Sugar Free Valentines

Valentine's Day is a fun day for kids, giving cards and treats to friends and receiving the same in return.  But who says the treats have to be filled with sugar?

This year we did glow bracelets.  I chose to make expressions like "You light up my life!" and "You make my heart glow!"  I found a similar idea on Pinterest.  To make the hearts 'pop' we used pop-up glue dots.

We turned it into family craft time, which the kids love.  It puts more meaning into the message.

I've been under the weather this weekend, so I haven't accomplished anything that I had planned other than these.  What have you been up to this weekend?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Am I the only mom in the world who has kids that don't peel their crayons?  This year I decided to melt crayons into heart shaped ice cube trays, but the most difficult part was peeling all those crayons!  I used the double boiler method with some leftover food cans.  They turned out fine, but I think I took on too much this year, with 2 kids, we had to do enough for about 25 kids.  Hopefully they will use them!  I tied them into tiny cello bags with a bow on top.  I recruited daddy to help, since it ended up being more work than I bargained for.  This might be a great project for parents whose kids enjoy peeling all of their crayons.  It takes a LOT of crayons to do this.

Here's my oldest's lunch for Valentine's, complete with heart shaped PB&J and I hulled the strawberries in a way that, when sliced, looked like hearts!  Daddy wrote the message with a food marker.

I included this card and a simple bead bracelet in her lunchbox:

Hope your Valentine's is full of love and friendship!

Quick Personalized Gift

Need a gift that is personalized and thoughtful?  Here is a great idea.  I'm sure I've done something similar before, but these little notecards were so lovely in blue and brown.  I have protected the initials of the recipient since this is a Christmas gift.

I picked up the notecards at a local store.  I used my scalloped punch with some strips of brown cardstock.  I glued them on the top of the notecard.  I then used my JustRite monogram stamper (1-5/8 round with Curlz font) to create a monogram for the recipient.  I stamped in brown ink on white cardstock.  I used my 1-3/4 inch circle punch to punch a perfect circle around it after I stamped, then used a Glue Dot to adhere.  I also used the same monogram with Versamark on the envelope flaps for a watermark look. 

Using a simple cello bag and some coordinating ribbons, I had the gift ready to go!

This is a great idea for teachers, hostesses, coworkers...  It's December 1st, have you fulfilled your Christmas gift list?

Apple Butter and Cards!

I made apple butter this weekend.  I've actually never made it before until now.  I got inspired by a fellow blogger, Danielle, who had very good instructions on her blog, The Dani Daily.  She also provided a link on how to can using the boiling water method, which I also did for the first time this weekend.  It was not hard and her recipe was delicious!  I will definitely do this again, I may never buy apple butter again.  Okay, maybe, but it gives me a new appreciation for apple butter.  And I'm now inspired to explore other possibilities, using different fruits!  These would be great gifts for friends and neighbors.

I haven't posted many cards lately, but here are three that I did recently, 2 for bridal showers and one for a friend to give to her mother for her birthday.

The first card: I used the Stampin' Up Medallion stamp with silver embossing, along with a clear stamp for the sentiment.  The cardstock and decorative paper are grey and from Stampin' Up.

Same stamps for the purple card, however I stamped in purple ink and used Crystal Effects for a raised appearance.  I used a textured purple cardstock from Stampin' Up and a designer paper from Martha Stewart's collection.  I also used my marker airbrush type tool that sprays ink for effect, and added a rhinestone brad in the center of the medallion.

On the birthday card, I used their new butterfly punch with textured cardstock and 3 adhesive backed crystals in the middle.  Two of the cards I used a punch to round the edges, just for a softened look.

Have a great week!

Make Riley's Wish Come True

I received this email today, it is in reference to a young girl who lives in our area. Her name was lifted up in prayer at our church just this past weekend. I ask that you pray for her and for her family. Even more importantly, we have an opportunity to make her wish come true, read the email below for details:

Family and Friends,
Riley Philpot is a 9 year old little girl who goes to our church and has been battling a rare form of cancer since she was 6. Her cancer has returned and is currently in the hospital. Make a Wish foundation was contacted and Riley's wish is to have the mailman dump a bag of get well cards at her door when she returns!! Please take the time to send a get well card to Riley! Thanks so much! You do not have to know this little girl to make this wish come true. If this was your child, and a simple wish like this was asked, a stamp is not much.
Here is her name and Address: Please remember her in prayer to.

