Update my Etsy Shop

Since January I have had some health issues that have been keeping me from putting much in my shop. I am finally turning a corner and I am feeling better now than I have in a long time! I think the lovely spring weather helps as well, too, don't you?

Here are a couple of things I am adding to my shop this month:

I am adding some new colored tags in my shop.

I am also adding some new cards to my shop with matching envelopes and gift tags. I have made a couple of different styles so far, so come and check it out!

Papertrey Ink- MIM #61

Hello, hello! I have some new posts to get out so I decided to dive right in. I really like the challenge over at Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday. The goal is to make flowers using leaf dies. I decided to take it a step further and see what I could come up with using other dies as well.

Here is the card that I came up with:

I used several dies to make this flower and let me show you how:

I used three different die sets from Papertrey Ink. I used "Sending You" (SY), "Love Lives Here: Holidays"(LLH:H), and "Simply Jane" (SJ). The cardstock colors are different in the break down so that you can see what the dies looked like before assembly and they are grouped by set. I cut 4 sets of leaves from SY in Harvest Gold (PTI), one set of wings from the angel in LLH:H, and one set of silhouettes from SJ.

I didn't have anything that I could use for the leaves so I had to cut those out by hand (I think it was Simply Chartreuse cardstock from PTI; either that or New Leaf).

Once I cut the cardstock for the petals in harvest gold, I used my copics to color them. Here are the colors I used:

I got out my Tag-It #3 die (PTI) and then used BB: Text style stamp on it. I also used my Garden Variety set to stamp various images on the tag and used the sentiment "Your smile is planted in my heart" in the upper right hand corner.

I am pleased with the flower I came up with. I can't tell if it looks like a daffodil or a daylily but either way it is cheery. :)
Thanks for looking!

MIM #53- Creative Coasters

It has been some time since I posted here on the blog and Papertrey had so much fun inspiration going on during their 5th anniversary that it gave me a good incentive to post something.With Valentine's Day being this week I was busy with lots of school events. But I did manage to squeeze in some time to make something for PTI's MIM #53 - Creative Coasters.

The challenge was to use PTI's coasters in a project and I decided to use it for spring themed cards. I will be entering them in the MIM contest and be sure to check out my etsy shop where I will be selling a group of them.

I used an oval die on the coaster to make an Easter egg and then embossed it with a Basic Grey folder. Using a craft mat I splattered distress stains and sprayed some glitter mist on it and then swiped the egg through the puddles. I also added some Stickles to give it a little glam. As extra accents I used dies from the Love Lives Here collection as well as some vintage buttons (all from PTI).

Thanks for stopping by!

Very Valentine's Gift Tags and Treat bags

Since I am up late already I thought I'd share on my blog some items that I am currently listing in my Etsy shop. I am trying to get some things ready for Valentine's Day next month and made some extras of these to put in my store.
These gift tags come in a set of 6. I scooped up some of this Jillibean Soup paper and couldn't wait to use it!

Next, I have some treat bag kits that I just listed in my shop. I love the double sided paper from My Mind's Eye "love me" set. These kits are all ready to go: just drop in your goodies, tie with the included ribbon and address the ticket. Clip it using the included mini clothespin and let them think you spent hours slaving over their goodies!

I put several different styles up in my shop and I thought they'd make cute baby shower favors or wedding favors.
Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas gifts for Teachers - Homemade Body Scrub

I absolutely {love} Christmas time! I think that it has to be my favorite holiday. I love the snow we get here, the time spent with family and the fact that my kids are out of school for a couple of weeks. There are so many things to do leading up to their Christmas vacation that I end up vegetating most of their Christmas break till I catch a second wind. I get overwhelmed and race around like a mad woman beforehand, though. I promise myself each year to get more organized, cut back on volunteering, shop early, etc. and each year I find myself in the same place. LOL Oh, well!

I love making handmade gifts to give to my kid's teachers. This year I tried something different. I like to make baked treats but I know that teachers can get so many of those things that they regret it come January. I made some body scrub for their teachers this year, instead. I got the idea from a blog called Deliciously Organized. I made a scent I called Christmas Candy because it reminded me of candy canes. As a funny side note on of the teachers said her daughter tried to eat it because she thought it was a dessert. It came out wonderful and I even had some left over for some gifts for friends. I had to snap a few quick pictures before I sent them on their merry way to their new homes. So forgive the picture quality. I like the way the tags came out.

