The sweet folks at Ranger asked me to be part of their Great Pumpkin Challenge. We all started with a plain pumpkin and used Ranger goodies to turn it into a fall decorative piece. Here’s mine…

Here’s the scoop: I tore lots of strips of Sticky Back Canvas. White heat embossed Hero Arts images all over the strips. Painted them with Distress Inks. And sprayed the living daylights out of them with Perfect Pearl Mist. And thanks to the Sticky Back Canvas, they stick right on easily. For the “M” I just printed it and traced it onto canvas. Fun…

Be sure to head over the the Ranger blog all this week. They will be showcasing several decorated pumpkins by other artists each day. You can find them HERE.

Take care!

Today I am joining my fellow Paper Crafts Go-To Gals for a fun Card Making 101 Blog Hop. I actually didn’t do a card (I broke the rules!), but instead did a video showing how to create a fun paper heart garland. Please forgive the quick video – I was short on time but wanted to be able to show you…

I used my all-time favorite patterned papers for this garland – the Bo Bunny Double Dot papers. There are so many great colors and they are tone-on-tone. Love love love. I hoard them.

I added the letters with my Silhouette. I tell ya – I am amazed how much use I have gotten out of that machine…

Couldn’t get a great picture of the whole garland, but it says “COLIN ROCKS.” (A little something to tell him how proud I am that he did so great on his first day of Kindergarten!) This project is so easy with the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

Now be sure to stop by the Paper Crafts blog HERE for more on the Card Making 101 Blog Hop. Thanks for stopping by!

See, I tease him for always creating “dark cloud” projects and he teases me for creating “bags of Skittles” projects, often with cutesy things such as owls. It’s all in respect and fun.

So when he asked for a few years ago to create some projects for his Ideaology booth at CHA, I knew just what to create:

A colorful owl.

Yes, I was being a bit of a smart aleck, but it was so much fun to create…

So Mr. Holtz Owl was created from cut pieces of Grungeboard. And all the embellishments? They are all from Ideaology.

Paperclips for feathers. The number zero for eyes along with a few gears. The beak? That is a leaf. And the feet? Those are game spinners/clock hands.

All the coloring was done with Distress Inks. The only non-Holtz goodies are the branch (Prima) and the letter stamps (Papertrey).

So much fun to create. I did this a couple of years ago and don’t think I have shared it here yet – sorry if I did.

And there you have it: The Mr. Holtz Owl.

Have a good week.

Project Supplies:

Awhile back, I shared the invitations I created for Colin’s 5th birthday… which had a Super Mario bowling theme. (Interesting, huh?)

And I am just not getting around to sharing the favors I created for the kids I invited. Bad me.

We had quite a few kids at this party as I invited all the kids in his class. He goes to a Montessori where the kids are close and I have great respect for the families there. Many of them are from other countries – I love how diverse it is. So when it was time to create favors, I knew I wanted to do something with some personalized pieces. Many of the kids have unique names so I thought it would make it extra special. (I know how frustrated Kay was as a kid when she could never find a pencil with her name on it! Ha.)

So each kid got a bag. The bags are from Hobby Lobby. They were sold in packs of three and were 40% off… coming out to about $1 a piece.

I used the Silhouette and the Clean Cut Fabric Interface to cut the names and adhere them to the bag. This is SO very easy. SO easy. (Or I wouldn’t have made so many – hee.)

The girls got flowers with gem centers and their name in the Cocktail Shaker font…

The boys got a basic font with lots of stars using fabrics Colin insisted on…

The kids were over the moon with the bags. It made me so happy.

Each bag also had a tag with a note from Colin…

Colin helped with picking the goodies that were inside the bags, too. I printed lots of Super Mario themed coloring pages that I found on the internet. (The coloring pages for the girls had lots of Princess Peach.) Colin also wanted to put in a few of the glow-in-the-dark stars. To save on costs, I broke up bigger packs and gave each kid 3…

And here is another personalized piece. I created this circle in Photoshop and laminated it. I then glued it to a clothes pin and put a magnet on the back. Perfect to put on the frig to hold a masterpiece…

Oh! And Colin wanted bookmarks, too. All the clipart was free online…

And, yes, these did take a lot of time. But they were so very worth it when I saw those kiddos smile. The girls helped me out quite a bit, too, and had a lot of fun with it. Isn’t that what this craft is all about anyway?! Yay!

Have a great night.

