Happy New Year!

We spent our New Years at Disneyland. Does that surprise you? I am not usually one for paper piecing but thought it was good cute idea for our Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger photos. The products are from The Sampler's December kit. The beaded snowflakes are from Meri Meri, which is a greeting card manufacturer who has warehouse sales twice a year. You wouldn't believe it but I got a huge bag of them for $0.25. A quarter doesn't buy a person much these days and I sure wish I would have bought all of the bags vs. most of them (haha...didn't know they were a quarter. Thought they were a quarter each snowflake). Ok back to the layout. I used my Pazzles to cut out the snowy branch.

Teacher gifts

Now I know it's probably too late to wrap teacher gifts since school is out. . . at least here it is. Anyways, I totally spaced out last week and forgot to post a little (okay mostly big) paper stockings I created for Riley's teachers. I stitched them together  to contain each gift card and gift and decorated away. On top of that, this baby comes with my patterns. I have created two for you. One is the smaller version and the other was cut from a 12" sheet of scrapbook paper. I like double sided because it made cutting with my Pazzles very easy since I only needed to flip the top of the stocking for another pattern.

Here are the patterns:

smaller- http://www.mediafire.com/i/?x25i2bln2pawm21
larger- http://www.mediafire.com/i/?n73rfg83p362hyl

Cut 2 stockings and one top (contract paper). I then stitched lace to the bottom of the "top" (of the stocking). Then I put the three pieces of paper together and started stitching in the upper right corner. Once I got to the upper left corner, I stopped with the needle down and inserted the gifts into the stockings. I actually gave gift cards and Jamberry nail shields to the teachers. If there was a male teacher, well he'd get the smaller version which just held the gift cards. So after I inserted the gifts inside, I continued to stitch them shut at the very top (sewing through three sheets of cardstock).

Now I've had teachers who did not want to open the stockings at all. So I suggest you either lock the stitch before inserting the gifts inside the stocking and leave them open at the top. Up to you. Michael said I needed to come up with a pull tab after the fact of course. Once stitched, I actually added red velvet ribbon on top of my stitching of the lace. My seam allowance was about 1/8" - 1/4".

Well hope you procrastinated on disguising your gift card gifts and can give this baby a whirl. BTW, I used Martha Stewart paper and gave these a Nutcracker theme.

Covered in Pixy Dust

I decided it would be good this year to give out Giant Pixy Stix for Halloween. I have 50 more to make for Riley's classes and for handing out the left overs on Halloween night. We have the usual chocolates, etc. but I thought it would be cute to have a scarecrow on a stick for the kids. Was pretty easy with Darcy's clip art and I used the Pazzles to cut the images out. So very little work but I'm still covered in PIXY dust.

More from the Sampler!

Here are the layouts I was unable to post last week from this month's The Sampler kit. Full of BoBunny, Bazzill  and  cut with the Pazzles. Lots of color this month! And for some reason one of the files still does not want to upload.  Oh by the way, the "MY" in the bottom layout is actually a metallic pink chipboard letter that didn't photograph well.

She's gone country!

I bought a Simplicity pattern a few months ago because I thought that Riley would look cute in one of the costumes. Actually I thought she would select the fairy version but she chose to be the cowgirl. I sewed the skirt and had my mom finish the top because I have issues reading the patterns from the company. I have no problem reading boutique or patterns from Amy Butler. My mom has issues reading those because she says they aren't written by pattern makers. Sorry but they are in English and I completely get what they are saying. This on the other hand. . .I have found that any pattern that comes with that brown tissue paper is hard to figure out. So now my mom has inherited the Dorothy costume as well.

Riley had to wear the costume yesterday to Musical Theater class. Here's how she looked.

I used Prima's pearlescent cardstock (base and balck) with Making Memories gingham, Martha Stewart bandana paper. I cut the title and cowgirl with the Pazzles. The pink letters are Colorbok and the epoxy embellishments are Creative Imaginations with Stickles. 

