Happy 4th of July!

I could not get to my 4th of July decorations yesterday, there was too much other stuff all around it and I chose not to dig out the container!
However, I needed a banner for the fireplace!  Couldn't be without one!
So I grabbed the patriotic cocktail napkins from a few years ago, some modge podge (nearly used a whole bottle of this stuff in the last couple of days!) a small hole punch, red and white bakers twine, the  Stampin' Up Perfect Pennants Bigz L die cute, cardstock and adhesive and off I went.
Came up with this adorable banner!  It was very easy to do! (I did modge podge the napkin to cardstock and let that dry before I ran it through the die cut machine.)

Happy 4th of July!
Have fun and be safe!
Tina
(please contact me if you would like to make your own banners, or favors, I can show you how!)

4th of July Craft Fever!

 I got quite a late start on my 4th of July craft fever.  Note to self: start on Halloween projects soon!
It all started with these cool patriotic napkins that I had leftover from a project a few years ago.
I also had several small terra cotta pots leftover from a previous project.  Add some modge podge and you have the cutest little planters.  You also need floral foam, wood skewers, Stampin' Up real red and night of navy cardsock, brights designer buttons and red and white bakers twine to finish these off.  They will look very nice on the 4th of July BBQ table!

The next project starts with 1 recycled wine bottle.  A small circle has been cut out in back for a small string of clear lights.  I modge podged the same napkins onto the wine bottle.  Wrapped a little red and white bakers twine around the neck. Made a flower with the Stampin' Up 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, real red, night of navy and whisper white card stock.  Held the 3 scallops circles together with an antique brad.  Now there is a cool little patriotic nightlight to put in the backyard on the 4th!

Lastly we have a soup can turned vase with real red, night of navy cardstock and white ribbon. For a little interest I used the stripes embossing folder on the night of navy paper and the perfect polka dot embossing folder on the real red paper.  I also used the scallop trim border punch on both edges of the real red cardsock.  Glued a piece of floral foam in the can, used a wood skewer to attach a 4" pinwheel to.  Lastly, added a red button with red and white bakers twine and finished this last project.

I hope you have a Fabulous Fourth!

Be inspired to create!

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information on these projects .

Tina

Votive embellishing for the party!

Hello!  Been a while since I have blogged. Life has been pretty busy for me lately!
I have lots of projects to work on, but with the kids baseball, softball and graduations, not much time for me to create!  However I do see some free time in the horizon!!

My daughter Valerie graduated from CSU Monterey Bay last month, and my niece Shelby graduated from high school last Friday.  (I am so proud of these young women!)
Our family is having a big party for them this Saturday. 
I have put together some citronella votives for the party.
Stampin' Up's new catalog just came out June 1st and this cool Elegant Butterfly punch is one of the new items.  So I punched some pretty butterflies out and added a little rhinestone that has been colored with a sharpie and put them on the votive cups with a glue dot!
And there you have it a snazzy little candle holder!!!

I can't wait to start making more projects with all the new stamps and tools on my wish list!

Be back soon!  Enjoy your weekend and stay cool!  It is supposed to be over 100 degrees here on Saturday YUCK!!!!

Happy 51st Anniversary Mom & Dad

1 year ago March 4th, we celebrated my parents 50th Anniversary on a wonderful cruise with 60 guests!!! It truly was a wonderful vacation and a fabulous celebration!
Sunday they celebrated their 51st, way to go Mom and Dad!!!!

This is the card that I made them using a couple of my favorite Stampin' Up tools.
I love the simple elegance of the vintage wallpaper embossing folder.
I am also loving the heat embossing with embossing powder. I used to be afraid of this technique for some reason, but I have finally gotten over it! This picture does not do justice to the beauty of heat embossing! I look forward to making many more cards using these tools!

Have a wonderful week!
Be inspired!!!

Super Easy Favors!!!

