Seasonal Scene Building

Hello Crafty Friends. With the holidays, work demands and sickness hitting me, I am finally back in my craft room working on my next class for the Altenew Educator Certification. The Seasonal Scene Building course was quite a challenge for me. Since most of my Altenew Stamps and dies are floral or phrases, I had to really dig in to see how I could create a scene. I tried creating a Planter box with the Wood Pallet stamp, then placing an array of flowers tucked into the box.

Kim G - Seasonal Scenes Building

To start, I lightly ink blended Mountain Mist on the top of my card base. I stamped my planter box in Silver Stone on separate piece of cardstock, then cut it down to size and placed it at the bottom of the card. 

I then stamped several flowers from the Angelique Motifs stamp set. I was in a blue and orange mood and thought these flowers were quite bright and cheery.

Kim G - Seasonal Scene Building

I then stamped several of the leaves and stems to get foliage and cut the larger stems apart in order to get greenery to place around my flowers. I played with the placement of the flowers and leaves and came up this arrangement.

Kim G - Seasonal Scene Building

I would love to have a planter box at my house with these colors of flowers. Thank you for taking the time to look at my project.

Supplies
Cardstock: Neenah 80lb Solar White
Ink: Altenew Mountain Mist, Silver Stone, Bamboo, Parrot, Olive, Sunkissed, Orange Cream, Firebrick, Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Artic, Persian Blue, Sapphire, Soft Lilac, Lavender Fields, Midnight Violet
Stamp Sets: Wood Pallet, Beautiful Day, Angelique Motifs with coordinating Die

Celebration Stencil Techniques

KimG - Celebration Stencil Techniques

Well hello there! It has been a very busy few weeks since my last post. Between my work and my son's school activities, there hasn't been a lot of time for crafting.

I finally found some time to take the Celebration Stencil Techniques class. I love stencils, so this class certainly did not disappoint. I am always happy to learn new techniques or figure out how to improve on what I am doing.

I only have a few stencils from Altenew, so I reached for my favorite one "Layered Dahlia". I just love how they layer together to give your project dimension and flare.

KimG - Celebration Stencil Techniques

I had not played with my Nuvo Embossing Mousse in quite some time, so I dug it out to use for this card. I ended up using my fingers to apply the mousse as I wanted a very light layer of the mousse and I did a better job with my finger than with a palette knife. I stenciled the first layer with Altenew's Gray Denim and then used Nuvo's Cornflower Blue for my top layer. Then I popped my sentiment up with some foam tape. I am a sucker for grays paired with a color.

KimG - Celebration Stencil Techniques

I love getting "inky" and have to say, by the time I finished, I had embossing mousse all over my craft area! Thankfully it was easy to clean up. Thanks for taking the time to see my project.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Neenah 80lb Solar White, Stampin' Up gray scrap

Ink: Altenew Gray Denim

Dies: Stitched Square Die, Birch Press Design Thanks

Miscellaneous: Nuvo Cornflower Blue Embossing Mousse, Foam Tape

Let It Shine

Hello there! It has been a busy time for me with school starting back up for my son and a lot happening at my job. I finally found some time to finish up my "Let It Shine" class taught by Carissa Wiley. I love Carissa and her teaching style. She makes me smile when she laughs during her classes and videos.

This class shows various ways to add some sparkle and shine to your cards. I could relate as I am always putting some kind of sparkle on my cards. I am just drawn to it.

KimG/Let It Shine

I decided to put glitter on some 1" wide Score Tape. I love this technique and love the results it gives on a card. I used Altenew's Build-A-Flower Rose stamp and die set. 

KimG/Let It Shine

This is probably one of my all time favorite sets. It looks so real and it is so easy to stamp. The color combinations you can use is endless.

I used mirror cardstock for my sentiment. I have a TON of glitter and mirror cardstock in various colors in my stash, so I decided I needed to make use of some of it.

KimG/Let It Shine

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend.

Supplies:
Stamps - Build-A-Flower Rose and die set
Cardstock - Neenah 80 lb. Solar White, DCWV Foil cardstock
Inks - All Altenew: Citrus Burst, Fresh Lemon, Snapdragon, Marigold, Autumn Blaze, Firebrick, Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake, Lagoon, Emerald
Miscellaneous - 1" Score Tape, Martha Stewart Fire Opal fine glitter

For the Guys Class

Today's project is from the "For the Guys" class taught by Jennifer Rzasa. I loved how she showed different ways to think out of the box to create masculine cards.

