my motivation and creativity.

Creating Keepsakes (a magazine I love, but the way) posted a call for a family themed page following a provided sketch:

Ok! This I can do!

I pulled out my troublesome (but oh so cute) photos of our family game night and went to work.

The paper I started with was the basic idea of what I wanted, but to make something appeal to my tastes, it has to be distressed beyond recognition, soooo.....

I took one of my small $1 ink pads (that I use more than anything else, really!) and lightly (and accidentally not so lightly in spots!) rubbed it onto the page. There are many, many ways to achieve this distressed look: using chalks you'll get more of a lighter, more controlled look, and using a spray mist is also another option, just to name two.

My Mind's Eye - Alphabet Soup Boy Cardstock Accessory Sheet

I sorted through my embellishments (again, and for the last time for these pictures, I might add!) and pulled out the little darlings that would fit on this page. I found a My Mind's Eye sheet of cardstock accessory shapes that matched perfectly with my newly distressed paper:

I loved the 4x6 frame of circles, but, following the sketch, needed a ditty to go above the pictures at the top of the page. I cut apart the sides to look like this:

The next embellishment I wanted was a pennant banner, and I knew I didn't have any pre-made. Luckily for me, these aren't too hard to figure out.

I took a piece of coordinating paper and gave it the same ink distressing treatment (a little gentler this time!). I cut one inch(ish) strips of the inked paper, and cut the strips into triangles.

With all of my embellishments ready, I started putting all of my elements onto my page for a rough idea of where I wanted everything to go:

This gives me an opportunity to set everything out, walk away from it (ok, you caught me...the kids woke up from their nap, so now I have to wait until bed time!) and come back to switch around anything that looks out of place.

One touch that I added to ALL embellishments going on the page (and on every page I do, really) is what I call 'edging'. I use the broad tip of my pens to ink around each piece on the page, before they're adhered. This gives a great definition to the pieces and adds cohesiveness, too.

I ended up switching a few things around, adding a few more elements, and finally adhered everything down with Glue Dots and with my sewing machine to top the banners, as well.

Completed page

So when you feel like you're getting nowhere, go somewhere!! Ask a friend, look at a website, or, better yet, keep stopping by here to get the best of both!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2011-08-28T23:26:00.000-04:00

Christmas?? Already???

I'm not a chronological scrapper. I pick and choose my projects as I feel inspired to do them, rather than forcing myself to creating something I'm not really feeling. So therefore, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my scrap room!
It's kind of fun to get everything Christmas out when it's just starting to get cooler, leaves are feeling the urge to become a bit more gorgeous, and my mind starts to dream about everything Fall.

I tried to challenge myself a bit on this page: to not use the traditional 'Happy Christmas' color scheme. I rummaged through my paper stacks and found the Love Letter Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up!:

This set uses 'Vanilla' instead of white, 'Red Riding Hood' (which is more of a brick red) instead of bright red, and throws a twist of black in there to switch things up a bit, as well as make it a little more 'grown up'.

I played around with a layout for a few minutes (which is a few minutes too long for me!) and then dug out my Creating Keepsakes magazine from Nov/Dec 2010 for some inspiration. I turned to the article called Recipes for Quick and Easy Layouts (p. 68), thinking, HEY!. This is what I need!! Mandy Douglass' Christmas Morning layout popped out to me, and so I used the sketch of her page:

I knew my pictures didn't lend themselves to the grid design that Mandy used, so I altered that concept of the sketch on my page. I really loved the large brackets that she used, however, so those were the first thing that I began to make.

I love dimension on a page, so I knew I didn't want to use paper for the brackets. I considered chipboard, but I didn't have brackets large enough (and didn't want to cut my own). Looking around my materials, I had a stack of 8.5" x 11" pieces of felt that I'd picked up from my local hobby store when they were on sale (they were 12.5 cents each!) and knew that they would give me the 'pop' I wanted.
Being a reformed perfectionist, I went to my Cricut first and cut out a bracket at 10 1/4 inches (random, but this was the largest size it would cut on my 12" x 12" mat). I traced this twice onto my felt, and cut them out. I sewed (very roughly) around the edges with my sewing machine to add some texture, too:

The next element that I made was the tag Mandy used for her journaling. I already had some journaling in mind for the overall page, so I decided to make this a journaling pocket. Again, not having anything purchased that would fit this color scheme, I dug into my scrap paper bin and pulled out a remnant piece that started as a 12" x 12" and cut it to 3" in width. I folded it unevenly so it would make a perfect pocket, used a bit of (my favorite!) walnut ink to make the colors blend a bit more, and sewed the edges together to form my pocket:

Next came my lettering, and of course, chipboard!! I knew I had some pre-glittered chipboard letters that might work with this page, but once I pulled them out, the color was just horrible with my papers.
But I wanted to use that chipboard.
So I pulled out my handy-dandy Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker from Stampin' Up! and used the feathered end to re-color the letters. I also used a darker marker to ink the chipboard's edges:

Following the basic guidelines from the sketch, I started putting my page together. I used dimensional foam adhesive to adhere the chipboard lettering, and double sided tape for the rest of the elements (I was out of Glue Dots!! Ahhh!!).
I added (and added...and added...) ribbons, rub-on's, clear stickers, brads (and added...and added...) until I came out with my finished product:

Journaling: Westin's gifts all marked with 'clues'

Journaling: I will never get over how wonderful it is to see your faces light up on Christmas morning!

