Frame It Up!

Do you ever get some great stamps and think "these images are too cute to not frame"! I've been finding more then great stamp storage at my sales here lately! I have gotten some great frames! So now that I sort of told you without telling you what my projects were, let me show you! Here are my latest projects that I finished up this week;

With all the time girls can spend in a bathroom getting "ready" I thought I should put up something that would help remind Breanna where "beauty" really comes from! I used an old SU stamp set that I embossed in silver on the mat, added blue flowers to match the background paper (which is also the bathroom wall color) and printed her picture off in black and white! The words were printed off from my computer, not a stamp!



This is for friend who's having her first baby - I guess you can tell it's a boy! LOL! She knows I stamp and "stuff" so I thought I'd make her something to go with the real gift! I used my Cuttlebug, Nestabilities and also colored it with my colored pencils but no gamsol this time! I learned how to use a blender pencil at my local stamp store! Lorinda, the owner of "The Color Wheel" in Beavercreek, is a sweetheart to give me her time to show me a few tricks! You know I soaked them up like a sponge! LOL!



In case you're wondering about the image, I'm not sure where it came from! I got some stamped images from my friend and it was perfect for this gift! The letter "a" is from SU though and I simply covered it with glue stick and paper! Easy peasy!



I hope you like it and I hope my friend likes it too!

Until next time....

Adornit Blog Hop

Is it magic....is it recycling....or just simply, a darn good idea?! I think it may be a little of each?! Welcome my little page on the web, my world and my creations! No it's not always all about me as I do post about my family here too!

If you came here just to see me, thank you! As you can see I am participating in a "blog hop" with the Adorn-It Carolee's Creations girls! YEAH - fun! I'm sure, now, you want to see who else is playing and what they did right?! Well then, let me suggest you start at the beginning, at the Adorn It Blog . There are 79 other participants in this huge event so, sit back and enjoy the run!

The project I'm posting today is something I have thought of several times and, now, finally have it done! Have you ever gotten "stuff" from the store and thought "hey this packaging is pretty cool"?! I do all the time! Well, I use these makeup remover towels sometimes after a run or whenever I need it and my little light bulb went off LOL! Here's the before, the store packaging that instigated the thoughts;



See the little box it is sitting in?! That's it! I thought, you know I could recreate that box and put something else in there and make it a little gift?! Well, I did! Here's what I created;



How'd I do that?! Easy! Just simply, and carefully take the box apart. This box just so happened to be exactly 12" wide! I laid it out on my scrapbook paper, traced it out, cut it out, recreated the creases using my Scor-Pal (don't have one?! Hurry up and get one - you won't regret it!) decorated it how I chose, taped it and Voila! Cute box! How much time elapsed? Maybe....10 minutes if you know exactly what paper you're going to use?! The goodies inside you can tell are Bath and Body Works and were on sale for $1 each a while back. So, once they're decorated too, my total cost for this great project?! Less than $4 - yes FOUR dollars! Now when I have company, like this coming weekend, I'll have a cute little gift to put in their rooms! Now for the details, of what products I used! The paper is from "The Paper Company" and I believe it's called Espresso, the purple striped paper and the solid cardstock are from my stash of scraps so I didn't have a name, the ribbon is from a roll I got out of the $1 spot (AKA dollar vortex) at Target, the little pearls are from the same spot but...get this...he he he I picked them up at our Goodwill for 29 cents! Yep! LOL! I can find crafting stuff just about anywhere! LOL! Now, that gorgeous butterfly stamp is one of my newest favorites! Well I got it from The Rubber Cafe! She as the most beautiful butterfly stamps and I am working hard on having my own full collection! LOL! She also carries the Scor-Pal so it could be one stop shopping there! LOL! I love that! Gives me more time to come home and play and, the way my life goes....I need all the extra time can get! So when you're done with shopping at The Rubber Cafe, please visit all the other talented ladies in this blog hop! I mean seriously,it's Friday so kick back, relax and don't forget it starts here, at the Adorn It Blog, and the next talented lady on the list to visit.... Debbie Raymond! Now she is one talented lady you don't want to miss!

