{Links and Life and Love}

Welcome to February, people! I just have some stuff and things I'd like to share, and occasionally I want to discuss more than paper crafts. Can you deal? Here are some things I'm loving lately. Maybe you'll love them too - and then we'll love them together. Okay? 

Link Love:

First up, Meg Duerksen. I shall now talk about her like I know her - which I don't. But I'd like to. I'm pretty sure she'd be my BFF whether she liked it or not. Her blog makes me ridiculously happy, and I think I'd like to be her when I grow up. And she has a craft house. We could GO there. (If it just weren't so far away from me. Sigh.) But YOU could go there. And you should. It looks colorful and inspiring and pretty dang amazing. In the meantime, visit her blog. You'll be so glad you did! (Plus, ummm, her blog header matches mine. . .I think it's meant to be!)

Next, Yoga With Adriene. She is making yoga feel doable, and reasonable, and dare I say - fun?! I'm completely new to yoga, and I'm still not sure it's something I am going to commit to. But I'm sticking with her 30 Days of Yoga program on YouTube. (Although it's taking me longer than 30 days!) Plus, she's funny and quirky, and totally adorable - laughing during yoga? Yes. You will.

And last but not least, The Art of Simple Travel. Tsh Oxenreider and her family (including three children) are traveling around the world this year. For a year. Around the world. I'm mesmerized by her photos and blog posts. Not because it's something I'd ever want to do - but I'm loving vicariously living through their journey. (So much so, that I even dreamed about it last night!) I highly recommend following their trip on Instagram. I love their focus on simplicity, priorities, and slow travel. (This is the sister blog of The Art of Simple - also one of my favorite blogs!)

Other Stuff and Things:

So you may remember that I have this gig with Purex. They occasionally send me products to try out and share with you. My latest product is the brand new Purex Power Shot, which will be hitting store shelves soon. I'll be honest - my first thought, was "This is so super dumb. What's the big deal, I can't pour my own detergent effectively?" And then I tried it, and thought about it. It is actually pretty cool. I'm thinking I can teach my son to do his own laundry, and not worry that he's going to pour half the bottle in the washer, or spill it all over the place: no-spill and easy measurement. You just flip open the cap, and flip over the bottle. It automatically delivers one super concentrated dose of detergent. Then, the Power Shot feature automatically refills and is ready for the next load.  

Here's the best part: You need laundry detergent, and I have some coupons for free bottles to share! Wasn't that sweet of Purex? Leave a comment by Friday, February 6 and I'll choose two random winners to take home a coupon (and a handmade card of course!) There's also a sweepstakes going on - you could win free detergent, or even a washer and dryer! (Just for entering, you'll receive a $1 off coupon too!)

Okay. So go visit these fabulous blogs. Be inspired by these women who do what they love, and are kind enough to share it with ME (and YOU!) And leave a comment for the free detergent. (Seriously, I mean, you need laundry detergent anyway, so you might as well get it for free!) Thanks so much for stopping by! And coming up on Wednesday - a new card or two! xoxo

{tutorial} Tshirt scarf and flowers

We all love Pinterest. And we all hate Pinterest. Don't we? We love all the fabulous ideas we find, but we hate how it makes us feel like WE never have any good ideas, and all the fabulous ideas we find SIT THERE on our boards doing nothing.

A YEAR ago, I pinned a really cool video tutorial on making a scarf from a tshirt.  {scarf tutorial here} I even got as far as buying an XXL tshirt from JoAnn Fabric ($3 - can't beat that!) and it sat in my drawer all this time.

But today, I got inspired.  I watched the tutorial again, and I made a scarf.

But then it needed a flower. And I didn't HAVE a flower.

But I did have a few more tshirts, that I added to the Goodwill pile yesterday. Soft comfy tshirts, that I struggled to get rid of, but really - it was BEYOND time to retire them.

