Pretty Petals Cardstock Pack Cards: Set 1

I had a great time at Hobby Lobby the other day and bought some new paper packs. I'm going to make sets of cards with this cardstock pack as backgrounds. I'm hoping to use a fair amount of scrap embellishments I've collected over the years with the variety of colors this pack should provide. 

I nearly cringed as I pulled out this bold pink paper for this set, but in going along with my plan of working outside-my-usual-box I forced myself to use it. The stickers are also from Hobby Lobby, in a pack called "Floral Faith and Inspiration". (You can see the cover of it in the background of some of the pictures.) 

I've always loved this hydrangea stamp. The background cardstock has not-quite-ready hydrangeas in this green color, so I used that as my inspiration for coloring. 

It's very hard to see, but I added tiny pearls on the center of each visible flower. It's very pretty in person. 

Here's another variation of the same thing. 

And another card with a sticker. I like the simplicity of this design. 

 

Baby Blanket

I was finally able to dive into another quilting project which is something I've been looking forward to since the last quilt-top I made during our last snowstorm. This is a Jelly Roll Jam quilt I made using jelly roll strips from Hobby Lobby. I wasn't sure what the fabric looked like when I bought it, but it's cute!

 

Rock Tumbling

 My mom gave me a rock tumbler for Christmas, which is something I've been really excited about lately. To go through all 4 stages, plus a polish stage, the tumbler takes about a month. I just finished my first batch of rocks. They turned out much smaller than I expected, though I shouldn't be surprised as they're meant to break down. In the last picture you can see how big that blue on was to begin with. 

Why rock tumbling, you ask? When I was a kid I had a tumbling machine that broke during it's first use and I never got to see my finished product. Last summer I began my adventure with succulents and have been wanting to make a fairy garden. I'm hoping to get enough tumbled rocks to make a cute scene with some fairy pieces my mom got me. 

At this point in my crafting like I think I just realized I owe a LOT to my mom. She's always encouraged my creativity and exploration of all things crafty. 

Snow at the New House

It's so pretty!

Scientific Failure

So this post is to document my failure. For Christmas last year my mom got me a pH thermometer to help me learn more about the science behind my soaps-making. It had been on my Amazon Wishlist for awhile.  Since we were living with her at the time and everything in my house was packed up in a storage facility some where, I had to wait ages before I could use it. A few days ago I finally pulled it out and carefully read through the directions, but cannot figure out how to make it work. She also got me some pH test strips, so I am good on that end, but the thermometer itself does not recognize anything. 

I did some reading and it said if the piece dries out then it might need some special solution, so I bought that and let it sit for a day or so, but when I came to check on it this is what I found. The solution reacted with the environment of the basement, I guess? I don't know. All I know is my thermometer still doesn't work and I feel like an idiot. Oh well. That happens sometimes!

Oh, I did make some lotion bars last week that you can see in the background. They're pretty cool. 

A Winter Snowstorm

 We got another load of snow, which is lovely. I'm really enjoying my time off work and diving into some things I haven't had time for in ages. 

I put together this cute puzzle after Christmas. The pieces were a bit bigger than normal, which I liked, and there were still 1000 so it was pretty big. 

I also bought some Christmas fabric at Joann's when we visited my mom over the holidays. I used it to make some pillowcases and a quilt-top for the bed. 

Here is a 16" pillowcase cover. 

Here is another pillowcase cover. 

And another, though I think this is for a 12" pillow. 

And then I made a king-size quilt for the bed. I didn't have enough fabric for the backing, however, so I'll have to wait until the next time we visit (or I find another Joann's with seasonal fabric all year) to get some more. I love how each quilt block looks like a little present! I also used my Cricut to make vinyl name tags on the shams I sewed as well that look like Christmas gifts. They are so cute! Hopefully I'll get the quilt finished by next Christmas and can put it on the bed! 

Fall Wreath

I upgraded this wreath my mom gave me with some fall decor I had stashed away. I think it turned out cute. It's very thick and full.  

