The Creative Grapevine

Peppermint Tini floral arrangement

2012-01-20T18:29:00.000-05:00

I love having flowers in the house, especially for the holidays. This year for New Year's I wanted to make something really different. While I was looking for ideas for my Mother-In-Law's arrangement I stumbled upon a "martini" themed arrangement. That surely was up my alley.

I had a bugger of a time looking for an extra large martini glass, without driving all over the state to find one. I saw these large sangria glasses at Micheal's and figured this was my only option. I bought two. After that hurdle was accomplished I ran into another one, finding the flowers I wanted. No one had plain white flowers at all, without breaking the bank account. You see I was inspired by this arrangement.

Well good thing I had a print out of other arrangement ideas.

What I ended up making was a Peppermint Tini arrangement.

I will say this arrangement was not an easy one.

Flower Cake

2012-01-20T18:02:00.000-05:00

We usually buy my Mother-In-Law some flowers for her birthday. I didn't want to buy one of the usual bouquets. I wanted something different. So I did what I also do for inspiration, surf the internet. I looked at the regular FTD, 1800Flowers, Telefora and found something I really liked. It was a Flower Cake.

I found a video on You Tube and thought it was very simple to do. It was after driving all over creation to find some flowers that I liked. Three seperate trips to two different florist is not cost effective. I guess next year I will call a florist in advance with what I will need..

I used roughly 3 dozen white carnations (full size), 2 dozen mini dark cranberry carnations, 6 spider mums and one purple rose. I made some cranberry organza ribbons to decorate the sides.

This was a very easy arrangement to make. I got a kick out of everyone's question - Can you eat it??? Me, not sure if you can eat these flowers but I wouldn't. lol..

Black, White & Red Quilt

2012-01-11T11:50:00.000-05:00

As you all should know by now I love the color combo black/white & whatever color for some punch. Last year I made a hobo bag out of black/white/red fabric, which I have been hoarding the rest of since then. I have been looking for more fabric to match and finally found some. Yes, I had to stop myself.

Once I was happy with the fabric selection, I found the perfect pattern for the quilt. Man, I sure do love simple easy quilt patterns. This quilt pattern is from AllPeopleQuilt.com called High Light.

One thing I have to say about simple easy patterns, you can spend a couple of hours cutting out the pieces and still have time to spend with the family. While the guys went to a hunting/fishing expo this past Saturday, I spent the time cutting out the fabric. When they got home the hubster and I watched the NFL games. I worked on sewing the blocks together while everyone was at work/school. This morning I worked on the borders. Now I am at the point to sandwich it all together and bind it.

Here is the quilt so far.

I will post in a couple of days when I am done with it...

Holiday Lampscaping

2011-12-17T14:39:00.000-05:00

This past spring my husband and I started to redecorate our livingroom. I really wanted some glass lamps that you could fill with sand/shells/sea glass, etc. I was not willing to pay the price of some of the ones I had looked at. One night we were in the mall at Crate & Barrel (the store I refused to pay $250 for one lamp) and I remembered JC Penny has a lighting department. So we ventured over there. I found a glass cylinder style lamp and they were on clearance for $32 a piece. I told my husband that I know I will find what I was looking for and that is not quiet what I was looking for. Well I never did find what I was looking for.

So a day or two later, I went back to JC Penny and bought the lamps they had. I actually really like them now but they still need "something" to dress them up. The shade is a plain white drum shade. Very plain for my taste. One day I was watching the Nate Berkus Show and they were dressing up lamp shades. I knew exactly what I was going to do. I bought some black velvet ribbon and glued it around the shade at the top and bottom. I look at it this way, the shade now has mascara on. lol

Now that it is the holidays I wanted to take the base one step further. I wanted to put something in it but didn't want to do the whole thing full of ornaments. After a while I realize what I wanted to do.

Here is the finish "project."

The bottom of the lamp base needed to be plugged. So I cut two pieces of foamcore to block anything getting out. After the foamcore was in place I filled the bottom with a couple inches of Kosher Salt. Yes, salt. I searched everywhere for something different and couldn't find anything. Good thing a box of Kosher salt is really cheap. Anyway, I went outside to my pine trees for a couple of clippings. The ornaments are new from Target. The first lamp has a Christmas card in it from my parents. The bottom one is the picture of my family that will be mailed with our holiday cards.

I am really happy with the way the lamp bases came out.

Winter White Flower arrangement

2011-12-17T14:24:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite hobbies is floral arranging. I am in the midst of planning our annual New Year's Eve party and I always have fresh flowers for the tables. This year I am thinking of going all white flowers with a hint of color (not yet decided on).

While grocery shopping last weekend I passed the flowers to take a look. I found a bouquet of all white mums. Then I found another bouquet with mostly white flowers and a few colored mums. I decided those would do.

After sorting out the colored flowers, the greens and rest of the flowers this is what I came up with. The lilies are still so fragrant.

Table Top Ironboard

2011-12-08T08:20:00.000-05:00

I am still perusing the internet for some craftroom/sewing room ideas. I came across Pleasant-Home's site showing her studio. I saw her tabletop ironboard and realized that was exactly what I wanted for my peninsula. I am realizing while I am working at the peninsula I have little room if the full size ironboard is behind but infront of my counter area.

I thought it looked easy enough to make. I remembered we had a couple pieces of MDF leftover from my shelves, so I decided to use one of those. I gathered up some batting, fabric, MDF and off to the garage I went. (My neighbors must think I am weird using the air compressor at 6:45am).

I started by placing the batting down on a work surface and then laying the MDF ontop. I pulled the batting tight and stapled to the backside of the MDF. Then I flattened the fabric on the work surface and placed the MDF ontop. I pulled the fabric taut and stapled in place. Simple and easy to do.

Here is my tabletop ironboard:

Terrace Veranda Easy Brick Quilt

2011-11-27T11:31:00.001-05:00

I decided I wanted to do a larger quilt. Nothing fancy since I'm not up to that level yet. Give me straight seams and cutting any day! Enters the Easy Brick quilt pattern from Moda Bake Shop.

One day I spent cutting the fabric out, sewed the white square to a print and then layed it out for the overall pattern.

The next day I spent 2 hours sewing all the blocks together to make the cover. I am so excited how it looks to this point.

I have bought some contrasting fabric for the backing and will be working on that later today.

Thanksgiving runner

2011-11-27T11:17:00.000-05:00

In the past couple of years I have had my Mother-In-Law, Sister-in-Law and her kids over for Thanksgiving dinner. Afterwards the rest of my husband's family will come over for desserts. So I decided to make a nice Fall themed table runner. Why do I wait till the week or two before a holiday to sew something? Is it me or do others find themselves in the same boat???

Anyway, I found some fall material at Joann Fabric and got to work on it. I wanted to try something that looks somewhat easy to make. It was pretty easy to make until I got to the part of quilting it. Instead of an all over quilt pattern, decided I only wanted to do an edging. I bought a template for some swirls, traced it out and got to work on it. Oh boy, I better stick with sewing straight lines.

You can see for yourself.

I tried to quilt an Acorn on the larger squares.

Craftroom addition

2011-11-27T11:06:00.000-05:00

In the past I have shown pictures of my craftroom makeover. Well I have made another change to it.

Lately, I have been sewing more than usual. I generally cut my fabric out on the dining room table or the hard wood floors annd we all know the hazards (sore back/knees) of doing this.  I knew there had to be a better way of cutting. One day I found myself sitting down here in the craftroom day dreaming of changes. So off I went to search the internet for some creativity. I was impressed by all the sewing rooms I found. Wow some are just unbelievable.

After looking for a while, I knew what I wanted to do.  You see I have an 9 square cubbie shelving system and I wanted to make a peninsula out of it.  My idea was to pull it away from the wall 4 feet. So my cutting area would be 4x3. I talked my husband into this idea and off to Home Depot we went. We bought a full sheet of MDF and had the store employee cut it down. Not only did I get the 4x3 countertop, I also have two large shelves below.

One day while my husband was at worked I took the organizer shelf out to the garage, sanded it and painted it white.  Next was the countertop's turn for a coat of black paint. Yes, I have to make sure my countertops match the other one in the room.

I am very happy with the way my peninsula came out. It is the perfect height for cutting without breaking my back.

By the way, I had talked my husband into making a flip up iron board on the other side.

The King and Queen are Reunited

2011-10-16T10:02:00.001-04:00

A while ago I posted a photo of a Bergere chair I had reupholstered for my livingroom. I knew I wanted another but could not find one anywhere. After giving up hope, I was looking around Craigslist and found an ad for two chairs. One of them is a Bergere style but smaller than the one I had. I sent an email to the listing sellar and picked it up the next morning. In the picture below the one of the left is the one I really wanted but got both chairs for $40.00. Both are in great shape.

The chair project got put on hold due to the fact it was summer and awfully hot in the garage. Then my husband and I repainted the livingroom. Once the livingroom was repainted I knew it was time to get working on the chair. I can honestly say I do not like caning on a chair or at all. I spent many many hours ripping out the caning on the backrest. When the spackle to fill in where the caning was, I worked on stripping/sanding and repainting the chair. I am so glad I over ordered the fabric since I had to rip the seat cover off twice. Do you know how hard it is to remove upholstery staples??? When I got the seat cover under control I stapled all of the double welt on the chair. Now it was off to the sewing machine. I had ripped apart the original seat cushion to use as my pattern. I have found every sewing project I do I always end up ripping it apart. I realized when I was half way done with makine the slipcover for the down cushion, I sewed the zipper on the front side not the backside. Let's just say me and my seam ripper were good friends. lol

Well enough of my ramblings, here is the find chair with the king sized match.

My husband thinks the cushion on the "queen" looks funny but I keep telling him it is because of the feathers in the cushion. I also make a back cushion for the "king, which you can not tell by the photo. The red throw pillow were store bought.

Off to the next reupholstery project (the pinkish chair in the first photo).

Quilted Baskets

2011-10-16T09:42:00.000-04:00

We recently went to some friends house for their annual Apple Cider Pressing event. I knew what I was going to make the week before but I thought I didn't have "anything" to carry the treats in. So naturally I had to make something.

My friend Melissa had sent me a link to some cute fabric bins by Cutting Corners. How cute are these. I wanted my baskets longer lengthwise and shorter heightwise. So I sat down on my floor and started to cut out my own pattern. My measurements were 11.5 x 9.5 x 5.5 (including 1/4 seams).