Spring mini album

Here is a tag album I created for the XOXO design team challenge for the month of June. The album is a bit larger than 4x6. Each tag was designed and cut on the Pazzles. I used alcohol inks to color some of the bling butterflies. Traced over the Crate Paper rubons to make them black (vs brown). You know the drill. . .Prima flowers, My Mind's Eye paper.

Kraft paper kind of mood

I got home and was in a Bazzill kraft paper kind of mood. I used chipboard and cut out the flower shapes on the Pazzles since I had a piece that was an odd size. I contemplated using Stickles but opted for the more difficult teeny tiny bling. Crazy huh? Think I spent an hour with just the glue alone. Paper was old K&Company; Prima flowers, Crate Paper rubons. I really hated to cut the paper because I hate fussy cutting... I know what you're thinking. . . It's not even fussy. The backing on the chipboard flowers was scraps of corduroy. I stitched around the background sheet. Plus there's Basic Grey in the center of each flower. Tomorrow is opening day for Riley's softball team. Guess they are only having opening ceremonies but at least I'll get a picture of her in her uniform. Baseball pants don't even come in her size so my mom had to take them in. You'll soon see. . . have a nice weekend!

Easter teacher gifts

The Easter teacher gifts are done! I have to apologize for the bad photo; I took it at my mom's house without my usual setup.   Anyways, I bought a bunch of those stamps that fit into the Nestability dies as I had told you about a week ago for my mom. I got to use them before her. Here I layered three of them, curled up the edges to give "pop" and sandwiched a skewer between two sets of flowers. I diecut Peeps on the Pazzles.  I actually contemplated putting real Peep bunnies in but you know how messy they can be and I didn't want them to dry out.  I sandwiched a skewer in between the bunnies so everything is double sided to be used as a nice little center piece. Placed those into the pails with Hershey Kisses rosebuds I made. And the bottom is lined with Reese's peanut butter eggs in the matching colors.

The pails came from Target's Dollar Spot.  I contemplated the printed pails but thought the plain colored pails, with the bows on each side were better because I didn't have to punch the holes and tie the bows myself. The only thing I regret is not using glue dots to hold the eggs onto the bottom because I'm not a fan of hot glue and this reconfirms my feeling towards it.

Updated: Jill @ Women Who Do It All is featuring this on her blog today. For her visitors, here is the PDF template to cut your own bunnies in time for Easter. If you need more, let me know!

download link 1
download link 2
download link 3
download link 4

Funny story about buttons. . . .

I posted this story with my layout on Shimelle.com. . . .


Buttons seem to be very different than working with anything else for me. So here's a gross story which is probably why I don't like to handle them (but I have a ton). My mom had this coworker friend that one day got a button stuck up her nose. How it got there I just don't know. It stayed there for like 20 years and she just sneezed it out one day. Guess it stuck with me (no pun intended there) but I think about that every time I dive in to use one of the buttons in my stash.

I used the same ugly gray-ish off-white cardstock I used on my flower layout yesterday and sprayed Glimmer Mist on just about every piece. I put the Pazzles to work by cutting out the cloud mask shape, tree, grass and sun. Used some velvet ribbon and Prima flowers. Buttons. . . they didn't come close to my nose. Hahaha! I wish I would have had happier blue sky Glimmer Mist colors but it is what it is.  And Riley. . . she's bowing for the crowd. That's like her favorite thing to do in ballet (which btw is her costume for her ballet recital in June). I didn't notice until we got home that I was supposed to separate all the petals. Now that I can sew, I can do better. Just watch me go petal crazy now with Dollar Tree petals, Glimmer Mist, and tulle.

White on white

I probably have never done a monochromatic layout but here is my take on the pre-class assignment for Dimensional Details @ Big Picture Scrapbooking which is starting on April 1. I basically took the class oath and printed it across a sheet of horribly gray-ish white cardstock that comes with the sheet protectors. Added the distressed background. Then I cut the branch using the Pazzles. Of course there are white Prima flowers and bling. I think with all of the prompts from the Something from Almost Nothing class, bling has missed me! It's all layered on top of a heart doily I picked up before Valentine's day.

