Drink Coaster Calendars, versions 5 & 6

You may know that I ambitiously planned to make 20 of these desk calendars last August to give as teacher gifts for Christmas. My fingers have been hard at work this week and I now have completed 15 of the 20. The good news is I took them to school yesterday and gave them all out. (Phew! I made it before the end of January!) I really don't know who to make the other 5 for, and my fingers need a rest (those jump rings are tough!)

My tutorial is here with versions 1 & 2, including where to buy the post-it note calendars. I used my Cuttlebug Flourished Frame embossing folder around the calendar. I purposely have tried to use up SU papers that I don't have much of (make room for more, right?) Also, versions 3 & 4 are here.

We are off to sunny Florida for some warm weather and to visit family for the long weekend (it is the end of the second quarter; no school on Monday for a teacher workday.) It is very cold here and a couple of inches of snow are expected; we are leaving just in time to miss it :)

See you next Wednesday for another fabulous Cuttlebug Challenge blog challenge!

Be Inspired #68 - Cupcake (cake mix) tote bag tutorial

This week at Cuttlebug Challenge blog, we challenge you to take out your hearts, lace, flowers and vintage images and create a vintage card, layout or altered project.
I used my Cuttlebug Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder on my black card stock for my frame around the little girl image and on my large heart on the frosting cannister.
My gift set was made with these donated vintage papers from Crafty Secrets! Aren't they gorgeous? They were *almost* too pretty to cut.

Are you ready to see how I did it? Supplies: 2 sheets of 8.5" x 11" card stock, ribbon 2 @ 25", and photo tape (or any strong double-sided adhesive), and these two items:
1. Front & bottom/Back & bottom: I chose two sheets @ 8.5" x 11" of dark pink card stock. I cut each sheet down to 9 1/8" x 5 1/2". I scored one end of each sheet at 1.5" (these will be overlapping box bottoms.) Sides: From the scraps of pink card stock, I cut two pieces
@ 6 5/8" x 2 3/8". I scored each piece 3/8" from each side. Use photo tape (or a strong double-sided adhesive) to attach these two to the back of the tote. (See picture below:)
2. Now set the cake mix box inside and adhere the front of the tote. (See picture below:)
3. Ribbon handles: Cut 2 @ 25". Using photo tape, tape one end of the ribbon on the bottom of the box. Then adhere up the front. Now take the other end and adhere on the bottom of the box. Adhere up the front of the box. Repeat to add other handle: adhere to the bottom of the box (overlapping the ribbon for the front), up the back side, then adhere other end (overlapping the other front end ribbon) and adhere up the back.
4. Decorate as desired. I used a scrap of pink card stock and glued to the bottom of the front side to hide the ribbons coming up from the bottom.

5. Now decorate frosting container to coordinate!
(Frosting- front left view)
(Frosting- front right view)

Other supplies used:
Black card stock: I used two Nestibilities rectangle dies to create the frame. I used my Pazzles to cut the large heart.
White card stock: EK Success border punch
Pink card stock: Hero Arts stamped sentiment
Acetate: little girl stamp (Stampa Rosa) with black Stazon ink; I glued the acetate to a scrap of paper that I painted with walnut ink.
Various hearts from Crafty Secrets papers: SU punch, one popped up with an SU dimensional on the crown and one popped up on the frosting

This was really fun to make. Now that I figured out all of these measurements, I will probably make this again sometime. This one will be my Valentine's Day gift for my girls' delightful 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Jacobs. Love her!

Today is Christi Milliken's 50th birthday‏!

You make life sweet, Christi! Happy Birthday, my friend :)

(Your virtual birthday card is using Mary Fish's Mojo Monday sketch # 122 and made with BasicGrey Nook & Pantry papers and cupcake stamps, a Martha Stewart dimensional ribbon sticker, SU chocolate chip cs and ink, CTMH topiary and blush inks, oval Nesties, and the sentiment is an A Muse stamp.)

It's a birthday party for YOU, Christi. Look, I even decorated:
Time for presents!
I hope you're not too excited to eat, because I've have a cake for you:
Christi, I hope your special day is full of fun. I am thinking of you. Love you, Girlfriend!
The party is just getting started...Click here.






