Learning to Embroider & Making Scarves

Since I've been in the midst of yet another papercrafting creative slump and the guys have been playing video games all day I took the opportunity to play in other crafting ways.  Today I broke out the embroidery machine that my dh bought me for Christmas and decided to see how well it would embroider on sweaters.  I was very pleased with the outcome and decided to turn my play pretties in to one of my upcycled sweater scarves.

 

Don't you just love these adorable snowmen marshmallows?  I absolutely fell in love with them the moment I saw them so I had to buy the designs from Julia's Needle Designs here.  Of course seeing how well these turned out I know that I'll have to do some more but after making seven different upcycled scarves today (not all embroidered) that will have to wait for another day.

Don't get me wrong, making these scarves is easy as all get out.  Just cut a few squares and rectangles, serge them all together to your desired length, then back with a piece of flannel and boom - DONE.  Seriously, what could be easier?  And I get compliments on them all the time.  Of course the hard part comes from finding great sweaters at the thrift store.  But, if you're lucky like me you have a great one close by that sells their clothes dirt cheap.  And by cheap I mean yard sale cheap - not like some of these chain thrift stores that want almost new prices.  But I digress.....

 

....and since tomorrow is another glorious day off for us, I have a feeling that the guys will be back to their video games - and that means I'll have more crafting time.......just one of the many things I love about a long, holiday weekend. 

 

Hmmmm, wonder what I'll craft up tomorrow?

December Celebration Project Book

Happy Friday and four days till Christmas......Today is the start of a brand new challenge at

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges where we are celebrating.  This week was a kind of anything goes week in that we created any type of celebration project we desired.  As you can see I stayed with a Christmas theme and created a journal of sorts.



 

 For this project I used my Bind it All and my Cricut.

The covers for my journal are the pre-made 6" square chipboard covers  that I cut down to 5" x 5 1/2". I then cut 6" squares from the cover papers and then folded over the edges and added a solid red square to complete the inside cover. The journal pages are all white with the exception of the two 'divider' pages.  (Now that I think about it I should have added some verbiage on a few of the pages to help liven it up and get the journaler thinking. Hmmmmm, I'll have to do that next time.  ;o) )

 

Instead of adding a tab to the divider pages I chose to make a tag using the Christmas Cheer cartridge and added a ribbon to act as the tab.

 

The Santa on the cover was cut from Simply Charmed. I flocked his hat and coat and embossed his beard and hair.

And now that you've seen my project be sure to check out all of the other wonderfully done celebration projects our team created for you this week.  Then after you've been amply inspired, create your own, link up and play along with us. Our Sponsor for this week's challenge is

Cardz TV Stamps

http://www.cardztvstamps.blogspot.com/

Prize: 1 Stamp Set of the Winner's Choice

Here's my project for this challenge:

Come play with us!

...

Santa's Coming Gift Bag

So what do you do when you have a small gift that needs 'special' wrapping?  Why create your own wrapping of course!  And so for those small gifts that need giving I have created my gift bag with tag all in one.

 

For this project I used TBBM, Simply Charmed and a few scraps from my handy dandy scrap drawers.  (This my friends is why I never throw my scraps away.)

 

I cut the 'shopping bag' from TBBM stretching the cut so that it was 11 1/2" long and a little over 6" high.

My Santa and Chimney are from Simply Charmed. The chimney was cut at 4 3/4" and Santa was cut at 4".

To create the chimney I embossed the bricks and then inked over them with fire brick red distressed ink. The snow cut was covered with MS snow glitter. 

To create Santa I embossed his beard/hair and flocked his hat and coat. The gift tag in his hand was cut from TBBM at 1" with the words "For You" printed on the tag.

 

Oh and wait, it gets better.  You ready for this?  I made this one so that Santa can "go down the chimney".....

 

All I did was pop dot the chimney to the front of the gift bag thus leaving room for Santa.  Pretty nifty 'eh?  lol

 

 

 

Checking His List Clock

I so wish I had more time to sit in my craft room and craft - especially since this is my favorite time of year.  But with life being so crazy I am finding that that seems to not be allowed right now.  And so today I'm pulling one of my old Christmas projects out from 2010, dusting it off and re-sharing it with you today.

 

I love buying those inexpensive clocks from Walmart and altering them to turn them in to specialized gifts.  And this is one that I did just for Christmas. 

