Bringing you sunbursts

I've spent the better part of the last two days working on this Sunburst album.- It actually took me a little longer- because I had to search out the directions for it... Anyhow, I added the finishing touches to the cover this morning. Over all, I am really pleased with the way this turned out- especially for my first "real" try. I made a template out of regular cardstock- just to make sure I could do it. I hate wasting my favorite paper, and since I know that my learning curve is high- I know better than to use any favorite paper the first time around.

There are seven pockets and each pocket holds a tag- that gives you fourteen "pages" to design. I only used seven for pictures- and the backs I decided to use for journaling.

I used my bind it all to hold it together- actually, all the paper together was too thick and it wouldn't find inside the BIA slot- so I thought outside the box and marked the holes where the BIA would punch and used my cropadile to punch the holes ( though, it was almost too thick for that too!). Then I placed the O-Rings through the holes and bound them together using the binding part of the BIA. Next time I try this, I won't use such thick cardstock. For this one I used SU! cardstock and My Mind's Eye double sided cardstock ( which is also very thick).

I used flowers made from SU! cardstock ( which made the opening very bulky)- I enhanced them with some white flowers from my stash- seven of the flowers I stickled with Tim Holtz distressed orange.

This is my son- posing dramatically for his birthday photo shoot. I love it when he acts like this- it's nice to be able to get a "real" smile instead of the " I'm being tortured" smile.

I stamped the back of most the tags using some of my Unity Stamps. I tried to journal on the back of each picture- I was only partially successful- it is such a challenge for me to put it down on paper.

Well, I'm sitting here getting cold- I think it's time to make nice warm mocha and get ready to call it a day. Thanks for stopping by. :)

Oh, yeah...before I forget- here's where I found the directions:

www.ustream.tv/recorded/8040134

her blog is : www.followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com

She's a neat lady with some really great ideas!

Halloween Party Decorations & Favors

October 27TH is my daughter, Emma's s birthday. This year she decided she wanted to have a slumber party. Since her birthday is so late in October and we usually celebrate on a weekend ( if her birthday falls during the week), she decided on a Halloween themed party. So, like the good mom I try to be- I did some research on handmade Halloween decorations and treats. I found a lot of good articles and ideas in a Disney magazine ( I still can't believe I paid $10 for it- I'm thinking of having it bronzed).
The first thing I did was make her a birthday banner. For this project I used my Cricut, black paper, Halloween themed paper from my stash, green ribbon, and the Jasmine cart ( I couldn't find my street signs cart- where I know there is a triangle shape- so the Jasmine cartridge has a nice diamond shape-. The diamond shaped looked better than I thought it would ( good enough that my sister, Sarah wanted a banner made for her birthday too- also in Oct.)

I saw these cute little mummy containers in the Disney magazine- but they were made using toilet paper rolls ( or you could have used paper towel rolls)- I didn't have enough of either one- and I really liked the way they looked. Then I remembered I saw something similar in the SU! catalog- they made theirs using a can and natural ribbon. I took mine one step further- I used gauze, pint sized mason jars and googly eyes. They were a big hit with all the girls!

Here's a close up of the tag I made- the stamps are from The Angel Co.- on the back of each I wrote one of the girl's name.

Here's a close up of the front of the mummy jar. I really wish I would have made one for myself! :)

These are mummy cookie pops. Made with Oreo cookies dipped in melted vanilla chips ( the one's from Wilton- I think next time I'll try using regular white baking chips). These were also a big hit.

Here's a close up of the mummy cookie pop.

Here are my Daddy Long leg cupcakes. I didn't buy enough string black licorice ( that stuff is so nasty smelling)- so I only made a few. Turns out that it worked much better that way-because as it was some of them fell out of the cupcake holder.

Isn't he cute? The cupcake idea also came from the Disney magazine. I made mummy hot dogs ( seemed like the theme was more mummy-ish than Halloween)- but the girls ate them all before I could snap a picture of them.- Oh, before I forget, his eyes are made using those old fashioned Necco candies- and a small drop of black gel. Next time I'll try frosting instead. The gel didn't really set well.

The party was a success. Though, 5 little girls ( all 10 and 11) make a lot of noise!!! I've decided that when you get a group of girls together- it's called a "Giggle" of girls. Cause that's all they do is giggle!

Glass Etched Ornaments

During these difficult financial times it can be difficult to give a meaningful gift- inexpensively. I decided to try my hand at etching on glass craft ornaments. I found mine at Michael's- got them on sale for about $2.50 a box. :) I made a set for both of my sisters.

