Awareness...

Happy Friday! It is going to be nice and SUNNY here in NC this weekend! I know this isn't much consolation for those just North of us, but I will take what we can get. It has been an unusually cold winter this year and I look forward to Spring getting here...QUICKLY!

I have a bundle order to share with you today. You have seen these cards before, I just switched up the papers...can't resist that new gingham! The basket was made up for an auction that will raise money for cancer research....I know Deb is going to raise a lot of money at her event, and for such a wonderful cause! I filled this basket with all sorts of goodies...notepads, cards, jr. notebooks, and some m&m candy sticks! Sweet, simple, and feminine cards! Do you remember from my post yesterday when I mentioned that negatives I used as frames? The scalloped green gingham squares are what I used from the negatives! This is a GREAT way to stretch and use ALL of your cs!

Buggy Teapots...

Who's ready for FRIDAY?!!! So much to do, so little time! We have a BIG project planned for this weekend (tile job in the kitchen...YIPPEE!) and some friends will be here to help us, so I thought I'd better update the ol' blog before I'm too tired to type and covered in grout! I went to see my dear friend DonnaK last week and before we hit the LSS, I rummaged through her stamp collection and she loaned me out a few sets to play with! I could not wait to get my hands on this cute, Enjoy The Ride, set! SQUEE! Looks how fun she is?!! The green gingham frames are actually ALL scraps (negatives) that I used on another project (will share in next post!) and was intending on throwing away. I tossed them aside, then came back to them realizing they would make neat frames. The pink gingham is paper pieced from the Princess Pack.
I covered the inside tab with hippy flowers...otherwise it has STAPLES across it!I'm a "little teapot"...I really don't know where I was going with this one! The teapots started out in pink gingham, but were too plain, so I added some chocolate chip ink over them and I think it did the trick? On the middle frame I added a small strip of lace from my local fabric store. To hold the lace down, I made a simple paper border on top, and adhered the lace to the back side.
Buggy LOVE! I didn't want to get too frilly on this card since my focal image was so large. Just add a check and send to your favorite GRAD.

Little Lady Invites...

...LOTS of little ladies! This was my BIG project over the last few days. Once we decided on a layout and colors, I got to work. The best and most efficient way to do mass production projects for me, is to cut ALL your pieces FIRST! Since I knew I'd be doing many cuts and punches, I spread my workload out over a few days. To keep my strips straight, I just used my CM cutting mat to line everything up. If you don't have a cutting mat, large desk calendars work just as well...basically anything with lines!
Here is the finished invite! I have blocked out some personal info. for privacy.
Here's the whole gang...ALL 75 OF THEM! I just love those little ladies...so cute!

Little Love Notes...

Little love notes for your lil' Valentine. I went out of my comfort zone and made up these 4x4 cards...perfect for school lunch boxes, or tuck a little note to the one you love. I plan on sneaking one on my hubby's dash as he drives to work! For the "love notes" I used my vintage book of sheet music and PTI's Tiny Treats and Polka Dot Basics.

Princess Notebooks...

A sweet Valentine gift for my girls. I had some jr. notebooks cut at Staples last weekend and for some reason, I thought they would be the same size as my old ones...they are not! I used to be able to get 2 notebook covers out of 1 sheet of 8.5x11 cs, but this time around I noticed my notebooks are cut 1/4 inch larger. I'm sure if I do some finagling I might be able to squeeze one more cover out. Anyhow, the girls love to doodle and draw dolls all day long so these will be perfect for travel and on the go! The paper is from a 12x12 Princess Pack. There are several sheets included that have the clip art (castle and princess I used here), which is easy to cut and matte. My nesty dies did not fit a matte for the princess so I used some patterned paper and buttons to add texture.

Finished them off with monograms. I'm hoping I can keep these a secret until Valentine's Day!

Crafty Storage Link...

While I'm getting some crafty projects finished up, I just wanted to share this link that may inspire you to get that craft room organized...FOR REAL! Aurora over at Crafty Storage had asked to feature a recent post I had done on my craft space. Forget about my room, this blog will show you all sorts of neat ideas when getting that craft room organized. I've already skimmed thru some of the posts and I'm inpspired to get a few other things in order! CLICK HERE to get cleaning!

Going Vintage...