Little more Glimmer Mist fun

Since I came across these cute We R Memory Keepers stickers in my stash (most likely from the Memory Works retreat) I had to use them up. I knew I had some of the paper from Valentine's Day either a year or two ago. So I pulled it out and decided to make a masked heart with Glimmer Mist. Honestly I think my valves are clogged from the bottles getting shifted around in an over stuffed drawer because they are definitely difficult to spray and I get large droplets but that's ok. Nothing a bit of Kleenex can't fix since I like the texture effect that provides vs. paper towel. I cut a bunch of hearts on the Pazzles and then folded them in half. At that point, I layered three smaller ones inside to give them pop. I had an old jean pocket fall out when I pulled the paper out so I went with it. Easier to use it than put it back so I used red distress ink on the seams. I layered a bunch of the stickers with some fabric stickers I had from Oriental Trading. I didn't look too hard for a photo but I knew I hadn't used photos of Riley in her Rosetta costume. So I trimmed her out and stuffed her into the pocket too. The photo of the layout was over exposed but I only had seven minutes to try to fix it and upload to Shimelle.com before my laptop battery died.

Tutus on my mind

I can't seem to get making tutus off my mind. The other day Riley and I went to Capezios and we purchased a fuchsia tutu. I had already figured out how to make it but knew my mom would tell me how I could do it better. So we bought it anyhow especially because Riley loved it. My next step is to make tutus for her in probably every possible color. I was told I should sell them at the dance school. 

They also said I could probably do some fund raising with making these canvas tutus. Now that I know how to make a "practice tutu" I think I might attempt it with the canvas. Here I used the Pazzles, Basic Grey papers along with SEI Chocolat stickers, rubons and diecuts. 

 

I have a boat load of Joann's coupons and I have not gone there in the past week. Yes, I let the rain stop me from going today. But I did manage to spin out two layouts. Here's the latest using a few scraps from Sassafras Lass and We R Memory Keepers. I used the Pazzles to cut the scallop circle out of sheets I really didn't like of DCWV. The background and metal slide letters are Making Memories. Butterflies were Papyrus and the white letters Basic Grey.

Whoopsie Daisy metal flashing embossing

I've had this design waiting around for about two months. The time had come to finally make a decision on what to do with it. I had cut copper metal flashing down to 12x12 and put it into the Pazzles. I embossed the floral design. Then I took some alcohol ink and let it dry. Then with some solution I would pick up the dried ink with the brush to give a watercolor effect. After I sanded it to clean the image up a bit. It's aged since making it so I decided to cut up the design because I thought it was a bit much metal. I softened up the look of things by adding felt flower accents. It was a quick page to do (if you don't take into consideration how much time it took to paint).  The background sheet is We R Memory Keepers. My mom had gotten a wholesale pack of it at Marshall's (of all places) for $1.

SEI Jolie Chocolat layout

Here's a layout I did for the February layout challenge at the SEI Lifestyle blog. I used their Jolie Chocolat line of products. The base was done on DCWV's metallic cardstock which was distressed with Heidi Swapp's distresser and distress Inks. Then I cut the large butterflies on the Pazzles and shot them with two colors of Glimmer Mist. From there I layered SEI's coaster tags, stickers, and rub-ons. The layout was then finished off with Prima flowers and the pearl accents. . . oh plus the SEI ribbon. BTW if you can't tell Riley is doing a saute and flying like the graceful little butterfly she is. 

SEI Granny's Kitchen cupcake magnet

I made another magnet for SEI's challenge. I decided since the line was called Granny's Kitchen I would make a cupcake. I used the Pazzles to cut the cupcake. Two layers of Diamond Glaze on top of the "cherry." The calendar was done digitally. I added Stickles and Distress Ink. The chipboard is Maya Road and for that I used Broken China Distress Ink and then added Interference Blue UTEE. The small clip is most likely Making Memories.