I used my Cricut Expression and the Christmas Cheer cart to etch these ornaments. It was very challenging getting the vinyl to go on the ornaments smoothly. But, I think it was worth all the effort.

I cut two images each of a Christmas tree, candy cane, and holly leaves and berries.

For a finishing touch I cut strips of Stampin' Up! Christmas designer paper. After I cut the strips I ran them through my crimper.

Hopefully, I can get these into the mail sometime this week.

Christmas Glass Etching Style-

WOW! I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted anything.... I have been doing some crafting ( not as much as I'd like to be doing- but some )- I guess I've been having a problem finding the time to post anything. So, in the next couple of days I'll be posting some of the Christmas gifts I've made.




My sister Sarah was in town for the Christmas holiday. She was looking for an inexpensive ( classy ) way to give gifts to her friends here in town. We took a few hours and headed out to the dollar store, where we bought( out their stock of ) Irish Coffee Cups, 4 beer steins, two martini glasses and a couple squarish glass votive holders. The pictures below are part of our inexpensive Christmas plan.


We took this simple glass votive holder and using my Cricut Expression, vinyl, glass etching solution, and the monster font from the Happy Hauntings cart- made two of these really cute votive holders. We made one with a J ( for her friend Julie) and one with an N ( for her friend Nikai). I had the peppermint tealights and the clear glass marbles- so her total cost was just over $2. What a deal. I love the dollar store.

To wrap these gifts we used these craft lunch bags stuffed with candy cane tissue paper. I reduced, reused and recycled the letter from the cut vinyl. I'm always thrilled when I can re purpose something. I think it also made a really cute and unique way to personalize a gift.

I stamped the tag ( stamp from stampin Up!) and punched it out, then attached it to the bag using pretty red ribbon and twine.

Well, the dishes are waiting- and I have more of these craft photos to edit. I hope you had a blessed holiday season. Thanks for stopping by!

Etched Glass Storage

As a reward for my good behavior yesterday- I went to Target and bought these two glass containers for my rice and pasta. When I had time this afternoon ( in between picking up my girls) I used etching cream, my cricut,my sizzix big shot and vinyl. This project was so much fun- and it came together really quickly ( always a plus- since I like instant ( or almost ) gratification.

I took the vinyl and ran it through my cricut exprssion ( using the Simply Sweet cart). For the word rice I sized it to 1 3/4" and for the word pasta I set the size to 1 1/4". Next, I took a piece of vinyl and using my nestabilities ( scalloped oval) and ran it through the sizzix machine. For my next step I peeled the vinyl apart ( using the outside of the scallop) I placed it on the jars. Next, I added the letters ( centered in the oval). Now I placed the ecthing cream all around the inside of the oval and let it stay on for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes were up, I rinsed it with water then cleaned it with Windex. It's a SUPER fun and easy project.

The etching cream in kind of spency ( I found it in Michael's for around $30 for the smaller jar- which is pretty big actually)- but I used my 40% off coupon. The containers are $7.49 each at Target. Everything else was in my stash.

FOREVER

I was finally able to finish this wall hanging. I used Hang It Alls ( you can find them here: www.binditall.com ). I had to wait to finish it because I had to order more Hang It Alls... I was very sad about that...when my order arrived I finished putting it all together. I { HEART} Hang It Alls! :)

The paper I used is from Glitz Design- distressed. The ribbon is from my stash and the little "hat pin" comes from Karen Foster Design ( They're actually called scrap sticks).

The red flower comes from my flower stash ( Prima ) the center is a heart which came in a package of black bling from Making Memories, the rub on comes from Glitz- distressed couture line.

I loved this forever rub-on! It was a perfect addition to this decoration. There is a little black bling flower ( part of the Making Memories set) in the bottom right corner.

This project was so much fun to make ( despite the wait- I hate waiting for anything) and it only took about an hour to put it all together. :) I used the Distrezz it all ( from Bind It All ) to make all the pictures looked distressed. The pictures are from our trip to Tillamook August 2009- and the paper was perfect for this project!

Fun Times Mini Album

This fun times mini album was made using Miss Moxie paper from The Angel Co

I made it using a large mini album die from the Sizzix Company.

The pink flower was from my stash- made by the Prima company. The green ribbon is from my stash- blue flower is from my stash. I bought them from my lss.

The purple and green flowers are flora doodles. All the mats were made using the lace looking punches from SU!

I love the flowers on these pages. They're puffy felt- I bought them at my lss. Buttons are from my stash.

I accordion folded the red ribbon. The bling flowers are from Making Memories.

The blue and white flowers are flora doodles- the red one is a puffy felt. All pictures are from our trip to Mt. St. Helens in Late July. I went through and added glitter to the the scallops and flowers with a glitter pen.

