Birthday Card

This is a birthday card for a little girl turning one, a custom order from my Etsy shop.   I used my sewing machine on the front and inside of the card.  The cupcake is paper pieced together and attached with pop dots, and the "sprinkles" on the icing are little metal accents.  The inside of the card has a poem written by the little girls parents.

Thanks for stopping by.

Note Cards & Digital Stamps

I have been making a lot of these little note cards lately.  The first three sets I made using some rub-on's I have had sitting around for way too long.  I thought they would be great for graduations, promotions, engagements, etc. 

The next three sets I created with digital stamps (my own design).  I like using digital stamps because I can change the size or color to fit my project and they don't take up any space in my studio. 
All cards are available in my Etsy Shop.  Thanks for stopping by. 





























































I am linking up to Everything Etsy's I Made It blog party. Be sure to stop by and check out all the great projects.

Personalized Note Cards

I used a digital stamp to create these note cards.  I think I am becoming addicted to the black ink on kraft paper look.  Love it!

Available in my Etsy Shop.  Thanks for stopping by. 

I am linking up to Everything Etsy Party... be sure to stop by and check out all the great projects.

A Little Organization

While working on unpacking and organizing my studio, I decided I need a new way to store/organize my Nestibilities die cuts.  I originally had them organized in CD cases like I had seen on several blogs

This storage system did not work well for me, I really wanted something that would contain them all in one place.  While in Hobby Lobby last week I came across a binder designed for storing clear stamps, it contained pocket type inserts... perfect!  I purchased some 8.5 x 11 magnet sheets and cut them in half (so I had 8.5 x 5.5) this fit perfectly into the pocket inserts.  Now all my dies are stored in the binder... I love it. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

French Crown Tags

Wow! It has been quite some time since my last post. The move definitely has been a lot of work, and I still have more boxes to unpack. I was in need of a little creativity break though, so I took some time to make these cute little tags. I love the look of the black crown on the kraft cardstock. Thanks for stopping by.

I am linking up to the I Made It party over on Everything Etsy... be sure to check out all the amazing talent.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Looks like closing on our new house has been delayed until Thursday, so we will be in the hotel for a little while longer.  The girls (two little Min Pins) are getting restless with no yard to run in.  I am sure they will be happy to be able to run and play again soon. 

Here is a card I made last Christmas.

I stamped the poinsettia twice with Versamark on blue cardstock and embossed them both with silver glitter embossing powder. Next I colored them with the Pearlescent Watercolors, cut them apart and layered them with dimensionals. I used the large square and scallop Nestibilities for the mat and more of the silver glitter embossing powder on the edges of the blue mats. The Pearlescent Watercolors really added a lot of shimmer to the poinsettia… the photo just doesn’t capture it that well. Thanks for stopping by.

A Santa Christmas Card

Because the movers will be here on Wednesday to pack everything, I have not bothered to decorate for Christmas this year.  Once we get to Texas, we will be in corporate housing until after Christmas, so I won't be decorating at all this year.  Needless to say, I am feeling the need to do something Christmassy and thought I would make a card.  I purchased one of the DCWV stacks of scrapbook paper a few years ago and still haven't used it all... so all papers on this card are from that stack.

 













I'm linking up to the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge, be sure to check out all the other lovely cards. 

Thanks for stopping by.  :-)

My Kitchen Island Makeover

I actually did this makeover back during the summer and am just now posting photos... yes, I am THAT on top of things.  :-)  Back in May, The Thrifty Decor Chick posted her kitchen island makeover.  I loved that she painted her island black so her island became my inspiration. 

When I told the hubby that I planned to paint our kitchen island black, he went out and bought me an electric sander.... such a brave man. :-) I waited until he was out of town for a week to tackle the project.  I wanted to have plenty of time, just in case I totally messed it up.... you know, so I could call in the pros if I needed to.

Here are a few before photos.  Nothing really wrong with my island, I just wanted more of a piece of furniture type of look. 

Notice how there is no trim along the bottom and you can see the screws? That bugged me from the day we moved in.   The first thing I did was carefully remove the corner trim pieces so that I could reuse them.  Then I removed the door and drawers and sanded everything down (with my new electric sander) then primed with a tinted primer and painted with black Valspar paint.  I bought some trim pieces at Lowes and used a miter box to cut them to size.  It was a pretty easy project.  Here are the after photos. 

Pretty and black and no more ugly screws showing. 

I even added a small decorative wood piece to the corners.  I love how it turned out.... and now I am moving and I will miss it very much.  :-)

Thanks for visiting. 

My Studio

I am linking up with Room Remix Craft Organization and Inspiration Party.  Be sure to go check out all the inspiration.  :-)

So our house is now officially on the market... I have cleaned, decluttered, painted, rearranged, etc and quite frankly I am tired.  Since my studio is cleaner than it has ever been, I thought it would be a great time to post photos of it. 

It is just me and hubby here, so I am fortunate enough to have the upstairs to myself.  My studio consists of a game room (my studio) and a bedroom (my office) and a bathroom (so I don't have to go downstairs).  I love all the space that I have, however I don't like being upstairs away from the action.    In our new house (in Texas), my studio will be in the office right off the living room... I really think I will like that better, however I will definitely have to keep things tiddy. 

This is the view when you come up the stairs into my studio, my office is to the left.  I have two desks together in an "L" shape so I can have a friend over to play.  The two doors are a closet with lots of shelves... the shelves are very full with my supplies.  I saw the desks in Ballard Designs catalog and loved them... but I didn't love the price.  I found very similiar desks at Target for a much more budget friendly price and found the baskets at Michaels, on sale of course.

This space looks down at the front door... so I can see who is there before I go down to answer the door.  :-)  If it's a salesman, I don't waste a trip down stairs.  Seriously, this opening lets in a lot of natural light.  It would be very dark up here without that opening, and the girls (my two little Min Pin's) love to stand there and look out. 

This is the wall opposite from the desks.  To the right are the stairs.  The door in the corner is to the attic.  The shelves and small desk are from Target.

This is the view standing in the doorway of my office.  The armoire holds lots of supplies... I found it at Lowes (several years ago), unfinished and painted it white.  That's Priscilla asleep in the basket, she will be 14 years old on December 20. 

My desk, from the Christopher Lowell collection at Office Depot.  The cork board is similiar to one I saw in the Ballard Designs catalog and again the price was a bit much for my taste... so half off frame sale at Hobby Lobby plus one can of black spray paint plus a standard office corkboard that I already had and there you have it.  Same look, much less expensive.  :-)

This chest is another Target piece.  The framed art on the wall is scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby in 12x12 frames from Michaels (all on sale at half off).   The picture frame is from Hobby Lobby at half off as well, and I printed a free download from The Graphics Fairy to go inside.  I love that quote.  She has some really neat graphics on her site, you NEED to go check it out.

Another shot of the armoire and decorative things on the wall... all from Hobby Lobby. 

This is Sophia (she just turned 3 years old), she watched me take all the photos while Priscilla slept in her basket.  Thank you for visiting. 

Bird and Bird Nest Gift Tags

First of all... if you like Pottery Barn, you need to visit Get Your Martha On.  She is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Pottery Barn... what girl couldn't use that?  While you are there, be sure to check out her blog, I promise you will find many nifty ideas.

Now for my tags.... you can never go wrong with birds and bird nests.  I stamped them on ivory cardstock with chocolate ink then aged them with tea dye ink and added a little blue to the eggs.  Thanks for looking!