Thursday, February 25, 2010

It is Snowing...


Been so dry and not like winter here, I thought that it must have been time to get Spring on the way and let's move past this dud of a winter. Well, no such luck! Last night and today a lovely little snow storm pushed in and left a beautiful dusting of snow over the valley. I guess we will be waiting just a little longer.

In the mean time it is easy enough to find something to do inside, just get out some paper, stamps and ink, then I can color the day away ;o)

Dreaming of tulips here...

B-

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

I Love to Text in My Crafting!


Wrote a fun Tuesday Trend Watch article for the CLASSroom yesterday about using text in your projects. This cute and easy to make project was one of the samples, will share the others as the week goes on, or you can head right over to see what it was all about!

Hope everyone had an easy Monday!
B-

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Chocolate Cake, Swan Lake and the Sofa

What a weekend! Filled with loads of quality time with friends and family, I am feeling like my batteries are recharged and I am ready to deal with what life is sending my way. Friday night was so much fun, time with delightful girls having chocolate cake and belly laughs for dinner and then catching a movie that made us all laugh even more. (Valentine's Day gets a two thumbs up from me if you need a movie recommendation!) This was such a wonderful boost for my spirit.

I had barely caught up with myself and didn't even have time to get in a decent meal before I was out of the house again and off to the Ballet West production of Swan Lake where one of my long time friends and tennis partner for years was the key sponsor of the afternoon matinee. She had invited our little Wednesday group to be her guests for the show, the tickets were in a fantastic location (G 10, front and center!) the company was delightful and the show was absolutely incredible. It was a beautiful afternoon that left me in awe and full of inspiration. I feel so blessed to have friends that are so generous, kind and uplifting! By the way, if you have never been to the ballet, give it try, it is such an athletic and beautiful art form. The way the dancers move and control their bodies is amazing, something that reminds me that we need to push ourselves through pain and discomfort to succeed in what we love.

After the late night on Friday and the long afternoon on Saturday it was time to curl up on the sofa (their was some church time in there on Sunday morning) for the rest of the weekend and watch all of the Olympic events that had been dvr'd while I had been out. The kids, Dave and I have been enjoying watching these together and again the beauty of strength and drive from the human spirit's desire to achieve at the highest level possible has been an inspiring and wonderful way to spend time together. There are so many memorable moments from this chapter in the Olympic legacy that it is hard to pinpoint just a few favorites, a few of my favorite athletes with exceptional achievements are Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Evan Lysavic, Bode Miller, Apollo Ohno and Shaun White are just the few that really stick out of the top of my head. What were your favorites so far?

So that leaves me with no projects to share at the moment because I really haven't been in my studio except to make little love notes for my cute little primary class kids. This week I have big plans for some new Studio Calico Anthology, Pink Paislee Queen Bee and October Afternoon's Fly a Kite! These products are burning a hole in my pocket and now that I have a recharge on my creative battery, I am hoping to make a huge pile of fun things to share!

Hope you have had a weekend that left you recharged as well!
B-

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Hello!


Shared a new technique tag in the CLASSroom yesterday!

Played with the Adirondack Acrylics in a fun way with a masking technique. The colors are fresh and the message simple. Sometimes you just need to say hello to someone to make their day brighter!

We are watching the Olympics tonight, I am very excited about a lot of the events that are going on. Halfpipe, women's downhill and short track to name just a few!

Hope you have a wonderful evening!
B-

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Bright


Playing around with a little of the new Pink Paislee recently, and thought it would be fun to share what I had been up to.

I stitched the stripes of navy cardstock onto the white cardstock background and then matted the picture block with a beautiful navy damask pattern. The B side is that gorgeous orange that has the same pattern. Such a crisp and happy color combination, thanks Pink Paislee for making it so fab!!

For my journaling I put an envelope under the patterned paper and then edged it with the orange scallop, the orange circle is a pull tag for the journaling block that is stuffed into the envelope.

The flowers were just punched with a large circle punch from plain old tissue paper and crumpled up.

B-

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Cute Little Valentine Gift Bags

Just one more project to share with you for a quick to put together gift bag for giving your littles a sweet surprise. I got a box from Scrapbook Trends a few days ago with my project from the Quick and Easy special issue, and in it was the adorable "Love Me Do" line from My Mind's Eye. I didn't want the holiday to come and go without using this fab product so I found some little gift bags and got to work.
























These really cute little gift bags are from Target, but I am sure that there are lots of places that you could find something similar to them.
























Trim top of gift bag off to get a clean edge and to make the bags more to scale for the project. This little bag ended up 5" tall by 3" wide.

















Cut 1/2" strips of paper from 12" x 12" piece of paper and then cut them into 6" pieces. Place some double sided tape adhesive on the ends on the top of the strip.

















After getting adhesive onto the strips of paper, adhere to the inside of the bag for little handles, so cute!!

















Cut a cute piece of background paper and adhere it to the bag.

















Punch a heart out of the red paper and distress lightly around the edges to give it a little frame to make it really pop of the background paper.

















Use a 3-D foam square to adhere the heart to the front of the bag.

















