Big Girl Bath Wrap

My 3 year old niece wanted a bath wrap like her big sister. I saw some cute ones, but not her size. I tried to find a pattern for little girls, but found zip. So, I made my own. I measured her, and drew out my design. I used minky fabric, it feels marvelous!
 
I found the coolest tutorial to make the ribbon rose by +Nicci Russell ! It sewed on easily and washes great.

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Framed!

 

I am trying to be more productive with the Club Scrap ALBC Challenge and help reach the goal of $500 for Operation Write Home. Each link (entry)counts toward one entry for the weekly prize drawings, and a ten cent donation. I have completed exactly three cards *cough*.  Well, I’m slow! They’re pretty though! My latest creation was made with scraps. I used to be an FFC Crafter for Club Scrap and I have soooooooooo much paper. I bought a mix of pre-folded cards while I was a Crafter to teach a cardmaking class, or for make and takes. I can’t seem to make a dent in it! I picked a tri-folded card and cut frames/windows with Nestabilites. Then, I embossed with the Cuttlebug for some texture and a border punch for a little vintage look. I found a gold leafing pen and outlined the framed openings with it for bling and…. voila!

Only took me an hour.

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The Luck of the Irish!

I love St. Patrick's Day, even though I don't think we're Irish. I remember when I was little we celebrated St. Patrick's Day at school. Everybody wore green and if you didn't, you'd get pinched. We made shamrocks out of construction paper and hung them in the classroom. At lunch we had green jello. Later in the afternoon the room moms gave us a party and we got shamrock shaped cookies, green kool-aid, and little plastic mesh bags with little gold foil wrapped chocolate coins. Oh, and Lucky Charms was the new cereal promoted during Saturday morning cartoons. I didn't really like it, but I liked the commercial! See what an impression that made on me?  I love Irish blessings,  my favorite movie of all time is The Quiet Man, and green is one of my favorite colors. So, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I made a card that reminds me of 2nd grade at Hynes Elementary School and all the recess minutes we spent looking for that four leaf clover in the school yard...

The cardstock is from the Club Scrap Haberdashery kit from 2008. The fleur-de-lis unmounted stamp image is also from that kit. The large fleur-de-lis stamp is one of my favorites!

 

The unmounted stamp sentiment is from the Club Scrap Henna kit from 2008.

 

I cut the shamrock with the Cricut and The Paperdoll Dress-Up cartridge, and I cut the frame in the card with a Cuttlebug frame template.

 

I am going to make a few more cards for the ALBC week 6 challenge, "frames" with all these extras! I have had that template for years, and never used it…~sigh~.

I thought I'd share my lightbox set up. I made it a couple of years ago to photograph my blog post projects. It's kind of fun to see what goes on in the background sometimes!

I made a light filter with a white tea towel and a flashlight. I broke the reading light I had all rigged up when I moved the box, so I had to improvise! It kinda made a vertical stripe shadow in my pictures, but they'll do.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite Irish blessings:

May all who know you love you.

And if they do not love you, may God turn their hearts.

And if he does not turn their hearts may he turn their ankles, so you will know them by their limping!

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Art Journal…the Beginning.

iclassygirl.com/ +Tiare Smith  hosted an Art Journal Pajama Party Wednesday night on Spreecast. It was my first time to watch a live broadcast class. Really fun! I ended up watching while I made dinner, jumping in to comment in the chatroom in between cooking breaks. Art journaling intrigues me, partly because I am not good at it.  I don’t know what my problem is! Art journaling scares me! I like things more uniform and maybe the free-spiritedness (I don’t know if that’s a word, but I kind of like it!) of it freaks me out? Years ago, artist Judi Russell +judi.russ@earthlink.net wrote a post about art journaling on watercolorpainting.com.  I bought a sketch book, journaled about 10 pages,  put it away and it got lost in the recesses of my craft room. I decided to dig for it after I RSVP’d to Tiare’s PJ party. I got out my art supplies (sadly some of them I have never opened) and tentatively jumped in.  I decided to use Judi’s art journaling technique for awhile. It’s simple, I can take my supplies anywhere, and it gets me thinking. The sketch in the background is mine from 6 years ago…

I don’t want to share the whole journal page I made last night, but I will share the bit that I like…the stamp image.

