Birthday Tags

I have been making tags a lot lately, along with everything else. I love to incorporate them into my scrapbook pages and also add them to gift bags. I think they add the perfect touch. I have a couple of birthdays coming up this month and I wanted to get some made to have ready instead of waiting till the last minute like I usually do. I had gotten these cute little die cuts from Target clearance years ago and had never used them. The colors didn't really go with any birthday pages that I've done, so I thought they would be perfect for gift bags. I seemed to have the perfect color ribbon and buttons in my stash to add to them.

Teacher Gift-Mini Clipboard

My precious son starts kindergarten next week and I wanted to start it off right with a little happy for his teacher. We met her last week for a summer party and she is the sweetest! I had bookmarked one like this on Two Peas a while back and new I wanted to make one at some point. The girl used a digital kit that was no longer available, so I improvised with some paper I had gotten recently at Michael's. I used a Martha punch for the apple and used Photoshop Elements to create her name and printed them on 3 x 5 index cards. The little clipboard actually came from AC Moore and it has this little peg on the back where it can actually stand up. I made a matching tag for the bag. I also want to add some hand sanitizer that I vinyl with her intials before next Wednesday. Have to get the monogramming in somewhere, right?

Another Monogrammed Project

I made this cute little water bottle for my son's summer camp teacher. Tomorrow is the last day of camp and I wanted to send her a little something to say thank you for taking care of him this summer. I thought it turned out pretty cute. I used some pink Cricut vinyl a couple of weeks ago that I hadn't tried out yet and the Curlz font for the "B". The zebra print is actually fabric and not paper. The "B" didn't stick as well to the fabric, but I got it on there somehow. I made a cute little card that said thank you to put in the bag, but didn't get a picture of that. I got the bottle at Hobby Lobby and it just unscrews so you can put something in there to decorate it. They were 30% off this week.

Lesson 2 - Using Brushes As Stamps

This was a really cool lesson. It was about using brushes in Photoshop and how you can use them as stamps on your photos. I love this technique. It makes the possibilities endless for changing up your pictures and adding details, dates, or whatever you want. I am learning so much and would recommend this class to anybody. Best of all, it's free! I don't use Photoshop that much, especially not to change my pictures like this, but I think that's about to change. I also changed the saturation in the photo to make it a little softer. That was actually Lesson 3. I just kind of combined both lessons and started playing with this photo. The grunge frame was a free download from Jessica's site that I added. I just love the way it turned out.

Free Photo Editing Class

I got my first lesson today from a free photo editing class I'm taking over at Jessica Sprague's website. Our first lesson was about creating frames and using word art in Photoshop. It was pretty easy to figure out and she had awesome videos that showed you step by step what to do. I love when things are that easy to figure out. It makes me want to continue to learn. This probably wasn't the best photo, but it was one of my recent shots of my favorite guy at Disney. I can't wait for Lesson 2. I will post it too!

My New Addiction.....Vinyl!

I absolutely love cutting vinyl on the Cricut. I have been obsessed with it the past few weeks, monogramming everything. I sold my little bug a while back in hopes of getting an Expression later on. Well, that hasn't happened yet, but my friend Kristi bought one and hadn't used it yet. I told her about the SCAL program that she could use with it instead of buying all the different cartridges. I borrowed her Expression and loaded her SCAL on my laptop and started playing so I could figure it out first and then show her how to use it. SCAL is the most amazing program. It can cut any font and cut dingbats and any SVG file. I haven't really played much with Inkscape to create my own files yet, but there are so many generous and talented people out there that are sharing the files they created. If you haven't purchased your SCAL program, you can click here: http://www.craftedge.com/ Of course, now there is SCAL2, which makes some things a little easier from what I'm reading. Not quite ready to deal with that yet.