Cards? Most I send. Some I donate. A few get pitched.

Layouts? They all go into a box, waiting to someday make it into an album.

Mini albums? I never know what to do with them, so I don’t ever make them.

And rarely – just rarely – do I put out on display something I have made.

But this one? It is out in my studio so that I can see it often. I just love the photo…

I actually made this one for CHA over a year ago – for Tim Holtz to use in his Idea-ology booth. It was a fun one to create…

Just layered and stitched lots of Idea-ology fun on it…

This photo is extra special to me because I actually remember when it was taken. Colin was a bitty one and I was so very happy. But when he turned 6 weeks, I was hit with postpartum depression and the next 6 months were a blur. But those first 6 weeks? I remember them clearly. And this photo captures that time. Thank God for photos.

Off to relax. This week has been trying. Looking forward to a fresh start tomorrow!

Night.

Project Supplies:

Heidi over at Simon Says Stamps sent me a box full of goodies to giveaway. (She is a generous gal!) A few of the things are from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology line, so I thought I would share a project I did using them.

I created this frame for Tim to use in the Idea-ology booth at CHA. And I had such fun making it. I used a recycled, inexpensive dimensional frame I got at Hobby Lobby years ago. I punched lots of circles from Tim’s papers and added lots of embellishments from his line. Many of the elements relate to my family. (I have a hard time creating with elements that don’t make sense or that don’t have a purpose. It is the engineer in me. )

I used lots of flowers (we plant a TON here in the summer), butterflies (love being outside), time elements (Ken & I danced to “Time In a Bottle” for our first dance at our wedding) and hearts (in the little bottles). I *adore* Tim’s large frames – isn’t it perfect in the middle? I am buying more. (To find any of these products, just click the photos at the end of this post.)

Love the “5″ and “M” that stand for our family. And the old pen tips that remind me to record our memories. And the crown? I just liked it. The butterflies are cut from THIS paper pack. To make it more personal, I added little word strips I created on my computer.

These are such fun to put together!

By the way, I am loving THESE new black letters from Tim. You will be seeing me use them lots.

And how would you like a chance to win some of these Tim Holtz goodies? Just leave a comment here by Wednesday at 11:59pmEST and I will pick a lucky winner of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Keys, Game Pieces and Hanger Clips. And I will also include a Tim Holtz Alterations Styled Labels Die! Love that die.

See you soon.

Project Supplies:

I have received many emails from folks asking about the Let Your Heart Shine Frame I did for the Ranger Perfect Pearls CHA Designer Challenge. (You can find more on this challenge HERE.) So, I thought I would share some info about it here.

People also have asked what I am going to do with it. There really is no where in my house that it works. And I decided against having it published and instead think I might auction it off or sell it to raise money for the card drives or something. Not sure yet – I just think the message is a good one and could really make someone smile.

That frame was plain wood. Then white. Then red. Then black. I couldn't decide.

The background is made up of old book pages applied on a chipboard background with Multi Medium and then painted lightly over with Studio white paint.

I die cut a bunch of cardstock hearts with a PaperTrey Ink die and laid them on a craft sheet. Colin then sprayed them heavily with Perfect Pearl Mist and even shook on some more Perfect Pearls. The puddles of shine dried leaving such a cool look on the hearts.

Colin then put a foam dot on the back of each and I placed them within a traced on the background. Team work.

And I loved every minute of creating it. Even if it took a lot of minutes.

Off to watch some TV and plan some of my upcoming classes. Take care!

Giant Heart Supplies:

Foam Dots	Perfect Pearls	Craft Sheet	Claudine Hellmuth Paint Brushes	Claudine Hellmuth Paints
Vagabond Die Cutting Machine	Multi Medium	Heart Dies	Perfect Pearl Mist

Before sharing some cards, I gotta share with you a few comments people left on my blog yesterday. I had mentioned that I had spent a lot of time with my son on his class Valentines and ignored my cleaning and laundry and such. Many of you left comments relating to this choice I made – love that about crafters! Here are two of my favorite comments:

Samantha said, “My girls are 22 and 16. These kind of things, and the time spent together, are what they remember, which is worth every second and cent spent doing them, and all the other things left undone. Screw the laundry.”

So true, so true.

And Karen said, “These are so cute! I can just see you snuggled up together, having some together time getting these done and Colin getting better. BTW, no justification needed. I remember a great stamp (Hanna Stamps maybe???) that said “A clean house is a sign of a lazy stamper.” Now those are words to live by!”

