25 Days of Christmas Day 4: Dog Treat Containers

Hello Again!!

Today I thought I would share a different project I made.  Believe it or not, the other day I pulled out my Cricut and my vinyl to do a project.  First, a story...

My better half and I have been together for seven years.  For the last five, we have been wanting a puppy.  However, we were unable to get one because my better half had a job at a University where we lived in the residence hall.  Sadly, the residence halls do not allow us to have pets.  This year when we moved into our new home, we bought a dog!!  Her name is Sadie, and she is the cutest puppy you have ever seen!!

Of course, with a puppy comes puppy treats!  we purchased plain, plastic, airtight containers from Wal-Mart, and I thought they needed more pizazz.  So, we purchased other containers.  The other containers we purchased started to break, so I thought it was time to dress up the ones we bought.

I used my word collage cartridge that I have wanted to use for a while.  I had some difficulty with the vinyl as it was REALLY sticky and would not cling to the transfer tape.  That's why some letters are a little crooked.  There are also A LOT of letters, and that was kind of a pain.

I think they turned out fairly cute, and they work really well for doggie treats.  They were fairly easy to make as well (aside from the stickiness).  The moral of the story is, don't forget your pet on Christmas too!!  See you tomorrow!!

25 Days of Christmas Day 3: Fleur de Lis Wreath

Hello Everyone!! Welcome to Day 3 of the 25 days of Christmas!!

I have a confession: I am a fleur de lis freak and so is my family.  My family is from (and continues to live) in the New Orleans area.  I remember going down there the Christmas after Katrina hit.  The town was grey and the waterlines were over my head (and my dad's head).  We spent that Christmas in a hotel room.  Because most of my family was displaced, we had a big family Christmas at the deli where my grandmother works.  That way, everyone could be there for Christmas.  About half of my family was affected by hurricane Katrina and had to rebuild their homes.  We are blessed that everyone made it out of New Orleans safe and is now able to be back in their homes. 

After this tragedy, the fleur de lis not meant more to people than ever (as it is the symbol of New Orleans).  It meant faith, love, trust, and (probably most of all) hope.  Now, most of my family decorates with it and uses it as a reminder of what happened. 

My mom came to visit as I was starting creating my wreaths.  As we were in Hobby Lobby looking for supplies, she found a picture in a book called Deco Mesh Wreaths of a fleur de lis wreath.  My mom said, "I want that one," and here is what we came up with....

There were some gold balls and feathers we added later; however, I was very excited with the way the wreath turned out.  After making this wreath, I learned a lot about the possibilities of wreaths that I was scared of trying previously.  

Also, my mom was pretty excited about it!!  Thank you for looking at my wreaths!! Look forward to seeing you tomorrow!!

25 Days of Christmas Day 2: Stampin' Up Seasonal This and That Journal

Hello Everyone!!

Welcome to day 2 of the 25 Days of Christmas.  As y'all may or may not know, I am an organizational FREAK!!  I love to organize things and know what I have to do and when I have to do it. 

My mom is a Stampin' Up demonstrator, so I get all of the Stampin' Up magazines.  As I was looking through this year's seasonal stuff, I found the Seasons of Style This and That Journal.  This has several different features (and accessories) that allow you to stay organized all season long. 

It comes plain (with a design on the chipboard) for you to decorate.  There are additional packs and embellishments you can purchase that coordinate with it.  I decorated mine for the 2013 season. 

The journal itself has five different sections so you can organize effectively for the holidays. 

• This first section is a calendar.  It goes through two months; however, the months are blank.  So, you can have a personal calendar and a social calendar or whatever you want. 

• The second section is a card section.  It comes with a graphing paper and list space so you can design everything for your cards.  The list will help you remember what items you need (and how much you need of it).  Also, it allows you to make a list of people to send cards to and if you have received a card from that person.

• The third section is for decor.  It looks very similar to the card section, except it has room for decor items.  It helps you label them according to people for whom you are decorating, such as family and friends.  

