Resurfacing!

Wow - I can't believe it's been OVER A YEAR since I posted anything here!
I suppose that's mostly because I haven't worked on a lot of stuff, so there hasn't been much to post. Seems my creative bug took a major backseat. It rears it's little head every now and then, but doesn't seem to stay around for long.

I REALLY want to be crafting more. And I really want to be blogging more. I'm going to try...we'll see how it goes.

My dear sweet cousin got married in May and she asked if I could make some stationary sets for her bridesmaids. So I did...and I had fun making them. I did sets of monogrammed cards, beaded pens and magnets. This was my first try at the magnets. They didn't turn out perfect, but I liked them enough that I'll try them again and see if I can do even better.

Here is one of the sets I made:

Her wedding colors were ivory and peridot green, with pink as an accent. I could not figure out a way to work the pink in that made me happy, so I just didn't include it.

I created the monograms in Word and printed them out. I really like the way they turned out.
they each got a set of 8 cards and a matching beaded pen.

I had these great little acrylic boxes they fit perfectly in. Here's a view from the side:

And of course, I couldn't give these to her without having created a set for the bride as well! I had run out of the green paper, so I went more neutral with hers and used brown.

And then I made the magnets using the glass pebbles. Each girl received 4 magnets - 2 with their first initial, and 2 with patterned paper.

I used small round tins to put the magnets in, decorated with the same paper. But I forgot to take a picture of them.

Soo...now that I've posted, I will do my best not to let another year go by before I post something else! LOL!

Wedding Gifts

I was so upset, I wasn't able to make it to Amber (Chip's cousin)and Matt's wedding. I imagine it was absolutely beautiful, and I wanted to be there so much! But my back has been out for over a week now, and even though the chiropractic adjustments are helping, I'm still in a good bit of pain. Since Chip had to work, I would have had to make the drive myself, and it was over an hour away. I just didn't feel I could do it and then have Ruthi hanging off me and keep a smile on my face. I just wouldn't have been able to enjoy myself and would have probably been in even more pain on the way home. I hate that I had to miss it, but I did have to do what was best for me. (Wow - that sounded kinda selfish - but you know what I mean!)

Anyway, I made their wedding gift, and didn't want to wait till who knows when to give it to them, so the cousin who lives down the road from me took it for me. (Thank you Cathy!!)

With limited funds for a gift, I decided to make something. Sure, I could have spent the little bit that it cost me to buy the frame and supplies (which wasn't much, because I had most of it on hand) and bought something from their registry, but it would have been such a small 'something', that it actually made me feel cheap! Of course there was Chip's argument that people register for things they want/need and probably look forward to getting those things. I know this is true (I loved getting things from my wedding and baby registries), but I also know how much I cherish the things that were hand made or personalized, and things that were unexpected. So, I am hoping that they will like and appreciate what I made. So here it is:

I made a name frame that they can put at their front door (or anywhere they like for that matter.)


I had checked out their registry, and from what I could tell, they had a lot of neutral colored things picked out. That is why I decided to go with the browns/neutrals. It doesn't show up well in the photo, but the little heart above the name has "The" written in it.
I didn't have any stamps large enough to stamp the letters, so I printed the letters onto cardstock from MSWord and cut them out with a craft knife to make a template, in which I chalked in the color. The little square underneath says "est. 2007" using rub-on letters from TLC. The metal charms I had on hand, and everything else came from Michael's.
I wish I had taken the photo without the glass so there wouldn't be a glare, but I didn't, so oh well! This is the first name frame I've made, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. I plan to make one for myself now! I really do hope they like it.

**(Edited to add: You can click to see the picture larger. When I did this, I noticed that the little rhinestones in the heart appear to be colored. They are not - that is just the way the light is reflecting off them. And goodness, you can see my hands and my computer screen in the glass - LOL!)

I also made a set of 10 monogrammed note cards. I was going to make them Thank You cards, but decided against that so they can be used for other reasons as well. I used the same papers/colors as I did for the wedding card, pulling from the colors of their wedding. I know that she was going to have lavender, and I'm not sure if this is the shade, but since it doesn't have to match the wedding, I figured it didn't matter that much.



The 'N' and the little flourish in the corner are embossed with silver Super Fine Detail embossing powder by Ranger. (I love this stuff!) And though I didn't take a picture, I dressed the envelopes up just a little by stamping the same flourish on the front in the bottom left corner, and stamped an "N" on the back flap. I made a band from the black cardstock and layered a thinner band in the purple on top of that, and wrapped it around the set. Then I tied it with the same ribbon. And of course, I didn't get a picture of that either! But I hope they like these as well.

I think I've already set my all-time high for making cards this month, as I've already made over 40, and I still need to make a few more! Phew! Maybe in June I'll get to sleep again! (Yes, late at night is when I work best and get most of this stuff done - with no interruptions!)

The Wedding Cake

I'm finally getting around to posting the picture of the wedding cake I made for my friend Penny. She got married the day before Easter. I wasn't feeling well, with all the allergy crud, but I pulled it off and was pretty happy with it. The florist made the floral arrangement for the top - I don't do flowers! All I had to do was set them on top.