Sew Fancy

Sometimes you just need to fancy a thing up. When I'm sewing I keep finding myself looking for a pad for notes. I started using one of those small and inexpensive legal pads. If you buy a pack of them they get even cheaper.  Since these are so easy to make and are great gifts (think teacher appreciation) you might as well get the pack and make a few for your friends, everyone can use a pad next to the phone, with one of these on hand you'll only be searching for a pen.  Hey, you can always make a little loop to hold a pen.

don't forget the inside

After using the pad a couple days I thought it looked icky and needed some dressing up. Just about that time I checked out the My Favorite Things sketch challenge and decided that it was time to make a cover. I could ink up a stamp set I hadn't opened yet (there's one of my resolutions), enter a favorite challenge and make something blah look a lot better.

Since this was for sewing notes it was the perfect time to break out the "Sew Nifty Dienamics" set. I think the stamps have a vintage look (maybe cause it's mostly us old fashioned types, emphasis on the old, who like to sew) so I decided on a heavily distressed look. Ripping and smudging is something I just get lost in, it's great therapy and I highly recommend it.  

Here's the deets:

stamp - My Favorite Things "Sew Nifty Dienamics"

ink - Memento "Rich Cocoa "; Ranger "Tea Dye"

paper - Neenah Classic Crest Natural white cs for images; Bazzill "Blossom" and "Pinecone" cs; Basic Grey "Cappella" and "Porcelain" dp

miscellaneous - lace; Recollections pearls; spool charm; embroidery floss; twill ribbon; Spellbinder's "Ribbon Tags Trio" die; sewing machine'

Here's the challenges:

My Favorite Things MFTWSC55 - sketch

Sentimental Sunday #86 - Die Cuts

Craft Your Days Away #37 - Distressing

CES #69- Anything But a Card

Basic Grey #61 - Favorite Things (I love pearls, die cuts, machine sewing and distressing)

Delightful - Vintage/Distressed

Sugar Creek Hollow - Go Girly

Thanks for stopping by, please come back again

Fancy It Up

This is not a card, this is a cover to a mini legal pad.   Wouldn't this look sweet sitting next to your phone?  Or it makes a nice little practical gift and doesn't cost much.   You can pick up  a package of the mini legal pads at an office supply store.  I think you can even find these at Walmart.  They cost about a dollar a pad, you gotta love that price.


It's very easy to do.  One sheet of double sided 12" x 12" paper, and a stamped image is all you need, of course you can jazz it up all you like.  For this cover I used a second piece of paper for the rectangle under the image.  I've made these with smaller images and only used one sheet of paper. 
 
The pad measures 5" x 8", it's a 1/4" wide.  Add a smidge onto to tops and sides plus the 1/4" for the thickness of the pad and that's the cover.  Cut a small piece of paper 5" x 2" to cover the flap of the pad.  You can make a flap for the inside of the cover with the left over paper.

don't forget the inside

Since this is going to be handled more than a card you should use a good a heavy paper and red line tape.  Cover the flap of the pad so that the papers contrast and then attach it to the cover with the red line tape. Fold your paper around the pad to open like a book, apply red line tape around the edges of the bottom of the pad and adhere it.  If you are going to make a flap cut it and apply the tape just to the outside and bottom edges.  You can add a little matching image to the flap, I used an initial.  Then you just put the cover together like any other project.  You can make it as plain or fancy as you'd like.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Teddy Bo digi "Walkies"; Just Rite "Special Occasions" alphabet; Stampin' Up "Basic Gray" for the initial
ink - hp printer; Ranger "Antique Linen"
Paper - Stampin' Up "Bella Bleu" dsp; Recollections neutrals card stock; Georgia Pacific white cs
miscellaneous - copics, Recollections bling; CTMH blue square brads; mini legal pad; Stampin' Up oval and scalloped oval punches; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Teddy Bo #15 - alter something
One Stop Craft #141- Vintage
CES #47 - Feeling the Blues
Totally Papercrafts #77 - Bling It Up
Simply Create #49 - Favorite Animal
Sisterhood of Crafters - create a 3D project
Charisma #30 - 4 legged friends
4 Crafty Chicks - Get Your Bling On
My Time to Craft #150 - Delightful Dogs

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.