Enjoy the hop!

Until next time....

Just For Fun......

I am SO lost right now....my baby is at cheer camp until Friday! What's a Mom to do when her kids are all out of the house?! I convinced my DH of taking me out to eat and then shopping...we bought Breanna a jumbo cupcake pan! I miss that girl! Just for fun I ordered some tee shirts for Breanna and I. A friend from work has her own screen printing business and did these AWESOME tee shirts for us! Take a look at them;

Me and Bre...!


Since he's usually behind the camera taking pictures of me and Bre, I thought I'd drag him out for a photo op to share too! Here's me and my "Sweet Handsome Love"! P.S. No "Hale Duo" shirt for him....apparently men shouldn't wear pink tee shirts....HAH!



I did these shirts as a surprise for Breanna and let me tell you, she was over the moon with it! Score more points for Momma!!

My Grafico Challenge #9

Yoooo hoooo anyone seen my "mojo"......aaaah there it is! In the corner, hiding under that pile of DP scraps! Awe poor thing is trembling with fear I'd never find it and use it again! Well, I put that fear to rest tonight! LOL! I was blog surfing, something I haven't had time to do lately with work and training and doing races, blah, blah, blah the list goes on! So, I stumble across "Martha's Blog" and she is on the "My Grafico" Design Team. My mojo is now happy mojo as I decided to partake in their challenge #9! We had to do something "fruitty"! LOL! Anyway, we were to use fruit in our design so I chose to use an old set from SU for this one! I made a note pad instead of a card or layout though since Breanna needed a thank you gift for her coach who is taking them to cheer camp next week (God Bless her!!) so I thought...hhmmmm YES! I'll do that for her notebook! So here's my creation;



I'm rather pleased with my final creation and can't wait to give it to her coach! I'm sure she'll love it too! Breanna already does so, even if I don't win the challenge I won a bigger deal - my daughter's appreciation! Now that makes it all worthwhile! LOL!


Until next time....

Miss Me?!!

I've been getting these interesting emails, and today a text asking "when are you updating your blog"! LOL! It's nice to know you guys care and that I was missed! So.... where was I?! I started my new job last week and boy did I hit the ground running! Trying to figure things out, get to know people, I also have been given the job of editing all documents prior to submitting them to the 4 Star <-- now that makes me nervous! I also had 2 runs on Wednesday and the second one was in the rain. Guess what my reward was for that one?! I got a nice, nasty chest cold that just sucked the life out of me! I know, pretty picture right?! I had pneumonia really bad once so chest colds make me nervous!I went to work and did nothing else! LOL! I'm all better now though and here I am!
Our Father's Day celebration today was rather low key as we all took naps, together, like little monkeys in the bed! It was probably a rather hilarious site if you had been that fly on the wall too! I won the award for sleeping the longest....yeah me! So when we got up, I made dinner and boy was it good tonight! Mmmm! We had roast chicken & red bell pepper sauce over wheat noodles, a green salad and some Ghiradelli brownies! I don't understand the hype over these brownies though, they're not all that good - ugh! I prefer Betty Crocker ones with chocolate frosting if I have to eat some! LOL! Then again, I'm not a chocolate eater!
Okay so the best part of Father's day here?! We gave Brian a card/album we made using some of the BoBunny products we picked up at our LSS! Have you seen the album's made where each page is a letter?! I think at Marko's you can get them with the individual letters to spell out anything! Ooooh the possibilities there! This one came as a kit and turned out SO frigging cute! Here's some pictures!

Outside/closed


First 2 inner pages


Close up of the squirrel...yeah...long story but he liked it!


Next couple of pages...


The back...


The "giver" & her Daddy!