P.S. I did not take the apples and squash as they are shown. I made some apple oatmeal cookies, pumpkin muffins and curried squash soup.

Frankie Test Tube treat

2011-10-16T09:26:00.000-04:00

I am always looking for new things to make for the holidays. I find looking around SplitcoastStampers.com is a great resourse ideas.

One weekend I was getting together with my sister-in-law to make holiday cards/creations. I ran out to the Dollar store for some odds and ends. While waiting on the checkout line I noticed these test tubes with a cheapy digital watch in it. I knew exactly was we were going to make with these babies.

Once home I jumped onto the internet to find some directions for a test tube holder. I found this one by Lisa Somerville. It looked simple and easy to make. Here is my Frankie Test Tube treat holder.

Isn't he the cutest Frankenstein you have ever seen??? lol. Have a great day!

Randy's Quilt

2011-10-16T09:13:00.000-04:00

I have a nephew named Randy who loves the Disney movie Cars. I was in Walmart months ago and found a prepackaged Disney Cars fabric, which I bought. (the best part it was on clearance). I thought of Randy right away. For a while I kept thinking what could I make out of the fabric. I was totally clueless. I had asked my sister if he would like a small quilt for the bottom of his bed. She said, "yes, since he is always chilly." (how can someone who lives in FL be cold). Later, I found out Randy was going to have surgery on Sept. 26. So I knew I needed to get moving on whatever it was I needed to make.

A couple weeks before his surgery I was in Walmart looking at the books and magazines. I came across McCall's Quick Quilts (October/November 2011) and knew this was the one I wanted to make.

I did not make the quilt as large as in the magazine but it came out alot bigger than I had in mind. When I finished it I packaged it up and mailed it out to Randy. He received it two days before his surgery (it was on a Monday). My sister said the look on his face was priceless. He loved it and had it for when he woke up in recovery.

What a precious face.

Ipad Cover

2011-10-16T08:55:00.000-04:00

This year my husband bought me an Ipad for my birthday. It came with a nice leather cover, but the girlie girl in me wanted something pretty. At this time I was following the Travel Handmade challenges and saw one of their challenges was for an Electronics/Laptop bag. Since I already made my black/yellow/grey tote bag, I decided to make a matching Ipad cover.

I came across an easy to make Ipad cover by Dixie Mango.

There are so many free Ipad/Laptop cover ideas. These are the ones I found:

TipNut

Living My Life On Purpose

Film and Thread

The Cottage Home

Crap I've Made (this name makes me giggle)

I hope you find one you like. I would love to see what you make.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!

Travel Handmade

2011-08-30T11:08:00.000-04:00

My best friend Melissa, sent me a link to Travel Handmade. It looks like a fun "challenge" to make anything travel related, ie duffle bag, cosmetic case, laptop case and so forth. I thought it would be fun to try a few of the ideas.

As I type this it appears they are doing some maintenance to the site.

Just a quick run down of the projects:
Day 1 - duffel bags
Day 2 - carry on bag
Day 3 - cosmetic bag
Day 4 - electronic bag/case
Day 5 - travel purse
Day 6 - refashioned bag
Day 7 - tote bag
Day 8 - travel sewing bag
Day 9 - travel accessories

I made several of these items. One item was thrown on the floor and never been picked up since. Yes, it was that much of a pain to make.

My first item is my coffee cozy. You know when you go to the coffee shop and they give you those paper cups that are hot to the touch, well now I don't need to worry about burning my hand.

My second item is my small boxy cosmetic bag. If you all know me I love black/white and any other color combo. This bag is perfect in size. It will hold the basic supplies.

My third project is my Yellow and Black tote bag. I've had this fabric for a couple of years now and just recently found some fabric that would complement it. On the front of the bag there are three pockets, which I have never accomplished. The inside is lined with a yellow print fabric.

My fourth project is my Red/Black/White Hobo bag. Super simple to make once you understand the pattern/directions, until the above bag. Let's just say I will never use that pattern again... Again, back to the Hobo bag. It is lined with plain red fabric. I did not put a zipper on the inside since I really don't use them on any of my purses/bags. Plus, I have my cosmetic bag to carry in.

I am working on two more of the days and will post when they are finished.

Thanks for looking.

Catching up

2011-08-30T10:50:00.000-04:00

Since my last post of my Bergere chair I haven't really been crafty. A few things here and there. So I am going to post everything in this entry.

We went on a much needed vacation. My husband's nephew got married in Key West this past May. Ahhh.... what a place to be.. My sister-in-law Kathy asked me to help her with some welcome bags for the guests that made the trip. I helped with the bookmark bottle wrapper. The digi image is from Wax Fruit Co.. I added the wording through Adobe Photoshop and then had fun coloring the image. The final bookmark read Kimberley and Aaron with the date. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the finished project, but you get the idea.

I am working on my second Bergere chair. I found this chair and another style chair on Craigs List for $40 for the pair. I am almost done sanding it and then I can paint it.

My sister-in-law Kathy asked us if we would like to go up to the mountains one weekend and stay over at her sister-in-law's house. What a great weekend we all had. There were eight in total. We hiked, napped and ate some yummy food. I had brought a small bottle of homemade Limoncello with us to leave as a thank you gift. I decided I wanted to hang my thank you card so I created bottle hangar. I used my Cricut machine to cut a door hangar out of yellow paper. I printed up my lemon digi image from Wax Fruit Co. and colored.

Here a card using the same image.

We had our annual barbeque at the beginning of August. I made several potholder invitations. I'm so glad I only had to make 10 of them for the people who do not have facebook. I got my idea from a member on Splitcoast Stampers, whom I can not remember their name. Once I figure it out I will edit this post. For the red/white paper I basket wove the strips of paper together, which was time consuming.

My last set of pictures are of my homemade Tiki torches using recycled wine bottles.

That is it for "catch up." Now onto the next project...

Black and White Bergere Chair

2011-04-23T10:51:00.017-04:00

My last project was reupholstering a Bergere Chair. I guess I have been watching too many Nate Berkus shows. He always talks about thrift store shopping. I always thought shopping at a thrift store meant welfare. Sorry if I have offended anyone. But, watching the Nate Berkus Show I see there is more than clothes in these stores

One day I was all set to go to a local Salvation Army to look for a chair. I went in with the notion I wouldn't find anything. I walked past all the clothes and found myself in the furniture areas. As I looked straight ahead what do I see. Yes, the exact type of chair I was looking for. Here she is before the "facelift".

After several hours over the course of 2-3 days, I think I took out hundreds of staples. Not easy on the hands. I sanded the chair down several times. Then I primed the chair with two coats of primer.

Then came the black satin paint. I loved it as soon I put the first coat on.

After the chair was dried I applied two coats of poly on it. Let me say this is a project I honestly thought what the hell was I doing. I had never sewn double-welt cording before. I remember sitting in the living room with the fabric rolled out thinking how in the world amy I going to make the pattern flow once the chair is completed. Oiy, my head was spinning. Then on night it came to me. I knew how I was going to do it. I got up the next morning, rolled the fabric back out and got to cutting. I stared with the pieces that I had to staple down. How much could I screw that up, I thought. I bought new foam for the cushions, layed that down and stared stapling. Once I had the first piece stapled I knew I liked it. My confidence went from "what the hell was I doing" to "yes, I can do this." I managed to figure out the double-welts and the piping. With all that hard work behind me I can honestly say I loved how my chair came out. I am currently looking for another one.

My modern Black & White Bergere Chair.

Quilting???

2011-04-23T10:30:00.002-04:00

The last time I ever tried quilting it was awful. I am not a quilter, although I do sew my own window valances, bags and a few costumes in the past.

As I was talking to my best friend Melissa, she mentioned she was getting back into quilting. She had signed up for some quilt-alongs. I thought that sounded like fun. Even thought I didn't sign up for any quilt-alongs I wanted to try something "easy". I found several free block patterns online and decided on the Disappearing Nine Patch.

Another thing I wanted to do was use up some of my fabric I had stored away. The colors I had the most of were black, white and turquoise. One thing I found not easy was cutting the fabric the traditional quilters way, using the rotary cutter and ruler. I went with the non-traditional way and made a pattern to reuse. Hey, that is the way I feel most comfortable doing it.

The following is a picture of my 9 squares sewn together. Then you cut then in half horizontally and vertically.

Next, you take the four squares and turn them until get a pattern you like. Then sew those squares together.

This is my quilt about two-thirds of the way done.

Anyway, this is my quilt (well wall hanging). I will post a picture later.

New Project - Non cardmaking or scrapbooking involved

2011-04-23T10:17:00.000-04:00

Lately, I have been trying to stay active and not sitting for too long. My knees are still a work in progress. I find if I am sitting at the computer or at the desk to craft for too long, my knees tend to get sore.

My husband and I had built a wall shelf for the area above my computer desk. I decided I needed another one. This time I cut the wood out, sanded and painted it. He helped me put it together and up on the wall. This smaller shelf holds my Cricut Cartridges. (who knew I had so many). lol I really like the way it came out.

Happy Valentines Day Honey!!!

2011-04-23T10:11:00.000-04:00

For this past Valentines Day, I wanted to give my husband a different kind of card. You know, the non-typical type you wouldn't find at the store.

One day I sat down at the computer and logged into my trusty, go-to craft website - aka Splitcoast Stampers. I found a thread where someone was looking for sexiest valentine images. BINGO, I thought. One of the ladies had suggested Kenny K. Downloads. I knew I had to order a couple of those images. I decided to use Allure Von D on my card.

Here is my "sexy valentine card for my darling husband.

No Mojo

2011-04-23T09:48:00.000-04:00

It seems like it has been forever since I my last card/scrapbook/project.

My husband bought me a Cricut Expression in Teal for Christmas. So I had been playing around with the Expression and my Design Studio. I have been to several Creating Keepsakes Conventions over the past years. One of the booths in the Vendor Faire had laser cut pages. They are wonderful pages but I didn't was to pay the $5 per page. So I looked around the internet and found Scrappin' My Stress Away Blog. She made exactly what I had been looking for. After several hours over the course of a few days and a bunch of cheap paper I finally made something I liked and could use.

This is a double page spread I made for a trip to the beach. All I have to do is take the pictures, add them to the page and do some journaling.

