Shopping cart covers...

And what new Mommy wouldn't want one these beauties?? My dear and lovely friend Brooke makes these terrific shopping cart covers to rid your wee ones of nawing on the shopping cart handles! These are also great for using at restaurants in those "grubby-fingered" highchairs. I received one of Brooke's original designs as a gift for my second baby and it still holds up after many, many passes in the washing machine. Thats right...made "Mom-friendly" by a Mom! They also come with their own saftey belt so you don't have to use the broken/missing belt on the carts/ highchairs and also have a nice stretchy waistband so they fight close. When not in use you can simply roll up inside the bag and the saftey belt doubles as a shoulder strap. These truely are better than store bought(had one, hated it!) and made with love! If you are interested please contact Brooke @ www.sewcutecovers.blogspot.com She already has several made up and ready for immediate shipping...$45.00 AND free shipping!!

I finally jumped in a took a challenge on Splitcoast Stampers! I was really excited to try something brand new! Like most card makers we tend to stick with the same pattern and only change the paper. If your interested and want to try it out, this is SC145 and can be found on the home page of SCS under "Wednesday" challenge. If you haven't been able to tell from the posts this week I really loooooove the dotted Crate paper!! It works really great with any solid color. I started by cutting a regular A2 size and cut off 1 inch from the front flap. I then matted my Crate paper and ribbon on. The square focal point was stamped with Amuse wedding couple in Black stazon and then added Diamond stickles to her dress. I knew I wanted to somehow incorporate the MM "now and forever" plate and it fit perfectly in the corner. To break up the tan inside, I stamped my Rhoanna Farrar doodle scrolls in Black Stazon. This was such a fun challenge and I can't wait to play some more!

Crazy in love...

Whew! Thats been a busy 2 weeks with all the altering I've been doing. It was nice though because I got a few Christmas gifts out of the way and also played with some new things that have been neglected! This the last project for this week! The frame was purchased in the wood section at Mike's for only a BUCK! I knew I wanted to use my Crate Paper dots pp and Junkitz cut out hearts. With both of these patterns it was a match made in heaven! I just cut and taped down the pp and stamped the outside with Midnight Black Dew Drops. After I painted the outer trim I put 2 coats of modge podge JUST on the trim so it wouldn't smudge. The sheer black ribbon is from Mike's and I matted the Junkitz hearts on chipboard(twice) and again matted them on Bazzill Black cs. The "love" is stamped with SU! Whimisical alpha. I wanted to add just a little something in the upper left hand corner to offset the bow I had tied on the bottom so I chose to stamp a red scroll design and added some strategically placed bling for a nice finish.
I thought I add this second shot so you can see the dimension of the sentiment. I don't know what the weight size of the chipboard is, but its super thick and sturdy and was easily cut with small hand scissors.

Stay tuned next week...its all about "Crafty Secret" stamps...uber cool!

Princess birthday frame

I made this frame to coincide with the princess birthday invites that are a few posts down. The frame is from the Target $ spot and I covered it in Berry Smooth Bazzil CS. I used SU! Polka dot and paisley bg stamp with black stazon for a fun background. I also used SU! Pretty princess set and cut the cut and colored the cakes. The name is stamped with SU! Whimsical alpha and matted on cs with Spellbinder's die templates(I LOVE THESE). These templates give a nice cut and a clean dry emboss. I topped it off with some black satin ribbon from Mike's.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj54hFGvWBDzo1rluD3RYq8fikMz5HfJE_-vwmG1-cidDH4uk0UCKuxL3YGycqvuKbuihUZ2DjUm7wTGS9F1aal-hynEWQwFpYjmxDAhJCeFzV-XK6WKbIZyfGt82g6IZWpSYZdckO22yI/s1600-h/IMG_1965.jpg">This cake is soooo sparkly in real life, hopefully it shows through on the picture as well! I colored the cakes with a combo of re-inkers and watercolor pencils. When I finished coloring I went back over them with my Sakura Stardust gel pen for added sparkle. To thicken up the cs and have a nice glossy finish, I used 3 layers of UTEE and embossed. I have heard you can add more layers while the first layer is still hot, but its easier for me to just let each layer dry, dip on my embossing ink pad, and re-apply the powder.

Altered Tool box...

Isn't she cute?? I love to alter all sorts of stuff. I have this knack for walking into stores and immediately think of how I can cover it with pretty paper! I wanted to keep this one pretty simple since I'm going to be tossing my tools in and out. The patterned paper is by Junkitz and I used sticky tape instead of modge podge. I find modge podge is too messy for paper/metal applications sometimes so the tape was best for this. I also added some nice double stitched black ribbon from Mike's and added the "tools" frame. The alphabet stamp is SU! Whimisical and I cut it out with CM oval patterns and matted it.
This is the orignial tin before altering. I found it at Joann's for 75% in their summer section and as soon as I saw it, I knew it'd be great for my tools. It even had a cute bottle cap opener attached, but I took that off...lol I have outgrown my older holder and started storing my tools in a drawer, but they were getting out of reach and I grab for them often. This was a perfect and cheap solution:)

Altered Project #3...