 I am the only female in our house and I work in a male-dominated industry, so I happen to have lots of masculine crafty items. However, I do not have a lot items from Altenew that would work for a masculine card. The majority of my Altenew crafty stash is floral and quite feminine.

After digging through my stash, I was able to find Altenew's Feeling Dotty stencil and knew this would work for a masculine card.

KimG/For the Guys

I decided to use foil for this card to give it a little pizazz. I used Deco Foil Transfer Gel on the stencil, then once it was dry I used Deco Foil Amber Watercolor foil. This foil has silver, gold and some copper colors in a water-color pattern. It makes a great masculine card.

KimG/For the Guys

I used the Alenew Mega Greetings "Hello" die as my focal point.

I went with a cream colored background as the white was just to stark with the brown. This is a very clean and simple card, yet looks quite masculine. My 15-year old son actually said he would like a card like that, so that is pretty high praise in my humble opinion.

Supplies Used:

Deco Foil Transfer Gel and Amber Watercolor foil

SU' Espresso and Very Vanilla cardstock

Altenew Feeling Dotty Stencil

Altenew Mega Greetings Hello

Easy Ink Blending Techniques

I love the look of ink blending, so this class did not disappoint! Amy does a beautiful job of ink blending and I found a few techniques in her class to help me make my ink blending look smoother and cleaner.

KimG/Easy Ink Blending Techniques

For my card I decided on a monochromatic look with an accent of Black embossing powder. I started my ink blending with the Ranger blending sponges, then switched to my Clarity Stamp Blending Brushes to smooth out the colors.

KimG/Easy Ink Blending Techniques

Pink and Black is one of my favorite color combos and I am really pleased with how this card turned out. Very clean and simple.

I used Altenew Baby Pink in for my card base and for the card top I used Altenew Magenta, Fuchsia, and Baby Pink for a dark to light fade. For my sentiment, I used Fuchsia so my sentiment strip would pop out.

KimG/Easy Ink Blending Techniques

Supplies Used:
Ink: VersaMark Ink, Altenew inks in Baby Pink, Fuchsia, and Magenta
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White
Stamps: Altenew Henna Elements
Embossing Powder: Nuvo Jet Black
Tools: Ranger Ink Blending Sponges, Clarity Stamp Ink Blending Brushes, Scallop punch from my stash.

Clean and Simple Boutique Cards - Round 2

KimG/Clean and Simple Boutique Cards

After last week's set of failures (in my opinion). I decided to give this class another go and only create one project and concentrate on how to make it better.

I continued using Altenew's Beautiful Day stamp set with the outline stamp and the 3rd stamp from the flower. I feel my stamping came out much clearer and even better aligned. I used Alenew's Persian Blue and Sapphire inks.

KimG/Clean and Simple Boutique Cards

I opted to use specialty paper this time around and grabbed my favorite silver mirror cardstock. I used Altenew's Creative Edges: Lace Die on the silver to give the card some interest and texture.

KimG/Clean and Simple Boutique Cards

I added a touch of Persian Blue splatters and used a sentiment from the Beautiful Day set. I backed my sentiment with just a hint of mirrored silver cardstock, then popped it up with foam tape. I am much happier with the results of this project (round 2) than what I submitted the first time.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Blue cardstock from my stash, Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock, Mirrored Silver cardstock
Ink: Altenew Persian Blue and Sapphire
Stamps: Altenew Beautiful Day
Dies: Altenew Creative Edges: Lace Die

Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

Today I have 3 cards to share for the Clean & Simple Boutique Cards class. While I am not happy with the results of my final projects, I am posting them to show the work I have completed. 

I absolutely loved the class and worked on each mini class within the class. It always makes it easier when you have the same supplies being used in the class. I then changed my projects up, just a bit.

For my first card, I used the foiling technique. I have been foiling for quite a while, but use a different method. For this project, I used WOW Bonding Powder and WOW Fab Foil (which I have never used before) and was not pleased with the results. I had great ink coverage with my VersaMark ink, sprinkled the bonding powder on my image and the powder did not adhere to the ink which then caused my foil to not melt onto the card.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

While my card didn't turn out all that bad, it was not the results I was wanting and multiple attempts gave the same results. The card kind of has an artistic impression to it.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Old Stampin' Up cardstock from my stash

Ink: Altenew Persian Blue Ink, Altenew Jet Black Ink, VersaMark Ink

Other: WOW Bonding Powder and WOW Fab Foil in Dark Blue

Card 2 - Faux Letterpress/Embossing

My second card was another project that I struggled with. I had issues coming up with the "perfect" sandwich for my die cut machine. I either had too much pressure or not enough and finally picked the best card out of all of the many I made.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

I enjoyed working on this card and I still like how it turned out. I think my favorite part is the paint splatters!

