Read Any Good Books Lately???

Before I get to my latest creations, have you read a good book lately? I have! You would think I would say some great novel, well at least I aspire to that again one day :D. But actually, the “good book” I am referring to is a book my cousin gave to my daughter for Christmas and it really got me thinking. The title of the book is… Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud and David Messing. The basic theme of the story is to remind us that by doing nice things for others we in essence do something nice for ourselves. Fill someone else’s bucket with kindness and you fill your own emotional bucket with positive feelings.

My son has really enjoyed this story and honestly the few times I read it with him I just went through the motions. But Monday I read it with him and for some reason it really hit home. Doing nice things for people really does make me happier. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what someone might need, and other times a simple hello or thank you can bring a smile to another’s face. We talked at length about ways we could fill someone’s bucket and my son is actually having so much fun with it that his three year old sister is finding ways to help too. When I drive my son to preschool I usually tell him to “Make good choices” as he gets out of the car. Today I decided to change it around a little and I said “Fill Someone’s Bucket” and he just turned around with the biggest smile and the brightest eyes and said “You got it Mom!” Gotta love that!

Now on to something crafty..

I made this card for the Card Positioning Systems card sketch challenge this week. Of course the prize has to do with Papertrey so I had to participate! I had a really hard time with this sketch, everything turned out so plain looking. But I needed a birthday card for one of my fathers-in-law and this was my favorite of the three cards I made.

I used my new Damask Designs stamps from PTI, and really love this set. It is so versatile and has the most beautiful damask shapes. It’s a pretty simple card actually, but men are fairly simple (well most men) so I think it will suit him just fine.

Well, I have lots of house stuff to do tonight. I can’t wait until this "To Do" list is behind us and our house is finally on the market!

Have a fabulous night/day!

And ask yourself, have you filled a bucket today?

*hugs*

Dawn McVey's Color Challenge...

I am on a role... my second post of the day! I had a little time this afternoon to make a card. I know, I know, I should have been napping along with the rest of the family, but I was excited about Dawn's Favorite Color Challenge that PTI is hosting so I had to make something. Dawn's use of color is amazing; she often puts colors together that I would never have dared to use. I really envy her sense of color adventure!

This is one of my favorite color combos from Dawn's cards over the past week. I used this card as my guide, and can't tell you how much I love this color combo. The colors I used are Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate, and since I don't have Raspberry Fizz or New Leaf I found some comparable colors in my stash with some pink paper and Martha Stewart Ribbon from last year. I love green, so that New Leaf is definitely on my list!

The flowers and buttons are all from various Making Memories collections, green from 5th Avenue, the pink button from the Lemonade Collection, cream flower from Noteworthy - I was grabbing stuff from everywhere! This is why I love Papertrey's newest additions, it all matches perfectly - hence the name "Perect Match." :-)

I hope you enjoyed another creation today. Now I need to go clean my desk, what a mess!!! I hope to check out the PTI forum release party for a little while before heading off to bed.

I hope you had a fabulous day!

Thanks for stopping by...

What I used:
Stamps: PTI Polka Dot Basics, Birthday Basics
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate, Kraft; Pink from my stash
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate
Accessories: Martha Stewart Ribbon, Buttons Making Memories, Flowers Making Memories, DMC Embroidery Floss, Dimensionals, MM Slice (small pink flower)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you are all having a fabulous Valentine's Day!

Ours has been quite relaxing actually, which is a definite change of pace for us. I just took a long bath, with bubbles no less, and listened to... silence...ahhhhhhhhhhh. My kids and my husband were/are napping, I should have been, but decided to relax in a nice hot bubble bath instead. My daughter decided to grace us with her presence at 4:40 this morning, so it has been a very LONG day, but such is the life of a parent *smile*.

I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day before I missed yet another holiday here on the blog :-)! I also wanted to share the Valentine I made for my husband this year.

We don't usually celebrate with much more than him making dinner (a change from the norm believe me) and exchanging cards. I never expect anything to be quite honest with you, safer that way :-) But then these beautiful flowers showed up on our front porch.