 

For this one I used:

 

Christmas Greetings for all of my cuts.  The reindeer were cut at 1 1/2" and Santa was cut at 3 1/2". I also flocked Santa's beard, moustache, boots and mitten. The brim of his hat was done using flower soft and I embossed his handy, dandy list. 

If you haven't altered a clock before you should give it a try.  And if you aren't sure how to start I have a tutorial that you can download.  On the right hand side of my page there's a link that says tutorials and cut files.  Click on the scrappin' box and then click on the altered clock and it will download a pdf file complete with instructions.......have fun! 

Santa Toilet Paper Cover

 

After making a couple of snowman TP covers I just knew there had to be a way to turn this adorable pattern I found on Brenda's (aka Loom Lady) blog  into a Santa.  So after much thought I sat down this past week, gave it a whirl and this was the end result.  Now I must say that I'm pretty pleased with the outcome and just absolutely ecstatic that he turned out so stinkin' cute.

 

So how did I do this you ask?  Well first you need to download the snowman TP cozy pattern here.  Using a red yarn (I used Lion Brand Homespun) follow the directions for the body.  After creating the 'brim' do a color change and follow the directions for the head using a flesh tone yarn.

 

To create Santa's beard I used a white boa (single strand) and on the front portion of the face I stitched a take on the lazy daisy embroidery stitch.  I did this stitch on every row from the color change to almost half way up the face. 

 

Santa's eyes are nothing more than 15 mm animal eyes that I found in my stash since I couldn't find matching buttons in the size I wanted.

 

For Santa's belt and buckle I used a black ribbon from my stash and created the buckle using a scrap piece of plastic canvas and a gold metallic cord to stitch it up.

 

For Santa's hat I e-wrap cast on the red knifty knitter 31 peg loom using a single strand of boa and a single strand of 4 ply white yarn.  I did an e-wrap knit for 8 rows, made a brim and then did a color change with a single strand of red eyelash and a single strand of 4 ply red yarn.  Continue to e-wrap knit in the round for 10 rows.

 

At this point I started to do a decrease on each side and knit in a flat panel.  So what you do is create your decrease on each side, e-wrap knit in the flat panel style for two rows, do another decrease on both sides of the row, e-wrap knit for two rows and repeat until you have 11 pegs left with loops remaining.  Continue to e-wrap knit until your hat is the desired length and then do a drawstring cast off.  Now stitch the sides up together, add a pom pom and viola!

Blue and White Hot Chocolate Mug

Happy Friday everyone and welcome to this week's Blue and White challenge hosted by Pause, Dream, Enjoy.  As you can tell by the name of our challenge this week's directive was to create a project using the colors blue and white.  And as you can see I cheated a little bit and added a pop of red to mine.  In true fashion with my busy life right now I did it without thinking but the gracious hostess that Janis is she told me I was okay.  lol

 

Now I have to admit that during this time of year I love making these hot chocolate mug holders.  They are such a quick and easy gift to make for teachers, bus drivers, co-workers and whoever else is on your list.  That said, for this mug holder I used:

 

Everyday Pop Up Cards and George for the mug.  I welded two of the mug shapes together and then used George to create the slit for the hot chocolate packet to slide into.

 

Joys of the Season for the polar bear.

 

And now that you've seen my project be sure to create your own card, layout, mini album, gift packaging, etc. using blue and white.  Then link up and play along with us for a chance to win a prize from this week's sponsor.

 

Need some more inspiration first.  Check out the other awesome projects created by our design team.

 

Oh, and this week's sponsor is

 

Mark's Finest Papers & Stamps
Prize: Train Talk Stamp Set

Come play with us!
...

Tis The Season

Can you believe that it is already December?  This year has been flying by so quickly.  I honestly cannot believe that it is time to put up the tree (done last weekend), get Christmas cards mailed (did mine two days ago), and wait for Santa to come.  Of course it doesn't help that our weather here in Florida is still hitting the low to mid 70's for a high......

 

But I digress.  Today I have a card to share with you that was created for the Cricut Cardz Challenge over at Cardz TV.  Now this will be our last challenge for the 2012 calendar year, but we will back with more fun in January.  For today though our directive was to make a Christmas or Hanukkah card using the card feature from any cartridge we desired. 

 

For my card I chose to use:

 

The card feature from Quilted Christmas - this cartridge has a ton of beautiful cuts

 

The sentiment on my card is from Jolly Holidays - this cartridge quickly became one of my favorites last year when I purchased it

 

And now that you've seen my take on this week's challenge be sure to check out all of the other wonderful designs our team created for you this week.  Then create your own, link up and play along with us.  The best part is if you still have Christmas cards to make this challenge is perfect for any inspiration you might need...........