All the little gift bags ready to get some goodies put into them for the cute little primary kids I teach tomorrow. They are my little sweeties, and I can't wait to see the look of surprise on their darling faces when I give them these tomorrow after church is over. I made some for my kids too, even though they are older they still enjoy feeling the love from us!

















I hope everyone has a very love filled day tomorrow!
B-

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Show Your Love!

















How easy and cheerful is this fun Valentine's garland? It is made with Girl Friday papers from Cosmo Cricket, super cute!

I have shown a few steps in the construction process, just in case someone wants to play along.

















Start by folding a piece of paper in half and cutting out a heart to use for a template. Trace onto the paper you are using and then cut out.























Outline the edges with Stickles, and set aside to dry.
















Find the letters you need to spell the word you have chosen for your galand and paint them. I love Claudine Hellmuth's paint for this kind of project, creamy and great coverage. After they dried I put a layer of Stickles on them and set them aside to dry.

















While everything is drying trim pink tulle to the lengths you want to hang your the hearts from. Also cut a piece that is the width of whatever area it is that you will be hanging it from.

















Use a dry adhesive to go around the edges of one heart and go down the middle and across the width of the heart twice on the other. Place a piece of tulle over the stripe of adhesive going down the middle and place the two sides together, pressing firmly over the entire piece.
















Stitch a little Maya Road crystal on to the bottom of the tulle give it a little weight so it hangs nicely.























Tie all of the pieces to the large piece of tulle and hang it somewhere that will share the love with everyone that sees it.
























I just got a lovely box of the new Cosmo Cricket that I had ordered from Ellen's Shop. Buttons, papers and tiny alpha stickers, oh my! They are so fabulous, and I can't wait to create more projects to share with you from all of that fun stuff!

Hope you are feeling inspired to show the love!
B-

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Love At Home


So grateful for my sweet family, the kids are so supportive of my daily creative efforts and my husband puts up with a lot of industry byproduct that I bring into our home from my commitments. I am very blessed that we have love in our home to help us with the negative that comes in everyday. The positive benefits from our kindness and patience with each other makes all of the negative stuff insignificant and helps us keep each other as a priority.

I have been have been missing Tyler even more than usual for the last couple of weeks, and it has made me more tender to the barbs and comments from others. He has been dealing with a really bad head cold and I am praying that he doesn't get an infection from it. It is hard that he is so far away and I want so badly to take care of him while he isn't well. I know that the Lord will keep a watchful eye on him, and that he is very blessed for the service he gives on a daily basis. In one month we will be in the countdown until he gets to come home. We had been keeping track of how long he has been gone and it will be exciting to think of it the other way!

I had a wonderful time creating this project that is in the CLASSroom. I will be doing a Trend Watch article every other week, and continue with the technique tags too. If you would like instructions on how to create it, the information is waiting for you there!

There is another fun project that I created today and have just a few more pictures to take so that I can share it with you tomorrow, hope you can stop by again to feel the love!

B-

Monday, February 08, 2010

Sharing a little Love

It was a Monday with some ups and downs for me, so I made a little project that I thought would be fun to share that cheered me up a little. Maybe it will do the same for you.























I saw paper flowers all over CHA, and took a little time to figure out how to make them, there are loads of good tutorials out there, but it is really easy and all it takes is a little trial and error. First start with a circle (mine were all varied from 3" to 5") and then cut a spiral from the outside edge to the inside. Keep the width as even as you can until you reach the end and then start from the outside of the spiral and roll it until you reach the inside where you need to place a few glue dots on the rounded end. Then place the spiraled paper onto the top of the dots, and then gently press the paper into the dots to secure them.






















For a project like this you will need to make quite a few, a great way to spend some time if you have evening shows to watch but you still want to get something done. I used the Chic Bebe Girl line from Teresa Collins for this project because the pinks were so darling, but it would look great in any color of pink you have so use what you have if you don't have time or money to do any shopping.
















I started with a piece of cardboard from a shipping box that I had drawn a heart onto and then I trimmed it out with my Tonic Tim Holtz scissors, they are great for everything! Hot glue the first flowers into the middle and then work out from there. You can hot glue a ribbon onto the top to hang it with or punch holes before you put the flowers on and tie the ribbon through the holes.

















These flowers are great for embellishing lots of projects and look great in lots of different colors, I hope you take a few minutes to try making them and finding a project to make with them.

B-

*Edited*
I found the video tutorial that I watched to learn how to make these! Natasja Veerbeek shared this on her blog, Vintage Tearooms. Here is a direct link to the vimeo called "Wedding Bouquet". Have fun learning!!

Friday, February 05, 2010

I Think You are Hot!

Wanted to share the card I had made for our Valentine's swap with my card group. I loved the Pink Paislee Cupid colletion and really wanted to use it for this swap, so out came the stamps from my Domestic Love set.
























And of course I had to do the inside to match, it needed to show the love somewhere ;o)
























Keeping it cute and simple makes for a fun card that is easy to make multiples of.
Got love that when it is time for getting cards made for the ones that you love (or your kids love!)

