Valentine's:Under the Gun Style...

Hey Y'all!

Not much time to type so this will be short and sweet. I am getting ready for a night out with the girls at the Cheesecake Factory sans kids and hubbies - YIPPEE!

So, I will show you one of the Valentine's cards I did, which are going in tomorrow's mail believe it or not! We have had a bad week here, and once everyone's finds out what has been going on, they will all understand :-)

Nuff said... I love this color combo. The paper is a mix of PTI white, Stampin Up! Blush Blossom, and Kraft, and Bazzill (the dark brown base - there are so many shades of Bazzill I never know which ones I have!).

I stamped the flowers from PTI Out On A Limb randomly on the Kraft paper and then added little black dot centers with a Sakura Glaze Pen (I love these things!) I made sure to avoid the area I planned to stamp the sentiment.

I used an American Crafts plastic heart from the Playhouse Collection, these are a perfect match to Blush Blossom. I outlined it with a black marker to make it stand out from the Kraft paper more. Used my Cropodile to put a whole in it for the knot and tied a sheer and satin know in it, then popped it up on a dimensional.

And there you have it. Another easy card! I am all about easy these days!

Enjoy and have a great evening! More to come tomorrow (I think)!

What I used:

Stamps: PTI Out On A Limb

Ink: Versamagic Dew Drops Could White, Brilliance Graphite Black

Paper: PTI White, SU! Blush Blossom and Kraft, Bazzill (dark brown)

Accessories: American Crafts Plastic Heart from Playhouse Collection, Ribbon Offray, Crop-o-dile, Sakura Black Glaze Pen, Black Marker to outline heart

A Super Easy Christmas Project...

While going through some of my photos from the last few months, I found several pictures of things I made that I never shared (due to the hiatus of my blog!!!). Here are some really easy napkin rings made of little silver Christmas bells. This project is so simple that my four-year old helped me string a few of them, that is until he got bored and moved onto wreaking havoc :-)

I first saw them around Christmas of 2006 in Pottery Barn. I picked them up to buy them, and the more I studied them, the more I convinced myself that Pottery Barn was charging waaaaayyyy too much (what else is new?), and I could make them myself.

So here is what you need:

- about 14 inches of 26 gauge wire (silver to match)

- 25 bells for each napkin ring

- red velvet ribbon

Double up the 26 gauge wire (bend it in half) for extra security (strength and pliability). String the bells around, they will naturally fall into place.

Wrap one end around the end (don't twist because that will cause the wire to stand up. Instead hold one side down while wrapping the other around it tightly.

Finish them off by adding some elegant bows. I left a little extra room between the bells because I used velvet ribbon and it is wider and not as flexible as other ribbons.

Wallah! You now have some fun and festive napkin rings!

Have a fabulous Friday night! I am off to pizza-movie night at La Casa Elliott!

On my trip to Walgreens...

So, the other day we got a new toy that required yes, you guessed it - more batteries! Now if you go into my kitchen, I have almost an entire drawer dedicated to a variety of batteries, and don't you know it, we don't have the three AAA batteries necessary to make this thing go! How is this possible? Seriously an entire drawer for batteries and only one AAA battery to be found!

Of course, all morning my son can only think about the batteries that he needs for this toy. As we entire every store on our list of errands, he repeats, "Mom, don't forget, we have to get the batteries." How could I forget? You are here to remind me that that is my mission today!

So after our many errands, we end up in Walgreens to get "the batteries!" Of course I just had to walk down that dreaded Valentine's candy aisle, the only thing that could possibly have averted my son's attention from his mission "the batteries!" But as I looked down the aisle I saw all of the Valentine's knick-knack thingys and found a little candy dish shaped like a heart with ribbon woven through it. It kind of looked like this, but a heart with the ribbon in it...

I remember a dish that my grandmother had in her front "parlor" that was very much like this. We used to play with her Hummels there; can you believe she had them out for us to play with - crazy huh! They were the real deal too, my grandfather brought them back from Germany after the war.

Anyway, I found inspiration in that little dish that day. I couldn't get it out of my head. So, I used it as my inspiration. I created this...

