I Jinxed Her and Some Flutterings!

Happy Monday everyone!!!

I hope everyone had a really great weekend! It has been incredibly nasty here! Basically raining all weekend and doing not much else! Poor Izzy keeps wanting to go outside or to the park but it definitely didn't happen this weekend. It pretty much rained the whole time and Jason even had to get out the pump to pump off the water from the cover of the pool since it had rained so much! Of course the minute he stepped outside, Izzy was putting on her shoes to go with him! LOL!

And speaking of Izzy, I painted her fingernails for the first time on Saturday! My baby is becoming a little girl! It was actually quite amusing. She loves when I clip her fingernails but will only let me clip one at a time. I can't seem to get her to stand still long enough. Well yesterday evening she came up to me and asked me for the clippers. Since it had only been a couple of days since I last clipped them, I really didn't have anything to do. I asked her if she wanted me to paint them instead. She of course said please and I was off to hunt down the one bottle of nail polish I own. Because I have never painted her fingernails, I decided to show her what would happen on one of mine. I painted my index finger then told her to give me her hand. The second I pulled the wand out to paint hers, she says, "Ketchup! Ketchup!" It was all I could do not to laugh. Then I painted all her nails and we blew on them until they dried. She was beaming from ear to ear so I told her to go show Daddy. Of course Daddy smiled and ohhed and ahhed over them (it was only later I found out that he was sad because she looked so big, lol!). Then she turns to me and says, "Paper towel? Wash your hands?" Uh, she obviously didn't get the concept that the nail polish stays on. I had to do the rest of my fingers in order to convince her the polish was okay, but she still walked around with her hands out in front of her for the rest of the evening! LOL!!! Ahhh, girls!

Like I said above there wasn't much to do outside this weekend so I was able to get a lot of stamping done inside!! Oh I was so excited!! In fact, I was even able to get a video tutorial completed and posted over at Club Anya!! It is my first copic tutorial and yes I do know I look like a big goober in the first frame! LOL! Now I present to you the finished creation of my tutorial piece. I decided to play along in this week's The Case of The Curious Card Contest over at The Greeting Farm blog! I mean how could I not. My wonderful friend and Club Anya leader, Jessica is the creator of the beautiful card being cased!!!!


I of course couldn't stop at just casing her card! I had to incorporate pink and butterflies, two of her favorite things!! I started my card by stamping Flutter Anya by The Greeting Farm on white card stock and colored her in using my copics. I added lots of sparkle gel pen to make her really shine!!! Following Jess's layout, I layered on brown, light pink and dark pink card stock along with DP from SEI and Bo Bunny. I added a pink and brown stripped ribbon to the top and popped off my image. To finish the card off, I added lots of rhinestone stickers in swirl patterns to make it look like fairy dust! I hope you like it Jess!!!!

My second project for today is to make up for the jinx I placed on my good friend Melissa. I posted a couple weeks ago a gift set I was making for her to give at her baby shower. I was just so, so sure she was going to have a girl so I made this set. Well, you all were right. I jinxed her. I just found out that they are having a boy!!! I am so sorry Melissa! LOL! Actually her and her husband are ecstatic, and can hardly wait for September! So to make up for my snafu, I present to you a thank you card set for a boy!

Gift Set


Card Box holder


Card


I liked the gift set idea so much that I decided to simply switch up the paper and images and stick with the basic concept and layout. I started the set by creating my card box out of brown and green card stock along with some DP from Basic Grey. A complete tutorial can be found here. I then stamped the baby, shirt, and bear hat from Dress Up Sweet Pea from Pink Cat Studio on white card stock and colored him in using my copics. To change the bear hat into an owl (Melissa's theme for the nursery is owls), I simply masked off the ears then drew in the circles around the eyes, the feathers at the side and the mask on the face. For the tag on the box, I stamped, "Boy" from Sweet Pea Plate 2 on his shirt and "Thanks" from Kiki Kitty down the side. I then mounted it on brown and green card stock I cut out with my nesties and attached it to my box with a brown stitched ribbon. For the card, I followed the same procedure to create my little boy as I did for the tag and mounted it on brown and green card stock along with the same DP from Basic Grey. A cuttlebugged a piece of brown card stock with my herringbone embossing folder and then attached a brown and white polka dot ribbon across the middle. I completed the card with two brown buttons and a green one up in the corner. I can only hope this makes up for my jinx!

Well thanks everyone for hanging out with me today!! Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the first day of Pink Cat sneak peeks! Smiles!

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Mother's Day Basket!

Happy Friday everyone!!!

