Monday, May 18, 2009

It could be better, thanks for asking...

But I won't go there. I'll try to think crafty, happy thoughts and everything will be ok..

Here is the finished product for the centerpieces. It turned ok, dontcha think? I know the retiring teacher will like them, and it's a total surprise! :)


Also, this area has been bugging me lately. (Like I have any energy to do something with it!). This is the area next to my crafting space. Currently, there are two tables there...and a big TV box that the kids have been coloring on for a year. I'm going to toss the box, move the rectangle table into storage, but the round table is from my Mom's house and I don't want it in storage. The garbage to the left of the sliding glass windows obviously needs to go out -reminents of my cleaning out the storage area last week...



Orginally, I was thinking of putting some wicker furniture and a table down there because eventually, outside that sliding glass door, we'll screen it in, and put patio pavers down...
but in the next room is our sectional/tv/video games...I'm thinking too much furniture...Then I thought about extending my craft area out, but I use the back wall for shelving, etc. and it's so....open...



Help! What would you do with this space? Jen? LOL...

Friday, May 8, 2009

Been busy! Craft Central!

I've been so busy lately, and I loooooove it! :)
I finished those cards yesterday for my lovely sister-in-law! She has two weddings to go to, so I quickly put them together. Tying a Tiffany bow is hard!



Here are the un-finished centerpieces that I'm working on for my friend and soon to be retired teacher!

I took some branches that were dead, cut them, spray painted them white (with my old client Rustoleum!) and stuck them in terra cotta pots. I added moss on top to hide the foam that they were stuck in. Next step is to make leaves with my ever-so-handy-dandy Cricut, and then Modge Podge the many faces that she has taught over the years. I have two weeks to finish 5 of these...I think I'll be fine time-wise.

Also this week, the girl and I enjoyed our first watermelon of the season. Not from our back yard though, those darn rabbits keep on eating the sprouts!

I guess I need to re-read the manual for my new camera (Sony SLR)...because these pics suck with the lighting!
Thanks for looking, and happy crafting!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Just ramblin'

I was surfing around, and saw this...

Isn't that the coolest thing ever? It's a card/poem/gift. The numbers are actually rolled quarters in tissue paper, for the year of the child. The coolness can be found here: http://giverslog.com/?p=1215. I'm still trolling around her blog, but so far, lotsa neat stuff!


I have another couple of projects going on at the moment. I am in the process of making wedding cards, one is a Tiffany Box design, as the bride has themed her wedding in Tiffany. Upon further investigation, I have found more brides picking this theme! Seems to be the hot "new" thing...






On another note, I am also making centerpieces for a soon-t0-be-retired teacher at my Temple. The lighting is dark here, but I'll upload a pic tomorrow.

This week is going to be a tough week for me, and I am not sure how I'm going to get through it and end up on the other side. But, I'm going to keep busy, and thank goodness I have a lot of projects to do just that!

TFL and happy crafting!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

And the winner is...

of the blog candy that is: Jen R!!! I'll leave send you an e-mail. I'm somewhat dissapointed in the amount of comments, but this was my first blog candy give-away, so I'll roll with it.

Life has been very busy here, summer activites are warming up, as is the weather.
Doesn't stop me from plugging along though! :)

I'd love to share a picture, but since it's a gift for Mother's Day, I can't...but I will after Mom's Day! :) I have some plans to do this week, so I'll be updating later this week..

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Stationary box and Blog Candy!!!

My children's school is having a silent auction! And so I thought this might be a good opportunity to get my stuff out there, and show some people what I'm capable of doing! I found this AWESOME tutorial on stationary boxes online. She does a step-by-step of how to make this cool little box that holds tags, cards and notecards. And a pen too! Check it out and don't be daunted of it's complexity - I was! It was easy to put together, albeit time consuming.
You can find it here. There are 2 parts to it, so be sure to look for the other part.

Here is the finished product.




I also made some cards to go in, I have more to make though. I am going to make another box today, since it's been storming off and on, and we don't have plans till later. Also, wanna have some blog candy? I'll give one away, if you wanna play! Just post a link to your site to here, and leave a comment, and you'll be entered. I'll draw names next Sunday...Fun?


Happy Crafting!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger...

I'm so sorry that I haven't done much here lately! Bad Blogger!

With Passover behind me, I'm back downstairs making head way with my biz, and cranking out cards and invites again! I am donating a bunch of cards and note cards for the kids' school auction this month, and that has kept me busy!










And then a few greeting cards as well...



The weather was nice for a few days since my absence, so my little girl and I went to feed some ducks...


