A BITTERSWEET PROJECT

Can you believe that the start of school is just around the corner? Where did the summer go? Harder to believe is that Miss Josie will be leaving my daycare at the end of the week to start her first day of kindergarten. I know I should be excited for her and I am VERY proud of her, she is growing up to be a sweet and adorable little lady. However, in all honesty, I am more blue then excited. She has been coming to me since she was a baby, I am great friends with her mom and Josie and her family have become part of our family. Just a week ago she got her ears pierced....yikes what's next, driving lessons?? Okay, that was a little bit of an exaggeration but you get my point. So this little project is for Miss Josie to celebrate her first day of kindergarten and her newly accessorized cute little earlobes. YOU ROCK JOSIE!! I found the idea for this project on the Whimsie Doodles blog. It was created by one of the DT members, Thanh Vo. She got the template from a SCS tutorial. You can also get the template by clicking here. The stamped image on the top flap is a digi stamp from Whimsie Doodles. The patterned paper is from the Blossoms and Butterflies DCWV paperstack. I used velcro for the closure of the flaps instead of magnetic snaps.

The backpack is the perfect size to hold the earrings we purchased for her. Fruitsnacks and other small treats would also fit inside comfortably. Thanks for visiting.

BIRTHDAY VOODOO - CARD

I think I have mentioned before that I really struggle with making masculine cards. I hate the fact that you can't give a guy a Bella stamped card or a card with the mermaid Anya stamped on it. My dad's birthday is at the end of the month and I was racking my brain trying to think of what kind of card I could come up with. Based on my dad's age I think Handy Mandy and Sponge Bob are out of the question. So when Melyssa, over at Whimsie Doodles, came out with the voodoo doll digi stamp I had to get it. She also has a few cute sentiments to go with the image like "sorry I am such a pain", which would have totally worked for my dad's birthday card as well. ;) Here's the inside....notice no bling or sparkle...sigh....it was hard to resist.

BLOG AWARD #2

I am tickled to have received this blog award from both Julie over at Julie's Crafty Spot and Mary from KreatesKards. Thank you very much ladies!! I enjoy your blogs so much. Now to pass it on. There are so many that I feel I can pass this along to, but as the rules state below I must choose 5.

Here are the 5 ladies that I consider friends both in the blogging community and out. I have had the privilege of meeting all of them except Jeri and hopefully one day that will change! Please check out their blogs and see what they have been up to, they are very creative.

Jenny

Jeri

Shannon

Sharon

Tifany

Here are the rules for this award: To pick up the Circle of Friends Blog Award cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog. Nominate 5 other bloggers you feel have become part of your circle of friends. Link to your nominees within your blog post. Include these instructions on how to pick up the award in your blog post. Link back to the person who gave you the award in your blog post, to show your appreciation. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.

BLOG AWARD

I received this Beautiful Blog award from Jeri over at craftyjsplace. Thank you so much Jeri, I really appreciate it! I am passing this along to five ladies whose blogs I stalk on a regular basis. They are wonderfully talented and are a great inspiration to me. Please feel free to hop on over to their blogs to see what I am talking about.

Regina

Enfys

Monique

Frances

Mary

Thank you ladies for being such an inspiration to me and our craft whether it be card making or scrapbooking!!

A HAPPY ANYAVERSARY BLOG HOPPIN' BASH!!

The Greeting Farm (one of my favorite stamp sites) is having a BLOG HOPPIN' BASH today in honor of their birthday/anniversary. If you are not familiar with The Greeting Farm I suggest a visit to their site. Unfortunately (for my wallet) they have the most adorable stamps!! The mission was to create a birthday card, birthday layout or 3d birthday project using any Greeting Farm stamp.

I chose the Mermaid Anya stamp as she was my very first TGF stamp I purchased and colored with my newly acquired copic markers. She is also my favorite TGF stamp. The background paper is "Citronella Waves" from K&Company. The little fishies and shells are "Braddies" from Doodlebug Design Inc. The coral and seaweed were hand drawn on white mulberry paper and then inked with Tim Holtz distress inks in dried marigold and pine needles. I couldn't resist adding a little bling with the mini pearls, flower and stickles. A girl, whether she's on land or in the sea, can always use a little sparkle.

