Teacher Christmas Gifts

I had to come up with a quick and cute idea for Jake's after school teachers so guess where I went...Pinterest of course! Aren't these adorable? Rudolph's nose is an EOS Lip Balm and I also included a Target gift card in the clear bag. Here is the link in case you need ideas for next year. :-)
http://thecraftingchicks.com/2014/11/rudolph-christmas-giftbloggers-best-12-days-of-christmas.html

Halloween Classroom Treats

I made these tiny Halloween treat boxes for Jake's classroom party today. Jake helped me stuff the boxes with candy and I pretty much did the rest. Super quick and cute!
 Hope everyone has a fun Halloween!

Paper Pumpkin Boo-tiful Halloween Treat Bags

Quick and easy Burlap Treat Bags!

I'm Back!!!

When we get our first cold snap here, it makes me want to start crafting again. Yay, it's time to get out the coats and sweaters! Halloween motivates me too since it is my second favorite holiday. There are so many neat crafts to make during this time of year and I like to make special Halloween treats for Jake's classmates too! I will share those with you towards the end of the month. 
Since we are counting down to Halloween, I decided to make this really cute and easy wreath from Stampin' Up. It came with all of the materials shown except a glue gun and the Halloween stamp. I am sold when I don't have to think about the materials to buy to make something and it all comes together in one kit.

This next wreath below is for my wonderful friend Lynette. She has been patiently waiting for this "Summer" wreath and yes I just finally finished it. So Lynette, I hope you like it and my apologies for taking FOREVER to make it! 

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Freshly Made Sketches #136

I haven't participated in a Freshly Made Sketch (FMS) in a long time but I was so excited when my Stampin' Up! "Blendabilities" Markers arrived that I had to make time to use them. I also love the new Blended Bloom stamp so I went to work with the help of FMS and made this....

 

Jake was very excited to use my new markers too! 

Card Recipe Stamps: Blended Bloom, Itty Bitty Banners Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Stampin' Up Blendabilities Markers in Cherry Cobbler Assortment and Daffodil Delight Assortment Paper: Fresh Prints Designer Paper, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana Accessories and Tools: Big Shot, Bitty Banner Framelits, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Paper Snips

Happy Mother's Day

Hi there! I am a little late showing you these Mother's Day cards but here they are! I love the hexagon card and saw a similar card on Pinterest. There are so many card designs out there using the hexagon hive thinlit so I hope to use it even more. I was bored after making 5 of them though so I switched it up and created the other 3 cards (Picture 2 and 3) using some leftover items from the last Paper Pumpkin kit and the butterfly die which is retiring soon. Enjoy!

Another Paper Pumpkin Kit (March)

Here is another lovely paper pumpkin kit that has been sitting on my desk for a month. I really like the wood pieces and hope to see more of these in the new catalog which comes out next month. The Thank You cards will be great to use for teacher appreciation week!  

It's a Magical Paper Escape Every Month!

Sweep away the mundane-your creativity carriage awaits!

• Each month we send you a unique, surprise kit with a project-cards, journals, décor, and more! (We've even color-coordinated, measured, and cut everything for you!)
• Each kit includes stamps, ink, paper, and accessories-everything but adhesive.
• Each kit gives you a 30-minute creativity escape.
• We will ship your Paper Pumpkin on or around the 15th of the month. 
• You need to sign up for a kit by the 10th of the month to get that month's kit. If you sign up on the 11th of the month, your first kit will come the next month. (Let's say you sign up on May 10, we'll send your kit around May 15. If you sign up on May 11, we'll send your first kit around the June 15.)
• A Paper Pumpkin membership is $19.95 per month (and shipping is included!) There's no commitment, you can cancel your monthly Paper Pumpkin at anytime. You can also skip a month if you want. 

If you are interested, please click here.   Here is the April Paper Pumpkin called "Framed Love". This kit is super cute and I have placed the frame on my kitchen counter. All you generally need for these kits is adhesive and it's always exciting opening up my orange box each month to see what's inside. 

Happy Easter!

I can share these Easter cards with you since my family should have received them by now.  I was searching various stamping sites for some quick and easy card designs and found the perfect cards made by Dawn Olchefske. Luckily, I had all of the materials on hand and it took a little over an hour to make 8 cards which I think is great!

