Friendship Quilt

Today I wanted to share a card that I started earlier this year for CPS challenge 104 but never got around to finishing. Since this week the CPS challenge is to pick any of this years sketches to do and this is the last day of the year I thought it was a great time to finish it. As you all probably know quilting and sewing are another love of mine so I decided to use the PTI Quilters Sampler Set for this card.
.

I started by stamping and punching out the log cabin squares then attaching them to a piece of cardstock. After that I colored them with my copics and a blender pen to get more of a watercolored looked. If you look closely you will also see a heart! I orginally saw it done on Peggysue's blog here. When I was done I matted the quilt piece on SU Lovely Lilac Cardstock. Next I made some Faux Felt from PTI Lavender Moon Cardstock and attached the finished quilt piece to it. The sentiment from the same set was stamped and embossed on a piece of faux felt as well. The back ground piece was ran through my cuttlebug and embossed with the striped embossing folder then added to a piece of New Leaf Cardstock. I finished the card off with some machine stitching and 2 vintage cream buttons.
As the year comes to a close I would like to take a moment and say thanks again to all of you that take the time to come by and visit. It really means a lot to me to know that there are people out there that enjoy my work and hearing about my life. I hope 2010 brings you all much good health,love and happiness. Be sure to stop back on Saturday when I will have a Pink project to share, until then be safe and have a great night!

December Papertrey Bloghop

I hope all of you that that celebrated Christmas yesterday had a good one. Turns out Emilia really wanted to celebrate it this year but did not tell us in time so we kind of had a Faux Christmas. She went around the house wrapping things to give us and her dolls that we already had. When she asked Rich what he wanted he told her money so when he opened his gift that is what he got. It was all her play money but it was pretty funny though! Next year we will be better prepared for her to celebrate it right if that is still what she wants to do. Since Rich and I bought a new camera and computer this year we didn't do any other gifts for each other but as I was blog hopping on Christmas Eve I found a fantastic deal on a new Cricut Expression for 1/2 off with 2 cartridges plus free shipping here! I was trying to hold out until my birthday in March to get one but I could not pass that deal up! I guess you could say I bought myself an early birthday present! I can't wait to start playing with it.
Tonight is the December Papertrey Bloghop
The challenge this month was to Create a card or other type of project that reflects some of the holiday spirit found in your
home. Since there is not a lot of decorating to do for Hanukkah and my Menorah is a Winnie The Pooh one My inspiration for this challenge was this box my Hanukkah Candles came in this year.
The first thing I thought of when I saw the box besides Hanukkah was a baby boy. Since the box held Hanukkah Candles I thought a Jewish baby boy card would be the perfect thing to make.
This is what I came up with
I started with this weeks CPS sketch 147. I have been wanting to make a circle card for awhile now and finally got the chance to do it. I began by using a large circle Nestabilitie die to cut out the main circle base using Kraft Cardstock. When I was done with that I cut out a smaller circle shape from Spring Rain Cardstock then I stamped the thin stripe from the Faux Ribbon set on it and embossed with clear embossing powder. Next I cut apart the Mazel Tov sentiment from the Mazel Tov set and stamped it on a piece of white Stampers Select Cardstock with black Versafine Ink. After that I stamped the elephant from the Bitty Baby set on Spring Moss Bitty Dots Patterened Paper then I cut him out and added him to the end of the sentiment piece then I attached them both to the front of the circle piece. Next I tied a bow using Spring Moss twill then added it to the top of the card with mini glue dots. When I was done with that I stamped the small Star of David from the Mazel Tov Additions set on a piece of white cardstock, punched it out with a 1/2 circle punch and attached it to a epoxy dome circle then I added it to the middle of the ribbon with another glue dot. Finally I machine stitched around the blue circle and sentiment piece. That's it. I look forward to seeing what the other gals have come up with. I hope to be back with more things to share before the new year. In the meantime as always thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful night!