Let It Snow, Let It snow....

Let it snow! Just not here. I moved a couple thousand miles to get away from that white stuff.

If you like snow I hope you have a white Christmas but for me, I like palm trees and flamingos. But that's not why you're here so onto my project.
It's Twisted Thursday again at the Shirley's 2 Girls challenge blog and this week the twist is "Glitter and Bling". Don't you just love glitter and bling. I wish the glitter and bling on this box showed up a little more. I used some Taylor's Tiny Twinkles on the image's falling snow and there's some glitter on the snow on the chair and the drifts on the ground. I need to work on my photograhy skills cause my pics are just not showing what the cards and projects look like. Maybe if you click to enlarge the image you'll be able to see them better but I digress...
It should be easy for you to join us this week. You can get another gift or card knocked off your list so go get your stamps and papers out and join in the fun. You could win a digi image, all you have to do is make a card or project using glitter and bling and link it up on the S2G challenge blog.
This is a really easy, fast, inexpensive (yeah, cheap, but inexpensive sounds so much more elegant) and fun to make project. It's an altered pencil case I picked up at CVS for less than $2. How could you go wrong for that price?
I'm a sucker for anything with an Adirondack chair on it. I had to have this stamp. It's "Winter Chair", you can get it and lots of other fun, cute and fanciful winter and Christmas images in the S2g shop so go take a look and spoil yourself with a little purchase. You deserve it.

To make this all you need to do is cut a 12 x 12 piece of dp in half. Score it at 1/2", 3-1/2", 4-1/2", 7-1/2", 8-1/2". Hold the paper around the box and press it down where the closing snap is, to get a marked spot, then punch a hole there. Put a strip of red line or score tape down the 1/2" edge, on the top and bottom of the 3" edges and down the edge of last side and tape it onto the case. Punch a slot on the image's mat, run your ribbon through it and cut it at a length that will go around the box and allow you to tie a bow. I added a charm to my bow, but you know me, I use a charm whenever possible. Adhere the mat to the box, tie the bow. You can fill it pencils and pens or markers, maybe a gift card or ribbons. Whatever you put inside it, it's going to be a fabulous present.
Need some other ideas to get your mojo going.  Well stop at the S2G site and see what the rest of the design team has cooked up. 

Here's the deets:

stamp - "Winter Chair" digi image from Shirley's 2 Girls

ink - HP printer

paper - Gerogia Pacific for the image; MFT Sno-Cone cs for mat; Imaginisce dp

miscellaneous - ribbon, snowflake charm, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles; circle punch; glitter; copics

Here's the challenges:
Shirley's 2 Girls - Twisted Thursday - Glitter and Bling
Shabby Tea Room week 39 - Tis the Season, create a holiday gift item or gift set
Paper Playtime #28 - Snowflakes
Paper Sundaes #47 - Gift It
Pile It On #48 - It's All in the Wrapping
Cupcake Craft Challenge #120 - Little Red Robin (it's red and it's a bird, close as I'm going to get to a robin)
Going Grey - Make it a Gift or Wrap
City Crafter Week 34 - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!
Fussy and Fancy week 35 - Anything But a Card
Really Reasonable Ribbon #13 - Anything But A Card - Winter Theme

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.

Hoppin' and Shoppin'

It's time for the MFT December release blog hop, wohoo!  If you're following the hop and arrived here from Julie's blog then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon this post welcome aboard, you're very close to the beginning of the hop, why don't you stop by Kim's blog and follow along for some My Favorite Things yummieness.   While you're hopping take the time to leave some love on all the blogs because there will be a prize for some lucky person but you gotta leave a comment to be in the pool.  When you finish hopping go shopping.  