I hope you guys had a ton of fun at the Club Anya blog hop! Wow, I had the absolute best time! And can you say amazing creations!!! I was blown away! I just can't get over how much talent there is out there!

So yesterday Izzy was in total shopping mode! For the last couple of days she has been asking to go shopping and ride in the car. She asked Jason on Wednesday night to take her to the store and to Lowes (no idea why). Well yesterday we were going to meet Jason for lunch and I decided to run some errands as well! Can I tell you how many times she asked to go to Hobby Lobby and Target! OMGoodness it was non stop! LOL! I felt bad for Jason too! Poor thing, I accidentally told her we were going to her favorite place (Target) so I think she was a little disappointed that we went to eat first! LOL! But it worked out okay once she actually saw Jason!

Okay so I know it is Friday and the challenge is called Watchdoin Wednesday, but it took me awhile to figure out the tutorial part so I am posting it on my blog today! Well this week's challenge over at SUINK was to create a basket either for Easter, mother's day, may day or any special occasion. The one thing we ask is that you share the template you use! Well since I didn't use a template, I had to create a tutorial to describe how I made it! LOL! And since I thought my little basket looked awfully lonely I wanted to create a card to match, so I used this week's Sketch Challenge at SCS for the layout!

Gift Set


Basket


Card


I want to start by describing how I made the card first. I simply followed the SCS sketch using blue, dark blue and black card stock along with some DP from Basic Grey. I then punched out some black, blue and light blue card stock using my Labels 4 nesties and stamped the sentiment, dots and swirls from Thinking of Mother by SUINK and added blue rhinestones on top of the circles. I finished up the card with some twine from Jason's gardening stash. The basket itself is created out of blue and dark blue card stock that I distressed with a sponge and some taken with teal ink following the tutorial below. I then attached the handle with some jumbo eyelets and some more of Jason's twine. I filled the basket with some green confetti and added the little label with some black and dark blue card stock that I cut out with the labels four nesties and then stamped with one of the sentiments.

Basket Tutorial

Step 1: Cut a piece of paper to 9X9 and score vertically at 3" and 6" (I am using bright colors so you can see the steps better)


Step 2: Now score horizontally at 3" and 6".


Step 3: Cut out the four corner pieces you have created with your scoring


Step 4: Now cut the vertical projections into 1" strips. Make sure you do not cut into the center square.


Step 5: Repeat step four for the horizontal projections.


Step 6: Now fold all the score lines up leaving the center square as your base.


Step 7: Cut three strips of card stock 1" X 12" and score them each at 1.5", 4.5", 7.5", 10.5". (At this point you can distress the edges if you choose.)


Step 8: Now begins the weaving. Simply decide which side you would like to be your back and place your first strip in the middle of the back and weave around the sides making sure that if you have your strip in front that it is in the back for the next one. Then glue the back.


Step 9: Take your next strip and repeat step eight except alternating strips from the last time. (So if the first strip was in front then this strip needs to be in back). Glue to the back side again.

(inside view)


(front view)


Step 10: Repeat step 8 with your final strip

(inside view)


(front view)


Step 11: For the top cap, cut a strip of paper 3" X 12" and score vertically at .5", 1.5" and 2.5"


Step 12: Score horizontally at 1.5", 4.5", 7.5" and 10.5"


Step 13: Now glue your half inch strips toward the center to create a finished edge.


Step 14: Fold your strip in half and along the other score lines you created.


Step 15: Place your finishing edge over the top and glue to the top.


Step 16: Cut a strip of card stock to 1" X 12" and attach it to your basket with either glue or some eyelets or brads and your basket is complete!

Now it is your turn to try. Simply add the keyword SUINKWWWC36 when uploading your creations to SCS or PCP. And then check out the other awesome creations by the DT.

• Amber Kroening
• Cathleen Torina
• Colleen Wold
• Janna Hull
• Kristen Catalano
• Laura Leonard
• Leigh O'Brien
• Mary Jo Price-Williams

Speaking of awesomeness! Pink Cat studio has a great new contest going on right now at the blog! You can win the new Lily at the Beach release simply by attaching this adorable blinkie to your side bar! Complete details can be found here!

Thanks everyone for hanging out with me today! Have a great rest of the day! Smiles!

Let's All Do The Hop!! The MFT Blog Hop That is!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!!


Welcome to your last stop of today's MFT blog hop! If you would like to start at the beginning, go here: Kim's Blog


As most of you know, Kim has revamped the What's Up Wednesday and has been picking a MFT Hot to Trot Designer that is featured in the Forum on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. I cannot tell you what a complete shock and honor it was to be chosen!!! Have you seen the MFT gallery on SCS???? There is some serious talent out there ladies!!!


