Makeup is crafty right?

So about once a week I get this wild idea to do really dramatic makeup. If you are so inclined you can click the photo to see them larger. If you watch ANTM the first five are me trying to smile with my eyes.

Step by Step one layer that looks like more

Ok for the Thank You card I made yesterday I took photos as I went.

First I used regular paper to make masks for the areas I did not want to stamp with the background stamp. These papers are taped to the grid sheet and to each other but the card can be slid in or out. Which means that if I wanted to make a bunch of these I could leave the masks taped down and just slide cards in and out to do a stack. Then I stamped the background stamp over the whole thing.

When I pulled the card out it looked like this, just a bit of the background stamp on either end.

My next step was to use a ruler to mark off the "pieces" of the card. I used black marker to do that, then used a gray marker to add shadow.

Then stamp the main image, color it and add a greeting.

The thing with this card is it's pretty cute, looks like it has dimension and it almost free to make. I did use super high quality Gina K cardstock. I feel like if you are doing a one layer card you must use the best cardstock you can. :)

Five CAS sketch cards

Today was a sketch challange on splitcoast stampers Clean and Simple challange.

It was a GREAT sketch for me, very similar to the one I use all the time.

There was also a cool challange where you made buttons out of five layers of cardstock and one layer of pattern paper. You glue the layers together then put crystal laquer on top, it's pretty fun.

So here is my collection of cards. Images by Cornish Heritage Farms (above)

Images by Eat Cake Graphics (this one also has one of the paper buttons)

Phrase stamp by Papertrey Ink (this also has a paper button)

Images by Cornish Heritage Farms

Images by Odd Bird Planet

The one that is a single layer with the trees? I took step by step photos on how to do that and will post those as a little mini-tutorial tomorrow.

I'm really happy with all today's cards.

In other news:

My resolutions are going well.

Even more bibs

I made more bibs Saturday night.

I made two of this one with an Ikea print fabric. This color makes it a little more electric green than it really is, but it is pretty bright. These ones have a black with tiny white pindots on the back. I made two of this next one too. My good friend Lani gave me this fabric ages ago. I don't know who makes it or anything, but isn't it fun?

And here is the back of those. (although they are all reversible so I guess this is really side B) And two more with the super fun animals driving things print from Ikea. I'm sending these to a friend of mine who has a new baby niece she wants to spoil.

These are backed with different prints, the mouse has a yellow print, the cow a pink one.

Well that was fun!

More Bibs

Well I made the cupcake bib. I did make it in a larger size, just in case. The "paper" part of the cupcake is actually green, my photo makes it look yellowish. It's not even a yellowish green, just a normal apple green.

I made some others too. This next one uses Ikea kids fabric.

And this uses some Japanese Robert Koffaman I got in a fabric swap. LOVE this fabric.

Both of these two are backed with orange stripe from Ikea.

I love making bibs!

Green Numbers Bib

I need to make an applique cupcake bib for my BFF's niece's first birthday. Easy Peasy right? Cept, I've never made a bib. Never even set a snap. I googled and found THIS easy peasy pattern from Chickpea Sewing Studio. It took about twenty minutes to make this bib: Oh and turns out snaps are CRAZY easy to set. I officially love snaps.

I ironed on vinyl to the numbers fabric to make it so a mom can wipe it off. Then the backing is actually two layers of green sheet from ikea. I did two layers because it was kind of a cheap sheet and I thought if something breeched the iron on vinyl layer it would be good to have an extra layer.

It's not perfect. I'm not a perfect seemstress. I'm ok with that. It's super cute. I'm off to find a baby that needs it.

Resolutions

I've made some mid-year crafting resolutions.

1. No more Tree Stamps. I mean it can HAVE a tree, but I can't buy the set FOR the tree. So Scene-It sets by Cornish Heritage Farms are ok, but "Summer Trees" set isn't. Unless I decide I need it for the grill... I could find I need a grill. The point is I have a LOT of tree stamps.

2. No more quilt magazines. I love quilts. I love quilting. I pretty much love the same quilts over and over though. This is me in a quilt magazine, "neat, but not for me, Hmm, that's pretty hard looking, stunning but not for me." and so on. Anyhow it's not a big deal, they are lovely, but I don't USE them for anything. So no more.

3. Have fun online. Join challanges, participate in discussions that are fun to me. But if it's not fun or inspiring it's a waste of time and stop doing it.

4. Actually mail cards to people. I used to be so good about this, every month I did all the birthdays and other cards to family and friends just because. My grandmother, who I barely knew apparently cherished those cards. I had NO IDEA because she never called or wrote me. I assumed she didn't really care. It hurts to think that for her last few years I didn't do anything anymore and it could have ment something to her. I'd hate to have that happen with someone who actually DOES recprocate my interest in them.

5. No more swaps. I'm not sure why but I get an unreasonable amount of stress from swaps. It's not put upon me, it's my own doing. But I have tried for these 8 years now to deal and I can't. So I'm not a swapper anymore. I THINK this includes Doll Quilt Swap. Which I just discovered, and is very cool, but REALLY stresses me out. (I'm way out of my league there.)

