An Update

Hello, Everyone!

I trust you had an awesome Christmas.  I sure did!  We worked way too much, but we did have a wonderful time with our family and friends…and that is what is most important about the holidays!  I am hoping the New Year brings lots more time with them, and I hope you all have a wonderful New Year as well.  I wish you all health and happiness!

I know I haven't been around in Blog Land much lately, and I am truly sorry.  But, I thought I would take a moment and let you know what I have been up to.  First off, I have been in a bit of a crafty funk. I have lost some mojo.  I think that work stress has taken a toll, and I have had to take a breather from crafting.  I have done some things, and here is a brief summary of my activities.

 Jackie and I went to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in November, and had a blast!  We both worked on our December Daily albums, as we did every crop time they offered.

I also spent some time working on my Christmas Cards.  I found this polar bear card at the Silhouette website, and it turned out sooooo cute!

 My Mom and I went to a sewing expo the very next weekend and did this pumpkin make and take.  We loved them so much that I bought a kit and made some more, and created the centerpiece below for my Thanksgiving table.

I think it turned out super pretty.  I put large candles on upside down taper candle holders, and added mini pinecones to the pumpkins.  

 Speaking of December Daily, this is mine for the year.  I found a book tutorial on YouTube by papercrafter45.  You can find her video on the finished book here, and there are tutorials on how to make it.  She calls it the Index Card December Daily.

 I altered the pattern a bit, and made my book bigger, 8"x11".

 I love her idea of using index cards, but I also wanted to be able to add more to the daily pages if I wanted to.

 The pages flip out, and has a waterfall set of pages on each one.  The back page is meant for the 25th of December.

But, as I said before, I lost my mojo, and have been really stressed out about work.  I made the full book, but when I realized that it was December 20th and I haven't done one single thing to the book, I decided that I wasn't going to do a December Daily this year.  I immediately felt a sense of relief…Imagine that, I was stressed out about a craft project too!  I did take lots of pictures, but this year, they might just end up in a nice little keepsake box instead.

 I crocheted some play food, with patterns that I found for free on the net!

 I have a Pinterest board of knitting and crocheting patterns, and you can go there by clicking this link and then if you are interested you can see the patterns and print them and use them yourselves!  If you want to just see the patterns…the sandwich is here, and the eggs and bacon are here.

The beetroot is here, the broccoli is here.  I made bunch more, but you can find those patterns on my Pinterest board, besides, I didn't get pictures like a dummy!

 My BFF, Jackie, shared this pin with me, and I thought it would look lovely on her, so I made her one.  It turned out beautiful, and I was right, it looks gorgeous on her.  The pattern is here.

Last, but not least…our 20 year old dryer finally went to the great appliance store in the sky, so we decided to get a brand new set.  We got these, and I love them!  They aren't really what we wanted to spend our money on right before Christmas, but we needed them and they are purty!!!

As far as my planner stuff is concerned…I love the size of the happy planner, and the papers and stickers are divine!  But, I am still not a fan of the vertical layout.  I have tried all sorts of different options, and I have gone back to my tried and true layout that I had been using in the past with my ARC planner.  I have decided not to share my monthly/weekly pages for 2016.  However, if I come up with cool new inserts or ways to organize things, I will definitely share with you those ideas and templates.

So, that's what I have been up to.   I am hoping my mojo comes back full force and I will start designing projects again.  I think my brain just needed a break.  Maybe in the new year, I will get reenergized.

Stay crafty my friends, and have a safe and wonderful New Year!

Purple Pumpkin

I got an idea from looking at a free flyer from Jo Ann's.  I got a paper mache pumpkin and painted it metallic purple.  I chose purple because I am going to put it in my spooky dining room that is done in black and purple for Halloween.  I had some sequins and rhinestones by Recollections that I used to decorate the pumpkin.  

I adhered ribbons in purple and silver to the top, and then cut out leaves in black shimmery paper and added them to the top by the stem.  I think it turned out super cool.

Stay scary, my friends!

A Halloween Banner Project

A friend of mine asked me to make her four banners for a get-together she is having.  She supplied the idea and the paper, and I put my Silhouette to work.  I had the banner shape and the font purchased already.  I added a tab to the top of the banner so she could attach them to string to hang them.

I like the font, it is hard to see but there are spiders and spiderwebs in the letters.  I think that it turned out pretty cool.

Stay scary, my friends!

Spooky Candlesticks

I wanted to make a display for my coffee table.  I found some wooden candlesticks and painted them black.  Then I made some paper bobeche type pieces for the candles.  I found a spider web for my Silhouette, cut it out, made a hole in the center, then after placing the candles in it I folded them down a bit so they wouldn't be sticking straight out.  It looks perfect on my spider web table runner!

Stay scary, my friends!

An Award Box Turned into a Witch Box and Book for Halloween

 I received a pin from work to mark my 25th year of service there.  The pin is really pretty, and the box had a lot of potential.  So I saved it because you never know when you might need a big box that held a little tie tack pin.  The front of the box was open, like a picture frame, and the inside had a hollowed out  portion.  This season, I finally had the idea to finish the box.

