Tag Archives: Craft

Crafty Journaling

Since the end of March, I have been working from home and basically never leaving the house. My husband has been working from home for 10 years or longer, so he thinks everything is normal. We all know everything is not normal. I have watched everything on Netflix and Amazon Prime, so I need to get back into doing other things. One of those other things is to get more active and watch what I eat. To go along with that, I decided to journal a bit with goal tracking. For me, I want a pretty journal, so I have been doing some art pages.

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Hallmark Movies Turn Your Brain to Mush…

So it is “Countdown to Christmas” on the Hallmark channel.  Did you know that they have two channels?  So all day long the play these really awesome (if you like sappy, formulaic, hokey love stories) Christmas movies.  You know the kind.  A woman meets a man in a ridiculous situation and they do not get along.  Sparks fly.  You know right away that they will fall in love. Something happens to make them realize that they love each other (usually after a day or two), but they find out there is something big keeping them apart.  In the end Santa grants a Christmas wish and they live happily ever after.  The last shot is always a kiss. 

After two weekend engrossed in Hallmark channel movies, I finally did something. I made ornaments!


You need double sided Christmas paper and a stapler.  Cut one inch strips, 2 @ 6″, 2 @ 5″, 2 @ 4.5″ and 2 @ 4″.  Start with th 4″ strip put them together with…

Ok, there are better instuctions here, http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/ornamentgarland/ 

Hope you have fun making ornaments!

The Russians are Coming

I am very excited because I signed up for a Russian class this term.  I haven’t had a Russian class in years.  It is a conversation class, so it should be tons of fun.  The best part is that it is a community education class, so no grades.

I recently made some cards with Soviet stamps.  I purchased these used postage stamps on a whim from a seller on Etsy (I really love Etsy, so much cool stuff), and when I was going through my new treasures I found several stamps with Russian icebreakers.  They are beautiful stamps.  So I glued them on some card stock, to make them a bit more rigid, and then added them to a blank card.  Easy peasy.  They turned out pretty good.

Teal Stamp 2

Do you think I should give one to my teacher?  Since there are no grades, that wouldn’t be brown nosing, would it? Ha!

I am so Attracted to Magnets

A while ago I bought a button maker.  I love it!  What I really like making are magnets.  Find a cute paper, punch it out, put the parts in the machine and, bam, you have a cool magnet.  I love my button maker so much, I just bought a second one.  I have a one inch button maker and I am soon to have a one and a half inch button maker.  I can’t wait to get it.  Let me know if you need some cool magnets 🙂

Please don’t tell my husband that I will soon have another button maker.  I told him I would clean up my craft room last year.  Now I know that last year was really only a couple of weeks ago, but I am pretty sure I told him I would clean up my room last, last year; and it is still not clean.  This is a problem, because I kind of said I would clean my room before I bought the bigger button maker.  Well, I do have Monday off in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  So guess what I will be doing on Monday :-).

Here is my latest card.  I used the button maker to make a cute flower magnet.  Then I attached it to a card.  So when I send the card, it is also a little gift.  Pretty cool, right!

Magnet Card

Are Passport Photos Crafty?

Last night my husband and I had a fantastic time at the Madeleine Peyroux concert.  She has a fantastic voice, and if you have never heard her sing, you should.  The concert ended way after my bed time.  The concert venue is really close to our house, just over a mile away.  So we decided to walk home, instead of waiting for 30 minutes to catch a bus.  The evening was beautiful and we got to try out the new pedestrian bridge over the train tracks.

We got home around 11 and my husband tells me he need to have his passport picture done, because he has an appointment with the Consulate representative in the morning, (he is a permanent resident alien) and he needs to bring a picture with him to the meeting.  This could be easy, go to Walgreens and get the picture done in the morning.  Nope, won’t work because his country doesn’t use passport pictures the same size as we do in the US.  So we pull out the camera and spent an hour trying to get a good picture, and another hour playing with the photo editing program.

So I am counting that as my Wednesday night craft!

Day Two of the Reboot

This is day two of a full week of crafts.  I have been neglectful of the peace and joy that crafts bring, so I am making a concentrated effort to do at least one crafty thing every day this week.  So you will have to forgive the bad lighting on my pictures, because if I wait until the sun comes out, I won’t keep going.