Birthday Card for a Princess

Other than a baby shower to go to on Saturday, Grayson was invited to a neighbor's two-year-old birthday party. I made the little princess her own card. I got this stamp set from Lizzie Anne Designs a while back at my LSS and haven't really had an occasion to use it until now. Well, I guess I have had occasion, but forgot I had it. I don't really have all the cool colors or Copics or whatever you use to color these kind of images in. I'm still out of the loop on that one, but I'm making do with what I have right now. I actually used some paint mixed with some crystal Stickles. It turned out okay. I painted the chipboard scallop frame and the "2" with the same paint color. The brown behind the stripe paper is actually felt from Michael's, I think. I don't even know what this paper is called, but it came in a kit type thing and it is so cute for little girls' birthdays. The striped paper was run through my Sizzix with my Cuttlebug embossing folder. I still don't have a Cuttlebug, but they work pretty good in the Sizzix. I used a die cut that came with the kit and stamped "Happy Birthday, Princess" on the inside. I can't wait to put this in Madison's mailbox tomorrow since the 19th is actually her birthday. I will make her a little tag or something to put on her present for Saturday.

Baby Card

I finally got my baby card done that I need for a shower next weekend. My next door neighbor is having her second child, which is going to be a boy, so I wanted to do a cute card for her. I purchased the Bitty Blessings set from Papertrey Ink a while ago and I just love it. Their website has some really cute ideas for the stamps. I actually found the one I used at Taylored Expressions blog. Using from my stash, I went with the Making Memories Kids Collection called Sam since I had the paper and stickers, and I had this navy ribbon with the red trim that I think pulls it all together. I stamped "Welcome, Little One" on the inside. I also punched out 3/4 inch circles for the scalloped edges since I don't have any Spellbinder dies yet. I got this from the talented Kristina Werner from her MACM cards.

Finished Mistreatment

Well, after working on my mistreatment in the playroom all day yesterday, I finally finished all four windows. You can only see three of them in this picture, but there are actually four. I went back and added some white fabric to the backs so they wouldn't be so sheer. I ended up moving the couch that was in there downstairs in the living room where we have no furniture. There is so much more room. I don't know how I ever fit all that furniture plus all the toys in there. It looks so much better. I also covered some Styrofoam and added some striped paper on them and a sticker to add some more color on the wall. I have no idea what color to paint in there. It still has the lovely painter's beige on the walls. I am really getting into the mistreatment of my windows. I can't wait to do the rest of the house. I will post more pics of the other rooms I finish.

Valentine Scrapbook Page and Window Mistreatment

I hardly ever do one-page layouts because I take so many pictures that I can't just pick out one for a layout, but this is a picture that I had made this past weekend for Valentine's Day presents for everyone. I've had the paper, the scalloped heart paper, and the glitter hearts for a while. The Valentine tickets are a free download and can be found here. They are so cute and would look good on a scrapbook page or card. I have been in the creative mood for the past few days and have gotten a lot done. I have done some other scrapbook pages too. I just started printing pictures that were on my camera card and went from there.

I found all these great blogs on decorating on a budget or with very little money at all. Everyone can use those types of tips, right? I know I can. I have a lot of material that I've bought to put curtains or valances up and also bought patterns to use to make these beautiful curtains. Have I done it? NO!! None of my windows have had curtains until now. I started in Grayson's playroom with a red gingham print and added white ball fringe. I put them up with upholstery tacks and used some clips I had and then hot glued some covered buttons on the clips that I had covered in black gingham. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Anyway, here is a pic of the window in the playroom that I've gotten done so far. I didn't get enough ball fringe. I only got the one window done. I've got three more to go. Check out The Nesting Place for window mistreatments. This is where I got the idea. I also did some in my dining room with a toile print I found at Hancock's for $4 a yard. It was a steal. Hancock's also had fringe 40% off, so I'm headed back for more. I will have to upload the dining room ones tomorrow.