CC296 - Turquoise Birthday Wish

2011-01-02T15:23:00.000-05:00

Since I am trying to get crafty today, I decided to go back through some of the challenges on Splitcoast to get some creative juices flowing.

I looked through the Color Combo challenges and found CC296 - Poppy Turquoise & White. I really love this color combo. I poked around some other sites to get some ideas and came up with a birthday card for my younger sister.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Winobella (Stamping Bella) and Small Script (Stampin Up)

Paper: White, Red, Black, Turquoise & patterned paper by Martha Stewart

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories: Copic Markers, Pearl accents, Stampin Up border punch and Stampin Up Ticket Punch

January 2011 SFYTT

2011-01-02T13:24:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone! I am new to I {heart} 2 stamp. I came across the website through my sister-in-laws facebook wall. I took a peak at the I {heart} 2 stamp website and really liked what I saw. The sketches look great!

I have decided to try out the monthly sketch challenge for January. Making this card gave me the chance to look through all my crafting paraphernalia. You wouldn't believe how many times I said, "oh I forgot about that" or "oh how pretty is that paper."

Card recipe:

Stamp: Daisyboardabella by Stamping Bella
Paper: White, Black and Spring Your Wings(3 Bugs In a Rug)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Copic Markers and Grey watercolor pencil
Accessories: Snowflakes embossing folder (Cuttlebug), white felt, snowflake chipboard, white paint and glitter

Another year gone by

2011-01-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

Wow what a year we have had. Back in January 2010 my husband's family lost one of their brothers. That was quite the shock. Well the year didn't get any better after that. In August another brother, Denny passed away to a Subarachnoid hemorrhage. This was too much to take in. We had just spend a long Fourth of July weekend with him at Ted's house. So needless to say, I am hoping that 2011 will be kinder than 2010.

As for the rest of the year it was pretty much on the low key side of things.

I neglected my crafts for the most part. I feel like I lost all my crafting mojo. Hopefully I can find some of it this year..

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and have a safe and healthy New Year!!!

SBVC133 - Ribbon Rewind

2010-08-29T10:36:00.002-04:00

Very easy challenge this week..

This week we are revisiting a previous challenge - Ribbon. Let's see the creative ways you can use ribbon on your page(s).

SBVC132- School Style

2010-08-29T10:35:00.000-04:00

I know many of you are out school shopping or maybe you have already completed it. I'm about half way done. As I was out shopping with my boys I saw some really cool looking tags on the clothing. I was wondering if there was a way to include the tags into a scrapbook page. Low and behold I was reading an email from ScrapbooksEtc.com about school pages. One of the samples included a tag.

Scrapbook Pages That Recycle: Use Clothing Tags as Scrapbooking Accents

So this week's challenge is a two parter: 1). include a clothing tag on your page and 2). include some stitching faux or machine.

This is not just a school challenge it can be for any occassion (maybe that perfect black dress for a wedding or night out on the town).

SBVC131 - Bingo!

2010-08-29T10:33:00.001-04:00

Good morning scrappers!

I’m happy to say, I’m the guest hostess today! Diana’s taking a little break and will be back next week.

For this week’s challenge, I thought we’d play a little game of Bingo. This will help us use our stash of items we may not normally choose for a layout.

All you need to do is choose a row from the attached Bingo card (open below) - down, across, diagonal (or "X" if you want to be really challenged.) Use those items on your page. You are not limited to the items listed, but use at least those items. Feel free to play if you're a digi scrapper too!!

My Sample: Mommy's Cake for U

I used the “G” row down: at least 2 flowers, 5 or more buttons, 3 ribbons, a punch and 2 patterned papers.

Bingo Card

SBVC130 - Hobbies

2010-08-29T10:29:00.000-04:00

What are your hobbies other than scrapbooking & cardmaking? Do you like to garden? Do you play an instrument? Do you like to go shopping? Maybe you even make your own beer or wine...

Whatever your hobby is scrapbook it. If you have one too many hobbies, then maybe you have a child or grandchild who likes to build things. Go ahead and scrap them.

SBVC129 - Chillaxin

2010-08-29T10:28:00.003-04:00

For this week's Variety Challenge I want you to show how you Chillax (chill and/or relax).

You MUST use Chillaxin as your title.

SBVC128 - The Great Outdoors

2010-08-29T10:28:00.000-04:00

During the summertime we tend to spend alot of time outdoors; ie camping, hiking, swimming or just enjoying the summer sun.

My challenge to you this week is to scrap those outdoor photos. I also want you to include some kind of embellishment that represents the activity.

On my Bugs layout I included a small twig.

For a water effect use some faux bubbles, like the ones on this layout.

Or if you are at the beach you could collect some sand or shells. This sample I have a bottle filled with sand from the Bahamas. On this layout I used a textured spray paint for a faux sand effect.

SBVC127 - Show your Patriotism

2010-08-29T10:27:00.000-04:00

Let's show how our families celebrate the Patriotic holidays, whether it is an American holiday or Canadian holiday.

SBVC126 - Negatively Speaking (not really)

2010-08-29T10:26:00.000-04:00

Thank you Anavon & Donna for filling in for me the past two weeks. Hopefully now that summer vacation is underway life won't be so hectic.. Ya right who am I kidding... lol...

For this week's variety challenge I don't think I'm repeating on and am sorry if I am. We are going to use the Negative Film strip (faux of course) on our pages. I will post my sample later on since I just bought the Tim Holtz die cut.

My old sample is of my dad with his Emmy award.

SBVC125 - Clean & Simple Father's Day

2010-08-29T10:24:00.000-04:00

Thank you Donna for filling in for me this week.

Hello scrappers. I'm Donna and I will be hosting this weeks variety challenge.

With Father's Day right around the corner, i thought it would be appropriate to brake out those pictures of dad's and get them scrapped. It can be your own dad, your DH, a grandfather, a brother, nephew or a cousin, even a close friend. Who ever it is, he should be a dad.

And since we're scrapping dad's, I thought it would be fitting to keep things simple. By this I mean limit the embellishments (ie no flowers or bling).

For my sample, i scrapped some pictures of my DH cooking up a breakfast feast for my family. I just used cardstock, a few stamps, chipboard letters for my title, a marker and some brads. Simple and took all of 30 minutes.

SBVC124 - Pillow Fight!

2010-08-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

For starters I want to thank Anavon for filling in for me this week. Thank you!!! Now onto the challenge.

Good Morning Everyone... For all you newbies, I am Anavon from Annie's Pantry and I am your guest host today. We would like to excuse Diana (princessdi69), she is out on a field trip. And like the old saying goes... "While Momma's away, the Kids will play!" hehehehe....

Today, I challenge Everyone to a great big, gigantic, humongous PILLOW FIGHT! (Inspirational of course)

My Family and I are getting ready to move into a new beach house and so I have been on the search for some new accent pillows for the sunroom. And in doing so, I came acrossed several that I thought would be great inspiration for some scrapbook layouts. I like my pillows to have color, style and charm....

So with that is mind your challenge today is to come have an inspirational pillow fight with us. Just choose a pillow that inspires you and create a page or layout that shows off that inspiration. Then share it here with us... here is a couple of websites filled with pillows that you could choose from.

Decorative Pillows

Accent Pillows

Classy Pillows

For those of you who like to just grab and throw... I have included three pillows below that are perfect for that quick, pick-up and whack sort of page.

Please post your pillow choice also, so that we can see what inspired you.

Here is my sample and pillow of choice today.... Hillstown House

SBVC123 - Watercolors

2010-08-29T10:19:00.000-04:00

Today's challenge is to use watercolors on your page.

There are so many different ways to use watercolors on your page. You can find directions for the following techniques on SCS resources section.

Watercolor Wash

Watercoloring with Markers

Watercoloring with Water Crayons

Watercoloring with Water color pencils

Wet Paper watercoloring

I was reading my latest Scrapbooks Etc. magazine and saw a neat technique on page 11. It uses Diamond Glaze and alcohol ink on a covered chipboard accent. They call this technique marbled but it kinda looks like watercolor.

SBVC122 - Kids Art

2010-08-29T10:17:00.000-04:00

This week's challenge it to show off your kids or grandkids artwork. My youngest son made me the nicest card for mother's day. They had to draw a picture of their mom and write what their favorites things were.

I am working on my layout and will hopefully have it completed by tomorrow morning.

SBVC121 - Wedding Invites

2010-08-29T10:15:00.000-04:00

This weeks variety challenge is based on a challenge wedding invitations. This past weekend was a Mini VSN and for challenge C you were to make a shower card (ie bridal, baby etc).

So for this week's variety challenge I am going to post a few links to some wedding invitations.

Yes, I know it sounds more like an inspiration challenge BUT you need to work in bling, ribbon, lace or any other embellishment that corresponds with the invitation you use. For example if you use the Birdcage design you could use the obvious birds on the page or maybe even an old broken piece of necklace for the chain.

PLUS, some of the invitations have a color swatch to change the cardstock or print. Some of these swatches will work great as a color combo challenge. So the bonus to this is to incorporate those colors into your layout.

Birdcage Invitation

Simply Dazzling

Petal Clusters

Leaf Flourish

Natural Pair

Asian Blossoms

Have a great time with this challenge.

SBVC120 - Puzzling Idea

2010-04-14T19:04:00.009-04:00

I love doing crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles.

Today's challenge is to do use the Crossword idea or use puzzle pieces on your page.

Jigsaw Puzzle: I happen to own the Coluzzle Puzzle Template. I wanted to make a collage out of some odds & ends pictures.

My Puzzle Sample - Busch Gardens

Here is an idea you could use: Crossword Puzzle Page

Make the whole page look like a giant crossword puzzle. The one I saw was 10 squares across and 11 squares down drawn with a black pen. The black squares were paper. The black squares were on: Row 1 #4; R 2 - #3,9; R3 - #3,10; R4 - #2, 10; R5 - # 3, 4, 5, 7; R6 - # 5, 8; R7 - #1, 9, 10; R8 - #2, 6; R9 - #3; R10 - #8 and R 11 - #5, 10.

Starting on the 6th square of the first row the word "Friends" was written down. On the 4th row the word forever was written between the 2 black squares so that it intersected with the 'e' in the word "friends".