The sun is out today and has offered a nice meltdown with the snow. This is now day 3 of no school and I think the cabin fever is getting to all of us...MOM included! I did get out the baking supplies and the girls and I have baked a few dozen chocolate chip cookies. They love to pull out the aprons and go to town. I was even able to sneak some nuts in without hesitation...my 6 year old swears she can't eat nuts...you would never tell with those sticky fingers! Needless to say, she had her fill this afternoon ;))).

While the girls were crafting with the Cricut yesterday, I looked through my supplies to see what I wanted to work on. I came up with these vintage tags that I thought would go perfect with some kraft lunch sacks. There is a lifetime supply of these bags underneath my desk. They were used at my craft show for packaging purchases. Detailed close up. This was a first for the use of doilies. I picked up a pack of 30 from Michael's and rubbed my Dew Drop inks over them to cover up the white. The flowers are die cut with my nesty circle scallops. All the flowers are tea-dyed and "scrunched" up before I adhered all the layers. The leaves are from my PTI die and I stitched on the vein lines. Buttons are foo-fa-la.Pink lemonade tag. This is the only tag I left the leaves off of and only because I thought it might be too much with a green flower. Even with the leaves left off, it still offers enough layers for a vintage feel. The mini tags with the sentiment were white so I added some vintage ink from Tim Holtz (the same ink I used on the edges of the large tags).

Emboss Resist Technique...

If there's anything I'd like to do this year (besides use the supplies I've already bought!!!), it's to try some new techniques in paper crafting. On my last trip to Archiver's I picked up a few Hero Arts Frame Stamps. When I saw this stamp it SCREAMED for me to try the emboss resist technique. You can find THIS wonderful picture tutorial from Splicoaststampers.I clear embossed my design on white cs, then rubbed my Dew Drop--Aloe Vera over the embossed area. Once I got the ink coverage I desired, I went back and rubbed off the excess ink and it revealed the clear emboss. I knew I wanted to add a sentiment, but I didn't want it to be overbearing and cover up the floral image. My snap stamps were a great solution...simple FRIEND...letters were stamped individually and then I hand cut the baby blue matte. This is something I'm definitely looking forward to trying again!

Snapshot of yesterday...this is in the middle of the storm...hard to believe the beach is only 15 mins. away??!! Looks like the snow will stick around as it will not be above 40 the rest of the week and school has been out for 2 days now. Chan and I got this crazy idea to drag the kids around the neighborhood, on boogie boards, in the freezing rain! We all had fun, but my arms are thanking me today!

Valentine's Fun Dip Bands...plus tutorial!

Sorry my first official post of the New Year is running a little late today...see, we sort of have a little snow on the ground...roughly 5 inches...and we had to go play FIRST! And to think we were only slated to get an inch! It's just so pretty outside right now. The view is better enjoyed from my warm comfy couch.

Anyhoo, I've finally gotten around to updating the ol' blog with some fun projects and today I even have a quick tutorial to share! I'm always on the look out for goodies that I can dress up and use for the kids Vday cards. This year I decided to come up with something different for these Fun Dip packages. In case you need more ideas, HERE and HERE are the ones from last year. Lets get started! Take a sheet of 8.5 x 11 kraft cs and cut into 1 inch strips. Be sure to scor the strips at the 3 and 7.25 marks on your scor-pal. Stamp your polka dots only in the center with versamark ink. You can use whatever stamp you like, I'm just addicted to my polka dots! I used the medium dots from THIS PTI set...it fits perfectly between your 2 scor lines! Now it's assembly time! Add your cute little vday image to your strip and now your ready to band the Fun Dip packaging To add the band, add 2 small strips of adhesive.Once you add the band, it will "bunch" slightly around the cello bag...that is OK, you want a snug fit so the band does not slip off...or you can add a strip of adhesive (1 of 2 strips in the above pictures) so it attaches to the cello bag.

Wrap your band, seal the cello bag and now your ready to send to your favorite Valentine. There is plenty of room on the back of the band for the kids to write on.If you'd like to skip the manual labor and make up some quick kits yourself, I've added a few to my Etsy Shop. The kits includes 10 bands (2 of each design), fully assembled, with 10 cello bags...all you have to do is add 2 adhesive strips, attach the band, and candy.

