Using what you have and then some

A very wise friend has been telling another mutual friend and me to use what we have, craft-wise, instead of running off to Michael's or Jo Anns all the time to get more craft supplies. That really got me thinking so as I slowly got my craft supplies unpacked, I took some time to finish a bunch of projects that have been in my pending drawer.

These are the results, most made from already cut paper die shapes, handmade crocheted flowers, felt cut-outs and buttons:

The flower die cut I used on the letter "B" is SU! Daisy #2, using K&Company Valentine's Day paper. All the crocheted flowers I made using a pattern from here, crocheted out of DMC embroidery floss. The leaves are Prima paper leaves I purchased from Frantic Stamper.

For the paper owl, I got the pattern from Dawn's Stamping Thoughts (see sidebar for a link to her blog). I used assorted paper from DCWV Kids pad.

The cupcake (below on letter "C") with a "cherry" rhinestone I paper pieced together using Martha Stewart hydrangea punch and shaping the flowers before gluing them onto the cupcake. Cupcake die is a Sizzix Sizzlet die (retired but can purchase on E-bay or here). The smaller cupcake on the "E" is also paperpieced - can't recall the name of the cupcake clear stamp I used. I used Liquid applique on the frosting. You can't tell but I also applied Crystal Effects on the tiny cherries :-)!


These paper bag purses were really easy to make! Just take any paper sack you have around, cut it down from the top to whatever size you want then put your desired shape of purse on the front and back.



The picnic basket one was fun to make. The basket lid for the one on the left even opens up halfway up. To make that, measure the opening at the top of your bag; trace that same size on your desired cardstock but adding about 1/8" of an inch all the way around. Now add "flaps" to this lid by drawing flaps that you will cut and tape to the sides so you'll have a very shallow box. For mine, I used 1/2" for the flaps as I didn't want a very deep lid or else it would interfere with where I placed the picnic basket handles. FYI, picnic basket cardstock I used is from DCWV Kitchen pack.

The black glossy purse below was made by first embossing the glassy cardstock using the Houndstooth Cuttlebug embossing folder.




These scrapbook boxes were also super easy to make too. I was trying to use up more DCWV cardstock (this one is from the Posies pack). Got the pattern from here. The smaller box is just an "origami" box where you can put a small trinket in it. This was a gift for a friend's daughter, who loves purple and loves to scrapbook. Paper flower die cuts are from a flower paper pad kit I purchased from Target a couple of years ago.



Oh, but then I couldn't stay away much longer...the same wise friend gave me her 40% off coupon to Michael's so off I went to JoAnns to go and purchase fabric. On my way to that aisle, I noticed our local Jo Ann's now carries EK Success punches and lots of new (Christmas) K&Company products!). Everything on that display was 40% off so of course, I had to buy something! This is what I came home with and those were the things I made with it - 3D trees!:


Easy 3D Trees: punch out 5 of them using cardstock then score down the middle of them (I used my score pal and embossing pen to score it - much easier than trying to put it in your trimmer to score). Fold the trees in half then using glue (I used Tombow's monoadhesive), dot sparingly with glue then glue another folded tree onto it, matching the tree shape as well as you can. When that is adhered, dot more glue on that newly glued piece and do the same with remaining trees. When you get to the last tree, that one gets glued to the first tree. This will now "close" your tree and it will now be able to stand on its own.

If you're curious what I did with that 40% off, I did go to Michael's finally and bought the new I-Top BRAD MAKER by Imaginisce!!! I'm eager to play with it and have been needing it before I even knew the product existed so I am beyond excited to own it. This product was introduced at the CHA convention in Orlando and the blogs I was reading raved about it. Will post later on how well it works and show you the project I needed it for :-)

Happy Crafting!

A day of disappointments

No photos today :-( Just complaints about products and services that I feel you all should be warned about:

We ate breakfast at Le Boulanger, a local chain specializing in pastries, baked goods and sandwiches. Sounds good so far, right? They serve my favorite brand of coffee - Tully's. However, everytime we go there, something always goes wrong with the order.

1. They served us expired milk cartons - my kids usually don't complain but both said that the milk tasted sour and when I looked at the freshness date, it was 1 week expired.
2. They are always out of brewed coffee.
3. They always forget to make the hot sandwich we order. And when I do go up to the counter to remind them, they rush the order and end up putting it on the wrong kind of bread. Today we waited 15 minutes for our sandwich even though we were 1 of four customers there and the others have been served.
4. Tables are always dirty and not wiped down.
5. Workers are grumpy and totally not friendly.
6. Pastries are overpriced and dry.

Why did we even go there today? It's my 5 year old's favorite breakfast place. I have no idea why but after this experience this morning, I told her to give the place a good once over because we are never going back there again.

Klutz Books:
We purchased the "How to Make Monstrous, Huge, Unbelievably Big Bubbles" and "Room Lanterns" Books. Figured at $19.95 each, a good affordable way to have a couple of afternoon activities with the kids.

The bubbles: We followed the "recipe" exactly and the bubbles were huge but they never dettached from the fancy bubble wand and would pop when you tried to detach them. We tried using regular bubble wands and those did the same thing. We even made wands from wire hangers and blew through paper towel tubes (as they suggested) but those suckers would not detach and blow away! Then there's a section in there regarding the "perfect" bubble weather. A ha! I guess that is their disclaimer when things don't work out. Our recommendation: don't buy this, it's a waste of money!

The only complaint we have about the Room Lanterns book is the difficulty we had opening the plastic clam shell that held the wired lights. As a matter of fact, both plastic clamshells on both books were difficult to open and required the use of very sharp scissors and then you end up getting a plastic cut from that as you try to maneuver those open! If these are really 100% Klutz certified - as they claim on every front cover of their books, then they need to make sure that includes opening up their products!

In summary and to borrow a few lines from a credit card commercial:

Breakfast with your kids at the horrible Le Boulanger: $18
Buying 2 overpriced so-so Klutz books: $50
Spending 4 hours with your kids dining out, attempting to make bubbles, trying to make paper lanterns: Priceless

Oh my word!

Has it really been 3 months since last post????

Moving has a way with messing things up....

This is now our view from the back yard. Those are Canada geese. Annoying. Messy poopers. Abundant. Luckily they haven't come into the backyard to leave their gigantic droppings.



We are the proud owners of a really huge Willow tree. I think it is now officially bigger than our backyard. But this is California so it provides great shade for the many sunny days we have.



In addition to moving, we've also been here:





and here:



Below are the fish caught by the Dory boat - 57 Sea Bass!

That's my kid doing a near-suicide run down the sand dune:




And since my craft room is still in disarray, I've turned to crocheting hair clips:





Have a fabulous day!