MIA!

I know I have been MIA, the holidays have had me wrapped up in family and rediculously busy.  This time of year gets me so stressed, I feel like I cant breath until we hit the new year.  i have been feeling sooooo guilty for not posting anything in so long but I had some spare time and wnated to share this really cute and easy project I did that ended up being my mom's christmas present.  I bought a package of 3 flamless candles from Ross or Marshalls (I can't remember) and coverend them in Stampin' Up! Comfort Cafe DSP, using my favorite, Mod Podge.  I saw this idea originally on Pinterest with regular candles, but I love the idea of flamless candles so they never burn down.  I also picked up a few ceramic tiles from Home Depot and covered them in the same patterns.  The tiles are also mod Podged and sprayed with a waterproof sealant, now they are coasters!  She loved it all and as soon as she got home she made a spot to display them all on her table, Merry Christams Mom!

 

 



   

 

 

Triple challenge attempt

Here is a card I came up with for three of this weeks blog challenges.  I am submitting it for Mojo Monday challenge MOJO270, Black Tie Friday's #11, and Dynamic Duo # 31 challenges, wowzers!  I used the Stampin' Up! Betsy's Blossom stamp set, and Stampin' Up! Twitterpated DSP.  I think it came together nicely, let's cross our fingers that I'll win one this week! 

 

 

 

 

Candles

So as the holidays near I have definetely been creating more 3D projects than ever before.  Here is a set of four candles that have been plain cream colored candles in glass jars forever.  They sit in candle sticks either on my table or on my mantle for the holidays.  This year I decided to give them some festive flair.  With the help of my friend Alyssa, I swear that girl is like my second set of eyes, we did some late night crafting and came up with these.  I Love how they turned out, they look so cute and add that perfect holiday touch I was looking for. 

 

 



Happy Turkey Day!

Along with the adorable fabric pumpkins I made for my mom, I wanted to give her another little surprise to brighten up her harvest table. My friend Alyssa at mommy, etc came up with this adorable turkey that I cased. Her original turkey was a card, I just omitted the card and stuck the turkey straight into her acorn place card holders. Needless to say she absolutely loved them!

Snowman blues

Here is a card I made for this weeks Dynamic dous #29 challenge.  The challenge was to use Basic black and Marina mist, and an optional snowman theme.  I did a punch art snowman that I cased from my friend Alyssa at mommy, etc.   I also incorporated a few different embossing folders to give the card a lot of texture.  I hope you like it!

 

Orchard Harvest Pumpkins

So I had a bunch of the Stampin' Up! Orchard harvest fabric from the holiday catalog and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.  I also kept seeing these fabric pumpkins on pinterest, at the fabric store, and in magazines.  Sooooo, I finally put it together and decided to make fabric pumkins out of this super cute fabric.  I LOVE the way they turned out and they were pretty simple to make (there are tons of tutorials online).  I ended up giving them to my mom who is a thanksgiving fanatic and loves to decorate her house with all things harvest! 

 

 

Happy Retirement

I have been wanting to use this stamp set forever.  It's the Pleasant Poppies stamp from Stampin' Up!.  When I originally purchased this stamp I didn't realize it was a large background stamp.  I don't usually use background stamps, hence why it's been sitting on my stamp shelf ever since.  When I saw this weeks Black Tie Friday's challenge #10 (black and white, with a cutout) I immediately thought of this stamp set.  It has beautiful clean lines and looks great stamped in black.  I have a good customer who is retiring and I thought it would make a good reirement card too.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bazaar Thanks!

Here is a card I made recently as a sample to display.  I originally saw a similar card to this on pinterest, I used the inpiration and ran with it.  I really wanted to highlight this awesome paper, Stampin' Up! International Bazaar.  I love all the patterns in this paper, so vibrant and versitle.  I love this card because it's so simple and quick to make and any sentiment can be placed in the middle, making it a good go-to card in a pinch. 

 

 

Merry merry!

Here is a card I made and I'm entering in the mojo monday 266 blog contest.  The layout is super cute and I thought I would turn it into a christmas card.  I used the new Stampin' Up! Snow Festival DSP from the holiday catalog and the new woodgrain embossing folder for the soft suede piece in the back.  I am totally loving the new snowflake die as well.  For this card I used vellum for a subtle frosty snowflake touch.  I also made a bow banner for the bottom piece which I have been playing around with lately, I'm thinking of making more of these paper bows for the tops of my christmas presents. ;)   

 

 

 

 

My first challenge!

