Cards and Another Tutu

Here is a set of 4 birthday cards I made randomly last night. Almost every day this week I've started to clean my craft room, then find something amazing and sit down to play with it- and never finish organizing. This is what I played with yesterday. 

I put them in clear envelopes and stamped "Happy Birthday" on them, then stored them in one of these clear boxes that are so neat from Papertrey Ink.

And here is another tutu I made this morning (last day of Christmas vacation, you've got to be kidding me if you think I'd wake before noon) afternoon that took about an hour. I love these things, and they turn out SO cute. Here is a little more detail in how they're made. 

Step 1. Put a stretchy headband around a chair

Step 2. Cut about 40 strips of tulle 6x24 (or longer) 

Step 3. Make a U shape with the tulle and pull the two open ends through the closed end around the headband to make temporary knots

 Step 4. Pull petals off of flower stem (I like hydrangeas) and hot glue a small pearl to each center

Step 5. If desired, glue petals on strips of 24 inch ribbon to add to tutu, otherwise, glue petals onto tutu. I did both, using about 30 flowers total

 Step 6. Make a hairbow using leftover petals

 Step 7. Admire your beautiful tutu. This one will be really cute with a black leotard. 

 Here is is all laid out. It will stretch to fit just about any size. Of course the smaller the waist, the fuller the skirt. The leotards I found were size 2-4, which will be perfect for most any girl in this age range.

Purple Tutu

I decided to make A's Christmas present this year. A is my best friend's daughter, who turned 2 back in September. I bought a lavender leotard online for about $10, then made a tutu and matching hairclip, which I put in an organza bag. I used a stretchy headband for the base, and added strips of 30 inch tulle fabric (6 inches wide, 1 roll of 25 yards), then some pretty ribbon. I glued hydrangea flowers on the ribbon and sparsely on the tutu for decoration, and glued a small pearl in the center of each flower. It turned out beautifully. It's soooo much prettier in person. We haven't exchanged gifts yet so I don't know if she'll love it, but I sure hope she does! 

New Car!

Since we have not had ANY snow so far this year, on the Thursday before Christmas I had to get something white and lovely in my yard to make me smile! We ended up with a 2011 Dodge Challenger. So far, I'm loving it! I ordered a stripe kit to add a thick black pinstripe down both sides, so hopefully that will come in the next few days. We traded in the Equinox since this has a pretty big trunk (so I can still haul a crap-load of stuff as necessary) and it gets slightly better gas milage. And it's freakin' awesome looking. That's the best part! 

Kymberlee's Birthday Card

Here is Kymberlee's card, now that she's finally about to get her package. I don't know what my issue has been with going to the post office lately, but it just isn't happening these days.  Anyway, I think it turned out cute. I used my new Copic Markers that Channing bought me for Christmas to color them (yes, he gave them to me early!) I'm also going to a Copic Class soon so hopefully I'll become better with my coloring.

In no particular order...

First up- a quick "Thanks" note to go to each of the wonderful ladies who ordered something from my Pampered Chef party a couple of weeks ago. I was able to get a lot of AMAZING things, and perhaps spark my interest in cooking again... (yeah, right!) 

Item number 2 on the agenda: my mom's birthday card this year. Pretty simple with the paper (my last Little Red Scrapbook Kit)- I love love love this bird from Reminisce Accents. The stamp is from Papertrey Ink, saying "Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art." I thought it to be quite appropriate for my dear mother.

 Pictures three and four are from Thanksgiving Day. I cooked some chicken to go in the dish I was taking to my aunt's house (and burned it terrible, I might add) so I had to open up another pack. Since I had some leftover, I went ahead and cooked it... and created the most delicious meal I have EVER prepared. This was seriously the best chicken I've ever tasted (using Smoked Applewood Rub-or something similar- from Pampered Chef). Picture Four is my Chicken Nacho thing... not sure what it's called but its gorgeous and tasty. It is prettier draped with sour cream, but I don't like it, so it's a no-go on this one!