B-

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

A Few More Thoughts and Pics From CHA

I still have a few random pictures and thoughts, so hope that you don't mind me sharing them.

It was really fun to contribute some samples to the Ranger booth, the "Hello Chica" card and the "Hey Sunshine" projects are mine. Claudine's product line is so versatile I just love playing with it!
























It was a great compliment to be included in Suze Weinberg's Melt Art Challenge for this show. I had a great time playing with Mold N' Pour, UTEE, and Perfect Pearls for this project. I wanted to play off of numbers and love, with the challenge of including a ticket theme as well. The other side of the sign said "Love is a Lottery". It was fun to have one side be romantic and the other be snarky and skeptical, and the sign flips over to reflect the mood I am in. Anyway, there are loads of really fun techniques that I played with, and I learned so much about the product line by playing with complete abandon. If you haven't tried this art medium yet, you have got to give it a go, it is a blast!
























I spent the first day of the show in Teresa's booth, and these are all of the wonderful people that I got to know from the experience. Stefanie, myself, Echo, Teresa, Candace, Greta and Jesse were all Team Teresa, good times!!















And another picture that Angie sent to me is of us getting to meet IRL for the first time! We are similar in so many ways, that getting to hug and have a visit for a few minutes was one of the highlights of the trip for me!





















A few more products to keep your eyes out for:

Paper tapes, both Pink Paislee and 7 Gypsies had them, and this is an amazing product with so much potential, can't wait to have them filling my house!

Flower ribbons from Webster's Pages were amazing, I want yards and yards of this in every color, amazing!

Photocentric is a company that has created a machine that lets you design your own stamps from home that are photo-polymer quality! I will be first in line to buy this!

Buttons and alphas from Cosmo Cricket that coordinate with all of their product lines, yum yum!

A new line of products from My Mind's Eye called Lush that is truly that. Elegant, timeless and full of delicious papers and embellishments, can't wait!

Mica flakes, vintage style crepe paper and a line called Kitschy Kitchen from Melissa Francis were calling my name, vintage was definitely a huge theme for this show and Melissa delivered!

Jenni Bowlin brought it with some fabulous vintage style products as well, and she has such a clever way of making them fresh. The buttons and butterflies from this show were a real standout and I am sure we will be seeing them everywhere!

Creative Imaginations has a product that is a wood paper. Basically anything you can do to paper you can do with this. It is obviously more brittle if you are going against the grain, but if you go with it, you can do some pretty amazing projects, even run it through your printer!

That is all I can think of right now, I think it is pretty covered between the first post and this one. But if anything else comes to mind I will be sure to mention it.

I can't wait to get crafty with all of these delish products, are you excited too?

B-

Monday, February 01, 2010

Did You Know?

This is a little known fact...

You CAN'T take HUGE scissors in your carry-on with you when going through airport security.

Just saying...

















Can you see the scale of those shears next to my size 7 shoe? And to top that off, they are so heavy duty! I wasn't about to let go off these bad boys without a little tap dancing, so I got on my dancing shoes and started tapping!
Here is how it all happened.
Teresa called to find out where I was so that Stefanie could come and scoop me up so we could get to the airport before rush hour traffic got out of control. Good thing I had plenty of room in my carry on where I could put all the stuff I had acquired through walking the last day of the tradeshow. A few pieces of paper, some small packs of embellishments, cuttlebug plates, stamp making set, and a large set of scissors. You know, all the regular everyday kind of stuff for a crafty crafter. Shove all that into the carry on and get on the road, easy peasy.
Go through ticketing, get the big bag on its way and start through security with all of this harmless stuff anticipating an easy flight home. You should have seen the faces of the guys who were looking at the scanner, I stood there for a couple of minutes wondering what was taking so long for that bag, I had all of my others. Who stuff was behind mine that was hanging my stuff up, still completely clueless that I was the one hanging everyone else up. (that airport only has one scanner and everyone goes through it) Then it dawned on me! I was the doofus! (not a big surprise, I know) A kind, patient looking agent pulled me aside and asked what was in there, I sheepishly relayed my stupidity and he asked me to tell him where the scissors were without touching the bag. Of course it was in the bright orange Fiskars bag so that was easy to describe. Teresa felt a little embarrassed for me and suggested that I ask if I could mail them to myself or ask the ticketing agents if they could put them in my suitcase that had already made its way to the tarmac. I relayed my request, and he walked me through the terminal to the exit point, handed me the scissors and then said "see you in a few minutes". This is where I credit the quality of customer service that JetBlue offers. I approached the same ticketing agent that had just helped me and asked if I could have a huge favor, and then relayed the whole story to her. She laughed at/with me and then kindly took the scissors and said no problem, the bag was gone but it shouldn't be a problem to identify it and get them safely put in. Seriously? Can you even believe that I got to keep those fabulous scissors after all of that? They are now tucked away with my fabric stash awaiting the moment of inevitable service, and I am sure that they are glad that they have a home with me and not in the trash bin at the Long Beach Airport.
As a crafter, I got a groove, as a scary terrorist not so much. My advice is to not try this at any airport anywhere else in the world or you might risk getting frisked, detained and missing a flight..

;o)

B-