Where have I been?!?!

Sorry to have been MIA for so long. I have a good excuse. My oldest son got married. His sweet bride requested my help. I was absolutely thrilled to get to use my love of all things creative to help make their day special.

I was under strict orders to keep this under wraps until the day was passed. So now get ready for a photo heavy post of all the crafty goodness I have been up to over the last several months. 

First came the save the date cards. 50+ of these beauties created. So fun since the bride, myself and my mom all worked together to create these. Good times spent together. Gals crafting, chatting and drinking mimosa's. You have got to love that.

Next we scoured Pinterest for invitation designs and combined favorite details to finally design this beauty. A wood grain embossed gate fold card where the flap actually slips under the ivory front panel. The twine was just a decorative belly band that slipped on and off. Again the three of us gals got to work, assembly line style, creating 50+ of these with coordinating RSVP cards.

This is the card I created to include with her shower gift. In retrospect I should have made it a 5 x 7 inch card, because I wrote a book and filled this lil 4.25 x 5.5 inch card up from top to bottom. ;) 

Part of my gift was a hand crocheted wrap. First I made the shawl, but then began thinking it was too old fashioned so I also created a blarf (blanket scarf) and let her choose her favorite. She chose the blarf. And I get to keep the shawl. Win, win. 

On to wedding favor creating. This is a lavender sachet. I case'd a box created by Pootles.co.uk and tweaked it to suit our decor and theme. I made a total of 45 of these. They are filled with a couple of tablespoon of dried lavendar buds ordered off of Amazon. 

These are recycled glass jars of varying widths, heights and diameters. Wrapped in book pages that were punched with various heart punch shapes. The tops have been wrapped in jute twine and little embellishments of either gold cord or ivory crocheted lace. I filled them with Ikea tea lights. I created 27 of these, 3 per dining table.

These are a variety of recycled bottles wrapped in burlap and ivory crocheted lace and tied with more jute twine. Filled with silk flowers and greenery and stems of dried lavender that I had ordered off of Amazon also.  

This is the dining tables center piece plan. Sweet and simple. 

This is the guest book and wedding favor table at the reception. With the lavender sachets laid out on a tray lined with burlap. A few amber bottles wrapped in the same ivory crocheted lace and tied with the jute twine for decor. 

I printed this explanation of what the favors are and stamped the lavender details and framed it to include beside the favors.

This is my card I made for them. It was a labor of love. I took much inspiration from this idea I found on Pinterest. I added the love knot out of jute twine detail over the crocheted lace to tie it all in with the wedding decor I had created.

This is the stamped images on the inside of the card. Before I wrote my thoughts of love and joy at their marriage and how happy I am for both of them and for the wonderful addition of a daughter to our family.

So, that's where I have been. What awesome crafty-ness I have been up to. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. I hope to post more regularly again.....hope springs eternal, right?

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy! 

3D gifts & home decor projects

This is a beautiful home decor project put together by my SU! upline as a Christmas party project, needless to say there was too much fun and chatting going on during the party that I did not complete the project until later that week at home. But Ta Da!!! This is it. It is roughly 13 x 13 inches and is a lightweight wood base that looked like it was meant to be a tick tack toe kind of puzzle. I painted the outer frame white. Then layered all of the precut papers and embellishments on each removable wood squares. Adhere the squares down to the frame with some wood glue and I was able to hang it and enjoy it all holiday season. Thank you Janice Urke for the wonderful project and the fun party. 

These are a few of the SU! Curvy Boxes with tags that I made out of an old DCWV Christmas paper stack, and gave to coworkers and friends. They hold 1 mini box of holiday Junior Mints, 1 mini candy cane and 3 Hershey's Kisses. Sweet treats wrapped up cute.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

A gaggle of turkeys

I'm making little turkeys to put at the place setting of each of my family members, at Thanksgiving dinner. I was inspired by this adorable pin on Pinterest. I absolutely love this SU! Day of Gratitude stamp set, and this is such a clever way to use it. 

Here's a close up of my very first one, in all his glory. I used SU! inks as you can see, and the third pad is Cajun Craze.

I created a Pazzles cut file so I wouldn't have to fussy cut all those turkeys tails by hand. I cut and then stamp while the paper is still on the mat. I feel like it helps me to line them up a bit better. I didn't want to put a York peppermint patty between the body and the tail as the original creator did. I'm hoping these turkeys hang around for a lil while, not just ripped open for their candy and discarded. *gasp* So I repurposed the centers of my used ATG tape refills. I covered them with a strip of coordinating card stock and put some SU! dimensionals on both sides, strategically placed over the spokes in the plastic tape refill piece, to give the dimensionals added support. Then I sandwiched them between body and tail.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving filled with lots of love and happiness.


Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy! 

It's all about the wrap, gift exchange

This is quick and easy gift exchange present. A recycled jar covered in SU! Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper that I fussy cut around the roof lines before adhering it to the jar with scor-tape. I also wrapped some coordinating bakers twine around the top of the jar. I covered the IKEA tea lights with All Is Calm and Color Me Autumn Designer Washi Tape. And lastly I used a brown paper bag, trimmed down and embossed with Filigree Frame Textured Embossing Folder, as the wrapping. I stamped the Olive Green dots using the Wondrous Wreath on the bag and then stamped and die cut the wreath and adhered it over a banner or Real Red cardstock. Tie the package closed with Real Red ribbon and it is ready for the exchange party. 

Here is another close up photo of the gift set. I am excited to see what all of the other participants created. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy! 

Valentines Love Decor

Some upcoming holiday decor. Valentine's day is coming up. I created this using four 5x7 inch Dollartree frames. I removed the glass, I used book pages for the background and I cut the letters on my Cricut using the Storybook cartridge.



These close ups show the layers and the beautiful sparkly shwoopies.



I also added some layers of flowers and pearls. The frames are hinged together simply with strips of paper folded down the center and taped to the edges, so it stands nicely but it wont actually fold in on it self for nice storage. There was not enough area to tape on the back side of the frame to make it fully hinged. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Candy cane wreath

Happy New Year! Time to take down all the Christmas decorations. I wanted to share this with you before I pack it away for a year.

This is a two year long undertaking. It got me so frustrated i put all the pieces in a box and set it aside for over a year. I vowed to finish it this year. If it killed me. It tried. And failed.

I thought I was being soooo smart buying these candycane ornaments at Dollartree. If I am going to put all that work into making a wreath, I want it to last for years and years. Well, those ornaments are not shaped the same, they are not flat and sometimes they are not the same lengths. It wreaked havoc on my plans to use liquid nails at all the the intersections to glue it together. But I finally prevailed. With lots of fun foam, big SU! buttons and ribbons from my stash to stabilize the entire thing.

This shot may help you to see how lopsided and un-flat these canes are. I guess I would say the finished product was worth it. But I. Will. Never. Attempt one again, that's for sure. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Fall wreaths over cabinet doors

One more fall decor project to share before I go into full on Christmas crafting and decorating mode. Or I may take a few days off because my dogs are barkin' and I need a nap.

This project is 3 dollar tree grapevine wreaths and 3 different dollar tree leaf swags that I pulled apart. The design was loosely inspired by this pin on Pinterest. I hot glued the leaves to the wreaths and tied a big checkered ribbon bow.

They are hanging over cabinet doors in my dining room, by lengths of ribbon.

Here is a close up of the leaves and some stuff that was on one of the swags. I used it all. 

Another close up. 

Such a quick and simple project. 

This idea was a Pinterest find. Use a command hook on the inside of the cabinet door to hang the wreaths from a length of ribbon. Easy as can be. Now I can make more for different holidays too. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Burlap and lace table runner, wrapped vases and jars

It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving around here. My son has raked a ton of leaves from the yard. We had our first overnight freeze this week and our first foggy morning yesterday. Yahoo! Finally.

The preparations are under way inside the house too. I have been cleaning and decluttering and crafting during my much loved Thanksgiving week vacation. I love this time of year. Everything about it. I have so much to be thankful for and I am thankful everyday, but I love an extra special time set aside to concentrate on family and our blessings.

Here are my dinner table decorations I have completed this week. Two upcycled jars, wrapped in jute, burlap, lace and twine and embellished with buttons. The jars are from my mom, we both share a love of cute little containers and uniquely shaped jars and find many practical ways to reuse them. The lace and the twine are from my mother in law, she was a crafty woman also and very frugal. These were things that I inherited from her collection when she passed. I love using them now for this project.

These are two dollar store flared top vases and candles in glass jars. The only new things that I bought for this project. Again decorated similarly as the jars, I was inspired by this idea and this idea and this one too. You can see the influences each inspiring photo had on the final outcome of my project. 

And finally my favorite new addition to my Thanksgiving table scape, the burlap and lace table runner. I have had this and this inspiration pinned for a long time but it wasn't until I found this post for preparation and this wonderful post for execution, that I felt confident enough to purchase the supplies needed to make my own. It turned out wonderfully thanks to the step by step instructions on Ella Claire Inspired and Mikaela Rae blog. What beautiful blogs and amazing photo tutorials. Made the project feel less intimidating and more possible.

I am lucky enough to have a big beautiful table that will comfortably seat 8 people. My runner is 6 feet long. It is a thing of beauty. I am so ready to have the table set for family to feast at. Happy Thanksgiving. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!