Baby New Year

Happy Friday everyone and welcome to another Pause, Dream, Enjoy challenge where anything goes this week!  So while you're still getting over all that Thanksgiving bounty you stuffed yourself with yesterday why not take a moment to create a project and play along with us.

 

For my project I used this wonderful baby new year cut from the Seasonal Characters digital cartridge I found a couple weeks ago.  Isn't he just the cutest?  And I can think of a few other ways to use him as well.....

 

This week our sponsor for the challenge is:

 

Cardz TV Stamps

http://www.cardztvstamps.blogspot.com/

Prize: 1 Stamp Set of the Winner's Choice

 

And now that you've seen my design for this challenge and you know who our sponsor is hop on over to Pause, Dream, Enjoy and check out all the other awesome designs our team created.  Then after you've been amply inspired, create your own and....

Come play with us!

...

How Beautiful it is.....

.....to do nothing, and then to rest afterward......or so goes the Spanish Proverb. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope that you are having a wondeful day with your loved ones today.  I'd love to share a card with you that's all about "chill-axing" as some of my children would say.

I used the Wild Cards 2 for all my cuts; however, I decided that I didn't want to use the card base so I created my own.  What do you think?  I'm thinking that I'm going to have to look in to using this cartridge more because the more I look at it the more great cuts I see.

Speaking of Christmas....

....it is coming fast.  No creeping up on us this year.  And today I'd like to share a card that I created for the Speaking of Christmas DT challenge for the Cricut Cardz Challenge.  This week our directive was to create a Christmas card using any cartridge and colors we wanted; however, we had to use a Christmas phrase.

 

For my card, I used:

 

Create a Critter 2 for the Ho, ho, ho phrase cut at 2"

 

Seasonal Characters for my Santa cut at 4"

 

I was so excited to find this awesome digital download when Cricut had their digital cuts on sale for 30% off a couple weeks or so ago. 

 

And now that you've seen my card for this week's challenge be sure to check out all the other great designs our team created.  Then create your own, link up, share and play along with us.  I can't wait to see what you create.

Georgia Bulldogs Coffee Sleeves

I haven't been able to get much done in the way of papercrafting lately but this coming week is the week for challenges so be on the look-out for some new designs.

 

In the meantime, I have been working on special orders and gifts that I need to complete.  Today's post is an order that I made for one of my husband's co-workers this week.  And just in case you didn't notice he's a GA fan. 

 

After seeing the Auburn sleeve I had made for my husband's coffee cups his co-worker asked if I could make some for GA.  Well of course I can and with finding the fabric on sale at Joann's this past week it made it all the nicer.

 

And now that this one is complete it's time to get back to finishing the Alabama hats and scarves I started.  I'm down to just one hat now.....

Roll Tide - Hat and Scarf Set

As we draw near to Christmas I have started working on some gifts that I really need to get completed.  First up is a hat and scarf set for one of my sister's-in-law.

 

I knitted these on my loom using the Red Heart Team Spirit yarn but I also wanted to try to jazz them up a bit.  At first I wasn't sure about how to do it and then out of nowhere the thought hit me to try making fabric yoyo's from some leftover collegiate fabric I had.  Off the 'net I went in search of how to make these yoyo's but alas it was not to be.  I just couldn't get it right. ..............  Then I found where I could purchase a tool for making them at Joann's.  And not only that but they came in different sizes!  Talk about being in heaven.....

 

After making a few yoyo's in different sizes I sewed them on to my scarf and hat so as to make them a little more "official".  Oh, and I was lucky enough to find some elephant buttons which I sewed in the middle of the yoyo on my hat.  How awesome is that?  Now if I could just find buttons like that for other team mascots........

Food & Beverage Challenge Recipe Page

Happy Friday everyone and welcome to our food and beverage challenge, brought to you by Pause, Dream Enjoy! Our directive for this challenge was to create any type of project featuring food and/or beverages.  As you can tell I chose to feature food in the form of a recipe page spotlighting one of my family's favorite cold weather soups.  (I admit we make this year round though.)