Technique Tuesday

So far this week has started off a bit better than the last one. Yesterday we had our monthly homeschool meeting. Each month we pick a different country to learn about. This month it was England. One of the moms taught the girls how to play Cribbage and brought real Fish and Chips. We also had a gift exchange for the holidays. Emilia and I made some Homemade Houses to put her gifts (littlekinzs) in. This is a picture of the girls with their gifts. You can see the houses in the photo too.
Unfortunately whatever has been biting me is back and has started to bite Emilia too. Rich still has not gotten bitten by anything. I spent most of the day yesterday Googling and trying to figure out what it is. I am besides myself with the thought of it possibly being something like bed bugs especially when I try to keep my house as clean as possible. I just talked to someone on the phone about this that specializes in this kind of thing and the lady I spoke to said it didn't sound like bed bugs to her from what I have described so that made me feel a little better. As soon as I finish this post I am off to wash the sheets and vacuum the bed again. Then I am going to set up sticky traps to see if we can catch anything. If I do I will email a photo to them so they can determine what it is that is biting us. If anyone has any suggestions for what it might be in the meantime and how to get rid of them let me know.
Today I want to share with you another Technique Video. This month I am going to show you how I made the background for this card.

Dimensions and Supplies are the end of the video. If you have any questions let me know.

That's it for now as always thanks for stopping by and I will be back after Christmas for the Papertrey Bloghop. Until then I wish those of you that celebrate it a Very Merry Christmas!

Celebrate The Season

It has been a crazy week around here. The week started last Sunday night when the sewer started to back up. It happens every year about this time but we never plan on it happening. Thankfully it was an easy fix but it still ended up costing about $200.00. On Monday I woke up with itchy bites. Nobody else in the house has them though which is odd. We thought it might be fleas from the dog but that has been ruled out. I have been cleaning like crazy trying to get rid of anything that might be the cause so far they seem to have stopped and are in the process of healing now. On Thursday night I was working in the studio when Lily came down and was making crying noises. I thought it was because the washer was making a lot of noise from all the bedding I was washing and it was scaring her but when it stopped she was still doing it. I picked her up and when I went to touch her stomach she started crying again. I took her upstairs and shortly after that she threw up all over the place then continued to cry after that. Luckily the vets office was still open so we rushed her over there. Thankfully they could not find much wrong with her except that she was a little dehydrated from throwing up. After spending another $200.00 we took her home and thankfully she has been fine ever since. I still have no idea what caused it because she was perfectly fine before that but it was really scary to see her in that much pain. Hopefully it was just something she ate in the yard and it doesn't happen again. I also hope next week is less eventful!
Last night was the final night of Hanukkah. Emilia's big present this year was the new American Girl doll Rebecca. She has been collecting American Girl dolls for many years, now she has them all. Even though our holiday is over I wanted to make one more card to help celebrate the season. A few months ago I saw this video on Lauren Meaders blog for how to make 3D elements. I thought ornaments would be a great thing to make with that technique. This is what I came up with.I also used CPS Sketch 146 from this week for the layout

I started by stamping some ornament images from the PTI Take A Bough Set using Spring Rain and Pure Poppy ink then I put them together following the directions in the video to make them 3D. Next I stamped the top of the ornaments from the Holiday Button Bits set on Stampers Select white cardstock using black ink then added the ornaments. The red snowflake paper is from the Cosmo Crickwt Jolly By Golly Collection. The Spring Rain piece is from the PTI 2008 Bitty Dots Basics pattern paper collection. After piecing everything together. I machine stitched with silver thread. To finish the card off I stamped and embossed the Celebrate the Season sentiment from the Take A Bough set in the bottom right hand corner.
That's it for now. I am off to work on this months technique video. I hope to be back Tuesday to share that with you. In the meantime I hope you have a great weekend.

Winter Holiday House

I have always loved small houses. I still remember my Little People House being a favorite of mine as a kid. My sister had a really cool dollhouse that our mom bought her when we were kids that I loved as well. When Emilia was born I started buying her all kinds of toy houses too because of how much I love them. Last month Papertrey Ink released a new template created by Lauren Meader and a coordinating stamped set created by Nicole Heady called Homemade. When I saw them both I knew I had to have them because of this. After the template was released I started thinking about what kind of house I wanted to make but was not coming up with anything that really excited me. One day last week I was reading my list of Twitter people that I follow and I saw this wonderful ceramic house here and I was totally inspired by it.
That was where I got the inspiration to create this.

