Saturday, May 14, 2011

WMS Birthday Party


Waltzingmouse Stamps is turning 2, and is having a Birthday Tea Party to celebrate!

Here is the tea favor I made, using Claire's free Tea Bag Baggie template.


I used some Anna Griffin paper to make the baggie. The stamp is from American Crafts that I got a while back on the clearance rack.

Since this is a party, Rose and Betty had to make an appearance, as they love parties (Rose is on the left, and Betty is on the right).

A very "Happy 2nd Birthday to You," WMS!!!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Yesterday...

...I took the Ladies to get their permits!

We got to the DOL when it opened, so we wouldn't have to wait too long.


Just long enough to get a little nervous, but not long enough that anyone got sick.
After 30 minutes, we were done, and my Ladies can get behind the wheel of a 2-ton vehicle and make it go vroom-vroom.


So yesterday they also received some driving practice from me & Steve. And "thumbs up" from people in the neighborhood.

So Easter is almost here, and I am so unprepared. I made some cute baskets a few weeks ago.

Pippin kept a lookout while I photographed this one. I don't know why I made it, but it was so much fun.
Sparkles on the egg make me smile.

That's probably as festive as I'll get this year. Too much going on this week to make more. But that's okay. :)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Thursday

Peter had his first visit with the orthodontist today; they put in spacers (ouch!). I took a photo of the inside of his mouth, but he'd kill me if I posted it, so just believe me when I say that they're in there.

On the way home, I picked up these tulips. They are actually for Peter's science experiment, but I thought it was neat how they matched my purse.

When the Ladies were younger, that shade of pink was their favorite one in the Prismacolor pencil box. I think it was called "Process Red," which is an unfortunate name for a color that is so happy. In Copic-speak, it is "RV17 - Deep Magenta," and is really close to being SU "Melon Mambo." I'm not sure those are happy names either.




I made these last night. They are little 3x5 notebooks (the one on the left is from Target, and the one on the right is from Walgreens). I just Mod-Podged some BG "Curio" paper on them, and let them dry overnight.

Anastasia needed the one on the right to use as a "Dibs Book." That's where you write the name of all the guys you think are cute. I think there are some other rules for Dibs-ing, but they get kind of complicated, so I won't write them out now.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Nuttin'....


....absolutely nothing got done today, and my desk has a pile of paperwork on it. Ziggy's allergies seemed really bad this morning, so I thought I'd drop off some Zyrtec and eye drops at his school. I managed to see him in the lunch room, and he looked awful. The lunch aide looked at him and said, "That looks like pink eye!" Fortunately, the Health Center is across the hall from the Lunchroom, and we immediately went there. Long story short: he's home tonight with eye drops and a new nasal spray. Poor guy, the school campus is absolutely beautiful with the billion blossoming trees and spacious green grass, it just makes him sneeze all the time.



This weekend wasn't too bad though: We went to Goodwill , and I managed to find this pack of coasters for $1.99 !!!

I am super excited, as I was wanting to work with coaster board. I've been using the ones from Michael's, which are cardboard and a bit too thick. And I have made some from thick Costco boxes. I was about to order some actual coasters from some company back east, but they only sell in lots of 1000, and that's a bit too much, me thinks.

Anyways, these should do me fine for a spell, and if I don't alter them, they aren't too ugly to use...maybe.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Ladybugs & Lemon Bars


Pippin helped me with today's photos...basically, she sat in my sunshine, but that's kind of her talent.

Anyways, I made these over the weekend, using a fab tutorial by Dawn. The ladybugs are made with scalloped circles and are so cute!


This afternoon, I made some lemon bars with this recipe . I was going to take a picture of them, but we ate them all! I can't believe it...the recipe makes a 9x13 pan of bars, but we managed to scarf it all down in one sitting. They were so good and I will be making these again. Such a fresh taste that makes your mouth happy!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Easter Baskets


Angie showed us how to make the cutest little baskets out of 6x6 paper. They are 3" x 3" x 1.5".


I didn't have any bunny or chick stamps, so I used Tommy Turtle. I like it, but I needed a basket that had taller sides so that the Georges could use them to collect eggs or candy or Chuck E. Cheese tokens.

I did some fiddling with the measurements and made a taller basket. Then I found a cute chick stamp in the dollar bin at Craft Warehouse.
This basket is 3" x 3" x 2", which will suit the Georges just fine. I colored some with my Copics.

And I colored some with my Twinkling H2Os, for some shimmery fun.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Card Class


Tuesday night was Card Class and the theme was "vellum." Leslie showed us how to make cute vellum luminaries for electric tealights. I didn't finish mine yet, so I can't post a photo.

I did bring other vellum ideas, though. The first two are from Nicole Heady:



Stamp design on back side of vellum with Versamark, then emboss with white EP. Sponge ink on design, and wipe of excess. The sentiment is stamped on front of vellum with Stazon.


Stamp image on back of vellum with Hawaiian Shores ink (PTI). Adhere it to card base with Scor-tape. The glitter strips are made by putting 1/8" Scor-tape on either side of colored cardstock, then sprinkling glitter on it.

I messed up on my first vellum background, so I decided to use it to make a flower embellishment. I cut out the shape using my (favorite) Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. The center is a Making Memories gem brad.

My third card used a pattern from Paper Crafts magazine. I cut the apron shape from vellum, then ran it through my Big Shot with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Finished pressure washing the driveway and sidewalk today! My arm is killing me, but IT IS DONE!!!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Yesterday

We had some sun! Jenifer loaned us her pressure washer, and it is awesome. I so {heart} this thing! On the left of the picture is before cleaned, and on the right is AFTER

Seriously, our driveway was black and now is gray with black. Driveways out here in the Northwest get that way, and it is not unusual to see people out cleaning their driveways.

