Kitty Cat Apron(s)

I made this Kitty apron for our friend Debbie. Hubby and I found the fabric and thought it was adorable, so I snapped it right up.

I was plugging away on the apron and realized, as I was putting the pockets on, that I had cut the pattern upside down! OOOPS! Rather than waste perfectly good materials, I decided to finish the apron and just make another for Debbie. So We got this material and I made the apron below. The positive side is I learned that I can make this style apron-from pinning and cutting fabric to completely done- in about  3 hours. I was impressed and pleased!  Also, that Debbie liked this one more because she LOVES colors on dark materials. Win, win. :)

Halloweenie Cards

Happy Day After Halloween! Or, today is Dia de los Muertos, if you prefer. :) Hope you are not too hopped up on sugar!

I made these cards randomly over the past couple weeks, and just forgot to ever upload them as they were made or before Halloween. Both were 5 minute cards while I was sitting at the table bored and just playing with my supplies (my craft cart is really paying off to be able to just play with stuff again), and then all of sudden I had cute cards. The orange one came about because I was testing how to make a circular card and then I thought "This would make a cute pumpkin", so I made it into one. The other one happened because I was looking at the Washi tape I had just bought on clearance and just threw it on a card and found it was the perfect fit to throw in the stamp. I love when things work out so well.

Apron de los Muertos

Oh, my, my. I have been a VERY naughty blogger and have not been keeping up on updates. Well, time to fix that! You'll see a lot of posts in rapid fire as I get caught up. Ready? Here we go! Post 6....

Whew! Didn't I say you'd see rapid fire? Last post for tonight, I swear! :)

My second completed sewing project was an apron for myself. The husband saw this fabric a couple weeks ago and pointed it out to me and I knew I had to have it! We LOVE the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) "Sugar Skulls" design.  (I even made him this cake for his birthday a few years ago as a surprise.) So I made myself a cute apron with it:

Quack Quack Sleepytime

Oh, my, my. I have been a VERY naughty blogger and have not been keeping up on updates. Well, time to fix that! You'll see a lot of posts in rapid fire as I get caught up. Ready? Here we go! Post 5...

The Husband got me a sewing machine for my birthday in August, as well as a beginning sewing class, so I finally got to learn how to sew like I've always wanted to.  My first project I made was a pair of Oregon Ducks PJs for him. There was some weirdness along the way with making the pieces because of the way the pattern laid and there not being enough fabric to make it work (even though I followed pattern instructions), so I told him we could go back to the original store and see if we could find the same fabric or we could find some similar fabric and he said "meh, let's make it wacky". So we got different fabric for the pockets and actually, we really like how it turned out. Happy accident. I even joked that I should make different pockets my signature. Anyway... here are the PJs: (Please ignore the dishes in the background)

Spooky Dance Halloween Card

Oh, my, my. I have been a VERY naughty blogger and have not been keeping up on updates. Well, time to fix that! You'll see a lot of posts in rapid fire as I get caught up. Ready? Here we go! Post 4...

A couple weeks ago Micheal's had a craft storage cart on clearance for $20 (woohoo!) and I snatched it right up. While my craft supplies were mostly organized, they were in storage containers on shelves in our bedroom, it was hard to work on something because I'd always have to get up from what I was doing and go get something or put something away--and always kept saying I'd craft more if I could have the supplies at hand. Anyway, the point of that long tangent was... with it being by the table, I sat down that day, having no ideas or maybe no intent to craft, and within 5 minutes had this cute card:

The skeleton was one singular guy, but I thought it would be fun to make it look like a dance line, so just repeated the image, added the text, distressed it some, and voila! Dance party! :)

Recycled and Repurposed Desk Storage

Oh, my, my. I have been a VERY naughty blogger and have not been keeping up on updates. Well, time to fix that! You'll see a lot of posts in rapid fire as I get caught up. Ready? Here we go! Post 3...

You ever feel like you have more pens/scissors/insert desk item here than you have places to put them? I have that feeling all the time.

I have seen some inspiration to turn TP rolls into decorative pen holders, which I may do at some point still (I have plenty of them saved), but I needed a more immediate solution.

Alas, recycling comes to the rescue. I re-purposed a can for decorative storage by adding fun themed paper (from my scraps, so it is extra recycled) and voila, instant help for my craft-stuff-everywhere problem. :)

Sparkle, Sparkle, Ornament Shower

Oh, my, my. I have been a VERY naughty blogger and have not been keeping up on updates. Well, time to fix that! You'll see a lot of posts in rapid fire as I get caught up. Ready? Here we go! Post 2...