I started by stamping and embossing snowflakes from the Rustic Snowflake set on SU Tempting Turquoise cardstock on the lower half of the house. When I was done with that I created the top of the roof using more Tempting Turquoise cardstock and stamping more snowflakes on each of the smaller sides. After that I used the SU corner rounder to create scalloped edge pieces on Stampers Select white cardstock then I started layering them to create the roof. Next I created the chimney using red Bitty Dots Patterned paper, then I added a top to it that I created myself. After that I added some more bitty dots patterned cardstock under the eaves on the long sides of the house then I created the steps using bitty dots cardstock again and added some snow with a white gel pen. For the door I stamped and embossed the rounded door stamp on brown mahogany wood venner which made the perfect texture for. The wreath was created by stamping the small wreath fron the Believe set and then adding some ivory flower soft that I colored green. The windows and doors were all stamped and embossed with silver embossing powder then cut out and added. The brown edging on the middle of the roof was cut free hand then I added white dots with a gel pen. Under the eaves of the roof I added Silver cording with mini glue dots for decoration. To finish the house off I added some white glitter to the roof to look like snow which makes it super shimmery IRL. The roof comes off too so you can use it as packaging to give a gift in.
This project took me over 3 days to complete but I am extremely happy with how it came out and submitted it for this months Papertrey GSS. I have had 3 honorable mentions this year but no wins. I am really hoping that this project will be a winner! In the meantime I will continue to create more houses like this in the future because of my love of them. That's all for now. I hope you have been inspired to create some miniture houses now too. As always thanks for stopping by and I hope to be back soon with more things to share.

Mojo Monday 116

Hi everyone. I hope your weekend is going well and it is warm where you are. Today I am back with an entry for this months Mojo Monday Contest.
I started working on the sketch last week but finally got it done this morning.I had good intentions of getting it finished before now but for some reason I always seem to wait until the last minute to finish things. I know this probably sounds crazy but I think something about that helps motivate me to get things done.


For this card I started by stamping the cute Gingerbread Man from the PTI Holiday Button Bits Set on some Kraft Cardstock with Dark Chocolate Perfect Match Ink. When I was done with that I added 2 Spring Moss Buttons and outlined him with a white gel pen. Next I used my circle Nestabilities Dies to cut out the all the circles from Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate and Polka Dot pattern cardstock from the Rustic Snowflakes Pattern Paper Pack. The background piece is Spring Moss and Dark Chocolate Cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug using the striped embossing folder. A piece of Pure Poppy Saddle Stitched ribbon was tied in a bow around the middle. The sketch pretty much ended there but I felt it still needed something else so I added 3 brads in the upper left corner that I colored with a red copic and stamped and embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder in the lower right corner. For some extra pop I added some faux stitching with a white gel pen around the Pure Poppy Circles. I hope the Mojo Gals like it. It sure would be nice to win a free Verve set. That's it for now I will be back tomorrow to share my PTI GSS this month. I am really happy with how it turned out I hope you will be too. Until then I hope you have a great night and thanks for stopping by.

My Grafico Blog Hop

It's hard to believe over a week has gone by since I last posted. Time seems to have gotten away from me again. It feels like we have also been living in the ice age for the last few days here. It is suppose to be in the 40's this weekend. These are the days that I miss summer the most. Hopefully it will be here again before we know it though.
Today I am participating in the first My Grafico Customer Blog Hop. Last month I was asked to make some custom birthday cards for a fellow Sheteam members children. When I asked her what kinds of things her kids liked she said dinosaurs and princesses. I have hundreds of stamp sets now but believe it or not I didn't have any of those kinds of images. Instead of going and buying another stamp set I decided to check out the digital stamps My Grafico has and found some great images that would work. This is the card I came up with for her son.

I started by resizing the dinosaur from this set in Word then printed him out on some white cardstock and colored him with my Copics. When I was done with that I cut the dino out and added him to a piece of Kraft cardstock using dimensionals. Next I cut out a circle using a Nestability die then stamped the Happy Birthday Sentiment on it from the PTI Around and About sentiments set. Inside the circle I added her sons age that I cut out from some Kraft cardstock using a Cuttlebug die. After that I matted the dinosaur on a piece of Dark Chocolate cardstock that I ran through my cuttlebug using the Tiny Bubbles embossing folder then matted it on a piece of Leaf Green Cardstock. I finished the card off with some faux sitiching.
This is the card I made for her youngest daughter.

