Bookmarks

So the boyfriend and I were at Lowe's yesterday when I saw paint chips and thought: "bookmarks!" I had seen the idea on one of the many blogs I follow and had been meaning to try my hand at it for a while. Below are the finished products... nothing glamorous, but sort of architecturally fun. Happy crafting!

Cute as a Button

I found this card in one of my many idea books... totally cute, right? Choose any baby-appropriate background and find a two-hole button to match. That's it. Use tacky glue to adhere the button to the paper and make sure some of the glue sort of overflows up through the holes. Once the glue dries, use a sharpie to color in the glue-filled holes (eyes), as well as draw a little curly-cue and smile. Again, that's it. Happy crafting!

Orange You Cute

I know I've said this before... I LOVE PUNS! And I'm pretty sure it's the playfulness of them that I love. This first card I actually made at a Stampin' Up! workshop a while back... and the second I made to coordinate with the first. You see, the boyfriend has a scrapbook of all the cards I've made for him (isn't he sweet?). And of course, in my usually obsessive ways, I stole it and re-organized it for him (you're welcome!)... These two cards will go opposite each other on a page. Oh, happy crafting!

Room Refashion

Lately, I've been working on refashioning my room... I got all new bedding, two new lamps (aren't they fabulous? I'm totally obsessed!), some throw pillows, plus a couple twine craft projects... Now my room is good and girly! The pictures really don't do it justice, though. I wonder if I'll get better beauty sleep now that my bed is girlier (really Ashley?)... we'll see. Happy crafting to all and to all a good night!

Flowers & Headbands

I was totally bored today... so I decided to experiment! I had been wanting to try out those new fabric flowers that everyone else in the world seems to be making, and also wanted to try my luck at a headband. Believe it or not, both projects turned out to be quite successfull (totally opposite from the ordinary for me!). I made one large flower with a pearl in the center and one small flower with green ribbon for leaves. I'm thinking the small flower would look cute on a hair clip worn by a curly-haired 3-year-old. And I'm hoping the headband will fit that same 3-year-old's mamma. I have no idea what to do with the large flower, though... maybe another headband? Oh, happy crafting!

Rubik's Cube

For my Grandmother's birthday, I made a Rubik's Cube of pictures. Apparently she used to be pretty good at solving the stupid thing (I can never figure them out!). I printed out pictures of all her grandkids (me and my cousins) onto sticker paper, cut them into squares, stuck them on the cube, then went over it with Modge Podge. Note: wipe off excess modge podge before it dries! It was really quite easy and turned out totally cute. Plus, it's still functional! Happy birthday Mamere! And happy crafting!

Ducky

A friend of mine will be moving to Minnesota in less than a month, so we are throwing her a goodbye party. Growing up, I called her "Ducky," therefore, it seemed appropriate to have a duck themed party... "Good Luck, Ducky!" Below are all the fun treats I made... The cookies are almond-sugar cookies with yellow marshmallow fondant on top. The cupcakes are chocolate with blue vanilla buttercream frosting and a yellow candy duck on top. Doesn't the candy ducky look like he's taking a bubble bath? Ha! I have way too much fun with this sort of stuff... and I clearly need children. Oh, happy crafting!

Starfish

I had a wonderfully relaxing day today... it's so nice not to have to be someplace at sometime every once and a while. In fact, I'm still in my workout clothes from this morning and I don't think I've stepped a foot outside! I spent the majority of my day working on Bridal Shower Invites and Thank You cards to match. Below are the finished products. I literally used my last inch of baja breeze paper... and am so excited that I can now order more through Stampin' Up! and not eBay! I hope you had a wonderful day, too! Happy crafting!

Twine Crafts

Lately, I've been working on Refashioning my Room... making it good and girly! I started with some simple accessories, like these twine crafts. I used a hot glue gun to adhere the first few rows and then just kept wrapping, using a little glue here and there to keep the twine from moving. The vase was really quite easy, but the lamp was definitely a bit more challenging. I just had to use a lot more glue. At the end of the day, I love my new twine craft accessories and they go perfectly in my refashioned room! Happy crafting!

Bleached T-Shirt

Once upon a time, I ruined a shirt I LOVED by apparently bringing it in contact with bleach. AH! There were random pink splotches all over it. I was ready to throw it away when I thought: "Why not add MORE bleach!" (The thought totally came to me in a moment like those new Windows 7 commercials... it was great.) I figured, even if it didn't turn out, it would at least be fun. Unfortunately, I got a little carried away with my "fun" and attempted to bleach a hippo on the bottom left with a stencil. Note: bleach is a liquid and will therefore spread as it is soaked up by fabric... DUH! Then, since the hippo turned out to be a BIG white splotch, I thought I needed to add more big white splotches to match. When all was said and done, I decided to give the shirt to my cousin, Jaimee, because her favorite color is purple and she likes to wear cool stuff like this. The end. Moral of the story: QUIT WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD! Happy crafting!

