Handcrafted Memories

Quote for the Day

2012-01-27T19:57:00.000-05:00

If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is
something you must always remember. You are braver than you
believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll
always be with you.

-- Winnie the Pooh

Quote for the Day

2012-01-14T12:55:00.002-05:00

Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists
of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.

-- Douglas Pagels

Quote for the Day

2012-01-08T15:54:00.005-05:00

Love this powerful picture!!! Makes me so proud of my nephew who is currently serving in the Marines. He has been to Afghanistan and was told he would be going back by the middle of year.

I found this through a friend on Facebook. The personal blog on Facebook is Keep It Simple Sweetee. There are so many cute and moving entries there.

Personalized Wedding Gift Idea

2012-01-07T18:36:00.005-05:00

Back in November a friend was getting married and I wanted to make a personalized gift for her and her new hubby. They are a rather young couple so I thought a set of beer mugs would be clever. I used my previous ideas (here and here) from teacher appreciation gifts and applied it to this one!

Went to the Dollar Tree (my personal fave!) and bought 3 beer mugs. I like to have one extra in case of an "oops!". Used my Cricut machine to cut out a Mr. and Mrs. label out of vinyl for the glasses. I use the sticky stuff to cover drawer bottoms and cupboards, it is much cheaper than the stuff for craft projects. Sorry forgot to take a pic of that step!

After sticking the vinyl on the glasses had to curve up the plastic so the etching stuff didn't drip down the side of the glass. Watch this step carefully because the cream does drip and will ruin the project if it gets on the other parts of the glass.

Both glasses turned out pretty nice. The new Mr and Mrs Yoko loved them!!

Very cute personalized wedding gift!

Thanks for looking.
Cathy

Christmas Storage

2011-12-26T11:20:00.004-05:00

This is the BEST idea for storing Christmas ornaments. I love this idea from Design a la Mode!! So darn clever.

My only "additional thought" would be to add ribbon loops to each level of cups. Something to help pick up each level. Hope that makes sense, hot glue ribbon handles to each side so they are easier to pick up.

I'll have to try that this year when putting away all the ornaments.

Have a great day,
Cathy

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T01:13:00.002-05:00

It has been quite a while since I've entered anything here!!! So sorry about that! I've started substitute teaching in my kids' school. They are keeping me very busy and TIRED!!! After being home with my kids for almost 9 years, it is very hard to get back into the swing of things!
I've got some new crafts to post and promise to do it as soon as I get time. I miss sharing my thoughts and crafts with everyone!
Thanks so much for being patient!

Merry Christmas! I hope you were on Santa's good list and he delivers everything you wished for!

Happy Crafting.

Quote for the Day

2011-10-02T23:57:00.001-04:00

I believe that everything happens for a reason, people change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so that eventually you learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together!

~~Marilyn Monroe

Candy Corn Fudge

2011-09-27T17:49:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, I volunteered to bake at a Bake Sale at my church to support Pediatric Cancer Awareness and this was my creation. Being the lazy baker that I am, I searched for an easy recipe for fudge. On You Tube, of all places, I found this easy-peasy recipe! After trying out the easy fudge recipe and tasting it, I thought this really needs something....but what?!?! Ah ha, marshmallow!! So for the second batch I also melted some marshmallow and added that to the original mixture. This was better!! It actually had the texture of candy corn too. Pretty cute too if I do say so myself! The second change I tried was to use the small cupcake tins rather than the square pan and cut squares. Either way is great, I just didn't want to have to cut them up - I know my cutting skills and didn't want to risk making uneven pieces.

Don't forget to use PAM in the cupcake tin to make it easy to remove the treats.
Yea!! Super Duper cute! They were a big hit at the bake sale!! I just hoped they tasted good!

We asked for donations only for our baked goods and raised over $1400.00!!! Thanks so much to everyone!

Thanks for looking and have a great day,
Cathy

First Try at Fabric Spray Paint

2011-09-15T23:53:00.007-04:00

I saw this cute spray fabric paint in Tuesday Morning, and I knew there was something I could do with it. So of course I bought it without having an exact idea of what to do with it. Thought I would contemplate it! So, being the "bag lady" that I am, thought I could spruce up one of my bags. Make it a little cuter, and try out the spray paint. Used my Sizzix to cut letters from shelf liner (has sticky back and is cheaper than vinyl!).
Next adhered the letters to my bag. This bag is from 5 Below, a store that sells all items for $5 or less! Kinda like the Dollar store. So I figured that if it didn't turn out exactly right, it wouldn't be a great loss! Randomly sprayed the paint over the letters and waited a couple minutes. Finally took the letters off! TAaaa DAaaaa! Not too bad. Next time I'll have to think of something cuter to put on the bag! Not too bad for my first try.

Thanks for looking and have a great day. Cathy

Twas the Night before School Started

2011-09-06T21:43:00.003-04:00

A friend shared this poem on Facebook! Too cute not to share. Enjoy parents!

Twas the night before school started,
When all through the town,
The parents were cheering...
It was a riotous sound!
By 8, kids were washed and tucked into bed...
Where memories of homework filled them with dread!
New pencils, new folders, new notebooks too!
New teachers, new friends...
Their anxiety grew!
The parents just giggled when they learned of this fright-and shouted upstairs:
Go To Bed! It's A School Night!!
Have fun kids!!!!!! Enjoy PARENTS!!!!!!

Shell Mirror

2011-08-30T20:08:00.008-04:00

After our beach vacation this summer, my daughter had her usual bag of shells that she collected. The shell collecting is an annual event so I have to come up with a new craft for her each year! This year I found an old zebra print mirror that I thought would look nice painted and embellished with shells. This is the original mirror! YUCK!! Can't remember where I had this in the house, but I'm definitely embarrassed by this!!!

My original thought was to bring back a bag of sand and Mod Podge it to the mirror, then hot glue the shells on top. However, after the earthquake hit and Irene coming through I totally forgot to fill up a bag - bummer. Had to go with Plan B!

First I painted over the zebra print - YEA! Picked a sand-ish color.

This is an up close picture of the color, the first one seemed a little washed out.

Finally we added the shells and some tulle to hang it with. Not too bad, I like it! Next we are going to try to make a ceiling fan pull with some of the left overs. Not sure how to do it, but it will be a trial and error process.

Thanks for looking,

Have a great day

Cathy

Quote for the Day

2011-08-21T01:00:00.001-04:00

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes.

~~ Frieda Norris

Pom Pom Flowers

2011-08-08T09:54:00.005-04:00

While out seaching for cute crafty ideas, I came across this easy to make pom pom flower. Very easy to make tutorial can be found here! I'm definitely making some for decoration, and a little addition to a gift! So darn cute. I love the white ones!
She also has a very cute pumpkin! Check it out here!!

Could probably make apples, and other fruit! Hmmmmm, makes me think.

