Friday, April 27, 2012

New Stickles Storage

I saw a board the other day while I was at a local scrap store and the owner let me take a photo:


I loved the concept but didn't think it would stand up to my kazillion bottles of stickles - its a tiny ribbon holding the thing up! So I thought, if I could put the board in a frame and hang it on a nail, maybe it would be sturdier.

Here is how mine ended up:



So I cut foam board to match the size of my frame then taped wrapping paper on it. The wrapping paper isn't very cute but I was doing this at midnight and its all I could find in the house. I also ended up having several wrinkles because I didn't have a flat surface.


I put strips of velcro on top of the wrapping paper and it seamed to stick pretty well. I then cut small squares of the other side of the velcro and attached them using scor-tape - which I happened to have and its super sticky....


and it ended up like this!!!



Now I can hang it on the wall right next to my desk and I won't have to cross the room to get them out of the drawer.


17 days til she leaves....

and I am so not handling this well. I am crying at the drop of a hat and PLEASE don't start talking about boot camp to her in front of me or I will just leave the room for a while. 17 days and my baby is gone....and the next time I see her she will be an entirely different person!

One day at a time ~ but the days are FLYING by and some days I don't even get to see her. I have noticed that she has started dropping by the house every night when she gets off work, just to see what we are doing. So I have been staying up a little later so can spend a few minutes talking to her. She has also been helping take up the kitchen linoleum since we are getting new flooring installed on Tuesday, I have been surprised by how much she has helped.

Tomorrow we are going to get her a flu shot in preparation for boot camp to protect her a little from the communal diseases. And she mentioned something about getting her hair cut.

I love you Victoria!

Redda's Banner

I love the way this turned out!!! I made it for my bestie using Indie Art and Storybook. Her room is decorated in zebra and pink and it matches perfectly!






Thursday, April 26, 2012

Another day, another blog post!

I know, you are shivering from the excitement right???

I am not sure what is going on with my mojo this week, maybe its a distraction from the anticipatory grief of my daughter leaving for bootcamp? Who knows? All I know is that when the mood strikes, I need to craft!!! Next Tuesday I am getting new carpet in my craft room so that means this weekend I have to take everything OUT of there - so no crafting for me after Saturday for a few days  :(

I ordered the Meadow Lark Layout kit from Angela Holt Designs a few weeks ago and have been just "looking" at it on my desk. http://www.angelaholtdesigns.com/2012/03/meadow-lark-layout-plus-kit.html I loved her example so I started thinking I should do this for Mom & Dad's wedding picture. I was actually considering giving this to Mom for Mothers Day....but she told me back at Christmas that she doesn't really like homemade gifts so I will probably just hang it on the wall at home.

I loved the bird cage that camd with the kit from Want2Scrap and that is also where the blingy butterflies came from. I cut the birds out of one of the pieces of paper that came with the kit. I put the butterflys on vellum and fussy cut around them so I could make them more dimensional. I didn't use a lot of the flowers that came with the kit, I have a TON of Prima Flowers and I liked mine a bit better. Don't laugh but I had this pearl bracelet that I got free from a fine jewelry store that has been sitting in my jewelry box for about 2 years - I couldn't wear it because it was too small, so I clipped the clasp off of it and used it for embellishment too. I had tons of bling that I added to the background. Oh, and I went outside last night in my pajamas at 11:00 pm to collect sticks from the front tree to perch my birds on. LOL

I think it turned out pretty good. I painted a frame I had laying around the house so it it already in a wood frame.


I went back after I had taken a few pictures and added a Tim Holtz crown to the smaller bird. Thanks for looking! ~Carrie





Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Since I made a banner with Blake's name, I had to make one for Victoria, too! (Sure am glad I stopped at 2 kids, this is ridiculous!)


I found this neat red metallic paper in my stash and I am not sure where it came from (LOL). I thought I would use it on the base and then ended up using some that I found in silver for the air craft carrier and the anchor. I lined the top of each pennant with striped ribbon. I dotted the letters with my pearl pens so they weren't so "blah".


I used Stand and Salute for the ship and anchor, the base of the banner is from Art Philosophy (I ♥♥♥ that cartridge) and the letters are from the MS Elegant Cake Art cartridge. I made rosettes for the 1st time (and boy are those things a pain!) to put under the ship and anchor. I think it turned out cute, Tori LOVED it!!!





Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Navy Bootcamp centerpiece

We are gearing up and getting ready to go....she leaves in 19 days :( I have been working on the centerpiece for her/their party (my son is graduating the week my daughter leaves for boot camp so they wanted to celebrate together so we are having a combined party).