These images are from this set Once again I resized the images in Word then printed them out and colored them with my Copics. After that I added some Martha Stewart silver glitter to them to make them sparkle. When I was done with that I attached them to a piece of black cardstock. Next, I created the background piece by doing the Simple Green technique from the April 08 Technique Junkies newsletter then I matted the fairy piece on it. To finish the card off I personalized it with the birthday girls name using the PTI Simple Alphabet set.
I would highly recommend you check out My Grafico for digital images next time you need a stamp. As you can see their images are wonderful and I look forward to using them more in the future. You can also see the list of the other participants here
I am also entering these in the Caardvarks Digital Challenge
On another note Hanukkah starts tonight so I want to wish those that celebrate it a Happy Hanukkah! I will be back soon with more things to share. In the meantime I hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Ice Skating

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. We had our typical one where my dad buys the turkey then my family comes over and I do the cooking. I don't mind it though because I like to cook. Family is also the most important thing to me in life so I am always greatful when we all get together.
Ice Skating is something that is very popular in our house. Rich has played hockey most of his life, I skated a lot as a kid and Emilia has been taking figure skating lessons for over a year now and loves it. This month my Etsy Sheteam challenge is Winter sports. So in honor of our love of ice skating I came up with this.
I started by finding some free ice skate clip art here. I resized it in Word then printed it out on White Cardstock. When I was done with that I applied white glitter to make the boots shine. After that I matted a piece of Raspberry Fizz Cardstock on Silver Shimmer Cardstock then stamped some snomflakes on it from the Rustic Snowflakes set with snow white ink. When I was done with that I attached the skate image and sewed around it with silver thread. The great thing about this card is when you open it you have an Easel Card.

I have been wanting to make one of these for awhile now and finally got the chance to do it. This video is great for explaining how it is done. The base of my card is Papertrey's Spring Rain cardstock which I stamped more white snowflakes on. The Season's Greeting's Sentiment is from the Take a Bough Set and was stamped and embossed on a piece of Raspberry fizz cardstock.
Since this card is only 4 x 4 I made a matching envelope for it so it could be mailed using this tutorial.
That's it for now. I hope the rest of the week is a great one for you and I will be back soon with more things to share.

November Papertrey Blog Hop And Some Thanks

Tonight is the November Papertrey Bloghop.
This month the challenge was to create a quick & inexpensive wrap or tag that can be the perfect solution for "grab & go" gifts!
Since Hanukkah starts on December 11th this year and Emilia's favorite Hanukkah treat is gelt(chocolate coins), I decided to come up with some special packaging for it. This is what I came up with .
I started with some Raspberry Fizz Cardstock and the pillow box from The Cash or Charge My Timeless template. After I cut out the pillow box I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. When I was done with that I added a layer of Summer Sunrise to the outside edges.
The main image is a digital image from the Pink Cat Studio called Hanukkah Lily that I colored with my Copics. I hope you all will forgive me for not using a Papertrey stamp since it is a PTI bloghop but when I saw this image I knew it would be perfect for this project. After I was done coloring Lily I matted her on a piece of Summer Sunrise Cardstock that I cut out with a rectangle scalloped Nestabilities die. Next I punched a hole in the top of the image threaded a piece of sky blue ribbon through it then attached it to the box and tied it in a bow. To finish it off I used the PTI Simple Alphabet set to spell out Happy Hanukkah on some more Summer Sunrise Cardstock then cut it out and attached it to the handle. That's it. I think these pillow boxes would be a great quick way to wrap up any small item this holiday season.
On another note since Thanksgiving is tomorrow I also wanted to take a moment say how thankful I am for everyone that has visited my blog and left such wonderful comments. It really means a lot to me to know there are people out there that enjoy my work. As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day tomorrow.

Pink Saturday and Happy Birthday Alexandra

It has been awhile since I last participated in Pink Saturday. The reason I have not been participating is because I have not been using much pink in my work lately. I finally have something pink to share with you though. Today is my niece Alexandra's 14th birthday. Where does the time go? She was suppose to be born on Christmas but decided she didn't want to wait. I can still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. If she had waited one more day she would have been born on my dads birthday which is tomorrow but their birthdays are still only a day apart which still makes it fun to celebrate them both at the same time. Emilia got Alexandra a Signature Cocker Spaniel Webkinz but I also wanted to make her something special too so in honor of her love of Hello Kitty I came up with this.

