Sweet Birthday Wishes

I really like pink - can you tell? LOL! I hope the young recipient of this card likes pink too.

This it the first time I've used the lollipop stamp from the Very Punny set. I added stickles to make it shine. And I put them on pretty thick, to get a slightly raised look. However, when it dried, it warped the paper and the matting, pulling it from the card a little. Guess next time, I should let that dry before I mat and attach it. Oh well, live and learn!

Other than that, I think it's kind of cute!

Simple Birthdays

I'm still tying to get my creative juices flowing full force, but I'm majorly stuck in simple mode. I guess that's better than not doing anything at all!

And when it comes to teenage boys, I imagine simple is really best. No ribbons or flowers or anything like that. That's what these two cards are for.

Two brothers with birthdays a day apart. Cousins in our family. I think keeping these cards super simple is the right choice for them.

So that's what I did.

(I also realized after taking the photos that some of my corners were lifted slightly - I'm fixing that, but not taking the pictures again.)




I used misc. papers (from my scrap stash! trying to use some of that up!) and Studio G stamps.

Thanks, Coach

CJ played for Upward Basketball at our church again this year. Tonight is the awards ceremony. (We play our season early so the school can have the gym during actual basketball season.)

I've been trying to come up with something to make as a thank you gift. I made this today. (Did I mention the ceremony is tonight? Nothing like waiting until the last minute!)

I was having trouble because I wanted something fitting for a male coach. And then today, when I was looking at the team picture I realized I needed to make it for the coach and his wife! I have NO IDEA why I had not even considered that before - duh!

Anyway, I still didn't want any thing froo-froo, so this is what I came up with.


I scanned the team photo and reduced it to fit on the post-it-note holder. (Yes, they were a VERY small team - we didn't have many middle-schoolers playing this year.)

For the pen, I was going to just do the one where you slide the paper down into the barrel of the pen - I but I didn't have any of the right pens on hand. And since the gift was now for both of them, I decided the beaded pen would work just fine.

I have a bunch of these little tins left over from Christmas last year and haven't done anything with them. This one will be filled with candy - probably Hersey's Miniatures - which I will be picking up on the way to the ceremony tonight!

And the card - super quick and easy. I really didn't want white lettering, but had limited options since I couldn't find any lighter coordinating cardstock that would match. I guess it turned out ok though.

Anyway, I hope they like it!

Princess Ruthi

I'm trying to decorate my daughter's room on a limited budget. I want it to be cute but without spending a ton of money.

She has a princess theme in her room and I've been trying to come up with some cute things to do in there.

I picked up these cute wood letters as WalMart a while back. They were less than $2 each.

I painted the edges pink and then picked 5 different patterned papers to add to the fronts.

I adhered the papers with mod podge. When the top layer was still wet, I sprinkled on some glitter for a little extra sparkle.

I tied on some ribbons and added a few embellishments. I decided to keep them pretty simple.

I added the ribbon for hanging. I put them on her wall using pushpins and added the bows and the princess piece to the tops of the pins.

I think it turned out pretty cute, and really dresses up her wall.


Here's another view - you can see the sparkle of the glitter a little better in this one.


The only thing I'm not completely happy with is the way the ribbon hangs on the 'I'. It's a more narrow letter, so I don't really know what else to do with it!

By the way - Ruthi LOVES it!!

Quick Birthday

I have no idea why I've been so uninspired lately. I'm constantly looking so many beautiful cards and creations online, so you'd think I'd be very inspired. But it seems to be working against me. When I sit down to do something, the creativity just isn't flowing. I hope I come out of this soon!

But, even uninspired, I have cards I need to send. And I already messed and missed a couple birthdays! So I'm trying to get back on track and at the very least, make and send the cards I need to.

That's why this card came about. I realized I needed a super quick card so it could get in the mail immediately, and this is what I came up with. Definitely nothing fancy, but I didn't want it too fancy anyway, since it was for an uncle.



Monday I will be posting something else I made for Ruthi. See you then!

A Little Something Different

OK, so up till now, most of the things I have created have been paper-related for the most part.

But I decided to try something new.

I wanted to make a blanket for my daughter.

I don't sew.

Well, not much anyway. I will occasionally sew a button or stitch something up that has come unstitched. But I don't really enjoy it.

Once upon a time I could use a sewing machine and do a pretty good job. I made a really pretty skirt and a petticoat to go under it. That was ages ago. But I did learn how to use a machine.

A couple years ago, I purchased (for almost nothing) an almost new sewing machine from a friend of mine who was having a yard sale.

It has been sitting in the closet since then.

I did get it out a couple months ago and tried to use it to do some sewing on some cards and layouts. But I couldn't get the darn thing to work right.

And the other day my neighbor (who sews a lot) looked at it and fiddled with it, and thought it was working ok. But alas, it's not.

So how does one make a blanket without sewing? Well, I'm sure you've seen these, but when I found this tutorial on Barb's blog, I just knew I had to try it!

I goofed up just a bit. I decided I wanted mine rectangle instead of square like Barb's. So I figured out my measurements. I did great on the length, but with the width, well...I figured out who wide I wanted it but forgot to include the measurement for the fringe. So I cut it to narrow.

That's why I wanted my machine to work. I was just going to stitch the long sides and have fringe only on the ends. But I couldn't get it to work properly.

So I just made the fringe on the sides a little shorter than on the ends.

It is more narrow than I really wanted, but in the end it all worked out fine. It fits Ruthi and her bed perfectly. So I'm happy.

When I saw this Pink Georgia Tech Fleece, I could NOT pass it up. Ruthi always cheers for the Jackets when her daddy is watching football. (Even if they are not playing) And she makes a really cute cheerleader!

Here's the blanket:


And if you will notice, there is a little pillow there too. I used a little princess pillow that Ruthi has had since birth, but was falling apart. I just cut the fleece to the right size and put the old pillow in between and tied around the sides. I didn't have a piece of the GT fleece leftover that was large enough to fit and be centered, so I used the solid pink (which is also on the back side of the blanket). Then I hand stitched that GT square on. (See, I am at least capable of sewing!) It didn't go on perfectly straight, but I will not let my OCD get he best of me!

Oh, and since I goofed an my strips were shorter on the sides, I couldn't loop them - I had to the pieces together into knots. But I'm happy with it.

And here's a picture of my little darling with her new blanket.


I'm pretty sure she likes it. She says, "Mommy, it's so pretty and sosht." (soft) Makes me smile!

New Diggs

So....watcha think about the new look? I was so bored with the old look and it has been long overdue a change. I've been thinking about it for a while but wasn't sure what I wanted to do. My fabulous new header was created by Trista at Pumkin Patch Creations.

I still may tweak a few things here or there, but for the most part I like it! I love pink and brown, so this will work until I'm lovin' another combination!

And I'll be back with a couple projects I've been working on. I haven't been as creative lately as I'd like to be, but I'm getting back into the swing of things. I know I've been saying that for a while, but hopefully this time it will stick!