This book should have only taken me a couple of hours but it took me days! I could only do a little bit at a time for the obvious reasons! LOL! Brian really liked the final product too so, in the end, that's all the really mattered!

Until next time....

I hope you like it!

Coffee Anyone?!!

Anytime is a good time for coffee! Yep, that would be me "coffee junky"! One of my kids once told me "I love the smell of coffee, I smell coffee and I think of you Mom"! Don't kids say the sweetest things sometimes?! LOL! Santa, the Easter Bunny, Mother's Day always brings me a beloved and coveted Starbucks card too! Love my coffee, just in case you didn't get the picture here...! LOL! I not only LOVE to drink it but I love to give coffee and gift cards as gifts! Now the crafter in me won't allow for a gift to be given in just any old envelope either but, the busy girl in me doesn't allow much time for fancy wrapping! So when I was sucked into the $1 vortex at Target I saw something I knew would be a perfect gift wrapper one day! They were selling flower seeds in these neat little burlap bags! Well, buy one and put it to the side for future use! YEAH, good idea! So when the "Queen Kat Design Team" was challenged to make a card using stitches I thought "hhmm coffee...stitches...GOT IT"! I grabbed my favorite Queen Kat Designs stamps, coffee stain stamp and my Give Me Coffee stamps and made this little swing note card to attach to that cute little burlap bag! Here's pictures of what I came up with;

Swing card closed


Swing card open


So can you see how I made this swing card?! Just simply make 2 circles, one larger then the other (I used my Nesties), punch a hole with your hole punch in both of them where you want your "hinge" to be and put your brad in there! I chose to use a button to go along with my stitches theme, which you can see on the purple part! Now how's that for a fast card to decorate an already cute bag?! You could make a few and stock up on them for Christmas tags or birthday party tags! So fast and so fun! I hope you're up for more fun with the Queen Kat Design Team keeping you "in stitches"! Check out Beverly's Blog to see her great projects! She has a great idea to share too!

Until next time....

Who's Bag Is It?!

In the military when you're getting ready to catch a military flight you do what they call a "bag drag". You're carrying everything to the pallets to get loaded on the aircraft. At Breanna's school she has to put her cheer bag in a pile with other girls things and Logan, well he just needs one of everything his Bella makes right?! Well you have to identify your bag as your own right?! So how about a personalized bag tag then?! Last year when we first got here Brian, yes, my own sweet handsome love/husband, made his own bag tag for his computer bag! I know, grab your tissue it almost made me cry too! I saw what he used and thought "OMG! I so have to have some of those!" Until recently, when another DT member made her own I had forgotten about them. Well flash forward to this past weekend and a stop at my grocery store I find exactly what Brian used to make his tag! Yes, my grocery store had these! LOL!



Sure, I could have just shoved a piece of paper with the information in there and called it good but, what kind of crafter would I be then?! A pathetic one if you ask me! Okay, so you didn't but here's what I did with 3 of them!



Close ups;

Breanna's for her cheer bag


Logan "had to have" one of course;)


If Logan has one then his buddy Garrett has to have one too - right?!


The cheer turtle is actually a "Bella" stamp, mine possessively but from the company "Bella Stamps"! I love her Bella's and, well, all of her stamps! Logan's turtle is from one of my $1 stamp sets and the dog stamp is part of a set that I picked up at Michael's I think! I colored the turtles with my Copic Markers! I think my practice is paying off a little more each time! Still nowhere near some of the other talented ladies out there but...give me time! LOL!

The grocery store where I got these in Ohio is called "Meijers" and it was in the office supply area! I wish I would have gotten more but, I'm sure I'll be back at the grocery store sooner then I want to be! UGH!

Well, until next time....

It's Killing Me...........