The hop is the icing on the cake for me and rest of temporary Design Team.  I know they feel the same way cause I've been reading all their posts this week.  What a blast this has been!  I can't thank Kim enough for the opportunity to be part of the team.

 

Onto my project.  It's an altered pop top can.  To make one of these all you need is a can with a pop top and one of those new fangled can openers that slice under the edge.  This is a Progresso soup can, I wanted something large enough to hold a scarf or a pair of socks and large enough so that I could use the "Heartfelt" stamp for decoration.  I stamped the image onto Blending Card by X-press, this is great paper if you're going to be working with copics. It was easy to cut the image out and wrap around the can.   I think the MFT Perfect Panels is the best paper for working with copics but it is thick and will be a bit more difficult to work with for this project.

You can use smaller or larger cans, you check that it'll be big enough for your gift and of course large enough for your stamped image.  A small can would be great with the sentiment stamps.  Your kids would love it with cash inside but if you have a crafty friend (like me hint, hint) you could put MFT ribbons, or baby brads, or buttons, or hot fix crystals inside, basically any Adornments works.

Once you've decorated the can all you need to do is apply some good strong clear glue to the edge of the lid and put it back in place. You've got a gift container that will knock the socks off your non-crafty friends. 

This post isn't intended to be a tutorial on how to make one of these.  There is a tutorial on Splitcoast in the Resources section. 

Thanks for stopping by, it's been a pleasure sharing my project with you.  It's time for me to pass you along to Sherrie.  I'm dying to see what she's got tonight.  She always has wicked good stuff to show off and she gives great directions for making your own.  

Since it's the holidays, why not ask your honey to go the MFT store and buy a gift voucher, or you could make a wish list with the website at the top and leave it on your honey's pillow. 

Don't forget to leave some love on all the blogs.  We love to read your comments and someone will be a winner of a gift voucher.

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things "Heartfelt" image and sentiment
ink - Memento Tuxedo black
paper - SU Bella Rosa
miscellaneous - copics, baby braddies, Prima flowers, bling, nesties,

BOO!

If you're like me and you just  love Halloween then you must be having a lot of fun walking through the stores.  I cannot believe how much is available for decorating, wearing and eating.  Used to be, you needed a lot of imagination and crafting abilities to have a big Halloween.  Now you can buy everything, but for crafty people it's still fun to make stuff.  I took a stroll through the big blue box this morning and just loved all the stuff I saw.  There were jars with marshmallow heads in them, they were a riot, trays of body parts, and plenty of creepy stuff. 

While I was browsing I was looking for something with a circle element for my Shirley's 2 Girls project.  What caught my eye was the Gummy Bear jar.  The lid is the perfect spot for the Masked Dog image (available here).  Since the image is digital I could make the image the correct size.  I also made a smaller version to hang as a gift tag (I just happen to know someone who just happens to love gummy bears).  The twist for this week's challenge is to use "boo".  One of my favorite punches is an EK Success "Boo" punch.  I used that to replace the brown ribbon around the lid.  Of course if you make one of these you can just put a matching ribbon on the jar.  All I had to do was print out the images, color them, and cut them out.  I used a variety of different colored stickles for the dots on the wreaths.  Put a purple eyelet on the small tag,and strung it with twine.  Punched out the boo border glued it to a small strip of card stock and glued that to the lid's edge. 
It's a quick and easy project and the jar looks so much better now that's it's been altered.
So that's my project for this week's Shirley's 2 Girls challenge, what will you make?  If you need a Halloween image you can pick one up at the S2G store, if you need some more inspiration then visit the site and see what the other design team members have made.  I got a preview and I can tell you, it's worth checking out.  Once you've finished it don't forget to link it up, you could win a fun digi image. 