I also got some gardening done. It's raining here now, so I'm stuck inside, and going back downstairs to work! I'll update soon, as I have something in the works...



Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Passover is coming!


And that means that I am busy. Cooking for 13 people, planning creative ideas to keep the kids entertained, and generally stressing.

I came across this in my search for passover clipart (BTW...there is none...)
(sorry for the link, Blogger would not let me post a pic...)

And after Mr. I saw it, he said "YES!! You need to make this for the kids on Passover!". Yeah, like I don't have other things to do, but it was cute...Mmmm...so off to Party City I went, and the next day, I created this:

The first plague, the river turns to blood.

And then come the frogs.


And then comes the lice...

And flies...


So, I've done 4 so far. There are 10. Passover is Thursday. And I am doing 3 other swaps with Cafemom and Splitcoast stampers.


Busy! Busy...

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Spring has sprung!

It's finally hitting the western Illinois area. Spring. (although this wacky global warming has got it 75 degrees one day and then it snows.)
Some lovlies:
My lovely, over-growing lilac bush/tree.

Daffodils and tulips trying to grow!

Grape Hyacinths!
Ok, and scrappy/crafty stuff...I'll update what I'm working on tomorrow - I haven't started the next batch of work yet, but will~

Monday, March 23, 2009

I think the sickness is over.

And now the work begins! Before the "sickness", I had a cocktail party and presented some of my cards...well....out of that came some jobs. DUH! And then the house got sick.
Slowly, but surely, I've been working on the cards and jobs I had gotten almost a week ago.

Here. Lookie.



Can I just tell you how much I love embossing? The "surprise" is embossed in Chocolate Brown - my fav. color. You know, it's the "new" black...
Also, I had orders for Grad cards - they have been on here before...
I found this really cool website while I listened to my family hack their lungs out the last few days. Check it out: http://www.curbly.com/
All kinds of DIY stuff... Neat-ness and sometimes stuff where you ask "REALLY???" (like the UFO juicer...)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The house of sick.



Day 5.

Son? 103.9 temp.

Daughter? 102.1.

Prognosis? Doctor's appointment today.

Mother? Slowly losing brain cells.

Father? Went back to work.

Dog? Annoying everyone.

Weather? Highest temp since September 08.

House? Wrecked.

Laundry? Overflowing.

Mom's best friend? Clorox wipes and McManis Petite Sirah.

Missed days of school? 2, going on 3.

Jake trying to smile for the camera.



Sunday, March 15, 2009

They are all sick.

Icky Sick. Daughter has temp ranging from 104 to 101, Son has temp from 102-99, and Mr. I has no temp, but is ill.

Lovely.

No school tomorrow, I'm sure Mr. I will go to work (he won't stay home unless he's in the hospital), and I'll be stuck inside on a 65 degree day with sickies.

Today has been a movie day. Even the dog is wandering around lost and dazed.

On the upside, I had a fabo party last night and sold a few of my cards. Not many, but it was fun! I have a few orders for announcements and invitations, so that will keep me busy!

Till later, when I report that I too, am sick.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The re-do is FINALLY DONE!!!!

It only took me a week to re-paint a 5x5 bathroom. Pathetic. Many problems were had along the way..I won't bore you with them. Here is the final result.







The color looks really grey here, but it's more like a Khacki Green. When I came home from getting my hair done last night (Whew! Looks much better!), Mr. I had finished it. I added the towels, and Viola! DONE. FINALLY.
The thing I love most about it is that it is a "grown up" bathroom. Gone are the weird paintings, the frilly baskets of flowers on the wall, and the periwinkle color. It's Simple. And perfect for us.

Yeah ME!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Re-do'ing the 1/2 Bathroom...

I don't like my 1/2 bathroom. So, I decided this weekend to re-do it. Paint, new accessories, towels...etc. It's the main bathroom in the house - meaning that almost everyone who comes in my home sees it and uses it. I have recently been in some really nice 1/2 bathrooms. Warm colors, classy paintings, finger-tip towels for drying...etc.






When we moved in, the people that built our home were border freaks. In every room. Ugly stuff. We did every room over, and painted...etc. We thought that we could "work" with this, and painted the white walls periwinkle blue. I liked it for a while, but then I saw all those "classy" 1/2 baths lately. This is soo.....uh....frilly. Ew. Ick.

Here is a close-up of those baskets filled with flowers.

That lattice? Yeah, the wallpaper is literally cut that way. I've started tearing it, and the glue isn't coming off. It's already a nightmare.

Oh, and I have this hanging in there too...