OMG! I have been neglecting my blog, neglecting my craft room, neglecting ME....the list goes on! This past week was one from you know where....H - e double hocky sticks and I have a strange feeling it's about to repeat itself! This week I have to include bucking up the mileage as hardcore training for the next marathon starts TODAY! UGH! Anyone want to get up at 0430 and train with me?! It gets kind of lonely out there.......anyone.....?!
Well part of what kept me busy is I put in 10 hours of overtime and as a contractor, you call it "free unpaid time" and one of the Colonel's I work for is leaving. LOL! I am VERY sad about that as I have totally enjoyed my time working for him. He's a TOUGH boss don't get me wrong can make a grown man cry (I've seen him take them out) but still a great guy! The protocol of his move from here to the protocol of his going to where he's going and the job he's going to is all huge and takes a lot of energy, mix that in with the rest of the regular work AND the fact I have another Colonel I work for and they both have been going out of town...sound like enough yet? No, I'm back up for the General's secretary so I've been going over there to sit a lot..... okay to the point now. With the Colonel leaving my going away gift was going to be something he won't have to dust, hang etc... I made him what I do best! A scrapbook! I kept the pages simple since it was sort of professional but, must say, a Bella stamp made her way onto a page ;) He he he! They're not too elaborate but, well he liked it anyway! Here's pictures of the pages! I didn't get too close up either because I didn't ask a single person permission to post on here so I thought this was the safe way!
















Still with me....Here's what I'd rather be doing...



Until next time....

Hear Ye, Hear Ye....

He he he! I should have said "Read Ye, Read Ye"! That would make more sense since this is a blog and you're reading it....Anywhoooo I don't know about you but lately I'm trying hard to cut corners where I can to get the best deals I can on just about everything. Well I didn't just start I'm just irresistibly "drawn" to the sale racks of the stores! LOL! Do you do that too? Look at sales, wait for the sales, only buy on sale?! Well, if you're like me and you do then you'd probably be interested in the GREAT deals going on over at Queen Kat Designs store! She is practically giving her stuff away! Here's the deals;

Acrylic stamps - all of them 40% off!

Past QKD kits - 20% off (they're going fast so don't wait!)

Clearance items - 50% off!

She has even made the math easy for those like me that are math challenged and put the sale price up there too! How much easier can it be?! I would suggest taking a look at the kits she's offering. They each have a stamp set, individual sheets of great paper, embellishments etc ALL for under $20! I mean, I can't get a whole set for much less then $20 and here you get paper and lots of other goodies too! Watch my blog for projects with more great ideas that you can do with her great stamps and stuff! Here's a great idea too....how about surprising your favorite Mom with a package and order one for her too! I know, I'd love one that's for sure! So, whatcha waiting for?!

Just An Idea!

I'm tired today! Well I guess I should be since I stayed up until almost midnight last night and here I sit 0600 about to get ready for another day! I made a really cool discovery yesterday though! Easter is Sunday and what is Easter without deviled eggs?! So I bought a small pack of pickles, individual serving size, so I can cut them up to put in my egg mixture. Looking the packaging over (future craft potential here?!) and I saw this "Calories - 0"! YEAH! Now that's what I'm talking about! Zero calories! YESSSSS! Sooo what kept me up until midnight was making my meatless meal for tonight, making muffins to take in to my co-workers (they love the Fiber 1 muffins I make - you totally have to try them!) hanging curtains, cleaning etc.. all in preparation for my Dad coming to visit! YEAH!! I'm so excited! Anyway I had to finish up a gift I was making my boss.

Can you believe this is a drink carrier?!!



I had gone to lunch with some other girls a few weeks ago and they had a drink carrier and, gasp..., were going to throw it out! Can you believe that?! I mean how often do you get these with NO advertising?! Rarely right?! I knew I could do something with it! I got two plastic cups from Target with bright colors and used that as my color inspiration! I can't remember the origin of the DP but the cardstock is, well, you know...SU! Not too shabby for having started it at 1100 last night and finished before midnight! Had I started earlier I would have embellished it more! That's okay thought as I'm sure he'll give the "Michelle you shouldn't have" look anyway! He's a lot like me and is careful about what he eats so I filled it with mostly stuff I know he likes and, for his wife, I added chocolate! I have treats for his dogs too but they don't fit in the basket! Over all I spent less then $8 on this! Not bad since my other option was boring flowers that were $9! LOL! Yeah....patting myself on the back for this one...! LOL!

