Card making time!

Helllllllloooooooooooooo!  How are you all doing?  Fab?  Super fab?  I hope so!  I have been cleaning and sorting things at my house like a mad woman.  I did not get a chance to do spring cleaning this year, so I am doing the big fall cleanup instead.  :)  I have snuck a wee bit of time in to work on cards though.  I am having a few friends over for a card making party in a few weeks, and I am determined that they will leave with some completed cards this year.  We like to visit and snack, and play with supplies, and will do so again this year, but darn it, we are also going to be productive.  I will show you  the cards we will be creating, but first, here is a pic of a donation made to the United Way.  They are having a silent auction at work, and I made and donated this Love Is tote and Christmas Album for our department (Please bid on it if you work for Memorial Hospital, all the money goes to The United Way) ~

OK, here are the cards ~

I just received a fun new stamp from Red Lead, and created this card with it.  I am still tinkering, since I need to make a few for a swap over at Red Lead, and I am not yet totally thrilled with the final product.  I like it, but don't LOVE it yet.  I am sure you know what I mean.  :)  I do love the darling little children in this stamp, it reminds me of my kids when they were little, adorable, and sweet ~  

A few more cards we will work on at the party ~

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The card above is a card similar to one I made for a challenge over at Citrus Tree Studio a few years ago (I still love this style card).  Definitely making one of these at the party!

I am also starting work on some fabric projects, including a few advent calendars for the grandbabies, and one for our house, and some other odds and ends.  I can't believe it is already the second week of November, time is definitely ZOOMING by.  I appreciated that extra hour today due to setting the clocks back,  wish I could have an extra one every week.  ;)  I am sure I am not alone in that thought. 

Well, I do need to do a little more sorting in my crafty area, so I better get back to it.  Hope you all have a FABULOUS and creative week.  Happy crafting ~ Pam

Lots of stuff today, including a tutorial!!!!

Helllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooo everybody!!! How the heck are you all doing? Fab? Super fab? I hope so!!! I have several things to share with you today. First, some of my Zutter projects for June. I have been trying to use up some of my older favorite products to make room for new favorite products (can't wait til CHA!!!). :)

Here is an 8 x 8 Canvas Cover Mini using some colorful Sassafrass Lass stuff as well as other things from my stash ~



a peek inside ~



Next a summer wall hanging for a little girl ~



besides my fav beaded danglies, there is even room to put a few pics on the yellow spray misted areas ~




and last but not least is an itsy bitsy mini for wallet size pics ~




an inside peek ~



There will be directions on creating this super quick and easy little mini on the Zutter Bind-It-All blog in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Speaking of tutorials or directions, I have directions for the Altered Art Challenge I am posting to the Challenge Masters site today!!! Here is our project ~



It is an altered vase! Don't you love it? Just in time for all those lovely summer flowers! Well, let's get busy creating.

First, gather a few supplies. I chose to do a bud vase, but you can do any size vase. I also selected some of my fav Fancy Pants PP scraps, ribbon, a bit of burlap, fabric, and a bit of misted CS ~



Next I cut some PP and attached it to my vase. Before I attached it, I curved it on the edge of my work table so it would stick better. Just hold the paper on both ends, and run it ove rthe edge of your table. It will curve nicely. A little tip -make sure you use a strong adhesive for this project. I used this easy to apply super high tack double stick tape~






Next I added a little strip of fabric in the center of the PP (I used the same fabric that I used to create the ribbon rose) ~



next I added a skinny strip (a little wider than one inch) of burlap ~



then I cut a small rectangle of misted CS and attached it by tieing a coordinating ribbon around the center of the vase ~



Now I am ready for the ribbon rose. I posted about making these in a previous post a few months ago, but the easy way to make them is cut or tear a strip of fabric about 1 1/2" wide by about 20" long. Just twist the fabric tightly, and begin rolling it around itself and glue it. I use a low temp glue gun so I can quickly make these. You can alter the size of the rose by twisting more tightly, or by using either a skinnier or fatter piece of fabric. Experiment until you have one you like. After the rose is complete, you will need some leaves. Just glue on end of your ribbon to a spot on your ribbon, forming a leaf shape (back of ribbon pictured). Cut your leaf off and make a second leaf.



ready to glue leaves to the back of my ribbon rose ~





next glue your ribbon rose to the front of your vase. I used my low temp glue gun to do this ~



Since I am a bead lover, I decided my vase needed some bead danglies. I chose three (I have a huge stash of these made up at all times, so I can quickly put them on my projects)~



I tied them together with floss, then tied the floss around the back of the flower, between the flower and the ribbon where you can't see it, and put a drop of glue to hold it. Here is a side view~



a view from the back ~



and another side view ~



Here are a few pics of my vase in use ~



I used a flash in this pic so you can see the mixed yellow and orange colors of the flower a bit better, it has been dark and rainy here so it was hard to get a clear natural pic ~



I hope you will join us at Challenge Masters for this Altered Art Challenge, as well as BOATLOADS of other challenges. Grab your mojo, and come create with us! If your mojo is missing, come find it at Challenge Masters!

Lastly, I wanted to share the ATCs I made for a swap I am in over at Scrapbook News and Review ~



The theme was an inchie on top. We needed to include an inchie on the ATC, so I made the little Bliss inchie. Lots and lots of embossing powder used. :) Here is a close up view of the front and the back (of course I had to incorporate some fabric in mine) ~



OK, I will have more projects to share with you next weekend. In the meantime, I hope to see you over at Zutter Zisters, Challenge Masters, Citrus Tree Studio (new challenges go up on the 10th, and the fab June Sketch contest has already started, zip over and take a peek!), or Scrapbook News and Reveiw. They are all fab places to hang out!

Helllllllllllooooooooooo!!! Are you almost ready for Christmas?

I am not really ready, but that is OK. After all, it isn't about if I am ready or not! :) We had some company for an early Christmas gathering on Friday, and ended up with a house full of sickies. The flu hit us bad over here! Alllllllllllllllll the way through till today. I have been worrying that I will get sick too and I can't get sick, I have things to finish up at work, but I can't worry about that anymore either. I did not get all the things I wanted to get done finished, but those things happen. I did manage to get two and a half trees put up last week though, and my class in Chicago area is finished, and I am done Christmas shopping, including the gifts for the giving tree at work. So I am pretty darn happy about that. Other good news for me is that next week I only have to work Monday and Tuesday, the rest of the week is FREE!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO, creativity, here I come!!! I am going to get started on a tag swap and an ATC swap I am in over at Scrapbook News and Review. If you haven't checked that place out yet, I highly encourage you to do so! It is fabulous.

I did finish up some more fun and festive tree placemats in the last two weeks, but did not get a chance to take pics. I will share the pattern I created for these placemats after Christmas, so you can work on some for next year. Alrighty? Here is a pic of one I did in September to remind you what I am talking about -


I also finished up some projects for Zutter, but can't share those quite yet. Even though I had very limited creative time in the last two weeks, I am pretty happy with the projects I did get done.

A reminder too, don't forget about the faboo crop at Citrus Tree Studio on December 31- Jan 2! It's gonna be awesome!!!


Well, I need to finish addressing my Christmas cards. I am so behind this year, yikes. Hopefully I will get them mailed before Christmas.

Have a wonderful and blessed week! Merry Christmas to you all!