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 80lb., Black cardstock from my stash, Vellum

Ink: Altenew Hydrangea, Altenew Aqualicious, Altenew Pinkalicious, VersaMark

Other: Hero Arts White Embossing Powder

Card 3 - Luxury Papers

While I didn't use luxury papers for this card, I did use a cover die to add a background for interest.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

I used Altenew's Gradient Stripes Cover Die in a Bazzill cardstock. The cardstock has some texture to it which adds some additional interest to the card. I stamped my flowers with Altenew's Build-A-Flower - Sakura stamp and die set.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

I hope you like my projects. This is one class that I will review repeatedly as I really liked the projects shown throughout the course.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Bazzill Yellow cardstock from my stash

Ink: Altenew Iceberg, Eastern Sky, Ultramarine, Firefly, Grass Field, Fresh Lemon, Maple Yellow, Honey Drizzle and Jet Black

Stamps: Altenew Build-A-Flower - Sakura stamp and die, Altenew Sentiment Strips

All About Layering Class 2

I finally found some time to work on my second class in the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) "All About Layering 2" taught by Nicole. Nicole is a great instructor and shows you some of the best ways to line up your stamps for perfect layering (of course for me, it took some practise!). Thankfully, I already owned many of the stamps sets discussed in this class. I was really torn on which set to use for my project and decided to use my "go-to" set Peony Bouquet stamp and die set. I seem to reach for this set repeatedly!

KimG/All About Layering 2

For my project, I made an A2 top folding card using Neenah Solar White for the card base and the top layer of the card. I did a light ink blending of Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink leaving some white space in the center. I then took a small mister bottle and gave it a couple of spritzes of water.

I stamped the outline of the peony flower and leaves in VersaMark ink then heat embossed it with WOW Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Glitter (I love this stuff!). At the bottom of the card I added an additional peony using Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart and Cosmic Berry inks using the matching die to cut it out.

I pulled the sentiment from Altenew's Persian Motifs and heat embossed it with the Gold Embossing Glitter.

KimG/All About Layering 2

Lastly, I used gold mirror board to give my card a little more shine. I love pink and gold together.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Mirror Gold Cardstock

Altenew inks: Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart, Cosmic Berry

Other inks: Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink, VersaMark ink

Embossing Powder: WOW Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Glitter

Altenew Stamps & Dies: Peony Bouquet, Persian Motifs

Altenew Academy

After a very long hiatus on this tiny blog of mine, I am back! I was recently asked to participate in the Altenew Educator Certification Program. This came as a very nice surprise for me as I had forgotten that I had applied quite some time ago. I am a huge Altenew fan and have quite a collection of Altenew products!

The first class is All About Layering 1. Altenew's layering stamps are hands-down my favorite stamps. Vintage Roses was the first stamp set I purchased from Altenew. This class was awesome. I learned new tips and tricks for layering my stamps. I still struggle with the Vintage Roses set and when I put some of the techniques taught in this class, it made the layering much easier. I need to really sit down and practice some more with this set, but I had fun making my card.

I made an A2 card using Vintage Roses and Painted Butterflies. The sentiment is from the Painted Butterflies set. For the roses, I started stamping with the darkest color first and worked my way to the lightest. I got much better results this way. I popped the butterflies and the sentiment up with some foam tape, then added some sequins for some sparkle.

KimG/All About Layering 1

I hope you enjoy my first project.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight
Altenew Inks: Buttercream, Fresh Lemon, Snapdragon, Firebrick, Jet Black, Eastern Sky, Ultramarine, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen
Altenew Stamps & Dies: Painted Butterflies, Vintage Roses
Sequins from my stash

Craftaholics Anonymous Handmade Gift Exchange

Once again I participated in Craftaholics Anonymous Gift Exchange.  This is my 2nd one I have done.  It is so much fun.  My giftee saw some of the coasters I made on my li'l ole blog and said she really liked them, so I knew what I was going to make for her.

Christmas Coasters for my giftee

I also sent her one of my redneck wine glasses that I make for my friends.

Turquoise Redneck Wine Glass

I had so much fun putting everything together.  I hope my giftee enjoys them as much as I did making them.