• The fourth section is a gift section.  This way, you can write down everyone you need to purchase a gift for, what you are going to purchase, and check off that you have purchased it.  Also, you can design your own gift wrapping/tags here too!! 

• The fifth section is the entertainment section.  Here, you can plan your entire party from your guest list (and who RSVPed) to the food and other items you will need (and if you have purchased them). 

I was surprised by how much use I get out of this little book, and how much it has helped me stay organized this holiday season.  I LOVE it, and have had so much fun decorating it and such that I had to share it.  I know it will be back next season as well. 

If you are interested in purchasing this journal, please contact your local Stampin' Up demonstrator.  If you do not already have one, please consider going here and supporting my mom. 

See y'all tomorrow with more Christmas fun!!  

25 Days of Christmas Day 1: Shoe Wreath

Hello Everyone!!

I have decided to do a 25 days of Christmas leading up to my easy store opening in January.  Some of these will be wreaths, and some will be regular crafty projects.  However, we are going to start with a wreath.  

This wreath is a fun, everyday wreath.  I made it with a friend in mind, so the peacock feathers and shoe detail are meaningful.  It includes two types of deco mesh (1 printed, 1 solid), deco tubing, ribbon, and various pics.  

I love the fullness of the wreath as well of the colors.  This was another one of the first wreaths I did, and I have learned a lot since then about placement as well as how to secure the pics to the wreath.  hot glue has become my friend.  

I have enjoyed learning and practicing how to make these wreaths.  I think I am growing with every wreath I make.  While I have been pretty "creative" in the past, for this I have to rely on my sense of color and pattern coordination, which is something I have had difficulty with.  However, I have been getting lots of compliments and requests.  

I look forward to seeing where this journey leads!!  Please visit my store, which will officially open in January and my Facebook page!  

Thanks for all of the support!

Back with a Brand New Craft

Hello Everyone!!

I has been a while since I have posted.  To be honest, I haven't been very crafty in the time I have been gone.  I have gotten a full-time job at the mental health agency for which I was an Intern, I recently (June) purchased a home, and I have a new puppy!!  Things have just been crazy, and my craftiness has most definitely suffered for it.

Now, I have a new home with a new craft room/office/gym that I have recently re-organized to fit my paper crafting along with my new hobby, which I will get to in a minute.  I have also been on a fitness journey that has been somewhat successful, although I have had A LOT of ups and downs associated with that as well.  If you would like to follow my fitness journey, head on over to my fitness blog and check it out.

Onto my new venture....

While I have not been crafty for a while, I continue to visit craft stores and look.  Lately I have been seeing a lot of the deco mesh wreaths.  If you haven't seen these or don't know what they are, google it.  It's amazing.  I saw one I loved and thought "I can make that."  So, I went out and purchased a few supplies, and here was the turnout.

I made the wreath in EIU colors as we are so close to the University and it was almost homecoming.  After making this wreath, I fell in love with the process.  Looking back, this is not the best wreath I have made, and I notice several mistakes I made in the process; however, that did not stop me.

The colors of ribbon are not quite right, and I used ribbon that was not wired, which gave them a "droopy" look.  Again, it's not the best wreath I've made, but it's my first and there is something to be said about that.  

Because I have gotten into this so much, I have decided to open my own little store.  For those of you who have been long time followers, you know this is a long time dream in the making.  Currently, I am trying to navigate through the legalities of it in order to get everything set up and ready to open, but things are moving along.  

I don't know that things will be moving in time for the Christmas season, but I want to be up and ready for the mardi Gras/Valentine's Day season.  I am also hoping that I will be more motivated to make non-wreath items as well (i.e. getting my cricut out more).  As I am researching and playing, I will keep ya'll updated on my progress.  

In the meantime, please follow me on Facebook and Pinterest.  Things don't look really exciting yet, but hopefully they will soon.  Hope your day is full of creativity and craftiness!!