So, if you're wondering.....the drink container came from Bob Evans!

I hope you like it!

Until next time....

Is It As Hard For You...

Is it as hard for you as it is for me to come up with handcrafted items that a man would like and, perhaps, actually use?! That was my frame (he he he - no pun intended!) of thought when I made this item! I wanted to do something altered and when I recently saw these giant clothespins at a get together I thought "hey......potential"! Well this is what I came up with!



Here's what I used to create this manly gift - a giant clothespin, Basic Grey Marrakech paper pad, Making Memories dots (another sale bin rescue BTW!), 2 brass brads, random ribbon that coordinated, and a great stamp from The Rubber Cafe! The square is actually a coaster that I recovered using more of the Basic Grey paper and my glue stick to adhere it. I used my recently deceased Cuttlebug (I'm still in mourning!) on this to cut out the stamped image. I took a small scrap of the DP I used to redo the heart in the stamped image and just glue it on top of the other one! Could you tell?!
Well, did I get the "manly" part good enough? Now, the toss up - give it to my Dad...give it to my DH or....turn it in to Melissa as a sample....he he he I'm turning it like a good girl but I sure am tempted to keep it! LOL!

Well...

Until next time....

Bragging......

Okay we all have something we like to brag about whether it's the ability to always find the best deals on the sales rack (gosh I wish that was me!)or, most importantly, the people we love! I can't tell you how many times I get asked if I have pictures of my kids! Well, not in my purse but every where else! So when I saw these little photo albums at the Target $1 spot (vortex to me - sucks me right in every time!) I knew exactly what I could do with them!

Here's what I'm talking about;

Before (this was actually the before of another book I did - I made quite a few of these!)


After


The process is easy actually. Simply remove the cardboard that comes in the front and back (save for another project or to use as insulation in your closet like I do!) and basically create a card front. One thing to remember is you'll see the back of the front and the front of the back (KWIM?) so use double sided paper or cardstock to keep it nice. For this particular book I found the cutest stickers on one of my Target "red sticker" hunting expeditions so, using my letters from PaperTrey Ink (which are clear), I was able to position the letters of the little boys name to look like the monkeys were holding them! The leaves are from the same sticker pack but the grass is actually a stamp from "The Rubber Cafe" - such a versatile stamp by the way! So, just decorate and fill with your pictures! At about $1 for each book and using your scraps, it's the cheapest, yet best, gift ever! I made one for my Dad even of our last marathon/5K walk event we did! He loved it! This particular one is for my daughter's friend who threw her baby shower recently, a thank you of sorts. I know I can hear my daughter, Jessica, now saying "Mom, where's Logan's"?! Ha ha ha the fun of telling her to wait....ha ha ha!

For the curious - my oldest daughter, Jessica, is due to have a baby boy any day now. He's going to be named Logan Greggory. Once he's born I'll need more of these as I'm sure I'll be getting lots and lots of pictures - right Jessica?!! LOL!

Crafting Fool....

Yep, that's me! I'm still going strong making and finishing up gifts to give away.
So tonight was supposed to be my book club night but, darn weather decided I needed to do other things so I didn't get to go. Our roads here in Ohio were very icy and yucky to travel home on. Black ice really intimidates me, especially after fishtailing out of the parking lot tonight going home! I stayed put when I finally got home! LOL! So I worked on more gifts! This time it's little candy bowls that I found at my grocery store of all places! Sometimes you can find the neatest things in a grocery store or drugstore if you just look! I found these glass bowls made by Libby Glass and they came with a lid to seal them shut. The best part?! They were only $1 each! I could kick myself for not buying more and for not buying myself any! That really stinks! Anyway, since I have been sick the last week(long story to include 2 ER trips - ugh!) I thought I'd be better off buying my treats to fill them with instead of making it! I got chocolate covered pretzels and trail mix! Not a bad combo I think! Here are some pictures of the bowls. I also put a picture of how I packaged some cute little bottles of hand sanitizer for a couple of ladies I wanted to give a little something to as well!

