Hi everyone – just sort of a miscellaneous post for you today with a few few projects that I have been meaning to share. I’m uploading all of these to my Etsy Shop so I wanted to blog about them here, too.
SIDENOTE: You might wonder why I am always mentioning items in my Etsy Shop. Sorry if it’s annoying – but its my way of keeping this blog going & paying for all that it entails! Yes, that includes the crafting supplies & fun toys like my new camera I just ordered (yay!). I am doing my best to pay for my hobby through making the items that I love. It makes it much easier and I feel less guilty when I want to buy a new toy. The good news is that you all benefit from this when I share with you some new pics, and also some new layouts using my new Epson printer that I just bought. (SUPER excited about that one. ) Anyway, NONE of that would even be possible without all of you awesome readers, so thanks for being patient & listening to me babble on and on….
ANYHOO – onto the stuff!
These are some more Tic Tac Holders. I had to some that were more boy-themed. Here is what I came up with. Love these stamps. I will be offering these for sale as a set of 4, you choose the designs you want.
Some more Ghirardelli holders using Whimsie Doodles stamps. I printed these on blue cardstock & used my Copics to color in a few details on the fish.
Lastly, some hot cocoa sliders using more of the stamps from Whimsie Doodles. I can’t get enough of these stamps – they are just too funny!
and I know I am a little biased because I love photography & all – but I think this one might be my fave. This is a great one to give to all the Photographer’s in your life…!
hope you guys are having a great week! I will be anxiously watching for the UPS man to deliver my new printer so that I can get started on some layouts. Hehe
I used some SUPER adorable digital stamps on these from Whimsie Doodles. How funny are they? (“I really MUSTACHE you to be mine”. HAHA!)
The stamps at this website really crack me up. They have so many fun ones to choose from – I have to say thank you to Melyssa, the owner of Whimsie Doodles for sending me these fun Valentine stamps to try out. I can’t wait to show you the other projects I’ve come up with using these.
For those of you who are tired of the same “themey” (expensive)Valentine Cards that you buy in the store, this post is for you. Brooke is not school aged yet, but I’m sure that when we get there, she will have a LOT of little friends to hand out Valentines to. I thought I would share how to save a little money and make some yourself. (ones that are way cuter!)
Not only are these inexpensive, they are unique and ADORABLE! You can find these awesome free printables on Lori’s blog. I simply printed them out on a color printer, cut them up and adhered to some colored cardstock. I added some stamping to the back to address the Valetines & that’s it, done!
Lori is SUPER talented. She has an Etsy shop with some adorable prints (a few of which I will definitely be buying to decorate Brooke’s playroom!) PLEASE remember: if you download these free images, remember they are for personal use ONLY. IÂ saw this post recently on Lori’s blog and it made me sad. I think it’s just a really crappy thing to do to someone who is giving so much of themselves to others. (people really stink sometimes!)
I think the rocket ship is my fave… it’s so darn cute. These are so much better than anything you buy in store. So…don’t buy any in store, OK? Be sure to print these, and then thank Lori for being so awesome and making them available to us for free. Â
I’ve been trying to use my Silhouette more for cardmaking in addition to scrapbooking. I found some really cute digital cut files in the Silhouette online store so I decided to make some cute cards out of them…
This cut file is from Lori Whitlock. I used a favorite Hero Arts background Cling Stamp to stamp the text background on this pink cardstock. I added some pink ribbon from Papertrey Ink on this set, but I also changed it up a bit  and used some light pink satin ribbon on the other pair of cards.
The white cardstock on here is American Crafts cardstock – it cuts like butter on the Silhouette so I knew it would be perfect to use for this small text. I was concerned it would tear or not cut out properly, but I have to say that this cardstock really does an amazing job when used with the Silhouette.
This set could be used for Valentine’s Day or even a Birthday card. I love this little owl (also from Lori Whitlock)…I just had to buy him when I saw it listed in the online store…!
The sentiment on this stamp is from an older company called Cornish Heritage Farms. They had gone out of business a while ago, but last I heard they might be coming back – I’m not quite sure.
Hi guys! Just a super quick post today to share some Tic Tac Holders with a Valentine’s theme. I used more of the Tiny Treats Valentine set from Papertrey Ink for these, and colored them in with my Copic Markers.
This “to & from” stamp is included as part of that set. I love how it fits perfectly on the inside. What a great treat to give out for Valentine’s Day!
I’ve listed this particular set in my Etsy Shop, but if you’re interested in a different stamped image, or a different quantity of these, feel free to contact me for a custom order. Thanks!
I’ve been working on a LOT of fun Valentine’s stuff. On my Facebook page, I asked what you guys were looking for me to offer in my Etsy Shop. A few of you mentioned that you needed fun Valentine’s themed items. Over the next few days, I will be adding a bunch of different stuff with a Valentine’s theme for sale. So be sure to check back!
These are a spinoff of some pillow boxes I did a few years back. Check out this post here for a video & full instructions on making these. I used clear acetate for the pillow boxes, and filled them each with a Ghirardelli chocolate. (YUM!)
These adorable stamps are from the Tiny Treats Valentine stamp set from PaperTrey Ink. I colored them in with my copic markers & then used a 1 3/4″ circle punch to cut them out. I nested them onto a 2″ punch. All designer paper is from Martha Stewart Crafts.
