Back in the saddle.

Good morning, peeps!  I'm finally back to the grind...my trip was uneventful...unless you count the three (3) hours (yes, hours) I was parked on the runway, engines off, waiting for thunderstorms to pass Philly so I could takeoff for O'Hare airport last Tuesday.  That was less than amusing...especially since someone decided it was appropriate for a small child to possess a harmonica for this claustrophobic wait for storms to pass. 

Parents -- a word to the wise:  there is a time and a place for a harmonica.  It is in a cowboy's pocket, for when he's reminiscing about the days of ol', while he's crowded around a campfire with his cowboy buddies and they're bedding down for the night after rounding up cattle.  The year is also 1875.  Note the time and place is not in a child's hand when you're stuck on a plane parked on the runway for 3 hours with nowhere to go, nor is it present day. 

There were almost casualties.  That's all I'm sayin'....

Onto more fun things :-)

My computer is still being ridiculous, and will now only let me type anything with out the letter "w".  Don't ask.  So, I will sporadically be posting when I can get a free moment at work.

I've had some serious papercrafting fun in my craft room lately (along with stitching...fear not, pics of my latest stitching endeavors will appear soon), and the latest is this little ditty I whipped up this past weekend:

This is for my sister -- she's getting married in June, 2012, and I thought this would be a fun little addition to one of her tables for a picture of her and Sean.

I got an unfinished wood frame from Michael's for $1.00 (yes, $1.00), and painted it black.  Then, I got open stock scrapbook paper, and cut it to fit the frame, then glued it to the frame.  I used a patterned black one for the bottom half, then two separate pinks for the top.  Then...I got out my Cricut Expression machine (yep -- I caved and got one.  I got a refurbed machine which was GOBS AND GOBS cheaper than getting a brand spinkity spankity new machine, and it still came with two cartridges!  All that OT at work paid off!) and cut out the letters for "LOVE" and also the pink flower.  I used flower adornments from K & Company (found at Michael's, Joann, & AC Moore, and I'm sure other places) and a lil' black brad for the top of the pink flower.  Mosaic pieces with adhesive back are the little squares on the pink strip.  Ribbon and satin cording are glued to hide the paper seams.

That's it for today, my friends!  I'll post my stitching accomplishments hopefully by the end of the week.  I'm planning on doing some framing tonight, then some sewing tomorrow night -- I have all the fabric to make a needlebook, and now I just gotta get to it!

Have a fabulous day, and do something creative to brighten up this rainy, dreary day!

Papercrafting!

I've said it before, I'll say it again...papercrafting is addicting, and it's my new favorite thing to do when I'm not stitching!!

I told you the other day that I had a scrapbooking/papercrafting project I hoped to share with you before 2015...well, Monday night, I took the time to do it!  Since it wasn't hotter than the center of the earth in my craft room (it's on the 3rd floor, and quite frankly, I've been afraid to go up there for the past 2 weeks for fear of heat exhaustion from just opening the stairway door) on Monday night, I decided there was no better time than the present to try this out.

I gathered some of my pre-cut material, including an alphabet, and went to work.  This is the final result:

It's curved, since it's about to head into a travel mug.  Isn't this fun?!  I used some dimension, and added fun brads to attach the flowers and the "laughter" tag.

That is...until I discovered that the opening on the bottom of my mug was not conducive to shoving dimensional pieces inside.

UGH.

So, I had to go with Plan B:  take off the 3D cube dots (to add height to the "laugh out loud" stamped piece, and the small green tag up top), and take the brads out and exchange them with eyelets.  The result is still cute as ever, but the paper got a little beat up from me trying to shove it into the mug.  Major bummer.  I also did not take into account that the bottom would be covered by the black piece that goes back onto the mug to seal it.  Oh well.

(nevermind my messy craft table...)

Nonetheless, it turned out super cute, and I can't wait to use it :-)

I'm addicted.

Totally, 100% addicted...to paper crafting.  I mean, I do scrapbooking, but I've only just become adept at using stamps and embossing powder to make it that much more fun.

Last night, I ate a quick dinner, then grabbed my radio (I can't miss the Phils...and boy did they hand it to the Reds!!  Nice work, boys!) and headed up to my craft room.

Remember this awesomely fun stuff??  Well...I had a blasty blast with it all last night!!