You could use other titles. You could put the photos of friends or small wallet size photos exchanged by many students in the small white squares or those with dark backgrounds in place of the black squares. You could make the squares bigger and have less squares.

My crossword Sample: Kyle & Nick

SBVC119 - Heavy Metal

2010-04-11T07:04:00.000-04:00

This week's challenge is to use metal on your page.

You can use any kind of hardware.

Perhaps you want to give the Faux Metal technique a try.

Maybe you have some Pearl Ex hanging around being ignored (I know I do). Try one of the Pearl Ex Techniques. Melted Pearls or Heated Pearls .

Bonus: What is a little Heavy Metal without Rock & Roll. Yes, use the Rock & Roll Technique somewhere one your page.

SBVC118 - Men In Our Lives

2010-04-09T06:32:00.003-04:00

While I was away in NC we had a lot of rain. When we got home our basement was flooded again. So I was dealing with that yesterday.

I will post the challenge soon.

**** Edit with challenge.

This week's challenge will be the Men In Our Lives.

Show us some masculine pages of the men that are dear to you.

Sample: My Guys

SBVC117 - Pets In Our Lives

2010-04-09T06:29:00.003-04:00

When I think of family I think of my kids, dh, sisters/brothers, mom, dad etc.. But how many of us think of our pets that way? I have noticed in several magazines lately more and more people of making layouts of their pets.

So that is my challenge for you this week: Pets.

If you don't have any pets then how about doing a layout of the ducks at the pond or the lizard that the kids caught.

Here is an old layout of My Dog Kimmie. (unfortunately we no longer have her. Kimmie has gone to that great dog park in the sky)

SBVC116 - Luck of the Irish

2010-04-09T06:28:00.001-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

I'm going to make this an easy challenge. Three elements - you can do one or all...

1. Monochromatic Green Page

2. Clovers

3. Gold (respresenting Pot O' Gold)

SBVC115 - Spring has Sprung

2010-04-09T06:27:00.001-04:00

Spring has sprung here in NH.. I have been spring cleaning like crazy and have totally gotten wrapped up in it that I spaced the challenge.

This week's challenge is based on a color palette. I also would like for you to include something that buds (flowers, trees etc) and a Spring saying/poem/song.

SBVC114 - Glasses & Goggles

2010-04-09T06:24:00.004-04:00

I know we all have these photos. The cute photos of babies/toddlers wearing sunglasses. Or maybe a child wearing swim goggles.

That's it. simple and easy this week.

Here is an older page I made of my oldest son.

SBVC113 - Slim Shots

2010-04-09T06:07:00.001-04:00

This week's SCS SBVC challenge is to use slim photos or maybe I should put it as narrow shots/photos. You know the ones I'm talking about. The one of the tall buildings. Or they can be cropped photos of your kids/grandkids.

That is it. Simple and easy..

SBVC112 - Love is In the Air

2010-04-09T06:05:00.001-04:00

With Valentines Day coming up I figured I would incorporate that into this week's SCS SBVC challenge.

There are a couple of requirements for this week's challenge:

1. You must include a heart on the page. It can be chipboard, a cutout from pattern pattern, etc.

2. You must include flowers on your page. It can be paper pleated, ribbon, dahlia fold, felt, scrunchy paper flowers etc..

3. You have to include a poem on your page. It can be a funny one or a serious one..

Bonus: What woman doesn't like to receive some bling on Valentine's Day. So let's see some glitter, rhinestones or any other bling on your page...

My husband's challenge for you all is to include Brown paper that represents Chocolate.

Scraproom makeover

2010-02-07T09:39:00.003-05:00

As many of you know I have been organinzing and making changes to my scraproom. When we first moved here I thought I would keep the color of a more neutral tone, tan as a matter of fact. With the lighting being so poor down here it was a bland boring non-inspiring room. I had plans to so some accent painting but it fell flat. I really could not "picture" the room done the way I thought I wanted it.

This picture of my sewing machine desk just shows a small amount of the color. Please do not pay attention to my messy craft counter but I wanted to show you the opposite end of the room from the sewing area.

I know one thing for sure, I wanted to paint my walls a fun and exciting color. I picked a Turquoise color. At first I felt like I should be swimming in a fish bowl. To this day I still love the color on the wall.

I'm a little embarrased to post this picture, I thought I had a better one. This is generally what my scraproom looks like. Yes, shame on me for not keeping the clean gene as I was growing up.

As time went on I really wanted to spruce up my room. Plus try to keep it clean... lol.. It wasn't until this past December 2009 I realized what I wanted to do. I was shopping for gift wrap at Target and found a wonderful Damask flocked print paper. Oh my goodness I fell in love with it. I bought one roll that day because I "had" to. I decided I would use it as a wallpaper for my ugly white cabinet in the corner of the above photo. I made four rectangle panels out of the gift wrap and then modge podged them to the doors. Then we bought some basic trim for the edges of the paper panels.

I really like how the doors came out. So the next thing I did was rip off the curtain panels under my craft counter. I had a large piece of black & white gingham print fabric that I stuck up in place of the old one.

The room seems to be coming along to my liking now. One change I'm hoping will happen soon is to get a black counter top instead of that ugly green.

On my counter I made a box to store my Cuttlebug Embossing Folders. I found this idea on Splitcoast by a username of Wenchie. It was a great little project to make on weekend. I used my flocked gift wrap all around it.

Also on my counter is my Cricut machine. I had some leftover fabric from an apron I had made. I used some old black on black print fabric for the sides and the flap parts. I wante to add a little bling to the cover so I used a old decorative pin I had laying around.

On the other end of the room is my sewing area. I have an old sewing desk that I stripped and restained. I used Minwax Bombay Mahogany. I wanted a bulletin board above the desk so I took my old corkboard painted the trim in black. Then I took a piece of foamcore board applied batting to it, covered it in a piece of damask fabric and added some ribbon to make it into a French board. Love the look of it.

Here is a picture of the sewing desk after the stripping/staining (this wall is painted the turquoise like the rest of the room).

So far I am very happy with the way the room is coming along. I do have a few other things to make and to hang on the walls (shelves above the computer desk and sewing area would be nice).

Thanks for stopping by and seeing my little piece of happiness.

*** Update 1/5/11

Here are some more photos of my finished room.

Left Cabinet

Right Cabinet

Foamcore Stamp pad station & Unity stamp binders

Shelf my husband and I made.

This last photo is of my working counter. You can see the obvious transformation. My husband bought me these base cabinets from IKEA for my birthday this past year. While my husband was working I took the green countertop off the braces and took it to the garage where I sanded it and repainted it black. We realized we needed to cut the front lip off of it in order for the doors and drawer to open. I am very happy with the way the room looks now, well not right now because it is a mess due to the holidays and crafts...

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the room tour.

SBVC111 - 5 Senses

2010-02-07T08:55:00.003-05:00

Recently I have been reorganizing and clearing out my scraproom. Can you believe I have over 120 craft magazines. I sat here one night going through each and everyone of them. I ripped out the pages that gave me inspiration, techniques or a sketch I liked.

So today's variety challenge came from the Creativing Keepsakes May 2009 issue.

The challenge is to scrap one of the five senses ~ Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste and Touch. I want you to journal how the one sense pertains to the photo(s).

It could be the first sunlight coming through the trees in the morning.

Perhaps, the smell of your cup of coffee or tea in the morning.

Maybe even the smell of your little baby after a baby.

The possibilities are endless.

SBVC110 - Mosaic

2010-02-07T08:54:00.000-05:00

I have always been in awe at mosaic art. I love the look of outdoor tables with the mosaic pieces. In the past I have made stepping stones for my yard in mosaic patterns.

So this week's challenge is Mosaic. I have seen a few different ways of doing this. My sample below (I will upload the page when completed tomorrow morning) has some mosaic done for the sun and waves.

I hope you get a chance to try out the mosaic technique.

SBVC109 - Fabric of our Lives

2010-01-24T05:57:00.003-05:00

Fabric, Fabric, Fabric is everywhere... I think I enjoy collecting fabric more than sewing it. I have quite the stash of fabric accumulating. Sewing is one of my other favorite crafts. I have seen in a couple of magazines lately where people are using fabric on their pages. For example, January 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes mag page 58 talkes about fabric and shows a fabric flower on page 59.

So your challenge this week is to use fabric on your page. It can be in strips, "patterned paper", die cuts or a 3-D flower.

My sample: Cucina Italiana

I hope you have fun with this challenge!

Tropical Flowers

2010-01-22T16:36:00.001-05:00

Recently my husband's family lost their brother Michael. Michael, you are loved and will be missed dearly. God rest your Soul.

After the funeral we were given the option to take an arrangement. I chose a gorgeous tropcial one. When my husband brought it home I had no place to stand this enormous arrangement (similar to the first photo). So I asked my husband first if it would be okay to take it apart and make a different arrangement. He said "absolutely." After about 25-30 minutes I finished my first tropical arrangement (second photo).

New Year's Eve Challenges

2010-01-07T09:40:00.000-05:00

This past New Year's Eve Faith (aka Markie's Mom) from Splitcoast brought us 5 great challenges.

Every year our family has friends/family over for NYE but with three of us being sick we decided it was in the best interest of everyone to cancel the festivities this eyar. Hark, we haven't done that since Y2K. I can tell you it didn't feel like NYE without anyone over. So when I saw the challenges on Splitcoast I knew I needed to keep my mind preoccupied.

I managed to get three challenges done.

NYE09A - Countdown the New Year.

NYE09C - Bringing in the New Year - Clean & Simple

NYE09E - Glitz & Glam

WT251 - It's about Time

2010-01-07T09:24:00.001-05:00

One December 31,2009 Julia S from Splitcoast challenged us to use Time somewhere on our page. Click on Time for the original challenge.

Back in October Kyle had run his first 5K. He did pretty darn good for a newbie. I had a clock face stamp that I used for the "time" part of the challenge.

SBVC107 - Resolutions

2010-01-07T09:21:00.001-05:00

Thank you Melissa for stepping in for me last week.

This week's Variety Challenge is to scrap your 2010 New Year's Resolutions. You can find the original challenge post here at Splitcoast Stampers.

I had a lot of fun making my sample for this challenge. The patterned paper I used I found on clearance at Target for .99... Yes, that is correct .99 cents.

SBVC106 - Party Page!