Here is a surprise package I got in the mail from Kymberlee. My school kids LOVE the packing material (these quickly became "reading buddies" in one of my workstations) and the crayons will come in handy next semester when I tell my kids to get out their new supplies and they ALL say "But I already used mine!" lol... happens every year! Anyway, the big item is that shelf/box thing laying flat beside Nemo. Just wait to see what I made...

Ta-Da! I didn't make you wait long. Here is the cutest little Advent Calendar I've ever created. My dear husband spray painted the edges of each box for me so that I wouldn't have to hand paint them all. I did paint the shelf dark red (then mod podged for safety!) and added all of the freakin' cute embellishments. The paper is last year (or the year before's?) Recollections Christmas. I love it. My husband loves it, too. He will enjoy it even more next year when there is a treat each day of December.

And next time I shall have a birthday card for a dear friend whose birthday is in December... that time of year when the only paper sitting on my table is red, green and/or involves glitter. How can I possibly NOT use such things on her card!?!? Lucky for her... only the dark green made it on.

Oh Oh Oh! Anddddd I got my Christmas present from Channing in the mail a couple days ago... my very first set of Copic Markers. I've been practicing and watching you-tube videos like CRAZY to learn. All for now!

Theme Challenge

Kymberlee and I are still playing "Challenge" games in which we send the other a package and they have to create something using those items. She sent me a cute little kit from Art-C, called the "Ephemera Pack: Orange & Gold." It included small swatches of paper, flowers, brads, charms, etc. 

And... this is what I came up with! I used Wall Decor for the elephant. I covered a wooden frame with mod podge to seal the paper, then added the chain, ribbon, flowers, and little accessories for fun. I think it turned out really cute. I think my favorite parts (other than the elephant charms, because they are ADORABLE) are the mahjong tiles that came with the kit. 

A few things to share!

Okay, so life hasn't slowed down much since Halloween like I thought it might. Only two school days before Thanksgiving Break! Anyway, Here are a few things I've been into lately...

One of the teachers at school is expecting a baby boy in January, and her baby shower was last week. 2nd Grade got together to make our gift- a cute little monkey bike! I used my droid phone to take pictures so they're of course blurry and awful, but you get the idea of it. 

 I found a motorcycle license plate template online to write "Baby B." (for the last name) and I think it was the favorite part. It turned out really cute.

 The next project was supposed to be a tutu for my bff's little girl, but apparently her waist is bigger, so I have it to her cousin (who is my sister's bff's daughter). She loved it!

 Super easy and super cute. I used the tulle fabric strips found in the wedding section at A.C. Moores, and tied them onto some beautiful green ribbon. I added vine ribbon (papertrey inc.) and glued on hydrangea petals. Here is a close up of the top. I went around the top with gold ribbon, just to cover the knots. It's tied on with a bow, so even as C. grows some, it will still fit.

 The next one I make will be with an elastic headband, so no matter how big Addy's waist is, it will fit!

And my biggest project... a Tipi made from 8' cedar posts and a 9x12 canvas floor mat. I gathered all of my ingredients, and used my entry-way floor as my table. This project was pretty big. I cut 5 huge triangles (think 4 inches wide at the top, 38 inches wide at the bottom, 80 inches tall), then sewed them all together. Then I added a larger triangle and made two flaps for the doors. This was 56 inches wide.

I drug all of the pieces to school and tied them with jute rope (well, my DH drilled holes in the poles for extra support) and spread it outside so we wouldn't make a mess. 

I taped the flaps so my little American Indians wouldn't wander inside, but gave them permenant, acrylic paint to decorate the outside with symbols that may or may have not been used by the Lakota Indians we were studying about.

After we finished, I sprayed the tipi with mod podge sealer, and drug it inside to be on display in the front hallway. While I had small groups of kids rotating outside to paint, my cohort had the rest of the group inside practicing their symbols by painting onto cardstock "buck skins." We matted those on black paper, and they are a gorgeous backdrop for our tipi. I might remember to take a picture to post of the finished project. It turned out freakin' awesome. Everyone loved it!