Have a great day!
Thanks for looking,
Cathy

Quote for the Day

2011-07-18T09:31:00.002-04:00

"Don't exchange what you want MOST for what you want at the moment."

Wish I would have thought of this one, but I read it somewhere and took a picture of it. Don't know who to give credit to, sorry! I think this is my new all time favorite quote!

One More Bag Creation

2011-07-14T08:08:00.010-04:00

As I've admitted before, I'm a bag-aholic!! I'm checking on a 12 step program for this addiction!! Love creating and using reusable shopping bags. I have so many it is hard to count because they are everywhere and I forget where they are "stored"! (And by stored I mean I've put them somewhere and now I have no idea where they are!) Here is my latest creation, started with a 12"x18" canvas bag - BORING!!! With the help of my tons of material scraps, I added embellishments to spruce it up a little. Just kept making fabric flowers and hot gluing them onto the bag until it was all covered.

Hard to see some of the flowers, so here are a couple upclose. The black ones are difficult to see, but they are constructed like the purple one shown here.

Some are made with ribbon and some are from material scraps.

The gold one is from some type of wire mesh, not sure where I found this stuff!

The one with red and yellow is scraps from an old bed sheet. I used it for many projects, including one where I made a throw pillow! Stay tuned for details about that project. This is a sample of how I did the yellow/red stripes. Started with strip of bed sheet, added the stripes with a Sharpie marker and rolled it into a flower.

Probably more information than you ever thought you'd need, but there it is - my latest reusable shopping bag!

Thanks for looking and have a great day,

Cathy

My 1st Try at a Flag Cake

2011-07-06T00:03:00.009-04:00

The flag cake was so cute, I had to try it myself. I used 2 boxes of white cake mix to make the entire cake. Started with white cake so I could add the red, white and blue food coloring.

Made cakes exactly according to Glory's instructions -
1 blue cake, with the center cut out
2- 8" red cakes
1- 8" white cake
She has great directions on her site, check it out there.

I embellished with an exploding firework on top of my creation, but the colors are very bright. Note to self - use LOTS more food coloring next time!

Here is the inside of the cake. Turned out pretty nice! It was a big hit at our 4th of July celebration. Kids liked it.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day.
Cathy

LOVE this July 4th Cake!

2011-07-03T13:13:00.008-04:00

How awesome is this!?!?! What a great idea from Glory at Glorious Treats. Such a clever idea.
When I saw it I just wanted to say Ohhhhhh and Ahhhhh!! Check out the instructions and try your own Independence Day cake.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Cathy

End of Year Teacher Gifts

2011-06-22T10:17:00.003-04:00

June crept up on me and it was so late in getting my teacher gifts together there wasn't enough time to create something cute! I went to me back-up plan! While walking through the Dollar Tree I saw some FUN things that I thought would make a great teacher gift. Started with the styrofoam cooler, then after walking around there were so many items that would be great as summer "things"!

Summer means July 4th to me! So I found some great Independence Day things that I would enjoy getting! The little red flip-flop looking thing is a nail kit (had a nail clipper, nail file and 2 other things but can't remember what they were!).

Finally the wrapping up was the most difficult part! Had to make 4 of these gifts, so carrying them into school was so funny! On the way into the building I dropped one, and broke the side of another one. GASP! With a litte extra glue, everything was good as new!

They were a big hit! Everyone LOVED them.

Have a great day!
Thanks for looking,

Cathy

Quote for the Day

2011-06-20T11:11:00.001-04:00

Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight. When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.

~~ Helen Keller

Sweat Shirt Shopping Bag

2011-05-17T11:50:00.016-04:00

I'm a self admitted Bag Lady!! On a recent visit to my favorite store, Wal-Mart, I found this Halloween-ish sweat shirt for only $1.00!! WOW, of course I thought "What can I make with this?!!??". Of course, ANOTHER reusable shopping bag! My daughter asked, "Why do you keep making more, you have so many already?!! " Sadly I had no good response for her!

But as you can see it was only $1.00! Couldn't pass it up! I thought it was kinda cute too.

To keep with the red striped socks I thought it would be cute to have red handles. Found an old pair of my son's red sweat pants that would be perfect. Could cut them up in strips and braid to create handles.

A close up of the handles.

After cutting off the sleeves, had to trim the neckline to make it an even edge. That was the easy part! Next I sewed up the bottom edge of the "bag". So far so good.

I looked throuh my stash of remnents from JoAnn Fabrics to find a good color for the lining. Black was an easy choice.

Also added red buttons on the bottom corners so the lining would stay in place and add another small detail.

Taaa-Daaaaaa the completed project!! I have yet another reusable shopping bag!!!

Thanks so much for looking!

Have a great day.

Cathy

2011 Teacher Appreciation Gifts

2011-05-09T15:17:00.006-04:00

This year's teacher appreciation gifts were a "plan B"!! In the last couple of years I created etched plates that THANK the teachers for all their hard work. However, when this year rolled around I couldn't get my Cricut working correctly and had to resort to my stamp collection. After ruining one plate because I tried to use a stamp with words. Didn't make the connection that the words needed to be reversed and I couldn't figure out a quick way to stamp in reverse! Had to go with stamps with just pictures on them. This is the stack of 20 completed plates for my kids' teachers. Total there are 5 teachers - 4 plates for each.

I used the Stampin Up Cheers to You set to make these. First the martini plate - shaken not stirred!

A yummy strawberry daquari! Careful of a brain freeze! OOoooohhh!

Cheers with champagne!

Finally an ice cold beer! My favorite!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day,

Cathy

Quote for the Day

2011-05-05T21:30:00.000-04:00

Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.

-- Elizabeth Bibesco

Quote for the Day

2011-04-29T09:12:00.002-04:00

It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right.

-- Unknown

Too Cute Umbrella Wreath

2011-04-20T00:47:00.002-04:00

How adorable is this wreath!! Makes me think of a Jimmy Buffet concert - "cheeseburger in paradise... salt, salt, salt..."
Wish I would have thought of this beauty, thanks to Camilla at Family Chic for sharing this one. Check out her stuff there, so cute.
Thanks for looking,
Have a great day
Cathy

"Springy" Teacher Frames

2011-04-15T23:58:00.018-04:00

I've had this itching feeling for the past couple of weeks that I should do something for my kids' teachers for Easter. I know that I can't assume (everyone knows what happens when you assume something!) that everyone celebrates Easter so we decided that it will be a "Springy" gift! My idea was to use some Easter-y stuff that I had on hand and create something they could use. Of course my hot glue gun would be involved! Love that thing! I used my idea from a previous post, from Valentines Day. And, another frame here. The project started with a couple bags of $.50 bags of jelly beans,

a couple packages of peeps,

and a raw $1.00 frame.

My kids painted the frames for their teachers and I chose yellow (my favorite color) for my frame. Then just hot glued the accessories on. Easy peasy! They turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself!

Total cost for each frame - less than $1.50!!