I couldn't get a great picture of this card. I think my camera was having a hard time with the starkness of the white and the contrast of the red. I used the new Papertrey Ink stamp set Out On A Limb. I love, love, love this set! It has the most beautiful sentiments in it, and has endless possibilities.

First I made a heart template out of printer paper so it was easier to fold. The only way I know how to make an even heart is to fold it in half then cut :-) I traced the outline of the heart on the base of the card, then punched the holes just around it.

I used my Making Memories Anywhere hole punch to punch two holes about 3/16" apart, then wove the Martha Stewart seem binding through all the way around the heart. I don't know that I would use a very heavy ribbon to do this it would be too much for that size hole. But the seem binding worked perfectly.

The flowers were stamped randomly, I only used the top portion of the large flower clusters. The black dots are made by touching the paper lightly with a black Sakura Glaze pen two to three times, depending on the size of the flower. I also used an SU! Color Spritzer and a black marker to add a little speckle to it and fill in the white space.

The heart is popped up on dimensionals to make it stand out from the ribbon. IRL it looks very elegant. I just wish my picture turned out better. I tried several times to get a good one, in the end, this was the best I could get. Any picture taking suggestions???

Well, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for visiting today! Have a fabulous evening!

What I used: Stamps: Papertrey Ink Out On A Limb

Paper: Papertrey Stamper's Select White

Ink: Colorbox Chalk Ink Warm Red, Brilliance Graphite Black

Accessories: Ribbon Martha Stewart Seem Binding Ladybug, Dimensionals, 1/8" hole punch, stamp-a-ma-jig

Aren't these Cute Kids?

I just had to post a pic of our kids. I am finally working on downloading and organizing all of the pictures we have taken over the last four months - yes, I said downloading! I came across some pics of my kids as we attempted to take a picture to put in our Christmas cards. Needless to say, anyone who thinks parenting is easy should try to take a picture of two kids under 4!

In the end we weren't able to get a good shot, well at least one that was usable. The one here turned out great, but my lack of computer editing skills prevented us from being able to use it. You see, I forgot that I am not supposed to crop before I send it off to be printed because they ended up cutting my daughter's arm off and it just didn't look good that way - he-he - can't imagine why! So after all that work (two picture taking sessions, both ending in either me or one of the kids crying :-) I ended up just sending cards without photos - oh well, there's always next year!

Enjoy!

Happy First Birthdays!

I just love this little card! I love birds right now; I just bought a few but haven't had time to use them yet. Where does the time go???

This one was made for my niece's first birthday. On the inside it reads "You're 1!".

My brother and his family, well heck just about my whole family, live in Pennsylvania. My niece and nephew have the pleasure of sharing their special day together - they're twins! I'll share her brother's card tomorrow. They are truly a blessing to our family. Of course, when I see pics of them I so wish we lived closer and our kids could know each other better, but I know this is where we belong - at least right now... (*insert pout here*)

Anyway, for my niece's card, I dug out an old SU! set, Love Ya Bunches - this was one of my first SU! sets and I still go back to it every once in a while, can't seem to part with it, even though not every stamp has been used... (not that I can seem to part with any of my stamps!). The sentiment is from a Michael's dollar stamp. It's one of those square stamps so it was easy to ink up only the sentiment.

I colored each bird with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS, then added some stickles to each one. I remember a day when I didn't own any stickles, now I think I have them all!!!

I hope you like my little Saturday edition. I am off today to do some end of season clearance shopping with the whole family - that should be fun (insert the fakest smile here you can imagine!) Believe it or not it isn't the kids I am worried about, it is my husband. His sense of style is, well let's just say it's coming along. He dresses better when I pick out his clothes! (did I just type that?) :-) I love him anyway, the clothes don't make the man!

Have a fabulous weekend!

What I used:

Paper: Kraft, Basic Grey Blush, Martha Stewart Feldspar & Pink Carnation, PTI Stamper's Select White

Stamps: SU! Love Ya Bunches, $ Stamp Michaels

Ink: Timber Brown Staz On, Dew Drops Sahara Sand Sponged on edges

Accessories: Corner Rounder, Stickles, Liquid Pearls, Ribbon - Basic Collection from Michaels, Paper Piercer, Prismacolor Pencils and OMS, Fantastix