 

For this recipe page (which I have created a couple variations of because I LOVE this little pig face) I used:

 

Animal Kingdom for the pig

Graphically Speaking for the arrow

From My Kitchen for the recipe card

 

And now that you've seen my project for this week's challenge, pop on over to PDE and check out all the other exciting projects our team created for you this week.  Then after  you've oohed and aahed, create one of your own and link up for your chances to win 3 digis of your choice from this week's sponsor

 

Fresh Brewed Designs

http://freshbreweddesigns.com/

Prize: 3 digis of the winner's choice

Enter your project below!
...

Birthday Circus

Happy Thursday, and two weeks until Thanksgiving everyone.  Today I'd like to share my project for the Just a Scrappin DT challenge.  This week we were directed to make a card using stripes and Autumn colors - only I somehow glossed over the Autumn part so my profuse apologies.  Although I guess some of my colors are autumnal - maybe?  I mean, there are oranges and greens......okay, I tried.  lol

 

Anyhow, for this card I used:

 

Zooballoo for my giraffe, elephant and Happy Birthday

 

Paper Doll Dress Up for the Circus tent

 

This was a quick, easy card and fun to play with since using various printed paper can yield so many spectacular results.

 

Now that you have seen my take on this week's challenge hop on over to Just a Scrappin to check out the other great designs our team has put together for you.  Then create your own, link up and play along with us.  I'd love to see what you come up with.

Attitude of Gratitude Challenge

Happy Wednesday everyone and welcome to another Cricut Cardz Challenge.  This week we are making Thanksgiving cards with any cartridges/colors we want...........

 

..........and since I loved the way this one turned out years ago when I made it I decided to do a little re-make.  Don't you ever feel like doing that sometimes?  That's why I tend to save all of my cut files - I have 100's of them sitting in my folders and every so often when my brain is stumped for a design I reach in to my old bag and do a re-make.

 

So for this card I used the Designer's Calendar for all of my cuts.  I created the calendar using Microsoft Word (tables and word art can be great things lol).  Put them together and you get this wonderful little Thanksgiving card.

 

And now that you've seen my design for this week's challenge be sure to hop on over to Cardz TV to check out all of the other awesome projects our team created for you this week.  Then create your own, link up and play along with us........C'mon, you know you want to.

Teddy Bear Blog Hop Candy Winner

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments during the Teddy Bear Blog Hop.  As promised, we have a blog candy winner, and that is..................

 

Kathy who said...

 

"This turkey is so darn cute. Love it! One of the things I am thankful for this year is my family. I am so blessed! Thanks for the chance to win.
Hugs,
Kathy"

Congratulations Kathy, please send me an email at Barbara@SpotofSanity.com with your mailing information and will get your prize out in the mail. 

It's All About the Bears - Day 2

Happy Sunday everyone.  I hope that extra hour of sleep has found you well rested today because we are on day 2 of our Teddy Bear Parade Blog Hop.  So if you having begun your jouney with my blog, please take a moment to start at the beginning of our hop with Janis of Pause Dream Enjoy.

If you came here from Suzanne's blog, Zannie Berry you're in the right place! Before you begin please keep in mind that some of our Parade hoppers were affected by Hurricane Sandy and therefore are without power.  So if you land on a blog that does not showcase a project please come back here so you can move on to the next stop on the list.

 

For my Teddy Bear project I chose the turkey cut.  Now my original idea was to do a cute little card where the turkey is disguised and tells you to eat more pork, chicken and beef.  But as I started putting the card together I had one of those V8 moments because it finally dawned on me that this was a bear dressed like a turkey and not the other way around.  Talk about DUH!  So instead I opted for this beautiful Autumn paper as my cute little turkey's backdrop.

 

And now that you have checked out my project for this fabulous blog hop, your next stop along the Teddy Bear trail is with Sandra at 365 Days of Cricut.

And if you'd like to start at the beginning of our hop and go to the end OR  in case you get lost along the way here is out entire lineup:

 