I really like it when I find a new use for a crafting tool I already have!!!
Thanks to Patty http://www.pattystamps.typepad.com/pattys_stamping_spot/2012/02/scallop-square-box-instructions.html for showing me another use for my square scallop die.

I had been looking for favor ideas for an upcoming baby shower, and luncheon. These are so easy, that I probably will make a 2nd favor for each event! Aren't these adorable? I am really loving the baby shower box! Can't wait to make all the other craft goodies for that baby shower!
The butterfly box will be the theme for my mother in laws upcoming luncheon.
I love making favors !!! (I also used embossing folders - the pin dot for the baby, and vintage wallpaper for the butterfly)

Have a great week!!!!

A lot of Valentine Craftiness going on

Been busy creating lots of little inexpensive Valentine's to sell and share.
Here is my table set up and ready to go. Looks nice and bright!

All of the items are made using tools from Stampin' Up and a few items from Joannes.

These are the lollipop envelopes. julialuvs2stamp.blogspot.com had us make these at her workshop. The lollipops came from the .99 cent store. I did not have the envelope die cut, so Julia was kind enough to cut those for me! Add a cute little stamp, heart and red and white bakers twine (on of my new favorite items from Stampin' up) and there you have a very cute little Valentine gift!

Here we have some recycled lovelies. I have collected jars from family and friends to copy a cute little shabby chic candle idea I found at pinterest.com. The doilies came from the baking section at Joannes. The jars that had nice lids ended up with candy in them. The open jars have either red shreds or cinnamon candies and a battery operated tea light in them. I really like these! And again, wrapped it all up with that darling red and white bakers twine from Stampin' Up.

I also made several sour cream containers filled with conversation hearts!!! These are so easy all you need is paper, two sided tape and whatever embellishments you like! I cut 4' X 6" pieces of scrapbook to put these easy treats together!

There are also hearts made with the petal cone die from Stampin' Up and small and regular sized Valentines Day Cards. Wish me luck!

Have a great weekend!

Tina

Little Heart Boxes

Hard to believe that we are well into the New Year and Valentines Day will be here in a couple of weeks! Really, where does the time go?????????????

Here is one of the Valentines projects I have been working on. These cute little boxes are filled with Hershey Kisses and Hugs. Perfect for gift giving!

The little boxes came from Beau-Coup a great site for wedding favors! With some paper from Joannes and some tools from Stampin' Up, this was a quick and easy little project. The Stampin' Up heart punch and heart embossing template are my favorite tools right now!

Hope you had a great week!

Tina

I have Halloween fever!!!

Yes it's true! I haven't even completed the wedding favors yet, but I have Halloween on my mind.

This is my first Halloween project of 2011. It is an easy one.

Start with a frame from the $ store, add striped cotton ribbon, buttons, scrapbook paper, adhesive, glue gun, and the pennant punch from Stampin' Up.

You end up with this cute little decoration to put on a table or desk.

I think the possibilities are endless with the pennant punch, so come back soon for more ideas.

I hope you are having a great week!

I'll be back soon.

An elegant egg!

This picture just does not do justice to this beautiful elegant egg basket! Went to Lynn Hampton's monthly Stampin' Up club last night and made this beauty! This is gold paper with gold embossing powder. We added the egg tag with a couple of gem brads to finish off our elegant egg basket. I have been afraid of embossing with a heat tool, but found that it wasn't so difficult after all. All of the supplies were from Stampin' Up of course. We used an egg stamp, the lovely swirl stamp, heat gun, gold paper, double sided adhesive, gem brads and gold embossing powder. I think I have officially overcome my fear of embossing with a heat gun and look forward to using the technique to make wedding invitations. Have a wonderful weekend! Be back soon!

A Crafty Sisters Jelly Bean Topiary

Spotted this lovely jelly bean topiary over at Crafty Sisters Blog and had to try to make my own!