I am a bit sore today, though.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Cards for Robin


Just sent a batch of cards to Robin. I had a lot of fun making these, because the colors were so Spring-like.


Some of the designer paper is from last year. I remember buying it, and making sure I had matching cardstock, but I seriously can't remember what I intended to make with it. I hate it when I do that.


Stampin' Up! had a cute set that I had to get. The silhouette of the girl reminded me so much of my Ladies when they were younger and every day was a sparkly rainbow tea party.
Thought I'd throw in some generic Easter cards for Robin, too. I love these egg images.

Now, I love blossoming branches, and they do remind me of Spring. But I like images of these branches more than the real thing. The trees are blooming like crazy now, and my allergies are just awful. Poor Ziggy has puffy eyes and a sore on his eyelid from rubbing it too much. Peebs has been rubbing his eyes, too.

Tonight is pizza night, so I'd better get busy and find out what kind to get...Caesar's, Papa Murphy's, Costco, Round Table?

Thursday, March 31, 2011

90% of real crafters make real messes....



Well, here it is: where I craft. I guess it might look messy to some people. Like my friend, who peeked in, then said: "Hmm, I could never stand having open shelves like that!"

It doesn't really bother me.



This is the cleanest that my craft table will ever look.

All I really care about is that my paper cutter has no gunk on it, and that my craft mats have no grimy residue from that last craft project.


The Random Shelf holds random stuff: tape, new ribbons, sanding blocks, a new punch that doesn't fit in the punch drawer, and a couple of keychains (!).



My desk is about the same as the craft table, but I'm happy with it. I can sit in my pink chair, and do my stuff. Usually, one of the dogs will be sleeping in their cage.

The shelf does need a bit of reorganizing, but I never seem to get around to it.

On the weekends, it's a little more tidy, because the calendar & homeschool stuff isn't on there. But the coffee mug is usually there.


And there is a Random Shelf above my desk, too. It holds important things like glitter, ribbons, folders from long ago, and a stuffed unicorn.


I also noticed this today...book, craft, jar of dried flowers (?) and pencil basket with stuffed unicorn...all on premium shelf space. I just don't make sense!

And this is the bit that drives my husband bonkers: my printer sitting on top of Scooby's cage (but I put a red blanket under it, so she can't mess with the electronics). He's okay with me setting my craft totes on Pippin's cage, though.

This is as clean as it gets, and if it were any tidier, I'd probably be too nervous to make anything (especially if it involved glitter).

So, no excuses. This is where I do what I do.

Thanks for stopping by!







Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Cleaning Up

Well, looks like we finally got some snow! My poor rhodies are quite confused, and I hope they don't decide to forget about giving me a pink show this year. Even the Georges were confused:
They sat at the window all morning, waiting for Santa to arrive. I don't think he came, but somehow, they got candy anyways.

I had a few minutes today between lessons, so I thought I'd put away all the Valentine craft things. Like these hearts that I started...I'll work on more of these throughout the year, because they were fun; I just need more practice.

I put all the Valentine card-making stuff away (sniff, sniff), and managed to get this card in the mail for my SIL's birthday. I used some of the "Beloved" (MME) paper and "Just the Ticket" (PTI) stamps, and a Kristina Werner layout:
I was goofing around with the inside, and Peter said it looked neato, so I kept it that way.
Now, on to the next project: making a pillow cover with yo-yos. I stitched up several yesterday during piano lessons, and a few today during Anastasia's doctor appointment. Now I just need to find a pattern for the cover.

Okay, time to go make dinner...

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day

Just a few hearty-pinky things today. Steve left for a week-long trip yesterday, so he left these for me (I think he made the card using some scraps from my wastebasket!)

New Cutterbees that I had to get, but I waited until today to use them!

And I bought a cute pink purse! Yay, Anastasia and Sophia are excited: this one replaces my Eddie Bauer gray one, which replaced my Eddie Bauer black one. They were very, um, practical and weatherproof, but not cute. I was so excited when I found this one...I'm not sure if it is totally cute, but it definitely has more color.

And I have been really enjoying my heart Nesties! I used them here to decorate the ribbon on a vase of flowers for my friend:

I made Ziggy a heart-shaped card, super-quick. And George made me some pink hearts, too.

I have to show a card...this one is Kristina Werner's design, I just swapped the colors, and followed her video tutorial (it is so much fun!):

And the heart garland...well, I was going to sew the felt hearts to a crocheted chain. So I crocheted a long chain, and after sewing on 3 or 4 hearts, I realized that I really had no place to hang a garland (!). So, this morning, I cut off the hearts and undid the chain, and just placed the guys on the foyer's sideboard:
Lousy photo, but there is no sun outside today, so there you go. Think I'll leave these guys up a while, because hearts are so cheery.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Heart Stuff


It must be close to Valentine's Day, because look what Anastasia found in the potato chip bag:

I bet that Nick Jonas put it in there just for her!!!

Today's card is a "tent topper" card, made with the little mouse from "Happy Heart Day" (Stampin' Up! ). I bought this set off of Ebay last month, and even though it is a retired set I still think it is cute, and not too outdated :)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Pink Stuff

Just in a girly mood today, I guess, but I felt like posting pink things. Here is Pippin, all snuggled on the laundry pile.

I made these cute boxes using a video tutorial by Angie. I used some old K&Co. Berrylicious paper, and unknown SU pink color (I bought it at Goodwill, and it had no name on it). The flowers were made with my favorite Tim Holtz "Tattered Florals" die (I love this die!). The sentiment is from Lockhart.

These boxes are about 3 x 3 on the top, and are a good size for treats, or...

...just the right size for some music flash cards! Peter is so thrilled to have them stored in there.