DAY 1: Saturday, November 3rd

1. Janis ~ Pause Dream Enjoy

2. Lucy ~ Love to Create

3. Sheree ~ Boots and Bling Time

4. Laura W.~ Scrappinsweetie's Escape

5. Tara Barnes Bruening ~ Craftin Desert Diva's

6. Tracy Matos ~ Tracy's Cricut Corner

7.Sharon ~ Mee Mees Creations

8. Kathi ~ Kards By Kathi

9. Mary ~ Cardz TV

10.Michelle ~ Purple Monkey Moments

11. Elaine ~ Expressions by Elaine

DAY 2: Sunday, November 4th

1. Lucy ~ Love to Create

2. Michelle ~ Purple Monkey Moments

3. Candice ~ Stampin' Pearls with Candice

4. Sarah ~ Sarah's Stamping and Stuff

Suzanne - Zannie Berry

Barbara - Spot of Sanity - You're here

7. Sandra - 365 Days of Cricut

8. Cathy ~ Crafing with Mimi

9. Sharon ~ Mee Mees Creations

10. Julie ~ Cricut Chick

DAY 3: Monday, November 5th

1. Lucy ~ Love to Create

2. Crazy About Cricut

3. Melissa ~ Moe Creations

4. Gloria ~ Girlia's Cards

5. Sarah ~ Sarah's Stamping and Stuff

6. Robin L. ~ Create A Lattee

7. Sandy S. ~ Simply Crafty Creations by Sandy

8. Rachelle ~ Creations by Rachelle

9. Sharon ~ Mee Mees Creations

10. Michelle ~ Purple Monkey Moments

11. Jessi ~ My Life in Arts n' Crafts

 

 

So what are you waiting for?  Start hopping and enjoy your trip along the Teddy Bear Parade. 

But before you go, how about some blog candy?  Up for grabs is a pack of SEI die cut accents and brad pack from their desert springs line, a packet of various sundries from their field notes line and a chalk ink block.  All you have to do is leave a comment telling me one thing that you are thankful for as we approach Thanksgiving.  Comments must be received by midnight Monday as I will chose a winner using random.org and post the winner on Tuesday morning.  So be sure to check back here on Tuesday to see if you are the lucky winner.

I Want Candy......

.....candy corn that is.....it's time for a candylicious challenge brought to you from Pause Dream Enjoy.  This is such a fun and easy challenge this week so I know that you won't have any trouble being amply inspired and playing along with us.  All  you have to do is make a project using candy.......see I told you.  Easy.

For my card, I used Mini Monsters for my candy corn girl die cut at 1 12"

 

My rosette was created by cutting a strip 9" x 1 1/2" paper (Tim Coffey - I want candy).  After cutting the strip I punched down the full length with my Martha Stewart drippy goo punch.  I then laid this on my score board, scored at every other score line and folded the strip accordian style. Once complete I adhered the two ends together, pushed the center of the 'circle' down and adhered a small square to the center of the circle to hold it in place. (I did this on both sides)

 

On the inside of my card I adhered pieces of candy corn that I also cut from the I want candy paper.  And now that you've seen my project hop on over to Pause Dream Enjoy to check out all the other fabulous projects our DT created for you this week.  But first let me give you a few more details about this week's challenge.......

 

Starts: Friday, October 26th 12:00 am EST

Ends: Thursday, November 1st, Noon EST

Winner (chosen by random.org) Announced: Thursday, November 1st late afternoon

Our Sponsor this challenge is

Cardz TV Stamps

http://www.cardztvstamps.blogspot.com/

Prize: 1 Stamp Set of the Winner's Choice

Here is my CANDY-licious project...

YOUR PROJECT HERE

Enter your project below!

...

Cheers on Me

Happy Thursday everyone and welcome to another Just A Scrappin design team challenge where this week's directive was to make a project with a cheerleader.  As I was preparing my post I realized that I had a moment of craziness and submitted the wrong picture to my DT captain thanks to my not paying attention.  So if you've come to my blog via Just a Scrappin I apologize for any confusion.

Now that that is out of the way, for this project I used:

Locker Talk for the lockers and the banner on the 'school wall'

Paper Doll Dress Up for my cheerleader (not sure why I chose orange & blue for the uniform because I am neither a Florida or Auburn fan - Roll Tide Roll)

And now that you've seen my project for this week's challenge be sure to hop on over to Just a Scrappin to check out the rest of the great projects our team created for you this week.  Then create your own cheerleader themed project, link up and play along with us.

I look forward to seeing what you create.

Cancer Stinks

Happy Wednesday everyone.  Today I have a special card to share with you.  This was made for this week's “Let's Hear it for the Girls!” Cricut Cardz Challenge where our directive was  to make a card for Breast Cancer Awareness using any cartridge(s) and colors you’d like.

Now I admit I have not lost any friends/relatives to breast cancer but I have lost loved ones to other types and still have others who are currently battling this ugly disease, including my own father who is battling three different types of cancer.  All I can say is that he is one heck of a fighter and with the loving support of my mom he's kicking tail. 