I started by using Hibiscus Burst cardstock and Lauren Meaders Around Town Tote My Timeless Template. When I was done putting the tote together I cut out flowers from Summer Sunrise and Pink Blush cardstock using a flower image from the Cuttlebug Babyface dies. After that I randomly attached the flowers to the front and back of the tote. Next I found an image of Hello Kitty online then I resized it, printed it and cut it out. When I was done with that I colored her in with my Copics and attached her to the front of the tote with some dimensional foam. On the sides I added panels of Summer Sunrise cardstock that were run through my Cuttlebug using the swiss dots embossing folder.
Finally I added some Summer Sunrise Twill ribbon and tied it in a bow. On the back side of the ribbon I stamped Happy Birthday from the Birthday Basic set.
Inside the tote she will find this. A crocheted french barrette hair clip that I made.
That's it. I hope she likes it. I am pretty sure she will though.That's all for now.
Be sure to check out Beverly's Blog for the list of the other people that are participating in Pink Saturday today too. As always thanks for stopping by and I hope to be back soon with more things to share.

Technique Tuesday

It's time for another Technique Tuesday. This month I am going to show you how I made this card
Supplies and dimensions are at the end of the video. If you have any questions let me know. I hope you enjoy it.

Hanukkah Candle Box

First off I wanted to say thanks to all of you that left such nice comments on my last post about the vintage ornament gift card holder. I was especially happy to hear I am not the only one that is a perfectionist when it comes to making things.
Today I am sharing another Hanukkah Gift with you.
When I saw the My Timeless Template Perfect Match Box I thought it would be perfect to hold Hanukkah Candles. You could also use it to hold gelt or other small gifts as well. After I printed and cutout the template using PTI Stampers Select White Cardstock I stamped the polka dots from the Polka Dots Basic II stamp set on it with Enchanted Evening Perfect Match Ink and put the outter part of the box together. When I was done with that I ran a strip of Stampers Select White Cardstock through my Cuttlebug using the tiny dots embossing folder and wrapped it around the middle of the box creating a band. Next I stamped the Menorah image from the Mazel Tov set and embossed it with silver embossing powder, then I colored in the candles with my Copics. After that I cut the image out with an Oval Nestabilities die and matted it on a scalloped oval that I cut out from some Enchanted Evening cardstock.
I used Enchanted Evening Cardstock to create the inside box.
To finish it off I tied a piece of Silver Sheer Metallic Edge ribbon around the box and tied it in a bow.
Tomorrow night is the Papertrey November new release. I am super excited about Laurens new Homeade Template and cordinating stamp set. She was having a give away for the template on her blog this week and picked the number 7 in honor of her sons birthday. I was 1 person away from winning it and was super bummed. At least I only have another day to wait before I can buy it. I still have to wait fot the stamps to arrive but can at least start creating the houses in the meantime though.
I also wanted to let you all know that this weekend the Etsygreetings team I am a member of is having a SALE on holiday greeting cards from 40+ indie artists myself included you can check that out here. Also the EtsyChai team that I am also a member of will be having a Miracles of Hanukkah Contest & Sale from 11/15 thru 11/22. there are more detail about that here for how to play and win. That's it for now we are suppose to get another winter storm this weekend but I really hope it misses us this time. I am planning on making this months technique video tomorrow though and hope to be back to share that with you on Tuesday. Until then I hope you have a great weekend and as always thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Gift Card Ornament

What a difference a week makes. Thankfully all the snow that I shared with you in my last post is gone now. We have been back in the 70's the last couple of days too. I have been very happy about that but like I have said before when you live in Colorado wait and minute and the weather will change. At least we are enjoying the warm weather while it lasts though.
Today I am sharing with you a Christmas Gift Card Ornament.
I have been working on this project for over a week now. This is an idea I have had in my head for awhile and finally got it done. One of my biggest problems when creating is keeping things simple and not being such a perfectionist. Sometimes I wish I could change that about me because I sure would get a lot more accomplished but overall I am very happy with how this turned out.
I started by using this template and some PTI Pure Poppy Cardstock. After I cut my ornament out I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the striped embossing folder then I sprayed some homemade glimmer mist I made using Razpberry Fizz Reinker, Pearl x and water on it to make it sparkle. While it was drying I made the middle section by taking a piece of Stampers Select White Cardstock and stamping on it with an image from the PTI Retro Background Set with Versamark Ink. Then I embossed it with silver embossing powder. After that I used a green gel pen to fill in circles then I added some Martha Stewart Glitter to the insides of the diamonds. If you have not tried her glitter yet I would strongly suggest you do. I think it is great and would highly recommend it. When I was done with that piece I attached it to the middle of the ornament then I attached the red ornament to a piece of stampers select white cardstock and cut around it leaving a thin white mat. When I was done with that I tied a piece of New Leaf twill ribbon in a bow then added a PTI Vintage cream button to the middle and sewed them both on with Rustic Cream Twine.
For the back of the ornament
I cut half a piece of Pure Poppy cardstock and added it to the bottom half of the back of the ornament creating a pocket for the gift card. The Happy Holidays from the PTI Holiday Wishes Sentiment set was stamped and embossed in silver as well. A piece of Silver Shimmer Cardstock that I cut with pinking sheers and punched the holes out with my Cropadile was added to the top of the pocket. I then added another piece of new leaf twill ribbon that I made into a loop to the top of the back of the ornament so it can be hung up. Finally I machine stitched around the whole thing with silver thread That's it. I hope you like it. I will be back soon with more holiday things to share so be sure stop by again soon. Until then have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Snow and a Hanukkah Gift

