Let it SNOW!

Happy December, Everyone!

I know, I've been missing in action for quite some time, BUT I DO have a really cute, super fun project idea to share with you today -- these oh so popular (at my recent craft fairs) SNOW letters.  I sold three sets of these letters.

Here's a brief description of how to create them, in case YOU want to make some snow letters for your mantel!

Start by tracing your letters, face down on whisper white card stock.  Cut them out -- cutting just inside your pencil line.  I then stamped designs from the White Christmas stamp set in Black Memento ink across the letters, making sure to make the 'snow line' consistent between the letters.  I used markers to color in the car, deer, snowman, and christmas trees.  I did stamp the car on an extra scrap and cut it out and put it up on dimensionals.  Just adds to the cuteness!  The snowflakes on the top portions of the letters, are from the Wonderland stamp set -- in this year's holiday catalog. It is a gorgeous set that I know I will use for years to come.  The snowflakes are stamped in Island Indigo ink, and then the top parts of the letters are sponged with Pool Party ink, making sure not to get ink below the "snow line".  For the final step, I sponged the outside edges with Island Indigo ink.

You are now ready to glue it all together.  I use rubber cement, and apply it directly to the letter then add my paper on top of them.  Make sure they are all lined up properly, and let dry.

The final touch is adding glitter to the snow areas and trees -- simply use your two way glue pen and scribble glue onto the areas you want to sparkle.  Then dump Dazzling Diamonds glitter over top.  Shake off the excess, and you are done!

If you haven't checked out the Year end close out sale, you really should!  There are some great deals to be had in there!!!

Have a fantastic Saturday.  I'm off to build a snowman now. :)

Bottles with Sass -- my latest obsession

Happy Sunny Saturday!!!

I am currently obsessed with this idea I saw on etsy to wrap wine bottles to create decor pieces.  Of course, I added my own flair with hand made felt and burlap flowers.  I saw these cute little wreaths at Joannes a while ago on clearance for 25 cents each, and I couldn't help buying them ALL because I just knew they would make the cutest letter "O" for some project.  Well, ..... this is the project!  I have officially decorated every wine bottle in my entire recycling box.  Ha Ha.  Yep! that's me.  I get an idea in my head and kind of go over the top with it. :)  Besides these types of bottles, I have the idea to use short, stubby bottles to make darling snow men -- wrapping the tops of the bottles in black and the bottoms in white.  Stay tuned for coming attractions!

I have to say, these aren't as easy as they look.  Wherever there is a curve in the bottle, the yarn wants to bunch up and not stay nice and smooth, so you have to hot glue each strand of yarn in place where the curves are.  Sounds easy, but if you put too much hot glue, it shows through the yarn, so it is a delicate balance.  My first few bottles don't look quite as polished as these you see below. BUT the good news, is that they aren't expensive to make.  Nice plus!  I plan to sell these at my arts and crafts fair that I'm hosting in November.  If you live in Kalispell and make cute stuff, contact me to hear more details about participating in my fair as a vendor! OR, if you just like to SHOP for cute stuff, by all means COME TO MY HAND MADE FOR THE HOLIDAYS ARTS AND CRAFT SHOW on November 21st!  Here is a link to more details.  Ok, ok onto my cute bottles!

Happy day to each of you!

Grateful Banner

Happy Friday!

Every so often, ok, QUITE often, I get an "itch" to create something beautiful. :)  I have recently been made aware, of what a HUGE stash of patterned burlap and felt I have accumulated.  You see, I am just a wee bit addicted to making cute die cut flowers, etc. with it....  And, every time I see a new pattern at Joanne's that I hadn't gotten before, well.... you know how that turns out...

