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!

Rock a bye Baby

While I was blog-hopping this morning, I came across a cute sketch and thought I'd give it a try, since I'm so far behind in my scrapbooking these days!

I saw the sketch on this blog along with her too-cute layout. The sketch actually comes from here, by Q-diggity at Scrapbook.com.

This is a picture I've wanted to scrap for a while, knowing the poem I wanted to use with it. Since this sketch was perfect for using one photo, I decided to use this one. I'm not 100% happy with the way my lettering for my title came out, but it'll do. I made this in an 8x8 size.

The poem reads:
Cleaning and scrubbing
can wait 'til tomorrow
For babies grow up
we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs
Dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby
and babies don't keep.

I used miscellaneous papers, the flower is Creative Elements (Wal-Mart) and the font for the poem is "A Little Pot" (Downloaded from internet.) My title was done by cutting letters from an old stencil I have.

It's Fall Y'all!

Finally! The weather yesterday and today has been fabulous! Quite nippy in the mornings, and nice and cool all day. I've had our windows open and enjoying the fresh air. It's actually been cool enough that the first part of these two days, I've been wearing a sweatshirt! I love it! It's really making me want to go camping!

Anyway, it's gotten me in the mood to make something with the fall theme. And now that I've "gotten my hands dirty" again, hopefully some creativity will come back to me!

First up, I made these candy corn jars just for fun. I'll end up giving them to someone, just not sure who yet. Super simple, and self explanatory I think. The stamp was from the $1 bin at Michaels, and I just inked part of it. The papers and ribbon were some I've had around for a while, but most likely came from M's as well.


And with some of the same paper, I made these cards. This is the first time I've done 3x3 cards, and I really like this size! They will perfectly accompany the jars above. Again - the stamps I used were in the $1 bin!



That's all for now. I hope to have some time this weekend to work on some more things - if I'm not outside all weekend enjoying the cooler weather!!

Struggling....

...to get my creative, um...'mojo' back! I'm not sure why. I didn't have any creativeness in me while I was sick, but was sure it would come rushing back once I was feeling better.

But is has not.

I posted a card last week - and it was a super quick and easy one. This was another super quick and easy one - nothing to get excited over for sure. But I don't have anything else to post at the moment.

I was really hoping that yesterday I would get something done. I wanted to, but it just never happened. So hopefully I'll come up with something today. I'm really behind on cards, and I need to get it in gear! Plus I really need to start working on Christmas gifts! Not to mention, my business has pretty much been put on hold. I was really making progress before I got sick - but those 4 weeks really took a lot out of me. Now, I really WANT to get back on track, but the want in my head hasn't transferred to my hands yet.

I don't like this struggling feeling, and hopefully it will pass quickly!

Anyway, here's the other super-quick card, and hopefully I'll have something better soon!

I think I'm back!

First of all, thanks to all of you who sent well wishes/prayers, either here or my other blog. It really means a lot!

I am feeling much better. I had my MRI done yesterday, and will have the results next week. I really don't expect them to find anything, though it would really be nice to know what caused all this miserable pain in my head!

I had 2-3 really good days, and it felt so good to feel a little normal again! Yesterday, my head started hurting again, and still hurts today. But my shoulders/upper back are hurting too, so I'll go and get an adjustment in the morning, and hopefully that will take care of this headache.

Anyway, I really needed to send out a couple cards this week, so I had to make some quick ones.

We have a cousin who had an anniversary, so I made a really quick card for that. I had received this cute little Mr. & Mrs. Chick stamp by Stampendous from Michele in some blog candy I won from her. I really wanted a reason to use it and thought it would work just fine on an anniversary card.

It's such a cute image. I colored in the hat, flower and beaks with sharpies. I added crystal stickles to the veil for some shimmer. And the shimmer in the ribbon worked well with it. Nothing fancy, but I thought it came out pretty cute.

Well, I need to get the little one in bed, and take care of a few things around here before I turn in. So I'll be back to post another one sometime this weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend!

I'm Still Here!

I can't believe I haven't been able to post in almost a month! But I've been sick for that long, and it hasn't been fun. If you want to know what's been going on with me, you can read here and here. I haven't made anything all month because I just haven't felt well. But I'm stating to feel better, and hopefully be back to creating in no time!

