Frog Flower Pot Holder

Can you believe that today is the last day of January already?  Time is just flying by.  Of course that makes me happy because it means spring is just around the corner and that means it's time to plant and garden veggies and flowers!  Not only that it means WARMTH!  

So in the spirit of gardening and all things warm and spring-y I wanted to share this cute little flower pot holder I made from plastic canvas.  I thought this frog and his little fly buzzing around was just too cute.  

Now for those of you that stitch plastic canvas like me this pattern is from an out of print book called Clay Pot Huggies by Kathy Wirth.  If you do a search you can probably find a copy on ebay or Amazon though.  That's how I found mine....

Love Notes

Happy Wednesday everyone and welcome to another installment of Cricut Cardz Challenges.  This week it's all about Valentine's Day.  So grab your Cricut and create a round or square Valentine’s card using the card feature from any cartridge(s).  

But before you do I'd like to share my card with you.  This week I chose to use the Wild Card 2 cartridge.  I love this cartridge; however, I have not used it very much.  That being said I thought this particular cut was perfect for this week's challenge.  

Using a scrap of valentine themed paper I cut my lines and squiggly for the card and added a few hearts.  On the inside I chose to 'decorate' using a paper heart doily and a Valentine's themed sticker from my stash.  

Easy, quick and still a great card.  And now that you've seen my card for this week's challenge be sure to hop on over to Cardz TV to check out the awesome creations the rest of our team put together for you.  Then create your own card, link up and play along with us.

We look forward to seeing what you create.

Slouchy Beanie

I haven't really loom knitted in a while but having been the lucky recipient of an advanced copy of the new Loom Knitting for Mommy and Me book I had to get back at it.  Of course I had to start with something simple so I could kinda get my groove back and good thing too since I felt like an idiot having forgotten some of my simple stitches.  Geesh..........

But I finally got my first project done - with a slight modification.  I love Jeannie Thompson Phillips flat drawstring bind off so much that I HAD to use it instead of the gathered bind off called for in the pattern.  Sorry Kathy.

Now I just need to find a good scarf pattern to compliment the beanie.  Don't you just love this yarn color?  It's the Loops & Thread Impeccable in "Holland".

Beary Cupid Valentine

It's been a little while since I pulled out my Teddy Bear Parade cartridge so this weekend I decided it was time to break it out for a Valentine's Day card.  For this one  I cut my little cupid at 2.5" and spotlighted him by cutting triangles in a circular fashion, peeling them back and adhereing with some foam dots.

On the inside I used this great sentiment that I downloaded from PaperCrafts Magazine. 

There are several to choose from so you should go check it out.

Man's Best Friend

Happy Wednesday everyone.  It's the middle of the week and that means we're just that much closer to the weekend and for me that means I'll actually be able to do some more crafting this weekend.  WooHoo!!  But before that happens I'd like to share a fun project with you that is perfect for showcasing pictures of your furry friends, or whatever you'd like to showcase.  Just pick a theme and have fun.

This project was inspired by one I saw in Flip, Spin & Play from the Editors of Memory Makers books. Using a bit of foam core board, a slinky and regular paper crafting items it was project in the making and I love the end results.

For the cuts on my frame I used the Paper Pups cartridge cutting the pups on the outside at 2 1/2" and the ones on the inside at 1 3/4". I also used the Graphically Speaking cartridge for the man's best friend phrase.

Here you can get a peek and how things are put together.  Each end of the slinky is poked into the foam core board and twisted in just enough to ensure it's stable and stays put.  The the pictures are "fastened" in place by using a scrap piece and a glue dot with a ring of slinky between the two.

Oh and to make it stand I took one of the picture frame 'stands' that I didn't need off one of the pictures that hang on the wall.

Post-It Memo Purses

You know how the office supply stores have all these great "fashionable" ways to house your supplies like high heel tape dispensers and purse post-it holders for the accordian style pads?  Well today I want to share with a couple of the purse holders I made for post-its using plastic canvas.

Using a couple patterns from the Mini Memo Purses book and a few glass beads these homemade covers made up fashionably nice.

I'm really loving the way this beach scene cover turned out.  Of course I'm kinda partial since I live in the Panhandle of Florida where the beach is basically my back yard.  