So I Googled "make a flower from a tshirt" and low and behold, I found THE best tutorial, at Emily's Little World, and I made THE cutest flower!!!  Emily's tutorial is incredibly easy to follow, and her flowers are DARLING.  She drew a template and traced her flowers, but I decided to see if I could put a tshirt through my Big Shot, and low and behold - IT WORKED!!!! I cranked it through 3-4 times for good measure, but it completely cut through every time. I am SERIOUSLY impressed.  I'm not going to share my own tutorial, because Emily's is so terrific, just go see hers! :)

I'm looking at all of my old tshirts in a new light now, and maybe it will be easier to retire the rest that need to STOP being worn - because I can turn them into FLOWERS!!!  You could even use kid's tshirts that have seen better days - especially if you have cute little-girl pink tshirts!

These aren't great photos - I just took them with my phone, but you can get the idea.

I just stuck a safety pin through the back of my flower, and attached it to my loopy non-sew tshirt scarf.  I need to decide what other colors would be fun (and practical) to have, and I am going to be a scarf-wearing woman. . . . or at least make cute tshirt flowers for everyone I know! 

Come back tomorrow. . .that coupon giveaway that I promised, starts tomorrow! 

xoxo

PS - if you'd like to follow ME on Pinterest, click my new button in the sidebar!

better late than never!

I know we are all completely sick of Valentine's projects. (Well, I know I am anyway!) But please don't leave me . .I have one more Valentine project for the season! This is a project that you could easily UN-Valentine, and turn it into a birthday bag, or even a St. Patrick's Day bag. (Oooh, that's actually a pretty good idea!) 

To create this bag, I used a super simple bag template, from Mel Stampz. Seriously - her blog is fabulous, and she has a ton of super ideas, templates and digital freebies.  I can't tell you how often I have googled something, and her blog pops up.

You can find the template on her blog: 

Mel Stampz: A Year of Flowers Card set in a Bucket Handbag or Purse Box (new template)

Her version, with a cool sunflower tag is adorable! Be sure to go check it out!

So all I did was print the template out onto my cardstock, then cut it out and put it together! Easy peasy!

I used super sweet stamps from The Stamps of Life to decorate my bag, and create the little PS tag.  Then I dug into my Christmas wrapping goodies and found some red metallic shredded paper to stuff inside. 

Thanks so much for coming by today! Have a fabulous day!

xoxo

Stamp It 3 Ways! (a chance to win!)

Hey there, friends! I just wanted to pop by and share a card with you, from Paper Crafts magazine's Stamp It 3 Ways.  (Click on the link to order this issue online!) I created this card with beautiful Hero Arts stamps, and Lily Bee Designs patterned papers.  I happened to see that it was featured on the Paper Crafts Connection blog a few days ago! (Somehow I missed it until today!) There's a giveaway on the Paper Crafts post, which is up through today - so be sure to head over there and comment, for a chance to WIN a copy of this fabulous Stamp It 3 Ways issue!  

(PS. . .what do you think of my new little blog banner? quick and easy using fabulous freebies from Persnickety Prints! I have my 6x6 calendars printed there every year, and they do a FABULOUS job. I highly recommend them if you are looking for photo printing services!)

Click here for the elements I used  and click HERE for all the freebies!

The Garbage Truck Birthday Party!

Hello, hello! I'm here with the OFFICIAL garbage truck birthday party update! Now that it's over, I can continue on with other aspects of my life. (Which is sort of a relief!) 

All in all, I gotta say that Mr. 3-Year-Old's birthday party was a SMASHING, BASHING, TRASHING success this past weekend. 

This child's LOVE (read: obsession) with the garbage truck inspired our shindig.  

We hit a few bumps along the way. . . like the AC deciding to stop functioning, a few hours before the party. NOT COOL. (Literally)  But our crew of family and like-family friends were troopers, and we had lots of extra fans.  And thankfully it was fixed during the party and we had some relief.  In the meantime, the mimosas and chocolate milk (excuse me - "muddy milk")  helped keep the grownups and kids happy.  

The cake tasted FABULOUS.  It was chocolate cake (from a mix -gasp!) with a big thick layer of "dirt" inside.  You know, the fabulous pudding-Cool Whip-cream cheese deliciousness, with cookie crumbles? I just mixed the cookie crumbs right in, and used the whole thing as filling, rather than putting it in cups like dirt is "traditionally" eaten.  Then I frosted the cake with my new FAVORITE chocolate frosting.  It was simple to make - a fairly normal chocolate frosting recipe. . .but with the addition of 2 Tbsp of espresso - oh my GOSH, it was amazing! (And I must say - I think the cake was much cuter in person.  It looks pretty BLAH in this picture!)

