Friday, May 28, 2010

My Take on a Lamp Shade...


So when I was asked if I could decorate lamp shades, I looked into it of course! I'm always up for a new challenge and love interesting projects. I found a couple of DIY websites that had pretty much the same directions, water based acrylic paint and have fun! I used my girls new room as inspiration for this one and decorated it with everything girly, princess crowns, butterflies, ladybugs and since I love my bees, a few of those went on it as well. I heavily embellished this one, but they can be done as simple as painting a name on it or tying on a matching ribbon. I have to say I had a lot of fun making this and it will look so cute in the girls room.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Rainbow of Butterflies


I love making these cute butterflies and you can use them to decorate just about anything! I have been mostly using them in scrapbook layouts, but I put some on a couple of picture frames and I loved how they turned out. I can punch them out of any color to coordinate with the project I am working on, usually a printed or textured background and a white or light colored front. For most of them I use some glitter glue for the body to give it some sparkle and definition, it just depends on the project and what looks good at the time. For the picture frames I doubled up on the back paper to make it a little thicker to withstand some abuse. I am working on a lot of them right now for the festival in August so you will be seeing a lot more and in a variety of design in the next couple of months!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Gift Cards, Tags and Stickers... Oh My!

My dad and stepmom got me these stamps when I was about 13 years old for my birthday and can't believe I'm finally using them in a project! They are the type you stamp and color in, which I have never really been into. When I saw the idea of old fashioned looking cards and tags, I pulled these out of the drawer and wiped off the dust! I loved how they turned out in the brown ink and I even tried my hand at scuffing the edges with the ink pad. I think they turned out really cute! They even come with their own little envelope. I made some gift tags as well, so you can tie one on a gift bag and put a little card inside the present that matches. The stickers can be used to seal the envelopes or decorate a gift bag.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A Customer Thank You!


I had a custom order for 28 bees and 2 beehives a couple of weeks ago for a customer making a thank you for her childs preschool teachers. She wrote all of the kids names on the bees and the little Thank-You note on the beehives. Here is the picture of one of them she finished up and it turned out so cute!
I love all of the ideas others come up with from my little creations. Thanks Deanna!

Monday, May 24, 2010

A Little Idea I Had...


This weekend was mostly spend hanging out with the family and organizing my craft room, but I found some little picture frames along the way and got a creative spark! I painted one of them pink and added some little letters to say Princess across the bottom. I covered it with sparkle Mod Podge, then a few layers of satin finish Mod Podge for extra durability of the paint. I used my paper embellishments, a butterfly, a crown and two flowers, along with some acrylic crystals to decorate it. I love how it turned out!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Custom Crowns


I love it when someone comes up with a different way to use my little creations! I had an order yesterday for 24 pink crowns personalized with a date for a party. The customer forgot to put a date on the invitations she ordered, so these crowns will take that place. I printed the date out on the pink paper, then handpunched the crowns and put all of the tiny crystals on the top. We both loved the way they turned out and I hope they help make her invitation fun!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Little Ladybugs


My little ladybugs were the second creation in my lineup. I had just finished up a ladybug theme birthday party for my 1 year old daughter and made some up for her birthday party scrapbook page. They came out so cute and simple to make, I started creating them for a lot of my pages. I can make them in any color to match a project so I never have to run to the craft store if I run out!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Little Spots of Color: Paper Flowers


I thought I would continue today with my first scrapbook embellishment I made myself. I was contacted by a guy from the east coast last November to create a custom scrapbook for his girlfriend. What started out as an 8 page layout book turned into a 40 page masterpiece! I had just signed up to sell my crafts on Etsy.com and started looking into different company's policies about reselling their products in my own projects and a lot of them say no! I was horrified since everything I had here I needed to use for this huge project! I started by finding a paper company that graciously allows reselling their paper in crafts and went from there. Most of the sticker and embellishment companies still had a very strict Angel Policy about resale. I saw this cute little flower in a pack of 20 at the craft store I really wanted to use. It was white with a yellow center and the customer loves daisies. I came home and found a small flower punch, punched two flowers, glued them together for the 3-D effect and put a small yellow rhinestone in the center. Viola! I had my little flowers and they only cost me the price of the yellow rhinestone since I had plenty of white paper here! I was able to use them throughout this huge book and not worry about copyright laws on resale.