I LOVE those orangey ones! He told me he picked the colors out specifically; I was intrigued. He actually did his homework? What they mean, according to my husband: white rose is for loyalty and honor; orange rose is for desire; and lavender rose for enchantment and love at first sight. Then he added, "Plus I thought the colors all went well together," which if you knew my husband you would find comical since he could care less if things match :-) What a sweet gesture - what's not to love!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope it was a memorable one.

So happy you visited :-)


What I Used:

Paper: PTI White, Ocean Tides and Pink from my stash?

Stamps: PTI Wise Owl, Owl Bellies, Heart Prints, Polka Dot Basics, and Studio G letters

Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, Ocean Tides, Summer Sunrise, Sweet Blush and Memento Rose Bud

Accessories: Cinnamon Stickles (owl eyes), dimensionals

An Over The Rainbow Color Challenge...

Another one-day challenge from PTI...When I first saw these colors this morning, I was seriously intimidated! I make it a rule to pretty much never use more than three colors, so when Nichole posted these four and possibly more, I was stumped. Good thing I had all day to think about it. I even dreamed about color this afternoon during my nap - he-he!

Anyone else feeling that dreaded cold coming on? My kids were so sweet, they came down from their nap and went back to their rooms to play to let me sleep, I guess they knew I needed it. Could have been the mommy rage prior to their naps that clued them in!

Well by this evening I had quite a few ideas, but not a whole lot of time. This made me think out of my comfort zone - that is precisely what a challenge is for right!

I wrote out this sketch many months ago, when Alli Miles made a similar card. Can't seem to find that card at the moment, like I said it was many months ago, but I will try tomorrow when I have more time. I thought it would be perfect for these colors.

Super easy card, almost no stamping at all, but all the colors are there! Ribbon, buttons, embroidery floss and a sewing machine and you have yourself a card! If I could crank out cards as fast as this one, I would be a very happy stamper!

I hope you are enjoying these challenges as much as I am. It's getting me out of my creative funk!

I am inspired to use these colors again and my kids are fast asleep...

Have a fabulous night!

What I Used...
Stamps: PTI Quilter's Sampler Sentiments
Paper: PTI Stampers Select White, Acetate
Ink: Black Staz-On
Accesories: All PTI ribbon (Summer Sunrise, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides), sewing machine, buttons all Foof-A-Lah, Black DMC Floss, corner rounder EK Success

More Bags...

I found some more bags that I never posted. I have no idea why I never posted them! I was so proud of these bags, how could I have forgotten them??? Gee - I don't know! Well, in the spirit of PTI and bags, I wanted to post them on my blog. I must say they get quite a bit of use. I would like to find some bigger canvas bags so I could actually use them for groceries too. These are a bit smaller, so they don't fit a whole lot in them, but they are great for my trips to Michaels :-)!

I used some canvas bags I purchased at Wal-mart, 3/$5, not a bad price. For the first one I wanted to use the recyle symbol, so I cut arrows out of the muslin and folded them before stamping on them. Then I cut some brown fabric to outline the arrows to make them stand out from the canvas bag. I stamped the flowers from Beautiful Blooms in various shades of PTI ink before sewing the two arrows together. Then I glued them onto the bag with Fabri-Tac (best fabric glue EVER!). After gluing the arrows I stamped the words around the triangle and added the flowers for balance.




For the second one, I cut flowers using my Cuttlebug with the Flower Dies and stamped flowers from Beautiful Blooms in PTI ink. I glued the brown rick-rack with Fabri-tac again, then sewed the buttons and flowers onto the bag. Easy-peasy!



Going green can be easy and fashionable!

Hope you enjoyed seeing more of my bag creations!

See you soon!
Thanks again for stopping by!

What I Used:
Stamps: Beautiful Booms PTI, Formal Upper Letters My Sentiments Exactly
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist
Accessories: Buttons American Crafts, Muslin, Brown Fabric, Canvas Bags, Cuttlebug, Flower Die Cuts, Chocolate Rick-Rack Wrights, Dark Chocolate ribbon PTI, Fabri-Tac, Sewing Machine

Be Mine *Heart*...