2010-01-07T09:17:00.001-05:00

My friend Melissa stepped in for me the week of New Year's eve for this week's Variety Challenge 106. Her challenge for everyone was to scrap a page showing a party of some nature, ie New Year's Eve, Birthday Party or any other celebration. You can find the original Splitcoast Challenge thread here.

I was able to complete this challenge this past week after I began feeling better.

Here is my layout showing us Ringing in the New Year of 2009.

Creating Keepsake Convention Class - Kiss the Cook

2010-01-07T09:12:00.000-05:00

I figured I would wait until the 2009 Convention was over to post this cookbook. Kathy and I took this class last year and it was fun to make. As most of you know I love to cook and was excited about this class.

Each of the pages has pockets for recipe cards. I think this would work great if there were actual recipe pages. I plan on making on of these or similar for each of my boys to take with them when they move out on their own.

SBVC97 - Best Buds

2010-01-07T09:03:00.003-05:00

This week's Variety Challenge was to scrap your best friend or best buddy.

Here is a link to the Splitcoast Stampers thread for the original post.

My first layout is my best Friend = my husband. The second one is of me and my friend Melissa. The third one is me, Melanie and Donna meeting for the first time.

Losing My Mind

2010-01-07T08:54:00.000-05:00

Wow I can not believe how long it seems since the last time I updated my blog. For the amount of time I am at my computer you would think I would update it everytime I make something. Well I'm hoping that is going to change this New Year.

I will post some of the things I made in the recent months so I can get caught up.

SBVC105 - Paper Chains

2009-12-18T16:45:00.002-05:00

Christmastime brings back so many memories of when I was a kid. I remember learning to make the paper snowflakes or the construction paper link chains for the tree. My favorite was stringing the popcorn on the thread, yummo!

I have always liked the look of the paper doll cutout chains. So my challenge to you is to use a paper chain on your scrapbook page.

Here are a couple of website with templates:

Paper Chains

Snowflake I used the Cottonwood snowflake template, turned it so two "arms" are touching the folds and cut.

Thanks for stopping by.

SBVC104 - Pieced Traditions

2009-12-18T16:39:00.003-05:00

This week's SCS Scrapbook Variety Challenge is all about piecing things together. Today's challenge is to make a layout based on a Holiday Tradition. BUT, when creating your page I want you to include a paper pieced item that represents your tradition.

Ideas:

Baking cookies (gingerbread) with the kids. Cut out a piece of brown card stock and apply small paper pieces representing the icing.

Decorating the tree: paper piece the layers of the tree with different patterned papers.

Lighting the Menorah: cut a base for the candelabra, silvers of paper for the candles.

Making ornaments: cut out the shape of an ornament and lay on the paper layers.

I think you all know what I mean. Here is a link to some paper piecing ideas.

SBVC103 - The Music In You

2009-12-18T16:26:00.003-05:00

This week's SCS Scrapbooking Variety Challenge involves music. I love music even though I don't have a musical bone in my body. lol. I crank up the music in the truck while driving. I have music playing while cleaning (for some reason it seems like I get a lot more done while playing music). So I'm sure you get the picture.

Your Challenge this week is to incorporate music into your layout. It can be in several ways:

Patterned paper

Chipboard

Brads

and/or perhaps the lyrics to your favorite song.

Thanks for looking.

3 Pounds of Rubber

2009-11-30T14:05:00.006-05:00

You are probably wondering what in the world am I talking about.. I know I would. A few weeks ago I was playing Inspirational Bingo with the Unity Stamp Co. on Splitcoast. That week I happened to have won the bingo game (which I have never done before in my life). For playing bingo I had won 100 random stamps.

I just received my 100 stamps. The box weighed 3 pounds. I was pleasantly surprised. So are you asking what 3 pounds of rubber stamps look like? Check these out.

sorry they are uneven, I tried to straighten them out.

TLC249 - Washer Pendants

2009-11-30T13:53:00.003-05:00

Today's Lynn In St. Louis was inspired by Shelly Katzung, aka Sugrnspicy's washer pendants. Shelly does an outstanding job on her pendants.

TLC249 required you to make a washer pendant. Yup that is correct. Awasher as in tool box raid!! lol.. So out to the tool box I went. I hope my husband doesn't need the two larger ones anytime soon. Next I raided my scrapbox for the papers.

I have alot of fun making these. One thing about making the pendants you have to let the glue and clear coating dry. Yes it is a bit time consuming. Me being inpatient placed the brown and black/white/red ones under a tabletop fan. It dried them and in less time..

I hope you like my creations as much as I do.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

2009-11-26T06:38:00.003-05:00

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What am I Thankful for:

My husband and boys. They bring me such happiness and joy. I love you all very much!

My parents, I love and miss you. Hopefully next year at this time we can come for a visit.

My extended family (husbands side), being with such a large family at the holidays makes missing my family not so hard. They are such a warm bunch of people and quite fun to be around.

Good health, especially this time of year.

My friends, I have made so many new friends (online) over the past couple of years. I feel as though I have known most of them all my life.

I could go on and on but then it would get either silly or sappy..

So I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Stay safe, warm and healthy!

TLC248 - Stocking Gift Card Holder

2009-11-24T05:33:00.003-05:00

Lynne must have been reading my mind. This week's SCS Technique Challenge she posted a stocking template by Waltzingmouse. I have had this template printed for a couple of weeks and said I would get around to making them for Christmas. Now I have been known to put things off until the last minute (last year I was making the cards the morning of Christmas to take to my mother-in-laws to hand out), but this challenge gave me that swift kick in the butt to get moving.

The card holder is very easy to make. My first card I made was very simple. I used some patterned paper by Dream Street Papers LLC called Merry & Bright - Celebrate. This paper is double sided printed and that is where the green polka dots came from too. On the red & cream patterned stocking I paper pierced the edges of the cuff and toe/heel. Then I faux stitched using my white gel pen. I added a little sponging on the cream paper.

On the green polka dot stocking I wanted to try something different. My youngest son has been playing with my felt scraps and I thought what a good way to accent the stocking. Plus I wanted to try stitching on a card with my good sewing machine. I found some white felt zig-zag stitched it to the card front and did the same for the cuff. I remembered I had some white pop-pom trim and sewd that to the cuff.

I think the pom-poms gave it a fun style.

So now that I have two down, how many more do I need to make???? hmm...

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Unity Stamp Co. - Batchelor Bro Contest

2009-11-20T05:48:00.011-05:00

Okay I can breathe again. The contest winner has been announced. The winner was Nancy. She did an outstanding job on her entry as did the rest of the very talented ladies. Congrats Nancy!

I thought I would share my gift to Broman. I had very limited Unity Stamps and the only thing that popped into my head was coffee.

I started off with an old tin box I had on my craft counter and wondered what would I use this thing for. Light bulb flickered. It needed to be altered.

I happened to have some coffee themed pattern paper that I wrapped around the tin box. Sealed it with Modge Podge. Then tied a wired organza ribbon around it.

The next thing I made was a set of coasters. I took out my tumbled tiles and sprayed them with Workable Fixativ by Krylon. This allows the coaster to take any kind of ink, paint or any other kind of coloring medium. While that dried (not long), I stamped my coffe cup onto a piece of tissue paper, colored with Bic Mark Its, cut out and Modge Podge'd onto the tile. I then sponged some ink around the edges and sealed afterwards.

The last stamped part of the gift was stamping on fabric. I stamped the coffee mug onto a piece of fabric I had made and filled it with some coffee, that I placed in a dark brown coffee mug. I threw in some store bought biscotti so he could have a snack with a cup of coffee.

My package was all wrapped by sheets of you guessed it coffee cup stamped tissue paper.

I was really happy with the results of my project and was honored to have been in the final 7. Congrats again to Nancy. Angela, Jenny, Kristen, Courtney & Randi you are some of the most talented ladies I have seen. You all are winners in my book!

SBVC102 - Filter Through

2009-11-18T08:16:00.004-05:00

This week's Splitcost Stampers Variety Challenge is a bit odd. Recently I had to buy a new coffee maker and without thinking I bought a new one that took a different style of coffee filters. Now what do I do with close to 500 coffee filters... lol.

Abouth two weeks or so ago I bought the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Scrapbooks Etc magazine. As I was turning the pages I stopped in my tracks and said that's what I can do with the coffee filters. (not that I will ever use up 500 filters for this technique).

So here is what you do:

Take a coffee filter and spray it with dye (I used a spray bottle with water and reinkers). Let it dry and then pleat the filter to get the look of a flower. You can accent it with patterned-paper for a stem. I happened to have some floral tape and used that.

I used a layout from Page Maps from the January 2009 Sidemaps.

NOV09VSNK - Strange Case

2009-11-15T17:13:00.003-05:00

Nothing too strange about this. I never think to do this.

For this challenge we were to CASE our card layout from an 8.5 x 11 scrapbook page. There are very talented scrapbookers out there. It was hard for me to pick a layout. One layout struck the girlie side in me. I love the colors of this page by anewdesign. Once I saw this page I knew exactly the paper I was going to use...

NOV09VSNI Cracked Glass Technique

2009-11-15T17:03:00.004-05:00

This challenge was to use CASE a card and use the Cracked Glass Technique on it. You can find the directions for the Cracked Glass Technique here on the Splitcoast Stampers website.

For my card I cased this card by Rox71.

I have never attempted this technique before. I panicked at first looking for the UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel. Then I started thinking no you don't have any, so I tried this technique with ultra fine embossing powder. I DOESN'T WORK! Then I searched some more and found my canister of UTEE (it was as large as what I thought it should have been). I really enjoyed this technique and will definitely be using it more often.

NOV09VSNA

2009-11-15T16:44:00.002-05:00

This weekend's theme was all about Masquerades. The first challenge was about the glitz, glamour and the ruffles that you find in most Masquerades.

For this challenge we were to CASE (acronym for Copy And Steal Everything) another card but add some Ruffles to it.

My card's inspiration came from a card Kendra had made. My ruffle was made from a piece of of hot pink organza that was wrapped around my birthday roses from my sister-in-law Mary and her kids.

I hope you like the card. Thanks for looking.

SBVC101 - School Pics

2009-11-11T08:54:00.005-05:00

For today's SCS Scrapbook Variety Challenge 101 you are to use those school pictures that we all have.. We all have them of the kids, grandkids, niece/nephew or maybe yourself.