Here's the deets:
Stamp - S2G "Masked dog" digi
Ink - HP printer
Paper - Georgia Pacific cs for image; Warsau cs for border
Miscellaneous - copics; stickles; the Cat's Pajama's twine; eyelet

Here's the challenges:
Shirley's 2 Girls - use "Boo"
City Crafter week #25 - Hooray for the Holidays!
Paper Sundaes #38 - Something from Your Stash (the eyelet on the tag is ancient)
Fab 'n' Funky #43 - Use a digi image
Sweet Stampin' #46 - Punch It Out
Simon Says - Halloween

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. By the way, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so it would be a good thing if you click on the pink ribbon on my sidebar.

Halloween Lights

These  are the cutest  little Halloween decorations.  I can say that for sure because they are sitting on my dining room table looking absolutely adorable.  I'm using them as luminaria but you could use them as goodie bags for your favorite trick or treaters.  One of the best things about them is that you can make them for next to nothing and you can make them any size you want. You probably have a sandwich bag and you can pick up this image in the Shirley's 2 Girls store for next to nothing.  It's digital so you don't have to wait long to get it and when you get it you can make it as big as your printer will allow.   Imagine how cool it would be to use a bag from the food store with a huge image.

It's still Crittertime at Shirley's 2 Girls challenges.  This week the twist is "SPOOKY".    I was  asked to use the" Hallow Scream" digi image.  This is right up my alley.  The minute I saw that kitty I cracked up.  He's looking for trouble, I have seen this look on my cats and it is inevitably followed by a crash and some form of clean up.    It's such a cute and easy to work with image.  It would be great on a card or invitation.  It would also be nice as a pin, you can find directions to make the pin in the post below.

Take a good look at the photo, can you notice that the one on the right is colored slightly differently.  I did that on purpose.  Every now and then someone asks me about copic markers, which I happen to like.  But they are a bit of an investment because you can't have just one, and in the case of copics it's not about obsessiveness, in order to work with them you need a good selection of colors and that can get pricey. Tthe image on the bag on the right is colored with Prismacolor pencils.  I don't use OMS or Gamsol.  I just color with the pencils.  I think the bag with pencil coloring looks as good as the bags done with copics. Here you can see that you can get similar effects with both mediums.  So if you're like me you will be going out to get whichever you don't have.  Don't be surprised if you see me post something made with crayons.  I just like to slap down color.

Now go pick up your favorite coloring medium, get a digi image from S2G and make something spooky.  Need more inspiration, well go check out what the rest of the design team has done.  Don't forget to enter your creation for a chance to win a digi image.

Don't forget to join us over on SNR for some digi fun.

Woof!

Ruff-ly (pun intended) translated "Woof!" means "nice hat!"  This little poochie image is "Domino Amused" and if you'd like to bring him home, you can find him  here at Shirley's 2 Girls.  He reminds me of Riley.  A very friendly Airedale (how the heck do you spell that breed?) doggie who I used to run into from time to time.  He was just as cute as Domino but he didn't have the hat. 

This month the theme for the S2G challenges is going to be all about our furry friends, 4 legged critters.  The girls have created some wonderful new images for us.  Were you one of the people who made a suggestion for a stamp?  Then you should see if your idea is there.  Do you love a furbaby, then you should go look, you will definitely relate.

This week the twist is to use flock or feathers.   I used some green flock to make his hat look like felt.  There are lots of other ways you can use flock.  At last year's CKC me and my crafting buddies (I miss you guys!) took a class on flock and they did a few things I never would have come up with, the one thing that comes to mind is they put glue on a  brad and covered it with yellow flock and used it as a flower center, the flock made the once metal brad look nice and velvety (is that a word?).  If you haven't worked with flock before may I recommend that you take it out of the bottle, put it in a larger container and fluff it up before you glue it down. 