You can find the recipe, along with a delicious looking cookies 'n cream cake, which was part of my inspiration, at Restless Chipotle. 

Oh, and I forgot to take another picture, but you can see the pennant banner that I made, in the background.  I die-cut a pennant die, on my Big Shot using green cardstock for the back layer, and magazine pages for the inner layer.  Then I layered on circles and spelled out his name. 

I did favors for the kids - these are pencil cups from Dollar Tree, that  I lined with squares of black trash bag.  I found some great reflective stickers (see photo below) at WalMart, that I thought went with the theme pretty well.  Then we hit the jackpot at the last second, and found little "green" earth-friendly notebooks in the Target Dollar Spot for 70% off! Woohoo! I also put in a Go-Go Squeeze.  It fit the color scheme, and Go Go is a pretty earth friendly company, so I decided that it fit.  ;)  I used my circle punch to make a quick tag, and stuck cork sticker-back letters for each child's first initial. (Cork stickers from Close To My Heart)

Here's my random picture - I wanted to show you the silverware holders . . a soup can, lined with garbage bag, along with the cute stickers from WalMart.  

The wreath was REALLY fun to make.  I spent a whole ONE DOLLAR on it.  I got a foam base from Dollar Tree, and used the fabulous tutorial at Living With Lindsay.  I used newspaper pages, junk mail, and shopping bags.  Then I diecut those little flies, which I used on the cake, the wreath, and wherever I could stick them.  I used a butterfly wing die, from The {Stamps} of Life, along with a circle die.  I used a silver Sharpie pen to draw their eyes, and then attached a piece of floral wire.

Probably my favorite project of all. . . .our matching garbage truck t-shirts.  I used a freezer-paper technique to stencil them.  There are a TON of great tutorials out there.  I looked at a couple, and then went for it.  Do a google search, and you'll get LOTS of great advice.  I looked at a lot of clipart, and garbage truck images, and then just created my own stencil for it.  (And I just used tshirt paint from WalMart.)

We got a box in the mail, the week before the party, that had TONS of this brown paper in it, so I saved it and made garland from it.  Easy peasy, and it went perfectly with our decor.  I forgot to take a pic, but the other thing I used for the table was instead of a tablecloth. . . .I used black trash bags, bubble wrap sheets, and a big cardboard box to add some dimension.   Because of our little AC situation, I didn't bring the cake out until we were ready to eat.  It was going to be the centerpiece of the table, on top of the cardboard box, but instead I just stuck one of Tanner's toy garbage trucks on there instead! (Improvise!!!)  We did the party in the morning, so we had lots of good brunch foods. Muffin-sized mini quiches (which I found on this blog, but seem to be originally from Food Network)  mini grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids, fruit, bacon, cottage cheese, and of course CAKE! 

Just another little decoration.  A large size soup can (I think it had crushed tomatoes in it.)  I stuffed it with garbage bag plastic, and some crinkled wrapping paper and added the picture of my little guy in there, and some of the flies.  It was a nice little extra decoration.

If you are planning a garbage truck party, check out my Garbage Truck Birthday Party Pinterest board with LOTS of ideas I collected along the way.  There are some other AMAZING garbage themed parties out there.  I have links to some of our favorite garbage truck books, cute coloring sheets, cake ideas, games, and crafts.  I had so much fun scouring the web for ideas!!!

Update: This has been such a popular blog post. . . .apparently we aren't the only garbage truck loving family out there! Looking for more party fun? Check out our Fire Truck Birthday Party post!

catching up with some hexagons!

Just here to catch you up with a few TSOL projects I haven't yet posted . . . .

This first is a flip-it card, (using a Sizzix die) which are so fun to make, but really difficult to photograph! I found this great website though, called PicMonkey, and I highly recommend you go play! You can make collages, and banners for your Facebook page, and it was REALLY quick and easy to drop these two photos into one image. Anyhooo. . . here it is!