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day,

Cathy

One Pair of $3 Pants - 3 Projects

2011-04-05T10:10:00.001-04:00

OMG!, I can't believe it is April already!!! I've been so lazy in posting to my blog. Unfortunately life has become extremely busy for me here and the first thing to go is my creative outlet! I miss it so much! Sorry for letting this go by the wayside. Recently, I found a pair of $3.00 courdoray boys pants that had a hole in them....immediately I knew there were going to be some craft projects for these poor tattered pants. Unfortunately I didn't think ahead when creating these projects. From the 2 pant legs I made these cup holders. It was pretty easy, just had to cut off the legs and sew up the bottoms. Buttons were added on the sides to make the bottoms flat. Finally I used old belts as the straps. Too cute. I love them because I added quilting inside of each to help keep beverages hot or cold. There is enough room in each one to use a blue "feezey thing" to help keep drinks cold. a>

This is a quick shot of the inside of each cup holder. The sunflower has quilting under the cotton material. This was the first one I completed. There isn't any additional material to cover the quilting - BORING!! :-) After visiting JoAnn Fabrics and fishing through their remnits bin I found the cute sunflower material. Thought that would look a little "happier" than just the blue quilting (which was also from the remnits bin at Joann's!).

My second project was to take the top part of the pants and make a reusable shopping bag. This was pretty easy to do also. I wish I had taken pictures of each step, but I'm not that good at recording each step - I promise to work on that! I started by cutting off the legs and sewing up the bottom of the bag. Used a hot glue gun to prevent the zipper from coming down, and to flatten down the flap of material in front of it.

Finally, I found some old belts to use as straps! That is my favorite part! Had to use bottons to help keep straps sewn on the bag. This was harder than I thought! Turned out pretty cute though.

This is an upclose view of the buttons holding the straps on, had to use one on the inside and one on the outside of each strap. A quick view of inside of the bag, used striped material to go along with the stripes from the courdory. I thought is was kinda cute! You can see the "security" buttons on the inside here. Overall it is pretty cute, and I love using it at a store! When checking out the cashier always comments on the bag. Thanks for looking! Have a good day. Cathy

Quote for the Day

2011-03-24T08:48:00.000-04:00

It's hard to detect good luck - it looks so much like something you've earned.

~ Frank Howard Clark

Baby laughing at Torn Paper.

2011-03-04T09:12:00.002-05:00

How cute is this little baby giggling at his Dad tearing a rejection letter!?!? Check out this QT pie having a great time.
Made my day watching him giggle.

Enjoy!

Final Creation

2011-02-26T10:49:00.002-05:00

I finally finished a project that was started a while ago. Check out the beginning of my project here and this is what it turned out to be. The flowers started off at the Dollar Tree, it was a little girl's cheerleading outfit.

The bag is from Michaels or AC Moore or Joann Fabrics (can't remember!) clearance section. Don't remember how much I paid for it, but I'm sure it wasn't much. I love the clearance section. It was a pack of 3 bags, one with green handles, one with pink handles and one with blue handles. They measure about 10 by 14 inches.

Taaa Daaaa!!!!! The final product.

Not sure if I LOVE it, but it is kinda cute. I thought the green bag handles would match the green flowers (yes, there are green and blue flowers!) but can't really tell which is which.

This will work for shopping anyway.

Thanks for looking.
Cathy

Quote for the Day

2011-02-25T09:50:00.001-05:00

I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.

~ Unknown

VERY Early Christmas Ornament Idea

2011-02-24T21:14:00.005-05:00

Sorry that I keep sharing everyone else's ideas, but I can't help it!!! They are so darn cute! I love this idea for a Christmas ornament. How stinkin' cute is this idea?!?!?

It seems very easy to make too. Check out the easy step by step directions here, Muffin Tin Mom. Thanks to Michelle for sharing this awesome idea.

My idea is to make a bunch of these ornaments, but mail them out FLAT. In the Christmas card send directions on how to make them and add to a Christmas tree! I'll keep you updated on that idea!
Thanks for looking.
Cathy

Another YUMMY Valentine Snack

2011-02-05T20:43:00.007-05:00

Saw this idea and my mouth watered!! Thanks to Kim at It's a Crafty Life for sharing this idea for easy Valentine's Day Smores!! She has the ingredients and directions (along with some great pictures to go along with it) on the link.

I know my kids and husband would love to dive into this snack. I might be creating this over the weekend!!!

I think I have too much time on my hands because of all the blog surfing I do! Love finding new ideas to tryout and share with others. Hope you try this out, and Thanks for looking.

Cathy

Valentines Day Cupcakes

2011-02-05T20:32:00.008-05:00

While out looking for some cute Valentine's Day ideas I came across this SUPER cute idea for cupcakes. Thanks to Alison at Alison's Wonder Scraporium for sharing this, I love it! She has a great recipe for strawberry Laffy Taffy bttercream icing there too.

The recipe looks pretty easy, I might try it with just a box cake mix first then see how that works before trying a cake mix from scratch. I'm NOT a baker, just like to try new ideas.

This is such a great idea that it could be used for any Holiday - St Patrick's day shamrock, Halloween pumpkin, or for a birthday - any thing that has a little cookie cutter!

Thanks for looking and good luck trying this out.

Cathy

Chocolate Roses

2011-02-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

Saw this great idea from a Mom of 6!!! She shows how to make some very creative chocolate roses. Check out this video with some awesome directions for flowers for cakes. She makes it seem so easy! I haven't tried it, but maybe for my next cake! Thanks Dawn for sharing your ideas with everyone!

Quote for the Day

2011-01-17T12:07:00.003-05:00

"Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night."

-- Charles M. Schulz

Flowers from Dollar Store Item

2011-01-04T20:19:00.000-05:00

I saw this very cute idea for flowers made from material. Since it was my first time making these cute things, didn't want to spend too much $$$$ on the trial run. Was walking around the Dollar Tree the other day and tried to find some very synthetic clothes, or material. Much to my surprise I found this little girl's play cheerleading outfit. It is exactly what I had in mind!! Bought 2 - one blue and one green. The technique used is shown here - Thanks to Erin Bassett.
Each flower has 4 or 5 circles, then burned the edges of each one. Used a different button in the center of each, don't really like the blue thread - I thought it would "match" more but not so much!!
Final projects -

I like them!!
Thanks for looking,
Cathy

Football Table for Hubby

2010-12-26T19:56:00.005-05:00

This year for Christmas I thought it would be cute to make a Virginia Tech football table for my husband and son. In my mind they would play with those paper footballs (you know the ones from elementary school!) and have little competitions. So I found this perfect folding table in Wal-Mart.

Started by painting the "grass" around the field.

Next I painted the inner field part maroon. This was fairly easy using painters tape to set up the lines. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the part with the tape attached.