The stamp is a Club Scrap woodmounted stamp from the Expressions kit from 2010. It was so random, happiness, dreams…The theme of my journaling page ended up being “Fishing”. That was the image I saw in my doodling. Fishing in a sea of happiness and dreams. That’s cool, and it was right there in my subconscious! I used perfect pearls instead of ink. You can’t really see the image unless you handle the book.  Jeez, that’s a hidden meaning from my “unconscious mind”! It’s been a long time since I have gotten those Perfect pearls out. I missed them!

I am not going to stress myself and say, “I have to art journal every day.” Because then, I just won’t do it. But I will say that I can art journal whenever I feel like it. Hey! That is starting to sound like “free-spiritedness”!

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National Nap at Work Day!

OK, I didn’t nap at work. I did watch craft videos and blog surf though. My Iphone comes in handy like that. I was surfing youtube and found this +Jennifer McGuire  tutorial:

It has been awhile since I have crafted with paper and I had the urge after watching the video. After work I marched straight into my craft room, with my scrubs still on, because I WILL fall asleep if I change clothes and get comfy. I also went in there with the intention that I would start an art journal per +Tiare Smith  and +Hetty Sanders  and their Journal52 blog entries. I follow both of them on Bloglovin’ and loved their latest posts about their art journals, which I was also surfing at work today. But, I was distracted when I started playing with the Distress Inks on watercolor paper because Jennifer’s tutorial was so much fun. I ended up making two cards…
This one was supposed to be a Distress Ink Bleed like the video. It didn’t exactly turn out like that, but I like it. I added the background noise stamp so that I could enter it in the Club Scrap NBUS Noise Stamp Challenge for March.

Then I figured, while I was at it, I would make an entry for the ALBC (Assembly Line Boot Camp ) Week 5 Challenge. This week was projects using stencils/masks. This is what evolved:
 
The stencil is from the Gimme a Ring Club Scrap kit. I inked it with embossing ink and embossed with copper embossing powder. I embossed the sentiment image as well. All card stock and stamps are from +Club Scrap .

Sigh…I ate leftovers, DID NOT finish the laundry, and made a mess in my craft room that I didn’t pick up either. Hey, I had to work today and it is the first work day after Spring Forward. Give me a break!  Now, time for a NAP, I am off to bed…

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Sunday Lunch

 

When I was a kid, we always sat at the table together to eat dinner. Especially on Sundays. It was a time for everybody to catch up. Dinner conversation was how we communicated. We were all so busy with afterschool activities, school, social calendars…Mom usually made dinner and my sister and I were in charge of clean up. The younger kids had to clear the table, sweep, take out the garbage, etc. Everybody had a job and most of the time we worked together. We still have the same routine now that we are all grown! Funny how some things don’t change.

Shame on me that we rarely eat together in my own little family. Oh, we did when my kids were little, but now that everybody is older it gets harder to get everybody on the same schedule. However, whenever we are all home on Sundays we do. I really should get my wedding china out for these occasions because there it sits in my china cabinet, only used for holidays.

I cooked today. That is a rare occasion too! My husband is the king of the kitchen. He cooks because he loves it, I cook because I am hungry. You can probably taste the difference. BUT, I can cook pretty well when I want to (and I’m not hungry and grouchy). Today I made “Coonass Steaks and Gravy”. I took pictures to keep up with my photo a day challenge too! I EVEN made a digital scrapbook page…

Club Scrap Digital Kits: Bandanarama, Military Salute for the staple embellishment.

Techniques: CS ALSB layout Surefire Strategy (10 Hearts card) from the Idea Deck Vol II, custom drop shadows.

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Old sheets, clothes pins, and lots of imagination!

Yesterday was beautiful!  My nieces came to spend the weekend with my parents and I went to visit for breakfast. I even opened the sunroof for the drive around town! The girls wanted to make a fort in the front yard. Mom got out some old sheets, clothes pins, and my sister and dad hung them up in the magnolia tree. We had as much fun as they did!

The three photo layout is from +Tiare Smith  (From Desk to Done post) at iclassygirl.com http://www.iclassygirl.com/a-little-ins ... -25-day-4/ .

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Happy Mardi Gras Ya'll!!!

Well, winter has made another unexpected appearance! The weekend was so nice, temps in the 70's...yesterday in the 30's, icy mix last night and today in the 20's! Weird! The view out of my operatory window is so dreary. On a positive note, today is Mardi Gras!  

Easter in 40 days, come on springtime! 

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The “Wendy” Challenge

I am participating in three challenges at Club Scrap.  Instead of making a card for each one, I challenged myself to incorporate the challenge details in one card. Whew!