For my project I altered a tea tin.  I was given this tin by someone who didn't want to toss it out and knew I'd make it into something.  You probably got a tin of tea or coffee or candy ( or something unspeakable) as a holiday gift from someone.  If you haven't eaten whatever's in it by now you probably won't so toss the stuff out and get cracking on making one of these.  Then you can regift without feeling guilty, I hear that's a new "green" cool thing to do.  In my day it was considered gauche and tacky to regift but I knew these people who were purposefully gauche and tacky, in a hysterical way.  Someone was always  regifting the same thrashy present to another one of them and that was pretty funny because no one knew when they were going to receive the plaster of paris wall ornaments from hell.  They had rules about how it could be done.  Fortunately I wasn't part of the inner circle, they were all school chums, I knew a couple of them, so I could never be the recipient, but I was fortunate enough to see how lovely they didn't look in a couple apartments.  Oh, they were fish, (ICK - fish, get it , fish - ICK- didn't you ever have tropical fish?) probably made in the sixties or fifties and they didn't go with any decor evah!  Maybe now they'd be fun in a kitchy kind of way, nah, who am I kidding, they'll always be butt ugly.  I'm sure these guys all still live in dread of receiving them - cause one of the rules was they had to be displayed for some period of time before they could be sent to someone else, and believe me, these guys checked to make sure they were up. 

I started to peel off the label off the tin and this is what it looked like after several painstaking minutes and then the light came on.  Besides I got a manicure today and there was no way I was going to ruin it when the label would get covered anyway, DUH.  Just cut out a piece of dp, slap the glue on it and wrap it around the tin,  easy peasy if you don't over think it like some idiot who shall remain nameless.  After you put your dp on it, you can put this cute poochie or which ever critter you like on it.  I put a piece of ribbon between the image and the mat and tied it around the tin so that I could hang the paw charm. 

I think you could fill this up with some doggie treats and give it to anyone doggie owner.

Need some more inspiration?  Head over to the Shirley's 2 Girls challenge blog and see what the rest of the design team has created.  They always have something worth seeing.  After you've made a card or project link it up on the challenge blog for your chance to win a digital image from S2G. 

Here's the deets:

Stamp - "Domino Amused" digi image from Shirley's 2 Girls

Ink - printed on my HP

Paper -  dp DCWV "Pet Stack" and a scrap of maroon card stock DCWV neutrals

Miscellaneous - green flock; ribbon, twine, charm; copics; white craft glue for flock

Here's the Challenges:

Shirley's Two Girls - theme is four legged critters, the twist is use flock or feathers.

Crafty Ho's - Use your school supplies (I used my trusty ruler and white craft glue - and no I didn't cover my hand with it and peel it off - at least not tonight - just got that manicure you know)
Cupcake Craft Challenge #106 - Let's Get Digital (does anyone else hear that little Aussie girl Olivia Newton John singing "Let's get digital, digital, I wanna get digital..." Oh that was "physical, physical", never mind - I really am old!)
ABC Challenge - C is for charms -  paw charm
Fab 'n Funky Challenges - Living in a Material World (love that song - cause I am a material girl) the ribbon

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again.  Before you leave, take the time to click on the pink ribbon - it's such a little thing to do, but if we all do it everyday, it'll be a great big thing.

