WOW, I can't believe how fast the days go by.  I have been crafting almost every night after work since I had my surgery.  So... are you ready for a super long post?  Here we go....

I am so blessed to get to go to a scrapbook retreat about every 4 months.  The group that I go with are some of the most amazing women I have met.  They are kind, generous and an absolute hoot to be around.  Each retreat has a theme and we make small gifts to give to each other.  Our last retreat was in July and our theme was "Christmas in July".  I wasn't able to get one of my items completed, so I finished them for the October retreat.  I made some Christmas coasters.  I apologize for the pictures, I finally had to settle on these pictures after taking picture after picture.

I found the idea on Pinterest and then accidentally deleted the pin.  I used 4" bathroom tiles that I got at Home Depot for 16 cents a tile.  Then I modge podged some Christmas Scrapbook paper on the tile.  Once everything was dry, I put some poly-urethane sealer on top and cut some felt for the bottom of the coaster.

So, again keeping up with my scrapbook retreats... we always do a Halloween retreat.  I have been busy getting things ready for this retreat.  I made some "Treat" bags to put all of my goodies in.

There are 10 of us who go on these retreats, so I made 5 different boots.  The boots and the sentiment are from Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge and the paper was a Halloween pad I found at Michaels for $2.  It has some awesome papers!  I am working on one more little project to put in the bag.

Finally (are you bored yet?) I have been decorating our office for Halloween.  I have found so many ideas on Pinterest and various blogs.  Halloween has never really excited me before, but after cruising around the internet and Pinterest, I actually found a ton of stuff that looked fun.  Now that I work for a really small office, I can decorate and give goodies to my co-workers and enjoy the holiday.

I have been having fun with all the little pumpkins that are out in the stores.  This year our pumpkin crop is amazing.  The past few years, the pumpkins have been a little scrawny, but this year it looks like the pumpkin patches were doused with Miracle Grow.  They are HUGE!!!  I am actually thinking about picking up a couple for carving, but want to wait until it gets a little closer to Halloween.  In the meantime, I've been satisfying my craving for pumpkins by decorating the little ones.

I used my Silhouette to cut out a rhinestone flourish stencil on some heavy cardstock, then took the stencil and drew the flourishes onto the pumpkins.  I took a Pearl Pen and Stickles and filled in where I drew.  The other pumpkins were covered in modge podge, then covered in Martha Stewart glitter.  MS glitter is some of the best glitter I have ever used.  It is so fine and has so much shimmer.  Once they were dry, I sprayed them with a polyurethane to keep the glitter from shedding.  The picture I found on Craftaholics Anonymous.  She provided a link to a free fall printable.  I just loved the colors and felt this would work for Halloween and fall.  So I am going to keep this up until we decorate the lobby for Christmas.

My last project is probably my favorite.  I got the idea from Jen who blogs at Craft O Maniac.  She is really talented and such a nice person.

I loved her idea so much that I had to re-create it.  I found my plate at the DollarTree.  I used the Home Decor Cartridge, Lyrical Letters cartridge and Sentimentals cartridge.  I played in CCR for sizing, then took some scrapbook paper that I use for test cuts and played with sizes.  Once I figured out the sizes the would work on my plate, I cut them all out in black and orange vinyl.  This plate is going to go to the office as well and I am going to group them with the 3 pumpkins in our lobby.

I am working on quite a few other projects and have several birthday cards I need to make for all of the October birthdays.  Thanks for staying with me and my extra long post.

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.

Simply Spray...

I am an avid reader of several blogs.  One of my favorites is Hyphen Interiors.  Kristy Swain is an interior designer who recently moved to Austin.  She has some awesome design ideas.  I feel honored that she and I correspond with each other every now and again.  Unfortunately she lives in way south Austin and I live just north or Austin, so we haven't had a chance to meet up.

Long story long... Kristy is becoming famous for painting upholstery on furniture.  She did a series about Simply Spray which is an upholstery spray paint.  I was quite intrigued and can't wait to try it.  I have 4 chairs that I love, but they are looking a little shabby.  I think Simply Spray will spruce them up so I can hang on to these chairs for a few more years.