I was so proud of them I made them in all kind of colors and packaged them up. Within a day I had my first sale on them! Since then I have made them in every color and use them on almost all of my layouts.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

New Scrapbook Layout


So yesterday I decided to head back to where I started and create a scrapbook layout. It has been a few months since I made one (and worked on my books!) so I felt a little rusty... I decided to use my new embellishments and make one that showed what I have been trying to accomplish since I started making my own. This layout can hold up to 6 2x2 photos and 1 5x7. You can also use the small boxes for journaling . It has 4 of my butterflies, 12 of my flowers, 1 of my ladybugs and 1 paper ribbon. I left it generic so whoever it will be for can put a word or saying on it like "Princess" or "Girls Day" which was my inspiration for the page. I am going to use this layout to create a page for all of the "Girls" books I have to work on in the next few months. You know who you are, I won't forget about them!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Paper Ribbon Picture Embellishments


I had this idea on Friday love the way it turned out! In most of my scrapbook layouts I use a paper "ribbon" or just a strip of paper to lay across the bottom or side of a picture with some cute embellishment on the end, to give it a little extra touch. I figured most of the picture sizes people use in their scrapbooks are 4x6 and they usually mat their photo's as well (at least I do) so I made (2) 4 1/2" and (1) 6 1/2" paper strip with some of my cute little flowers at the end and packaged them up so anyone can use them in their books. I also added 6 extra flowers to the package for a little extra decoration on the page. I have made two different packages with pretty generic colors so you can use them on plain or patterned paper. Check out the gallery for more ways to use them!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Watermelon Embellishments


I created these cute little watermelons as part of my Summer Picnic package. I liked them so much I had to package them up by themselves. They are cut from textured cardstock, pieced together and decorated with rhinestone "seeds" for some sparkle. They are a good size of 3"x1 1/2" and I thought they would look really cute by themselves on a summer theme scrapbook layout or a single one on card.

My New Product Packaging


Well it took me a little while to perfect my product packaging, I couldn't decide on a logo or the wording. When I finally did, my printer decided to print either slightly too high or to the right! After many wasted pieces of paper and ink, I finally have the perfect template and can package my stuff with a nice professional look! I was very happy with the way it turned out.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

My obsession with bees...


I don't know what it is with me lately, but I have had this bee making obsession. Any type of design I come up with has something to do with a bee! Maybe it's the nest being built outside my craft room window, or just summer approching, who knows? Well my latest project has been a few weeks in the making while I have been looking for the perfect paper to print them on. They are 1" bee stickers covered with a clear epoxy bubble to make them 3-D on the paper. When the backing is peeled off you can see the bee on your background, not a white circle. I designed this little bee guy myself and I have to say I love him! He will be used again I guarantee!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Summer Fun!


I am very excited to say I have been accepted as a vendor at the Sumner Arts Festival! It runs Friday August 6th and Saturday August 7th. I will be there, hopefully with some help from my sister since I will be 3 weeks from my due date, selling my scrapbooking items, greeting cards, gift tags, stickers, and anything else I come up with by then! There are over 100 booths with different types of art so there will be something for everyone to check out. My cousin Amy is in charge of the Youth Activities and there will be a lot of things for kids to do as well. I am so excited and I hope everyone gets a chance to come down and check it out!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day


Well I hope everyone had as wonderful of a day yesterday that I did. I woke up to my husband and my 2 year old kissing me on the cheek saying "Happy Mommy's Day!" It was precious! We visited my mother-in-law then went flower shopping with my mom, sister and our 3 little girls. My 2 year old daughter was very helpful picking out flowers, but my 16 month old daughter and my 19 month old niece just wanted to run around and pull the tags out of the pots! Needless to say our trip was a short, but fun one. We had lunch at my fav Italian restaurant and headed home to plant my new flowers. A very fun and relaxing day.