Here is what it looked like before. It's hard to tell but it's not very thick, and the white pumpkins were styrofoam, upside down, and randomly glued onto some leaves. Very few of the flowers could be salvaged, as they were poorly put together and covered with bits of glue. I was able to remove the old decor, however, to give it new life! I love the boxwood greenery. 

Autumn Cards

Here are some cards I made for fall. Most are thank-you cards, as I've been in need of those recently. I used paper scraps and embellishments that I've had for ages. I'm trying to use up some of my supplies that I haven't touched in years. Most of the sentiments are from Divinity Designs. 

 

Cards for Fall

 Here are a few cute cards I made this weekend.

New Cabinet Labels and Harry Potter Keys

I have been SO busy moving into our new house this month, cleaning and painting, trying to decide where to put everything, sorting and organizing. I finally had a chance to unpack my new craftroom (pretty much the whole basement!!!) and one of the first things I made were these labels for my IKEA drawers. I've had the shorter one for years (I painted the front of each drawer with chalkboard paint originally) but just got the tall one recently (as we now live fairly close to IKEA!) I used my Cricut to make the labels, which I think turned out super cute! 

Also, I'm decorating the downstairs guest room Harry Potter themed, so I bought a ton of keys on Amazon and have been busy gluing wings on them. I have no idea how I'm going to decorate with them yet, but they are so cute! 

New Craftroom Bookshelves

I can't imagine being any more excited than I am right now! When we moved to the new house, we agreed that the whole basement (minus the room with HVAC) would be my craft room. We wanted a guest room with ultimate privacy, so I'm turning the room down there with a door into a Harry Potter themed guest room, but the rest of it is mine, all mine! lol  The first thing we did was have the brown carpet torn up and replaced with a wood-like waterproof floor. There was carpet down the stairs, too, so we had hardwood put in. It was by far the most expensive part of the whole project. It looks SO good! 

The next thing I did was decide that my children's books were going to stay here, not at school, so I could bring them in as needed. That's what is in the 35+ Lowes boxes in the picture below. To make it work, we decided that the back wall should be a wall of shelves. 

 

After a trip to IKEA for Billy Bookcases, my wonderful sister spent the weekend helping me build the wall of my dreams. I put wallpaper on the back of each shelving unit before installing, which looks great, and then painted the trim the same blue color as the guest bedroom next door to it. 

Here are the shelves nearly complete. You can see we still had the brown carpet at that point, so I had ripped up enough to do my job. 

And here it is completed! I have a few more boxes of books that won't quite fit, along with some clear totes for other teaching stuff, so I'll get some big storage shelves that won't be as pretty to go around it, but here is the first look at my beautiful library! 

Our New House!

I'm so excited! The next few months are going to be VICIOUS as I clean, paint, and redecorate this place to my heart's content! And the best part... I get THE WHOLE BASEMENT as my crafting paradise! 

Religious/Thinking of You/Blank-Inside Cards

Here are a few cards I made over the last few snowy/icy days. We're done with snow at the moment but not the cold temperatures. Today the high is 22, wind chill 17. (-4 this morning!) 

I used Divinity Designs 'Happy Birthday' stamp for the flowering can. The paper is from DCWV's Fairytale Floral stack. I colored the stamp with Copic markers. 

I used my Cricut Explore  to cut the frame for this one. The stamp is from 'Be Joyful' from Divinity Designs.

I love these 'fancy frames' dies I cut using my Cricut Cuttlebug. The quote is from 'God Quotes 2' from Divinity Designs.

I seem to go through phases of coloring well. This flower stamp is 'Magnolia Vintage Labels Seven' from JustRite Stampers and the quote is from Divinity Design's 'Scripture Collection 11.'

This stamp is from 'God Quotes 2.'

Here's another watering can from the 'Happy Birthday' set from Divinity Designs. It was a challenge to stick with colors that matched the background paper, and not that I necessarily like!

This is another one that's not quite my usual style. This scripture quote is from 'God Verses 2.' The rest was cut with my Cuttlebug.