Bye Bye Val!

My daughter Valerie is leaving the nest this Sunday. It is with mixed emotions that I send my first child (now 20 years old) off to Monterey to attend college. I am sure it is time for her fly, but it is bittersweet. To send her off we are having a little get together this Friday night. I made her this banner in colors to match her bedroom (brown and pink). I am hoping she will hang this in her new room and be reminded of my love for her. OK, gotta go now, getting misty.

Bags, bags and more bags!

I love vintage images!!! I thought this little one was very cute! I am on a bag making roll here! I think I will finish making a ton of these! Then move on to the next Halloween project! So stayed tuned, so much more to come!

Halloween Craft #2 - and it's only August! Yea!

Since I already had my Halloween stuff out , I figured out something else I can craft! I can use the same little bags I use for the bag/basket craft (#2 white bags at papermart.com) for these! I cut about an inch or so off the top of the bag. Used the Stampin' Up Top Note die cut for the header, punched one hole through the bag and header and tied with black ribbon. I used a stamp for the Trick or Treat and scrapbooking paper. I have a lot of white # 2 bags, so I will be making up a bunch of these! This idea can be modified for Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, Baby Showers and so on and so on!

The A/C is on but I am getting Fall Fever!

It is hot here today and I am sitting here with the A/C on, but I have Fall on the brain. I came upon Lilybeans Paperie and got the Fall bug! She has some really nice things made up and I must try to make them! I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head, but for today I have just this one little project to share with you.

This cute little bag/basket is made with the Top Note die cut from Stampin' Up. I used black and orange scrapbook paper for the die cut. Found the stamp at Joanne's for $1.00 and had the little spider from last year. The scrapbook paper die cuts are adhered to a small white bag that I have cut down to fit. Tied it up with black ribbon and dangled the little spider from it. WHEN the Halloween candy comes out I just put some in the bag and that wraps it up! Pretty basic. More to come!

I love scrapbooking paper!

I really do love scrapbooking paper! I really love it when it goes on sale for 5 sheets for .95 cents at Joanne's! Was there last night to pick up some fall and Halloween paper for some upcoming crafts.
This is what is so great about having a supply of different designed scrapbooking paper in your house. I am getting ready to head out to my sons football game this morning and look over at my "Disneyland" coin jar. (there really are coins saved, I just dumped them out for the photo for some odd reason??). Anyway, I think this jar looks really plain. I grab a couple pieces of scrap paper left over from other projects, my paper cutter, two way tape and ribbon and now have this cute little coin saver! It only took a few minutes and I won't be late for football! I love scrapbook paper! And I am really excited about my Fall and Halloween projects which I am hoping to get to very soon!!!! Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Photo Albums, Tags and Bags

This is what got me going on my crafting today. My friend Terry gave me this little gate because she didn't know what to do with it. I didn't either at first. Initially I started clipping photos to it. Today I noticed the tags hanging around my desk and thought, hmmmmm, maybe they will look better on this little vintage looking gate. Yes, they do look perfect there!

What do you do with a funky photo album from the dollar store? You take out your scrapbook paper and some embellishments and re-do them to look like this. Simple yet crafty! These make great gifts, especially if you have photos to put in them. I am giving these to my family filled with photos from our vacation. I hope they like them!!!

I can make these in any design. They would make nice gifts for a bridal party, filled with photos of the wedding shower or bachelorette party?? (just an idea), or great thank you gifts or for just about any other occasion. I am still coming up with more uses, Halloween themed with pictures from the Halloween party and on and on...I am loving these simple yet elegant gift bag ensembles. Gift tag, bag and tissue! You are ready to go! A nice way to package up the photo albums shown above. :) I can match to any theme and color on these as well. I will be making up a bunch of these for a possible Fall craft sale. They will sell for $3.00 a set. Pretty reasonable don't ya think?

I didn't make the matching bag for this "Bliss" tag, but I like it! I need to buy LOTS of embellishments and more ribbon. Bliss Bag Ensembles coming soon!

Decorating on a Nickel :)

I almost titled this "I dub myself the Queen of Decorating on a Dime", but decided I am too humble for that and I am sure that there are far more crafty out there than I. As my daughter is moving to Monterey in two weeks to go to college I have become a junkin' junkie!! However, my junkin' finds don't stop with my daughter I have some re-makes of my own going on. Oops a little out of order again, but here we go. These lovely black and gold curtains were found a couple of months ago at a church rummage sale and cost next to nothing. I wasn't sure where they were going to go, but I figured that out today. As you will see in the next photos I took my solid black panels that I purchased at Lowe's last year for 9 or 10 dollars each and put them in my bedroom. I put these lovely black and gold panels in my kitchen. Adds just a little pop! My bedroom scheme is changing to black and white due to a different headboard. John is moving also, so we swapped out our beds as his king was too big for his new room. As you can see the black panels from the kitchen worked nicely in my bedroom. I also had these white panels that I had previously removed from my children's rooms when we moved into this house. I washed them and put them away thinking I could use them someday. Today was that day! The tassels were saved from the previous curtains I had in my bedroom. I am loving the black and white.

This is the inspiration for my bedroom re-do. I made these last year. I took some washed out looking frames and prints and painted the frames black and used scrapbook paper for the print. I love these. They were previously in my hallway, but look much better behind my headboard!

I have such vision for this little wood box! I got it at a garage sale for $2.00. It is to become my daughters coffee table. I will post the after pictures. This is my plan: Sand it and paint it black (I love black!) and then I am going paint the top 1/2 white and 1/2 black and do some stenciling. I saw a great idea on Etsy and am going to try to reproduce it! Can't wait to get it done and show it to you!