I decided to make a fall banner with some of it, just to see how it came out.  I'm planning to offer this as a class in October, so stay tuned for coming events! :)

I started by applying fusible interfacing to the back of the burlap before I die cut it -- to reduce fraying.  After die cutting the banners, I used a crop-a-dile to punch holes for the twine to go through.  Next, I ironed Wonder Under to the back of some Espresso colored felt -- and die cut the letters for the word, "Grateful".  Then, I fused the letters to the banner pieces -- using a hot iron -- and strung the banner pieces together on a length of hemp twine.  Finally, I added the rolled flowers -- some are burlap (treated with a mixture of ModgePodge and water to reduce fraying) and some are felt.  The roses are cut with the SU spiral flower die.  If you have never played with this die before, you simply MUST! It makes creating roses so EASY!  My die is so well loved, it looks like it's been through a war -- cutting all that stiff burlap, but it still works great.  I die cut the leaves using the SU retired autumn accents die, and the banners are cut using a retired banners die, however, you could easily hand cut the banner pieces and make them flagged ends or triangles.

I would love to hear what you think of it! :)

Denim and burlap -- a dynamic duo!

A little while ago, Michaels had a beautiful display of denim and burlap combos.  I wouldn't have thought of putting those two together, but I so loved how it looked, that I decided to make a wreath like that.  I kind of love how it turned out.  I used various buttons and beads for the centers of the flowers.  The SU burlap ribbon makes the BEST rolled ribbon flowers -- just the right thickness and texture.  I used a roll of denim ribbon I found, to make the rolled denim flowers.  Then, the SU spiral flower die  was used to die cut the rest of the flowers featured on the wreath.  I used treated burlap (paint your burlap with a mixture of 4 to 1 -- water to Modge Podge and let dry -- keeps your burlap flowers from fraying so badly) for some of them, and various denim varieties for the rest.  I used the SU retired Autumn Accents die to cut the various leaves.  The wreath is a basic 18" straw wreath that I wrapped with some wide burlap ribbon.  Very fun project to make, and a whole different look than what I've created before.

So, dig out your old denim scraps and make something lovely with them! :)

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

It's Teacher Appreciation week!  I am so grateful for the teachers that each of my children have.  It is an often thankless job, I think, and they put SOOO much into our kids and help shape their lives in ways that we, as parents, can't.  So, thank you to all the teachers out there!  We appreciate what you do!

I, once again, headed up the teacher appreciation gifts for my son's school.  Three ladies, including my friend, Leah, whose kids don't even go to our school, came over and helped put these together. We gave out a little lotion in a cello bag with a cute washi tape tag on it, and a packet of four note cards -- stamped with the Perfect Peacock stamp, Bordering Blooms stamp set, Sheltering Tree stamp set, and a retired tractor stamp.  The SU note cards come in a pack of 20 for $5.95 each.  That is a lot of little cards with matching envelopes, making it a very inexpensive, yet awesome, little gift -- we could get 5 gifts out of one pack.  Score!  It was fun to see the looks on the teachers faces when we handed them out.  LOVE that part.

Other products used:  Bermuda Bay sequin trim, Itty Bitty Accents punch pack, and the following inks:  Bermuda Bay, Blackberry Bliss, Pear Pizzaz, Early Espresso, Lost Lagoon, Real Red, and Old Olive.  I just love stamping all the little parts that come with the Sheltering Tree stamp, and especially wanted to stamp that little bike.  However, after 65 of them, I was feeling like I had given that stamp set plenty of love!

Today, for Sabina's little pre school, we picked up drinks (of their choice) from Starbucks for each of her teachers, and gave out little card packets, and Sabina made them each a card as well.  She did a great job of giving them their little gifts and saying "Happy Teacher Appreciation Week".  Awwww - it's the little moments that make life grand!

Happy Friday, Everyone! and don't forget to thank your teachers!

Grateful for you! -- curvy keepsakes die

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!