I've been working on some glitter ornaments for this year and have been having a blast making them because they are so fast and easy! Here are the three I've made so far:

With the Ducks one, I wanted it to mix the glitters, but was thinking it would just make a mess and I'd have to wash it out and just stick with one color and get the other color some other way. I was so, so thrilled when it worked out better than I anticipated and I got this swirly/tie dye-ish look to it. The Duck (which is on both sides, but obviously you can't see the side against the window) are just stickers I bought at the Duck store in the mall. Easy, peasy. :)

Cupcakes and Crossbones

Oh, my, my. I have been a VERY naughty blogger and have not been keeping up on updates. Well, time to fix that! You'll see a lot of posts in rapid fire as I get caught up. Ready? Here we go! Post 1...

I made this bookmark a while back for myself because I have been catching up on reading and using a receipt, business card, whatever random scrap of paper I had lying around was getting kind of old. I like my bookmark a lot, but think I will probably make a new one soon because when I punched the hole for the ribbon, I accidentally punched too close to the top, and had to do some repair work, then punch again. It's held up for a couple months now, but is starting to get strained. Such a shame, too because it's so cute. Oh well. Here's the bookmark:

Sister's Birthday Card

Today is my oldest sister's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY), and now I can finally show the card that I made for her. I say "Finally" because this was made in about the beginning of April, but as I've mentioned in other posts, I make sure to not post pictures until I know the item has been received so as not to ruin the surprise. Anyway, here is the card I made for my sister:

Father's Day Card

Since the person that this is for (Shaun's Dad) does not have a computer or internet access, I can freely post this before hand and not worry that the surprise will be ruined. So here is the Father's Day card I made the other day.

This was such a spontaneous card. I knew I wanted to make a card, and it would have beer on  it which Shaun and I shopped for together, but beyond that, I had no idea. The weekend we bought the beer embellishments, I stamped the stars on the piece of paper out of boredom and said to Shaun: "Well, I still have no inspiration on what I will do your dad, but this was fun." So I put it away in my "scraps" area and let it be.

Then randomly later in the week, I had a great inspiration of stripes! with the stars but still had no idea what colors I would do them in or anything. So I just sat down on Sunday with the idea in my head and let my hands do whatever they were going to do. And this is what I came up with: (Click for larger image)

Shaun said this is his favorite card I've ever made so far.

This also gives me some great inspiration for July 4th Cards....

"Following Tradition" Scrapbook Page

This is a page I made last night for our Wedding Album. It's not what I had in mind when I thought of the idea a couple weeks ago, but then again, most of my ideas get changed around as I go. This was the first time I stamped directly onto the page itself, and it was quite fun, but also made me nervous because you really only get one shot at it when you don't have duplicates of the same page. (Which I never do because I buy them as individual pages, which I really need to stop doing that...but this one came in a collection, so there's only one of it anyway.) Anyway, here is the page from last night:

Cupcake Birthday Card

This is a card I made for my friend Corina, whose birthday is today. The cupcakes are done in VersaMark, though I almost wonder if Black ink would have had the same effect on the black cardstock since when I stamped my "handmade" stamp on it, it looked kind of the same, but oh well. Live and learn...

Anyway, here is the card:

The Picture really doesn't do the card justice for the colors, since it is black card stock,dark (and darker) blue for the sentiment and the purple is richer. But you know, it works to show the card. :)

Mother's Day Cards

I actually made these cards the same time I made these note cards, but as I do not want to show pictures of things before people receive them, I was sitting on them until last week when I sent them out.  But now I know they have been received and appreciated, so I can share them with the world.

The more pink one went to my mom, and the greener one went to my mother in law. :)

 

Supplies:
-5x7 Card Blanks
-Recollections Yellow Rose Paper
-Silk Flowers
-Ribbon: Celebrate It! 360
-Glitter for rose centers
-Fiskars Holiday Hoopla Stamp Set
-Ink: Rubber Stampede

Thank You Card

About two weeks ago, I received a letter from a friend that had some stickers that she had designed, and I wanted to make a Thank You card, and this is what I came up with. Though not the first card I made from scratch-as in not with card blanks- this was the first "Standard Size" (in terms of paper crafting, meaning 4.25' by 5.5") card I made. (As a side note, the other card I made from scratch will, unfortunately, have to wait to be posted because it is for a birthday in June and I have a policy not to post pictures of things until I know they've been received, so this blog will be somewhat out of order in the time frame of when things were made.)