Going Green

Going green, going green, gone...this week's My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club challenge is to "Go Green" in other words reduce, reuse, recycle. Crafters have always been big on repurposing items and now it's fashionable. I hate to throw things out, so there are lots of things awaiting a repurpose in my craft room. Besides all the stuff I can't throw out, there's an amazing pile of items that my boss couldn't throw out and gave to me to repurpose. Does that make us co-dependent or does that make her an enabler? And no you haven't seen me on an episode of "Hoarders", at least not yet and boy do those commercials have me running scared. Of course I'm not throwing any of it out, heck no, I'm hoarding it - so keep your eyes open you may see me on the little screen yet and you can say "Oh my god I know her and there's that candy box I gave her!"
For my going green project I used one of the tins my boss gave me, I gotta tell you she has some of the best boxes and tins. Remember the bling box? I love that, and won't be giving that one away but usually once I've altered them I like to give them away. So someone will be receiving this tin, with a couple of funky tea bags in it. Any tea drinkers out there?
So I've been mulling around what I was going to repurpose for the MFT challenge. I tend to do boxes and tins cause I have so many of them and I really like boxes and tins. Kind of a which came first thing, huh. Anyway, once in awhile I'd like to do something different but dang, that little hot chocolate tin kept coming back to my thoughts so I finally gave in and made up my mind that I would alter that tin which left me wondering what would I want to put in it. While I was thinking about that I visited some challenge blogs to get some more ideas. Do you have any idea how many Easter and/or Spring challenges are out there? Well, you'll have to come back later this week to learn the answer to that question because I didn't come up with an Easter and/or Spring idea for altering the tin. Any of the Easter/Spring MFT images I thought about using on it were too large. I also wanted to do the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge MOJO131. There's three tall thin panels on it and the idea came to me to use one of the MFT cup stamps on the panels, they'd be small enough. So I pulled out the "Coffee? Tea" set and started stamping some cups. I tried several different versions using all three stamps but decided that it would look best with all three images being made with the same tall cup but in different colors that were picked up from the American Crafts "Bubbles" dp. I love that dp and think I will have to go out and pick up some more of it. It's just so cheery and I have some sweet floral paper that coordinates with it. After I picked the colors and stamped the cups it was all easy peasy. The most difficult part of altering tins is that they curve, so it's hard to get a good picture and sometimes the paper doesn't want to cooperate with the curve. The edges of the card stock the cups were stamped on kept lifting up so I used some Beacon glue on them, that stuff really holds tight so once I put some glue on the edges of the white card stock everything layed nice and flat.

So here's the rest of the deets:
The yellow cs is Bazzill African Daisy. The cups were stamped in SU YoYoYellow, Green Galore and Close to My Heart Cranberry. The edges of the cs were sponged with Versamagic Sea Breeze. The teapot stamp is from MFT "In the Background" is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific cs. The label is a Spellbinder's Shapeablities. The sentiment is from the MFT "Coffee? Tea?" set.

The Challenges:
My Favorite Things - Wednesday Stamp Club - Go Green
Paper Sundaes 10th challenge - Paper Piecing
Crafty Creations Challenge 59 - Spots and Dots
The Color Dare #60 - Real Red, More Mustard, Gable Green, and Tempting Turquoise (that bubble paper has every color under the sun in it, I counted them, every single color under the sun is there)
Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge MOJO131

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate your comments and hope you'll come back again. I gotta do the Easter and/or Spring challenges and you're gonna want to know how many challenges are out there, aren't you?
Don't forget to click on the pink ribbon.

Altered Candy Jar

This week the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Challenge is to create a piece of altered art/home decor using your MFT stamps. Rather than take a trek to the store to find something to alter I looked around the house for something I didn't like and would want to change. I was certain there would be something, actually I'm pretty certain there are lots of things but the refrigerator is a little too big to tackle and my family will object if they can't use it. Plus I like the idea of not spending my money on something when I know that there's soon to be an MFT release and let's face it, I am an MFT junkie. It was love at first sight for me. I saw that headless women in several different scenes and knew these stamps were for me. Eventually I became acquainted with the rest of the line and came to love Flopsey, my rabbit friend here, and all things MFT, the yummy ribbons, the gorgeous bling, the papers, you name it I probably love it and have it or have it on my shopping list.

What I found was a jar that one of the kids had filled with candy and gave me for Christmas, last year, or maybe even the year before that. It was a nice and thoughtful gift but it was ready for a face lift.

To cover the jar I took a sheet of dp that has "I love you" written in script in a variety of colors on it. I zig-zag stitched it onto a piece of white cs. Sorry, there's no company information on the paper. The diameter of the jar is about 13 inches so the strip doesn't go all the way around. I could have tried to piece something together to fit, but I wanted to make a focal point piece and just made it a little larger so that it would cover the space inconspicuously. I used Spellbinder Nestibilities to punch out a scalloped rectangle from MFT pink cs, and a heart and a blossom from white cs. I stamped the white cs heart and blossom with the Hero Arts "Manuscript Background" in SU Real Red and edged the shapes with the real red too. I stamped Flopsey onto Georgia Pacific white cs and colored him with copics then cut him out. For a card I would have mounted him and the heart on a dimensional but I wasn't sure how that would work out with the curve of the jar so both the heart and Flopsey were just adhered to the rectangle. It looked like it would be too plain that way so I dug around to see what else to use on it. I came up with the scrummy MFT red gingham ribbon, some Jolee stickers (aren't those ones on the pink rectangle totally adorable) and MFT bling. The letters on the lid were stamped with MFT bling bet in SU real red, cut out and mounted onto SU Apricot Appeal and cut out again. Then I used my heat tool to affix the crystals onto the rectangle and the letters.

