Friday, November 26, 2010

There are even more blogs giving away Silhouette packages.

Here is the complete listL:
1. How Does She?
2. Make It and Love It
3. Homemade by Jill
4. Sew Dang Cute Crafts
5. Colies Kitchen
6. Infarrantly Creative
7. We Are That Family
8. Grosgrain Fabulous
9. Thrifty Decor Chick
10. The Idea Room
11. NoBiggie
12. Shanty2Chic13. Moms Review 4 You
14. Love Stitched15. Decor Chick
16. Tatertots & Jello17. Dollar Store Crafts
18. Be Different...Act Normal
19. House of Hepworths
20. Our Best Bites
21. Kara's Party Ideas
22. A Beautiful Mess
23. TomKat Studio
24. Crazy Coupon Mommy

Go. See. Now.
And remember, if you win because I sent you there I want to come play at your house ; )

Happy Crafting,
Katie

ANOTHER SILHOUETTE GIVEAWAY

The House of Hepworths is also giving away a Silhouette package. I'm so excited.


Happy Crafting,

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

EYE SPY Gratitude

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I am so excited my family is coming to join us. I am grateful that they are bringing the food, fixing it and helping clean up too. My Dad and sister are AWESOME! My sister even wants to get my tree set up tomorrow after the meal and boy birthday (the family always gives their gifts on Thanksgiving as his birthday is within the week). How wonderful is that!

So I have been thinking about gratitude and counting my blessings this week. 
Faith, family, friends, health, and you dear visitor make my list. 

Because tomorrow is the big holiday and my Dad should be on the road soon (he and my sister drive 5 hours to be with us) I need to cut this short so I can finish the cleaning up after a kid's party this past weekend. They did well and didn't completely trash the joint but I got a bit lazy and spent the days since looking for work, playing with the boy and preparing for his science fair so I need to get to it.

The Eye Spy game went so well last week that I think I will repeat it this week.
Click to enlarge, makes Eye Spy easier!
 Can you find:
  1. 16 pence from a kid's culture project
  2. a ceramic boxer dog on the mend
  3. a reminder to be thankful
  4. glitter embossing powder 
  5. tweezers
  6. a call for deli cheese
  7. portable alphabet storage
  8. a pictureless Ikea frame
  9. a bit of black divine twine
  10. and a place card make with a tag

I'll give you the answer to number 10. The Craig above is a place card idea I was playing with could be a napkin ring too. I'm discovering my son likes things plain because when I tried to use patterned paper he protested. The other place card for my mum mom uses recycled materials and the aforementioned glitter embossing powder. I don't really like the look so much but my son LOVES it and thinks his Nana will too so we will keep it.

My family is not into paper crafts and foofy stuff like place cards so it doesn't matter what I make really. They come for the company and food and don't care what the house looks like as long as they are well fed. I love them.

I was so hoping to crack the WOYWW top 100 but that's not happening again today. Someday, maybe.

 Happy Crafting,

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

AND YET ANOTHER SILHOUETTE GIVEAWAY

Shanty 2 Chic is also giving away a Silhouette. I would so like to have one. Again, if you enter and you win because I told you to go there -- can I come play with you?

Happy Crafting,

Win a free silhouette

Not the shadow art but the machine that would take could cut those shadows multiple times out of paper or vinyl so you could make lovely gifts for the grandparents. The kind folks at Silhouette America are giving away product: specifically a Silhouette SD Digital Craft Cutting Tool with accessories.

According to their website.
The Silhouette is a digital cutting tool for personal use. It connects to your computer just like a printer, but instead of printing designs it cuts them with a small blade. With the machine connected to your computer, you'll get access to all of the fonts on your PC plus the thousands of cuttable designs found on the Silhouette Online Store. 
My favorite thing about this machine is that I can design my own stuff and have the machine cut it out AND it is now MAC COMPATIBLE!!!! yeah yeah yeah.

You can go to any of these blogs and enter, some of them multiple times:
The Idea Room
Infarrantly Creative
Tater tots and Jello
Grosgrain
We are THAT Family
Thrifty Decor Chick
Homemade by Jill

I have wanted this machine for a long time. And the price is low for Cyber Monday,  but being unemployed I am afraid to spend any extra money but I may win one. Keep your fingers crossed. And if you win one because I sent you to one of these blogs, can I come play at your house one day {wink, wink}?