One of my FAVORITE stamp companies, Papertrey Ink, is having a countdown for their Two Year Anniversary. They have been giving away prizes since Sunday and will continue to do so until their release party on February 14th. For all the PTI "groupies" :-) (including myself) this is a big deal. It is so exciting to see everything that is in store for the coming year, and to see all of the fabulous inspiration.

Since I have been spending more time getting our house ready for sale, I haven't had much time to do anything fun. It has been really hard to stay away from my desk, but will be worth it in the end I hope. So, I thought I would participate in today's challenge called It's In The Bag. I was planning on making a few little bags to fill with candy, so why not start now? :-D

I am embarrassed to say this took me a little over an hour. First off I can't find anything on my desk. Second, since it has been so long, I had NO idea what to do. So I used my trusty Polka Dot Basics to start me off. Maybe this will spur some other ideas, and I can start those Valentine's cards too *wink*!

If you are visiting from PTI, hope you enjoy the inspiration that everyone is sharing. There are some fabulous bags already posted! Can't wait to try some of them myself!

Have a great night! As always, thanks for visiting!


What I Used:
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Heart Prints, Sweet Love (little heart)
Paper: Kraft, Vintage Cream
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy
Accessories: MS Scallop Punch, Twine SU!, Ribbon Michaels, Scor-Pal, MS Glitter in Garnet

Something A Little Different...

Although I still love papercrafting, I needed to take a little break. One of the things I haven't quite finished organizing is my craft area, so I am finding it hard to get in there to be creative. Not to mention that some of my favorite shows - like LOST - have started up again, and I have been using my "free" time to fit my shows in and to pack up and clean my house to get it ready to put it on the market - FINALLY! It's been kind of nice purging "things." But in the process I have been thinking about how much my tastes have changed and what I want for our new house. I haven't painted in a while, so I thought I would work on a little project for our half bath downstairs. After painting the walls I felt it needed something new and understated. Not to mention that I can paint and watch TV at the same time :-). So here is what I came up with...

I saw some really nice paintings at Target about a month ago, they were with the new patio furniture (can't find an image on-line to show you) but they were $30 plus depending on the size. Of course they weren't brown either, more Springy colors, so I took a similar idea and made it my own. The dandelion, although not a flower, can still be pretty in it's own way.

This whole project, all three canvases, paint and ribbon probably cost me about $8 to make, if that. Since I bought the cheap canvases, the ones with the staples showing on the sides, I just covered them with some PTI Chocolate ribbon and made, like a frame. Here is a side view...

My husband actually said, "They look nice!" and he usually doesn't even notice when I change something.

Well, I have other things, just not the time to download today. I need to start working on my Valentine's Cards - UGH! Where is the time going???!!!

Have a fabulous week! As always thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed something a little different :-)

A New Year, an Organized ME!

What a busy week this has been!!! Busy is good, busy makes me focus. I don't usually talk about my New Years resolutions because they are more like goals for me, not really resolutions. This way I keep them; goals make me work harder, and they seem more attainable to me. I have learned over 36 years that if I make resolutions per se, I just forget 'em! :-) So, one of my goals this year is to get me and my family more organized. I bought one of those "Mommy Calendars" with columns for each person and a block for each day of the month - LOVE IT! I organized my kitchen drawers this week, called Habitat for Humanity to come pick up some furniture we were planning to get rid of in the future (the future is now!), and cleaned out my bathroom cabinets (it is amazing how much make-up and hair stuff I buy and never use). The good news is that today I learned more about a free-market place that might actually take these toiletries that I don't use and give them (yes give them!) to people who would love to have them. How great is that!!! I know what I'll be doing next week :-)

Well, in a long, round-about way that leads me to finally sharing the teacher gifts that I made for my sons teachers at Christmas. The reason I am linking the two... I just hope they don't throw these away or give them to the free-market :-)

I think I mentioned before that my son has a total of seven teachers in preschool, the kids actually rotate from room to room for each "subject." My son loves it, he really enjoys the variety, and of course each teacher has a different style and personality, which is good for the kids to be exposed to. But boy, when it comes to gift-giving, it sure made for a lot of work!