Here is the last one for this week! I've had some much fun altering containers and such that I'm going to do it next week...AGAIN! These will all be different items so you'll have to stop by and check them out! Now back to the Prima bottle. Whoever is the Marketing Director at Prima sure knows how to sucker us women in with the clever packaging their lovely flowers come in. I find myself re-using the packaging more than the flowers...lol Anyhoo, this is pretty straight forward on design. I simply took off all the labels on the bottle(use rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball to remove any sticky residue) and covered around the entire bottom with a "bottle band". The only adhesive I have found that works really great on this glass is the 1/8 sticky tape. It has a very strong hold for this slick working surface. The bottle is filled with chocolate nuggets and I cut a little piece of Mike's ribbon to adhere to the lid:) I used all these recycling items as give-aways for my Mommy's group this week. Just a little thank-you for them:)

Recycled project #2

How about an old Prima tin? This tin is from the Prima Hydrangea line and is made of nice and sturdy metal, with a "peek-a-boo" top! I used all the same product from the last post and also added a little shredded kraft paper on the bottom of the tin to help prevent the chocolate nuggets from sliding around. I topped off the tin with some new 5/8 inch orange ribbon from Mike's. This size ribbon is new for me and I love how elegant it ties. What a fun way to play with recyclables:)

Altering Week--Project #1

I thought it'd be fun to try something new in "altering" projects. There will be 3 new "altered" projects this week using recycled containers. I have saved container after container that my supplies come in and its time to put them to use! All posts this week use the same paper and stamp sets, so I will give the recipe in the first post only.

The first one up is using recycled "Foo-fa-la" button bags. The buttons come in these super cute snap bags and are stapled shut. To keep the design super simple AND cover up the staple holes, I made a complimentary front band. I used SU! Lavendar and American TD patterned paper for the base strip and faux stitching completes the look. For the oval I used PTI oval stamps and spooky treats and matted on a lavender oval with my CM oval cutting patterns. Where the "half-moons" are in the first stamped oval, I added some bling with my clear glitter pen and its sooo sparkly(hard to tell from the photo). To adhere to the plastic bag be sure to use a strong adhesive...my favorite is 1/8 inch sticky tape...I use it on EVERYTHING!!!
Chocolate nuggets are covered with an Avery Address label that are stamped with PTI spooky treats set. I used Versamagic Dew Drops in: Tea leaves, Mango madness, Purple Hydrangea, and Midnight black.
Let me see what you can recycle! Leave a link on your comment to share with us:)

Princess Party...

I love having little girls to decorate for! I made these invitations for Miss Anna's 1st birthday. She has BRIGHT red hair and I'm sure she's a pistol for her Mama too...lol You can check out this cutie patootie by clicking on the icon below, look for "Sweetpea Madison" on my sidebar!

This is a fairly simple layout, the only time consuming part is watercoloring the princess. I wouldn't have wanted to color her in any other medium though, because she is a rough sketch and you don't have to be soo formal with watercoloring...suits her well! I chose Bazzill "Berry Smooth" for the card base(stamped the "polka dot" bg from "Polka Dots & Paisley" set), Bazzill Black for the second layer, and stamped my image on SU! Whisper white. The princess is stamped Black Stazon and the bday info. is printed from MSWord. All the colors on the princess are watercoloring pencils except for the pink, which is done with SU! "pretty in pink" re-inker. Since she needed just a bit more sparkle, I used Diamond Stickles on her crown, heart, and wand. Perfect touch for a magical birthday:)

Tabb Tigers...

I beginning to think I should own "stock" in Tabb Tigers...lol If school districts offered it, I'd be the first to line up...wink wink! These are part of a few things I've put together for a dear friend in VA. I have her all stocked up so she can give gifts thru-out the year. Some of these items have posted before, but I like to change them up a bit every now and then. Of course, the new ones are the name tags for the PTA:) They definitely "scream" school spirit! I can't wait until my girlies are in this stage and having a ball! Of course by then, they will have nothing to do with me right??...lol

Monograms...

Because who doesn't like Monograms right?! These by far, are the easiest cards I've ever put together. Not only are they simple, but they also have a nice clean look to them.

It was also another chance to play with my new Nestability dies and even after cracking both "b" plates on my Cuttlebug, I'm STILL convinced I will buy more...lol I have read many reviews, blogs, and manufacturer guidelines on compatibilty with these dies coinciding with other machines. I'm no expert by any means, but I certainly would STRONGLY suggest you buy the Wizard die cutting machine to go with these dies. The dies themselves are very strong and are no match for the "plastic" die cutting plates on the Cuttlebug. The Wizard machine is quite pricey so that will be a long term investment in the near future.

Recipe:PTI white select for the card base, Black Stazon ink, Wild Rose set from SU!, SU! Whimsical Alpha, all other cs from CM

Hawaiian baby...

I love this Hawaiian material I used on the burp cloth and knew I had just the right patterned paper to go with it! I wanted to keep the card simple so I started off with PTI select white, added the PP(from Mike's), used Polka Dot and Paisley Dot BG,"baby" sentiment is from Heidi Swapp, added some Prima's, and threw on some Foo-Fa-La buttons. Pretty simple and clean right? The flowers do stick out a bit, but I just used a larger envelope to accomdate them.