Then there's also this one, with it's big, bright yellow flower spreading some cheer.

Or how about this cute little plaid cover in pink and yellow?  What I really like about this one is how the flower buttons up top help to set the tone and pull the colors of the purse together with the handle. 

I just wish that I had been able to snap some better pics for you as these just don't do justice to the purses.  That's how it goes sometimes and it's just too dark and cold outside to try taking pictures tonight.  And because it's been a while since I shared a plastic canvas project with you I couldn't wait another minute to post and share.

Now I just have to figure out what to do next.  Right now I have a new hat going on the loom and I really want to do some more embroidery and sewing.  But at the same time I've been telling myself I'm going to get back in scrapbooking my pictures.  It's enough to drive me crazy.

Oh well, Happy Crafting............

Dessert Recipe Page

Happy Monday everyone.  After a bit of a hiatus it's time for another Pause Dream Enjoy challenge.  This will be the second challenge, but the first one for team two.  We changed things up a bit this year.  Challenges will begin on Monday and run for two weeks - giving you extra time to find your creativity so you can play along with us.

This week's challenge is all about desserts.  Create a project with desserts as the theme and your good to go.  For my challenge I chose to create a recipe page featuring one of my mom's homemade candies.  Every year she made these to gift to our teachers, bus drivers and to use for various church functions.  Of course when my children were young I carried on the tradition but now that they are to old to gift their teachers I just make them for parties.

And speaking of recipes, for this project I used the From My Kitchen cartridge to cut the recipe cards and A Child's Year for the silhouette of the mom and child baking together.

Now that you've seen my project, hop on over to Pause Dream Enjoy to check out the other wonderful designs our team created for you this week.  Then create your own, link up and play along with us. 

Our sponsor this week is TSQ Royal Castle Shoppe and they are giving away the Royal Pain stamp set (must have a USA address).

Eyes For You

Happy Wednesday everyone and welcome back to another week of Cricut Cardz Challenges.  We took a bit of a holiday break but we are back and let me tell you, the ladies knocked today's challenge out of the park!  This week our theme is "A Banner Year" and the directive:  use any cartridge, theme and color - just be sure to use your Cricut. 

For my project I chose to make a Valentine using Mini Monsters and Christmas Cheer.  Since this cute little monster had several eyes he was the perfect specimen to accompany my sentiment.  Finding him was easy, but finding a banner that would work for what I needed was not.  I searched and searched and finally found this one on Christmas Cheer, thus proving that Christmas cartridges are not just for Christmas.  Oh, and that beautiful paper I used, that's from K&Company's KP Valentine.

So 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, after you've been amply inspired, create your own, link up and play along with us.  You have until Tuesday January 29th to do so.

Baby Sitter's Information Station

Now here's a great little idea if you or someone you know has the need for baby sitting services.  I found this idea in an old craft bazaar book I picked up at the thrift store.  Of course I had to "modernize" the idea and put my paper crafting skills to work.  LOL

For this project I started with a couple of unfinished chalk boards I found at Michael's. My mom had some chalkboard paint on hand so she painted the blackboards for me and then I stained and polyurethaned the wood for a nice finish. I then had my wonderful husband drill a couple of holes for the ribbon to slip through.

To dress up the boards I turned to a couple of my favorite cartridges:  Create a Critter and Baby Steps.

From CAC, cut the giraffe at 4" and the duck at 1" to coordinate with the ribbon I used for the "hanger".

From Baby Steps, cut the baby boy in the tub at 3".

I then chose coordinating buttons for each board and viola - a great gift idea for new parents or anyone who uses a baby sitter for that matter.

Pretty great idea for minimal cost I thought, and so very fun and easy to do too.  And just think of all the possibilities - larger boards, dorm rooms, kitchen message center, honey do lists, kids chores, so on and so forth.

Be Mine

Now that the Christmas holidays are over and the New Year has begun it's time to start looking to the next 'big' holiday - Valentine's Day.  So yesterday as I sat in my craft room playing I decided to make my first Valentine's Day card.

 

For this one I used Seasonal Characters for the cupid; and,

 

Create a Critter 2 for the hearts.

 

I wanted to print the verbiage on the hearts with my printer, but I forgot that my son used all the ink so I had to write the verbiage instead.......