For this project I needed 1- 3" craft ball, floral foam, a wooden dowel, floral tape, 1 12" piece of ribbon, 1 small clay pot, off white paint, pink paint, 1 bag of jelly beans, hot glue gun and lots of hot glue!! The most time consuming part of the project was gluing the jelly beans. (got everything except the jelly beans at Joannes, purchased the jelly beans for $1.00 a bag at Super Wal-Mart)

It was worth the time! I have supplies to make 5 more! Can't wait!!!

A big thank you to the Crafty Sisters for all of the great projects they share! They have a great variety of projects and an Etsy shop! Head on over to their blog, you will not be disappointed!

Springy Pastel Mini Milk Cartons

Here are the finished milk cartons (batch #1). Didn't have any Easter stamps, but had some pretty flowery scrapbook paper and the butterfly stamp and punch from Stampin' Up. The die cut for the milk carton is from Stampin' Up as well. The die cut machine used is the Sizzix Big Kick from Michael's, purchased today with a 40% off coupon. Score!!! These little milk cartons are absolutely adorable! Looking forward to making many more of these little cuties. I am loving these spring colors!!! Really perk me up after all the rain we have had the last 2 weeks!!!!

Pancake Batter = Funnel Cakes who knew!!!!

My daughter loves to watch The Cake Boss. She recently saw an episode where he said that funnel cakes were pretty much pancake batter fried!!! I never knew!!! She wanted to give it a try and made some for dessert last night. She has a pic of the finished product on her cell, but I didn't get a pic!!! She made regular pancake batter per directions on the box and added a dash of cinnamon. She heated up the oil and then put the batter in a sandwich bag and cut off a small tip of the bag. Then she made squiggly messy lines of pancake batter in the hot oil and behold she had funnel cakes!!! We topped with powdered sugar and strawberries. The only thing we were missing was the whipped cream! Darn! Next time! I am sure that there will be many next times because everyone enjoyed them and they were easy to make!!! I will take pic's the next time! I had such a nice visit with my daughter! We did some shopping together and made dinner and dessert together. (We made a baked mac and cheese from scratch that was a big hit as well-- I will post the recipe and pic's next time I make it) Today I started working on these tiny milk cartons. Still looking for ideas for the embellishing. Do you have any ideas? I am going to make these in pairs. Come back soon for the finished product! Hope you had a great weekend! Be back soon!

Friendship boxes and some catching up to do

Well my bloggie friends if I have any left :) 2011 is off to a bang for me. Very busy, lots of things going on good and bad.

I will only speak of the good This lovely couple is my parents on their wedding day March 4Th 1961. In just 7 days, 53 family and friends will be heading out on a 4 day cruise to celebrate this momentous occasion. I am down to the last few details this week before we set sail! Can't wait!!! Aren't they the cutest couple? Although the cruise is not a surprise, we have some special things planned during their renewal celebration that will be a surprise!!! We have this photo in

8 X 10 size within a large matte that can be signed by all their guests. They will love that!!! We also have a DVD presentation with lots of photos and several really cute and some hysterically funny Jib Jab's that John prepared!!! It is going to be a hoot!!!! Happy 50Th Anniversary Mom & Dad-- your love is inspiring!

We are also moving to a larger home this week. Good and bad again. The good is that it is a much bigger home, with a big kitchen with an island, and a big bathtub in the master bath!!! Yippee for me!!!! We start moving Thursday and the cruise is Monday! YIKES!!! I have most of the kitchen packed so I know we can do it!

I have a non profit group lunch on Wednesday. We haven't had a meeting in months and I fear that members are losing interest. So,,,, I offered a "surprise" for all members who attend. This small pizza box is the "surprise". Found the nice "Friend" paper at Joannes and I had the tiny friend stamp and tiny tag punch previously purchased from Stampin' up. The photo doesn't do these justice. (The box is filled with mints).

A little Love! I'm back, anyone out there??