Here is the centerpiece. It seems a little "busy" to me but It is What It is....

I used Stand and salute for the air craft carrier, navy hats and fire works, the letters are from MS Elegant Cake Art.




Monday, April 23, 2012

Blake's graduation banner



Wow! I have finally decided to enter a circle challenge!

Here is a description for this months Magazine Challenge:

Create any sort of banner you would like, just make sure to incorporate at least 4 Cricut Cuts. Please upload a working link or picture of your project to the blog under the Magazine Challenge tab. Since last month was so much fun seeing how many entries we had, we are doing it again. This month you can enter as many times as you want and we will use the number assigned to your project to randomly pick a winner. Entry deadline is May 11th. If you use Cricut Craft Room design tool, save your file so if you win, we can share it with the Circle members! The winner of this challenge will receive $150.00 credit to Cricut.com and your project picture will be featured in the magazine!

I think that since it is picked randomly, I have a fair chance of winning...

I made a banner for Blake's graduation party.

I used the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge for the banner, Happy Graduation for the hats, the graduation boy came from Every Day Paper Dolls and the letters are from the Cricut Alphabet that comes preloaded on the AE 2.

I think it turned out pretty good! I hate that the school colors are Black & Orange (they call it Halloween High) but what can you do???




I hope Blake likes it!


Wednesday, April 18, 2012

CraigsList Haul!!!

I was only planning on buying ONE (1) Harley Davidson album and a coordinating paper pack....well, thats not what I ended up with :)

(Don't judge me and my need for paper!!!)

I got all of this for $50!!!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

32 days and counting down

I am sad sad sad sad sad....my sweet daughter leaves in 32 days for bootcamp. She has enlisted in the US Navy! Yes,  I am extremely proud but at the same time I am oh so sad to see her go....I can honestly say that her 9 weeks in boot camp will be just as hard on her Dad and Me as it will be on her!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Art Nouveau Angel

On March 17th, 2012 I was working out in the yard with my husband when I got a call from a lady who was sitting with my next door neighbor. Delisa (my 47 yr old neighbor with metastatic bile duct cancer) had been put on hospice 3 days prior  and since I had been helping her husband, Bill, through this process and since I am a nurse I was the 1st person on the call list if there was a problem. There 2 sweet ladies had sent Bill and their 5 year old daughter, Alexis, to Chuck E Cheese for a break. I went next door and cleaned Delisa and the bed up (she had an accident) and showed the ladies how to roll her in bed so she wouldn't be hurt. Delisa had gone down hill pretty quickly in the last few days and was barely responsive at this point.

For whatever reason (maybe because I was trying to get out of lawn work?? or maybe it was a divine intervention) I stood there talking to the ladies for about an hour about the whole situation. The thing I remember most was that I had made a comment to Delisa and the ladies that between the church family and the neighborhood family I thought that Alexis would be well cared for. Delisa didn't respond to my comment but within 15 minutes Delisa passed from this world into a better place. A place where Angels praise God and there was no more pain and suffering.

There are days I remember why I don't work as a hospice nurse anymore, this was one of them....I worked as a hospice nurse for 7 years....and I thank God for those angels who do this on a daily basis.

After we got Bill and Alexis home and the hospice nurse (who is a wonderful friend of mine) got to the house and everyone had said their goodbyes to Delisa, I took Alexis to my house while we waited on the funeral home. It is my experience that NO ONE EVER needs to see their loved one leave the home on that stretcher, I even asked some of the church men to take Bill to the backyard during that process.

So we are at my house and Alexis is looking at all my "prettys" in my craftroom. She sat there staring at my angels and said that "her mommy is an angel now" and asked if I would make her one....This is what I made...


I started with a painter's canvas and I used different color Glimmer mist for the "rainbow" background that Alexis requested. I made the angel from Art Nouveau and hand cut her halo which I stickled gold. I used 4 layers of foam tape to build her up enough on the bottom half of her body and behind her head to go on top the wings. I only used one layer of foam tape for the parts of the body that would rest on top the wings.



The wings are from JoAnn's and I had to cut 2 holes in my canvas w an exacto knife to put the wires through. I then punched holes for the LED lights - by looking at the front and eyeballing where I wanted the lights to be. I didn't want the lightbulbs to show thru, just the light.


and poked them through



I duct taped everything down, then added the the saying "Angels are not only above us, they are also within us." which I made on my computer and printed on cardstock, star stickers and chipboard elements to the front, put her in a frame and she is done :)

I hope Alexis loves her!!!