The Owl is actually stamped in VersaMark, because I had *finally* bought some after being curious about it for quite a while, and once I started playing with it, I really liked the "watermark" look it gives, so just had to use it in a card right away.

Anyway, here is the Thank You Card I made:

 It was a very simple card, and very fast to make. But sometimes, simplicity says it all, and that's kind of what I was going for. I liked how it turned out, but I'm thinking I may draw a tree or something the next time I use this stamp. :)

Supplies:
-Blue Card Stock (which, by the way, the picture does not do justice to. It is more an easter-egg blue or sky blue)
-Decorative paper
-Owl Stamp (I believe it's just Michaels brand, but I'm not sure)
-Versamark
-Alphabet stamps from Studio G
-Purple ink from Rubber Stampede (either Primary or Romance collection, I can't remember)

Easter Cards

Note: This, too, is a "catching up" post. Then, I think I'm current. Well, as current as can be without posting pictures of things before people have received them...

Before Easter, I made some cute little bunny cards. I knew I wanted to find something to use up more of my 5x7 card blanks, but just couldn't think of anything. Then I saw the paper that is used as a background, and knew I was destined to make some bunnies....

Here are the Bunny Cards I made (and then couldn't think who to send them to, but did eventually come up with people that would appreciate them and sent them off):

I liked the idea of making them be the same concept, but each different than the others, if only slightly. What do you think? I think they turned out cute. :)

Supplies:
-5x7 Card Blanks
-Various Colored Card Stock (that the bunnies are sitting on)
- Recollections decorative paper (main background)
-Heart Stamp that had flowers in it (background behind bunnies)
-Fiskars Holiday Hoopla Stamp set
-Ink from Rubber Stampede Primary and Romance collections (I couldn't tell you which is which, and each stamp does not have its own name)
-Bunnies came from Easter napkins that I bought and cut the bunny out of the overall scene.

Flowery Note Cards

Note: The next couple of posts are kind of playing "catch up" with things I've made but may not have shared.

I actually made these cards back in late February or so, right after I made the St. Patrick's Day Card in the previous post, but I never got around to taking pictures of them until last night. I thought it would be fun to add a textured/distressed look to them using some of my stamps, so I kind of played around with it, and this is what I came up with: (Click on photos to view them larger)

The card on the right, I "Textured" with my Stamps, and the card on the left I decided to leave more simple and just outlined the flower/stem to bring out details. (The flower in the right hand corner is what the flower looked like before I outlined it.)

I think, even though they were some of my first cards and I didn't really know what I was doing, that they turned out pretty and I like them. :)

What do you think? 

St. Patrick's Day Card

Note: The next couple of posts are kind of playing "catch up" with things I've made but may not have shared.

This St. Patrick's Day card was the first card I ever made. Well.... I guess if you want to be *technically* accurate, this simple thank you card was the first card I ever hand made to send people after our wedding.  But this card was the first card I made after I decided I would use my (continually growing) mass of supplies to make cards. 

This card came about because Shaun wanted to find a St Patrick's day card for his mom so he could send it with some potatoes (hey, some people send flowers, Shaun wants to send potatoes), but he could not find anything that he liked. So I said I'd make one. I dug through my supplies and I already had enough things for my idea, and this is what came of it. 

Unfortunately, because we are busy and forgetful, we never got to send the card and the potatoes to his mom. But at least I did get a picture of it. (These were taken with my cell phone, so are not the best photos in the world.)

(Photos can be viewed larger by clicking on them.)

Supplies:
-5x7 Card Blanks
-Recollections Shamrock paper
-Recollections Rainbows paper
-Yellow Card Stock
-Green Construction Paper
-Fiskars "Holiday Hooplah" Stamp Set
-Green Ink from Rubber Stampede's "Primary" Collection

Engaged Scrapbook Page

Here is a page for my scrapbook I made this past Sunday. I have two albums I'm currently making pages for when I have time/inspiration: Our Wedding Scrapbook, and a regular every day scrapbook of things to remember. 

Anyway, here is the page I made a couple days ago:

Supplies: 
Black Card Stock
Ribbon
Dimensional Adhesives
Recollections dimensional embellishments