Inspired by Nature

So it's after midnight and I'm still awake. I'm pretty sure this is at least the 3rd night in a row that I haven't been able to fall asleep (I am NOT a night owl!). Since it's now officially tomorrow (or today?) I will post. And I will post about one of my favorite stamp sets (seriously? they're pretty much ALL my favorites!). I absolutely love my Inspired by Nature stamp set from Stampin Up! because it's so stinking simple! And I LOVE simple! It's also pretty versitile... the first two were for the boyfriend, the next two were for my aunts, and the last one I made for my mom... needless to say they all loved them! Happy crafting and hopefully, happy sleeping!

A Perfect Pear

I just love puns! I used my Cricut machine to cut these perfect pears... happy crafting!

It's a 60's Party!

My dad celebrated his 60th birthday back in February and we threw him a surprise 60's party... so much fun!!! Below are pictures of my dad and I, as well as the cake I had made. The tie dye t-shirt invite is actually one that I made for a party that the boyfriend's mom is throwing... totally groovy, right?

Chic Boutique

I love my Chic Boutique stamp set from Stampin Up! I just love how girly it is... It almost makes me wish I lived in Paris! So below are the birthday cards I made for those with summer birthdays. My best friend will get the one on the left today... Happy 26th Birthday, Hadar!!!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! Below are some of the cards I've made over the years for my dad... of course, none of them quite measure up. Now as most little girls will say that they have the best dad in the whole wide world, I REALLY mean it when I say I HAVE THE BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! His initials even spell D.A.D... how cool is that? So happy Father's Day to all the dad's in the world, but a VERY SPECIAL happy Father's Day to my DAD!

Thank You

So I spent last week up in Hume Lake with the boyfriend's parents and thought it appropriate to post Thank You cards... all three of these were made using Stampin' Up!'s Pocket Sillhouettes. I tend to like simple. Anyways, a HUGE thank you to the boyfriend's parents for hosting me (and humoring my rediculous eating habits) for a week!!! I had such fun enjoying the great outdoors! Happy crafting!

Polka Dots

Black and white polka dots were the theme of our Teacher Appreciation Brunch for Sunday School this year. I made water bottle labels with a polka dot border and "Thank You" written across the middle. I also made cupcakes as the "thank you" gift for all the Sunday School volunteers... red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, then wrapped them in some black and white polka dot wrapping paper. Yum! The cupcake wrappers were super easy to make as I found a template on the internet, cut, traced, and cut again. And I even thought to wear my black and white polka dot wedges so I totally matched the theme! Happy crafting, everyone!

Cheers to You

Cheers! Today is the boyfriend's birthday... Happy Birthday, Daniel Jamal!!! So I thought I would share some birthday cards. I made both of these using the Stampin' Up! Cheers to You stamp set for all those with summer birthdays, mainly all my aunts and uncles... so to my aunts who might possibly be reading this... happy birthday and the pink one's for you! I'm off to celebrate. Happy crafting everyone!

Crab & Company

Keeping with the claw theme: Crab & Company has got to be one of my favorite stamp sets... it's just so versitile! Stampin' Up! makes some pretty awesome stamp sets and this one is no exception. There's "shore do love you" for the boyfriend, "snappy birthday", and even "jingle sheels" and "sandy claws" for Christmas! Ha! I love it! And I haven't even used "a pinch to grow an inch" yet! Oh, the possibilities! Happy crafting!

"Here Lobby, Lobby, Lobby"

That would be my lobster call. We used to vacation with my mom's family during the summer in a rented beach house in North Carolina. Crazy! My mom has three sisters and three out of the four of them have two daughters each. The girls pretty much run the show and the boys run for the golf course. We played lots of card games and ate plenty of lobster. My mom's family is from Maine so we would eat Maine lobster, but as kids, we were told that we had to call them out of the ocean. We would all stand at the end of the boardwalk and call for lobsters which would then come crawling up that same boardwalk, rubber bands around the claws and all! So this was a care package I put together for my mom as she went back to Maine to visit her mom. It contains two lobster bibs and a lobster claw cracker all wrapped up in a lobster stamped bag. I can't get over how cute the claw cracker is! Happy crafting!