Happy Lucky Love

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.

Friendship's Garden Bonus Week - ATC!!

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.

All Aboard the Polar Express!!

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?!?)

Homemade Christmas Gift Blog Hop, Day 2!

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

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!!

Vintage Halloween - Friendship's Garden Challenge

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

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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