Ha – true also. Just thought these ladies were so right. We crafters know how to use our time well.

Now… on to another project that took a lot of time and left a lot of dust and laundry to pile up… hee.

My son’s wonderful teacher had a baby on Christmas Eve. So, over the holidays I spent a lot of time coloring little bears to put on a set of notecards for her…

I printed the baby’s name on Neenah white cardstock and then stamped the Papertrey Ink bear over them. Then my 13-year old step-daughter and I spent lots of time together coloring them all…

I am not sure how many cards we did, but there were a lot…

The insides were blank so she could use them as thank you notes. And the bears had a little touch of glitter pen and Glossy Accents for shine. The bows on their necks were colored with Copics to match the bears perfectly…

And each card was embossed with little dots…

And I put them all in a few clear boxes…

… with matching stamped envelopes and a bow to finish…
Yes, it took a ton of time. But it was so worth it. Colin saw me put the care into the gift. And Audrey and I chatted about boys and vacations over hours of coloring. So, if you ask me, it was time well spent.

And his teacher loved them.

Thanks for stopping by today. I have more giveaways this week. But in the meantime I will be sending some Hero Arts stamps to Samantha and Karen for their wonderful comments. Thanks, girls!

See you tomorrow…

Card Supplies:

Corner Chomper	Copics	AC Adhesive	Glossy Accents	Memento Ink
Foam Dots	Neenah White Paper	Stamp Press	THE Fiskars Trimmer	Craft Sheet
Mini Glossy Accents	Clear Glitter Pen	Papertrey Baby	Dot Embossing	Hero Hues Cards etc

I spent most of this afternoon working on Valentines for Colin’s classmates – love it. Colin and I initially intended to create these together – having him do all the coloring. But after he was up all night with a double ear infection (and 3 hours at an urgent care this AM), I ended up doing the coloring while snuggled up on the sofa with him. He helped with assembly and such though. He loves when we do things for his classmates.

Here is a peek at what we created for 22 adorable kiddos…

I used Hero Arts robot, background and quote balloon stamps and little letters from Papertrey Ink. (See links at the bottom of this post – all supplies will be there.)

I created the message on my computer and stamped the quote balloon around it.

Colin stamped “beep” repeatedly on each piece with Soft Pool Ink. After coloring the robots, I added a bit of shine with a glitter pen and some fun with google eyes.

The red is an envelope that holds a little gift…
 
In the envelope is a tiny bag with a mini notebook and a fun small mechanical pencil.

These are such fun to create. I bought mini composition books (for less than 50 cents) and covered the front. The pencil image is from a Hero Arts digital kit and I added the face to it for fun. The smile actually is a Hero Arts stamp in THIS set – made it fast and easy. Then we stamped stars on the background.

Printing digital pieces like this makes crafting so much faster. But then by adding a bit of stamping and google eyes, it looks lovingly handmade.

I am sure many parents will wonder why I put so much time into these. Or that I must have so much time on my hands to create things like this. But it is just a choice I make – I love to make these fun little gifts because I know it makes them happy. In the meantime, my house is a mess and the laundry didn’t get done. Oh well.

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day! Oh, and good news. I have some giveaways this week. Hint, hint.

Take care.

Project Supplies:

Copics	AC Adhesive	Glossy Accents	Memento Ink	Distress Inks
Stamp Press	THE Fiskars Trimmer	Craft Sheet	Favorite Scissors	Robots
Message Balloons	Dotted Background	SImple Alphabet PTI	Pencil Digital	Fun Stamps
Soft Pool Ink	Clear Glitter Pen	Hero Hues Cards etc

Just got home from our fabulous vacation. I have a lot to catch up on, but wanted to pop in and share a bit.

Colin and I are trying to decide what to do for his Valentines this year. In the meantime, I thought I would share here what we did the last two years in case they inspire you.

We don't put candy in ours – we try to avoid too much of that as does his school. Last year we did little craft kits for them to create with at home… (For more photos of the projects and instructions, click HERE.)

Those were SO much fun to put together. The little crafts? Those were from cheap Hobby Lobby tubs. Love.

The year before, we created little folded bags holding mini coloring pages and markers. Easy and fun… (Click HERE for more info and photos.)

I am stumped on what little goodies to include this year. Any ideas? I may just go with pencils. Hmmm…

See you soon with some more sharing!