I was at Craft Warehouse a couple of weeks ago and both the cutest stamp set with corresponding dies from Lawn Fawn.  What is sweeter than a gumball machine?  Last weekend I bought a new Sizzix A2 sized step up card.  And then I had the idea for this card.

Cute gumboil card!
Cute gumball card!

I thought you might like to see my new storage solution for my Accucut dies.  These awesome cubbies are from Ikea.

One cubbies filled with Accucut dies.
One cubbies filled with Accucut dies.

I recently got a label maker so I could easily tell which die is which.  If you need any invitations or party favors, I’m your gal!

Getting Back on Track

So I started this venture with the best intentions and actually did a good job of regularly posting some cool (and not so cool) projects.  Then I fell off the face of the planet.  Not literally.  I have been really busy with work and trying to learn how to play tennis.  The work is going well, and the tennis, not so much.

I haven’t done too much crafting lately, but I am committed to get back on track.  My most recent work was another card-in-a-box.

Butterfly Card-in-a-Box
Butterfly Card-in-a-Box

So my goal is to do some sort of crafty project every day this week and blog about it.  Wish me luck!

Chicago is Awesome!

I just took a vacation and was lucky enough to go to Chicago.  What a beautiful city.  I only had two days there, but they were well spent.  First we hit the Taste of Chicago.  Really tasty food vendors set up in Grant Park.  We tried Bacon Mac n Cheese, Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches, Rattlesnake Sausage, and the best Funnel Cake ever.

After that feast, we went to dinner at Pizza Rustica close to Wrigley Field.  After dinner, we walked down to the field and got to see a great game – Cubs v. Cardinals.  The game was a nail biter and the Cubs lost at the end of the 9th inning.  What a game.

We spent a whole day at the Art Institute.  What a way to get inspired.  Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of talent.  We had to have pierogi while we were in Chicago, so we went to Pierogi Heaven and we tried 6 different kinds of pierogis – meat, spinach, mushroom, mushroom and kraut, potato and cheese and potato and cheddar.  Totally yummy (and boy was my Polish husband jealous).

Now that I am back, I had to do something crafty.  We have new neighbors, so i got a bunch of goodies at Trader Joe’s and made up a few change of address cards.  I used a retired stamp from Stampin’ Up!  Very cute!

Just Mooved!
Just Mooved!

New Toys for the Long Weekend!

Yesterday I got a beautiful white box filled with fun.  I ordered a button maker off of Easy from Button Boy Inc.  This cool machine makes various types of buttons and badges, also known as flair.  I was so excited that unpacked it before I did anything else.  My box included the Tecre one inch button maker, a paper punch to get the graphics the right size and all the supplies to make 1000 flat backed buttons/badges.  I was a bit disappointed because the box did not include the magnets I ordered.  I sent off a quick email – so we will see how the customer service is at Button Boy.

I am still getting the hang of using the button maker, but the process is quite easy.  Choose an image and punch it out.  Try to get the main part of the image in the exact center of your circle.  Then place a shell in the little well on the machine, cover with the graphic, add a thin mylar (plastic) sheet, turn and press.  In the other well, add your back.  This is the part that my magnets were needed.  I bought magnets that can fit into the back.  This way you have a magnet enclosed in your button instead of sticking out the back.  I’ll have to let you know how it goes once I get the magnets.  After you have pressed the graphic part, swivel the die around and press the back onto the first piece.  And you are done!  Quick and easy.

Once I get my magnets, I will add a blog with a picture.

In the meantime, I am still all about the cards-in-a-box.  I made a birthday card and liked it so much, I made a second one with a different sentiment to send to my mother-in-law!  This was made with Accucut dies and a couple of regular Bo Bunny buttons.

Die Cut Flowers - Card-in-a-Box
Die Cut Flowers – Card-in-a-Box

Something So Simple…

You know that they say the best things in life are free.  I believe that the best things in life are simple.  It can be as simple as sharing a meal with friends or just chatting away and enjoying the company.  Or it can be creating something simple.  In case you haven’t guessed it by now. I like simple cards and crafts.  I like complex cards, too, but the is just something so nice about a simple card.

For this card I used basic kraft colored paper, a punch from Stampin’ Up and a small flower stamp.  The bright orange really pops on the card and the ink is a perfect match for the card.  I love this card and I am not ashamed to say so.  I hope you like it too!

Boho Style Card
Boho Style Card