Come Visit

Recently, one of my clients which whom I created an album for her music studio, started her own blog, kendismusicnotes.  I was very excited to hear of this and wish her all the luck with this new adventure!  Her blog shares her personal struggles and triumphs, quite lovely!!!

To create a jump start, Kendi wanted to do a month of giveaways in November, her birthday month.  She contacted me with this idea and asked if I could create some cards for such an occasion.  I was delighted with the opportunity and knew right away which direction I wanted to go with this.  Christmas!!!

Here is what I created:

Please stop by and visit Kendi, check out her new blog, and you might just win these beauties among other fabulous giveaways!

A Mad Invite cont...

Ta Da!!!

I started by decorating the outside of the invite with a bright purple foil cardstock.  Since the hat angled where the "ribbon" would be placed, I glued the purple cardstock on the hat and trimmed to angle to the hat after in place.

You can't have a Mad Hatter hat without the infamous 10/6!  Using the torn pieces from the inside of the invite, I trimmed a rectangle and wrote 10/6 on each piece.

This project took very little time, I was able to do most of it off and on while concentrating on our regular schedule as well as some volunteer work I was doing this week and a girl's night out to the new movie "Footloose".  Wow, what a week!  A lot of projects finished and ready for a new week of new projects and the much anticipated Tea Party.  We have a very excited 10 year old and are looking forward to all of it!!!

A Mad Invite

Our eldest has been asking to host a Halloween party for all the girls in her class.  We agreed and I am so happy to take on such an event.  At first, I wasn't sure which direction to go with a theme, what would be considered "cool"?  With just finishing her Mad Hatter Halloween costume, the thought of a Wonderland theme came to mind, but I was hesitant on the expense this might bring.  Then my great friend Bryannna suggested the same thing, a tea party.  So, I guess you could say, she talked me into it.  Thanks Bry!

I began using one of my greatest tools, Google, and found lots of wonderful ideas!  And everything was relatively inexpensive and easy to do.  Starting with the invites, it suggested using phrases as "For the Duchess", "An invitation from the queen to play croquet", "Meet me in Wonderland", etc.  I had to add "Please don't be late, this is a very important date, no time to waste", tee hee hee, I love it!!!

Knowing I needed to use something from a Cricut cartridge, I went directly to my go-to Cartridge, "A Child's Year".  Even if you don't have children, this is perfect for every facet of life.  Immediately finding 3 different die cuts that would work for such an invent, a tea cup, tea pot, and a top hat.  I chose the top hat to match the hat made for our daughter's costume.  Using the Gypsy, I welded two top hats together making a card.

Now time to cut!

I used black cardstock from Walmart and was able to do a single cut.  I am notorious for double cutting everything, I believe it is worth it, but I have to say this cut perfectly.  Yes, I am still in shock.

Now time to fold and crease.  ALWAYS SCORE FIRST!!!  I can not stress it enough.  It makes a proper fold, not sloppy, and yes, you can tell the difference every time.  In the past, I would use a bone folder, great tool, a must have and very inexpensive.  However, I just purchased a new paper trimmer, mostly for the scoring ability.  When purchasing a paper trimmer, choose one that can be used to score as well as cut, especially when it is the same price.

It takes seconds to interchange the blades, really.

The black cardstock has a white core, a quick fix is to apply black with a Sharpie marker to just the white showings.



I love tearing to add texture to any paper project. Ink the edges to enhance that texture.  Then some fun, crinkle the paper and while it is crinkled, ink those areas, giving it a very worn, vintage look.  EEK!  Loved the turnout!!!

to be continued....



Creative Organization

As you already know, I love thrift sales of all kinds.  I enjoy shopping for items that I can reuse and reinvent, and if I find an item that doubles as storage for my studio, that is a plus.  This first find is a fruit basket, tiered, turned into perfect visual storage for my stamps and punches.  Yes, visual, I do not do well with items kept in closed baskets and boxes, I need to see them to be creative. 

My studio in our old home had a 4 x 8 pegboard hung on one wall and it was perfect!!!  I highly recommend pegboard of any size if you have wall space.  Unfortunately I do not, my new creative space is a sunroom, lots of great natural light, no wall space...  So I have to improvise...

A Goodwill treasure using peg hooks to hang my favorite Webster's Pages beauties.  This wicker bookcase has smaller shelves which is what I needed for minis, journals, material, etc.

Okay next, another Goodwill bargain.  Remember these???  Straight out of the 80's...  I think my parents had something similar back in the day.  Painting this will give it a much needed updated look, but that will have to be an additional blog post.

Great for organizing smaller stamps and vintage buttons.

So, if you are like me, thrifty, check out garage sales, thrift stores, and be creative with your storage! 

Sew Thankful

Yes, I am "Sew Thankful" for the way I was raised.  It is not a way I would choose to raise my family, but I learned a lot and appreciate more...

We didn't have a lot of money... we were poor...

To offset costs, my mother would sew.  She sewed my dresses for Christmas, Easter, School pictures.

And like any other girl in the 80's, I wanted a Cabbage Patch doll.  There was no money for such a gift, 'sew' my mother took night classes and made me one.

Isn't she beautiful!!!

My mother would even have to sew her undergarments back together, buying new was not an option.  Sewing was just not a hobby of hers, but a way of life...

Her dream was to take us all to Walt Disney World, however, that dream was just that... a dream.  She died before she was ever able to take all of us.

Well, we have now been to Walt Disney World twice and a voyage on Disney Cruise Lines in 2010.  Our last trip to WDW included the Mickey's-Not-So-Scary-Halloween-Party.  The kids chose Halloween costumes to celebrate such an event in Disney style.  The oldest, our daughter, chose to be the Mad Hatter (the animated version, not Johnny Depp version) and the little one, our son, chose to be a Mickey Mouse Pirate.

Now, each costume had to be made, sewn.  YIKES!!!  This girl did not know how to sew!  I never wanted to learn and my mother would have been the perfect instructor.  I thought "well, how hard could it really be, you have a pattern, step by step directions, no problem, right???", uhhhhhhh WRONG!!!  I studied the instruction manual to my sewing machine as if I were studying for midterms.  Teaching myself how to thread the bobbin, needle, how to set the stitches, etc. became a full time job.  The pattern for the Mad Hatter costume might as well have been written in Kanji, the wording was 'sew' foreign to me.  I Googled most terms, and used YouTube as my personal tutor, thank goodness for modern technology!

It did come together in the end, and she looked very cute... Mad!  I finished the day before we left and still had the pirate costume to make.  This is the funny part, sort of desperate at the time.  With a white shirt I found in my closet, I altered it to look like a pirate and made a black sash for his waist.  Finally, I purchased red and white striped material at Walmart, brought it home, laid him down on it, traced his waist down to his ankles with a Sharpie, cut out "the pattern", added elastic to the waist and legs, done!!!



I think Mom would be proud!  She would have ewwwed and awwwwed over her grandbabies, and she would have wanted to be there with all of us. 

Yes, I am sew very thankful for my childhood.  My parents worked very hard and passed that onto us.  We learned that God will be with us always no matter what, and if you live your life through Him, you will need nothing more.