Happy Crafting,

Monday, November 22, 2010

Turn a Matchbox into a Test Tube Holder

Whew. Last week was uber busy getting ready for the boy's party. Today is his actual birthday. Hard to believe it's been 8 years.

I was very happy with the treat boxes I made. They were an add on to the box created by the
Matchbox Stampin' Up! Bigz XL Die. Here are the pieces created with the die. I chose Only Orange and Tempting Turquoise (also from Stampin' Up!) as the colors because they matched the invitations. 


Below are the die pieces put together.

Below is the box I made to go around the matchbox. In the center of the cross are 
four circles that I cut Xs across so mini test tubes could be put into the final box. 
 

Below is  the larger box put together. You can see the Xs cut in the top ready for the test tubes.
I gave the boys grow capsules that you put in warm water and watch them expand into spongy sea creatures. I printed out the instructions and put them in the bottom of the boxes.


After the instructions were put in the bottom of the box a handle needed to be added to the drawer because there was only one way to get into these things and it was difficult to do that without a drawer pull. I punched a hole in the end of the box with my Crop-o-dile then used coordinating Making Memories brads with long tongs. If you want to make a drawer pull it's best if you can get your fingers around it and with a brad attached flush to the box that was difficult at best.

To add some distance between the brad head and the drawer I used buttons as spacers.
Hold them with one hand and flatten the brad back with the other.
Once it's flat tape it into place so it sticks out.
Here's the back with one of the mini test tubes in the big box.

Below is a completed box filled with treats. I wanted to use patterned papers and make them 
a bit more decorative but my son said he wanted them just as they were "just add their
(the party guest's) initial to them". I think they look a bit like file cabinets with the initial 
on them but it's what he wanted and they were a big hit.


The only things that would fit in these tiny test tubes were Nerds candies, mini M&Ms
and TicTacs (my kid prefers orange over mint). The drawer contained the expanding capsules
I mentioned before and a mini box of Nerds. My girlfriend found the Science Project books in the dollar bin at Target months ago and got them for the party. They were a huge hit we did several experiments from them after the planned experiments were done.
Below is a picture of the happy birthday boy showing off the Pop Rocks that were one of our experiments. No we didn't combine them with Coke to see if it would explode but the boys had great fun showing off the candy in their mouths.


In other news...
I'm registered to take Jessica Sprague's class Inspiration Everywhere. I've never taken an online scrapbooking class and want to see how it's done. Plus the price is right, it's FREE. Go. See.  I looked at the supply list and need to do a bit of shopping. So much for free. I have most of the items on the list but I will need to get:
  • Matte photo paper and/or presentation paper (at least 15 letter-sized or A4 sheets) - Darn, all I have is glossy. I wonder if that will work.
  • One inkjet transparency - I think I have this but it may require some digging.
  • Muslin or canvas fabric, plain, at least 1/2 yard - I think I can get some from my sister. Otherwise the fabric store is going to be seeing me.
  • String or twine, at least 2 yards - Hmm is what I have appropriate?
  • Ring-bound sketchbook (5x7, 8x10, 9x10, etc) Should have a hard cover. - Going to have to get this too.
  • Optional: Pinking shears - Note to self, get the borrowed scissors back. If this is for fabric though I am golden.

Happy Crafting,

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Opera Company of Philadelphia "Hallelujah!" Random Act of Culture



They call it a Random Act of Culture. I love that they chose this song of all the songs to sing because it was also a Random Act of Evangelization. Singing praises to God next to someone wearing devil's horns as they apply high price cosmetics. Awesome.

I imagine being in a dressing room trying on new duds and all of a sudden hearing angels sing.

____

Birthday party treat pics soon. Promise.

Happy Crafting,

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

WOYWW Eye Spy game

This is a super busy week for me. We have plans every night this week and so the sharing thing is on hold a bit even though the crafty projects go on. I just don't have the time to write them all up this week. But I love to play WOYWW (and will get you see many of your spaces during the work breaks in the coming days).
Click on photo to see it larger. Makes finding the things below a little easier.

