Weekend brought out the jeweler in me

This weekend we headed to Pennsylvania to visit my husband's brother and daughter and to meet some wonderful new people that we are crossing our fingers will become family in the future.

My husband's brother lives way out in the boonies where one of the biggest towns is named Lancaster.  We headed to Lancaster for a late, and I do mean late as in lunch late, breakfast and on the outskirts of Lancaster I found the most wonderful little bead shop called Lancaster Bead Company. They have stones and beads you can't just walk into Michaels or JoAnn's and buy so needless to say I got the jewelry making itch again.

My niece was with us and found some glass pearls and a watch face that she really liked so I said I would make it into a necklace for her to wear to homecoming. I worked on it today and here it is.

I had my daughter wear it so I could get a decent picture. She's 7 and the girl who it is for is 15 so it's long on my daughter.

This was my bead mess while I was being creative today. I even made a necklace for my daughter. She's been bugging to have a necklace like mommy so I let her pick out the beads and this is what we got.

Very American, don't you think? She loves it though and that's all that counts. Those are blue, not black, beads.

Pop Top Can Gift

Crafts on a Whim has this wonderful idea that will surprise a friend and make you look very crafty and imaginative.

I had this link show up on my Facebook page this morning and when I checked it out, I liked it so much I had to post it to my blog. What a great little gift and easy to do too!

Pop Top Can Surprise

Don't be surprised if you get one of these from me as a present. : )

Deer Birthday Card Holder

It's been a short day because I've been sitting next to my Cricut since noon and have only gotten one project done so far and it's now after 6 p.m.. Where did the day go? Oh I know, I have kids and I have to stop every 5 minutes to stop quarrels, fill a glass of juice, feed them (You'd think they should be able to fen for themselves by now.), and just hold them (Okay, this is the plus side). It was part of the mommy contract I signed with God when I decided to have the mini-me's.

The first thing I made was this card holder for my niece. I used the Cricut Cartridge Pasley for the holder and deer. I used the Cricut cartridge Simply Charmed for the Happy Birthday sentiment. The paper is from the stack titled "Life's Little Occasions" by K and Company. I bought the paper for it's bright colors and bold designs.

What I really like about this little holder is the deer. His face was the printed side of the pink paper and I didn't like the design so I used dark brown ink on it and clear embossing powder to give it a raised, shiny appearance. You can't see it that well in this picture. Bummer.

This little card opens up to hold a gift card in place for a special someone we'll get to see this weekend.

August Already!Where did

Where did our July go? Is anyone else wondering. It seems as you get older the days go faster and you get less accomplished or that's the way it works for me.

I had a explosion box evening this weekend with friends and showed them how to make the cute little boxes but I have to be honest and say mine didn't turn out and will probably find it's way into the trash bin. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

The big news for me, which I am on pins and needles over, is that I broke down and bought a new die cutting machine. I have invested in the Sizzix eClips and am waiting for it to arrive. I ordered it last week and then got a message that the order is on hold because the company is waiting for a new shipment. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!

If you want to know how this machine works, check out the link...eclips

This video only gave you a hint of the stuff this machine can do and it's suppose to have even more extra goodies. My fingers are crossed.

I'll let you know what it's like when I get it. I am keeping my Circut Expression. I would be a fool to get rid of it and my around 60 cartridges. I have too much money invested in my Expression but I wanted a machine that could do some extras without paying a ton of money so now I'll have two fancy die cutting machines to play with.

Let the crafting begin!

sunflower shadow box

I just finished my third shadow box. The first one I made went to a dear friend who was expecting and the second one I made went to another dear friend who got married and now I just made another. I'm not for sure if this will go to anyone or hang in my house?

It's a 5x 7 black frame shadow box from Michael's. Here are pictures of the things I used to put it together.

I used the new Cricut Flower Shoppe cartridge for the sunflowers. I wanted something for the summer that was cheerful. I used black glitter glue from the Martha Stewart Halloween collection in the middle of my flowers.

 Then I used paper from The DCSV Celebration stack and embellishments from Studio 112 and Recollections.

Here's a view before I put it in the shadow box.









In case you can't read the sentiment it says, All things grow with love.

Chistmas in July 2011

Don't you love the holidays? We have a little break right now but once Labor Day comes we're on a roll through Easter so I guess it's time to start getting ready.  At least for me, I'm a procrastinator and always meet myself coming and going.

This past week I got a message that one of the sites I like to visit was doing a one hour challenge so I thought, what the heck I can do that. Their theme was Christmas cards and you had to use either twine, buttons and something else that I can't remember. Buttons was the only thing that really stuck in my mind because I don't have 3/4 of my crafting stuff in Virginia but I do have buttons that I just bought.  I started working and got one card done.

I had a ready made card  so I cut a tree shape out of and used Mod Podge on the tree and then sprinkled glitter. I love Mod Podge and need a shout out to my friend Ruthie for introducing it to me. The ziz zaz red felt is actually from a Valentine's box kit from Oriental Trading. I used a stamp for the trees in the background and glued my buttons on. The gift and sled are buttons too and I used Mod Podge and gold glitter on a button for the tree topper.  It took me about a half hour to complete and then I was on to the second card or so I thought...


It was children's bedtime and they picked right during the challenge to have melt downs. I tried to talked them out of their tantrums so I could continue but they won in the end or at least they subconsciously thought.

After I got them to bed, I decided even though I couldn't get a second card made for the challenge I still could a second card made for me. 

 I didn't follow the challenge and did my own thing but I like it.  I took a pre-made card again and this time put Mod Podge around the edges and added glitter. When the Mod Podge and glitter dried and I went back over the glitter one more time with Mod Podge to seal it in. I stamped the snowmen on a white card stock and colored them in with colored pencils. I'm too cheap to pay for Copic markers yet. I added Liquid Pearls for the buttons and there, another Christmas card done in time for Christmas. : )

Toilet Paper Roll Vase

What do you do with all those toilet paper rolls? You can put them in the recycle box or you can grab a few to keep your kids busy.

 

I took a few rolls and cut scrap paper out in 7 x 7 inch squares. I let the kids decorate the paper. Then I laid the roll on the paper and scored it about 1 and 5/8 inches on the bottom end and about 3/4 inch on the other. Cut the ends up to the score lines so they can be folded inside the tube on the 3/4 inch end and overlap and be glued to make a bottom on the 1 and 5/8 inch end.

Take pipe cleans and double them or wind two together to make a stem. You need them thick so they can handle the weight of the paper flowers.  Cut out flower designs in different sizes (I used my Cricut) and let the kids decorate their flowers with markers, crayons or paint and colored pencils. Add a center for your flower. I used a pompom but you can use anything like cotton balls or buttons. Poke a small hole in the center of the flower and poke through a small piece of the pipe cleaner, bend it over and glue down. Then glue your flower center in place and put your flowers in their vase. : )