To hop along visit the TGF blog, Splendid Stamping with The Greeting Farm, by clicking here. I am sure you will fall in LOVE with their stamps as I have and am just as sure your wallets will take the same hit mine has.

TOOTH FAIRY BOX

My niece, Alyssa, just recently lost her first tooth. In honor of this milestone I decided to make her a tooth fairy box. Fortunately for me, Melyssa at Whimsie Doodles just released, a week or so ago, this adorable digi stamp. Isn't she just the sweetest thing ever? She also has a boy fairy in her Etsy Shop, there is a link to Whimsie Doodles to the right. I love the layout of this box. It's a little different compared to most of the ones I usually do. I found this box on Mariska's blog here. She is very talented and was kind enough to help me out with the making of this box. Thank you so much Mariska!! The sentiments pictured below on each side of the box lid comes with the tooth fairy digi stamp when purchased.

Here is a picture of the front of the box when fully opened.

This poem is on the front of the opened box and is also included with the tooth fairy image.

Close up pic of my little fairy. I added diamond Stickles to her wings and Glossy Accents to the tooth. Maybe this box will score Alyssa a little more tooth fairy dough....what do you think?

TUTU BIRTHDAY - CARD

I came up with this card the other day while Caitlin and I were coloring our Anya stamps. We spent an afternoon just coloring a bunch of Anya images in different color combinations. I liked the look of all of the different ballerina's together, thus the birth of this simple card. I cut out three of the Ballerina Anya's from the Greeting Farm and popped them up off the background cardstock with pop dots. The ballerina bar was made with a strip of tan and Glossy Accents. I just recently discovered this stuff and LOVE it. Inside the cards reads "to someone who is tutu cute". Thanks for looking and Happy Monday!

AMY'S FRIDAY SKETCH CHALLENGE: HIP HIP HOORAY - CARD

I have never done a sketch challenge before but have always wanted to try one. Amy's blog is one that I stalk....umm, I mean follow...on a regular basis. When she came out with this sketch last week I thought, what the heck, I will try it. Plus I had a new Anya stamp to play with. So here is Amy's sketch and all of the info about it: AMYRS72 ......
......and here is my take on it.

All of the paper is from my scrap stash. The stamp is the new "Hippie Anya" from the Greeting Farm. She is a limited edition, so go grab her now. Isn't she just GROOVY BABY?! I used my new circle nestabilities and some of my surplus of dotlets. The sentiment stamp is a Studio G $1 stamp from Michael's and I used Glossy Accents on the headband flower. If you have a chance, check out Amy's blog, her cards are fabulous!!

BIRTHDAY KITE AND DRAGON - CARD

This is a card that I made for my nephew who will be turning 3 next month. Where has the time gone?

The image used on this card is a digital stamp from Dustin Pike. Please check out his blog (you can find a link to the right of my blog), he is simply amazing!! Even his sidewalk chalk drawings are to die for!!! I wish I had just a tenth of the talent this man has in his little pinkie. Every Wednesday he offers a FREE digital image for downloading. This is one of the freebies.

The background paper was made by cutting out a cloud with my sizzix die, using it as a stencil and chalking the blue in. I am very happy with the results. Now go check out Dustin's site....you will be amazed!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN - CARD

I found this card last year on the Cricut MB created by "bstaarswife" and fell in love with it. It is very simple and utilizes the Studio G $1 stamps popular at Michael's, so I totally scrapjacked it. Her card is cuter and she printed her sentiment on ribbon...how did she do that? As I mentioned before I am totally ready for the holidays. Never mind the fact that it is 104 today...yuck!

HEY PUMPKIN - CARD

If you haven't had a chance to check out Whimsie Doodles, I highly recommend you do so. There is a link to the store to the right of my blog under "my favorite shopping places". I am in love with just about every digi stamp she has.

This card was made with a digi stamp from Whimsie Doodles. Isn't the little bear too cute? The sentiment is from a Studio G $1 stamp from Michael's, and the patterned paper is from a DCWV Halloween stack. Thanks for looking and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

WITCH BEAR - CARD

I am totally in the holiday mood! I know it is like 90 degrees outside but....is it Christmas yet? I have already started my Christmas shopping, have some Christmas cards underway, and will be starting on my tags soon. I LOVE the holidays and can't wait for summer to be over.