I hope this post finds you all doing well. We are currently experiencing a winter storm here and it isn't even winter yet. Oh the joys of living in Colorado. Tuesday it was a nice warm day and now we have a least a foot of snow. That's Colorado for you. Emillia is loving it though, at least someone does. I am just hoping it won't take to long to melt. It has been snowing for 2 days now though. I sure hope this is not a prelude to what winter is going to be like. For those of you that like snow I hope you enjoy the photos.
Today I also wanted to share with you another Hanukkah item.

I made the tag by doing an alcohol ink smoosh where I put 5 different colors of alcohol ink on a craft sheet, added some blending solution then took a piece of white glossy cardstock and smooshed it all over the cardstock. After that I stamped the images from the Papertrey Mazel Tov set and embossed them with silver and Denim embossing powder. I crocheted the flowers and attached them to the silver snap clips then added white buttons to the middles. I think these would make a great Hanukkah gifts.
That's it for now. I am off to try and get some more holiday things made now and hope to be back to share them with you soon. Until then I hope you have a great day and it is warm where you are!

October Papertrey Bloghop

Tonight is the October Papertrey Bloghop.
This month the theme is to share our best upcoming holiday plans for cards, gifts, wraps or whatever else we have up our sleeve! I am also incorporating this weeks color challenge from Dawntoo. Love these colors!

I have a lot of ideas for things to make this holiday season but I have not had a chance to get much made yet. It is also hard for me to think about the holidays when it is not even Halloween yet but for this challenge I thought I would go ahead and get started by sharing an idea I have had for awhile. A Hot Cocoa Holder.

I started with a piece of Kraft Carstock and the free Recipe Wrap Up My Timeless Template. Next I stamped an image from the Guidelines 2 stamp set on Raspberry Fizz cardstock with Vintage Cream Ink then I added those pieces to the outside panels of the wrap and sewed them on using a zig zag stitch. After that I stamped the cup from the Warm Happiness set on some Rustic Cream Cardstock with Raspberry Fizz Ink then I stamped the outline image on top of cup with Chocolate Ink and also masked then stamped the plate image under the cup with chocolate ink as well. Finally I used some liquid applique to add a few marshmallows to the cup then added some faux stitching around the image to finish it off.
When you open the wrap you will find this.

I lined the inside panels with New Leaf Cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. On the pocket I stamped the sentiment from The Warm Happiness set. A package of Gourmet Hot Cocoa mix is included for the recipient. A piece of New Leaf Twill ribbon was added to tie it shut. I think these would make great gifts for friends this holiday season and would also make great stocking stuffers too. You could even add a cup filled with Marshmallows and have a complete gift. The holidays can be a very stressful time so giving a gift like this would also be a great way to help someone relax and let them know you are thinking of them this holiday season too.
That's it for now. Be sure to check back in the next few months to see more ideas I have for the holidays too. In the meantime I look forward to seeing what the others have come up with. As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great night.

Technique Tuesday

It's time for another Technique Tuesday video. This month I am going to show you how I made this card in honor of Halloween.

The supplies,dimensions and directions are at the end of the video. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I hope you enjoy the video!