ABC magnetic board

I used Girl Friday by Cosmo Cricket to make alphabet and number magnets for this Making Memories magnetic modular panel. Don't ask why I bought it. I have no clue. But now it is used to teach Riley to read and spell. Yesterday I spent a few ours having the Pazzles cut out 4" letters and numbers from the Cosmo Cricket cardstock and magnet sheets. I got the magnets while I worked at Yahoo and they wanted me to take more but I thought I 1) would never use them all and 2) they thought I was crazy for wanting them. They were heavy so I really only wanted the one box.

I was so tempted to decorate this 14" panel but it wouldn't leave much room for spelling, now would it? If you tell me yes, I'll keep going. Hahahaha! 

I also designed the flower in Illustrator and then used the Pazzles to cut each one out and do all the necessary cutting to make these roses. Sprayed them with a few shades of Glimmer Mist for a subtle look.

Christmas is sneaking up on me!

This year has been trying. . . .so many bad things have happened and I'm just trying to understand everything. After every occurrence I've neglected the crafting. Christmas is really sneaking up on me. I guess the best part of the year is that it has moved quickly. Have you ever noticed how life now moves much faster than when you were in high school? Gees those 10 months of school lasted forever and as soon as you knew it, there were another long torturous 10 months.

Anyhow, I managed to get myself into gear and start producing. Recently I took my mom up an "outlet" warehouse that sells old Red Envelope products. This year they've had more of the rejects. There were a lot of the silver plated items with the wrong engraving and I took advantage of that. How else is a girl going to get products that have sold for $90 for $1-$3? What they don't know is I'm here altering everything. Here's the first in what I purchased. It's a silver plated ornament. The only thing "wrong" with these is that there was no engraving on the ones I picked out. I took some Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses and covered the box. I have a dozen and yes have only completed one so far. The ornament measures about 4" wide. Michael helped me take off the silver string and his way of helping was to cut them vs. taking the knots out. So I'll have to seek another alternative for the other 10 he helped with.

The flower on the front is Prima of course. I know you already know me so well. What I did here was made it into a hair clip. This clips onto the bow as another part of the present. Well hope you enjoy taking a peek. . . it makes me forget about how life currently is.

Spiders, Bats. . . OH MY!

Riley made these cute spiders and bats for her classmates. They are York Peppermint Patties sandwiched between two scalloped circles (2") and the legs are photo corners that are snipped in the middle so I didn't have to do so many legs. The bats used part of the scalloped circle. I actually did it all on my Pazzles vs. punching the shapes.

Slowly but surely. . .

As many of you know. . .if I don't finish something right away I never finish it at all. But this album is different. I started this last year by cutting the chipboard and papers on my Pazzles. It's been sitting through moving my scrap room upstairs to working in the bedroom to moving my scrap room downstairs.

So here's the album I started in December. . . 10 months in the making.  I really did get tired of looking at it so I just printed up some pictures and slapped them on. I wanted to put all of my Disney Princess photos on there but when I was transferring the folders onto CDs months ago, I must have not transferred them and just deleted the images. It's just killing me. Oh well this is complete. Off to the pile with the rest of the albums.

Saturday morning layout

Riley stayed over with her paw paw last night so I got up and started scrapping. Here's another fabric layout. I cut the bracket shape with the Pazzles (I just love this bracket and I know you see it all the time from me) on My Mind's Eye cardstock and the fabric. Then I layered striped fabric behind the photo as well as Prima packaging. Put on some leaf ribbon I got the other day at the sewing show and made the fabric flower. Used K&Company fabric brads my step sister Susan gave to me. Then added some accent Prima flowers + bling. Oh and can't forget the Prima canvas tag. It was amazingly quick. Oh and I added some Glimmer Mist to the fabric flower to make the flower stand out from the background.