The lines were next. I measured 1.5 inches for each 10 yards. I used a white paint pen (found it in Michael's by accident while looking for some other "stuff") that made adding the lines easy. Unfortunately I made a couple mistakes and had to go over the lines again with maroon paint then the white a second time. The orange goal areas were the last painting part. Again I used the painters tape to set off the parts I wanted to paint then spray painted the areas. I like the way the orange and maroon paints looked IRL. Kinda shiny, but you can't tell in these pictures.

Then I used stamps to add the line numbers. The VT in the middle is a stickers I swiped from my husband's office. Don't think he even noticed! And, it fits perfectly here.

Some final embellishments were added just for fun and TAAAA DAAAA......

The final project!! He was pretty surprised when he saw it finally done! I forgot to make some paper footballs to go along with it, but that is OK because he used it to have breakfast on it Christmas morning! GO HOKIES!!

Happy New Year to everyone!
Thanks for looking.

Cathy

Teacher Christmas Gifts

2010-12-20T20:45:00.008-05:00

This year I saw an awesome idea for candy cane candle sticks. Thanks to The Mother Huddle I found my gifts for this year! I loved it and thought my kids' teachers would also love them! So darn easy to make too! Used my hot glue gun and some ribbon to make it look cute. The candles were 10 inches tall.

Made a couple with red candles, and a couple with white candles. Each teacher received 2 candles. They were a big hit with everyone, including the ladies in the office! They really admired them when I walked in the school.

This was the whole batch. I found it was pretty difficult to make the candles stand evenly. Some of the candy canes aren't exactly the same length! As you can see from the picture a couple were uneven! OOPS! But that is how you know they are homemade with LOVE of course! No one complained. Each one took 10 canes.

I even tried to make a candy cane holder with a 3 inch pillar candle. This was pretty cute! So, of course I had to keep it for myself!! Very cute and easy to make. This one took 30 candles, love it!

My second batch of homemade gifts included hot chocolate stirrers. My daughter and I dipped marshmallows in melted white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes (I had enough of them left over!).

Finally, we dipped Christmas tree shaped pretzels in melted white chocolate and also sprinkled them with crushed candy canes. YUMMY!

This basket held the sweet treats.

Very cute!

Happy Holidays and a very happy healthy New Year!

Cathy

Dollar Tree Stocking Reusable Shopping Bag

2010-12-08T23:32:00.028-05:00

On one of my latest trips to the Dollar Tree, I found this awesome oversized stocking. Loved it immediately, and knew exactly what I was going to create with it! This was the original size, forgot to measure it before starting the project but this shows that it is longer than the "average" stocking.
I wanted to create a reusable shopping bag with this! At first I wasn't positive HOW it was going to be done, but I knew there was a WAY of doing it!

I found this FREE shopping bag in my car and knew it would be perfect for my stocking project.

As you can see it fit perfectly in the stocking. It made the bag stronger and I wouldn't have to create a way to add handles.

Next I just folded over the top to see how much it needed to be shortened before stuffing in the bag. At this point I haven't used a sewing machine (of course I don't own one yet - asked Santa for one though. Keeping my fingers crossed!) just a hot glue gun. So after folding over the top and making the bag a little shorter I hot glued the top part over (The remote control is there to give a little perspective on the size, guess it doesn't really need to be there!).

Folding top back up.

This is a close up of the folded over top. You can't even see where the hot glue went! Love it!!
The project is getting there......

Finally I added the red shopping bag and hot glued that in place. At this point I wanted to make sure nothing fell between the stocking and shopping bag so I did hand stitch the top of the bag. Just as extra insurance.

And, TA DAAAAA here is the final project. I LOVE it! The red handles look like the are a part of the stocking, can't even tell there is another bag inside.
My daughter is displaying it for me! I've used it many times already and have received tons of comments on it. I'm just sad that I can only use it for the rest of the month!

I wanted to add MOM to the top of the bag, just like a real stocking. My husband says to add something like I'm GREEN and Jolly! Funny!
Thanks for looking!
Happy Holidays,
Cathy

Can you guess what this is made from???

2010-12-07T18:15:00.004-05:00

Come on give it a guess....

I would have never guessed - not even if I had 10 guesses!! Looks pretty easy to make! Leave a comment with your guess for this super creative ornament!

Check it out HERE for more info! Thanks Steph for sharing this interesting craft!

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

Cathy

Quote for the Day

2010-12-03T22:22:00.000-05:00

No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.

~~ Florida Scott-Maxwell

Holiday Video - Christmas Can-Can

2010-12-02T16:39:00.002-05:00

This is a very funny video for the holiday season!
ENJOY!!

An Angel Gets Her Wings

2010-12-01T00:36:00.003-05:00

A dear friend, Xenia, of mine lost her struggle with lung cancer. Her daughter is one of my son's best friends. She is also in my daughter's gymnastics class. It was heart breaking since she hadn't reached her 40th birthday. My heart aches for this family.
For her daughter I created this night light so that her mother is always with her. I cried when I gave her this tiny gift that I hoped would make all her pain go away. Her dad says that she loves to have all the lights out at night so she can see her mother before she falls asleep. Such a beautiful thought. I know this angel has received her wings already. She was an angel here on earth who always had a smile on her face no matter what she was going through. Xenia gave me hope even when everything looked so bleak.

She is missed so much by everyone, especially her 8 year old daughter.

God Bless Xenia.

Yellow Ribbon Rose Shopping Bag

2010-11-11T10:39:00.013-05:00

I think I've become an offical "bag lady"!! I LOVE finding reusable shopping bags. It just makes sense to me to use these types of bags rather than the plastic ones from stores.
About 2 months ago, I found this blah bag at Michaels in a clearance rack for only $.99!! I was so excited so of course I bought it with no real project in mind. Picked a up a couple of them for future projects too!! They were only $.99, couldn't pass them up.

Recently I've been wanting to learn to make ribbon roses. Since you can learn just about anything on YouTube, I researched how to make them and found some awesome resources. This one was my favorite one! Check it out! Now that I look back the roses in the video are much nicer than mine - I'll have to practice more! Here is a sample of my roses for the bag. I only put ribbon leaves on some of the flowers.

After practicing and accumulating a bunch of the roses, I remembered the bags that I found at Michaels. YEA!! The two ideas came together so nicely. Add the yellow roses to make a reusable shopping bag. At WalMart I found this green tulle that would make a nice background for the roses.

Using my hot glue gun, I adhered the roses to the top border of the bag and TA DA!! My finished project. I love it. The bottom part is a little boring but I love the roses.

This is the roses upclose. Not the best picture, but thought it would give a better upclose view.

Thanks for looking.

Have a good day,

Cathy

Dollar Store Candle Holder

2010-11-10T17:40:00.001-05:00

I've seen this idea in a bunch of blogs and crafty sites, but I had to try it for myself! Bought a Dollar Store candle holder and small vase. I had the E-6000 in the house. Just put glue on the top of the candle holder and press to the bottom of the vase. Easy-peasy!

Now I know you are thinking that I just put the vase on top of the candle holder! So I put the final product on it's side so you could see that it is really glued!! LOL It is so easy to do.