Until next time!

Spray Painting Upholstery

In my last post I mentioned I had 4 upholstered chairs that needed some updating.  I have finally been able to work on those chairs.  I think these chairs were the easiest to do, it was fun and I love the end result.

As I have said before, I read and subscribe to tons of blogs.  One of my favorites is Hyphen Interiors.  Kristy is an amazing decorator and has a heart of gold.  She has helped me in several areas and is just the sweetest person there is.  We both live in the Austin area, but on total opposite ends, so meeting up is challenging!

Kristy did a series on Simply Spray Upholstery spray paint, check it out here  and after reading her series I knew exactly what I wanted to use this paint on.  I was given 4 upholstered chairs that we use at our dining room table.  These chairs are over 17 years old.  They are in fabulous condition, but the fabric has seen better days.

The wood on the arms have been scuffed and the fabric had a lot of wear and some stains.  After doing all of my homework and reading several other reviews about the paint, I decided to take the plunge to paint my chairs.  But what color should I choose?  Simply Spray has some colors that I love.  I knew I would need to use a darker paint to help mask the stains.  Because my dining room table is a gray/blue and white, I decided to use Navy as my paint color.  I loved the Periwinkle, but was afraid it would clash with my table.

My next decision was to figure out how many cans to purchase.  I knew one can would not be enough and I was a little skeptical about 2 cans since there is quite a bit of fabric, so I played it safe and ordered 12 cans of paint, that way I would have 3 cans per chair.  I am so glad I did.  To get really good coverage, I used all 3 cans.  I masked off the handles with painters tape, hauled the chairs to my driveway and started painting.

Here are some tips if you decide to try this:

• Put some type of cloth or sheet (I bought big sheets at Goodwill for $3) underneath the item you are painting.
• Wear gloves - I didn't wear any the first time I painted and had blue fingers.  Check the wind factor.  If it is windy, its probably not a good idea to paint!  I ended up looking like a smurf where the wind blew the paint on my skin.  I used baby wipes to "de-smurf" myself!
• It says to hold the can 6-9 inches away from the object.  I actually held my can closer and was able to get a better coat of paint.  I did the painting "no-no" by holding the spray nozzle continuously while spraying.  I had better control and fewer drips.
• Start spraying off the object and then move to the object to help with paint drips.
• Let the paint dry before spraying the next coat.  I didn't want to saturate my fabric, so I let the chairs dry for a couple of hours then went back out and used another can.
• I let the chairs cure for a couple of days before we started using them again.  That way I knew they were good and dry.
• The fabric is a little stiff, but it is softening very nicely as we use them.
• I do worry just a little bit about things getting spilled on them.  I have heard that some of the paint may come up when trying to clean up a spill.

All in all, I am really pleased with my sturdy little chairs.  I spent about $122 for 4 chairs.  I couldn't re-upholster one chair for that amount.  I painted the wood arms, base and legs with the Old White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I actually think the spray paint enhanced the design in the fabric.  I'm hooked on this paint and want to do more, but sadly don't have any other furniture that has fabric on it.

My next project is a biggie... I am going to re-paint a 7-piece bedroom suite with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  This project will take me a while since we are now in the Holiday season as well as end of year stuff for work.

Until next time!

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I read many, many blogs to get ideas for various things as well as to learn about new techniques, etc.  Several bloggers have written about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) and how awesome it is when wanting to re-paint furniture.

We are getting ready to add on a room to the back of our house as well as put in hard wood floors throughout the first floor.  So in preparation for this new addition, I decided my dining room table and 2 chairs needed a face lift.  They are quite old, but in really good condition and I couldn't see getting rid of them when they are still useful.  So.... I decided to try out the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I purchased Old Violet (which is a blue/gray) and Old White.  I failed to get a picture of our table before I painted it, but I did get a picture of one of the chairs.

The table matched the chairs with a wood grain table top and Hunter Green painted base and legs.  With ASCP, you do not need to remove the stain and paint or sand the piece (unless it is in need of smoothing out).  I started on one of my chairs first, then moved on to the table.  I LOVE this paint!  It is so easy to use and it dries very fast (in about 25 minutes).  I painted the seat of the chair, then moved to paint the table top. I used 2 coats of the Old Violet on all 3 pieces and used 3 coats of the Old White.  The green kept peeking through the white, but 3 coats took care of it and I still have a lot of paint let for paint the legs of 4 other chairs that will be at this table (this will be a later post).