When I received the new stamp set for BC Dzyns called Day Dreamer, I was so excited, because I immediately imagined a journal. I think it was the speech bubble. I mean who doesn't have tons of thoughts running through their head all the time that they need to jot down. I actually keep a little notebook in my car for those random card ideas that pop up when I am headed to the store or taking Izzy to the library. And of course it needs to be cute! I mean, you can't have an ugly journal. So I decided to make a journal cover.

Here is a picture of the inside!



I started this project by stamping the girl, speech bubble and sentiment from the new BC Dzyns stamp set Day Dreamer by MFT on white card stock and several different kinds of DP. I colored them in using my copics and markers and then paper pieced the images together. To create the journal cover itself. I took three pieces of chipboard cut to 6 1/2 long, with 2 of the chipboard pieces cut to 5 inches wide and the third cut to 1 in. wide. I laid them out on a piece of brown card stock that was cut to 12 in. by 7 1/2 in. I folded up the edges, using book corners and then cut a second piece of brown card stock, cut to 11 in. by 6 1/4 in to cover the inside. Before I adhered it to the inside of my journal, I wrapped two pieces of brown card stock on each end to hold the book in place. This was done by cutting brown strips to 7 1/4 in long and 2 inches wide and then adhering the excess to the back. With this step completed, I attached the card stock to the inside of my journal cover. To decorate the front, I layered on brown card stock, blue card stock and DP from Basic Grey's Offbeat Collection. The numbers and letters were cut out of DP and brown card stock with my Cricut machine and adhered to the front using my Xyron machine. I finished the journal by popping off my speech bubble and image. I can't wait to wrap my journal in it and place it in the car!!


I hope that you enjoyed the blog hop as much as I have and a huge thanks to Kim at MFT and the wonderful Guest DT members for their amazing creations!


Don't forget to leave a comment in order to be placed in the drawing to win a MFTreat!!! I will be picking the winner at random later tonight!! Thanks again for stopping by!!!

----------------------------------------------

This contest is now closed! Thank you to all of those who left comments and participated in the blog hop!! A winner will be chosen randomly and posted shortly!

The Promised Tutorial Finally!

Happy Monday everyone!

Oh it feels so good to be blogging and stamping again. I haven't been able to all weekend!!

So I was finally able to assemble another box today so I could post the tutorial. I really am sorry this has taken me so long to post, it has just been insane around here. I am also a little embarrassed since this is such an easy box to create that it has taken me so long to get it together.

Well here it is! I went ahead and scanned a template for everyone so they can just print it off. I am also posting step by step instructions for those people like me who need more than just a drawing to follow.

This is the template:

Step 1: You are first going to need a sturdy piece of card stock cut to 7" X 11.5". Layout the piece of card stock lengthwise (landscape style). Score at 1/2",4", 6" and 9 1/2". See below.

Step 2: Turn your piece of card stock width wise (portrait style) and score at 1 1/2" and 5 1/2". You now have the folds for your box. See, easy peasy!

Step 3: To create the door, choose one of the 3 1/2 by 4" panels. Make sure your paper is lengthwise again (landscape style), and score vertically at 1" and 3". Score horizontally at 3/4" and 3 1/2". Now cut out your door. NOTE: Do Not cut out all four sides. Only three sides. Otherwise you have to figure out how to reattach it with some single sided tape that you have buried in the bottom of some random drawer and then you have to figure out how to cover up where you tried to fix it with more card stock and then you have to make a separate door, while it takes you twenty extra minutes and your daughter is pulling on your pant leg because she wants lunch and you are telling her to wait just one more minute because Mommy is almost done. Not that I would know anything about this, since I of course did not cut out all four sides. lol.

Step 4: Now your door is cut out and you need to attach your acetate. Cut a piece of acetate 2 1/2" by 3 3/4" and attach to the inside of the box to cover the window created by the door.

Step 5: Cut out the tabs for your box. I like to cut mine at a slight angle so that I don't have any overlap but you can cut them straight if you prefer. See below for guidance.

Step 6: Assemble your box. I like to prefold all the score lines so that the box assembles easier. I attach the 1/2" flap to the opposite 2" flap. I then adhere the bottom of the box.

Here is a picture of the assembled box.

The last step is to decorate however you see fit.