So here it is the mess for this week, I figured I'd set up a game of Eye Spy for you. Can you find:
  • Super glue to repair a piece of jewelry
  • An experiment in progress for the Mad Scientist birthday party this weekend.
  • A beautiful bit of gold paper that I used on a thank you card for last night's dinner party (would be cheating if I showed the card right?)
  • My first Copic marker
  • The paper and stamps ready to make non-traditional Christmas cards (hint look for pink)
  • An imaging sheet with bunny ears - must find a good cleaner to get those off.
  • A bit of watercoloring that never made it to a card.
  • Great Japanese glue.
  • Cheaper than Stickles glitter glue.
If I can find time, space and energy I will get all these projects photographed and posted.

Happy Crafting,

Thursday, November 11, 2010

What's the significance of the logo?

On Tuesday's post I showed my new stamp with my logo on it and I received a comment that stopped me:
Blogger Jacki Marie said...
what about your logo? what's the significance? If you already talked about it on another post, can you link me to it?
I love your stamp.... and logo.

After reading that I realized I've never really shared my logo and the story behind it so this is for Jacki and anyone else who's interested.

The logo at first glance is a heart with 2 lines. Second glance and those lines look like an equal sign. I could get really deep and say it's about loving everyone equally - which I'm all about - but that's not what it is or what it is about.

I have been doodling and experimenting with this design my entire life and when I drew the elements together and saw what emerged I knew I had found a design I really liked. The logo is my initials, KB on turned counterclockwise.


Happy Crafting,
Katie

WOYWW, because it's still Wednesday here

Here's a peek at the whole desk. The mess that should have been posted hours ago. To most WOYWW participants it's not even Wednesday anymore but it is here so off I go.
There are papers here that I got out thinking they may work on a Christmas card. They didn't. I haven't gotten around to putting them away.
 
You can even see last week's cupcake liner experiment and if you really want a challenge you may be able to find the OO of ZOO in inked chipboard. That I was saving for the  zoo page I posted last Tuesday. Again just not right for the job.
 
The postcard with the big 8 on it is an invitation to my son's birthday party, I designed on the computer. No papers or embellishment just me and Adobe Illustrator.
 
And there on the left you see the reason I didn't get the cards done or the space cleaned up more.  I was starting to work on a hot pink Christmas card and the handle fell off my Cuttlebug. Yep. Just fell right off in my hand. Thank goodness I was able to save the pieces. But more on that later.
 
 Here is one of the cards I was working on yesterday. A couple of weeks ago I bought this cute little Winter Wishes stamp made by Unity and got a free Paper Crafts Magazine with it (wait that's supposed to be the other way around). Regardless I got them both and this is the first card I made with the stamp.  I've been busy drooling over the creations in the magazine.
 
I wanted to get the Spellbinders Shapeabilities 'Mittens' Nested Dies for my Christmas cards this year. I've wanted to make Warmest Wishes felt mitten cards for a long time. Today on Kristina Werner's blog she made an adorable card with mittens that said "Baby It's Cold Outside" which is an other great sentiment for mittens. Alas the budget doesn't allow me to purchase everything I want and these dies are a bit beyond right now. But $1? I can do $1! I found a package of felt mittens and snowflakes with the adhesive already on them for $1 at JoAnn Fabrics. They only come in these 2 colors and are a bit plain so I will be sprucing them up with glitter, ink or stitching. And they are all right handed which I have compensated for my turning one of them over. I can make 7 cards with these plus I have a snowflakes I can use too.
 
The white panel is cut using Spellbinder's Nestabilities Labels 4 and the stamp fits so perfectly in the corner. The white panel is adhered with Yasutomo Nori paste from Japan. This stuff is amazing and I plan to write more about it soon. The glitter is actually from a crystal DecoArt Craft Twinkles Writer. I haven't tried Stickles but the price for the DecoArt Craft Twinkles Writer is a lot lower and the quality suits my purposes. Wish it dried quicker though. (I feel a craft critique coming up.) The paper and ink are retired Stampin' Up!. I've decided against giving many details about retitred products, especially consumables because it'll just frustrate you.




Speaking of frustrating, back to the broken Cuttlebug. I was a bit befuddled at first. How did this happen? or was it more like WTF? Dunno but I know I was going to get this thing fixed. Today. I looked through my tool box looking for a small screwdriver to put it, wait a minute, that's not a screw head on that little piece. I'll call Provocraft and ask them what to do, or at least what I should be looking for in the tools because I'm findin' nothing.