Jake is very excited and can't wait to see what the Easter bunny will bring him. We had so much fun dyeing eggs today. He did great and didn't make much of a mess! :-) He is so proud of his colorful eggs as you can see in this picture. Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Easter Deco Mesh Wreath

I have seen these Deco Mesh wreaths everywhere and all I needed was time to make one. Ha! It was pretty easy to put together and all materials are from Michaels. These wreaths can be very expensive if you want to buy them from your local craft store or from Etsy but you can make your own for somewhere between $10-$15 if you use your coupons. Hurry, there is still time to make one before Easter!!

Key Rack

Chris was itching to make something so he replaced our store bought key rack with one of his homemade creations. There is one more key holder than we had before and we have the option to put something small on the top shelf as shown.   I have been busy crafting too and hope to share some fun Easter stuff with you very soon!

Valentine Mini Coffee Cups

I decorated these adorable mini coffee cups for Valentine's Day. So fun! These cups are made for espresso just to give you an idea of how small they really are.   Click here for cup holder instructions from Becky Roberts and Deb Valder will provide you with the mini coffee template.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Blooms and Butterflies Color Challenge #22

This color challenge definitely took me outside of my comfort zone especially coordinating 2 sets of gray tones. But after browsing through my stamp sets, I came across Rev Up the Fun which I have never used before :-(  and thought these colors would coordinate perfectly with this stamp set. I think one of Jake's friends would really like this card for their birthday!

Card Recipe Stamps: Rev Up the Fun Ink: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Smokey Slate Paper: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Smokey Slate Accessories and Tools: Big Shot, Chevron Embossing folder, Neutral Candy Dots, Blender Pens, 5/8" Satin Ribbon Basic Black (retired), Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, Stampin Dimensionals
    Make sure to check out what the other talented designers have created using these colors at Brandy's cards   Have a great day!

Valentine Classroom Exchange

I wanted to do something different this year for Jake's Valentine classroom exchange so I immediately went to Pinterest for some inspiration. These cute, colorful heart shaped crayons caught my eye and were so simple to make!

Here is what you will need: Crayon pieces-I used 4 boxes of 24 crayons to make 18 cards Silicon heart mold Sharp knife Valentine card from the Nerd's Wife website Click here
There are tons of ways to make these but here are my directions: 1. Place your crayons in warm water to unwrap the paper

 2. Call Chris to cut them using a sharp knife, lol. Chris is my husband. Yes, I made this a family project.

3. Place heart molds on a baking sheet covered with foil and fill with broken crayon pieces. 4. Place in oven at 225 degrees for 10-20 minutes. These were done in 17 minutes. Here is what they looked like after they came out of the oven.

5. I let them sit out for about 30 minutes before placing them in the freezer for another 30 minutes. 6. Pop crayons out of the mold.   Here is how I packaged them using the Nerd's Wife printable.

 I also made sure to include this on the back (you never know):

Jake had fun making these too! Chris probably didn't but he helped out anyways. Stay tuned, my next Valentine project will be making teacher gifts.

PPA189 Challenge

It's time for the Pals Paper Arts Challenge 189 and I love layers! You will notice I used the new Scalloped Tag Topper Punch too which I absolutely love! Can't wait to play with it some more. So here is the PPA sketch and then my creation:

Card Recipe Stamps: None Ink: None Paper: Real Red, Coastal Cabana, Pink Pirouette, Fresh Prints DSP Accessories and Tools: Big Shot, Expression Thinlits Dies-Love, Framelits Heart Collection, Perfect Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Pretty in Pink Grosgrain ribbon 1/4", Real Red Grosgrain Stitches 1/4", Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, Jewel Basic Rhinestones, Heart to Heart Punch(Retired), Stampin' Dimensionals
Make sure to check out what the other talented designers created using this sketch at Pals Paper Arts Thank you for stopping by!

Blooms and Butterflies Color Challenge #21

I love the colors selected by Brandy for the Blooms and Butterflies Color Challenge! They are definitely 3 of my favorite ones: Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, and Real Red.    I have been dying to use the Banner Blast stamps and punch. Don't these colors look great with this card layout?!? Yippee! I do have to admit when I was writing down the supplies I used for this card, I actually used Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine! Ughhh! Sorry about that but it matches pretty well with Real Red, right? Anyways, I hope you like it! 

Card Recipe Stamps: Itty Bitty Banners, Banner Blast
Ink: Real Red, Bermuda Bay
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red
Accessories and Tools: Big Shot, Banner Punch, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Bitty Banners Framelits, Framed Tulips Embossing folder, Heart to Heart Punch (retired)

  Make sure you check out what the other talented designers have created at Brandy's Cards Have a great day!