A few days ago my girls and I made some plantable paper, so for the Mother's Day gifts I made cards and gave it to them in a terra cotta pot decorated with a ribbon, so they could read their card then plant it! They turned out really cute and very simple to make. While making the paper, I put some of the paper pulp into a cookie cutter shaped like a tulip and let it dry. I used some foam dots to attach it to the inside of a tri-fold paper card, wrote our message inside along with planting instructions. I punched two holes in the front, put some eyelets in for decoration, then tied it off with a ribbon. I stamped a cute Mother's Day greeting on the front and put the card in the terra cotta pot. It was a big hit and the mom's couldn't wait to plant their gifts. Of course I made one for myself to test out so we will see how well they grow. The seeds I used are African Daisies and the package says 7-10 days germination, so hopefully by next week we will have some sprouts!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Plantable Mother's Day Cards


So for Mother's Day I decided to do something a little different (and cost effective) by making my own plantable paper for cards. They can look at the card then plant them in a small pot to grow flowers. Cute huh? I found these instructions on ehow.com. From what I have read on various sites you can use any type of small seed although wildflower seeds are the most popular. I tried daisies so we'll see if it works out when they are planted! Here are the instructions in case anyone wanted to try it. The girls and I had a lot of fun doing it!

Step 1
Collect a large pile of paper and tear it into very small pieces (I used junk mail and my paper shreddder). Place the pieces in the blender jar. Fill the blender jar one-half to one-third full.

Step 2
Pour warm water into the blender jar over the pieces of paper. Fill the blender to the top line with warm water. Turn the blender on low for about 10 seconds. Increase the speed (or use the "Blend" button) for about 30 seconds or until no visible paper flakes remain.

Step 3
Sprinkle one-half to a teaspoon of flower seeds into the mixture and stir well (do not blend). Set the strainer on a cup or bowl and pour the mixture into the strainer. Use the spoon or spatula to press the mixture against the strainer and squeeze out more water.

Step 4
Lay the piece of flannel or felt onto a flat surface and dump the mixture onto the fabric. Use the spoon or spatula to spread it out on the fabric into the shape you want. Spread it as thin as you can so that it will dry quicker.

Step 5
Use the sponge to flatten the mixture and absorb more of the water from the paper mixture. Press firmly with the terry cloth or microfiber towel to absorb still more water.

Step 6
Allow the paper to dry on the top and then turn it over. Allow the other side to dry completely. Use the paper to make a note card or postcard. Include instructions for your recipient, letting them know that they can plant the paper directly into the ground or soil in a pot.

Have Fun!!

Thursday, May 6, 2010









You know when you just can't find the right little piece of decoration for your scrapbook page. Even going through all of the craft shop's numerous aisles and bins, I got so frustrated. I am very particular when it comes to matching papers and embellishments so I figured why not make my own. I started out with a few little butterflies to put on a page for my daughters scrapbook, then I came up with the ladybugs and flowers. That's how my Pastel Spring Embellishment line came about. When I needed a little darker colors for the upcoming summer season, I changed them up a bit with some textured and primary colored paper for the fruit and bugs. Now that I have a pattern of all of my little lines I can do any color to match the project I am working on. All of my embellishments are handpunched (not die-cut) and assembled by me. I love the little crystal rhinestones so almost every piece has some on it to give it that Enchanted sparkle!

I love coming up with new ideas and look forward to sharing all of my upcoming projects!



Getting ready...




I have been working my tail off getting things together to put up on my Etsy site. Also I hope to be part of the Sumner Arts Festival this year! Check out my latest creations...