The Card Trends Blog currently has a challenge going on for "lovey dovey cards" that DON'T use pink or red! Ack! What? How in the world....
Many, many months ago (November, to be exact) I saw a fantastic post at Infarrantly Creative on how to make a Bonheur Necklace. I bookmarked it and have kept it in my mind for... well, 3 months! I finally found the beads at the Goodwill a few weeks back and started my project. The necklace that I bought (for about $2) was originally a three strand choker. I took it apart, re-strung it and then set it aside. Today I finally finished it by making the organza flower. I didn't do any sort of tutorial because the post that I saw it on has a great step-by-step. Check it out by clicking HERE.
.
Head on over to Sutton Grace for a fab blog-aversary give away. While you are there, check out her blog... I am a bit addicted. This blog is linked on my right-side tool bar and I hop over there several times a week... and have yet to be disappointed. Hurry over and enter before Feb 5th when she will announce the winners! (Thanks for the great give away, Erin!)
Lately I have been seeing tons of blog posts (mostly at a personal fave site, Blue Cricket Designs) revolving around re-purposing and re-crafting the old into new. This last Wednesday I was blog hopping (for HOURS... don't tell... shhhhh) and became personally inspired to give this a go. So Thursday I set out with a mission. Recently a new Goodwill opened up near my home (about 10 minutes away in the next town over) so I went to troll for trash. Yep... trash. Garbage. Nasty and useless. BINGO!! I found it!! Here is my find:
.
Ugly, right?? You aint seen nothin' yet... check out this close up:
:
Yep... that's metallic mauve and teal fabric on that baby, ruffles and all! I'm not sure if you can see all of the dirt and stains (mold?) on the bow and along the top of the mirror frame but... let's just say that I had to wash my hands after the next step:
That's a whole lot of ugly!! Here's what I was left with:
I started by taking 2 sheets of 12x12" paper (Pink Paislees' Valentine's Day stuff) and cutting it into 1"x 6" strips. I started wrapping them around the frame (the thing with foam on it) one at a time. I attached them in the back using scotch tape. I overlapped each one slightly over the last until I made it all of the way around the frame, which surprisingly only took about 10 minutes. Then I tied one yard of ribbon around the top of the frame to create a hanger. I used hot glue to sandwich the mirror between the frame and the backer board. Here's the finished product:
Cute, right?? I'm not sure if you have you noticed yet but, I'm a sucker for polka dots!
.
And notice the cute little fox I stamped directly onto the mirror? He's so cute!! Here's a close up of the finished mirror frame:
That last pic shows you a great view of the strips of paper. I used stickles to randomly highlight some of the polka dots. I also took one of the strips of left over paper (I only had about 3 strips left over) and cut it in half. I folded each half accordian style and glued them over the green ribbon to add some depth.
I don't know about you but I love the way this turned out. It's going to look adorable hanging in noodle & bean's bedroom!!
I have created and begun managing a blog for my LSS, Scrappin' Time LLC in Derby, Kansas. Check it out?
.I finally attended a crop! And I finished 4 LOs... well, almost. I have one left to finish (we'll talk about that later).
And here's some detail of the bird (i LOVE the colors of this Bo Bunny paper!) and the title (thickers, of course):
The next one is made using a piece of Lime Ricky paper by Basic Grey:
Whoa baby that's a bad photo of it!! LOL. Here's a close upthat will do a little better job of showing off that fantastic paper. I cut one of the flowers out from the patterned paper (then covered it up using the green matting) and made the embelishment using my fiskars cutting blade (the orange one with the wishbone handle). I love the pop of dimension that it gives the LO:
I love that plum floral paper (Wisteria, by Basic Grey), the glitter thickers (Bean is Kayla's nic-name) and the amazing blue ribbon from May Arts. The bird is a covered chipboard shape by Jenni Bowlin. But... now what?? What am I missing? journaling strips up the right side of the photo? stitching along the top and bottom of where the purple embossed paper meets the patterned paper? Help!! Well, my blog has had a little make over. I hadn't intended on changing it but I sort of got bored with the old one. Then I stumbled across this cute background and... well.... an hour later I have a new background, header and footer. What do you think??
Looking for a cute blog background? Click on the link at the top left to go to "Cutest Blog on the Block". I have used tons from their site and love them, plus... they're FREE!