Can you say "DOESN'T MATCH???"





6 years of this awful room. 6 years of kids doing this to the toilet paper roll holder:
As you can see, we've tried to repair the mess. To no avail.

Home Depot - I love you! I found the perfect color with the most basic accents. I won't tell - it'll be a "big" reveal.

Wish me luck. Husband (herein called Mr. I) will be helping me. Although I told him I wanted to do it all myself, he's a control freak, Mr. I, he is...

Oh, and last night, I crafted 9 cards at my "scrap" night with a friend. GO ME!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Not much to report, just pluggin' away on my cards...I'll post new pics tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy these cheesy pictures of this past weekend - taken with my new camera! My 1 1/2 year old Hungarian Viszla...Wrigley.. and my daughter. She adores him and he adores her!

My husband and daughter - I realized when I went on the Scrapbooking weekend (see previous post) that I hadn't taken a whole lot of pics of my husband and daughter. So, this is the start of taking more pics!
I promise that next time I post I will have better "stuff" - I am going to Archiver's Mania with my BFF this week, so I hope to get alot accomplished, and of course, I'll bring my new camera! :)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Still crankin' along with those cards!

Just a min to post, but here - for your viewing pleasure.












Monday, February 16, 2009

Lotsa Cards...

Well, I've been busy! After a week or so of no crafy-ness, I went through withdrawl. This past week, husband bought me some wonderful stamps and I've had so much playing with them! Also...drum roll....

I FINALLY got a new camera!!! Whoooot! It's a Sony, and it's brand spankin' new. Not a little feller either. I'm thrilled to bits. If I wasn't cranking in the basement, I'd be playing with it...
Did you say crankin? Huh..?!?! Well, Lemme explain a bit...so...I'm having a little party next month, here at my casa (a gold party...long story, but people will be here...).

My Sister in Law suggested that I put out some of my cards to sell that night. She offered to "man" the table/area and basically sell my cards for me! I've often thought of this in the past, but self doubt is quite a winner.

People have commented that I should sell them quite often (I guess I got better!) so I've decieded to take that "plunge". I'm not a huge fan of plunges.
Even in water. So, I am busting tail right now trying to produce enough product for the party in a month. So far, I have 8 cards. HA! Thank goodness I'm spending the night at a fellow scrappers in a few weeks - we're gonna craft all night (Mwah, Les!)

Anyway, so that's what I've been doing. Also, I found a couple of cute sites this week. I'll list them at the bottom of this post.

Here are some of the cards I'm whipping out...

This is for a swap that I am in over at SCS, but I made extra for me!



I scrap-lifted this one from SCS, too.

Playing with my new OCL stamps! (sorry picture quality is so poor, Husband hasn't quite figured out the new camera yet)

I really had fun with this one! The bunny is too cute. Husband didn't like it much...oh well, you win some, you loose some!

I'll post more once more are created, and better pics are available!

Have a crafty week!
OH! Here, surf....
Ooooh...blog candy (for those that don't know, it's yummies/gifts that are given away!!)


Thursday, February 12, 2009

It's been a week...

It's been a week since I posted! Ack. Why did I slack? Lemme tell ya.

I had a birthday party for my daughter (6 years old!!)

I got sick with a sinus infection

Lovely husband went out of town to NJ for work
My old ass camera finally stopped working. Now it's really important to get a new one

My scanner on my printer won't scan

So, no time to craft. However, I did sign up for a swap over at SCS - it's for birthday cards. I have to make 13. I have 8 done...I still have some time, but there's the general idea (a few of my favs) this was taken with my awful camera...ugh...



Also, just for fun, some pics from the party..









Thursday, February 5, 2009

Valentines Day is almost here!

Sorry I have been absent lately...kids are running me ragged. And, that leaves little time for crafting!
Today's plan was to finish up those darn Valentines for my kids (my girl is done, but convincing my son to write his name on his has proved a challenge), make a V-Day card for my hubby, and figure out how to make a "Pin the guitar on Joey" for my daughter's birthday party this weekend. Yeah, Camp Rock. JOY.


Anyway, take a look at the card I created for my hubby. My camera sucks, so deal. I'm saving up my money for a Canon Rebel T. Look at this baby.


I totally digress. This is the card for Hubby. Hope he doesn't look! :)






And the back? Like the tattoo?




Oh, and I have to give credit where credit is due, I got the template over at Frances' blog. SO cute. http://stampowl.blogspot.com/2008/01/panty-template.html

And I know my boobs are different sizes. Aren't all of ours??? Have a Happy V-Day!