2011 Tag: Inked Chipboard, Grungeboard numbers, pearl brad

(ps- although this page was listed under Quick and Easy Layouts, it was more easy than quick! It took me my normal a few hours one night and a revisit the next day for minor fixes...some old habits never die!)

Welcome to the place where words come alive!

2011-08-22T12:01:00.000-04:00

Let's build a word!

Well, we did it! The little man's third birthday went off without a hitch, and everyone had a great time.

new soccer ball!

I know this isn't a 'cooking blog', but I've gotten a lot of requests for this page, soooo....

I've gotten into a routine of making my kid's birthday cakes, and they've gotten progressively more and more elaborate over the years:

The girl's 1st birthday owl cake...

...with cupcakes to match!

The boy's 2nd birthday cake - Kipper the Dog

And this year was no different! If you haven't seen the show Word World, here is a picture of the cake that Chef Pig makes:

Right.

I can do this.

(right?)

Always with an open mind (and a practice cake being a must), I dove right in.

I started by using a regular cake mix, adding a few goodies to make it pretty dense:

1 cake mix (I used the Kroger value brand because it looked the most dense already on the packaging) and all of the ingredients it calls for
Add 1 additional egg
Add 1 package of instant pudding mix, should match(-ish) your cake flavor
1/2 stick of butter (probably not really needed, but I just threw it in for good measure!)

I baked two batches of this recipe in an angel food cake pan (grease the bottom of the pan only. This lets the cake 'creep' up the sides of the pan). Cool and remove from pan, freeze both cakes at least overnight.

Once the cakes are frozen, stack the two cakes on top of each other on your serving platter, and you're ready to carve (eek!!).

I always use a template.
Cheat.
Like crazy.

Cut a piece of paper the height of your cake, and make it the length you want your letters to be (I made mine half way around the cake).

Sketch your letters and cut out a template.

Hold your template up to your cake and use a small paring knife to cut around your letters:

Once all your letters are cut around, you'll need to 'pop out' the cuts. Knowing the top of the cake would be completely iced, I stuck a larger knife (the length needs to be just longer than the height of the cake) down through the top behind where the cake would need to come out:

Continue this process until your all of your letters are cut!

This was his practice cake, and here's a picture of the final cake on his birthday:

I won't lie, this cake was a bit tricky to figure out, but seeing the look on his face when he had a birthday cake "just like Chef Pig makes" made it all worth it.

They're only little once.
Take the extra time and effort and watch their face light up :)

I just couldn't help myself!!!

2011-08-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

I know I said I wouldn't be posting until after the little man's birthday party tomorrow, but while I was waiting for the timer to go off while baking cakes last night, I jumped into my craft room and came up with this little ditty!

I was given a 3.5" clear cube photo block from my student at work (she thought I would actually just stick some pictures into it and call it a day!)

I started with the Green Stack from Die Cuts With a View (DCVW) and cut out 3.5" squares from my favorite pages.

I used the cardboard insert that was already inside the cube as a base for my project. I didn't want to fool with trying to adhere the pages to the clear acrylic, so this seemed like an easy option. Make sure to tape all of the loose edges of the box for stability.

At this point, all of your 3.5" papers are little scrapbook pages! Feel free to add pictures, although I went for more of an inspirational piece that I can set on my desk at work.

Keep in mind that dimensional items will need to be adhered to the outside of the box, not actually on your pages. I ended up using a lot of rub-on's and ribbon.

I used Glue Dots to adhere things to the box (super strong hold and tiny enough to not be seen!)

Here are all of my 'pages' after I put things on them and slid the cube back into the acrylic piece (with elements adhered to the outside of the cube):

I just might see this coming as a project to a crop near you

(well...near me!) this Fall!!

Shout Out!!

2011-08-18T20:53:00.000-04:00

So, as if I didn't already love this product...

I'm the Fan of the Week with Glue Dots!!

This is the adhesive that I recommend for practically every project I do, and {if you can't tell} I'm super excited they picked me!
'Like' them on Facebook; you can enter here to be put in their drawing for Fan of the Week.

I have a super cute project coming up for you all...just let me get through my son's third birthday party this weekend first!

Talk to you soon!

i am SO ready for Fall

2011-08-14T17:52:00.002-04:00

It's my favorite season. By far.
Crisp breezes, colorful trees, and leaves crunching under foot.

There's a continual excitement in the air as holidays approach, and I am in a perpetual good mood.

I was perusing my Pinterest board today and seeing that I've been pinning everything Fall, including sweaters, artwork and crafts. The kids had just laid down for their three hour afternoon nap, so I found an easy project, grabbed my supplies and went to work!

what in the world will i need for this?!
let's hope this is enough.