Hanukkah Dreidel Gift Card Holder

As I mentioned in my last post I am trying to get a jump start on making holiday items for my Etsy shop this year. Hanukkah starts on December 11th so today I am sharing with you a Hanukkah Dreidel Gift Card Holder.

I got the idea for this project from the queen of crafts Martha Stewart. I started by downloading the template here then I resized it. The next thing I did was cut out a dreidel from some PTI Spring Rain Cardstock then I stamped images from the PTI Background Star Set and embossed them with clear embossing powder. When I was done with that I added sliver glitter to the top and then printed out the hey symbol and covered it in silver glitter as well. After that I cut another dreidel and sewed both pieces together around the edges with silver thread to create the pocket for the gift card. Finally I added one more layer of Spring Rain cardstock to the back then stamped the largest dot Vintage Labels image and added the Happy Hanukkah sentiment from the Mazel Tov set making sure to leave enough room to add a personal message too.

I think this would be a really unique way to give a gift card for Hanukkah this year. These gift cards are now up for sale in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested in buying them. That's it for now I have plans for more holiday items and hope to be back soon to share them with you. I am also hoping to get some time this weekend to work on this months technique video too so be sure to check back next week for that. Until then thanks for stopping by and I hope the rest of the week is a good one for you.

Happy Birthday Mommy

It looks like winter here right now. YUCK! It has been cold and blustery most of the day and now it is snowing. Hopefully it won't last long.
Even though the weather sucks it is still a very special day. It is my mom's 65th birthday. You would never know she was that age by looking at her though. Like I have said before age is just a number and she definitely proves that. She is the kind of person that you cannot keep down because she is always on the move. My sister and I got her a Nordstroms gift certificate because she loves to shop there but I wanted to make her something special for her birthday too. When I asked her what she would like she said a purple and blue exercise journal. My mom is very into exercise.Even though she has Rheumatoid Arthritis almost every morning you will find her at her local health club working out. Even though she is in pain a lot of the time. She says the exercise helps keeps her moving. This is the journal I made her.

I started by covering 2 pieces of chipboard with fabric that I had in my stash. Next I printed out 50 sheets of lined paper from a template that Rich created for me. After that I binded the journal together using my Bing It All and 3/4" white O wires. To decorate the cover I cut out a label one die from some Stampers Select white cardstock. Next I stamped the dot images from the new PTI Vintages labels set with Plum Pudding Ink. After that I stamped the bike from the Everyday buttons set with Tuxedo Black Ink then I colored it in with Copic Sketch markers. I then added 2 Lavender Moon buttons and stitched them on with Jute twine. I created the word exercise by cutting out the letters with the Cuttlebug Baby Face dies then I added the purple color to them with Coloxbox Petal Point Ink and attached them. Finally I added some Crystal Effects to the letters to give them some shine and dimension.To finish it off I added some pop dots to the finished piece and attached it to the front of the journal. Finished size is 5x5. I gave the journal to my mom this morning and she really liked it.
That's it for now. I have managed to meet all my stamping goals this week so now I am going to start working on some holiday items for my Etsy shop now. I hope to be back soon to start sharing them with you. In the meantime as always thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great night.

3D Halloween Pumpkin Tags

I am back with the Halloween tags I was talking about in my last post. I got the idea for the pumpkins from this video Lauren Meader did on making 3D embellishments.
The pumpkins were made out of the New PTI Orange Zest Cardstock and the faces were stamped with images from a Retired TAC set. The stem for the pumpkins was stamped using the tree image from the PTI Button Bits set. I added some Faux Stitching with a purple pen and distress ink to the circle the pumpkins are sitting on.
The scalloped black piece was stamped with polka dots from the Polka dots basic set and embossed with clear embossing powder. A purple eyelet and 1/8" purple ribbon finishes them off. They are now up for sale in my Etsy shop. That's it for now. I am off to work on my moms birthday present. I will be back to share it with you when it's done. Until then I hope you have a great night and thanks for stopping by.