Hi there and Happy New Year! If you are reading this, thanks for coming back. I am so sorry for not sharing over Christmas. I figured it is too late to show you pics of what I made for Christmas, but I did craft A LOT! I even had an order of 30 favors for a Christmas dinner!! Woohoo! That is huge for a little ole' crafter like myself :)

Now on to love! My parents are celebrating their 50th anniversary on March 4Th.
They will celebrating aboard the Paradise Carnival Cruise ship with 53 friends and family!
These are the party favors. Sorry the picture isn't clear enough to show the embossing on the white paper, then a thinner strip of paper with the word "love" all over it! Topped off with a black ribbon and a hanging tag that reads: Stan & Emily- 50Th Anniversary-March 4Th 2011.
These were then wrapped up in a clear cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon. I am really happy with them!
Now I need to make a matching guest autograph book, so all the guests can write them a little note to remember and treasure this very special occasion! Thanks Julia for telling me about these cute little critters at Target in the $1.00 bin!
I am showing you 2 ways you can complete them.
1. The pink bear is holding a Hershey bar wrapped in 6" X 5 1/2" piece of scrapbooking paper, tied with a ribbon. A hanging heart tag is added. Then finish it off by putting it inside a clear cellophane bag and tying it up with a ribbon! And there you have an adorable inexpensive and cute Valentines day gift! Cellophane bags are available at most craft stores and dress up anything!
The giraffe is holding a small handmade box filled with candy. He too will end up all dressed up in a cellophane bag!

Happy Thanksgiving Mints and neatness!

Happy Saturday Morning!!! I am grateful to have a few minutes this morning to post. Please forgive the photography, switched computers and can't figure out how to edit my photos yet.
I am also grateful to have had some time over the last couple of days to make a lot of these sour cream containers filled with Wintergreen Lifesavers that will be at each place setting at my parents house and Johns sister's house on Thanksgiving. I made so many that I can give them to my co workers on Wednesday too! I love making these because they are sooooo EASY!!!!!!
I used 4" X 6" pieces of scrapbooking paper for these. Cutting from a 12" X 12" sheet of paper leaves no scraps!!! YEA!!!!!!!!
I get a little over zealous when I make things to give away. So I already dropped a batch off at my moms. This is an embellished box for Johns sister filled with the little mint containers.

I just had to add this because it looked so neat and clean!!!! I wish I would have taken a before picture, what a mess!!!!! Last night I cleaned out the cupboards in my laundry room and made room for all the junk that was sitting on the dryer. Lots of junk!!!!!

I had seen the idea of a lamp in the laundry room at other sites in the past. We had an extra lamp we didn't know what to do with and voila' found a spot for it!!!! I found the laundry sign at the Lodi Street Faire last year. Nice touch!!! Grabbed a table runner I had on hand and now I have a nice clean little laundry room!!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend and A Very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Remember to count your blessings and be generous with the hugs!!!

Thanksgiving 2 weeks away? Get out of town!

Seriously, Thanksgiving is really only 2 weeks away? I can hardly believe it! Although I am still in disbelief I am going to go with it and get ready for it!

Luckily my Stampin' Up club met last Thursday night and we created a couple of beautiful cards and a mint container to put on the Thanksgiving plates.
These of course are all supplies from Stampin' Up. I love this stamp set that includes the tiny little acorn, the lovely fall leaves and the Gratitude stamp and the cool flower on the left.We also made this little sour cream container that holds a couple big Wintergreen Lifesavers. I am going to make these for our plates on Thanksgiving (more to come on that) I swear to you that these are so easy you don't even need pictures! These little guys take 1 piece of scrapbooking paper 4 1/4" X 2 3/4". For a quick tutorial go here.
I also plan on making a little plate of these cuties again this year to put out for pre-dinner snacks. I found this cute idea at Jen's Lipstick and Laundry blog last fall. Another very super easy thing to make.
You need mini vanilla wafers, Hershey Kisses and chocolate frosting. Unwrap the kiss dab a little frosting on it and stick it to the bottom of the vanilla wafer. You then dab a bit of frosting on the tip of your knife and dab on the cookie to look like a stem! Cute project to get the kids involved with too!!!!