And my last project is a card I made for my bff Kymberlee (oops- you'll probably see this before it comes in the mail) as a simple "hello." I hadn't used Simply Scarecrows before (talk about creepy eyes) but the project was surprisingly easy. I used paper from my last Little Red Scrapbook kit.

Handmade Princess Costume

Happy Halloween! Or, as we called it at school, Book Character Day! Here I am posing silly for my sister (seriously, she had taken like 5 pictures at this point) with my fairytale costume at the end of the day. She made the main dress, and I made the undershirt and added all of the embellishments. It was SO cute. I did wear a pair of 5" heels off and on throughout the day (I switched into my comfy shoes in the classroom and after the kids left) so I wouldn't trip going down the hall. 

Happy Fall!

Wow, life has been so freakin' busy around here I haven't crafted in ages. Well, I take that back. I haven't made anything worth sharing in ages! Happy Fall, though! Here is a beautiful view standing on my front porch. I'm not much of a photographer, but I couldn't pass up this shot. Absolutely breathtaking.

On this beautiful weekend before Halloween I finally used my Pumpkin Carvings cart to actually do what it was intended for- to carve a pumpkin. I cut out the pattern with vinyl, then transferred it to my victim, eh, pumpkin, then cut-cut-cut. Peeled off the vinyl and oh-snap! How awesome! I'm loving owls these days and thought this would look super cute on my porch. And it does!

Tomorrow is Book Character Day at school (ha! What a great way to get buy with wearing a costume on Halloween!) and my sister made me a beautiful dress for Christmas last year. I embellished it a bit and I'll be going as an unheard-of Queen from a Classic Fairytale story. If you're lucky you might get to see pictures!

Lots to see today!

First off, my bff Kymberlee (aka BEST CIRCLE PAL EVER) sent me these amazing cozies custom made by Kathy's Cozies. In addition to the pieces you see (Imagine, E2, and Gypsy covers) I also received an E cover, cuttlebug cover, a cord bag, and a small scrap trash bag for my desk. The fabric she picked out is just absolutely perfect! Thank you so much!! 

Here is something that's not creative, just random... one of the teachers asked me to make her some apples for her behavior chart, and I just happened to have laminated cardstock at home in all main colors. She was shocked when I gave them to her laminated the next day. How weird am I to have laminated paper laying around, "just in case"??? lol... glad I had it, since the laminator was broken.

Here is a box of goodies my dear Kymberlee sent me. How amazing is she?!!? I got another package the next day of about a gazillion sheets of scrapbook paper. It was the most wonderful surprise! I've sorted it by color and used some already.

In each of our boxes, we include an "ultimate challenge bag" with random things the person must use to create a project. First, she had to make something green, I had to make something out of trash, she had to make a girly card, and I had to make something using a red journal and a kit of random knick knacks. I was able to use everything in the kit except two blue gems (that didn't match anything) and an empty vial, which was too big. I think my journal turned out pretty well. The paper on the front (under the tags that came in the kit) is from the box she sent full of paper. It was my favorite so I just had to incorporate it.

And the view inside... every 10th page is decorated

And here is my imagine with her new endcaps Kymberlee sent me.

And here is a picture of Mabry Mill, one of my all-time favorite places in the world. I took this with my camera phone on Sunday evening. We got there at 7:05, and they quit serving dinner at 7, but we were able to find a neat, rural place called the Mountain House down the road in Meadows of Dan. If anyone travels along the Blue Ridge Parkway, you've got to check this place out.

And a final project... if you remember last year I created a bulldog house for "caught being good" tickets... which is a great program for elementary schools... anyway, it went so well that this year we are having two "bulldogs of the week"- a K-2 student and a 3-5 student. This means they needed another box for the K-2 names. This is what I created... using a piece of 12x12 chipboard cut into 6x6 blocks.

Completed the roof so that the kids can slip their forms in easily, and the roof comes off for the drawing each week easily.

 I hand-cut the bush, and the other flowers are from Freshly Picked. I hand cut everything else, including the 1-inch red siding. I used a brad for the door handle. I love it!