Anyway, they were fairly easy once I figured out a design. For simplicity, I kept them pretty much the same, just different papers and colors. The quote is the same on each and it reads:

Kind words from a teacher can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.

Sorry for the dark pics; I took them at about 2-3 AM the morning of their Christmas party. Now do you see why I am trying to get myself more organized???!!!

First I painted each frame to match the paper choice. After adhering the paper (with Mod Podge) I sprayed them with Plaid Acrylic Sealer. I used Spcriptina font for the quote and printed them on vellum which I then cut using my Labels 1 dies. I stamped another sheet of vellum with white ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. For the butterflies, I did a base butterfly in a solid color and a vellum butterfly in the same shape and used versamark and Pebbles Chalk Inks to shimmer them up. Added some bling, dew drops and flowers here and there and wallah! My full list of supplies is below.

I have some fun cards to share in a few days. We are off tomorrow for a trip to visit the family (I hope!). My dad had his final surgery today, so if he is feeling up to it I really want to get up there to see him and the rest of the family.

Hope you all have fabulous weekend! As always, thanks for visiting!

*HUGS*



Supplies Used:

Stamps: Fancy Pants Pollen Dust (flowers), Autumn Leaves Elegant Flourishes, Inkadinkado Floral Flourishes

Paper: Vellum, variety of My Mind's Eye Patterns and DCWV

Ink: White Craft SU!, Versamark

Miscellaneous: White EP, heat tool, various ribbons, Mod Podge, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Labels 1, Martha Stewart Butterfly punches, Pebbles Inc. Shimmer Chalks, Acrylic Sealant, Dew Drops, Acrylic paints in various colors, wood frames from Michaels, flowers Prima, and rhinestone brads are MM.

Hello 2009!

I am extremely happy that 2009 has finally arrived! From the start it felt like 2008 was jinxed for us and it seemed to be neverending. My husband and I have decided that 2009 has got to be a better year and we are looking forward to so many wonderful experiences for our family. We have some family resolutions that we are excited about and I hope we look back on 2009 with fondness and not a sense of relief as we did this past year.

Although I did not share many of my projects the last few months of the year, I was still creating. I just couldn't find the time to blog as much as I would have liked. I spent a great deal of the end of November and early December making over 70 Christmas cards, and that was after I cut the list down! I vow to make it even shorter next year! On top of that I made some all occasion card sets and a thank you card set for another friend. And I also made my son's prechool teachers each a special frame (there were seven of them) which I will share a little later.

Now I know that Christmas is long gone, but I thought I would share the Christmas cards I made with the hope that they might inspire someone out there.

This was the first card I made. I sent out about 50 of these to family and friends, until I ran out of that fabulous ribbon. I was so excited to use something up from my stash, but now I am sad that it is gone. I bought that Martha Stewart ribbon at Michaels end of season clearance sale after Christmas 2007 for something crazy like $1.50 for 7 yds. What a steal!

Here is a close-up of the glitter. I outlined the entire card with white glitter, like snow. LOVE it! (Now if we could just get some snow here - I would be so happy!) The snowflakes also had glitter on them for that added sparkle. Of course it is hard to capture that in the picture, but they were way more sparkly in real life!
Here is the second card I designed. I wanted to use a less traditional color scheme on this one because quite frankly I was sick of red! This one also had glitter on the medium sized snowflakes for a little extra glitz.

Although I was pleased with both cards, I have to say the red one was my favorite.

I need to leave you with a little note... After re-reading my last post I felt like I may have left you with the notion that I was a complainer or a whiner of sorts. I really do try not to be that way in life. I was just a little disheartened. I believe that after 2008, I have a stronger sense of purpose and even more of what is most important in my life - my family! It doesn't matter how much money you have, what car you drive, or how big your house is - what matters is the love and support of your family and cherishing every moment with them. I have a stronger appreciation for my husband, my children, my friends, my family, and most of all for good health. Sometimes it is important to find that silver lining...

Thank you for visiting! I hope to be here more often!