Thanks for looking!

Cathy

Quote for the Day

2010-11-03T20:36:00.001-04:00

Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.

-- Al Franken

Quote for the Day

2010-10-28T11:04:00.001-04:00

Yesterday is a dream, tomorrow but a vision. But today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore to this day.

~~ Sanskrit Proverb

Junk Drawer Pumpkin

2010-10-22T09:06:00.006-04:00

I'm borrowing ideas again!!! Saw this AWESOME idea for a pumpkin and HAD to share it with everyone. Thanks to Camilla Fabbri over at Family Chic we have this fun idea for a jack-o-lantern. So super duper cute!! I'm heading out to get a couple small pumpkins to day and then attack my junk drawer to make my own creation! I LOVE this little guy!

Check out this great idea!

Thanks for looking,

Cathy

Check Out this CUTE Idea from Jeans....

2010-10-04T17:09:00.005-04:00

I saw this SUPER Cute idea for hair ties, but it could probably be for any type of cute storage. Jill Cairns from Australia shared this tutorial on her blog.

I love this idea, and would love to try it. I've asked Santa for a sewing machine this year. Hopefully his elves can make one for me!

Thanks for checking out my blog,
Cathy

Quote for the Day

2010-09-20T20:01:00.000-04:00

To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.

~~ William A. Ward

New Bike Basket

2010-09-15T21:18:00.003-04:00

My daughter's poor, poor bike basket was so SAD!! It was torn and over used. She can keep some pretty funky stuff in there and I can't see it to throw it out. For almost a week, she had an OLD apple from the neighbor's apple tree in there, I didn't know it until I saw it smooshed up against the side - YUCKO!! That was the actual motivating factor in getting rid of this "thing".

I found this basket in my garage while cleaning it out. At first it was in the donation pile, then I had a better idea! Spray paint it and replace her old bike basket/gross plastic holder-thing!

It was really easy to do, just spray paint and use some Velcro strips to adhere to her bike. The can of paint didn't have as much paint as I thought so there are some bare spots. She didn't care though.

It is a perfect size for her doll! We had a great ride while walking the dog!

Thanks for looking.

Cathy

Quote for the Day

2010-09-13T10:25:00.000-04:00

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

~~ Samuel Johnson

Wine Coasters

2010-09-08T09:56:00.004-04:00

I created a couple new coasters with wine sayings. Hoping to sell them in a crafty store nearby. (Cross your fingers!) Made 2 sets to display at the store. I know a couple of them are the same sayings, couldn't find additional sayings to replace all 4. Anyone know where to get more cute/funny sayings?

This last one is just for me! I thought this was pretty funny. Most days neither the house nor me look good!!

The back of each coaster gets a cork backing. Just in case anyone was wondering what I did to the back of each one. Very easy to apply, just use my favorite Mod Podge to adhere. Love that stuff!

Thanks for looking!

Have a great day.

Cathy

Birthday Gift Bag

2010-08-31T11:31:00.004-04:00

For my mother-in-law's birthday I wanted to make a FUN gift bag. She turned 81 last week and thought it would be great to make her a special gift bag for her gifts.

Started with a white bag from Michaels (I have a stash of them in my craft room for just this occassion). Then worked with different "matching" papers to make it look festive.

Finally added the buttons to hide ribbon ends and they are just my favorite embellishment! I like to add them to almost everything I create.
Made a matching envelope for her (handcrafted) card too, but, in my haste forgot to take a picture! Bummer!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Cathy

Quote for the Day

2010-08-27T22:38:00.000-04:00

If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X+Y+Z, where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut.

~~Albert Einstein

Quote for the Day

2010-08-26T21:57:00.001-04:00

Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby.
-- Ruth Renkel

Quote for the Day

2010-08-23T00:01:00.001-04:00

Saw this on Facebook.. .
If outside is going to feel like an oven, then outside should smell like brownies.
Made me giggle!!

Enjoy!

Back to School!

2010-08-18T23:58:00.002-04:00

How cute is this idea!?!?! Wish I had thought of it myself. Can't believe it is time to meet new teachers again. Found this super-duper cute idea to start off the new year. Someday Crafts posted this idea to share with other crafty moms hoping for a great school year. I love this one and will be trying it before the year starts. Might try it with the silicone cupcake liners, may be too "mushy" though. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for looking,
Have a great day
Cathy

Quote for the Day

2010-08-09T14:21:00.001-04:00

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.
-- Jessica Guidobono

I Thought it was a Good Idea...

2010-08-03T15:18:00.008-04:00

In June, I promised my 9 year old daughter that should could do a tie dying project and at the time it seemed like a FUN idea!! Yesterday we finally got around to working on the project. However, I didn't think it all the way through. My grand idea was to tie dye a set of sheets for her full size bed. I didn't anticipate the mess it would make to do such large pieces. When applying the dye to each piece, it dye on the grass, then we had to walk around, and sit in the grass to finish each one. Forgetting that the grass was mess, we both got it on the bottom of our feet and on the back of our shorts! OOPS, but my shorts were black, so it didn't show up but hers were ruined. Oh well, live and learn!

These are the four pieces that I used rubber bands for the designs. There are 2 pillow cases, a flat sheet and a fitted sheet. I used 4 different patterns for the whole set. I added a YouTube video for each folding technique because I didn't take pictures of each piece. Didn't think that far ahead! Hope it helps, each video shows the technique used, there is also some other info about dying but it does not reflect my procedure.

She was very excited to get her gloves on and get ready to start dying!
This first one is the top sheet and I used a basic spiral to tie it up. You can check out the procedure here to see how it is done. Just an FYI - I found this person on YouTube, I don't know him just thought he did a good job of showing the technique.
This is one of the pillow cases. I just crinkled up the case, then put rubber bands at various places. That was the easiest one to do because it was so small.

This is the second case. The technique used to fold is found here, then used the squirter bottles to add the dye.

Finally, this is the fitted sheet. I used the concentric circles folding technique to make this one. You can see the procedure here. Again, I used the procedure then used squirte bottles to add the dye.

** Notice I used a tie dye effect with the font color!! :-)

The next post has pictures of the final project. Check it out!!

Thanks looking, have a great day!
Cathy

FINAL Tie Dye Project!!

2010-08-02T17:38:00.000-04:00

We finished the sheet set tie dying project and opened each piece up. It was very exciting to see what each piece would look like. The top sheet started like this one...
And, after opening up - the pattern looked like this..

Next, the first pillowcase. It was tied up like this...

After opening up the case ....

This is the second pillowcase folded up...

And, the second pillow case opened up...

Finally, this is the fitted sheet! It turned out great, my personal favorite of the entire set. Started out folded like this....
This is the "backside" to show the part with elastic -

The front side -

Pretty darn cute!!

The big TA-DAAAA!! Sheets on her bed! It doesn't exactly match her Princess wall border, but it is still cute and she likes it. I didn't put the top sheet on so you could see the "bullseye" from the fitted sheet.