I used last year's photo of Kyle (yes it looks familiar I altered a frame using this photo).

The paper is the Static Collection by Crate Paper. The stars are stamps from Unity Stamp Co. I used my Storybook cartridge by Cricut for the title.

It's Postal!!!

2009-11-11T07:38:00.002-05:00

Oh the pressure is off!!! I mailed my Unity challenge submission yesterday. Talk about breathing a sigh of relief.

Now is the worst part of all the wait.. lol... The winner will be announced on November 19, 2009... All I have to say is "Good thing I don't spend the money on having manicures done!"

Good Luck to the other 6 participants.

Unity Stamp Co- Final 7 Challenge

2009-11-07T06:35:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Unity Stamp Co. posted the winner of last week's Unity Bro Challenge.
Congratulations to all the other winners!!!!

Now the pressure is on!!!! I'm stressing about it all ready. lol.

The Challenge: Make An Altered Item or Gift. Hmmmm... Now where is that thinking cap???

Feeling of Fall

2009-11-06T05:30:00.004-05:00

This week's Variety Challenge SBVC100 is all about Fall.

I love Fall. I love the cooler days, the smell in the air, the color of the leaves and the fall harvest. This weeks challenge is to use the colors of Fall on your layout. Plus I want you to tell us what Falls means to you. You can do this in your own words, a song or a poem.

I am working on my sample. It will be posted this morning.

Royal Reindeer

2009-11-06T05:25:00.003-05:00

This weeks Ways To Use It challenge (WT243) - It's a Stick Up, we were to use stickers on our cards.

As I was cleaning up my craft counter recently I came across some clear glittery stickers I had bought at Walmart. I knew right away I was going to use that package of stickers.

I matched up the stickers to the latest Stampin Up patterned paper called Holiday Lounge. I love this paper. It's not your typical Christmas paper.

I also used this week's Sketch Challenge (SC253).

Thanks for stopping in.

What a Day!!!!

2009-10-29T18:53:00.002-04:00

This morning I was browsing around Splitcoast and found myself in the Unity Stamp Forum. I saw there was a Bingo game taking place this afternoon. I wanted to play. I picked my 20 words from the list and posted them in the thread. So when 4pm est came around I was sure glued to my computer. I got 14 out of 20 words. woohoo!! I ended up being the winner. I can not wait to play with the new stamps...

Oh I was notified this afternoon from Pinky regarding the Stampin Bella challenge from last week. My Addy Seeing Spots card won.

Can you tell I'm excited????

SBVC99 - It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

2009-10-28T16:40:00.006-04:00

Yes, it's that time of year. My favorite time. I love apple picking and pumpkin picking. This year I can say we haven't gone yet. I just might end up going by myself.

Today's Splitcoast Variety challenge is all about Pumpkins. Pumpkin paper, pumpkin embellishments, embossed pumpkins, pumpkin overlays or pumpkin lace.

Simple and easy.

I am still working on my page, so I will upload it as soon as I'm done.

BTC10 - Addy seeing spots

2009-10-25T18:39:00.004-04:00

Last Friday night I went to a calendar making class with my sister-in-law Kathy at The Paper Tree. It was a class put on by A Muse Stamps. I really enjoyed taking the class and the project was fun.

After the class The Paper Tree allowed us to do some shopping (the store was closed except for the people taking the class). I have always liked the Stamping Bellas stamps. A stamp had caught my eye and I knew instantly that I was going to buy it. The stamp is called Addy "Tude loves her Tini's. I have wanted to stamp with Addy all weekend and just couldn't come up with an idea. So I started to stamp a few images and then colored one in purple. After coloring the image I was at a road block. I went to the Stamping Bella thread on Split Coast and saw a challenge for the Bellas stamp. You had to use the color purple and do some paper piecing. The light bulb flickered. Off I went to the craft counter.

And next thing I knew Addy seeing spot was created. After three martinis I know I would be seeing spots. lol...

I used the following:

Addy "Tude loves her tini's by Stamping Bella

Beverage stamp block by Stampcraft

Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing Folder

Papers: Eggplant, Plum, White & Silver paper

Inks: ColorBox - Wisteria Fluid Chalk Inkpad, Tsukineko Brilliance Platinum Planet

Accessories: Brads, rhinestones, markers & gallery gloss

SBVC98 - Page Carvings

2009-10-21T06:54:00.005-04:00

I got this idea from the Creating Keepsake October 2008 magazine issue. If you have this issue look at pages 69-73. If you don't have this issue you will find the directions below. First of all this challenge can be a bit time consuming but I had alot of fun with it.

Step 1 - go here for the templates & print off the one you want to use. After printing the template you will need to enlarge the template. I believe I enlarged by 140% on my printer. You might want to make two copies of the enlarged print so you can have one for the "mat" and one for the photos.

Step 2 - Cut your photos in the shape of the grey part of template.

Step 3 - Finish your page as you wish.

You can find the original challenge I posted on Split Coast Stampers.

Reindeer Food

2009-10-16T06:55:00.004-04:00

Last week I made a recipe card for the Unity Stamp Company's Unity Bro challenge #4. I only have three Unity Stamps and decided to use my All Santas Reindeer stamp.

I started by cutting my Chocolate Chip cardstock to 6 x 4. I roughed up the edges with my Making Memories Distressing tool.

Next I stamped my All Santas Reindeer image onto a piece of Vanilla cardstock. I used my Aqua Painter and Creamy Caramel ink to color the reindeer. Then I sponged around the edges with brown Stazon ink.

Finally I printed my recipe onto a piece of Vellum. Sponged around the edges. Lastly I adhered the Vanilla & Vellum layers to the Chocolate Chip cardstock by using four brown brads.

You can find more information about their weekly challenges here or here.

Splitcoast Stampers Variety Challenge

2009-10-02T06:55:00.003-04:00

As most of you know I tend to spend a good amount of time on Split Coast Stampers' website. The people there are so talented and very friendly.

Every week Favorite Grandma a.k.a Peggy brought us some fabulous ideas for the Scrapbooking Variety Challenge. Peggy has since taken a Design Team position for Scrap Attack Scrapbooking. I wish Peggy the best of luck on her endeavors at Scrap Attack.

So when I heard Splitcoast was looking for someone to fill the Variety Challenge Hostess slot, I was hesitant at first and sent my name in. I am now the new Variety Challenge Hostess.

Every Wednesday I will be posting a new challenge for you all.

365 Bust...

2009-10-02T06:50:00.002-04:00

I have given up on my 365 Project. I got so far behind on my photos I can not even catch up.

What I might start doing is just updated this blog with my daily/weekly happenings, scrapbook projects and card making creations.

Week #12 - Project 365

2009-03-23T09:56:00.002-04:00

Day 75 - Since I had the wine glasses out I decided to take a picture of my new Green colored wine glasses. I found them on clearance at Target and unfortunately they only have four left. I actually debating for a couple of days if I really wanted them and then I went back and bought them.

Day 76 - Since I made our Irish dinner on Sunday I had been wanting to make a Black Bean Salsa for a few days. So for St. Paddy's dinner we had Black Bean Salsa, Mexican Rice and Grilled Chicken. Oh and you can not forget the Sangria... lol

Day 77 - All I can say is AHHHHHH. We had a couple of days of "warm" weather, that being 55 degrees. I know I had posted a picture of the front of the house with a ton of snow. Now I'm posting a photo with the majority of the snow gone. Thankfully...

Day 78 - The boys had some of their friends over after school. Again it was another beautiful day out.

Day 79 - Happy Spring!!!! I noticed I had a couple of daffodils getting ready to open but haven't yet. I decided to talk a walk around the yard and found these beautiful white crocus in bloom. I

Day 80 - I wanted to make something fun for myself. I decided to sit down and go through my patterns. I found a pattern to make a handbag. I bought this cream and blue fabric. The fabric reminds me of a t-shirt and comfy jeans. I was surprised how fast and easy it was to sew this bag.

Day 81 - Well as you can see I made another bag. This time I used one of the other styles from my handbag patterns and made a slimmer version of it. Coincidentally, I holds two bottles of wine very nicely.

Week #11 - Project 365

2009-03-23T09:35:00.011-04:00

Day 68 - Our neighbors cat Brady was over. I went outside to sit with him. He walked off and found this hole in our front yard. He sat there and sniffed it and then starte to put his front leg in it. I have no idea of what made the hole and I sure do not want to find out.

Day 69 - Every Tuesday I volunteer for Nick's teacher. Today, I decided to take a picture of my school pass.

Day 70 - Nick was playing Guitar Hero and I tried to sneak a picture. He didn't want his picture taken so he moved away. When I said I wanted it for my picture of the day he was like okay you can take it. Forget it never mind..

Day 71 - You know spring is not too far off when you start seeing Robins in the yard. I have always wondered how the Robins can find the worms in the ground. Do they have like supersonic sensitive hearing???

Day 72 - I had made some chewy granola mix (recipe by Giada) yesterday and I decided I would have cottage cheese, blueberries, strawberries and granola ontop for breakfast. It was delicious and filling. I think I skipped lunch that day.

Day 73 - Yet another one of my sewing projects. This is an apron made with a checkered background with cherries on top. I lined it with red matching fabric and red ties.

Day 74 - Every year I invited my mother in law, sister in law and her husband for St. Patrick's dinner. This year I decided I was not going to make the traditional American corned beef and cabbage (last year I think I got a very tought cut and was not happy with the meal). This year I made a Beer Braised Beef Brisket, with Rissolo Potatoes and carrots. Anyway I decided to take a picture of my half set table.

Week #10 - Project 365

2009-03-23T09:21:00.002-04:00

Day 61 - We were leaving a store parking lot and noticed these cute little birds sitting in this small tree.

Day 62 - I was walking around and saw these pinecones on a tree. I decided to use my macro setting and get an upclose photo for the texture of the needles and cone.

Day 63 - I took this picture while we were at the beach. I thought it looked really nice.

Day 64 - By now you all should know I have been sewing little projects and selling them on my Etsy Shop. I made this wine "grocery" or gift bag out of the cutest fabric.

Day 65 - I am not much of a reader but I do have to say I loved the Davinci Code by Dan Brown.

Day 66 - You are going to hate seeing snow pictures as much as I hate the snow now. This was another snowstorm that dumped at least 8 -10 inches on us. So far this year we have had 80+ inches of snow.