So back to my card - for this one I used:

Create a Critter for the skunk
Graphically Speaking for the comic "callout"
Stand and Salute for the ribbon in the skunk's hand

And now that you've seen my card be sure to hop on over to Cardz TV and check out all of the other great cards our DT has created for this week's challenge.  This was a tough one but every one of the ladies did an awesome job. 

When you're doing being inspired be sure to create your own, link up and play along with us.  And speaking of playing along I'm also including this card in the die cuts challenge going on over at Hiding in My Craft Room.

Hats, Hats, Hats

Only four more days until craft show time, and boy have I been a loom knitting fool.  Of course I'm still getting my paper crafting done and you'll some of those projects this week when we highlight our DT challenges starting tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have a couple of loom knitted hats to share with you that I made last night once my 3 day long headache finally broke.  I was excited to be able to complete these in one night because it put me at least one day ahead of schedule for the projects I wanted to complete for this weekend's show.

The first hat is one of the many woven top hats that I have found tend to do well in my area.  The ribbon flower was purchased from Walmart.

The second hat is one of the team spirit hats I'm giving a try at.  This style beanie sold very well for me at the last show and since I was asked about school colors I decided to give them a try.  Not only does this color scheme work for the pro and college levels but it's also the school colors for our local junior high.

Upcycled Sweater Scarves

Olive Oyl

 

I got my serger back from the sewing repair shop the other day and while I was headache free this weekend decided to sit down and put a few scarves together.  I love finding great sweaters at the thrift store (the one where I can get them for $1 each), cutting them up and piecing them back together again.  It's like creating art from puzzle pieces. 

Flower Power

Purple Crown

Pocket Scarf

After cutting out squares for an hour or so yesterday morning I sat down and found that I had cut enough to make three scarves and still have a few squares left over.  The fourth scarf was one that I had almost finished putting together when me serger died last weekend.

Now talk about a disappointment.  My serger isn't even a year old yet and it was only the second time I had sat down to play with it.  But I am grateful that the same gentleman who repaired my mom's machines growing up is still around.  He does awesome work and is very reasonably priced.  And now that it's all fixed up my serger is running better than ever........

Breast Cancer Awareness Hat & Scarf Set

Happy Friday everyone.  I wanted to pop in real quick and share with you this hat and scarf set that I made in honor of breast cancer awareness month.  I found this great ruffle yarn at Michael's last week in the perfect colors for a breast cancer awareness scarf so I couldn't resist making one of these sets.  I love how the pinks and white set up to make a beautiful ruffle scarf.  However, I wish that my camera allowed the true pink of the hat to show through. 

Oh well, we can't everything huh? 

And now it's time to get back to it.  There's so many projects to get made and only 5 more days left before I have to load and set up for my show.............

Coffee Sleeves

In between my knitting projects this week I have started making coffee sleeves in preparation for my craft show next Saturday.  These are just the beginning of what I've got cut out and going on.  After I put the first few together and saw how easy they were I talked my husband in to making a trip to Joann's for me to buy more fleece.

With mere fabric scraps and a few minutes behind the machine I'm able to whip these up quick and easy like.  And what great, inexpensive, gift giving ideas for teachers, bus drivers, co-workers, stocking stuffers, etc these will make for coffee lovers. 

Add a gift card to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts or any other coffee shop

- OR -

add a couple packets of a good instant coffee inside the little pocket

 - OR -

place the sleeve around a coffee cup and fill the cup with some KCups.

I'm sure there are ideas for how you could present these for gifts but those are the ones that come to mind first for me.

Can you think of another way to present?  I'd love to hear it.

Cold Weather is Coming....

.....I can feel it in the air.  It has after all been cooler in the mornings and evenings - at least here in the Panhandle of FL.  Of course it always comes just as we prepare for the Mullet Festival and no I'm not talking about the hair.  LOL  Mullet is a type of fish that is very abundant in our local bays and waterways and for the last 36 years we've had a festival full of great food, entertainment (this year they've got Colt Ford, Jake Owens and Kellie Pickler coming), craft and other vendors as well as rides. 

 

Cold weather also means a need for new hats and scarves and I have been busy trying to get more made up in time for my next craft show the end of this month.  In doing so I was excited to discover that I finally got the making of these ruffle scarves down to 3 hours.  That means I can crank one out in just one night!  And with only two weeks left to get it all done that means I need to get busy, busy, busy so I can have a nice variety of them finished.

