Missing Monday

This is a catalog of the things I miss having in my life so I can strive to add them back in.

My lovely, lovely sewing machine.  

Missing Mondays

This is a catalog of the things I miss having in my life so I can strive to add them back in.

Today, I am missing scrapbooking retreats.

This is me and my friend Mandy at a weekend retreat in TN. I miss her and I miss our craft times together.

Variations and Possibilities

I’ve been doing a lot of card making this summer and teaching a friend in the process. One of the things that people new to certain crafts face is not having enough supplies. You see these pretty examples in magazines and on blogs of cards and scrapbook pages that people are making and you think you have to have all this stuff. It becomes daunting to some people and they step away, putting it off till later.

I wanted to show the different variations that can be introduced to a project using a limited amount of materials.



I pulled 6 stamps from my collection that I would use for all the cards. Even though a couple of these stamps were purchased as part of a set, you could easily buy 4-6 individual stamps and accomplish the same result. Each of these cards has a different feel but they all relay the same sentiment.

Even thoughI made a set of each kind for a different recipient, it is important to remember that you can mix and match till your heart is content.



This may be my favorite. It is handmade paper that I background stamp with stars/dots stamp with a bronze Thank You on top. I added coordinated strips of paper embellished with a brad. This is a simple one page card on the back of which the message would be written.



This is a folding card with a separate piece of white card stock embellished on top. The stars/dots are stamped on the white card stock. The Thank You and flower embellishment are stamped in silver on a piece of vellum. The vellum is adhered to the white card stock with two eyelets. I made these in a varieties of colors. The inside of the card was kept blank.



This is a fun little set that I put together using a variety of tags that I had pre-punched in my stash. I layered two tags on the card, each in a different position. The top tag is stamped with the Thank You and flower embellishment. The inside of these cards is stamped with the internal sentiment stamp. The back of the card is stamped with the doves.I thought about adding a ribbon tie or element to the tags but I was concerned about adding too much bulk in the mailing. These are gifts and I don’t want to unnecessarily increase shipping costs for the receiver.



This is the more simplistic of the bunch. I kept the color pallet on the bland side which I like. These are made with scraps in varying shades of beige/ivory. The background square is stamped in grey and the Thank You in black. The eyelets just add a little more interest to the overall look. I also varied the eyelets that I used between three different metallic finishes that are in my stash. The inside of the card is stamped with the internal sentiment stamp. The back of the card is stamped with the doves.

I hope this gives you a good idea of the variation possible with just a few stamps and embellishments. Don’t let the plethora of stamps and supplies in the craft store stop you from trying.

Have fun!

Quick and Easy Mini Albums

I think this is the most fun little project I’ve done in a while. These are the mini toilet paper roll albums that I spoke of here. Each little album is made of 4 recycled toilet paper rolls with a cover made from the backing from a couple of note pads I had laying around the house. Rather than paint the rolls, I covered everything in paper. With all the crafting I have done lately, I have been trying to use materials that were already in my house. Into the album went assorted purple scrapbooking paper, scraps of card stock, eyelets (normal and decorative plate), twine and stickers.



Each album page has two journal/picture cards that pull from the end and two smaller cards that sit in the pocket that was created when the paper used to cover the roll was overlapped. Rather than add pulls on the end of the pocket inserts, I reinforced the ends with random stickers from my stash. The cover of each album is embellished simply with a metal plate eyelet that has a friendship related quote on them.

These little albums are perfect little gifts for graduations, Mother’s/Father’s Day, birthdays, etc. Fill them with love notes, money, pictures and anything else that inspires you. These three will be gifted to friends this summer. Two are brides and one is a birthday girl. I will leave the brides books blank so they can use them as wedding thank you’s for a friend or for another occasion. The one for the birthday girl will get filled with notes and other things by me and maybe a couple of gift cards.

I love these albums so much that I’m sorry to say you may see many, many more of these in the future. I still have lots of paper and embellishments in my stash that need to be used. For now, more photos can be seen in my Flickr account.

In terms of tools I used a paper cutter, corner rounder and crop-a-dile to punch holes and set eyelets. And in case you are inspired to do it yourself, this is the YouTube video that sparked it all.

Sunday Crafting and Recap

I keep finding new things that I want to try. I’m loving the crafting I am able to get done. Today I’m trying my hand at the toilet paper roll mini album. I’m slowly working down my paper stash. Very slowly as I have plenty of it.