Stamps - "Roses in Winter" from SU, 3 different blue inks, sanitizer is from Bath and Body Works


Stamps - "Merry & Bright" from SU, Black Stazon ink, SU paper, SU markers, Nestabilities scalloped circles and plain circles, Target $1 Spot vortex Snowflakes. Don't you love the little pom pom too! They are SO cute!


Snowmen Close-Up


Remember my penguin from Michaels? Well this is one of his friends I picked up because I knew it was perfect for these bowls! How can you resist cuteness like this at only $1?! I can't obviously! I used SU papers and inks, Nestabilities scalloped squares and more cute little pom poms. I put stickles on their antlers but you can't really see it.


Reindeer close up


I know the pictures are a little on the "cr@%%y" side but I was tired and wasn't going to pull out my "stuff". Lazy I know but, well I'm past being up 17 hours right now and am heading to bed! LOL!

Until next time....

Easy Peasy Photo Album

Okay, when I said that title to myself it sounded good! Now I'm thinking "does that conjure up a picture of mushy peas?"! LOL! Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of the fast gift ideas I have in case you could use them too! These are also inexpensive since I usually am either adding them to another pile of gifts or need about a 100 to gift out for friends! So, this year for my Dad I got him a couple of shirts - boring right?! Well I try to add a little fun something in there for him and I found a neat little light up magnifier for one box but needed something for the other one. This past September when he came up to walk the 5K with my daughter and I, and then be at the finish line when we all finished, we took a ton of pictures! I thought to myself "what a great gift opportunity! I took one of those little photo albums that are plastic with a cheesy cardboard insert in the front of something goofy and turned it into an album so he can always look back and remember the fun of the weekend of the marathon! My cost?! $3 is pretty much all I spent for this gift. The album itself was $2 and the Air Force paper was a $1, the sticker quotes, brads, and all the paper are scraps from other projects! How can you beat that?! I did use a Kodak machine to print my pictures. I chose the 2"x3" option that makes 4 per normal size print. It's a great option when you need to put a lot of pictures in one spot!. My cost for these photo albums was probably around $1.50 but check your store in case $$ is different!

Before and a still before but not quite as before as before....make sense?! LOL! Aaahh my world...it's a happy place! LOL! Anyway...


The final cover


A couple of the inner pages using a variety of scraps I had, literally, lying around! Don't forget, if you really want to, click on the pictures to enlarge them!





Photo album - $3
Photo printing - $1.50
Weekend of fun and memories - priceless!

Now, to make one for my brother too!

Until next time....

Cool Chicks!

About a week ago I got the coolest stamps in the mail! I ordered the set "Hey Chick" from Mandy and just got around to using it this weekend! I decided to make a card to go with a gift I have to mail out this week and again for another project I made for a co-workers birthday! Check out my "chicks" below!

I made this card using SU Chocolate Chip cardstock, Basic Grey "Urban Prairie/Weather Vane" and my stamp of course! You can barely see it but I did use some Dazzling Diamonds on the chicks in both projects!



This is a little post it note holder! Too cool huh?! I finally, after a year, broke out my Bind It All and used it to make this! I learned this from my friend Bobbye - one talented chick! The base is actually coasters! Just use some glue or your Xyron, if you have one to adhere the paper to your coasters! Easy peasy!
Inside


Post It Note holder - inside!


Well I hope you like my projects! I bet you can think of a lot of people who you could give these coaster post it note holders to this Christmas!

Until next time....