Riley Philpot
206 Slaney Loop Rd.
Winterville, N.C. 28590
____________________

As the email says, it doesn't take much to drop her a note or card in the mail and a stamp is not expensive. Please consider bringing some cheer to this sweet child of God!

Have a great day!

Christmas cards and an encouragment card

Yes, you heard me right. Christmas cards. Christmas is about 3 months away, and if you're not careful, it will sneak up on you very quickly. I decided on a stamp for Christmas as soon as I saw the new Stampin' Up catalog this year, I fell in love with the Medallion stamp. My cards, this year, need to be simple. I have my hands full with 2 young kids and a career.

I am working on these cards in phases. I started out with the cards, then stamped the medallion on each one, then added the adhesive-backed jewels. I then found a die cut for the sentiment to be stamped on, and chose a sentiment to fit inside. Originally I chose a sentiment but couldn't find a die cut that worked with my medallion and fit the size requirement of the stamp. So I found a set of Hampton Arts clear stamps at Michaels that was perfect, and paid only $6 for the stamp set with my 40% coupon. Not a bad deal! I love the simplicity of the 'peace. love. joy.' sentiment and I think it's just perfect for the card. The die cut I used is by Sizzix and is called Christmas Tags, which is on clearance on their website right now. I trimmed off the Christmas tree.

I put 2 stamped sentiments inside, one being "Merry Christmas" from the same clear stamp set. The other one is from an old Stampin Up set.
I also shared this encouraging card with someone this week. I've got that person on my prayer list, per their request. I have always loved this sentiment, by Wordsworth, and the coordinating stamp for the inside says "MY THOUGHTS ARE WITH YOU". Love this old Stampin' Up designer series paper, and added one of their current flower accessories with a brad in the center.
Would love to hear your thoughts on homemade cards. Does anyone you know send them to you? Do you like receiving them, or could you care less? Have you made them? If yes, how much time do you put into card making? Any other comments on homemade cards are welcome!

In Remembrance...

This week our friends, Jeremy and Lindsay, lost their 4 month old son, Ayden Brooks Jones. You can read Lindsay's version of what happened, as well as get a glimpse of how wonderful, happy and adorable Ayden was while he was here in this world.

Our church had a celebration of life on Thursday. Lauren did an amazing job of photographing it, and you can see some of those images here. It was awesome to see the football players that Jeremy coached last year, as well as his new team this year. Standing room only with about 550 people in our church, love poured out for the family. A wonderful slideshow was on powerpoint during the service. It was certainly an emotional time for everyone. Jeremy and Lindsay did the eulogy, which was so amazing. It was difficult, but they did it.
I tried several times during the week to work on a card, but in the emotion of it, had too hard of a time. In the end, I was able to come up with this card. I know that they will find peace from the Lord, with time. I'm sure they will always have a special place in their heart for Ayden. And they will one day be with Ayden again, when they too go to see Jesus. It will be such a happy reunion, and I praise God for that!

Here is the inside of the card. Please pray for the Jones family, they have a long journey of healing ahead of them.

Take time to hug your family a few extra times this week.

One card base can become many styles...

I'm sharing a few examples of cards I worked on this week while recovering from knee surgery. I used simple bases with scrapbook papers I had on hand, and then made multiple styles of cards from them. It's so easy to do, I only had one stamp set by the bed, that was the Warmest Regards sentiment stamps. In the first examples, I used the exact same card stock color for both cards and made 2 very different cards, starting with simple torn paper. One is more masculine, where I added some simple hardware, a couple of extra layers of paper, and a sympathy sentiment. The other, quite feminine, has an accordion style flower (instructions available in the resources section at Splitcoaststampers) and a thank you sentiment.
This is a close-up of the accordion style flower.

I also made 3 cards using the same style base, but varied the color of the cardstock for the card base, and then varied the front decor. See examples below.

On one I added a simple brown felt flower to a scallop circle and a blue brad that matched the light blue cardstock. On the second one, I added a striped paper, white cardstock for the sentiment, and some antique copper brads, the base in a darker blue.

On the last example, I added a Thank You oval with a scallop oval behind, and created a scallop circle flower using a circle punch, scallop circle punch, and oval punch(leaves). I did the card base in Blush Blossom, and I curled out the petals of the flower for depth.

I will be so glad when I can work on some more complex projects again, but for now my knee must rest. Hope you enjoy the creations!

Thank You gift (monogram note cards) and a Birthday Card

So a few weeks ago our youngest ended up in the hospital OR getting her tongue stitched up. It is a long story, but what happened in the background is what really needs sharing. I called a dear friend, Nicole, and asked her to pick up our other daughter from school. Not only did she do that, she fed her dinner, bathed her, let her experience her first sleepover (with her daughter), took her to the pool the next morning, and bought her lunch before bringing her home. She went above and beyond what we needed, in order for us, and the baby, to recover from the incident.