I feel like between not creating stuff and not blogging, that a big part of my life is missing - and I want it back! And my energy - I need it back! This has not been a fun month! It HAS to get better soon!

Hoping I'll be back to "normal" soon!!!!!!

A Quick Card

I received a Pocket full of Posies Matstack by DCWV a while back in some blog candy I won. I have flipped through it over and over again, admiring the papers. But for some reason, I was having a difficult time putting them together to use.

I needed a quick birthday card and was determined to use some of that paper! And I succeeded...at using it anyway. I think I like how this turned out. Maybe not my favorite card, but I'm ok with it. I hope the recipient likes it!



I had the metal flower and the jeweled brad in my stash - not sure who makes them. I swiped the ribbon off of a gift I received. Stamp is Studio G.

A Simple Birthday

This is a pretty simple birthday card. It's not quite as long as the ones I usually make like this that fit in a business envelope. The envelope this went in was a little shorter, so I made it the same length.


I used my scallop scissors for the strip in the middle - it's not perfect - I obviously need some more practice with those, or a better tool! Then I used my Signo gel pen to add the dots. The papers are Rob & Bob. The stamps are Studio G. Not sure about the ribbon - it was a piece in my stash.

I have GOT to get some more circle punches! I only have one - that's the one I used to cut out the inner circle. I then mounted that on the darker cardstock and had to hand trim around it. It's definitely not perfect, and it aggravates me! So I really need to add circle punches to the top of my list to make this quicker, easier and to get a perfect circle!!

Best Fishes

I'm slowly gaining some time to work on stuff again. The website is very close - it would be done, but I really needed to take a break from it to catch up on some other things around here! I'm hoping it will be ready by this time next week. Still working out some details!

I needed a card to send to one of the young cousins in the family and decided to use the fish from SU!'s Very Punny set. I really like this little guy - he looks like a happy fish.


I used my Cuttlebug for the background and added stickles to some of the circles for a little sparkle. It's hard to tell, but I also added them to the fish bubbles. Simple card, I hope Jackson likes it!

I have a couple more cards I need to make today, so I'll be posting them in the next day or two. And hopefully I'll be back to creating on a more regular basis soon!!

I Really Will Be Back Soon!

I know I haven't posted here much lately - but I have a good reason. I am diligently working on my website for my business. It is taking a LOT of time, because I'm very slow at this sort of thing. I'm no expert web designer or anywhere close, so it is slow going. I am making progress and it will be ready to launch soon. However, I've not had much time to create anything with paper. But I'll be back to that shortly and posting.
I did get one 8x8 LO done last week for a sketch challenge at Paper Petal Memories. Seeing how for now, I'm hosting the challenges, I figured I'd better produce a LO too! It is very simple, but one more done!!!


This little pink bear was my daughter's favorite - until we lost it. So just a quick little LO remembering the delight that bear brought her!

Misc. papers, Creative Elements flower, Spare Parts letters and Misc. letter beads.
The sketch I used was from April '07 by Becky Fleck

Birthday Soup

There were a few stamp sets I've been wanting from SU! but that are now retired. I've been able to pick a couple up from ebay - which is making me very happy. I'm desperately hoping to win the auction for "Right at Home" today.

Anyway, I got Alphabet soup a week or so ago, and this is my first card using it.

I used the Birthday embossing folder for the background. It's kind of hard to tell, but the darker cardstock is brown. The ribbon came from Wal*Mart. Simple card, but I like the way it came out.

My First Origami Shirt

For some reason, I tend to struggle with making masculine cards. My FIL's birthday is Sunday, and of course, need to make him a card. I sat down and started thinking about it. Then I remembered the flood of cards at SCS that I had seen around Father's Day of the origami shirt cards. I went to look at a few for inspiration and find the instructions. Success! And I think this turned out pretty cute. (Cute and masculine go together, right?)


I used some older pattern paper I had on hand - I think it's by Provo Craft. I started to use brads as the buttons, but decided to see if I had any real buttons small enough to work first. I really would have liked to have 4 buttons so I could have put one right under the collar, but I only had 3 to work with. Oh well, I suppose 3 are fine. The stamp is from one of the clear Studio G $1 stamp sets.

Anyway, I think he'll like it.