Happy NEW YEAR!!!!

Now you will see why December was so quiet on the ol' blog! I hope this New Year finds each of you off to a great start in 2011! We had a very busy December not only for Christmas with family, but the week prior, my hubby and I also set off on a cruise to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary! In all the years we've been together, we've never splurged on something so nice and just for the two of us...yes ONLY 2 of us! We left our girls a case of juice boxes and granola bars to tie them over until we got back...kidding...my in-laws were gracious enough to take the girls while we set sail from Baltimore for 7 days to the Bahamas. December 13th, our 10 year anniversary! We celebrated by enjoying a 5 star dinner in David's Steakhouse. The steakhouse is located on the 9th deck, just under the wing tip on top of the Carnival Pride...pretty cool! We thought at first it was a pool from the outside.

His & Hers...Chan about to dig in to some escargot...I'll pass!Maine Lobster and Fillet Mignon. Best lobster I've ever eaten!Free table dances from the waiters...I believe here they were dancing to Apple Bottom Jeans! This is the main dining room, The Normandie, where we had a scheduled dinner time of 8:15 each night.Our first stop was Port Canaveral. Long story short, we purchased on-shore excursion tickets through Carnival for an air boat ride in The Everglades. We saw zero gators, our boat broke down (the propellers broke off and some shrapnel hit Chan on the shoulder...no serious injuries!!!), and it was only 56, which on an air boat is pretty damn cold! Needless to say, we laughed about it and ended the day with GATOR TAIL! Eh, no frowns here...tastes just like chicken...like everything else!Pulling into our 2nd port of Nassau, Bahamas. A warm 78 degrees (it was snowing back in Baltimore and Virginia) and shorts weather! The water here is simply breathtaking and incredibly clear on the white sandy beaches.Hopping off the big boat and taking a small water taxi over to Paradise Island, where The Atlantis Resort is located.Atlantis Resort. The "bridge" suite goes for 25k a night, with a 4 night minimum...who's in folks??Once we got over to Paradise Island we went to Cabbage Beach and rented some jet skis. I lasted for about 5 mins. before I left my hubby to do his own crazy racing. He is in the middle of this picture.Heading back to the ship before it set sail from Nassau. LOVE this shot!Woke up the next morning in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. We grabbed a quick cab as soon as we docked and headed over to Port Lucaya...this shot was captured at 7:30 in the morning.The one day we didn't bring our swim wear...gosh it was so nice here!Awwwww...relaxtion!Iced martini bar!Last day of the cruise. We had incredible servers and met wonderful new friends. After our last dinner we came back to our room to find our "confiscated" wine had been delivered. Our bottle was legal size and sealed, but was taken out of my check-in luggage...apparently you are supposed to store it in your carry-on luggage. So no wine, but I had a cork screw that I was allowed to keep all week...LOL! No worries though, we had plenty to drink without it ;) Over all, this was a fantastic experience...so much so, that we plan to take the girls on one in the next few years! If you've never been on a cruise, I HIGHLY recommend it!After we returned from our cruise, we stayed in VA for Christmas. Since I'm the crafty girl that I am, I always bring a fun project for the kids to work on. Gingerbread houses were on the agenda...with my nieces and youngest (far right). My sweet sis-in-law had this made for our anniversary. I can't wait to take this out every year and fill it with festive flowers. Christmas Day with Gracie and Addy. Christmas Dinner was hosted by my brother-in-law and his sweet wife. A "small intimate gathering" with my hubby's side. This photo is just of his parents, siblings and their children. We are actually 1 sister shy here! As you can imagine, there is never a dull moment! We have a lot to look forward to this year and a possible move which we will find out soon if we are going or staying. I personally don't mind staying, but with the military, you don't always have that option. Also, my youngest will start Kindergarten in the Fall which is huge milestone in our house. I'm at the crossroads now where I will either continue to stay home or join back in the REAL workforce. A lot to think about, but it will all come in good time. In the meantime, I'm working on Valentine projects and will also post some for sale in my Etsy shop in the next week or so. Thank you for visiting my blog, asking questions, and just laughing with me. I do have some emails to get back to and a request for a tutorial on the clips I made earlier....those requests are in the works so stay tuned! Wishing all of you a WONDERFUL start to your New Year!!