Day 67 - I was talking with someone and told them a story of when Steve and I went to a pizza place and had a Stromboli for the first time. Man was that delicious. I decided to give it a try. I made the pizza dough and cut it in half. I made the boys a pretty basic stromboli. Then I made one for me and steve that started with the same meats as the boys but threw on some peppers, onions, garlic and mushrooms. I will definitely be making those more often.

Week #9 - Project 365

2009-03-23T08:59:00.006-04:00

Day 54 - Today I noticed our neighbors cat was up on the roof of their house. Yes, the roof of their house. I stood there watching Brady walk along the roof line, walk up the front pitch of the house and over above the garage. I'm not sure how he got down but he did safely.

Day 55 - Today is International Pancake Day. I know it was put on by IHOP but I didn't feel like driving there today. So I decided to make some pancakes for me and the boys. They had chocolate chips on theirs. I wanted some blueberries on mine. I took some frozen blueberries placed them in a saucepan with a little sugar, lemon rind and caradmon. I heated it for a few minutes until it started to make a sauce. Then I poured some on top of the pancakes and around the plate. It was delish....

Day 56 - The boys and I were on our way to Nick's dentist appointment as the sun was setting. Kyle took this picture as we were driving down the road.

Day 57 - Each week I my trip to the pet store to buy crickets for the frogs. Today the boys were with me and we saw this peacock walking around outside the building. It is a scrappy looking peacock. Do they shed their feathers??? Or is this one just old or sick???

Day 58 - Kyle had an appointment with an Oral Surgeon. They took one digital x-ray and it was on the screen in seconds.

Day 59 - I sold a few of my handmade recycled grocerys bag through my Etsy shop. So today I decided to take a picture of my packages being mailed to their new homes.

Day 60 - We decided to go on an adventure. We drove out to Salisbury Beach to see if we could see seals. We did see some seals (even with photoshopping the pictures they were all that great) but we did see something that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. We saw a snowy owl. As we drove into the park a crowd of people were taking photos of the owl on a log. On our way back we saw the owl sitting ontop of the utility pole. How cool is that.

Week #8 - Project 365

2009-03-23T08:31:00.010-04:00

I can not believe I have not updated my blog in five weeks.

Day 47 - What a winter it has been. These are some of the largest icicles I have seen on our house.

Day 48 - I was watching the Martha Stewart Show and they were making this yummy looking Boston Creme cupcakes. They weren't has hard to make as I thought.

Day 49 - I thought it was about time the boys started to do more chores around the house. So the new chore was to unload the dishwasher. They rotated days and didn't really complain.

Day 50 - This evening a storm front moved in. The sky just looked gloomy. It was pretty in real life but a little unnerving of what was to come.

Day 51 - Like I said in Day 50 entry you weren't sure of what was to come of that storm front. Well here it is another snowstorm dumping 6 or more inches on the ground. I was looking out the kitchen window and thought the sunrise with the new fallen snow was beautiful.

Day 52 - Kyle decided to warm up his toaster strudel frosting in the microwave. Well he punched in too much time and the thing exploded.

Day 53 - Sunday mornings are grocery shopping days. I usually am up at the crack of dawn. The grocery store opens at 7am (but usually let people in around 6:45) and I am there to beat the rush of crazy people. Oh wait you might think I'm the crazy one for going to the store at that hour, but I do have a reason. I can not stand it when people stop in the middle of the aisle to get something. I can not stand how congested the store gets much later than 8am. Those are just a few of my reasons.

Week #7 - Project 365

2009-02-18T13:52:00.005-05:00

Day 40 - Exercising. When I exercise I try to do it after my husband leaves for work and before my oldest son gets up for school. So you are talking between 5 - 6 am. However, there are days when I wait til after my youngest gets on the bus.

Day 41 - What is That? This is a very large wooden dog silhouette that stands off to the side of an exit ramp. I just look at it every time I pass it on the highway. We have no idea whay it is there but it is.

Day 42 - Homework. When the boys have homework either myself or my husband sits down and helps them out. This night Steve sat down to help Kyle with his homework because it was beyond my comprehension. I don't think I did that type of homework until 9th grade and he is doing it in the 7th grade.

Day 43 - Moonlight. This photo was actually taken first thing in the morning when I saw my husband drive off to work. I thought the moon was vibrant and loved the tree limbs in front it.

Day 44 - Valentine flowers. This week I have been sick and my husband picked up some beautiful roses for me. They were hot pink, peachy-coral and a stunning yellow. Did I ever mention how much I love that guy.

Day 45 - Pine Wood Derby. Yes, the cub scouts had their Pinewood Derby on Valentines Day. I was still under the weather so Steve took the boys. He was amazed at the new race track the cub scout pack had bought.

Day 46 - Zoomed In Rose. I thought I would try some of the settings on my digital camera. So I used the macro setting to get in real close to the rose and cropped it after taking the picture. I love all the layers of the petals.

Week #6 - Project 365

2009-02-18T13:30:00.004-05:00

Day 33 - Ground Hog Day. My question to everyone is why do we "celebrate" a furball. I mean come on. How can the groundhog not see his shadow with all those news agecies lights bulbs flashing. Besides if you look at the calendar it is 6 weeks of winter no matter how you look at it.

Day 34 - Mailbox. Where do I begin to tell you about this photo. Let's see. We have had so much snow it's not even funny. I had just cleared the road area in front of our regular mailbox and then that night we received snow/rain mix. The next morning I realized the plow truck had filled in the mailbox area. So I had to make a temporary mailbox. Don't you just love it..

Day 35 - Favorite Movies. I just love watching movies over and over. These are some of my favorite movies. I couldn't locate the other two.

Day 36 - Paint can. During the winter months my craftroom gets dreary and dark. I love the color combo of turquoise/brown/white. I decided I was going to repaint my craftroom a light turquoise color. It is called Atonement by Dutch Boy.

Day 37 - Beaver Damage. Last fall my husband showed me a little pond area where some beavers live. I was on my way back from Target and drove by this pond. I stopped quickly and made sure do one was behind and snapped this picture. I guess the beavers didn't finish before the snow started to fly.

Day 38 - Scouts Blue & Gold Banquet. As most of you know every year the cub scouts celebrate by having a Blue & Gold Banquet. This is when all the scouts move up in rank. Nicholas wanted dad to go up with him for the candle ceremony.

Day 39 - Cooking together in the kitchen. This was a Sunday afternoon and we all had gone to the grocery store. Steve and I had put the groceries away and decided to make some treats. It is not common to find in the kitchen helping me cook, so I took the shot while I could.

Week #5 - Project 365

2009-02-18T12:45:00.013-05:00

This was a challenging week. We all got through it.

Day 26 - Medicine Cabinet. Well it really isn't the medicine cabinet but it was enough. These are the medicines that my oldest son (pneumonia) and my husband (surgery) were prescribed on the same day. While nursing the two of them back to health my husband called my his Florence Nightingale with wings.. awww.... I just love him so much!

Day 27 - The Bandage. I hope I don't gross any of you out by posting this picture. This is the big ole bandage my husband was sporting for the first two days after surgery.

Day 28 - Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder... When ever I see bluebirds I remember a part of a movie that I can not remember for the life of. I have never seen a bluebird until I moved to this house. For the past three winters I have been in awe at these little guys. This was the highlight of my week (other than my family getting better).

Day 29 - Hazardous Waste Dump. Yes, that is what I call my youngest son's bedroom. I cringe as I walk by this room. I usually end up shutting the door. I helped him clean his room one weekend and by the next weekend it was a mess again. I asked him about it and he said "Just face it mom I'm a slob!" Yup, I guess that makes everything okay, NOT!

Day 30 - My Kitchen. My husband and I just repainted our kitchen and bought a new table set. I just love it. I know I have posted pictures (outside of the Project 365) but I just love how it came out. When I walk into the kitchen I just get a smile on my face.

Day 31 - Kyle working. My oldest son was feeling much better by the weekend so I had him work on some of the schoolwork I had picked up the day before. By the looks of the picture I think he was feeling a whole lot better.

Day 32 - Weekly Dinner menu. I got this idea from my friend Donna. I sit down each Saturday/Sunday (before grocery shopping Sunday morning) and write out our dinners for the week. I find this helps with the grocery shopping and less of the same meals each week.

Thanks for looking.

Week #4 - Project 365

2009-02-18T12:13:00.010-05:00

Boy have the past 2-3 weeks been a chore. My oldest son was under the weather. After three trips to the doctor's office we found out he had pnuemonia. This happened to be the same week my husband had surgery for his skin cancer. On that Wednesday there was a snow day. So I had all three of my guys home with me... The week after that seemed normal (if there is ever such a thing). Then everything went downhill for me. I ended up with some combination of the flu/cold. For the past two days I have felt the best in over a week.

Well I won't bore you with anymore of my ramblings. The following are my Pictures of the Day for the past 4 weeks.

Day 19 - Our snowy house. At this point we have had half of last year's snow amount. Yes, that it quite a bit of snow out there and I'm ready for it to be done with.

Day 20 - Inauguration Day. Well today is the day that I never thought I would see. Our first African-American President. I sat glued to the televistion set watching the coverage of the Inauguration of President Obama.

Day 21 - Winter sunrise. My mornings usually start out by getting a cup of coffee, saying goodbye to my husband before he leaves for work and then helping the boys get ready for school. As I stand in my kitchen spacing out the window this is what I am greeted with every morning. I love the sunrises and the sunsets.

Day 22 - Wedding bands. I had taken my rings off to wash them or to put lotion on. My mind wandered back to the day my husband and I looked at engagement rings. Then my mind went to our wedding. The third ring is my grandmothers wedding ring she gave me for my high school graduation. I just love all three of them.

Day 23 - Wedding doll. Speaking of weddings, my mother had given me a Gibson Girl Wedding Doll as a gift. She is truly beautiful.

Day 24 - Cold New England Beach. My husband and oldest son actually took this picture. I was at a cub scout function with my youngest son. The two of them had gone out to Newburyport and walked along the beach. They had seen some seals out on the jetty. Then they drove on over to Seabrook and took this lovely photo of the inlet. Well I think it's lovely even though you can see the Seabrook Nucleur Power Plant in the background.

Day 25 - Ice Cold Beer Mug. Ahh..... It's nice to just sit and enjoy a nice ice cold beer.