For this version of the box, I used the stamp set Kooky Kostumes by SUInk and More again but used the candy corn girl and the dog. I colored her in with my stampin' write markers and my copics. I then covered the box with siding I made out of Halloween DP and my Martha Stewart edge punch. I then added some trim and a door with green card stock that I went over with a green marker to age it. I added to different sizes of orange brads to create a door knob and hook. I punched out a bat using my Martha Stewart punch and added it to the door with some black thread. I then stamped the light pole from The Witching Hour by SUInk and more and popped it along with the little girl and dog off the front of the box. I finished the box by filling it with chocolate and tied it close with a Halloween bow.

I hope this tutorial was helpful. If anybody has any questions please feel free to e-mail me and I will be happy to answer them!

So this weekend was our party. I think it was a smashing success! Everybody had a really great time and the food was really good. I am so glad we did it but I am really glad it is over. We also went to Boo at the Zoo this weekend. Kids get all dressed up and go Trick or Treating at the Zoo. I was so excited because I finished Izzy's costume and here is a picture!!!

Okay so there is no picture. Want to know why? The little stinker is scared of it. Every time I try to put it on her she turns and starts crying. What can possibly be scary about a candy corn? And she loves candy corn. Well then I had the brilliant idea of dressing her up in a hand me down bubble bee costume we have, because she absolutely loves anything bee. Here she is!!!

Again no picture because that scared her too. I even tried getting her to try it on today, but it was a no go. I thought it wouldn't be as scary since it is a jacket and pants. But no, she is particular. I did get her to try on Tuxy's Yoda costume and she seems content to wear that. Yeesh! This kid is killing me.

Well that is it for me today. Thanks as always for stopping by and I am sorry for the delay in posting! Have a great rest of the day!!

It is On!!!!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Jason is finally home! Yeah!!! Both Izzy and I are thrilled, we have really missed him this week.

Izzy is feeling better. Still a little stuffed up, but definitely back to her stinky self. Now I have to contend with our dog. He is driving me crazy!!! (If anyone who wants a 5 year old Boston Terrier who is completely insane, contact me). I do love him, but for some reason the last two nights he has been getting up in the middle of the night to go potty. Not just once, not just twice but three or four times! He is worse than I was when I was pregnant. The strange thing is he doesn't go that often during the day and we aren't giving him lots of fluids before bedtime. I think he is secretly punishing us for Jason being gone the last three days. He's cunning I tell you, cunning.

I wanted to share some more good news, at least to us. My wonderful neighbor, Beth, last week called and asked me for a picture of Isabella; she wanted to try drawing again. I gave her my favorite picture of Izzy and on Thursday she gave me her picture that she had drawn (I will be sharing the drawing tomorrow). It is the most beautiful drawing I have ever seen! I almost cried when I saw it. It looks exactly like her and it is extra special because Beth created it with love. I don't know what we did to deserve such great neighbors, but I feel incredibly lucky.

Okay, so enough sappy stuff and onto my project for today. I figure it is close enough to October to start posting Halloween nonstop. I am no longer holding myself back. From here on out it will be Halloween 24/7 out our house! Yeah!!!!! I am so excited. So to mark the first day of the Halloween extravaganza, I am posting a bag I made for the giveaway at our Halloween party!

Isn't this cute! We are going to fill it with candy. I created the bag out of a 11 1/2 in. tall X 8 1/2 in. wide piece of lavender card stock. I scored the piece of paper horizontally at 2 in. and 8 in. Next, I scored vertically at 1/2 in., 4 1/2 in., 6 in., 10 in., and 11 1/2 in. I then folded the bag up and glued it together. Next I used my Martha Stewart fence punch to punch out the fence in black. I then stamped the house from Monster Squad by MFT stamps on several pieces of Halloween paper by Stampin' Up and cut them out. I decided to pop out the roof to give it a three dimensional look. Next I colored in the windows and door and added a purple brad to the doorknob. I tacked on some more fence to the top of the roof and punched out some goo, using my Martha Stewart Goo punch, and added it to the bottom of the roof. To finish out the scene at the bottom of the bag, I stamped the stack of jack-o-lanterns from The Witching Hour by SUInks and More, colored them in using my Prisma color pencils and adhered them to the side of the house. To seal the bag, I punched through all layers with my rectangle punch and threaded through an orange ribbon. Next I cut out a tag shape from Halloween paper and a slightly smaller shape out of whisper white and stamped the sentiment "I Want Candy" from Monster Squad by MFT and attached it with the ribbon. Finally, I glued on a bat button I picked up from Michaels and voila, a totally cute and adorable Halloween treat bag.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous weekend!