My LSS carries a lot of Basic Grey, which is a brand that I'm not typically drawn to. But some of their new stuff is just too fun!! The papers used on this LO are from the line "Sugar Rush". This LO was made from a single sheet of patterned paper by using both the front and back patterns as well as plenty of "white space". Here's the LO:
Sorry about the funky angle. I was propping it up against something sort of last minute. This one will be on display at my LSS for a bit. I intimidated myself with that funky pattern (the one used on the vertical stripe) but I really love the colors. Lime green, pink, soft yellows and gorgeous blues. Yum. The stickers are also from the "Sugar Rush" line. A whole set of red alphas with gentle polka dots for $1.50! yes... alphas for less than two bucks! Score!
It's no secret that I haven't had much time to create new things lately. This week has been no exception. I am taking a very condensed class that is, once again, sucking the life out of me. Typically the Managerial Accounting class that I am taking is offered twice a week for the entire 16 week semester. I am taking the exact same class in a two week period. Every day (M-F) for 4.5 hours a day! I have finished the first full week (woot!) and have completed 6 quizzes and an exam. I am sitting at an 85% so it's going well! One more week and this class is OVER. yay! Then the actual semester starts and a whole new adventure. As most of you know, this will be my final semester because I am graduating with my Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing on May 15th. Just over 4 months away. Wow. I'm gonna finally do it! I am thrilled. Going back to school as an adult with young kids (my girls are 7 and 5) has been a crazy adventure. Some of these classes have kicked my butt. Some have been exciting and inspiring. And a lot have just been blah. But the whole experience has been empowering. This semester also brings a new and exciting experience: an internship!! I am in the final interview process for one that I really want. I will know this next week and can hardly breath in anticipation. I'll let you know when I have some news. :)
...scrapping!! Well, I started 2010 by having Kayla (who's 5) crawl into my bed around 3am and pee on me. Yep. All over me, the bed, blech. So I had to force Jared to wake up so that we could change the sheets (luckily, she missed the blankets). I also had to change my clothes and Kayla's and wash up. What fun, huh? The joys of mommy-hood. :)
This next card uses more of the Bo Bunny (paper and die cut), this lace is also from Webster's Pages and the pink beads, sparkly ribbon and blue thickers are from the Sept kit at JuJu Bees. 
My mojo is still flowing so I think I am going to go make something else. I'll let you know if I come up with anything brilliant! lol.I have to say that I am very glad that today marks the first day of 2010! Last year was the craziest, funnest, hardest, sadest, happiest year of my life. Here is a quick (QUICK) run down of 2009:
* Finished ten more classes towards my Bachelor's degree in Marketing. That means just 5 more this Spring and I will be graduating May 2010! Just 5 more months and I am done!! Woot!
* Spent 5 days in NYC. See all of the photos and highlights HERE. Have I mentioned how much I absolutely LOVE that city?? I am smitten.
* I was chosen for the Dotty Divas Design Team. This is a great challenge blog with fantastic prizes. Check it out here: www.dottydivas.blogspot.com
* My mom passed away on July 18th. The only word that I can use to describe this is: heartbreak.
* We traveled to Washington (we live in Kansas) for my mom's memorial service. While in the Northwest we visited Seattle, Portland and Canon Beach, Oregon. On the way home we drove through (and camped in) Yellowstone, visited Mt Rushmore and 2,000 miles of scenic America! See the pics on THIS post.
*I completely STRUGGLED through Calculus this last semester. I cried, curses and yelled my way through it but... I passed!! Thank you Jesus for helping me through this.
* We celebrated Emily's 7th Birthday, Kayla's 5th, Jared and I each turned 31 and Jared and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.
As you can see.... quite a year!!
I am looking forward to 2010. I am obviously looking forward to graduation (YAY!) and looking forward to a new career. I am nervous about the job search but confident that God has a place for me and because He knows me so well, it is going to be an amazing job that will have made all of this hassle worth the tassel. ;)
So... Here's to 2010!! Cheers!
Another project! This crop over at JuJu Bees has given me so much inspiration!! Here it is, made with the Snorkel line by Cosmo Cricket:
Here is the post showing how to make it: How About Orange Paper Flower Ornament.
Ok, that post title was a stretch in trying to be witty and cute. LOL. I made this card today for the "shaped card" challenge going on with the JuJu Bees Crop this weekend. There's only a couple of hours left to submit projects and I have to say... it has been such a nice way to spend a weekend!! If you missed the crop... don't worry, there's always fun challenges and tutorials being posted, head over and take a look?