The only thing left to do was to fill it up. I let Liddy pick out the candy. She knew I was going to take a picture of it and she told me I should scatter some of the candy hearts around the jar for the photo. Watch out my fellow junkies, I think she's studying what we do.

Thanks for visiting, why don't you bookmark me and come back regularly, after all you're the reason I do this. Oh, and don't forget to click on the pink ribbon before you go.

Bling Box

WOW! Look at me, I'm blogging again. That may sound silly to you but you have no idea how computer UNsavvy I really am and with "MY" laptop on the fritz I am lost. I knew how to do what I needed to do on that sucker and don't know how to get much done on most other computers. So I finally got a loaner, and then I had to find the software from my camera so I could get the pics on here by myself, and then I needed more lessons on using this computer. I still can't do much editing of the pics but at least I now feel confident enough to be able to get something done and eventually I might get to the point that I really understand what the heck I'm doing. Enough of me going on about this.

Woohoo, I'm back just in time for the new MFT sketch challenge. My favorite team of Cindy Haffner and Frances Bryne (AKA Stamp Owl) are back at it. They are both on the MFT Design Team and boy can they cook up some great sketches as well as make some outrageous cards. If you're not familiar with their work go visit their blogs by clicking on their names. If you like a sketch challenge and who doesn't like a sketch challenge go check it out. You could win a prize and you can chat with the "junkies". That's all us whacky stampers who can't get enough of MFT.

For Christmas I gifted myself with a Janome Mini. I don't have room for my Bernina in my craft room and I don't want to be going down to the basement SO I got the little machine that is easy to move off and on my desk. I took it out for its first run on this project. I really enjoyed doing it and I can hear my buddy Eileen now, she knew I was going to start sewing on them eventually and kept telling me so. I kept saying I wasn't going to do it. The fact is that I started sewing before I could write, I guess it was inevitable that I would sew on my papercrafts. I need a little more practice on this machine, the Bernina is so much easier to use.

So what we have here is a Burberry box that my boss gave me. Her mother thinks it's funny that she does her "recycling" with me. She can keep the stuff coming, she has some of the best garbage around, and it's not like I'm ever gonna buy anything Burberry that comes in a neat box like this. First of all I love the color and it's a great size and check out how it opens with that flap coming down. I gotta remember to ask her what the heck came in the box. Now as you can see in the pic it's the perfect size to house my MFT bling. Looks like I can get four more sets in there.

So here's the rest of the deets: the dp is from the Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love" Mini Deck. The cs is SU Soft Suede and the yellow cs is DCWV. The stamps are MFT "Bling Bet" and the letters are stamped with SU Soft Suede, the girl is MFT Pure Innocence "Apple for You" stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on an MFT white Perfect Panel and colored with copic markers and her dress is paper pieced. Her barrette, shoes and apple are coated with SU Crystal Effects. And the bling is MFT hot fix crystals.

I really love the new Pure Innocence line of stamps, I love how this box came out and I just love MFT, can you tell?

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll leave a comment and expect that you'll click on the pink ribbon before you leave.

A Gardener's Journal, a Reader's Journal and a Teacher's Gift

If you have 3 square feet or more of dirt in New Jersey you gotta plant a tomato bush. Really, it's like a law. There is nothing better than a home grown joisey tomatah. Right about now they are nearing the end of the season and that's just one small reason to grieve the end of summer. If you need any more reasons to sob over the end of summer I'll hook you up with my husband, the teacher. I'm feeling terribly sad for the end of his two and a half months of vacation. You probably feel my pain.