Thanks so much for looking,

Have a great day

Cathy

Cheers to You Birthday Card

2010-07-30T00:33:00.000-04:00

This is a quick birthday card I made up for a swap on SplitCoast Stampers. Wish I could say it was my design but it is one from an earlier swap. Loved it so much had to make one of my own. Don't know the original stamper's name, sorry, but I loved your work! Thanks so much for sharing.
This is the inside of the card.

Thanks so much for looking. Have a great day!

Cathy

Blank All Occassion Card

2010-07-20T09:53:00.003-04:00

This is a blank card created for just about any occassion. The colors didn't come out very good on this one, not really sure why. Sorry about that, but it is pretty cute in real life! The ribbon is purple, and next time I might change that because there isn't any purple in the stamped flowers. But, overall I think it is pretty cute. The inside of the card has a little guy offering up some flowers! He is so cute.
Thanks for looking, have a great day.
Cathy

Quote for the Day

2010-07-18T10:36:00.000-04:00

If we all do one random act of kindness daily, we just might set the world in the right direction.

-- Martin Kornfeld

Birthday Card with NO FLOWERS

2010-07-11T19:50:00.003-04:00

Had to create a birthday card with NO FLOWERS!! FLowers always seem to be the easiest to make. I had to dig deep in my creative-ness to NOT use flowers! This was my final project. I think it turned out pretty good. The ribbons at the top make me think of confetti!

I made a "hinge" type of fold on this one. It is also adhered down so the ribbon doesn't tear the paper.

I think it turned out pretty cute.

Thanks for looking.
Cathy

Quote for the Day

2010-07-10T19:13:00.001-04:00

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.

-- Albert Einstein

Quote for the Day

2010-06-13T23:26:00.000-04:00

"Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breads anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success."
~~ Brian Adams

More Card Creations

2010-06-08T09:15:00.001-04:00

I created a couple cards recently. This flag card was for a neighbor for Memorial Day. He served in the Marines and is a very proud American. He is a great neighbor!
This card measures 8.5 inches by 7 inches. I stamped a couple stars inside, with no sentiments. Unfortunately, I didn't get the stripe size just right. There are only 11 stripes, not the usual 13. Hope my friend didn't notice those tiny details!!
It was a big hit!

This "coffee card" was for a swap on SplitCoast Stampers. The only requirement were that the front had to have coffee on it somehow. No tea bags or tea pots allowed!! :-) This was a swap for hard core coffee lovers!!

Finally, this was a card for a different swap on SplitCoast. It was an all occasion swap, I decided to do a birthday or celebration card. Here I added 2 pictures of the same card because the embossed cupcake was difficult to see. The first card (hopefully) shows the cupcake with not so good colors. I used a previous card for inspiration.

And, this second card shows the colors much better. It looked better IRL! Hope this makes sense and you can see the details. I love embossing with folders and I used 2 different ones here. The background has circles, I thought it looked like wrapping paper.

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

Quote for the Day

2010-06-03T17:05:00.001-04:00

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail BETTER!
~~ Samuel Beckett

Dollar Store Leash Hook

2010-05-24T09:25:00.008-04:00

Found some great supplies at our local Dollar Tree for a new dog leash hook. The hook is from Dollar Tree, spray paint was 'on hand' and a scrap of scrapbook paper (too cute).

My first step was to spray paint the hook. Looks much better than the blue, and matches my cute doggie print paper!

Next, I used any crafters favorite "tool" - Mod Podge to adhere the cute paw print paper onto the hook.

And, Taaaa Daaaaa..... the final product. How cute is that?!?!

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

Quote for the Day

2010-05-23T09:14:00.002-04:00

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in a magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

~~ Jack London

ReUse an Old Pair of Jeans

2010-05-12T12:15:00.005-04:00

I found an old pair of my denim carpi's and wanted to reuse them! After surfing some very creative blogs, I decided to make a bag to use for shopping.
They started off this way.

And, this was the final product. TAAaaa- Daaaaaa....

I cut off the cuffs to make handles. My all time favorite embellishment is buttons, so I sewed them on each of the handles and at the point where the handles are attached to the bag. That was a lot more work than I planned on but I think it looks pretty nice. The light blue ribbon on the back of the handles is to keep the button stitching in place. It is hot glued on to help keep it strong.

Wal-Mart has some great material, found this bright sunflower cotton material that I thought would be perfect inside the bag. It really brightens it up AND hides all the stitching and my mistakes!!

At the 2 bottom corners of the bag I sewed on buttons also. This helps keep the lining in place and just another detail.

Back view...

Thanks for looking,

Have a great day.

Marine Corp Decoupage Table

2010-04-26T09:02:00.005-04:00

My (almost) 20 year old nephew is a proud Marine. He is stationed in Afghanistan and scheduled to return in October. We are very proud of him.

I found this great material at Wal-Mart and wanted to make "something" for him. I used the folding tables earlier for other homemade projects and thought this would be great for him. Not sure why I thought it would be good NOW because he can't take it with him! Guess I was thinking about the future, he can use it in his own apartment when he gets home.

After spray painting the table top and legs, I cut the material so it would fit the top perfectly.

I think it turned out pretty nice, he was excited about it.
Thanks for looking.
Have a great day.

Quote for the Day

2010-04-21T11:17:00.002-04:00

"If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it."
~~ Albert Einstein

Fabulous Flowers Card Swap

2010-04-19T08:52:00.005-04:00

I needed a card for a Fabulous Flowers Card Swap. SplitCoast Stampers (my all time favorite stamping site- has the best ideas EVER!) has the biggest variety of swaps, and this was for one of them.
The only requirements were that it had to have a flower on it, 2 layers, and at least one embellishment. Buttons are my favorite embellishment, and seem to use them on all my creations!
I never know if the front of the card should have a sentiment on it or not. Here, I like the word Wonderful because it is in Close to Cocoa ink which matches the brown card stock. The card stock is from Michaels, not Stampin Up.

This was a "flip up" layout. I added a white card stock to write on. As I look at it now, I think there should have been something there. The pink shading adds a little dimension though.

Thanks for looking.
Have a great day.

Quick Baby Gift Bag

2010-04-15T09:16:00.004-04:00

I needed a quick gift bag for a friend who is having a baby. Luckily I keep a stash of plain white gift bags to be easily decorated. I knew that my friend was having a boy so that made the color selection easy.
With some of the scraps I made a matching envelope, so cute.

I stamped CELEBRATE in 2 shades of blue to give a shadow effect. Unfortunately I couldn't find my congratulations stamps, so had to use the celebrate. I think it turned out pretty good. Buttons are my favorite embellishment, they are pretty cute with the polka dots on the paper.

Thanks for looking.
Have a great day.