The first challenge was the March 2014 card sketch challenge…

The second was the NBUS challenge for March 2014. The requirement was to use a “noise” background stamp, so I used the mother stamp from the 2008 Generations digi kit.
The fourth challenge is from the ALBC (Assembly Line Boot Camp) challenge on the Club Scrap blog. The challenge is to create a card, page, project or digital artwork featuring florals. Click here to check out all the fabulous artwork that has been submitted.
I have completed the Wendy Challenge!

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(can't talk with my mouth full)

King Cake...it's what's for breakfast. Bavarian cream cheese filled, nom nom nom. My sister in law brought it from Meches Bakery in Lafayette. Mardi Gras party was a success! Lots of kids, no rain, good food, good times! 

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Burlap Door Decor

 

Last football season I made burlap door “wreaths” to raise money for my son’s high school football team. Pinterest was such an inspiration! Such great talent and ideas out there. I made football shaped wreaths during football season and a couple of baseballs during baseball season.  Once I started making them and the orders started rolling in, I started to personlize them.  I kinda pooped myself out after all that and didn’t make any this year. I’m ready to make something for myself  for this baseball season! Here are some from last year…

   

Then it blossomed…

 

While I throughly enjoyed making these, I was “BURNT” by the time I finished the last order.  I raised right at $1000 for the football team.  Geaux Trojans!

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"Lazy" les Bon Temps Roulez!

 (hum drum, coffee hasn't kicked in yet voice)mardi gras at the bellino's... we host a Mardi Gras party at our house every year. We live on the parade route. I usually rent a jumper for the kids, my husband barbecues, everybody brings something… Fun times! This year I'm a little tired, and I haven't gotten motivated this week to clean my house. Today is the day! Gotta get moving! *sigh* I need the cleaning fairy to appear! 

I wanted to pressure wash my sidewalks because they looked so bad. We've had a crazy Louisiana winter. It snowed twice in two weeks! For all you northerners, that is a rare occasion in Louisiana. It's like when the Saints won the Super Bowl and hell froze over?! The kids were out of school for four days because of the ice storm. Anyway, I was trying to be good and clean a little every day so that I wouldn't be stressed on the day before the party. Hmmmm, started pressure washing on Sunday afternoon since the weather was nice. The pressure washer kicked out right before I was finished with the sidewalk in the front of the house!

Two days later my husband bought a new one and I finished up right before it got dark after work Wednesday. So, the grass is dead, garden looks drab, but with a bunch of gaudy Mardi Gras bling this house will be transformed into Mardi Gras central....enough pep talk. Gotta get another cup of cawfee to get this girl in party mode! Laissez les bon temps roulez!!!

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Barbie's Hardly Working

Last night was my little sister's 34th birthday. My parents and I took her out to dinner with her girls.

Her three-year-old left her Barbie at the restaurant. I told my sister that I would bring it with me to work today and she could come and pick it up after lunch. We had way too much fun with Barbie at work today… check out  the flipagram of Barbie Hardly Working!


FYI I'm a dental hygienist...We are usually busy...my dad is my boss and he was coaching me with the compositions...and yes, we eat candy 'round here!

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Ultimate Baseball Fan Package!

My first attempt at applique! I wanted to make something original to donate to my son's high school baseball team's silent auction. Burlap garden flags are so popular right now, but I wanted colorful. I designed my flag and made a pattern. I loved the chevron material and wanted to use it for the background. The school colors are purple and gold, hence the purple "A". I machine stitched the applique pieces on with a zigzag stitch, and on the baseball I embellished with some hand embroidery fly stitching.

I also made some spirit finger gloves and a purple and gold fleece tie blanket to make the Ultimate Fan Package! 

My husband gets upset when I spend time making things for other people. I rarely make things for myself. He was the highest bidder in the silent auction and bought my Ultimate Fan Package! Sweet man...I love it! 

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NBUS Stencil Challenge February 2014

This is one of my cards for NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) Monthly Challenge at Club Scrap. This month was the stencil challenge. The stencil used for this card was from the A Study in Red Club Scrap kit from 2008. I absolutely loved this kit! 

This digi card was made from elements in the Common Threads Club Scrap digital kit. I made the stencil using the brush tool in Photoshop Elements 12 and the stencil image in the kit. The wood texture background was an image from Digital Scrapper's blending class. I wanted my card to look like I took a picture of it on my patio! 

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