 Stephanie released a set of smiley faces last month, and they are PERFECTION to add a smile to anything and everything! Candy really SHOULD be smiling, shouldn't it!? (cardstock is Bazzill Card Shoppe)

 And the new hexagons2love set. . . .sheer bliss! This set is a BLAST. Hexagons are so trendy and hip right now, and they are quite possibly the perfect shape. . .it can function as a circle, but it has straight edges, which makes cutting SO much easier! (Discount Cardstock's soon to be retiring Cyclamen Cascata Cardstock. . .my favorite pink color EVER.) 

This one is my favorite though.  . . .I know, I cannot get away from green and aqua, (or pink and aqua. . .or pink and green, ..  .or pink and green and aqua!) I used a regular old hole punch to cut out the center of my hexagons, and popped them up on foam tape. Easy peasy, and super cute. (more Bazzill Card Shoppe cardstock)

In a few days, we are dashing off to the Hamptons! (I love saying that. . .it makes us sound VERY fa-fa-fa-fa!) My brother in law is getting married out there, so my little guys will be donning their new seersucker suits, and (hopefully) walking down the aisle, on the beach, as co-ring bearers! (And my hubby is performing the ceremony!) After the wedding, we are going to spend a few days in New York City. We'll go to the Empire State Building -Bryce has wanted to go, ever since he got the Empire State Building in Legos! We're also going to see the Space Shuttle Enterprise, at the Intrepid. Add in FAO Schwarz, Grand Central Station, and Central Park, and I think our two days in the city will be PACKED! 

I'll try to schedule some posts while I am away, but we all know that might not happen! Summer and my little guys take priority right now!  But I AM going to have a sweet summer giveaway, sponsored by Bazzill coming up soon, so don't be a stranger!  And while I'm thinking of it, Bazzill is going to be doing giveaways on their Facebook page, and sharing sneak peeks of their new products, during every hour of CHA, starting on Tuesday! So be sure to hop over to Bazzill's Facebook page and score some sneaks!

Happy news! :)

Eeeeeeek!!!!! I'm so excited! :)

http://stencilwords.com/blog/2011/10/28/color-challenge-winner-7/

retro tech and geeky!

Good morning, good morning! It's a gloomy RAINY (thank GOD!) day here today.  We need the rain SO badly, and the wildfires in FL and GA have been awful.  We stayed inside all day yesterday because of the smoke.  But thankfully, we had a MAJOR storm this morning, and things are not quite as smoky so far. And we certainly need the rain.

Okay, I have a few things to share with you today! First off, two cards. (Yes, TWO!) I created both of these with a stamp set from Close To My Heart.  It's called Retro Tech, and it has very cool vintage looking images of phones, a television, record player, camera, etc.   I have been making some SUPER SIMPLE, clean and graphic cards with these stamps.  And I love them!  They are so quick and easy, I thought I'd better share two of them today!

On this first card, I cut some squares of cardstock (great way to use up scraps!) to create the bottom border.  And i stuck a rhinestone jewel over the camera flash.

I stamped the records on Close To My Heart cardstock, using the colors Cotton Candy, Pear, and Breeze.  We've recently discussed my obsession with Aqua shades, and Breeze is probably the color that started the obsession.  CTMH discontinued the color last year, and I have never really gotten over my despair! I keep trying to stop using it. . .but I just can't. (Sniff, sniff.)  Me and CTMH need to have a serious conversation!

Have a fabulous week! I am off now to create a Father's Day card with my little men.  I won't be stamping on it, but if you want a sneak peek. . . .check out this link.  If you have a technology geek in your house, you might want to try it too!!! It's clever and cool, and PERFECT for my (adorable) geek husband. (I think it's safe to assume he won't be reading this!!!) 


Have a fabulous day!!!!
xoxo

happy birthday to. . . .

Happy Birthday toooo. . . .about twelve people I know.  I'm telling ya, the first two weeks of April (the entire month of April actually) there are SO many birthdays in my family and circle of friends!