First things first, I cut my cardboard down to the shape I wanted it for the pumpkin shape and took the cover off of my book (please, don't tell my English teacher father that I used a dictionary to make this!!).

Here comes the fun part!!

I put a cutting board down (I was working on my dining table) and laid the cardboard template over the book (I traced around the template with a pen for good measure).

I switched between my husband's box cutter and a steak knife (the steak knife was my husband's idea...it worked really well for the straight pieces!!) and cut around the template. This part took at least 20 minutes and got the paper dust flying!

This is the point where I got really excited about the outcome of the piece...and forgot my pictures!! So, step by step, here are the remaining, well, steps :)

De-fuzz. Once the book is cut into your curved shape, you'll want to get the paper dusties out of the picture. Grab a can of compressed air (I used hubby's air compressor), hairdryer, or {....wait, let me remember my audience here...} heat gun and give it a good cleaning.
Ink. With the book closed, I spritzed the cut edges with walnut ink. After the edges were coated to my liking, I opened the book and got a bit onto some of the pages, too.
Glue. Find yourself some decent sized twigs (I couldn't find one big enough to fill my dictionary-thick book spine, so I used three smaller ones) and rubber band them together. Using a glue medium of your choice (I chose a tacky glue for this project, but you could easily have used hot glue, too) and put glue on the spine and outer two pages of the book. With catlike reflexes and your extra arm that all mothers seem to grow, hold the sticks in place on the spine and fan open the book around them, adhering the outer two pages together, into a circle.
Wait. I used a few chip clips to hold everything glued together, and because I'm not good at step #4, started in on the decorating :)
Decorate. I used random Fall-ish ribbon scraps and tied them to my twig stems (and tried to not go too over the top!)

This is a really easy project and is an fun way to get your home ready for Fall!!

Deeply Rooted Life

Cowboy

Another St. Patrick's Day Treat!

Clover Hair Clip with Glue Dots!

A Pinterest Inspiration with Friendship's Garden

Happy Lucky Love

It's a Love Thing Friendship's Garden Blog Hop

A quick page at Mimis!

M-I-N-N-I-E M-O-U-S-E!!!!

Sketch Challenge for Friendship's Garden

Tina's Big 3-0 Birthday Bash Blog Hop

A CAS for Friendship's Garden from an upside-down house!

Snow Days Blog Hop * Day 2!

I fancy cut around one of the trees to be able to pop it up off of the card a bit. All of the elements here are from the Christmas card, with the addition of a bit of ric rac trim, colored staples and some Stickles for a bit of shine! I stuck everything down with Glue Dots.

Hope you've enjoyed Day Two here at the Snow Days Blog Hop. Thanks for coming by! Hope you haven't thrown out those Christmas cards yet!! ... Now hop on over to Amy! Here's a list of the entire hop, in case you get lost along the way or want to revisit anyone:

Snow Days Blog Hop * Day One!

Thank you again for checking out my project... Now hop on over to Amy! Here's a list of the entire hop, in case you get lost along the way or want to revisit anyone:

Thanks for stopping by, please come back tomorrow for another great project!!

Materials Used in this Project:

Friendship's Garden Bonus Week - ATC!!

My First Mixed Media Canvas and a HUGE Thank You!

All Aboard the Polar Express!!

Handmade Christmas Giving...Pinterest Style!

A Christmas Card for Friendship's Garden

Homemade Christmas Gift Blog Hop, Day 2!

Homemade Christmas Gift Blog Hop

New Garden Girls and a bonus video!

Another Quick Christmas Card!

A Christmas Inspiration!

Art Journaling

Non-Christmas(ish) Party Fun with Glue Dots!

Thanksgiving Recipe

Quick page...and I mean QUICK!

All About Boys Blog Hop, Day Two!

A Throw It Together Thanks

A Quick Card for Frienship's Garden

Art Journaling...just me!

Autumn Leaves

Friendship's Garden Halloween Tag

Fall Owls

Vintage Halloween - Friendship's Garden Challenge

Thanks for such a blessing!

It's My Birthday Blog Hop, Day 2!!

It's My Birthday Blog Hop

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

New Beginnings

World Card Making Day Blog Hop

Winner Day!!

Ghoultide Blog Hop

Sneak Peek!

Blog Hopping 095

Cleaning Up the Scraps

Talk about a challenge!!

{guess. what.}

Creating Keepsakes Sketch Challange

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Welcome to the place where words come alive!

I just couldn't help myself!!!

Shout Out!!

i am SO ready for Fall

Hope you've enjoyed Day Two here at the Snow Days Blog Hop. Thanks for coming by! Hope you haven't thrown out those Christmas cards yet!! ... Now hop on over to Amy!

Here's a list of the entire hop, in case you get lost along the way or want to revisit anyone:

Thank you again for checking out my project... Now hop on over to Amy!

Here's a list of the entire hop, in case you get lost along the way or want to revisit anyone: