Simple Card Set + Simple Kraft Cards

Some more craft fair work. First is a very simple set of four cards I did with Fringed Phrases and a vase image from Solo B. I didn't photograph the card individually because...well...they are almost all the exact same.

I got the idea (I'm sure from something I saw somewhere!) to stamp white on kraft cs. I loved the look of this plus I thought the simple images worked so well with these cards.

And this one IRONICALLY I forgot to photograph before I put it in the package so I thought I would just show you these clear bags that I'm using.

Here's the back. The little foldover adhesive tab is awesome. You can unpeel it and re-stick it!

So while I'm showing you packaging...here's the little clear boxes that I am putting the card sets in. They are really sharp looking. They ship flat and you just fold them into boxes. I opted to get hanging packaging and then sweet talk my dad into building me a peg board display. Oh yes I will take pictures of the whole set up!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Finally!! Not politics as usual!!

Finally finally finally!! The other media outlets are finally raising a stink about the White House treatment of Fox News. The White House was not going to allow Fox to interview the pay czar, but the other news outlets in the pool said if Fox couldn't interview than the rest of them would not interview him either!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/23/white-house-loses-bid-exclude-fox-news-pay-czar-interview/

I am so glad to see people standing up for the constitutional right to free speech! It's about time the press took this seriously! Okay off my soapbox--with a smile on my face!

Welcome Baby Cards

More craft fair cards. I know I should be making birthday cards but I had a hankering to make baby cards!

This first one is one of my least fave of the group.

Here's a near duplicate with some distressing (just for you Penny!)

Here's a green one I think will work for gender-neutral.

And here's my favorite--pink! With lace!

I made two of each. You can knock out a lot of cards that way. The pile going to the craft fair is getting higher and higher. I think I'm over seventy cards now.

Inks and Stamps are CTMH but paper and ribbons are mostly from my stash.

Oh and here's something fun. I swear (and I know all the books say it's too soon) that I've been feeling the baby move. I am pretty in touch with my intestines (thank you IBS) so I can differentiate between gas bubbles or not. I have to be sitting a certain way, but I swear that's what it is.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gold Embossed Manger Christmas Card

Wow. Catchy title.

Anyway-this is a card I pulled together pretty fast. I think I might do a couple more for the craft fair. I've never used gold embossing powder before. I love the way it turned out. I didn't want to screw it up by coloring in the image even though I really do want to see what that would look like...we'll see.

Details: CTMH unless noted

Paper: colonial wht cs, juniper cs, patterned paper (K&Co)

Ink: versamark, juniper

Stamps: Christmas Story

Other: edge distressor, gold ep (HL) cream ribbon (HL)

Lights, Camera....Action?

I decided to start researching light fixtures. Again. I looked all over the net when we were first planning on building and decided on finishes, fixtures, prices etc, of our dream home. But when things got put on hold it was all just too painful to think about so I stopped the planning/daydreaming stuff. It was like a book I put back on the shelf and never looked at again.

But now of course...I need to start again. Take the book off the shelf, dust it off and see what aspects of planning still apply. My tastes are still the same so the style is the same. But now I am trying to do things even cheaper than before.

The first thing I wanted to look at was lighting. I wanted to start small and simple. Then work my way up to the big stuff like stove tops and fireplaces.

So there is a long-running joke between my husband and I about light fixtures. You know those ceiling mounted lights that you find in closets and hallways? Like this:

Well I think we will need about seven of those types of lights give or take. So nothing to expensive of course. And NO NIPPLES. That's right. Look at that light again. I hate that little nipple they put on it. Just go google ceiling mounted light fixtures and you too can browse ALL the different types of nipples they make. Geez! I mean I think some of them are actual molds of actual boobs!!

So here's more of what we'll be using. That's right...no nipples here people...nothing to see.

When I asked D the other day in Lowe's if those lights with the nipples didn't just irk the pee out of him, he responded "well no, but you know how I feel about boobs..."

Huh. Trust me. No nipple lights in the new house. ;) {Oh ps go back and read the title of my post...it's funny right? Action? Get it? Stop!}

Birthday Card Set

Really nothing special here. I wanted to create a four card set for the craft fair that I could sell as an assorted birthday set. I made two of each of these, so now I have two sets out of the way. (Really loving that CLEAR BAGS DOT COM--super cute packaging there.)

These are all CTMH. Pretty simple, like I said nothing too special.

All are stamped with Happy Birthday on the inside.

Thanks for stopping by!

Caramel Apples

Yesterday I did something a little ridiculous. I made caramel apples. With chocolate and pecans.

First I started with wonderful smelling green apples clean and dry AND room temperature.

Then I melted the 14-oz bag of Kraft caramels with 2 tablespoons of water over medium heat. The bag of caramels included five popsicle sticks, but I of course dropped two on the floor and had to use wooden skewers for two of the apples. I dipped the apples into the melted caramel, but it isn't that easy. So I used a spoon to help spoon it over the apples.

Oh and in case you were wondering what to do with the leftover caramel on the spoon, Little d and Little m have the perfect suggestion...

The directions on the bag say to put on greased wax paper, but next time I'll grease a cookie sheet, because they stuck to the wax paper and we had to pick it off the bottom. Following the directions I put them in the fridge for an hour. That's where the directions left off.

So my mom and I got creative. When I took the caramel apples out of the fridge, they were still sticky so mom pressed some chopped pecans into the caramel...

Then I melted some chocolate bark and spooned it over the apples. The chocolate didn't cover well because when it hit the still cold apples it began cooling. So I really had to spoon alot onto the apples to cover them. Finally I melted some white candy bark and put it in a piping bag to drizzle it over the apples. And then I thought they just didn't look finished so I did the same to the leftover chocolate bark and drizzled it over the apples to finish.

They turned out really delicious!

Good thing I only made five. I've already given away three!

Nothing from me today

So I thought I would share a blog I just stumbled across with some beautifully detailed 'exploding boxes'. HERE's the site. She does amazing detail work. Scroll through and enjoy.

Cinema Challenge {and plenty more craft fair stuff}

First up is my submission for the Cinema Saturday Challenge. The requirement was to use a crown in your project and when I pulled this paper from my stash I knew it was perfect.

Their movie this week was Elizabeth. (Either one) I didn't see the latest yet, but I did see the other one....a while back. I do remember that the Queen was quite her own person. So the sentiment "Be Yourself, everyone else is taken," seemed to fit the bill. I love making these DVD tins. (Not my original idea--I've seen them all over the web.)

They make really cute gifts and I'm hoping they will be popular at the craft fair I'm participating in. Perfect Day papers....

I decided to do some with a little decorated magnet in them. Key to my Heart papers...

One for Christmas lists. Evensong Creative Basic papers...

One for keeping score. This paper is not CTMH...

I've made several of each design. I've been a busy worker bee today. Time for a break! Thanks for stopping by!

(Most supplies from CTMH) You can find the DVD tins at THIS page.

More dry erase frames

I'm like a dog with a bone. I am working feverishly (ha) to finish enough stuff for this craft fair that's coming up November first. This is the last of the frames that I bought. Not sure if I'll try to get anymore. I heard the dollar store has some cute ones...will definitely try that before heading back to Hobby Lobby...

On this first one I wrote on it in case you were wondering what they look like when they are being used as a dry erase board. Also-this is my favorite one!

I wanted to make a Christmas one, but I'm not to thrilled with this. I also thought people would say "yeah but what do you do with it after Christmas?"

Voila!! It's reversible....

I saw this frame and thought 'well it is out in the country, they probably like cow prints there...' Although picking a paper to use with it proved challenging!

I originally wanted to do this one as a kitchen-themed one. Not sure I really like the end result...

More craft fair stuff...

Wow again with the two posts in one day!

Here are a couple of more cookie sheets and as you can tell the ol' mojo is getting thin with the whole cookie sheet deal.

So moving on to a new project. Again not my original idea, but I just LOVE it. You decorate a picture frame and then use it as a dry erase board. I bought the black dry erase markers to go with these frames.

This one is my favorite so far... Here's something I've found. You can make perfect-looking beach by sanding textured Bamboo cardstock so a little white shows through. Then use your stipple brush to pounce on some Desert Sand and Chocolate inks. It looks really good in real life!

For the next one (that says Bon Appetit) I thought I might write "tonight's menu" on it to give people an idea of how to use it.

Here's a bonus cute picture. Little m played for almost an hour with Little d's makeup. Cute, huh? I definitely have some girly girls here. PS that's Moo in the background...I think he was coloring.

Almost all supplies are CTMH. If you have any questions leave them in the comments and I'll answer them in the comments, or you can email me, it's over there------->

We've got electricity! And other bits of random...

I just talked to D (he's at the land) and he said we now have electricity out there! Woo-hoo! Of course there is nothing to plug in right now, but soon!


Here's some random stuff for you...


Little m has started sleeping all night in her own bed. Fantastic. I think the fact that she has become so attached to 'Moo' her large soft-stuffed cow is helping. Moo, by the way, was a gift to Little d on the day she was born by my brother and his (at the time) fiancee. Thanks Hugh and Lin!! It's the gift that keeps on giving! (by the way, right now Little m is singing to Moo in the chair.)


We think we have discovered a new little quirk about Little d. Apparently not going to the bathroom (numero two) makes her throw up. It's happened twice in the last month and I am doubting she's had two stomach bugs that no one else got so we are trying to be more mindful of her bathroom habits and feed her food that will make her more regular. (after all FIVE days without pooping is a LONG time...) Fiber One yogurt anyone?


I'm still plugging away at the craft fair stuff. Thanks for all the sweet comments. Penny asked about where I found the fair. Here in south Texas it seems every little community does some sort of fair-market days-festival type thing a few times a year. In my city, the parks department runs it. Maybe check with your local Parks and Rec to see if they have something like that or the local Community Center. Daniela mentioned she wanted to use the cookie sheet for an advent calendar. That's a perfect idea! I have actually made a cookie sheet calendar before. I cut cork into small squares and decorated each square for a number. Then I cut rectangles of cork for the months. Finally I stuck magnet tape on the back of all of them--I gave it as a gift of a perpetual calendar. And Leslie, thanks for suggesting the countdown to Christmas calendar...I'll definitely check into making those!!


One more day until I am twelve weeks!! I think that means I'll be at the end of the first trimester. I might give it another week and then I'm coming out on facebook :) Speaking of fb, I'm now friends with my mother in law on there. Ironic huh? Just wait until she stumbles across this blog. Not that they are linked, but still, who knows? Also speaking of fb, I am so addicted to CafeWorld. What a dork I am.


Blogger is so weird. Why is it that if there is a blog that opens a new page for comments I can comment, if the page just goes to the bottom to comment I can't? It's so frustrating! So Kelly, Kim, and Meredith if you are reading this, know that I am totally upset that I can't comment on your blogs!!! And Meredith just posted recently that she had a miscarriage, so say a prayer for her and her family, and maybe stop by and leave an encouraging word.





Okay I'm off to spend a little family time and maybe do some more crafting!

Just say when...

you get tired of seeing all the cookie sheet memo boards. I am having fun using up patterned paper that I've had forever. I think I'm going to make ten and then switch to something else for a while. Maybe the DVD tins?

Anyway here's all of the latest ones...again mostly all CTMH.

A detail of the brads...

You can't see it in the photo, but I used the Easter egg stamp set to make little patterns for the magnets...

It says "Treasure Life's Little Moments"

Black and white paper not CTMH....

A sideways one...

Thanks for looking!

Busy Busy

I decided to take off a bigger bite than I can chew and sign up for a flea market/craft fair table. It only costs $7 and there will probably be only 100 people there total, BUT it only cost $7. So what do I have to lose?

Here's stuff I did today and yesterday...

This is my favorite saying on any stamp I've seen yet!

I need to amp up my supply of birthday cards, because I think those would sell better than others...

I still have almost fifty of those cookie sheets in my closet...time to use them up! (The stamped image at the bottom is just awaiting a large window charm.)

I know, my pictures are horrible, but I am so lazy I just wanted to get them on {film} and be done with it.

Pretty much all supplies are CTMH. I'm too lazy (see above) to list them all, but I'll be happy to answer any questions if you want to know about one of the products!

Later!