Here is my Christmas tree card. I used scrabble tiles and lots of scraps of paper. I added an easel back to this card so that the receiver can use it as Christmas decor as well. Wouldn't this be super cute in your office?
Today is officially the first day of Christmas vacation at our house! No school for anyone (DH did have to work, though) so I spent the afternoon in my craft room. I cleaned off my desk (which had been neglected for months while homework stole all of my time away) and made two fun and really cool projects.
The second project of the day is a giant, pink snowflake! The finished snowflake is about 16" (yes, SIXTEEN INCHES) across:
Isn't this cool?? My suggestions: Use good glue. Hot glue would be best. I used my Tombow and it is only holding so-so. I have been reinforcing some of the points with my Zip Dry. I want to make more but I need to find my hot glue gun first. I also want to look for some type of plastic sheets so that I can make some to hang outside!I ran across the cutest idea the other day out there in blog land. I was checking out Blue Cricket Designs and found her tutorial for "Christmas pop top cans" and fell in love! That night for dinner I made sure to use two can (Delmonte fruit) so that I could use for the girls' teacher gifts. She has a great description on how to make them so head over there for the details. Here are the ones that I made using My Minds Eye and Bo Bunny papers. They are filled with candy and chapstick! I wish someone would make one of these cutie patootie things for me!! Perhaps with a nummy starbucks gift card inside... hmmm..... I may have to just give myself a gift this year! lol!
Here they are from the top view...
How cute are these?? and a close up of the pull tab top:
The girls will be taking them to school tomorrow (along with the fleece scarves posted below)... I can't wait to hear if they were a hit!! Wait... what am I thinking?? Of course they will be a hit! They are love in a can, afterall!! Thanks for the idea BCD!Last week I bought some fleece in order to make ruffle scarves for my girls and their teachers for Christmas gifts. Problem is... I can't get my sewing machine to work! So the cut fleece has been sitting in the Hobby Lobby bag since then. Sad. But I was blog hopping today and found a great no-sew fleece scarf tutorial!! (Check out the original post on Creative Jewish Mom) So I ran and grabbed my fleece and popped out all four scarves in about three hours. The girls are getting these girly ones:
And their teachers are getting ones in the school colors!! I found the perfect color of green and then a black with white paw prints (their mascot is a wildcat and they often use paws on... well... everything!) so it was perfect! And the fleece was on sale so I only paid $6 for ALL four scarves!! Here is my youngest modeling one of the wildcat scarves:
These are SO easy to make!! You start with two strips of fleece, 1/4 of a yard wide (about 5.5"), a pair of good scissors, a ruler and a marker.
You snip 2.5" deep every 1/2" along ONE side. Instead of measuring the 2" every time I just used a marker and drew a temporary mark on the top blade of my scissors (see the pic below), then I knew to cut only that deep and it made it super easy to get my strips even.
Then all you have to do is lay the two pieces side by side...
and start knotting!! I double knotted all of them, just to be sure. But it holds really well so you don't have to sew a single thing!! I also love the back side which looks like this: 
The semester is over and I made it out alive!!! LOL. I am still waiting on some of my grades but at least I stuck it out and finished. Looking forward to graduating in just FIVE MONTHS!! So excited!! Thanks for being patient with me, gals. I have been making some stuff and will get it photographed and posted asap!
I am also looking forward to the crop at JuJu Bee's this weekend. Here's the info:
(click to go to the JuJu Bees website)
and this semester will be OVER. And I can breath again!! So for anyone who checks back in, hoping for some great inspiration or witty posts... sorry!! By next Friday I have to:
1. Write a 20 page paper on consumer behavior
2. Take a Calculus final
3. Take my Geology 300 final (from the class I took last SPRING!)
4. Take my Algebra final (from the class I took this summer)
5. Take my Consumer Behavior final
6. Take my Marketing Research final
7. Turn in my Marketing Research project/oral presentation
8. Create a marketing event/plan for an internship interview
Add to that some social engagements and trying to keep my kids from destroying the house.... and I'm beat! I am bummed that I haven't created anything for so long. But it'll be over soon and I am going to PLAY in my scrap room soon.... promise!
Until then... just keep checking back in with me... I'll be back soon! :o)
I didn't receive your email with your mailing address... can you send it again?
my email is erin_manning_@hotmail. com (with no spaces).
THANK YOU!!!!