Finally after the paint dried, I used the clear Annie Sloan wax on all 3 pieces to help put a finish on them.  This was probably the easiest large project I have ever done and am planning on doing some more furniture with the ASCP.

Here is my finished table and chair.

I love how clean the chair looks

This room is kind of dark, so its hard to get a good picture.

Please excuse the piles of stuff behind the table.  Eventually this will all be organized into the new addition.  I have 4 more chairs that have upholstery on them and I am working on updating those chairs as well.  While the paint is a little pricey for a quart, a little goes a long way and I can probably do 2 (or more) projects with the paint I have left over.   Until next time!

P.S. I'm linking to Funky Junk Interiors Link Party

  

Surgery can have it's benefits...

I had surgery last week to remove a parathyroid and spent 4 days sleeping and crafting.  I have to say, I got quite a bit accomplished!  I was able to complete 2 more cards, make a huge dent on my Christmas Cards (yes, I said Christmas cards!) and complete some gift projects that are going with me on a Scrapbook retreat in October.

Today, I am going to show the two cards I made.  I work for an amazing company.  It is a relatively small company (400+ employees) based out of Wisconsin and then we have a 30 person satellite office in Austin.  The company truly cares about their employees and I received flowers, gift baskets and all kinds of well wishes from my teammates and corporate.  In return, I just had to send thank you cards. :-)

My first card is a technique I am trying to learn - coloring.  I love to stamp, but I have not learned the art of coloring.  I have a gazillion copic markers and am a little intimidated with them (even after taking some classes).  I have bought several stamps and digi stamps and finally decided to sit down and try my hand at coloring.  I used my Stampin Up water color pencils and watercolor crayons for my card.  I felt it would give a softer look versus using my copics.

The stamp is Magnolia Tilda with flowing hair.  I have 2 "Tilda" stamps.  I think she is just so cute and hope to invest in some more.  I used some paper from a Heidi Grace paper pad and Barely Banana Stampin Up cardstock.  I cut my image with Spellbinders Labels 4, then inked the edges with Stampin Up Barely Banana ink.  I think she turned out pretty cute for my first try.

My next card is a replica of a card from Nichole Heady who is a designer for Papertrey Ink. Nichole has a video on her site explaining how to emboss and color with copics.

I used scraps of cardstock for my card and failed to write down the copic colors I used.  This was a very quick and easy card to make.  It took me longer to pull out my supplies than it did to make the card!  I definitely want to do something like this again.  I used Versa Mark to stamp my image, then embossed it with White embossing powder.  I let it set and harden for a little bit, then began coloring the embossed image.

I will be posting my gift projects on my next post.  Stay tuned!

Card Mania

I think I am finally getting back into the groove of crafting.  I still haven't touched my scrapbooks (it's been over a year and I can't believe it), but I have been making a ton of cards.  I love to give birthday cards to friends and co-workers.  I had 5 birthdays this month, so I have been busy making cards.

I decided to break out my Spellbinders and work with them.  I made 4 cards that were inspired from Becca Feeken's blog Amazing Paper Grace.  She is so very talented and has the most beautiful projects.  So... without further adue, here are my 5 birthday cards that I have spent the last week working on.

Card 1:

This is a 5x5 card and my cardstock is old cardstock from Stampin Up.

Supplies:

• Spellbinders Floral Ovals
• Martha Stewart All Around punch
• Basic Grey Euphoria printed cardstock
• 3 Girl Jam Crinkle Ribbon

Card 2:

Supplies:

• Spellbinders Decorative Inserts One
• Spellbinders Antique Frames and Accents Edge
• Printed Cardstock Splendor Collection Pad by Heather Tozzi
• Stampin Up Adhesive Pearls
• Reflections Adhesive Swirl Perals
• Satin Ribbon

Card 3:

Supplies:

• Stampin Up Wild Wasabi cardstock
• Bo Bunny Home Collection printed cardstock
• Spellbinders Lace Doily Motifs
• Spellbinders Labels One for sentiment
• Prima Stickpin Embellishment

Card 4:

This is a 5x7 card.