The crisp air, the raindrops, thoughts of getting together with family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some of the reasons I am so in love with Fall!!!!!

Hope you too are getting ready for the upcoming Holiday Season!

Hope you are having a great week too!

Happy Veterans Day!

The last Halloween craft post of 2010 I SWEAR!!!!!

I really thought I was done with Halloween crafts last week. Then I remembered that Julia had given me several of these clear tube/bags for M&M's. We had made these at craft day at my house a couple of months ago. With Halloween stamps, and 2 sizes of scalloped punches and and adhesive these are packaged up and ready for our Annual Pan Aurora Halloween Bake Sale at work on Thursday. This bake sale is our biggest of the year. So I do hope these will grab some interest.
When the M&M's were done, I thought that was it. But then Saturday night I thought I would try the sour cream containers that Dawn had told me about. She said they were super easy!! Oh yes, they were the easiest craft I think I have ever made. The tutorial for this easy one is over at Splitcoaststampers. I am not kidding when I tell you they were the easiest. I made a bowl full of them for the bake sale. And now I think I am officially done with Halloween crafts.
Have a wonderful week! Talk to you soon!

A SPOOKY GIVEAWAY!!!

Here it is, my little homemade Halloween 2010 giveaway! Just a sampling of the things I have made recently. A spooky theme going on here, with a candy jar filled with pumpkin taffy, a BOO banner with lots of details and a 5 X 5 spooky card perfect for framing!!!!
Here is how you can win:
1. Leave a comment and don't forget to leave your email address
2. Link my giveaway on your blog for a 2nd entry, be sure to let me know.
3. If you don't blog and don't want to leave a comment, send me an email at lemondrop45@sbcglobal.net
Deadline to enter is 12 noon on Weds 10/20, winner will be announced at 8pm on Weds 10/20
Good Luck!!!!!

More Halloween stuff, hang in there....

OK all, these are the last 3 projects I am making for Halloween this year.
First we have these cute little milk cartons, with little tiny clips. Julia was kind enough to lend me the Stampin' Up die cut for this project. I guess I better return it now. :)
I used plain orange heavy cardstock purchased from Joannes. The little pumpkin stamp came from a cool circle stamp set John found at Marshalls. The ribbon used was purchased in the $1 bins at Target last year. These will be filled with candy. I saw this project last night at Crafty Sisters blog. I wasn't going to start any new projects but I had to add this one!!! Way too cute!!! John found a candy corn template online. I printed out a large and small template. I used the small template for this banner. I love it!!! I think I will add some black ribbon to make it pop. Thanks for this one Crafty Sisters!

Lastly, just a different take on my BOO banner. I have made this one with squares but went round on this one. Making sure to add the cute little witch hat and boots on the bottom.

I am actually going to try to sell some of these items.

Be sure to come back next week, with all this Halloween stuff I have been making, guess what
I will be giving away to one lucky reader??? :)

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Be back soon!

Time to put my toys away and get to my chores :)

Yes, it is time to clear off my kitchen table and clean up my mess :(
I am sitting here blogging and drinking a cup of tea to get myself ready for HOUSEWORK! YEA!! Someone has to do it right? Wish it was a housekeeper, but for today it is me.

I have made these little boxes every season. I never get tired of them because they are so easy! With different paper and embellishments for each holiday or occasion they look new every time!

I got the instructions for this box last year at Splitcoaststampers tutorials. This is called a pizza box and their dimensions are a little larger than I use. I use a 5 1/2" X 8" piece of card stock. Scored at 1", 3 1/2", 4 1/2" and 7" on the long side, and 1" and 4 1/2" in the short side. I will try the larger size this week and post side by side so you can see the difference. These boxes are so easy to put together. I used mostly Stampin' Up; supplies here except for the green and orange paper. Stampin' Up has the best Halloween stamps! If you want to see them for yourself click on over to Julia's blog.

Have a great weekend!