My Pink Stamper 12 Days of Christmas Challenge

Hello Everyone!!

If you would like to enter the My Creative Suite Giveaway, please click HERE.

It's been a while since I posted something I actually made.  Don't get me wrong, I have not stopped crafting, I have just been slow at posting on my blog.  Hopefully I will catch up in the New Year.

Robyn over at My Pink Stamper is hosting a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway and challenge event.  Each day is a different project, a different challenge, and a different giveaway.  You do not need to participate in the challenges in order to enter the giveaways.  If you have ever read my blog, you know I LOVE Robyn's blog and stamps.  I thought I would participate in a couple of the challenges in order to get my craft and posting mojo going.  I am doing the Day 5 challenge, which is to make a gift card or money holder.

It turns out I made a few gift card holders for various secret santa gifts.  I altered the crayon box from Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More in order to make something that laid flat.

Here is the rest of the gift I made.  This was for a Secret Santa.  I made a movie date night box.  The bucket is actually a bucket of popcorn I covered in paper.  I also included two sodas, two boxes of candy, and a gift card for our local movie rental place.  Last, I wrapped in in cellophane in order to make it package like...and something they could open.  I made the bows out of paper.  Look for a future video for the tutorial.  

Supplies Used

Various Paper

Tags, bags, Boxes and More Cricut Cartridge

Create A Critter Cricut Cartridge

Popcorn Bucket

Soda

Candy

Stickles

White Gel Pen

Cellophane

Ribbon

Hope ya'll are having a fabulous holiday!  Don't forget to enter my giveaway for the My Creative Memories software!!

Digital Scrapbooking and AWESOME Giveaway

Hello Everyone!! 

It's been such a long time since I've posted anything on this blog.  I have been crafting some (especially during Halloween), but somehow the pictures never made it onto my blog.  I'm hoping to get back into the crafty/bloggy groove of things.  Here is my first attempt!

I was contacted a couple months ago by Liz from My Memories who wanted me to do a giveaway on my blog.  I was skeptical about it because I do not use digital scrapbooks and prefer making my own.  However, I thought I would give it a try.  

I got a download of the software to test out, and it turns out it is not so bad.  I found the software SUPER easy to use, and it was VERY user friendly.  My hesitations come from never digitally scrapbooking.  It was hard for me to figure out exactly where I wanted everything and how I wanted it to look.  However, I do think it is very nice software.  When you are done creating your "album" you can ask them to print and bind it for you, or you can export your album into jpeg files and use them however you please.  They have several you tube tutorials and information to get started using the software.  See below on how you have a chance to win the digital scrapbooking software for FREE!!!

Below is my first attempt at creating a digital scrapbook page.  I decided to stay with the Christmas theme (after all this is December).  A couple of years ago, my fiancee, my mom, and I took a trip to Disney World for New Year's Eve.  I had always wanted to see Disney World lit up for Christmas.  We spent New Year's Eve in the Hollywood Studios theme park where they have the dancing lights.  It is one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen and a memory I will never forget. Below is a SMALL sample of the pictures I took of the lights.      

Okay, now we get to the fun part...the GIVEAWAY!!  My memories has been kind enough to donate a free download of the complete My Creative Memories Suite software FOR FREE!!  Here are the ways to enter the drawing: 

1. Go to the My memories website and browse through their digital scrapbooking packages. Leave a comment on this post telling me which one is your favorite and a way to contact you. 
2. Follow my facebook page (click on the link to the right) and leave a comment on this post telling me you now follow me. 

I will randomly pick a winner on Monday, December 12th.

  

For those of you who want the digital scrapbooking software now, My Memories has not forgotten about you either.  They are offering a special coupon code that provide a $10.00 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software and a $10.00 coupon for the My Memories.com store.  Just enter the copy and paste the code STMMMS1268 at checkout for your discount. 

For more information about My Memories, please visit their facebook page or twitter page.  Good luck and be sure to check back for more holiday projects!!