Baseball Team Banner

2010-04-13T22:37:00.014-04:00

This year my 8 year old son wanted to play baseball for the first time! I'm so excited because it is such a great sport and a way to experience teamwork. He has the BEST coach ever, he expects a lot from the kids but is also so supportive! I'm so happy for him! In only 4 weeks of practice, I've seen so much improvement, such a proud Mom!

At the parents meeting the coach was looking for a "volunteer" to make the team banner. It is used when the team walks in the opening day parade. At the meeting, I was trying to be very quiet and shy, the new parent who didn't want to make waves! Well, all the duties had been handed out and they were still looking for a banner-maker. You can see where this is going! Yes, I was the ONLY Mom with nothing to do! So I reluctantly volunteered myself to get this done for the team.

As soon as the meeting was done, I thought and thought and thought. Our team is the Phillies, and the banner had to have the team name on it along with all 11 kids' names. I had only 1 week to get the project done and no big creative ideas. BUMMER! I did some minor research, found the Phillies logo and then it hit me (Ouch!), just use the logo for the banner.

The team banner started out with a "bunch" of felt from Joanne Fabrics. Forgot to add the blue felt in the picture, but bought a couple yards of that too. Also bought a couple styrofoam balls because I thought I could use them (in some way) to create baseballs. Phillies has 2 i's so in the back of my mind I would dot the i's with baseballs.

Next I printed out the Phillies logo and took it to Staples to make an overhead transparency. Knowing that my sister owned an overhead projector, (how weird is that!) I knew it would be easy to make the cursive word on the felt. I traced the word backwards so after cutting I was sure not to have any of the ink showing.
The total length of the banner is 6' 6" and is 3" tall. I wanted the name to take up most of the space, the letters look pretty good at this point. This is the first part of the banner.
Next I cut out the blue and red for the background. To help the letters stand out I used blue stamp ink to shade the edges of each letter. It might be a little hard to see here, but I think it helps gives a little depth. To dot the i's I cut a styrofoam ball in half and painted it white. To make the red stitching I used a red dry erase maker - cute.
Creating the red, blue, and white bell was next. It was not to bad with the overhead projector. I think the worst part was placing all the pieces on the actual white banner making sure it is straight and gluing it down. To do this I used our king size bed! It was just enough room to spread everything out and not be crawling around on the floor! I glued (used Fabric Tac for the big pieces) all the background pieces first then attacked the kids' names.

My Sizzix die cut machine was prefect for the letters. I used the shadow letters (not sure of the exact name of the set) to cut out each kids' name. Also used the circle die for the baseball. I also used very light black ink to shadow each baseball so it stood out a little from the white background. To adhere the letters and baseballs I used my hot glue gun, that was much easier than the fabric glue.

PHEW!! TA-DAAAaaaa...Finally done. I bought a 10 foot PVC pipe from Home Depot so the kids could all hold it when walking in the parade. It was a huge hit with the team. At each baseball game we will hang it on the fence.
Go PHILLIES!!!

Cricut Card Swap

2010-04-13T08:59:00.004-04:00

I was involved in a CRICIT card swap on SplitCoast Stampers. I wanted to break out of my comfort zone (try not to use stamps on a card) and use Cricut cut outs. It was quite a challenge for me, but I liked it! My library of Cricut cartridges is not very extensive which (I feel) limited my choices. Of course my first reaction was to run to Michaels or AC Moore and purchase a couple cartridges, but the hubby said NO to that idea!!

While looking through my cartridges I spied an example of a card in one of the manuals. Walk In My Garden had a cute Thank You card that I copied, oops - of course I mean used as my inspiration!!! My other obsession right now is to use the embossing folders as as embellishment. The background looks nice and I tried to use the same folder on the middle of the larger flower. Finally I used Crystal Effects to enhance the middle of that flower. It isn't really that shiny IRL, but the lighting makes it look that way.

This was my final product, I feel it turned out pretty well. Thanks for looking.

Have a geat day.

Gift Card Holder Birthday Card

2010-03-29T09:48:00.004-04:00

I made this card for my sister-in-laws birthday. This year we decided to give her a couple gift certificates so I needed a card that would hold a folded 8.5 X 11 inch piece of paper. We printed out a certificate so it was on a full sheet of paper. So this card is a full sheet of paper (8.5 X 11) folded in half. I wasn't used to filling up that much area on the paper so I used some Sizzix balloons and designer paper. Since yellow is my favorite color I HAD to use that! I think the front turned out pretty nice.

Inside the front cover I added a small pocket to hold the Outback gift certificate. Very cute, and the paper matches the yellow on the front of the card.I adhered the gift card holder at the bottom inside corner of the card. It was very cute and she loved the idea.
Thanks for looking.

Almost Back to Normal

2010-03-29T09:42:00.002-04:00

Computers can be your best friend or your worst enemy!! My husband got the demons out of my pc and is working on getting everything loaded again. PHEW, he has been working so hard at finding disks to load and helping me remember what programs I used the most. Not quite done yet, but I'll be there soon.

Computer on the Fritz!!!

2010-03-11T16:59:00.004-05:00

UUgghhhhh, don't you just hate it when your computer decides that it doesn't want to work anymore!!??? That is exactly what is happening at my house now!
I have more posts to upload but won't be able to do it until my pc is feeling better!

Thanks so much for looking. Have a great day!

Quote for the Day

2010-03-06T00:07:00.000-05:00

"An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it."
~~Bill Bernbach

Another Cuttlebug Card Swap

2010-03-04T00:07:00.000-05:00

I love getting involved in card swaps on SplitCoast Stampers!! This is is one of my creations (very similar to a couple of my other cards) for a My Favorite Card Swap. For this one, I had to create 2 sets (different cards) of my favorite cards to swap with others. This one is so easy that it definitely is my FAVE!!! Gotta love the cuttlebug embossing folders!

This is my second set of cards. Since I had the cuttlebug folders out this was my second set of faves. The snowman had some extra details to work on but I love this little guy! There are dimensionals under the snowman to help POP him off the page.

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

Cool Table Fort for the Kiddos

2010-03-02T09:30:00.003-05:00

Found this great idea for my kids to play in! Jennifer at HOPE STUDIOS shared this excellent idea that she created to keep the kids busy.

It looked so easy to do that I thought it would be great for my guys too. I had the rope lights because I found them in my mess in the basement!
Used my hot glue gun to adhere the little hooks to the underside of our dinning room table. That was more work than expected, it was a little difficult to lay on my back and do that! Be warned if you want to make this type a fort!
My table is not suitable for pictures, so I didn't take a picture of my creation. Both my kids have a good time creating an imaginary land under the table.
Thanks to Jennifer for sharing the idea.
Thanks for looking!

Quote for the Day

2010-02-24T22:35:00.002-05:00

"I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense."
~~Harold S. Kushner

Quote for the Day

2010-02-20T00:07:00.001-05:00

"You always pass failure on the way to success."
Mickey Rooney

Hot Glue Gun Rest

2010-02-18T16:18:00.009-05:00

TARGET was having their 50% off sale in the $1.00/$2.50 section and I found this. At first I thought "no wonder it is on sale - Valentines Day stuff and that was a couple weeks ago!" Then I thought "what ELSE can it be used for?"...... Hmmmmm.....