I talked to someone immediately and she sent me to customer service.
"We are experiencing high call volume"
La, la, la, lovely music.
"If you are calling about 'xyz' then try 'abc' or check your hooziwatzit"
La la la, hey some nice smooth jazz.
"We are experiencing high call volume,"
La, la, la, Oh! a vaguely recognizable classical tune.
This went on for 40 minutes before I gave up. Thank God for speaker phones and the ability to do other things while on hold. I know things are busy some times but 40 minutes?

I took the handle and the small parts in a baggie to Menard's hardware store, walked around lost for a bit (it's a huge store) until a woman asked if I needed help. I showed her the parts and she said you need a hex key. Turns out I needed a #2 metric hex key. So if your Cuttlebug handle falls off in your hand and you can't find the tool that puts it back on go to a hardware store and ask for a #2 metric hex key. I bought a whole set for under $2. It's fixed but my craft time was shot for the day.

It's quite late now and I need sleep so I will close. Happy belated WOYWW y'all.

Happy Crafting,
Katie

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

New Home Decor & My Favorite Rubber

Hello and welcome to my new followers I'm so thrilled to know who I am writing to. 

So much going on here. I have a lot of projects in the works or newly finished that there is not enough room to set up a decent photo session. I have to clean the work table to set it up and well if you've seen my What's On Your Work desk Wednesday posts you know that the mess is growing. So I will show you some older projects and share one little bit of newness.

Today's shared projects are both home decor items. No cards or scrapbook pages today. The first was made for one of my besties (that sounds so weird coming from a 45 y.o. woman). She saw a little sign I made for my kitchen out of some mat board scraps and asked me to make her one too.
"What do you want it to say?" I asked.
"Carpe Diem" she replied and I put it in my head and let it stew as I do with a lot of projects. 

When I saw these chipboard teapots at Micheal's I knew this was the canvas for this project. I used some retired SU paper that you can't really see for all the Distress ink on it. I used 2 pieces of chipboard. I decorated them both then glued them together with the wire and bead steam coming out of the spout and the hanging ribbon securely glued between the chip boards.
One side says Carpe Diem Seize the Day
the other says Carpe Tea(cup) mmmmm Ease the Day
If I had spelled it out it would have said "team" and that's just wrong. Which team would she be seizing or easing? hmmm




The next project was a result of "what the heck am I going to do with this Grungeboard skull?". I was playing with paint and pearlex on the scull and glue and Pearlex on the crown. I decided I should put them together on a canvas board. I used craft acrylic paints for the background. I never thought it would end up the way it did, but I like it. That happens to me often, I start out with a thought for a project and the project ends up taking over and it becomes better than what I had originally intended.

I used a Tim Holtz compass mask and Distress inks in the upper left corner, which you can't see well in this picture,  because my son thought the text should say something about treasure and pirates looking for treasure use compasses. I came up with "You are my greatest treasure," which he really liked. I used Elmer's paint pens in white to add the text. Then I used a black paint pen to do some shadowing on the scull and letters. My boy wants to hang it up in his room and as soon as I put a final coat of Mod Podge on it and get it in a frame I'm going to let him.

From the Newness Department
I received a lot of wonderful packages in the last week. There were 3 on Thursday, I received the Fancy Pants Valentine Cards from the Happy Little Studio blog, Jen Wilson's State of the Heart collection from the My Mind's Eye blog and a box of test tubes etc from American Science and Surplus for my son's up coming Mad Scientist Birthday Party. While I am really happy to have all of this newness in the house I am most excited about this.


This is my logo. In a stamp. That I designed. 

I read about RubberStamps.net on the Chica & Jo website, looked at the price, decided it was not too much for a small high quality rubber stamp (Chica and Jo had already given the quality a thumbs up) and proceeded. I was going to attempt to carve the logo out of an erasure or fun foam and nixed the idea because I wanted the lines to be clean and my carving isn't that good.

It arrived quickly. Within days to be exact and the quality is wonderful. I love that the logo is not just in rubber but in wood as well. That is not a sticker on the front, it is the image burned into the wooden block and I LOVE the smell of burned wood, so campfirey.  Now the back of my cards can have my logo as well as my name. Yee Hee.

Happy Crafting,
Katie