This is My Now

Monday, August 17, 2015

Using my Stash - Field Flowers

I made this card using supplies from my stash. You know, those old stamps you haven't picked up in a while, and that cardstock that has been sitting on your shelf staring you in the face. Sometimes I get so excited about the shiny new stamps, and the latest & greatest whatever-is-hot-this-week, that I forget about some of my trusty old favorites. For this card, I used the (retired) Field Flowers set from Stampin' Up. This is one of those fantastic 2-step stamps that creates the beautiful layers of color on the image. I also used the (Free!) InkScape program to create an SVG file to cut the flower heads out with my Cricut so I don't have to fussy cut them with scissors. LOVE that!

Details: The card base is an oatmeal colored cardstock I had left over from another project, layered with chocolate colored cardstock from a paper pack, and then Vanilla Cream cardstock from Close To My Heart. On the Vanilla Cream layer I stamped the JudiKins "artist signatures" background stamp in Bamboo, and inked the edges in Autumn Terracotta. The leaf in the corners is from Magenta, and was stamped in Chocolate. Using the Stampin' Up Field Flowers set, I stamped the stem in Olive, and the flower centers in Chocolate and Cocoa. The flower head was cut with the Cricut, then stamped with Goldrush and Autumn Terracotta, and the center with Chocolate and Cocoa, then adhered to the card front with Pop Dots. Ribbon and bow are an old Halloween ribbon from Michael's that I've had sitting around for a couple of years.

The only trouble with using stuff from your stash is that if you run out, there's a good chance you can't replace it to finish the project. Like my ribbon, for example. I made 20 of these cards, but ran out of ribbon, so some have a bow, and some just have the ribbon band. Either way, I really like the way the card turned out, and it didn't cost me a penny! Well, not recently, anyway. ;)

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Olaf Party Games, with the help of my Cricut

Hunter has decided that he wants an Olaf birthday party this year. OLAF.

Be sure, this is NOT a Frozen party. He is adamant that there will be NO Anna, and NO Elsa, and NO Let It Go. ONLY OLAF. And snow. He really wants snow, because after all, you have to have snow if you want to build a snowman!

We are going to take this idea from Growing A Jeweled Rose and Olaf-ize it. Instead of the generic snowman face she used, I cut out an Olaf face using the Print Then Cut feature on my cricut. If you have a Cricut, and don't know how to use this feature, LEARN IT. Crafts by Two has a great playlist of tutorial videos here. This video shows how the Cricut cuts out an image that I printed from the computer.

These are the faces after they are cut, still sitting on my Cricut mat.
Can I just tell you how awesome it is to be able to do that on my Cricut with any image I want, and not have to fussy-cut all those little faces by hand?!?!

I just glued the cut out faces onto plain white foam cups. For the top Olaf, I cut a pipecleaner in three pieces & stuck them in the top of the cup. We will stack them up, and let the boys knock 'em down! Just like the carnival game with the milk bottles & a baseball. Only we won't be using a baseball. A rolled up sock makes a great plush snowball to throw at the Olaf stack. Or you could arrange them all on the floor and let the kids roll the snowball for some Olaf Bowling. We may do both if we need a little time-filler.

I cut out more Olaf faces for these Snow Shooters, also from Growing A Jeweled Rose. Those are going to be going home with the kiddos in their goodie bags, which will also feature these same Olaf faces!

I have lots of other fun things planned, but I will wait to post until after the party, when we have photos of the games actually being played!

Have I mentioned how much I love planning birthday parties?? If I honestly thought I could quit my job and just plan parties for people all the time, I would do it in a heartbeat. A heartbeat, I tell you.

Friday, October 24, 2014

LunchBox Love

So, my boys have been requesting notes in their lunch boxes. WHAT?!?! requesting??? Yes. The same sons who told me last year that it was embarrassing have decided they want notes this year. They want them badly enough they both wrote me a note asking for notes.

See that? They would ❤️❤️❤️ it, and now I am the Best Mom Ever, just for sending a note! They said so! Just for sending a little note. A reminder that I love them, am thinking about them, am praying for them.