I'd like you to meet one very special birthday girly girl, whose birthday happens to be TODAY!  She is my sweetie pie, Karisse.  We met right before she came to Flagler College.  I was a sophomore when she was a freshman, and we were instantly connected - one of those friends that you meet for the first time, but it's like you've known her all your life.  I've probably mentioned her here a time or two, as she is incredibly creative and artsy, and has an incredibly amazing story to tell.  The past ten years of her life since she graduated from college have been filled with more challenges and mountains to climb, than many endure through their entire life.  You can read about her battles with cancer HERE  and check out all her random and interesting thoughts, deep thoughts, and fun photos (she is quite a talented photographer!) at Karisse's blog, Musings.  (She is currently on crazy pain medication from her latest surgery. . .so her blog posts are quite entertaining!)  Karisse has an amazing job too . . .she has dedicated much of her life to raising awareness and finding an end to human trafficking. (In between surgeries and cancer treatments, which seem to come far too often!)  Please go visit her blog, and wish her a happy birthday!  You'll be inspired, perhaps challenged, and entertained! I promise!

(Oh, and the card - all the goodies are CTMH.  You can read more of the details about it, on my mom's blog!)

unity cuties and yummy treats!

Well well, look at me. . . .here twice in one week already! Impressive, I know! Other than wrapping and cleaning, I am finally starting to feel like things are settling down, and although we have things to do, I am ready to peacefully enjoy Christmas (well, peaceful is a relative term with little kids in the house!)

I was decluttering my computer folders, and weeding out some card images, and found these two that I never shared!! Family members will be getting both of these cards under the Christmas tree this year, so I figure it's a fine time to go ahead and share them! They both feature stamps from Unity Stamp Co. Yesterday Unity announced that they will be retiring all their kits of the month, from 2008 . . .. better go grab one quick if you've been thinking about it! You can find the "Soon to be retiring" list HERE!

Yesterday I made a batch of chocolate biscotti, also for Christmas gifts. And it turned out pretty good - I will be making more today!!! I was afraid to make too much, the first time, in case it didn't turn out. But it DID turn out - and half of it is gone, because we keep munching on it! So I better make a LOT today!!! The biscotti recipe came from here, at eatingoutloud.com, where I also got a FABULOUS fruit cobbler recipe. I make it ALL THE TIME. (Here's the cobbler recipe)

I also helped my sweet friend, and mama-to-be-anyday, Sara, make Oreo truffles the other day - oh my GOODNESS. She got mint Oreos for them, and they were SO YUMMY. It's a darn good thing she didn't leave the whole tray here - because they would now be GONE. ;) Dangerous things, those little truffles!!! There are a lot of recipes out there for them . . .find which one you like the best!

Have a terrific day!
THREE MORE SLEEPS TILL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I just gotta say. . .

I have to tell you, I feel so much less stressed about this silly blog, now that I've made the decision to blog once a week or so. If you're feeling stressed about YOUR blog - I highly recommend the once-a-week blogging. If you horribly miss me, and wish I were blogging every other day or so, (which I highly doubt, unless you are my Aunt Nancy) then speak up - otherwise, forever hold your peace!

So let's see what I have to share today. First I'd like to share a link . . . I LOVE these cute bows that are on the Jillibean Soup blog. I tried making some last night - I think I made too many loops, and I had a hard time attaching the whole thing together - but they are so adorable. I was thinking they could make cute tree ornaments too!

Okay, onto the cards. The first one I created for my mom's Close To My Heart blog. You can find all the details HERE. (I am way too lazy to retype it all up! Ha!)

The second card is using some new and old stamps from The {Stamps} of Life (mainly to showcase the new set, Minis4Circles) , plus the December kit from Discount Cardstock.
I stamped all those circles on the background, and stamped the tag - love that little tag, and love my circle punch! What did we do before circle punches!? ACK!
This morning my little man and I made some candy trees, out of sugar cones. (I felt a little silly buying ice cream cones in 50 degree weather) and lots of candy treats! The goodies were leftover from his gingerbread decorating party at school. (One of the Room Mom perks - bringing home the leftovers!)

Tonight we'll be putting on our pj's, and going for a drive across town to the yearly Luminaria - more Christmas lights and luminaries than you can possibly count!!!! I'm thinking we'll pack some cocoa and cookies in the car with us!!!!