While my hubbie probably could journal about his summer vacation I had the gardener in mind when I altered this $1 notebook from Michael's. I got a pile of them so be prepared to be viewing a few more of them.

For $1 you've got a great base for a customized journal and they make great gifts. So I'm starting my Christmas presents early, but I expect to get distracted as usual and be frantic as the holiday nears.

For this journal as well as the other two I made today I used MFT sketches so that I could get a few more done on my way to the 100 Sketches. I've only got about seventy to go now. Hey, it could happen.

The stamp set is MFT "Can Ya Dig It?". This is a great stamp for paper piecing, one of my favorite techniques. The papers are from My Mind's Eye and are perfect for the Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge to use pink, orange and teal. To start I took a piece of Stampin' Up Kraft Card stock and punched one edge with the Stampin' Up spiral punch so that I could cover up the original cover page. Then I cut the pieces of the designer paper for the MFT layout and punched the diagonal edge of the bottom piece with the Martha Stewart floral lace border punch and added a piece of orange ribbon below the punched edge. I stamped the gardener image on white card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black, paper pieced the dress and hat and colored the rest of the image with copics and sponged the edges with Memento Angel Pink. The flower pot was stamped with Stampin' Up Only Orange and is mounted on dimensionals. The flowers on the hat are Sparkle Gems Small Blossoms. I added a variety of ribbons down the rings of the notebook.

For the next notebook I used MFT sketch #77 and the "I Heart Books" stamp set. This time the papers are from Basic Grey, June Bug. The colors for The Pink Elephant Challenge #31 are red, yellow, black and white which are all in the June Bug papers. Nowadays even the public schools make the kids wear uniforms. But when I was a kid only the private schools made you wear a uniform and guess who went to a private school. The uniforms were always a plaid and always made you look dorky, as if I needed any help in that department. You would think that being reminded of those horrid uniforms would make me want to burn this paper but for some reason I find it adorable. So I used it for the girl's pants, the rest of the image is colored with copics and the edges were sponged with Memento Dandelion. The card stock and red mat were cut with nestibilites. The scallops of the mat were pierced and the edges of the red mat on the cross bar were also pierced. I used the plaid for the squares on the side bar. The mats had the corners punched with a Stampin' Up corner punch. The bookworm was mounted on dimensionals and the edges of this oval were also sponged with the Dandelion ink. The initials are stickers that came with the Basic Grey paper pack. To finish it off ribbons in the challenge colors were tied on binder rings.

The last journal was made with the MFT "Back to School" stamp set using sketch #15. The paper is Basic Grey Two Scoops with a piece of DCWV green card stock. It was used to paper piece the jacket and skirt. The rest of the images were colored with copics. The flowers on the bottom left are the element stickers that were included with the paper package. The apples were covered with glaze. Ribbons that matched the paper were tied on the binder rings. This journal will make a great teacher's gift.

While I've still got your attention, I have to ask you to click on the pink ribbon.

Thanks for stopping and thanks for clicking.

A Simple Altered Box

Here's a fun and easy project. You just need a little tin, some pretty paper, a ribbon and a button. You can add other embellishments but I like to keep these simple.

This started out as a Godiva chocolate tin. After you do the fun work, that's eating the candy, you cover the box with some pretty paper and now you have a great little container to use for a gift. Of course you can keep it and stash some stuff in it, but you can put something tiny in it, expensive or inexpensive, great gifts come in little containers.

This box is covered with MFT (My Favorite Things) Summer collection paper, ribbon and button. It only takes a few minutes to make one and it's really adorable. This tin is for the MFT One Click Challenge which is to make a box, the Allsorts Week 16 Challenge to not use stamps, and the Tuesday Taggers challenge Buttons and Bows.

Thanks for taking the time to look. Before you leave remember to click on the pink ribbon.