An Update and a Halloween Project

Once again sorry for not posting anything new in over a week. We all caught a nasty cold virus and were sick all last week. Thankfully Rich and I are over it, Emilia is still coughing though. If anyone has any suggestions to help stop a cough let me know. I have tried everything and nothing seems to be helping much.
Yesterday we decided to go looking for a new camera. I have been wanting one for awhile now but we really were not in a position to be buying any more big purchases right now especially after unexpectedly having to buy me a new laptop last month but Rich decided we should go look anyways. As I'm sure you all know going to look at something really means going buy unless you have a lot of will power when it come to buying things which neither of us have. Anyways turns out Best Buy was still having their 18 month same as cash promotion so we could not pass that up and we are now the proud owners of a Nikon D5000. I have not had a lot of time to play around with it yet but I did photograph my newest project yesterday with it and I am just amazed at how much better my photos look. I would love to hear what you think though so be sure to comment. Now on to today's project.
Since it is now October I felt it was time to make a few Halloween items even though I am not a big Halloween fan. We always enjoy going trick or treating with Emilia but this year she is leaning towards not doing it. There is still time to change her mind though. Anyways I knew I wanted to make something other than a card so I came up with this.

I originally got the idea here but had to made a few changes to the dimensions because I could not find gum to fit. I also added some mini magnets instead of velcro to keep it shut. The base was made with Stampers Select Black Cardstock then I added a piece of patterned cardstock that I made by stamping the dot image from the PTI Retro Background Set on Stampers Select Orange Zest cardstock then colored in the dots with gel pens. Next I printed out the digital Happy Halloween Image that I got from the Cutting Cafe and cut it out with a circle Nestability die. After that I stamped the spider from a retired SU set in the middle of that image and matted it on a scalloped circle cut from some CTMH purple card stock.
Inside you will find this
A perfect pocket to put an 18 piece package of Trident sugarless gum. I think these would make great treats for kids instead of all that sugar filled candy what about you? This gum holder is now up for sale in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested in buying one. That's it for now but I have another Halloween project to finish up tomorrow and hope to share it with you this week too. I also have to get my moms birthday present made because her birthday is this Thursday. I hope to have it done by then and will share it with you then as well. Until then I hope you have a great week and as always thanks for stopping by.

September PTI Blog Hop and Pink Saturday

ETA: I decided to enter this project in the Etsy Sheteam October challenge. The challenge this month is to make something for breast cancer awareness. I thought this bag was perfect for that. I even added a ribbon and the word Hope to the back.
The bag is now up for sale in my Etsy shop and 20% of the proceeds will be donated to breast cancer research.

It is time for another Papertrey Blog Hop.

The challenge this month was to go green and reuse, repurpose or recycle packaging from our Papertrey packages. Since the project I made is Pink I am sharing it for Pink Saturday this week too. You can find out more about Pink Saturday and see the list of the other participants on Beverly's Blog.
For this months challenge I knew I wanted to use the clear boxes the stamps come in since I have a ton of them saved from all the stamps I have bought now. I also used some of the white tissue paper for this project that the stamps come wrapped in as well.
This is what I came up with.

I had seen this post on Nicole Headys blog to make bags like these a few months ago. I do not have the Clearly Creative card boxes she used so I substituted the clear stamp boxes I have. They are a different size but they still work. I started by cutting 1 1/2 inches off the top. Next I printed out a grid template my husband created for me on a piece of Stampers select Vintage Cream Cardsock then I used images from the original Guidelines set and stamped them with Berry Sorbet and Spring Moss Ink. When I was done with that I cut the stamped cardstock to fit inside the clear box then put it inside the box. After that I cut some Spring Moss Cardstock the same size as the stamped piece and lined the inside of the box with it. I then added some Saddle Stitched Hibiscus Ribbon for the handles.
I got the idea for the flower from this video on Lauren Meaders Blog.


Once again I had to improvise because I wanted to use the white tissue paper that came with my package and I didn't have the same punch she used. I ended up filling a mini mister with water then I added some Hibiscus reinker and some pink pearl ex. I shook it up really good to mix it then I sprayed it on the tissue paper and let it dry. After that I cut 4 pieces of the dyed tissue paper using my Marvey Mega Scalloped punch then I stamped them with the one of the single images in the Damask Set using Hibiscus Ink. When I was done with that I added a Spring Moss button to the middle of the flower (Thanks Beth!) and attached it with some twine then I stitched it on to the card box and tied it off. Lastly I scrunched up the tissue paper and the flower was created. There are lots of things you could use this little bag for. It would make great packaging for small gifts or you could even use it as a real bag. A cell phone, keys and some money would fit perfectly in it. The finished size of the bag is 41/2 x 6. I am definitely going to be making more of these bags in the future now. I hope you will give them a try too. As always thanks for stopping by!