Thanks to my bestie Alyssa at mommyetc.blogspot.com, I have decided to give card challenges a try. I have always been super overwhelmed with the idea of them for some strange reason but she totally talked me into it and I realized it's kinda fun ;) I did the Black Tie Friday's #8 challenge. I had to pick one thing from each row in the grid.  I chose square card, color green, and something metal. I cased the layout from a mojo Monday sketch and used the new Stampin' Up! natural composition specialty paper to give it a little texture. Instead of traditional ribbon accent, I used the Stampin' Up! Orchard Harvest Designer fabric, which has a great green pattern.  I also used the antique brads as my something metal. 

 

 

So grateful

Here is a card I made for the upcoming holiday season.  I got the card layout inspiration from a mojo mondays sketch.  I used Stampin' Up! Orchard Harvest DSP from the Holiday Catalog and the "So Grateful" sentiment came from the Apothecary Art stamp set.  In coordinating colors I cut out three different sizes of the Labels collections framelets and layered them up behind the sentiment. 

 

 

Delicate and Girly

Here is a card I made recently that as I started it I had no idea where it was going to go.  I knew I wanted to incorporate the Stampin' Up! delicate doilies stamp set, and the new Stampin' Up! natural composition specialty paper, and butterflies (my favorite).  It is a random layout but I love the way it turned out.  Delicate and girly, just like me (not)...  ;)

 

 

Origami!

Here's a cute card a made recently that sold pretty quick on Ebay.  I have made this origami dress before for cards and it's always a hit!  I used a great Tangerine Tango pattern from Stampin' Up! International Bazaar designer series paper and accented with another great color in the paper stack, Pool Party.  I found the origami dress instructions on Pinterest and they were pretty easy to follow.  I like making this dress because it only takes a small 4x4 square of paper, is completed in about 3 minutes, and when peoplesee it they think your hella fancy ;)

I saw it on Pinterest

Pinterest is a wonderful thing, well at least for me is has been. I love looking at all the cute creations and then trying to recreate them myself. I pinned both of these ideas and thought the combo would make a good bridal shower present for my friend. The first is a frame with some subway art inside. I love the way it turned out and I'm going I make one for my house now too. The second is an ornament with the couples wedding invitation in it. I took their invitatation they sent me and cut in into strips, then I curled them and stuck them inside a clear ornament. I love this idea and now they will always have a momento to hang on their tree every year, so cute.

 

 

Keep calm and drink tea

 

This last Saturday was the bridal shower for a good friend of mine, it was a tea party theme (so cute)!Earlier I posted pics of the invitations and favors that I made for the shower.  I also helped with the planning and decoration as well as some of the goodies (cupcakes and Oreo pops). After planning from start to finish it was so fun to see all the preparation in action. Everything looked so great, the bride-to-be was so happy, and the guests were raving. I had such a great time and of course took lots of pics to show off.

 

This pic shows the favors that I made (they were little pouches with tea inside) and a cute little frame that said "Keep calm and drink tea" appropriate for a tea party.

 

Here is what the tables looked like all set.  I took the napkin and folded it up and then tucked the ends around the plate and tied a ribbon in the middle to make it look like a bow.

 

This pic is the oreo pops, they were a pain to do but everyone loved them!  You can also see one of the food labels I made, we had a pretty labels displaying what all the yummy food was. 

 

 

Here are the water bottles I did.  I actually bought some peel and stick labels from oriental trading online.  You can select the deisgn, color, and the writing.  They arrive in a sheet that I peeled off and stuck onto regular bottles water, just a small detail that made a big difference.

 

 

This is the cupcake stand.  I made chocolate, strawberry and vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  She wanted different designs with the frosting and I even made little cupcake picks to go in some of them that said "happily ever after" and "Mr. & Mrs."

 

 

This pic is of the banner I made her, it says "bride to be".  It turned out so cute and was a great accent.

 

It's Halloween time!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love all the costumes, decorations, and candy! ( like I need another excuse to eat candy) I decorate my house every year with all sorts of fun decor, some of which I made. Theses are some of my handmade decorations that I did. The boo banner is made from Stampin' Up! Retired wicked fun dsp. I also did the frame with the same paper and my favorite black lace ribbon (retired) from Stampin' Up!  Then I stuck some halloween decor elements to the glass on the front of the frame. (also retired)  I have similar banners hanging around my house that say happy Halloween, spooky, and wicked. So fun, I can't wait to take the kids trick or treating!

healthy muffins=no bueno

So I know I have posted several healthy recipes that were a success (both in preparation and taste), but to be fair I have to post the good with the bad! I made these muffins from the eating plan I am folowing and they definetely fall into to bad catagory. They are oatmeal chocolate muffins, and let me tell you they were gross. Super dry and thick with almost no flavor, I could hardly choke them down with the aid of two glasses of water. They have no butter or oil, instead the moisture came from orange juice, coconut milk, and an egg. No sugar either, any sweetness (although I tasted none) came from the dark cocolate chips in it...what a waste of my good chocolate! I was hoping these would be the chocolate relief I need but I guess it's back to the drawing board!