If you would like to celebrate with Christi, the party hop started here. If you get lost along the way, come back here and follow in this order:

2. Jeanne Tomshack

3. Barb Walker

4. Stacy L

5. Christi Thorsen

6. Cammie (Carolyn King)

7. Marie Isom

8. Mary Ellen Harrison

9. Sarah Masteller

10. Susan Roberts

11. Jeanette Fincher

12. Elise Durenberger

Clearly...Art is just having fun

This feels so out-of-my-box and yet I can't remember when I felt so much joy! This week's prompt at *Tyggereye Art Love* is, "Clearly..."

There was very little thinking involved for my page. (I can hear you saying, "clearly" sarcastically...be nice!) I did not know how to finish the prompt, but I took the prompt literally...I started with my acrylic sheet . I embossed it with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I had a xyron'd piece of white card stock left over from my quilt cards, and I decided to cover it with paper strips. I have not used my Michaels clearance Friendly Forest papers in a while, so I covered the card stock with these scraps and ran it through the top not die. I took my chocolate chip marker and put tiny dots in between the faux stitches. Next to my Friendly Forest papers, I have some woodland creature rub-ons (by October Afternoon). I saw, "just having fun" and I knew how I wanted to finish the prompt. I used Making Memories rub-on alphas to spell "Clearly" and "Art". The white for "clearly" did not show up well on the lime green floral print, so I traced the letters with my chocolate chip marker. I used a white gel pen for "is", then traced it too.

I seriously had so much fun making this! I wasn't going to participate in the weekly prompts at first because I thought I just don't have the time. Yet we all are capable of making time for things we really want to do. I have to thank Tyggereye and LFL (lovely friend Lauren) for inspiring me to make time for myself to do these little art journal pages. I enjoy participating in challenges and making cards for my friends, but I don't make crafts for me. I can't wait until Saturday for our next prompt!

Be Inspired # 67 - Valentine ATCs Cuttlebug Style

The challenge this week at Cuttlebug Challenge blog is to create an ATC with a Valentine theme. What is an ATC? It is an Artist Trading Card. I think of it as a 2.5" x 3.5" (or 64mm x 89mm) card topper. They are the same size as a baseball card. Some paper crafters trade these and store all their ATC swaps in a notebook with acrylic pockets, just as baseball card collectors do. It is an efficient and inspirational way to try out a new technique; just jot down the directions on the back of the card.

I have made ATC valentines in the past for my girls to use as their class valentines. I forgot how much fun these are to make! I hope you have time to make one and link it here.

I used my Cuttlebug Heart Blocks embossing folder on Core'dinations purple whitewash card stock (left card) and on some hand-made paper from India (pink pearlescent paper). I layered these on scraps of Bazzill card stock. The other solid color card stocks are SU whisper white and pink pirouette. Purple ATC: The tiny buttons are from my stash, the "i Love You" rub-on is BasicGrey, the mini brad is DCWV, and the mini tag is a QuicKutz die and the heart shapes I cut with my Pazzles (Santa brought it.) Red ATC: the rubber embellishment is by Making Memories, the stem is hand cut, and the tiny heart is a punch (manufacturer unknown.)

Japanese Box Tutorial - Cuttlebug Style!

I have a complete tutorial on how to make this Japanese box over at Cuttlebug Challenge blog. I used a small scrap from the box to create a coordinating card using my Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy embossing folder.
This is the one I made yesterday as I took pictures of the process for my tutorial. I hope you like it! This is one of my most favorite projects. If you have time, I hope you can leave a comment both here and on my tutorial at Cuttlebug Challenge blog. Thanks!

Someday...

Last week's prompt at *Tyggereye Art Love* is "Someday..." I immediately thought to complete it as Snow White would, "my prince will come." I also was reminded of this card I made in May 2009. I journaled on the back about my own prince charming, dhDH (dear husband Doug Houck.)

When I was 37 years old, my gray hair was beginning to be too prevalent. My hair dresser, Nese, suggested blonde hi-lites. I've been getting hi-lites 4 times per year to hide them ever since (I am now 43). At my last appointment, December 2, 2009, Nese commented, "We've got to do something else to hide this gray hair." I knew this day would come someday. Perhaps my Tyggereye journaling card should have been on this subject :) Last week my dd was Star of the Week in her class. There is a picture of me at age 36, before hi-lites, and with short hair. The teachers all commented that I looked so much younger with my natural color. I responded, "I was! Seven years younger!" This got me thinking about what I should do with my hair. I like to change my hairstyle every two years, but I did not know what I wanted. Yesterday I had Nese cut my hair a little shorter and semi-permanent dye my hair to my natural color, sans gray :) This morning dhDH took a picture of me with my new do and replaced last year's blog pic.

Happy Saturday!