Enjoy this last weekend before Christmas!!!!! I actually got the packages out that needed to go in the mail (well, dear hubby did - after a 40 minute wait in line - YIKES!) I hope you have a GREAT week!!!
XOXO

oh, the crafty goodness!!!

Two bits of good news today. . .

First - I got a card picked up for Paper Crafts "Stamp It! Techniques" issue, and it's one of my all-time favorite cards! So excited! :)

Second piece of good news - super week of couponing and grocery/household shopping. (Just don't ask what's for dinner this week!) I spent 38.79, and saved 69.28! I got laundry detergent for $1.45, and Kraft cheese for less than a dollar. Swiffer refills for my WetJet for around $2 a piece, YoPlus yogurt for 25 cents per four pack!!! (WOOOHOOOO!)

I have been surfing the web a bit too much lately, but it's my guilty pleasure while nursing the wee one. . .blog hopping, and Facebooking (funny how we have all turned "Facebooking" into a real word, isn't it?) Anyway, it's usually how I spend my time while he eats. Or and then there's Words With Friends. Love that too! (I am thinking I have a few too many guilty pleasures!)

BUT, in order to enable all of you, and share the AMAZING talent, and goodness out there, I'd like to share my new favorite links . . ..

I'll share the newest one first. Poppies At Play (thank you Nancy for sharing this!) Projects, ideas, home decor and just GORGEOUS stuff. Somewhere there was a wall of plates. And I love it. I want one. (Well, I have a wall . ..but I want it to be filled with assorted plates.)

Eighteen25 - a whole month of cute Halloween ideas. . ..plus some great free printables, and crafty goodness! (I made this cute fortune cookie project for Bryce's teacher, and it was a hit!)

HowDoesShe - party ideas, household ideas, holidays, organization. . . alll, everything that i LOVE.

Living Locurto - This chick is fabulous! Do you know about I Heart Faces? (If not, then go there too!) Amy Locurto is one of the co-founders of I Heart Faces. She has great ideas for families, crafty cuteness, and lots of printables.

Most of these websites also have links to OTHER fabulous, talented, and completely inspiring blogs - you will be lost for hours. (But it's oh-so-fun, isn't it?!)

back to school, back to school!

I got this photo idea, from this AWESOME website that is new to me, but quickly has become one of my new faves! I just happened to have a little chalk board, sitting in a box, and amazingly I knew JUST where it was too! This is defnitely going to be part of our back-to-school photo tradition!!! And thankfully, Bryce was happy to ham it up for some photos this morning before school. He was AMAZING. He was totally excited, and didn't seem nervous at ALL about the whole thing! Hooray!

Be sure to stop by and check out Living Locurto!!! She has fantastic printables, menu ideas, terrific links, and lots of cute ideas!!!

On a roll. . .

Good morning! Happy weekend! We are on the final countdown. . .one week until Tanner's birthday party, and one week until school starts! (And one week until I can take a breath!)

Today's card is exactly the same format of the sweet pea card that I shared a few days ago. (And yes, more white cardstock!) See how versatile these TSOL background stamps can be? The last card was sweet and soft and ready for a baby shower. This one has a totally different look, even though it's the same layout - bright, cheery and fun, using the flower background from Backgrounds2Build. I added some little jewels to the corners to tie in the pink. And the present and sentiment are from the new Birthday4Cookie set.

Last night I started tackling my latest project. . .scanning all of the photos from my mom and dad's old photo albums. Right now I am working on Polaroid pictures from right after I was born. I must admit, I looked like a boy in some of them, but there are some cute cute photos!! (I will probably share some here soon, if you'll indulge me!)

Can you believe summer vacation is so quickly drawing to a close!? (And for some of you, it already has!) If only the cool weather were heading here soon. Back to school time SHOULD mean cool crisp mornings, but here - we still have about 2 more months of warm weather! Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope your weekend is simply WONDERFUL!!!
XOXO

(Oh, and I'm just about a week late, but some of my cards were featured on the October Afternoon blog . . . .and one of my cards was featured on the CARDS blog last week too!!! I was super excited! Thanks for letting me share!)