Supplies:

• Stampin Up Only Orange cardstock
• Stampin Up Tangerine Tango cardstock
• Little Yellow Bicycle Zinnia paper pad printed cardstock
• Spellbinders Floral Ovals
• Spellbinders Twisted Metal Tags and Accents
• Spellbinders Labels Twenty-five
• Spellbinders Moroccan Accents
• White Seam Binding for the bow
• Stampin Up Adhesive Pearls

Card 5:

I made this card with my Silhouette.  My sister loves turtles and I found this cut in the Silhouette library.  It is a 5x7 card. The cardstock for the turtle is left over scraps.  I outlined the edges with a fine tip marker and chalked the back legs for a little definition.

So these are the cards that I made for August.  I am working on some Halloween projects and a couple of Christmas projects.  I will post them once completed.

P.S. Blogger is being very difficult.  It is not allowing me to change the pagination of my text.  The code is correct, it is not displaying the way it is coded.

Have a scrappy day!

Gift Exchange Part 2

A few days ago I posted that I was participating in the Craftaholics Anonymous gift exchange and I posted the items I made for my giftee.  If you go to Linda's linky site, you can see many of the gifts that were made.  They are really awesome.

Today, I received the perfect ending to a wild week... I received my gifts from Ashlee.  She absolutely out did herself with all the amazing gifts she sent me.  Notice I said giftS.  I was blessed to receive not one, but 5 homemade gifts from Ashlee (who was also taking finals during all of this).

Ashlee remained anonymous until I received my package and would send me little questions from a questionnaire to help figure me out, my likes and dislikes.  She is a very intuitive gal and everything she made describes me perfectly.

Here are pictures of everything she made (please excuse the photo quality.  I had a puppy jumping on me and unfortunately, didn't have a lot of time to edit the photos):

Monogram that matches my craft room

Bird's nest necklace and a heart bow

I have always loved bird nest necklaces, but never wanted to attempt to make one.  I am also a ribbon and bow fanatic.  The hearts remind me of Brighton's signature heart and I own a ton of Brighton stuff.

Lace and Pearl hair clip

I have long hair and am always putting clips, bows or something in my hair.  This will be perfect.  I feel that a girl can never have too many hair accessories!

Beaded bracelet

I love this bracelet.  It has my favorite colors.  I wear a lot of these colors and have been looking for bracelets to match.  Now I have one, so this will get a lot of good use.

I will definitely be participating in Linda's gift exchange again.  I had so much fun making items for someone I didn't know and receiving gifts is fun as well.  I have always loved making things for people and this is the perfect opportunity for me to do so.

On another note... My son and I are leaving tomorrow for Colorado Springs.  We are going to see my sister and spend a week with her.  This will be the first time my son and I go on a trip by ourselves.  The hubster didn't want to go, so we are going to spend some time being tourists now that my son is old enough to enjoy several of the sites.

Gift Exchange

I signed up to participate in a Gift Exchange over at Craftaholics Anonymous.  Linda has spent a lot of time working on this exchange and has done an amazing job.  I had so much fun making my gifts for my "giftee".  She had a couple of items listed on her wishlist that I knew I could easily create.  My "giftee", Carrie should receive her gifts on Monday.  I hope she enjoys them.

These pillows are similar to her wishlist.  I used different material and cut out the word with my Silhouette.

Carrie also had a monogram letter to hang on a front door on her wishlist.  I struggled with this item and almost didn't send it, but decided it was made with love and again, I hope Carrie likes it.

I am definitely going to participate in the next Gift Exchange that Linda hosts.  I love making things for others and this is my chance to do so.

Bitten by the Pinterest Bug

Oh how I love Pinterest.  I have found so many craft ideas, recipes and decorating tips on this site.  I had the most unproductive day in a while, I spent most of the day perusing Pinterest.  I just can't seem to get enough of it!

I actually found a centerpiece on Pinterest that would match my craft room perfectly.  Samantha Daggy is the creator of these centerpieces and she has an Etsy shop selling them.  I decided to try and make one of my own since I don't need 10 of them!  I purchased my jar and styrofoam ball at Michaels and spent about $5.  I had all of the other supplies on hand.

Here is Samantha's centerpiece:

Isn't it pretty?  I immediately fell in love with it.

Here is the one I created:

Almost the same, yet a little different.  I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the flowers out.  They were cut at 2.5", then I adhered them with corsage pins.  I used Pink Passion Stampin Up cardstock (which is a retired color).  I didn't have pink ribbon to match, so I took some white satin ribbon and dyed it with Pink Passion ink.  I am really pleased with the results and have it sitting on one of my shelves.

Hopefully  tomorrow I can  get a few thank you cards made.  I have an idea what I want to do (again, the original came from Pinterest), I just need to see if what I have on hand will work.