 I used  papers from my stash by My Mind's Eye, called "Wicked Merchant".  I also used stickers and die cuts by Echo Park, "Chillingsworth Manor", and My Mind's Eye, "Lost and Found Halloween".  I put the beautiful Witch on the front, and used the image also for the title of the scrapbook that I put inside.

 The scrapbook is made from a sketchbook that I had in my stash by Bee Paper Company.  I had to cut the sides down to make it fit the box inside.  The band for the closure is by 7 Gypsies.

 I did simple pages, since I didn't have a lot of room to bulk out the album.  I made some simple pockets and put simple black mats in them.

 I also thought that the empty space on the pages could be good for some journaling about the photos.

 I made this page as a flap page.

 I used this sticker as a pocket for a photo mat.

 This page is very interactive...

 I created three flaps for this layout.

 I made this a flap and pocket page.

 I created vertical pocket pages here and…

 …made tags to join them.

There it is.  Thanks for looking.

Stay scary, my friends!

A "Box" Pumpkin with a Tutorial

I have been seeing all sorts of posts using wooden blocks to make pumpkins, and I decided that I had some boxes that I was going to use to make one.  I am just experimenting, and thought that it would be a fun little project.  Heres what I did...

 I had these boxes that I get from work.  They are awesome and I have been using them for all sorts of projects.

 I used masking tape to tape all of the edges and seems and boxes together.

 I used this collection of papers, and picked out 5 different orange papers.  Then I went to covering all sides of the boxes, essentially making one big box.

 I had a wooden spool (used for the stem of the pumpkin) that I inked with distress ink by Tim Holtz, and then tied ribbons to it.  Taa daa!  I made cool little quick pumpkin decoration.

It's cute and fun, and kept me out of trouble for a couple hours while I was making it.  If I had different sizes of boxes, I would make some more.  I think they would be cute in a bundle together.

Stay spooky, my friends!

A "Family" Portrait for Halloween

I found the link to the free printable on Pinterest.  You can find it here.  There are two other pictures as well as this one.  I painted a wooden frame I had in my stash and added the picture.  It looks fabulous with my assortment of Halloween goodies!

Stay spooky, my friends!

Bottles for my Halloween Bar!

I found the idea on painting the inside of bottles on Pinterest.  Who doesn't love Pinterest?  That site has many many many great ideas!

I had these bottles in my cupboard, doing nothing, so I painted the insides of them black, and added labels by K and Company and Carta Bella.  These will be added to my collection of other items on my Halloween bar that I am setting up in my dining room.  When all of my decorating is done, I will take pictures and show you my haunted house!

Stay spooky, my friends!

Halloween Apothecary Cabinet

 I made an apothecary cabinet for my Halloween Decorations this year.  I used a tray from Recollections, and lined it with paper by Moxie.  I inked all of the edges of the papers with distress ink by Tim Holtz.

 I used a glitter pen to highlight the spider web design in the paper, and another black glitter pen for the spiders on the paper.  I had some dimensional stickers by K and Company and Jolee's that I added in various spots in the trays.  The bottles are by 7 Gypsies, and I used labels by 7 Gypsies to label them.  I added them to the trays as well.

It's hard to see, but I also cut out some bottles from paper that was leftover, and used foam tape to make them stand out, and adhered them to various spots on the trays.

It turned out very cute, I think.  What do you think???

Stay spooky, my friends!

It's Halloween Time!!!

OMG!!!! My favorite time of year is near and I am getting ready for it early!  I found out that my daughter and her family will be visiting and I have to get ready.  I can't wait, all of my kids and grandkids will be here in the same house for Halloween!!!  I'm so excited, can you tell?

 So speaking of time…I bought this pattern a couple of years ago, and never made it.  This year is the year.  I decided to tackle this project and I am glad I did!!!

 My dining room (now that I have one) is going to be all decked out, and this little beauty will be sitting in the corner of it.  I love how it turned out!!

 The top portion is the clock box and it really does work.  I LOVE THIS!!!  I think, yes, I really think that I need to make another one for Christmas…yes, I do.

 The mid section houses the pendulum.

 The bottom portion is the tombstone box, which houses a mini album.  The pattern for the mini album comes with the clock tutorial.  I made a closure with some grunge board and magnets.  I embossed them with silver and used Stickles to put in the "nail" holes.

Here is a picture of inside the box.  I decorated the clock with a few spiders, mice and a skeleton. I went into my stash and found the flowers.  As a matter of fact, I was able to raid my stash and I was able to make this only having to buy the clock to finish it.

Here is a list of the products I used:

Papers:  Recollections and Paper Accents
Bling, Mice, Spiders, skeleton:  Unknown
Sticker Die Cut:  Recollections
Knob:  7 Gypsies
Flowers:  Petaloo, Recollections
Stickles:  Ranger

Stay spooky my friends!!