I've got it!!! As a spoon rest thingy for my hot glue gun!! It fits perfectly. Also, if the glue drips on it (like it ALWAYS does) the cooled glue will peel right off. YES! And, it is a very fashionable pink color.

The silicone is also very bendy, so makes storage much easier.
Originally it was $2.50 - on sale only $1.25 for 2 pieces, so this was a pretty cheap hot glue gun rest!

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Pink and Black Card Swap

2010-02-15T10:40:00.005-05:00

Pink and black was the theme of my most swap on SplitCoast Stampers. I tried to use the technique where the Cuttlebug embossing folder is used around the stamped image.
Not sure if you can see it, but the center of the white card stock is not embossed. I loved this technique on the other cards I've seen while blurfing (that is surfing blogs!). This is my first try and I hope it looks pretty good.

There isn't any sentiment stamped on the inside, just a blank card.

Thanks for looking and any comments are welcome.

Have a great day.

Handy Manny Tools CARD

2010-02-13T10:49:00.003-05:00

Check out this adorable card I discovered on SplitCoast Stampers. Wendy at Stamping Styles created this for her grandson. If you are familiar with the kids show Handy Manny, you'll appreciate the hard work put into this birthday card.

Enjoy! Have a great day.

Blizzard of 2010

2010-02-07T00:07:00.000-05:00

I took some pictures of my attempt to dig out of the blizzard we experienced here in Northern VA. Last measurement was almost 30 inches. Crazy for this area.

Another Card Swap

2010-02-06T10:32:00.005-05:00

I was involved in a black/white and red/white card swap on SplitCoast Stampers. It requires that the cards ONLY have black and white or red and white!! At first I couldn't think of anything to create, so I waited till the last minute to get started on these. They are due next week so my back was up against the wall to get them done.

I must have been in a "Cuttlebug state of mind" when I started this project. Both cards used embossing folders and no stamps!! Not exactly my usual creations! I think the red/white one looks like a wrapped present. There are dimensionals under the "Make a Wish" embossing. Turned out pretty nice.
My black/white creation was influenced by a card I saw while surfing blogs. I took some the stacked heart idea and embossed background from the blog. Unfortunately I didn't save the person's name or site, so I can't give the person proper credit, sorry. When I use black as the base for a card I usually want to put a white insert (to write on) inside the card.

This is the inside of the black/white card. And, details always seem to make the card better so I stamped little hearts along one side.

Thanks for checking out my latest entry, any comments are welcome.

Have a great day.

Game Wall Art

2010-02-01T16:57:00.005-05:00

I wish I had thought of this one!! And, I wish I had enough room to do this one! Infarrantly Creative posted this great idea for storing game boards, you know like Monopoly or Cranium.

We usually end up losing pieces or the board gets stepped on and then broken. Love this idea.

Thanks for looking.

Male Birthday Cards

2010-01-25T09:01:00.006-05:00

I was involved in a MALE Birthday Card Swap. It seems like I NEVER have any cards suitable for a guy. My cards always seem to have pretty flowers or more female colors on them. So I forced myself to make a couple cards for guys! Here are the results. Not sure how I feel about the frist one, but it is still cute.

Since I LOVE buttons as embellishments this is my favorite one! Pretty easy to make also. The inside is empty for a personalized message.

Thanks for looking. Have a great day.

Very Pretty Song

2010-01-22T17:21:00.005-05:00

I was never a HUGE Susan Boyle fan, but this song is very pretty. Saw her on Oprah and she seemed very "real".
Just passing along a pretty song to make your day a little brighter.

Thanks for looking.

Quote for the Day

2010-01-20T08:48:00.002-05:00

"Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves."

~~ Helen Keller

Teacher Christmas Gifts

2010-01-09T23:58:00.001-05:00

This year for my kids' teachers gifts I was stumped. I asked them for pictures so I could make personalized coasters, but didn't receive any from them - bummer. I needed a back up! So I thought and thought and thought.... From my many swaps on SplitCoast Stampers I have tons of handmade cards, YES, that's it. I made a small basket of cards with envelopes for each teacher.
The basket if from Michael's (it was a Black Friday bargain only $1.50) that was supposed to fit the personalized coasters! The cards look pretty nice here too.

This is the side view. Each card has a envelope to go with it.

This is one example of the envys to go with the card. I like this one the best, probably because it has yellow on it!

Thanks for looking!

Have a great day.

Challenging Questions - One Word Answers

2010-01-08T00:07:00.000-05:00

I saw this list of questions on this creative blog. It looked like a fun challenge to answer the questions with only 1 word. TRY IT!!
Answer the following questions using single word answers. Then pass the award to 5 other people. (I'll try my best with the 1 word thing, but that is hard!)

Your cell phone? iPhone

Your hair? messy

Your mother? Heaven

Your father? Heaven

Favorite food? Carbs

Your dream last night? None

Your favorite drink? Peach Ice Tea

Your dream/goal? Debtfree

What room are you in? Family room

Your hobby? Crafting

Your fear? mykidswithnomom

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Traveling

Where were you last night? Applebees

Something you aren't? Organized

Muffins? Blueberry

Wish list item? Kitchen

Where did you grow up? EndwellNY

Last thing you did? carpool

What are you wearing? sweats

Your TV? New

Your pets? Dog

Friends? Lots

Your mood? Relaxed

Missing someone? parents

Vehicle? Honda

Something you're not wearing? contacts

Your favorite store? Micheal's

Your favorite color? Yellow

When was the last time you laughed? morning

Last time you cried? yesterday

Your best friend? Giving

One place that you go to over and over? Kitchen

Face book? member

Favorite place to eat? Restaurants

GOOD LUCK and have fun!
Thanks for looking.

Did You Know? YouTube Video

2010-01-07T00:07:00.002-05:00

This is a very cool video that I received via email. Amazing information about the future. Enjoy!

Thanks for looking.

Angel Card

2010-01-06T00:34:00.003-05:00

This card was for a swap on Split Coast Stampers. There wasn't any specifics on the theme, just an any occassion card.
Yellow is my favorite color and all my friends are angels, so they seemed to go together. I like the way the yellow (kinda like a gold halo) halo goes along with the yellow background on the card.

Thanks for looking.

A Couple Changes to Gift Card Holder

2010-01-04T00:25:00.006-05:00

After looking at my gift card holder - it is the next entry - something didn't seem right. I looked and thought and looked and thought. It needed some extra details. So I took the whole booklet apart and wanted to make it a little "better".
First I used an accordian fold so the cards would be easier to see and take out of the holder. Next I added some stamped snowflakes on each envelope.

I think it looks much better this time!! The cover is the same thing, didn't change anything on that.

Thanks for looking.