Thursday, December 29, 2011

December 29 - Wall Art

I was lucky enough to find this frame at our church rummage sale for $5. When I found it there was a mirror in the middle and the frame was brushed gold. I hate gold, really I do. But I bought it anyway and brought it home to my husband. He was able to take out the mirror leaving only the frame and he also painted the frame black for me. Now it was perfect! So I hung it in my dining room and did nothing with it for almost a year. UGH.

We had Thanksgiving at our home this year for our families and while we were cleaning the house, the one thing Chad requested was that I "put something in that frame!" I guess it was bugging him more than it was bugging me. :)

I had an 8"x10" photo of the girls already printed, so using normal scrapbooking adhesive, I stuck it to the wall in the middle of the frame. Now I was also lucky enough to snag a few of the black rhinestone swirls that Stampin' Up! had on the Clearance Rack a few months ago, so I added the swirls overlapping the photo and the straight strings of rhinestones on the edges of the photo (so it wouldn't look so much like I just stuck a photo straight to the wall). But when I stood back, I could tell it needed something else. The photos and the rhinestones didn't fill up enough of the space inside of the frame.

PUNCHES! Use your punches, silly! Some Basic Black and Crumb Cake cardstock did the trick - I punched the Fancy Flower punch with Basic Black, and the inside flower of the Blossom Bouquet punch. Then did the outside flower of the Blossom Bouquet punch with Crumb Cake cardstock. Once I had the flowers built, I just added a rhinestone to the center and stuck them inside of the frame. Done!

Now my wall is finished and my husband can no longer complain that we have an empty frame hanging in the dining room!

Supplies I used:



Wednesday, December 28, 2011

December 28 - Hello Card

Time for another Occasions Mini sneak peek! I absolutely LOVED the sample in the mini where they used the stamped and punched flower and cut off two petals to create a butterfly. I knew I had to try it!

First I stamped the flower on the new Twitterpated Designer Series paper and embossed it in white. Then punched out the flower. Cut off the top and bottom petals, then add your rhinestones to the middle.

I absolutely love the metal label holders, and was so sad when they were discontinued. But now they're on the Clearance Rack (oh happy day!) With the hardware kit you get a TON of these things!

We're still on Christmas vacation from school and its nice to have so much free time with my girls.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

December 27 - Get Better Sooner Card

It's about time I start posting more ideas on this blog, don't you think? Well, let me tell you - Mr. Big Brown Truck dropped off the most delightful box of new Occasions Mini items to me today and I've had so much fun playing with them!

Here's a little sneak peek for you - I'll update this post next week with links to the items when the mini catalog goes live, but the colors I used are Island Indigo and Lucky Limeade.

If you need one of the new Occasions Mini Catalog please just let me know!

Friday, December 23, 2011

MDS Blog Hop - Family Tree Gift

Today for the MDS Blog Hop we were to do something Christmas. Now this isn't "technically" Christmas, but I made these to give as Christmas gifts this year so I think it counts! :)

When I saw Stampin' Up!'s new Family Tree digital download, I fell in love! And because it's digital you can add as many labels as you need (and in this case, I added photos of each family member too!) This was such a fun project to create, and I hope everyone that receives one will love it. I will be printing these tonight as an 8"x10" print and putting them in a frame to wrap up. Even if not for Christmas, this is a fun personalized gift that will be treasured for years.

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Now don't forget to follow along the "hop" and see what everyone else did with My Digital Studio this week! We will be taking next week off to regroup and get ready for more MDS blog hop projects for 2012 - I can't wait!

Friday, December 16, 2011

MDS Blog Hop - It's Coming...

It's coming, it's coming - I promise!
I'll be making my post later this evening so if you get a chance, please check back! Until then be sure to check with the other blogs on the hop!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

MDS Blog Hop - Spice Labels

I owe you an apology. I missed last week of the blog hop, and am a day late posting this one. It's been that kind of month already. For me, Christmas is like childbirth. By the time it comes around again, I forget how hard it was the last time. I don't have the best memory. So when our local theater had auditions for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!", I asked my 6-year-old if she would want to try out. Well, she tried out, got a part as a baby angel, and we have basically been living at the theater for the past month. This weekend is the last weekend of the show and while the experience has been wonderful, it has sucked the life out of me. Not what I need this time of year when I can use all of the extra energy I can save up.

I wear leg braces. They are wonderful and help me out a ton, but they don't allow my feet to move. And that's pretty uncomfortable and constricting sometimes. So everyday I take a few minutes here and there to take them off, let my feet move around and just *breathe*. Yesterday was so non-stop insane, I didn't get ONE opportunity to do that. I wore the braces for 16-hours straight. Lesson learned - I won't do that again. But I'm off track! Let's get back to my MDS project!

Here's my secret - I'm a HORRIBLE cook! Thank goodness my husband is a wonderful one. When he repainted the spice rack in our kitchen, he came up with a brilliant idea - why don't we actually DISPLAY SPICES IN IT! (Have I told you how smart he is?) So I found some different sized jars in my craft room and we added the spices. The only thing we were missing - labels! My Digital Studio to the rescue!!! Using designer series paper that matches my blue kitchen walls, I put some labels together for the spices I needed then printed them out on my printer. (Just go to SHARE, then EXPORT TO JPG). After I printed them I punched them out with my Designer Label punch and adhered them with some Super-Tape. I love how they turned out and my hubby was impressed too. At least now I feel like I did something in the kitchen... :)

Don't forget to visit my other MDS Blog Hop friends this week - here are the links!