A day of crafting

It's been so long since I crafted just for fun. I've been so busy - and my daughter dragged me to a knitting class (ok, it wasn't that hard, but really, another hobby??). Anyway, Kai has the flu, so we're forced to stay home. He's feeling a little better, so I've taken the opportunity to get some crafting done. I finished a rosary that someone asked me to restring for them, started a bracelet made entirely of jumprings - needed a break from that for a while and made these projects. It's always so good to get back into my studio...I miss it SO much when I'm away, especially for so long.

I really liked the Just Buzzing By set from SU. So, I decided to make flavor infused honey for Christmas gifts this year. I found the bottles at Specialty Bottle. I stamped the images and colored them with copics. I cut them with my nesties and adhered them with mod podge. I will make a coordinating tag to hang around the neck of the bottle with the name of the honey - Orange, Ginger Lime, Tabasco (for my dad, sounds great for cornbread), mint or apple cinnamon, which was a special request from Emma. She wants to start selling honey. I don't think she realizes the time and money that would go into one little ol' bottle of honey!

This is actually my first set of nuggets. I got the stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps. So much fun! This will make great gifts for the kids in youth group! Shhhh...don't tell them!

Let's get organized!

OK, since I've started couponing, I've outgrown my old planner. And, I don't have down time at this job, so no need to take my bills to work (I do miss being able to pay my bills at work, but hey, everything's a trade off, right?). So, I went back to a 3 ring binder with pocket dividers. I used Bear-ied in paperwork from the Gruffies line. I thought this little guy was really cute when I bought him over a year ago, but this is the first time I've used him! I colored him with copics. I stamped the layers of varied paper with flourish stamps and viola - my new planner. I printed the insides from organizedhome.com. Maybe now I'll enjoy paying bills and making my grocery list -hmmm... not likely.

Happy Bday to Jace

My design team terms have all ended and I'm going to take a break for a while and stamp purely for fun. Here's my first for fun project. I used the Lots of Bots set from SU. I started with a gable green base, layered with pumpkin pie and basic grey dp. The nuts and bolts are stamped with brilliant blue stamped on gable green and layered with brilliant blue and pumpkin pie. I added some screw brads for fun. A birthday card HAS to have a ribbon right? So, I added pumpkin pie to mine. The robot is cut with a spellbinders label die.

The boss' bday and late father's day

My boss likes coffee and she's always cold, so I made her a coffee themed fleece tie blanket. This is the card I made to go with it. I used a rose colored paper I've had forever - it may or may not be Bazzill. The flowers are paper studio and just silk flowers with a dew drop in the center. The stamps are flourishes, which I had to redo 4 times because I had a five year old trying to "help" me. The dp is from Me and My Big Ideas.

My ex-husband's grandma recently moved into a nursing home. He got a lot of her recipes. So, my daughter came up with the idea of making him a recipe box. He has this print hanging in his dining room. So, I suggested printing a bunch of french pictures and doing a collage with this as the focal point. I think it turned out pretty well.

The card is made with the same print and is very simple. I just used a nestability and some dots. The smaller black frame is handcut, because nestabilities still hasn't granted my wish and made the in between sizes that I need for this shape! C'mon guys - get to it. I promise to be first in line to buy them!

Time to celebrate Pamikins week and a new pic of the mascot

Yes, that's right, another year has gone by and it's Pamikins week again. What? You've never heard of such a thing. Well, my sister Pam, decided many years ago that one day wasn't nearly enough time for her husband to spoil her as much as she deserves to be spoiled on her birthday, so Pamikins week was born. The nice thing about this is that her birthday is tomorrow, but since it lasts a whole week, this card won't be late! I used the SU set "Just Beachy". I stamped the fish and the surf wagon, colored them with copics and cut them out. I cut the circles with my nesties and stamped the fishes on the Cosmo Cricket wave dp circle. Then I adheared the cut out fish over them and added some google eyes, just for fun. Then I drove the surf wagon around the red circle. The base of the card is a tomatoey red cardstock paired with summer sun (SU) and a limey bazzill. Then more Cosmo Cricket dp. I was trying to decide upon what to add to the card when I remembered seeing a ribbon blossom like this about a hundred years ago. So, I pulled out a bunch of green ribbon and VIOLA! Happy birthday Pami!

And, for those of you who've been wondering what Wasabi has grown up like, here's a new picture of her. She rarely comes and sleeps on my desk anymore - she sticks to Kai's little chair in my studio. But, last night she came and got right up in the middle of everything, so I snapped this shot. Cute, huh?

A jewelry day

I started this necklace last night. I did the first two strands and then wanted a heart with drill holes going through it widthwise, rather than lengthwise. I looked everywhere for one or even a pendant heart. No luck - who woulda thunk it?? Anyway, I went to the dollar store to buy cat litter at the end of the day and found this on a bracelet, which matched the other heart beads really well. So, I'm finished. This is the first 3 tiered necklace I've made that's turned out very well.

Her loss, my gain

I tried to talk my mom out of buying this set. She has the SU set of wild animals - they aren't silhouettes and she thought she'd put them with the tree. I told her that she wouldn't like it. But, she didn't listen. So, now it's mine!

This is a bookmark for one of my son's Sunday school teachers. This Sunday is recognition Sunday. His teachers are a married couple who's granddaughter is in the class and they are so nice.

Kai asked me if I would make them a thank you card, but I figured I'd rather make them something they could use.

I started with post its, pumpkin pie, marigold morning, more mustard, cameo coral, brilliant blue, not quite navy and night of navy inks. After a few mishaps (I haven't used a brayer in a while), I got this, which I was ok with. The brayer, if you haven't ever used it, has quite a learning curve (at least for me). After inking the background, I stamped the silhouettes and inked the edges slightly with black, then mounted it on brilliant blue cardstock. I stamped the sentiment on marigold morning cardstock and inked it with pumpkin pie and a little black before mounting it on brilliant blue as well. The base is brilliant blue, layered with pumpkin pie. I hope that Kai's teacher likes this and gets some use out of it. I'm planning to make his wife a book thong with my beads, but not tonight - I'm tired.