6. Leave comments. I read hundreds, yes truly, hundreds of blogs. I don't commit to comment on everything, but I will comment more. I SO enjoy the comments I get. I want other people to get to enjoy mine. And I see some truly inspiring stuff every single day. On blogs and on Splitcoast galleries. I'm going to be come a commenting fool. :)

That's about it. Thanks for listening.

Embrace Happiness

This is for today's Sketch Challange at Splitcoast Stampers. I love this sketch and plan to add it to my standard lineup. The phrase is by Papertrey Ink. the CUTE octopus is PaperWorks Co.. Did I mention that I love them.

Also look at this cute packaging. I have another stamp from them and it came like this too. On super cute personalized glossy card. So I store them stuck right to their cute cards and then in a stamp box with some other unmounted stamps.

Splitcoast Challanges

I have decided I want to activly participate in the challanges on Splitcoast Stampers. I started a notebook where I will keep track of what they are each day, note if I want to do them or not and so on.

Today I did this pink/brown/white card. It's for both the CAS challange for this week which is a Wedding card and for the color challange this week which is these colors: decorated inside:

And the second one is for the Featured Stamper challange. On that one there is one person who has their work featured. You pick one or a few things and get inspired by them to make a card. This week it is a girl who'se blog I Love. Shannon Teubner. And I'm CASEing this card.

cool inside:

Help Wanted

I need someone to go through my Splitcoast, Stamp Shack and very old Two Peas galleries and pull everything. I mean copy and paste each thing I've made into a word document. Fit as many per page as you can, 4, 6, or 8. 8 would be best. Then send the document to my local print shop. Negotiate some killer deal on printing all that crap in color. It can be double sided if that will save money. (having worked at a print shop double sided color isn't really all that much cheaper, but whatever you gotta do.)

Just let me know when it's ready to pick up. I'll make you a purse. Or a small quilt. Or a floppy headed doll.

Thanks.

ps, I did figure out a system for this. they are just thumbnails but it's still over 30 pages, so that's fine. haha

Four Sheets

Ok first. I know this has been shown before but people still ask all the time. I wish you could all come over and see in person. The left side kraft cardstock is Papertrey Ink. The right side is Stampin' Up!. The Papertrey has more flecks. It's closer to grocery bag colored. But it's actually quite smooth, not textured like a paper bag. The SU! has less flecks and is a different color. I think I like the PTI better, it seems richer in color. But they both rock. (and yes, my finger nails are cool carribean, it's taken me all this time to fine polish this color.)

So I pulled four sheets of cardstock. Red, brown, kraft, and Aqua Mist. (the red, brown and kraft might have fancy names, but I know the Aqua Mist's name.) All Papertrey Ink paper. Of course any company would work.

Then I pulled out one stamp set, I choose Star Prints by Papertrey Ink.

I also pulled Vivid Dark Red ink and Versafine Vintage Sepia inks.

Finally I pulled out some Aqua Mist ribbon (PTI) and Red and Brown ribbon, both from the wedding section at Target, they have some yummy ribbon there. Also a few little jewls.

Then I used the supplies, mixing and matching to make the following four cards.

And all that took just a few moments and made 4 different fun CAS cards. (Clean And Simple) I'm on a huge CAS kick by the way.

In other news:

Check out THIS POST by Lord Have Mercy. I've never been terribly organized but this has me wanting to RACE to Target and grab up a planner and some colored pens (because surely none of my million colored pens would do) and do this. I mean I have card stuff, quilting stuff, husband who travels a lot, church stuff, a kid in school with school stuff... I could use a planner right? A color coded one that I can also put card sketches and stuff in. I think this post is the most inspiring blog post of the day for me. Check out Mercy's whole blog, it's one of the best ones out there. As I'm sure you know, she's sort of a big deal.

Do you know what Soto Softies are? If so guess what?? She has PATTERNS now! For the Bat and the Penguin! SWOON. I'm seriously considering getting both. I can't afford them right now. I mean they are cheap, I'm just broke. (and may have a planner to buy) But I still am thinking about it. No one wants to buy them for me and I'll make the animals for you do they? (kidding, sorta)

Labels 2 cards

I recently won this Nestabilities set. Isn't it pretty cool.

I decided to make three cards with it, using basicly the same layout, just changing the image and the colors. The above card is a little greeting card with a Stamping Bella image. And some pretty durn big flowers.

Next I have Tyson and the smaller turtle from Baby Love, both by Cornish Heritage Farms. I drew eyelashes on the smaller turtle, so she can be a girl. 'Cuz they are in love. The tiny hearts are by Odd Bird Planet. LOVE those hearts. The LoVe word is by Papertrey it's from Mega Mixed Messages, which I expect will be my most used set ever.

I think this is my favorite one. This girl is one of my favorite stamps. She's also by Stamping Bella. The greeting here is from Mega Mixed Messages too.