Valentine's Day Card

Here is a Valentine's Card that I made, not sure who it's for at this point. It could be for my husband or my son. It's pretty simple. I used that same frame as I did in the birthday card I made this weekend. I've had these glittery hearts and paper for a while and haven't done anything with them. I like the way it turned out, the simplicity if it. I am in the mood to create more things today and even maybe scrapbook some pages, but I'm not sure I have the time. I have a job I have to get back in today and I'm still typing on it and still have to proof it. Not sure I'm going to get everything done that I want to get done today. That's nothing new. I am so behind on Grayson's albums. I have 2004 complete, his first year, but I've still got some to go on 2005 and on. 2005 is not too far off, but I have a few done here and there after that. I would love to get 2005 finished and start on 2006. I really want to get caught up this year. Maybe I will have some pages to post this week.

"Happy Birthday To You" Card

Here is the other card I entered into the contest. I didn't quite get the baby card I needed done last night. I couldn't find any paper that I wanted to use. I know I have some here somewhere in this mess that I could use, but I wouldn't have been up all night finding it. I have been cleaning up in my scrap room today, so maybe I can find it and get it made this week. My shower isn't until the 21st, so I still have a weekend to get it done. I loved the ribbon on this card, the color and the width of it. The big black and white element in the middle and the months strip is actually a free digi download by Jennifer Pebbles from Two Peas. I'm not sure about entering these contests since I don't have the latest and greatest things, but I have to start somewhere. Hopefully, it will get me comfortable in entering things and one day I will have new products to use and might actually have a chance. There were so many great entries.

I took Grayson to get pictures made today at Portrait Innovations. This was my first time, and I had been warned that they will try to get you to buy more than what you went in for. I just wanted some Valentine's pictures for Grayson's grandpa, whose birthday is actually on the 14th, and for Grayson's dad too. I got six Valentine photo cards, which was the perfect number to send out to all the grandparents, great grandmothers, and great aunt. Luckily, I only was in love with a couple, so that made it easy not to overspend on pictures. I got out of there for $26, which I thought was great.

Encouragement Card

I finally entered my FIRST contest. I know I won't win, but maybe one day! A girl can dream can't she. I did this card to go along with all the other "thinking of you" cards I've done recently. Some of my friends are really having a hard time these days. Several of them have lost one of their parents in the last few weeks and are trying to deal with this devastating time in their lives. I can't imagine how that must feel and am very thankful to still have both of mine. I hope this card will encourage them. The contest is over at http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/. Well, I'm off to create one more card for the contest. You can enter two cards. This one will be a baby card since I have a shower to go to in a few weeks. Maybe I will get it posted tomorrow.

Trying to get the hang of blogging

I can't seem to get in the groove of doing this every day yet. Life and work seem to be getting in the way a little. I am easily distracted. I'm sure I'm not the first to say this and won't be the last. Today I am posting some cards that I'm sending to two of my good friends. They both have had a tough couple of weeks and I wanted them to know I was thinking of them. I hope this does the trick. I need to make a couple more cards to send too.

I can't believe it's the first of February. Where did January go? I so wanted to get started on the right foot this year with everything, but like every other year, it just doesn't happen. I wanted to do Project 365, but do it my way. I actually started the year off taking a picture a day. By the end of the first couple of weeks, I was done. I gave up trying to take pictures every day. Maybe I will get motivated and get back on track. I doubt it.

I am going to count down the days to Valentine's Day with my little boy using the mailbox I posted earlier. I plan on putting a chocolate in it every day and maybe sneak a hot wheel car or something little in it a few of the days until the 14th. He will be so excited. He loves chocolate and cars!

Valentine's Mailbox

I decorated this little mailbox last year, so I thought I would share it since Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I saw these again at Target and almost picked some up but stopped myself. They even had silver this year. The stamps and ink I used are from CTMH.

Using My Stash

This is something that is so hard for me. I usually run out and buy whatever is new or whatever I like, but for the past year or so I have not been able to do that and don't know when I will be able to do that again. It's not like I don't have any supplies because I do, but not just the newest greatest things that I see people using to create these amazing things. I am determined to use what I have until it's gone and hopefully get my etsy shop up and going and use that money to pay off some bills and then start buying new things.