While I am crafting along, take a little time to see what else I was up to this past week (links below). Happy Sunday.

Reinvention by Maya Made

Paper Crafting Summer

My Summer Hair

Frog or Finish Friday-Cotton Bag

Choosing The Wedding Party-The Brides Perspective

Paper Crafting Summer

This summer has started off to be the one that will be all about the paper crafts. In particular, card making.



The best thing about unemployment has been having the time and luxury to get back to some of things I love best. My time off has lined up perfectly with a friends desire to start card making. My friend DF has decided that she wants to make custom cards to give as Christmas gifts this year and she is being proactive and starting now. I’ve spent several days with her (and the occasional guest) in getting started on her goal.

This also made me want to do a little card making of my own. Recently, I attended the wedding of a family friend and since I am on a tight budget, I made her a set of handmade thank you cards.



The base of the card is handmade paper that I have had in my stash for years not knowing exactly how to use. I stamped a silver background with a bronze thank you and accented with coordinating paper and brad. These are simple and elegant and a really nice option for sending a quick thank you. I had enough handmade paper to do a set of 20 cards. I bought coordinating sliver envelopes from the craft store. What bride won’t need extra thank you cards?



And with that in mind, I continued on and made a set of 25 cards for my sister who is getting married in June. These were made by layering a piece of vellum over white card stock using eyelets and adhering to a card stock card of varying colors. There are five of each color for a set of 25. I know she will need more as she is still far enough out not to have purchased her thank you cards yet, but I want to send them to her to make sure she likes them before I send more.

And I still have more paper crafts up my sleeve before I pack the card stock and stamps away.

The Standout Completed

This was a three day project that is not for the faint of heart. I can’t say that I will be rushing to bling out my cell phone but I do want it done.

These are the gems that I used, purchased from Michael’s. I painfully picked out all the pink and purple variety and started applying them with the jewelry adhesive that I already had in my supply.

As you can see, I used quite a bit of it. But I am disappointed that the last tube that I opened (BRAND NEW BOX!) was no good. I barely got two drops out of it. The rest had solidified inside. No amount of massaging and squeezing was going to get any more out of the tube. This was a $5 purchase that was a complete fail. I love this product for doing earrings, but I would not recommend it for this type of project. I did like that I could move slowly and apply a bead at a time which was good because I did not separate out all of my beads at one time. I alternated between pulling out beads and applying them to the laptop case. I would have liked to be able to spread the adhesive a little better, but the goal in this case was to use what I already had.

I’m not sure if t was the nature of the beads being cheap or the adhesive being too caustic, but the foil on the bead did crack after the adhesive dried. This takes away from the bling of the bead, but not a significant amount. Next time, I’ll try an adhesive that’s more appropriate and see if there really is a difference.

I ran out of beads so I was not able to get all the way to the edge of the top cover, but I think this is best as the beads take away from some of the flexibility of the case making it a little more difficult to take off. So the extra space on the edges will be helpful. I also used some beads to go around the edge of the bottom case. I worry about these popping off due to the wear they’ll get from being in contact with my wrists as I type, but I’ll deal with that when I have to.

All in all, I am very happy with the outcome of this project. I will do it again (crazy me). I have so many beads left over, I have to find something to use them for.

Do they sell clear cases for Kindles???

If you try this, let me know and leave a link to your blog in the comments. I would love to see it.

If you’re attending Blissdom ’12 in Nashville, you’ll know its me when you see this laptop. Come by and say HI!

The Standout

I decided to try a new project today. I have been wanted to bling out a case for my cell phone for some time now. I keep looking at the different cases for sell and that people have DIY’d and I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to shell out the bucks to buy one or order the supplies and do it myself. Since I have a case for my laptop that I hardly use, I decided to go ahead and give it a try on the laptop. I went to Michael’s and bought a multipack of plastic flat multi-faceted rhinestones. I already had jewelry adhesive at home--lots of it--so I didn’t need to purchase more. I don’t know how many colors are in this pack but I only plan to use the pink/light purple blends for this case.

This is as far as I got before I was forced to take a break to attend a meeting.

This is not a quick project so I will update you when I make it a little further. Of course, this is just so my laptop stands out a little bit when I hit Blissdom in February.