 I cut the tags out using a seasonal Christmas Cricut cartridge. On the back side I used a Christian stamp from Stampendous. It's hard to tell but I got to use my Papertrey patterned paper to make this tag; it's from their Flourishes and Swirls set. it's such a pretty set. I tied on some lace ribbon and added two tags to each jar. One was the pretty one above and the other was a tiny tag that I punched out with a MS punch to add the "To and From" stamps. Add a rustic jingle bell, a tiny safety pin, some twine and cream seam binding and there you have it!

This could be a great gift year round, just change out the fragrance. I put them in some quilted mini mason jars that you find with the canning goods. It was the perfect size!

Thanks for looking!

Little Lamb Cookies

It is such a fun time of year, this thing called December. But it is also so filled with things to do that sometimes I wanna scream! I have been busy with all sorts of crafty things in the past few weeks and haven't had time to share them here on my blog. Sorry!

I did want to share with you this cookie adventure I did this week. I am not a pro when it comes to making iced cookies and try not to laugh too much at my first attempt! ;0) Why did I try it now when clearly I already have lots on my list of things to do? Simple. Because I thought it would be fun and it had to do with volunteering at my son's school.... which I can almost never say no to! The opportunity came to do a read aloud book that had to do with the true meaning of Christmas. It is such a new and wonderful thing that my kids are in a Christian school this year and that we can talk about Jesus during the year and especially at Christmas! So I loved the idea of reading a Christmas book to the kids and providing a snack for them. The book that I read to them is Max Lucado's "Crippled Lamb" which is a story of a little lamb who isn't like the others and always feels left out. He is left behind in a stable because he can't make the trip with the others to a new pasture in the valley. Yet he becomes one of the first to greet the new born king! God had a special purpose for him and he looks at his plight in a whole new way.

So, I just had to make a matching snack to go with the story! I went with my son to Michael's to see if I could find a lamb cookie cutter. I couldn't so I sat there searching through the ones available until invention struck me!

I purchase a cupcake cookie cutter instead. My thought was that I could just make the face of the little lamb with the top of the cupcake being his wool and ears and the bottom being a spot to put his face.

I also purchased some fun pre-made eyes as well as some premade cookie icing for all the outlining I would need to do. I had some mini marshmallows that I would use for the wool.

And here's what they came out like. I put this picture in here because they didn't all come out perfect like I was hoping. And that's okay. I learned alot while making these guys and still think that they came out cute. The kids in the class loved eating them and my son was especially happy to see what his mom came up with (it was a surprise to him because he was at school while I baked these up all morning). And that was all worth it to me. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Puppet Time

Hi there! Sorry it has been a bit since I last posted. I have had lots of things going on here that have kept me from posting on my blog. My kids were off for fall break which got extended thanks to a snow storm. It was extremely fun to have a snow day and we spent the day doing fun things together while it snowed.

One of the things that we did during their break was to make some puppets. My oldest son is in a puppetry class in his middle school (it was an elective that was picked for him and when I saw it I have to confess that I groaned a little). Turns out that he LOVES the class and adores his teacher!!! Who knew?! Anyway, as a result, he has been interested in puppets and how we have used them recently in TV shows and such. It also spurred my youngest son to be interested in it, too. So one day during their break we looked up a how-to tutorial and I found myself working with my two boys to create two puppets. It was so much fun to create something with them! And the best part was that they didn't watch any TV or play video games for hours on end that day. :D

The puppets turned out nicely and the boys had so much fun messing around with them. They even took them with them when they went to church (the puppets had to stay in the car). They were excited to show their friends their creation. And then I got an order to make two more puppets from some friends of theirs. LOL. I never thought the puppet thing would catch on.

So that's what I've been up to lately. Making puppets and not cards. I really want to make some cards this week but because of the school's bookfair I may have to yet again put it on hold. We'll see.

Hope you have a great week!