Christmas {Cards} In July

This is the second time I've tried to publish this post. When I first tried two days ago- everything seemed to be going ok when all of a sudden my computer stopped talking to the router. I thought it was just my computer and I tried everything I could think of - but, I'm not really computer savvy-so I was pretty useless. My husband is our resident computer geek ( Thankfully) so he looked at it. Poor guy has been working a lot recently ( lots of overtime- but he's exhausted), so I told him to put the computer away and I would use the desk top. I found out the next morning that all of the laptops were affected. After much debate and frustration he decided that we needed a new router . The router was purchased- and when he got it home he found out that the router didn't want to talk to QWEST. YAY. But, my husband- being the super computer geek that he is- he got it working this afternoon. He SO ROCKS. I am so lucky. It's nice to know that I can count on him to get things taken care of.
Anyhow, on to the Christmas cards... sorry about the digression but I did need to give Kudos to Johnny. He really deserves them. :)
This is probably the first time I've ever made this many Christmas cards in one sitting- and not having to rush through them because it's December! :) I found the stamps at the Rubber Soul in Poulsbo last weekend. I was inspired by a card I saw while I was there. So I bought the stamps . I found that regular trips to the stamp store are a good source of inspiration. :)

After I stamped the images and put the card together I added snow to the trees and the swags. The snow came from a pen- I guess you could call it "puff paint". After the "ink" dried a little bit- I used my heat gun on the images and made the snow pop. Next I added some red bling to the swags. I think they turned out very Christmas-y.

My BFF said I was an over achiever when she saw the tree on the inside of the card and the one of the envelope. I prefer to think of it as a finishing touch. :)

I made this card as part of a challenge for an online group- I didn't post this one because I chose the following card instead. The CS is all SU!, the image is from SU! as is the ribbon. The printed paper is from my stash.

I am really happy with the way this card turned out- the picture isn't as good as I wanted it to be- but I didn't notice until much later. The image is Sophie Moose dressed as Mrs. Clause. The CS , ribbon pearls are from SU! The printed Christmas paper is from my stash.

I have a couple other projects that I finished while I was without internet. I need to take pictures of them ( a mini album and a set of thank you card) tomorrow so I can share.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your week has been wonderful!

Summertime Layouts-

All CS on the the Water Balloon layout is from SU! Printed paper is from the Little Yellow Bicycle summer line ( Boardwalk). Buttons and ribbon are also from SU!,the hear shaped paper clips are from the office supply store. I also used thickers and rub-ons for (part) of the title. The word FUN is made from Chipboard- I used SU! craft ink to color it- then I added stickles to make it POP.

Scenes from the beach- Chocolate chip cs and ribbon is from SU! Pink CS is from my stash- as is the lace. Title is made using Thickers. Printed paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle ( the boardwalk collection).

I printed out a bunch of summertime pictures with the hope that I would start feeling a bit more ambitious. So far though- I've only created three layouts. That's three more than I had before though, right? I have more pictures to print out- some from our trip to Mt. St. Helens last weekend, and the birthday pictures I took of Linsea this morning. I'll be taking more pictures of her on Friday- she's getting caramel highlights - and she wants pictures of that as well. So, I'm looking forward to scrapping those occasions too.

A Summer Layout & Grandpa's Envelope Mini Album

I used a sketch from Unscripted Sketches (http://www.unscriptedsketches.com/ ). I really liked the way the sketch was laid out. I added ribbon ( twisted ) all the way around the picture border. The paper comes from Imaginese, the letters are Thickers. CS is from SU!

I started making this mini album for my grandpa just after this past Christmas. I picked this project to do at my BFF'S house. We try to get together every year ( usually right before New Years Eve)- a couple of years ago we decided to make sure we had a project to do together. Two years ago it was magnetic memo boards ( her project) and last year it was envelope mini albums. I bought everything for the project before we left town. Anyhow, it took me so long to get it finished because I couldn't decide on the pictures of my youngest niece. With the exception of the pictures of KK- all the pictures are from our trip to Southern California Spring Break 2009.

I don't recall the name of the paper line- but, I did use my Bind it All to bind the album together. Ribbon is from Martha Stewart, buttons are from my BFF ( Thanks Kathryn, they were perfect!), I also used rubons and bling-all from my stash. The CS is from SU!- Chocolate Chip.

Now, that this one is finished- maybe it's time to start another project. I'm thinking of using wood blocks. We'll see. I need to talk to my BFF- and do some research. I have the best Dad- he said that if I brought wood over- he'd cut it in pieces for me. :)