Here is a quick card that I made last night using another Whimsie Doodles digi stamp. I also used my just recently purchased circle Nestabilities (I know I am always last to jump on board) and some scraps from last years or maybe it's the year before, (?) DCWV Halloween stack.

Hurry up fall!!!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY - CARD

I can't believe I am already into making Christmas cards. I usually don't think about Christmas cards until October, but when I was out the other day and saw this cube stamp I could not resist buying it and using it right away. The stamp is from Stampendous - MTC07 "Snow Friends Mini Cube". Thanks for looking and have a great Monday!!

SUMMER FUN - CARD

Do you ever get stuck picking out paper for a project? I have TONS of paper, but could not find one sheet of something that I liked for this card. So what's a gal to do? I wanted paper that looked like either sunrise or sunset so I decided to make my own. I took a muffin tin and filled the cups with water, I then added a few drops of food coloring to each cup and mixed with a toothpick. I used a medicine dropper to pick up the colored water and then squirt it on a flattened coffee filter. The colors run together a little, but I really am happy with the end result. You can also fold up the coffee filter as if you are going to cut out a snowflake and dip the corners in the muffin cups to get a really cool looking tye-dyed effect. The palm tree is a "Deluxe Cut" die cut and the stamped image is "Hula Anya" from The Greeting Farm website. Hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Thanks for looking!

SEW CUTE!!

My Girl Scout troop decided they wanted to earn a Fashion Design badge at this past Thursday night's meeting. One of the requirements was that they had to make their own pattern for a garment and then construct it using the pattern. First off, let me tell you I do not know the first thing about sewing and can not even thread a sewing machine to save my life. If given a choice between threading a sewing machine and trying to make fire on next season's Survivor...well let's just say stay tuned to the TV to see how that turns out....I don't do fire either but I think I have a better chance with it then the sewing machine. That being said, thank goodness for friends that know how to sew!! My friend Heather came and taught the girls (most of them have never touched a sewing machine before) in one evening how to make pajama bottoms and how to make their own patterns for them. They did AWESOME!!! I was so proud of them.

Here is Caitlin working on her pajamas. This is actually her sewing machine and she has had a few lessons but it has been a good year or more since she has sewn anything. Just look at the concentration on her face.

Here is the finished project. She did a really great job and now wants to make a bunch for family and friends. She has a bunch of Christmas projects that she wants to complete now that she has reconnected with her sewing machine.

Caitlin and Brittany made a quick trip to Joanne's yesterday to buy more material for Caitlin. Caitlin surprised me with this material. Isn't it the cutest? I am now the proud owner of some very comfy and way too cute new pajama bottoms that she made for me yesterday. She also made a pair for her sister, her sister's friend and one of the daycare babies that happened to stand still just long enough for Caitlin to grab her measurements. She is now obsessed and just sew cute!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY - CARD

I think I told you all that I had my eye on a certain stamp over at Whimsie Doodles.....well here it is.

Below is a quick Father's Day card and little gift that I made for my Dad and FIL. The little gift is actually a bottle of homemade Apple Bar-b-que Sauce that I whipped up yesterday. The bottle is a 14 oz. ketchup bottle that I emptied out. The recipe below is enough to make one bottle of sauce.

APPLE BAR-B-QUE SAUCE

1/2 c. apple jelly

1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

3 oz. tomato paste

1/4 c. vinegar

2 T. light brown sugar

2 T. water

1 t. hot sauce

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. ground cloves

Bring all ingredients to a boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Cool, cover and refrigerate.

MAKE A WISH - CARDS

Here are a couple of examples of another Whimsie Doodle digital stamp. This one is called Make a Wish. I did one in colors for a girl and one in colors for a boy.

For the first I used the Tiny Bubbles and the Spots and Dots A2 cuttlebug embossing folder to give my random circles some texture and added some random bling that I found in the $1 spot at Michael's. The pattern paper used for the second example is from the DCWV summer stack from last year. If you haven't checked out the Whimsie Doodles site yet, you really should, she has the most adorable images. I have my eye on the turtle with the bar-b-que apron on.....it would be perfect for Father's Day.