The new curvy keepsakes die in the holiday catalog makes the perfect little Thanksgiving giftie.  I created several of these, and filled them with chocolates, to give to my kids' teachers.  There are HUNDREDS of cute ideas for many creative critters you can create with this die on pinterest.  For this project, I had limited time and just wanted to whip up a cute little project in record time.  I used a retired fall stamp, Fantastic Foliage, to stamp the die cut pieces, first.  That cute little tag is created with the Merry Everything bundle.  Love that "Grateful for You" sentiment -- and so easy -- just stamp and punch.  The leaves are made with the Autumn accents Bigz die and embossed with various embossing folders.

Don't forget about the amazing online Extravaganza sale going on right now through Dec 2nd!  OR join SU (between now and Dec 2nd) and save 25% off the starter kit.  Get $125 worth of SU product for $75! Contact me for more details.

Flower Frenzy and Spiral flower die Fall Wreath

Happy Friday, Everyone!
I have a project to share with you today that I am super excited about!  I've been wanting to experiment with making burlap flowers for a while, and decided I wanted to do a fall wreath class, so I jumped in with both feet and pretty much have a comprehensive collection of all the burlap "flavors" that Joanne's carries! :)

I had so much fun putting this together -- totally satisfied my need for a "crafty fix" -- at least for today. :)

I used the SU Spiral Flower Bigz die for the rosettes and the Flower Frenzy die for the bigger die cut flower.  The rolled looking flowers, were made by rolling up the SU burlap ribbon into a flower.  For the larger two-tone flowers you see, I put two of the spiral die cuts together -- staggering the scallops slightly so they weren't directly on top of each other.  Those little wooden leaves you see in one of the photos, are the new Autumn Wood Elements that will be available in the Holiday catalog coming out on August 28th.  Also used in this project, are Basic Pearls, Antique brads, and a whole lot of hot glue.

Be inspired to get your crafty on this week! OR, if you live near me, come to my class on Sept 5th or 7th!

Be sure to check out this weeks weekly deals as well as the Big Shot bundles promotion happening in August -- buy a Big Shot and get a bundle FREE! OR if you already have a Big Shot, get a bundle for 15% off.  See my website for more details.

Until I craft again!....

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Happy Friday, Everyone -- AND Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  I have the utmost respect for our teachers -- in my opinion, they have the hardest job of all, and I truly appreciate their commitment to their students.  I am involved in the PTO for my son's school, and headed up the teacher appreciation gifties again this year.  I planned a simpler batch of gifts this time, so it wouldn't be so very time consuming for the "faithful five" who I knew would show up to help me make them.:)

This first one is made with my new favorite tool -- the scalloped tag topper punch from the Occasions catalog.  Simply cut a strip of card stock 8 1/2 by a hair less than 2" -- score it appropriately to accommodate the treat of your choice, then punch each end and tie it up into an easy peezy treat holder that looks like it took much more time than it actually did!  A VERY great idea when you're cranking out 75 of them.  We gave out gifts on Mon, Wed and Friday this week.  This was the Monday gift.  A free coffee was the Wed gift, and a darling little pansy pot was the Friday gift.

We made the star ones for the guy teachers, and the little rolled flower ones for the girl teachers.  I used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set to stamp the backgrounds for the boy ones -- such a great versatile set for so many applications, and used my favorite flourish stamp from the Everything Eleanor stamp set for the girl gifties.  Of course, I used a bunch of my retiring stash of card stock and DSP  and ribbon for these, as well.

For our Friday gift, we gave out these little flower pots.  Our good PlantLand friends provided the lovely pansies at a reduced cost to put in the little clay pots.  I cut the four packs apart and put a little single pansy into each clay pot.  My wonderful crafty friend, Leah, spent an entire evening cutting out all these little flags and hot glueing them to skewers to stick into the pots.  This stamp is from a new set in the Occasions catalog, Starburst Sayings -- that coordinates with the Starbust framelits.  I helped deliver all of these little flowers this morning and it was priceless to see the smiles on so many faces!

To all you teachers out there: Happy Teacher Appreciation week!