So I've been making notes on post its, using cards from a 3x3 swap I was in, and making my own drawings on lunch bags for their snacks.

This super cute little card was from that swap & made by my friend Suzy. It went in AJ's lunch today.

Here are some of the drawings I have done on their lunch snacks.

I saw a blog post where one mom was writing little "did you know?" Notes in her kids' lunch boxes, and liked that idea. I made a couple of those as well.

I think they are going to like them. Now, to get some hot tea & cruise pinterest for a while & try to find more fun things for the World's Best Mom to do!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Mini Album for my Secret Sister

The Crazy Cropper Scrapbooking Retreat is almost here!! I am needing this retreat in a BIG way!! Life has been crazy busy with two shows at the theatre back to back, school starting, and well, just.... life. Anyway, I am very much looking forward to a weekend of almost-uninterrupted scrap time. (I say almost uninterrupted because I will have to leave the retreat for a few hours for my cousin's wedding.)

One of my favorite things about the retreat is the Secret Sister swap. I am so excited about this mini-album I made for my secret sister. (Shhhh! Don't tell!!) I did not add any kind of title or words inside - the idea is for her to add her own titles, photos, and journaling. I hope she loves it as much as I do! I used this YouTube video tutorial to get started: Cardstock Flip Mini Album

Finished album is approximately 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" when closed.
The closure is Spare Parts from Hobby Lobby.

Opening the cover reveals 4 center pages that open alternately, and have spaces for 4x6 photos.

Both sides open up to reveal binder rings with 6 pages on each binder ring. These pages have spaces for 2" x 3" photos and journaling. There is plenty of room for more pages if she wants to add to it.

The center back has 9 waterfall style pages.

The paper is the Caprice collection from Close To My Heart, and uses Bamboo, Chocolate, Crystal Blue, and Honey cardstock. I inked all the papers and stamped the journaling spots with Chocolate ink. Journaling stamps are from Autumn Leaves.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley visited our house this week! While this is exciting in and of itself, this was no ordinary Flat Stanley. THIS Stanley has a milk allergy. Just like Hunter. Hunter has a milk allergy. Just like Stanley. It was magic, I tell you! (This magic was the brain child of Jamie over at Milk Allergy Mom. If you have a kiddo with a milk allergy, you simply MUST check out her blog!) Just look at that face! He was so excited!!

Stanley had already visited three other families of kiddos with milk allergies, so we got to read a journal of what they did when Stanley was visiting them. One child took Stanley to see the Sears Tower in Chicago. Another one took Stanley to see Central Park.

Hunter really wanted to take Stanley to school with him. He wanted to share his new friend with his whole 1st grade class. I warned his teacher that Stanley had come to visit, and let her have the journal. Like the super-amazing teacher she is, Mrs. G took the idea & ran with it! She read the Flat Stanley book to the class, and even took a class photo with Stanley. Stanley helped Hunter do his Word Work on the iPad, and got to enjoy story time. I think Stanley liked going to school!

Hunter also wanted to take Stanley to Bass Pro. Seeing as how the locally owned store is the "Grandaddy of all Outdoor Stores" and ours is the largest Bass Pro (at nearly 500,000 square feet) it seemed like a great choice! Hunter likes to go hang out there and just wander around & look at all the animals. It is more like going to a giant hunting and fishing museum than a typical sporting goods store. Hunter and Stanley had all kinds of amazing adventures that afternoon. They even got to take pictures with the Robertsons of Duck Dynasty! Hunter said his favorites were trying out the tents, driving the boat, and taking a picture with the stinky skunk.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Iced Coffee, anyone?

I'm having a Longaberger Open House today. Not many customers, but the ones who have been here have had a good time and gotten away with some GREAT deals!!

One of the fairly new things Longaberger has started is the Coffee Club, and it has been a huge success. 4 half-pound packages of Private Reserve Pure Arabica Coffee delivered to your doorstep each month. Regular, Decaf, or a combination of both. You choose. Change your mind (and your order online) as often as you like. What could possibly be better?? Iced Coffee? OK. I can do that.