I've been meaning to make some cards for a while now, and I figured on this dreary Monday night (yet again...) I would hide away on the third floor and get to it.  I had SO much fun with my new favorite toy -- the heat gun for embossing.  Hooooo boy it is just too cool to watch that powder melt to a glossy finish on your paper :-)

Anyways...I went into my stash of random scrapbook paper, and was able to match a couple with the purple and blue cards I had chosen from Paper Source.  I made 8 cards total, but I'll only show you a few of my personal favs --

I apologize for the glare...but I just LOVE that purple!!!  I think for me, the most fun was doing the envelope inserts, since they were SO easy, and it was instant transformation!!!  It makes each envelope so unique, AND, I was able to coordinate the inside of the envelope with the card!!  Wayyyyy too much fun!!!!

Again - apologies for the glare, but isn't this fun??  :-)  I love that green, and how it works with the patterned paper and the purple card :-)

This is the blue version (obviously)...in my effort to reduce glare, they came out just a smidgen dark, so I hope you're able to view them ok.  I had a ton of fun with these colors, too!

For real...way too exciting to work with stamps and coordinating embossing powder.  I was totally absorbed in all of this, and totally lost track of time!  But, in all honesty...isn't that the best...??  To be totally engrossed in your craft/hobby, and get lost in the creation?!

For the final touch on the envelopes, I took a stamp and the clear pigment ink, and stamped the tip of the envelope flap.  Then, I covered it in purple embossing powder, and...taa daaa!!!

A fun little notey note on the back for the recipient to see just as they're opening the card!!

As you can see, I had quite the night last night, and can't wait to do it all again!  Now, imagine all the fun I could have if I had a Cricut Expressions machine........

Hold onto your hats...

...it's gonna be a bumpy ride...

I'm finally back online at home...which means more blogging...and more stitching...and more papercrafting...and more pictures...

Be ready...

Crafty-ness

Is that even a word?
I know it's been a while since my last post, but in all honesty, I've been very boring over the last week.  Ha!  I've come home from work, snuggled on the couch with my black kitty cat, and read or watched tv.  (I'm TOTALLY addicted to The Hunger Games, by the way.  Totally addicted.)

Yesterday was a lovely day here in Philly, so I decided to head downtown to walk around and get some fresh air.  I've added another store to my "favorite stores" list -- The Paper Source.  Holy moly do they have some cool papercrafting stuff in there!!  Yesterday was the grand opening celebration of their new store on Walnut Street, and they were having demonstrations, so I decided to pop in and see what was going on.  The people who work there are so nice, and they had coffee and treats all throughout the store. 

When I arrived, I was checking out these cool templates that they have for you to make your own envelope liners.  You trace the template on nifty paper, then insert it in the envelope so that you have something totally cool and all your own!  I haven't tried it yet, but I'll definitely post pictures once I've given it a whirl.  They also had tea towels in the front of the store with their gifty stuff you can buy, and one said, "Practically Perfect in Every Way" from Mary Poppins!!  My favorite movie from when I was little!!!  It even had the font from her measuring tape!!  I almost bought it...but decided against it.  Hopefully they won't sell out quickly, because I'm defintely second-guessing my decision to put it back...

After (regrettably) putting the Mary Poppins tea towel back, I meandered into the back of the store where they were having the demonstrations, and they had a lovely woman, Linda, doing demonstrations with stamps.  It was so much fun!  She had so many creative ideas for using stamps (some of which I'd never seen before!), and she showed us all some really great ideas for making cards, favor boxes, and more!  They had raffles all day, so I was there for one of them while attending the stamps demonstration, so I put my name in.  Now, I can count on one hand how many times I've won something in my life.  Well, add this time to the list!!  I won a clear stamp pad and a "Merci" stamp!!  I was so excited!! (It's the little things :-) )

I bought flat cards and envelopes to try out my new stamp set and envelope liner templates.  How GREAT is that purple!!!  It matched my coat that I had on yesterday :-)

So, that was my day yesterday.  I'm very excited to start working with stamps again, espeically now that I have all this cool stuff to work with!  Today was a day of shredding (I did not know you could overheat a shredder...until I actually overheated mine.), straightening up, and packing a few things.  Settlement is this Friday!!  I can't believe it!!  Time just flew on by.  I know we're all so freaking sick of winter, but below are a few stitched things that are almost complete.  I haven't decided just how I'm going to do the trim work around them, but I'll be sure to post a picture when they're complete!  Both designs are from Lizzie Kate, one of my favs :-)

That's it for now!!  I'm off to finish The Hunger Games (I'm telling you - addicitve) and get ready for the week!

Remember to do something creative every day! :-)