Think Pink!

October is breast cancer awareness month and my group of crafty ladies is holding an event this friday titled "Think Pink" where we will be hosting a girls night of crafting, all pink inspired projects.  A portion of the registration fee will go to the Susan G. Komen foundation to help fight breast cancer.  Here is a cute banner I made with the Stampin' Up! Perfect Pennants Bigz die and the Flirtatious Specialty DSP. I can't wait for this fun girls night!

What's cookin' good lookin'

I completed my 7 day kickstart diet and the results are in...I lost 8lbs! I was finally able to get over the wall I've been stuck at for some time. Along with my new found way of eating I also switched up my workout routine which has also been showing results in a big way. I bought a few new outfits two weeks ago, all in a size down. They showed up on Saturday and everything fit, perfectly! It really is an awesome feeling. I have also transitioned to the fat burning meal plan which now incorporates some carbs, fruits, and more dairy. I am feeling a positive change going on and hopefully by my birthday (January) I will hit my target goal weight ( I need to loose 30 more lbs), what a great bday present that would be!

Tonight's dinner was almond crusted chicken with an apple walnut slaw on the side, quite tasty!

I moustache you a question?

 

So anyone who know me knows I have a slight (HUGE) obsession with moustaches.  I love everything moustaches, and my obsession has even driven me to consider tatooing one on the inside of my finger so I can have one anytime (but this hasnt happened yet).  Until then I must stick to crazy moustache knicknacks and crap.  Today my friend Cassie came by and brought me a whole bag of everything moustaches...magnets, notepads, stickt note, dry erase boards, and attached to the bag was this super cute card she had made.  She got the saying from one of the magnets she bought me and she hand cut all the moustaches on the front, so stinkin' cute.  Thank you Cassie for supporting my habit ;)

Pretty in Pink

Here is the invitation and favor for my friends bridal shower. It's using the Stampin' Up! Tea Shoppe stamp set. The shower is tea party themed (love!) and the favor is a little folded tea bag holder. The invitation was a little cumbersome (there is a lot of embossing and distressing), the favor was super easy and turned out super cute. I'm making more decorations and things for the shower (more pics to follow)

 

Tea for two

 

Here is a pic of a card that I made with the Stampin' Up! Tea Shoppe stamp set.  When I originally saw this stamp set I was not too hot on it, but it started to grow on me.  Once I started playing with it I realized how versatile it is and now I totally love it.  I cased this from a card I saw on pinterest originally done by Teneale Williams.  I love the color combination and the layout.  I am going to give it to a friend for her tea party themed bridal shower. 

Shot Girl

These are the latest additions to my growing shot glass collection. I have so may now I've lost count :) We started by getting a new glass every place we visited to remember our time there. Now that my husband travels for work we have been able to significantly increase our collection and he really seems to find the craziest shot glasses. Here are my latest additions, yes the one on the left is a mans torso in a speedo!

Wire wrapping maddness!

 

 

I was looking through pics on my phone today and found this, I just had to post it.  It's a bracelet and necklace I made for my friend Alyssa's birthday.  We had recently gone to a wire wrapping jewelry class where we learned this really cool technique.  The bracelet is made of hundreds of beads wrapped with wire onto a chain.  The necklace is a triple strand neckalce of chain wrapped in silk as well as beads that are wire wrapped and all attached to a silk band.  Both pieces took quite some time to complete but I absolutely love how they turned out!

Today's lunch

So I started the Jillian Michaels body revolution diet this week. I'm doing the 7 day kickstart plan first and then transition to the fat burning plan after I finish. Today's lunch was a vegetable soup with poached chicken. It was super easy to make, all fresh ingredients, and tasted amazing, better than any canned soup I've ever bought. I, like most moms in America, would love to drop some pounds, but I also want to feel healthy and teach myself to make better, healthier food choices. I'm a total burger and fries kinda girl and I would like to get out of that constant mindset and start cooking healthier food. This doesn't mean I'm going to ditch that food forever, because anyone who know me knows how much I LOVE food, but I can't hurt to broaden my horizons a little ;).

Hello Blog World!

Ok, after many months of saying I was going to start a blog, I have finally done it! With the strong encouragement of my friend Alyssa (mommyetc.blogspot.com), I am going to try and document all the late night crafting and fun stuff I do.  From card making to baking, to DIY projects, to pinterest experiments, I will post it all and see how it goes!