 

I finished this green set over the weekend and am currently working on a purple set.  I finished the scarf last night and tonight will get the hat done while we watch the WWE.

 

So what are you working on in preparation of the cold weather?  Christmas cards?  Hats? Scarves?  Holiday decor?  I'd love to see so if you'd like to share leave me a comment with a link to your project and I'll come take a peek.  Until then............

Last of the Hot Chocolate Holders

FINALLY!  I have finished my hot chocolate mug holders that I needed to get completed for the upcoming show in a couple of weeks.  There were only 6 left to do but after making so many I started forgetting what cuts I'd already made and what ones I still wanted to make.

Enter Teddy Bear Parade............with this being a new cartridge I knew I hadn't made any with these cuts yet and went to work getting them done. 

Then I also decided to use the gingerbread from Stretch Your Imagination as well as the Santa and mitten from Simply Charmed.

And since I used scraps from my stash I'm going to enter these last holders into the Super Scraps Saturday challenge over at Hiding in My Craft Room.  If you have some scraps you should come play along......

Boo Ha Ha Ha

Happy Friday everyone!  If you're like me you can't wait for the weekend to get start so you can get cracking on all those great projects you've thought about throughout the week.  But first we have to start and end our work day.  So before we begin the work day I wanted to share with you a quick and easy card I created for this week's Pause Dream Enjoy DT challenge.  I'm also entering this one in the black, orange, and purple challenge that's going on over at Hiding in My Craft Room.

This week our directive was to create a project on which we used the word Boo.  Luckily for me I had this great chipboard tag in my stash that worked perfectly with this ever so cute Teddy Bear Parade cut.  I just cut this little guy out at 2 1/2", put him together and away I went.......I told you it was quick and easy......just what I needed this week.

Now that you've seen my creation for this week's challenge pop on over to Pause Dream Enjoy and check out all the other wonderful creations our team put together for your enjoyment and inspiration this week.  Then create your own, link up and play along with us for your chance to win

Come play with us!

...

Halloween 3D Centerpiece

I made my first one of these back in 2010 for my husband whose favorite holiday is Halloween, but with the recent Movable Monsters free cut of the week last week I wanted to create another one with an updated look. And what perfect timing with this week's Just A Scrappin challenge directive being to create a 3D halloween project.

 

Now since I already had this project laid out from a couple of years ago I started with those cuts and then added in the new ones from Movable Monsters. That said, here are all the deets......

 

Using Happy Hauntings I cut:

 

The tree at 10" out of chipboard. I then used the chipboard as a "stencil" and traced it onto foam core board and then cut it out using a craft razor knife. I then painted the tree with brown acrylic paint and shaded it using black and a lighter brown. Once the paint was dry I came back and added a coat of clear rock candy distress crackle paint.

 

The four tombstones were cut at 3" with a piece of foam core board wedged between the front and back stones to add depth.

 

 

The two vaults were created by cutting the tombstones at 4". For the depth on this I used foam tape placed between the front and back headstones (foamcore was too difficult to cut around the cross). The foot stone was created by using the bottom portion of the tombstone only. For the center of the vault I cut a piece of cardstock 3" x 2 1/2", scored at 1" and 2" - turn a quarter turn and then score at 1/4" along both ends. I then embossed the cuts using my Sizzix faded brick texture and inked with brick red distressed ink. This was then formed to fit the head and foot stones to create the vault.

 

The skeletons were cut at 4". For the backside of the skeletons flip the cuts and hide all facial contours. To make them moveable/poseable I adhered the front and back pieces together with a piece of off white quilt thread between the bones.

 

Using Movable Monsters I cut:

 

The top half of two mummy and one zombie bodies at 2". Cut one zombie body in full length. When putting the pieces together use the quilt thread (instead of brads) to make the pieces posable.

 

At the bottom half of the bodies cut a toothpick in half and glue between papers. This will enable you to insert the pieces into the foam core board.

 

Now to put it all together. I found the moss landscape mat at AC Moore in the Halloween section. For the base of my graveyard I adhered a section of the mat to a piece of foamcore board using a hot glue. The tree was glued to the center of the square. To create the graves I cut four pieces of the moss landscape, folded it in thirds gluing all edges and then hot glued them in place. I then placed my skeltons as desired, gluing the necessary sections to keep them in place. Since I did not have any of the spider webbing stuff I used fiber fill to create the webs from the tree to the vaults.