Thanks for looking.

Week #3 - Project 365

2009-01-18T14:48:00.018-05:00

This week for my Project 354 photos I looked at my week in things I use everyday. You know the things that you just wouldn't take a picture of. So this leads me into my photo descriptions.

Day 12 - My car keys. We are always going somewhere, taking the kids to school, going to the grocery store, etc. What would we do out here in the "country" without a car.

Day 13 - Packing a Lunchbox. Everyday I'm up packing the boys their lunch.

Day 14 - My Favorite website. Well do we really need to discuss this one. My favorite website is Split Coast Stampers. You will find me on the website at the crack of dawn every morning. I usually have my morning "chat" with my cyber sisters every morning. Then they usually have work to go to or kids to drop off at school. I usually pop in from time to time during the day. I have made some great friends through SCS.

Day 15 - RECYCLE GROCERY BAGS. My boys have been insisting on recycling paper/cardboard/plastic. I bought a few of the store recycle bags and find them ugly and boring. So I have been making these to give away and to sell. They are the exact size of a regular plastic market bag.

Day 16 - Outside Temperature. Yes this day was the coldest we have seen in a long time. I know it isn't the best photo but it hasn't been that cold since the photo.

Day 17 - Family bowling. I had an itch to get out of the house and do something as a family. We went bowling. For the first time I won a game. WOOHOO!!!!

Day 18 - Ipod. I love listening to my music when I am cleaning or just trying to ignore the people in my house. Oops, did I really say that. Yes, I go into a zone and have to crank up the music. Usually I feel much better and get a lot done around the house.

I hope everyone has a great week. Stay safe.

Week #2 - Project 365

2009-01-11T14:16:00.004-05:00

I am really liking this challenge. I keep thinking of different photos I can take during the days. But then remember I already took my "365" pic of the day.

Day 5 - What could be better on a cold New England day, but a bowl of chicken corn chowder. The recipe was a little more soupy than chowdery (if that is a word). It was still yummy.

Day 6 - Thank You Card. I received this beautiful card from my cyber sister Donna. I love the colors together. Thanks Donna...

Day 7 - Ladybug. I always thought of Ladybugs were summer bugs. That was until we moved here and noticed we got quite a few during the winter months. Apparently they come inside to stay warm. This is considered my Hmm... photo.

Day 8 - Firebellied Toad - I had a little help setting this picture up from Nicholas. We bought the boys these frogs, yes I said frogs (I did a little research and found they are a frog rather than the toad), for Christmas 2007. They are the coolest frogs I have ever seen. I love the bright orangy bellies. Why did I take this picture, well I do feed them a couple times a week and I think the way they stalk the food is pretty kewl. Yes, I'm weird.

Day 9 - Armillary (An old astronomical model with solid rings, all circles of a single sphere, used to display relationships among the principal celestial circles).. This is a cool decoration we have in our house. I'm pretty sure it is for the yard but I like it so much we have it inside.

Day 10- My boys sitting nicely together (for once). Nick is helping Kyle on a video game. Even though I was sick on the couch I had to get up and get the camera out. See I'm dedicated to this project.

Day 11 - Our Backyard. Overnight a snow storm came through and has lasted the majority of today. This is our lovely (well not during the winter months) backyard. Doesn't the pool look cold.

Hope you all enjoy my pictures for this week. Thanks for stopping by.

Project 365 - Week #1

2009-01-04T09:36:00.013-05:00

Let's start 2009 with a Challenge. Or a resolution if you look at it that way. Everyone knows I like to scrapbook. Project 365 was created by Becky Higgins of Creating Keepsakes. She is challenging people to take a picture a day everyday of 2009. This way you have something to look back on for the whole year and not just those special trips or parties.

I will be posting my day pictures but on a weekly basis generally on Sunday morning.

My first week pictures are:

Day 1 - New Year, New Day and what better way to start my day/year off with my morning coffee in my favorite mug.

Day 2- McCartney Gathering. My sister-in-law and family were visiting from FL and we all went out to dinner the night before they left. This picture is of my mother-in-law and three sister-in-laws.

Day 3 - My Favorite Ornament is the frosted glass ball ornament with a metallic deer.

Day 4 - Fresh Baked Coffee Cake. The house smells delicious from the Sour Cream Coffee cake that is baking as I type.

From the Vineyard

2009-01-03T09:57:00.003-05:00

Today I decided to do something crafty. Splitcoast Stampers has challenges everyday of the week and Saturday's is their Inspiration challenge. For today's challenge you had to create something from Cake Nouveau's website. I loved the Vineyard cake and decided that was my inspiration.

My card is a stand size 4.25 x 5.5 card (well 4.25 x 11 but folded in half). I used So Saffron cardstock for the base of the card. Then I stamped my Wine List stamp by Inkadinkadoo in So Saffron ink to make my background. I have enjoyed using my Storybook Cricut Cartridge to make my margue shapes. The larger one was cut out of Old Olive paper and the smaller one was cut from vanilla. I sponged the edges of the olive with matching ink. I sketched a viney looking border around the vanilla. My grapes are made from Eggplant paper which I used my CM circle punch. I sponged each of the circles to give the grapes some depth. Then I layered them on to the marque. My leaves were cut from the Storybook cartridge and layered together. I added the hemp as a last thought.

I'm pretty happy with the way it came out..

Happy Birthday Sheila!!!

2009-01-02T07:08:00.006-05:00

My Mother-In-Law is a New Year's baby. So every year for atleast the past 10 years we have family and some close friends over for a New Year's Eve party. During the party we celebrate Sheila's birthday with a cake.

This year's party theme was Poker. I browsed the internet for some ideas on a cake and found a cake that looked like a dice. The original cake had regular frosting on but I wanted to challenge myself and use Fondant for the very first time. Boy was it a labor of love. I realized I was suppose to put a thin layer of regular icing on the cake before the fondant. So New Year's Eve morning I was in a panic looking for the ingredients to make the frosting. It looked like I would have to make the zillionth trip to the grocery store until I pulled everything out of the baking cabinet and found what I was looking for. AHHHHH what a relief. I eventually got the cakes baked, cooled, stacked and frosted. Then came time to put some elbow grease into rolling out the fondant. Oh boy.. What a labor of love that is. With that done I continued onto melting the backs of the Wilton Dark Cocoa Premium Candy Melts® chips for the numbers on the dice. I'm not Martha Stewart but I think it came out pretty nice looking.

Christmas Ornament Money holder

2009-01-01T09:14:00.005-05:00

As the nieces and nephews get older we have been giving them money for Christmas. While I was out Christmas shopping I picked up a package of money card holders. On the package it said 17 and figured that would be enough for the kids. As we were getting them ready I was like utoh. There were only 4 in the pack. now what do I do. Well we used a couple on Christmas Eve and in the back of my head I knew I was getting the Storybook Cartridge from Cricut. I had been browsing some blogs and came across this one. http://www.stamperspad.com/home/. I scrolled down and saw the scalloped circle Christmas ornament money/gift card holder. Bingo the light bulb went off and that is what I made. Christmas afternoon I was down in my craftroom putting these together as fast as I could. My mother-in-law liked them so much she said she would like to make some for next Christmas.

Bye Bye Ugly Vanilla

2008-12-29T05:23:00.014-05:00

It has been two years since we bought the house and the only room that has not been painted at least once is the kitchen. I loved the blue kitchen tiles when we first bought the house. I hate cleaning the white grout. I guess I can complain about the kitchen for several reasons (bad lighting, ugly color, etc).

The picture on the right has the grey primer on it. I think it looks better than the vanilla.

My vision for the kitchen is dark red walls with a colorwash technique ontop. Eventually I would love to have granite counters put in but that is not in the budget right now, so I figured the dark red would tone down the blue counters.

We spent forever the other day putting in new recessed light, oh what a chore that was. The ceiling was starting to look like Swiss cheese. Atleast that is what I was telling everyone. Steve ran into strapping that shouldn't have been there or double wide joist. I was quite surprised he didn't swear as much as I have heard in the past. lol.. Oh by the way in this photo the kitchen looks like fire engine red and it's not. We only had one light that works and the flash made the red look awful.

This weekend we bought a new pub style table & chairs, which we are picking up tonight. I can not wait. I had a calendar for 2008 that had chefs on it. So I bought some 8x10 picture frames, cut down the pictures and placed them in the frames. I think they look great and can not wait to place them on the wall above the table. For Christmas Steve bought me a wine piece art which will be flanked by four other chef frames. Are you sensing a theme hear??? wine & cooking. hehehe....

This morning I will be painting the ceiling. Did I mention we are having people over for New Year's Eve. I guess I better get a move on things.

Well here is the finished project. I love the rich dark color of the wall with the dark color of the table. Steve got home a little early from work on New Year's Eve and we quickly hung the pictures on the wall.

Hold 'Em or Fold

2008-12-29T05:14:00.003-05:00

Every New Year's Eve Steve and I have a gathering at our house. We have done this for the past 10 years (well that is as far back as I can remember).

After much deliberating I come up with a theme. We have done Pizza, Mexican, Chinese, BBQ well you get the idea. This year is Poker themed. The boys were playing with a deck of cards the other day and I sat there for a few minutes wondering what kind of invitation I could come up with. The light bulb went on in my head and I came running down to my craftroom and starting cutting the paper. I wanted the invitation to look like you were holding some cards. I decorated the "backside" with a patterned paper. Then I stamped the "face" side with my acrylic heart, diamond, clubs & spade stamps. I placed a brad in the bottom lefthand corner to fan the cards so you can see the information.

Oh La La

2008-12-08T08:49:00.003-05:00

Splitcoast has a challenge everyday of the week. Monday's are Technique Lover's Challenge. So for today's challenge you were to make a wine glass shade out of vellum paper. They provided a template to use. The first time I tried making one I realized my wine glass mouth was too large for the template. So I remembered I had a set of glass stemmed votive holders and used them.

As I was planning the shade I thought of a specific stamp set and the embellishments to go with it. About a month or so ago I had ordered the French Quarter Stamp set by Inque Boutique. I stamped a full sheet of vellum with my Inque Boutique French Quarter stamp set in black stazon ink. Then I traced the template onto the vellum and cut. The embellishments I used were black velvet ribbon and black fringe. I felt this gave the shade a little French Flair.