I am offering these in sets of 4 in my Etsy shop. Thanks for looking
OK so my crafting A.D.D. kicked in over the Holiday break and I went a little nuts sewing some new pants for Brooke. I couldn’t help it, they were just too cute not to try. We cloth diaper so sometimes pants are a little tight fitting in the bum region (hehe). I stumbled across this pattern and just had to give it a try. (by the way I am in love with the blogger who created this pattern. She is SO talented. I hope to try more of her tutorials soon)
So without further ado, here is my first pair of “Big Butt Pants”. Don’t look to close or you might see the mistakes. LOL
Trying them on…she seemed pleased with them I got the apple & pear fabric at Joann’s, believe it or not! It’s a pretty popular designer fabric so I was psyched to find it there. The green polka dot fabric is some Michael Miller Ta Dot fabric, left over from Brooke’s baby quilt that I made.
Can you resist the cuteness of her bum? Because I certainly cannot…
here is another version, more fabric from Joann’s and some leftover Michael Miller Ta Dot for the butt & cuffs on the legs.
as you can see, she is a very busy girl – pulling up on everything & anything. Not sure how she decided that 8 months old was old enough to do that! UGH! These pants are great for that though – she is very active so she can have full range of motion when she is pulling all of her toys off the shelves
I might just have to tackle more sewing projects now that I have this one under my belt! I feel like sewing is just another form of paper crafting. Lots of pretty fabrics to choose from, similar to all the paper that I own (hoard).
I am a huge fan of the extremely talented Nichol MacGourik – if you have not visited her site or watched her videos, go there…NOW. She is AMAZING! She came up with an idea to document the many photo cards we all receive over the Holiday season. I loved her take on it so I just knew I had to try it myself. Here is my take on our Christmas Cards for 2011 – I think I like it so much that I will create an album and do these layouts every year!
All paper on this layout is from the Echo Park Seasons Greetings collection pack. The little green stickers on this title are from the collection pack as well. I die cut my title using my Silhouette and some files from Loni Stevens that are available in the Silhouette online store.
The trickiest part about this layout was fitting all the photos onto 2 pages! I had to do a LOT of trimming, but that’s OK. I was able to get the core of what I wanted from each card. I chose my favorite photos (for cards that had multiple) and I just cropped them nice & tight. I started cutting & lining things up as I went along, which allowed me to fit things together nicely.
I printed my captions on some kraft cardstock and trimmed it down to fit on each page. I want to make sure I remember who is who in these photos! I added some small embellishments as there really wasn’t much room on this page to embellish much. Just some small buttons & a few stickers…
I had a lot of fun with this layout! I actually have cards from the past few years saved. I wonder if I am brave enough to scrapbook those too? Hmmm…
I know it’s only January…but I was getting tired of the Fall & Holiday colors. So I whipped up some Spring themed post-it holders today. I just listed all of these in my Etsy Shop. (I am trying to get better about actually keeping my store stocked w/ stuff!)
so, I’m really bad with blogging lately. I’m trying to be better about it – let’s make that my New Year’s resolution…mmmkay?
I thought I would do a little recap of the Christmas season (you know, since it’s already January?) Â I want to look back & remember this stuff, so I’m just gonna go for it. Hope you’re prepared to look at about five gazillion photos. You’ve been warned…! (OH and this has nothing to do with crafting. Sorry!)
You might remember my Christmas ornament post from last year. Well, this year we added quite a few new ornaments to the tree. Here are just a few of my favorites:
we got the one pictured above to go along with our series of ornaments that I talk about in this blog post. I just love it! The ornament below is the one that we picked out as a “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament. It’s from Hallmark and has the year on the back. I love the simplicity of it. (we got quite a few others as gifts too, this kid has lots of ornaments already!)
and here is a shot of our tree this year…
our mantle *finally* had 4 stockings hanging up. (one for the kitty, of course). It was so fun to have another stocking for Santa to come & fill up!
Brooke was pretty enamored with the tree & all of the lights. I took some shots of her Daddy showing her a special ornament that we made together. I grabbed an idea that I saw here & decided to make an ornament from Brooke’s hand print. Really easy to do and something I know that I will always cherish.
she was really enjoying looking at the tree with Dada!
here is this year’s Christmas card. The colors are looking a little dull in this screen capture, but you get the idea. I tried to get shots of her smiling for the camera, but at this point all Brooke ever wants to do is put anything & everything *into* the mouth. So, this is what we ended up with. It’s OK, I still think she’s a cutie (and before you yell at me, those ornaments are plastic, not glass…!!)
Christmas morning finally arrived & it was so exciting…Santa had come!
Brooke was more interested in the wrapping paper & bows than any gifts…
“…this is for me to rip, right Mama?”
…and boxes. She just LOVED the empty boxes to play in!
We hosted Christmas dinner at our house. It was *so* nice to not have to travel. Here is a picture of us together on our first Christmas as a family
Later on that evening, we headed out to celebrate with Peter’s family. It was so much fun, as Brooke got to play with her cousin Gavin, who is just a few weeks older than her. They had a blast opening up gifts from their Aunties, Uncles & cousins!
What a blast it was to celebrate the Holidays with a little one. So many friends & relatives were so thoughtful and generous to Brooke this Christmas – we are so thankful to have such great people in our lives! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too Thanks for staying with me through this insanely LONG post!