Go check out Kristy's blog.  You won't be disappointed!

I am so blessed...

Oh where does the time go?  I have the best intentions of keeping up with my tiny bit of cyberspace and then I run out of time.  I was actively volunteering at my son's school and at my church until 3 weeks ago, when I started a new job.  This job kind of snuck up on me.  I posted for the position at the first of the year.  I had forgotten about it until I was called for a phone screen.  We hadn't even started the phone screen when I was asked to come in for a face-to-face interview.  The interview went so well, I was offered the job the next day.  I have never had things happen so fast like this.  It has been the most amazing ride in the 3 short weeks I have been there.  We are a small office and I have been welcomed and accepted with open arms.  Never in my career and I felt so at home with a group of people.  They genuinely care about their co-workers.  Our office is small right now, but we are definitely growing and I see a long and fulfilling career with this company.  God is so good.  He provided for me while unemployed and just when things were about to get a little tough, He provided for me and my family again.

I haven't really done a whole lot of crafting.  I think I burned myself out a little working so hard for the fall craft show that kind of flopped, I just haven't been able to get back into the crafting swing of things.

I did, however, purchase a Silhouette Cameo.  It arrived the other day and I have been poking around with it just a little.  I think I'm going to really enjoy having it in my collection of die cut machines.  I really would like to design my own cuts, but tend to get confused and frustrated, then I quit.  I'm going to see if I can find some online classes to take to get me over this hump.  I'm hoping this will get my crafting mojo back into motion.

Hope everyone has a great week.

I Found A Giveaway For A Silhouette Cameo!

As I have posted in the past, I own 2 cricut machines: an Expression and an Imagine.  I have invested quite a bit into both machines as well as cartridges.  I like my cricuts but am tired of being limited on what I can and can't cut.  I won't give them up (at least for now), but I have been researching all of the other electric die cut machines on the market.  After hours of scanning the web and reading about all of the other cutters, I am following with the masses and am now wanting a Silhouette Cameo.  I think this will open up a whole new world to some of my crafting.  There have been numerous give aways for the Cameo that I have entered and have yet to succeed in winning one.  I found one more give away and am keeping my fingers crossed! :-)

Sherry K Designs makes some really awesome cut files and she is giving away a Cameo.  You need to check out her cut  files and digital paper.  I just love them.

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. 

Highs and Lows

Today has been a great high and some really low lows.  I'm still not sure whether to be happy or depressed.  My nature is one of not letting the bad stuff get me down, but I'm not sure I can take any more.  The day started out really great with with 2 birthday cards from my husband and son sitting on the counter.  I was also taken to lunch by some very good friends and they gave me some awesome b-day goodies.  Good food, good friends, cool gifts, a girl can get really spoiled... until I got home.  I was checking email and my inbox had 10 job rejection emails.  It is so frustrating knowing you are a great candidate for a job and get told "no" repeatedly.  I don't know what to do anymore.  I have had several recruiters tell me my resume and cover letter is one of the best they have seen, so I'm not sure where I'm going wrong.  I keep hearing on the news that the Texas job market is getting stronger and stronger, but being unemployed since August is now taking a toll on my confidence.  So, it was a great day, and yet it was a depressing day.  I know there is a plan for me and I keep telling myself God will provide as He has done all summer, but my human-ness keeps wondering "when" and "how much longer do I need to wait?".  What lesson am I supposed to be learning?  

I also found out I didn't make the design team that tried out for.  I'm not so upset by that since the ladies that were chosen are uber talented.  But in a day of several rejections, this was the icing on my b-day cake!

I am going to work really hard on keeping my blog updated (use it as my diary of sorts) as well as posting any new craft items I have completed.  I have one item in progress and hope to have it completed by the end of the week.  I found a centerpiece on Pinterest and fell in love with it, so I am creating my own.  So far, I'm really pleased with my creation and how it is turning out.

I will keep pushing along with a smile on my face, but would sure like to catch a break one of these days.