I needed to do something to thank her. So I decided that even though it's not sufficient for all she did, I would make her some monogrammed note cards. I am hoping that she'll be able to use them either for school or personal use. I used some retired Stampin' Up designer series papers, cardstock in So Saffron, ink in Mellow Moss for the monogram (used my JustRite Monogram stamp in Curlz), as well as some Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock for some accenting. I also monogrammed the flap on the Very Vanilla envelopes that will accompany the note cards. I held on to this project (probably) a little too long, but knew that I'd be having knee surgery and laid up in bed wanting to do stuff. So this was the perfect time for me to spend working on it. I hope she enjoys them!
This week also marks a milestone birthday for my friend Gil (pronounced Jill) who is a coworker of mine. She's an awesome team member, and I made this card for her last week in preparation of being out of the office. I hate that I will not be there to see her on her 40th, but will still be there in spirit!!! Happy Birthday Gil!
I made her this card, which is 5.5x8.5 folded (1 sheet cardstock folded in half). I used some great scrap paper and stamped the flowers from Inspired by Nature in red chalk ink. I added a tag that I distressed with Close to Cocoa ink and stamped the sentiment from It's About Time and the word Celebrate from Wonderful Words in Chocolate Chip. I added brown grosgrain ribbon and a tiny clip. Inside a simple Happy Birthday sentiment from Warmist Regards (stamps for this project all by Stampin' Up!). My favorite part of this card, which you can see best on the close-up shot, is the sewing. I ran the striped paper through the sewing machine, sewing it right onto the Real Red cardstock, purposely doing the jagged lines, and going around the card twice. I curled up the edges just slightly, as well. Hope Gil likes her card and has a fabulous 40th!

Baby Shower Card...

There was a baby shower at work for some coworkers. I was asked to create a card, and of course, I did! I needed to make something fast, so I pulled out my Sizzix die cuts and created this baby boy with argyle overalls, by using some cute Designer Series papers from Stampin' Up! A coordinating paper was used as the blankie underneath, simply cut an angle to fit the card. The blue cardstock is Buckaroo Blue from Stampin' Up. On the fly, I came up with the idea to use a button, upside down, as a pacifier! See the close up to see how cute it looks as one:I used my "baby blessings" sentiment (by Wordsworth) in Chocolate Chip ink on Blush Blossom cardstock (same color used for baby skin), distressed the edges of that as well as the layer of kraft cardstock. This turned out really cute, and was very fast to make.

Welcome to my NEW blog!

I'm so excited to start this new blog, where I'll share so many more ideas besides my papercrafts and jewelry. I have really enjoyed my last blog, Bright Bold and Beautiful, which I am leaving up but will not post new creations to. I found myself wanting to post about other things, too, there are so many other facets of the home that I'm passionate about. I'm planning to include recipes, gardening, and so much more! But to start you off, I will share some recent card creations.
Tomorrow is a baby shower for a coworker, who is expecting a girl soon! Babies are such a blessing, aren't they? There will be a gift card inside for the new parents. I made the card in the ever popular pink and brown, as they decorated the nursery in those colors.

I also will be giving a gift on Friday to my older daughter's teacher Rachael, who has been an amazing teacher this past school year. Even though our daughter has just left her class, we plan to continue contact with her in the near future- she teaches piano, and thanks to my grandparents, we're now in need of a piano teacher!
I ordered her a great paisley bag from a local canvas bag company. It will be monogrammed in turquoise. I made her these monogrammed notecards that I will put in the bag, and they happen to match! I want you to know that these monogrammed cards are SO easy, truly anyone could do it. I used my JustRite stamper, some different paper punches (scallop circle, circle, scallop oval, oval, and 2 sizes of square), some inks to match. The secret here that makes these SO easy, is that the note cards and envelopes came from Target! I purchased them with the intent to "add a little something" and make them unique! On the teal cards I added a couple of brads to the oval, just kicked it up one notch:
Below is the card I made to write out to her. I pulled out a bunch of random buttons from my antique button jar (estate sale). Aged the edges of the rust colored card with some chocolate brown ink, this really is a simple card, and the sentiment is from an old retired Stampin' Up stamp set.
Thanks for stopping by my new blog, I hope you will come back for more! Click on the link on the side of this blog to follow my blog with your blog reader!