It was really fast to make these three cards because I didn't have to think about layout much, I picked it once then just kept making cards.

This weird ribbon ball is going to be made into a ribbon topiary by my BFF Roniece. Turns out it takes FOREVER to make ribbon balls and an obscene amount of ribbon. This one ball took 500 pins and each ribbon length (500 of them) was about 4 inches long. So sheesh. Sure is pretty though.

In other news:

I think I have strep. Now background, whenever my throat hurts I think I have strep. It's a special kind of issue I have. But I might be going to the Dr tomorrow about this "strep" it hurts. Also Brian is out of town all week then all week again next week. I can't do two weeks alone with strep and crazy children. So whatever is going on in my throat has one day to get past itself then I'm taking it to the Dr's office.

Also I got a letter home from S's school. Just a newsletter, no big deal. They have the cutest leaf clipart on it though. They have faces, one goofy, one laughing, one... well, I think he's seductive. His little eyebrows are wiggling and he has a little smirk on his face. But the best thing is that the school newsletter has a section on stuff they need for the school. They need Sidewalk Chalk. We have a lifetime supply of that crap. Everyone gives it to my kids. Brian and I hate it because it ends up in the pool all the time. So I'm excited that at least one pack will find a new home tomorrow.

Girl Math

I want the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse boxed set. I have the later books but I need the early ones.

I looked at it today at the bookstore. Full price at $55.95. I knew I could get it cheaper on Amazon.

Enter Girl Math:

Price at bookstore 55.95 plus tax of 3.92 is $59.87

Amazon price, with free shipping and no tax: $30.76

Now for the first step in Girl Math, rounding:

Store price rounds to $60
Amazon price rounds to $30
*please note prices always round in Girl's favor*

So getting the book on Amazon is a savings of $30, which is like getting the set FREE.

So as you can see the books are pretty much free when I factor in savings!

And to think that chick at the bookstore seriously thought she was going to convince me to buy her discount card! With my disregard for math I don't need any stinking discount card!

Oh and I didn't even factor in the value of having it delivered. I mean when large trucks pull up to my home and men get out and bring me packages... they way I feel about that... don't tell my husband. haha


ps, this whole post is a joke. I will get the books on Amazon, I'm aware they are not really free.

Thrifty Remake

A few months ago my mom was in town and we did some thrift store shopping. I found the cutest green skirt. But it never really fit right. Now I'm not above not zipping the last two inches of a skirt if it LOOKS right under my shirt and all, but this one just didn't. I kinda knew this was going to happen, but the skirt was 75cents and I loved the print. I had some plans to cut it up for something.

At Christmas my mom gave me a HUGE amount of cool sewing stuff. Notions, fabrics, just tons of stuff. Included were these cool purse handles. I wasn't sure I'd like working with them, but I wanted to try.

Saturday morning I tried yet again to wear the green skirt. It didn't work. In a fit of discust I took it right to the sewing room. (I'm in my underwear here now.) and started making this purse. It took until yesterday to work out all the kinks, get it to open right, get a snap closure in and a lining.

I actually love it! I'm not sure what I'll DO with it. I have a ton of purses. But it's so cute. I know for one thing that I'll be making a toss in little zipper purse to go with it. Other than that I'm not sure. Will I try to sell it on Etsy? Give it for a Christmas gift? I dunno.

Paperworks Halloween Vampire Octopus

I am in serious stamper love with PaperWorks Co. They have the MOST ADORABLE animal stamps. But even better. They have an OCTOPUS! He is so happy and friendly and Kawaii and cute.

But I need Halloween cards. I mean "need" is maybe not the right word but it's what I want to work on. So I vamped the Ollie up a bit. Now he's a Vampire Octopus. (I want to make sure that if anyone googles Vampire Octopus they end up here. I mean unless there is other Vampire Octopus stuff out there, I'd better check on that.) I don't know who makes the "Happy Halloween" stamp. It was in some unmounted grab bag I got a a stamp show a few years ago. I asked the ladies and they didn't know who made it either. *sigh* I'm on this kick right now of making the insides of my cards cute too. It's not just me, it's very trendy right now.

Not to give the octopus all the action I used my one Halloween stamp image to make a card too. This guy is unbelievably cute too. He reminds me of Little Baby Mummy from Where's My Mummy. This book is a current favorite at our home.

In other news: Paper Works Co. came out with words to go with all their cute animals. I mean in case you don't look at an octopus and think "Oh, Halloween!" They have cute punny animal sayings for all three sets. (Sealife, jungle life, savana life) I hope they keep coming out with tons more sets. I know I'd like to see a Halloween set with a happy bat, a cat, a pumpkin, and a skeliton.

Speaking of holidays. Why are penguins accepted as Christmas animals? They don't live at the North Pole (don't get me STARTED on using penguins and polar bears together!). They are stinking adorable but not particularly festive. I don't really get it. It's cold down there. Is that enough? If something is cold it's Christmas? Because it's really cold in the ocean. Octopode live in the ocean. I demand Festive Christmas Octopus Stamps.