Moms got a glue gun

A little Halloween glam....

 I found this cute little glimmered up skull at the dollar store and wanted to do something with him for Hallow-scream.  I'm not much into the creepy, scary, bloody stuff but I can get with some glam.  Soooo, I found a cute little paper ma-che box at Michael's and painted it a black plum color, added a little flocked paper, some assorted faux moss and some handmade flowers and viola.  And since it is a book box I added a little Tim Holz text tape around the edge too.  I still feel like it needs something else, but I had to stop. 

Does anyone else have an issue with stopping on a project or is it just me?  The little voices keep saying "one more"...

This little guy will go with me to work along with a couple of other things I made up to get into the spirit...ha, the spirit (insert dorky laugh). 

 

 

  

I also whipped up this little piece.  It's a whole lotta old paper, a little glitter and some chicken wire peeking from the back.  I made the flowers from some fabric I had and added some tea stained linen and cheesecloth too.  I found a skull stamp that I had and stamped it on some black cardstock, and black diamond embossing powder for a shiny skull element in the center.  I love to mix old and new, or shiny together. 

 

 
Then a little banner that says "spooky".  This was made with some tea stained canvas that was ripped, with some linen sewn on top.  Nice and shabby like.  The letters were stamped onto some more vintage paper and embossed with the black diamond powder.  Pretty easy.  I did a little drippage on some of the cardstock circles with some black paint to dirty it up a bit too.

 

 

 
I think I just needed to get my hands dirty with some paint and ink to get into the spirit this year. 

So, I have been absent for a while, but I have a good reason.  I have finally landed a full time job and am enjoying getting back to work.  This will leave a little less time for fun stuff, but I'm sure I'll manage to still get some projects done.  It will be nice to have a bigger budget for supplies and such. 

So I'm off to make more fall inspired goodies that I certainly will share.  I'm back in the saddle or something.

Spooky Hugs....

Daily message of encouragement from the Brave Girls Club...

"Dear Valuable Girl,

You don't always have to be so tough, you know. There are people all around
who want to help and would jump at the chance if they knew how to help and
what you really need and want. There are so many people who love you. You
don't have to carry this alone.

Somehow it happens that we isolate ourselves over time, stuck in a mode of
survival, and forgetting that there's anything else to think about beyond how
to get through the next day....or even the next few minutes. Life is not meant
for that kind of living, even though there are stages of life that can stretch
for a long time living this way.

Try to reach out today. Call a friend and be really honest about where you are.
Try something new....a new skill, a new recipe, a new route to the same old
places....this will help you get unstuck and begin to build a live that is about
THRIVING and ENJOYING rather than surviving and enduring. You are SO STRONG and
you are so great at surviving and enduring, friend......but everyone who loves
you wants more for you than that. YOUR SOUL wants more than that too.....
you know that, right?

You can do this....there are so many smiles and laughs and new friendships and
new adventures ahead for you. Your best years have not even been lived yet...
you have so much to look forward to. Decide to LIVE BIG!"

I just love these daily e-mails with encouraging messages that I receive from the Brave Girls Club.  What a great group of ladies...maybe someday I'll get to go to a Brave Girl's camp and enjoy. 

 

How to dress up some dish towels...

I can't wrap my mind around the fact that the summer is gone...finito....poof.  I sent my hubby out for his first day back with the students at school yesterday.  Ah, I always liked going back myself when I was young, but it's a little harder when your hubby is a teacher.  I sure enjoyed having him home for the summer.

Anyway, this is a great time to start thinking of things you might want to do for the holiday season that will quickly be upon us.  I don't think I know anyone who doesn't complain of no time at the holiday season, so I'm trying to think ahead of some ideas that you might find useful ahead of time.

 I started this little project with a pack of sack cloth towels I found a Target for about $5.00.  They were thinner than I would have liked, but I was determined to use them.  I started by cutting them each in half and sewing the raw edge down.  In this first one, I used my Cricut machineto spell out EAT with some white cardstock and used that as a template to cut some scrap fabric.  I then ironed on double sided adhesive and sewed down to the towel.  Super simple and so cute.

On this one, I just hand cut some carrot parts and added them the same way. I wanted to keep it simple on these towels because they are thin, but on a thicker one, you could add a nice fabric or lace border or ruffle as well.  I also thought it would be fun to use hand-drawn images.  You can copy images from books or use any die cut machine to cut out your fabric if you want too as well.

 On this one, I had found an image of a cupcake and used that as a template.  I limited myself to my scrap stash with these, but it would be cute to pick out special colors or themed fabric. 

This took no time at all to do..really.  Think of making up a batch and keeping them on hand for gift giving or just for yourself.

I plan on making bunches of these this year myself.  They make me happy. 

Summertime, Summertime.....

Sorry I have been MIA for a while.  I am enjoying my husband being home with me, we are taking a break from stress and just enjoying ourselves for a while before school starts and it all starts to become a whirlwind again.  I will try to post some inspiring, or just for fun pictures and ideas for you more often.  Let's start with some adorable puppies.....

See, you can't be mad....nothing cuter than a puppy's butt is there?  Ok, maybe another baby butt...

Sharon Montrose Photographs. 

A salvaged T-shirt story.....

Here is a story of a little T-shirt that was too small and a husband who liked the image on it.  This is how I salvaged it for him and ended with a cute hat for myself too.....what?  Seems random, but that's my story.  Lets go.....

You will need:

-your t-shirt that you want to salvage 
-A newer, pre-washed shirt to attach the image to
-rotary cutter or scissors
-pins
-power drink of your choice (optional)

 

  My power drink of choice is Diet Pepsi.  For the summer it's in a ball jar with a cool straw (acrylic straw from Crate and Barrel).

 

 

Begin by cutting you t-shirt down one side so you can cut out the image.  I used a yardstick so I could use my rotary cutter, but you can just cut from the neck if you would like.  This does not need to be very straight because the edge of the fabric will curl up a little after washing.

(Your screen does not need adjusting, I do have that many freckles)

Next, just line up on your newer shirt where you would like and pin down.  You could choose a nice contrasting color for your new shirt too.  This is for my hubby so black it is.

Of course he wanted black thread too, which I didn't have on hand. I went out and bought some which made the project a little longer.  So, you might want to check on that before you get started.  I think a contrasting thread color would look really good too.

Now you want to just sew down your image, about a 1/2" or 1/4" from the edge.  I also sewed around the full image with a stitch on the shirt just as a decorative edge.  T-shirt material is great to work with because it won't fray, so you don't need to do the extra step of sewing a seam around the edge. 

The sewing part seemed a little like wrangling a wild animal under my machine, but I survived. 

I was a dork and went in from the neck instead of the other way.  Did I mention you don't have to have Ninja sewing skills for this?

In the end, you have a happy hubby with a newer shirt.  He like the edge around the image  better than the original. 

Yeahhhh! 

Now on to the next bonus project....

And here is my little hat made with the left-over shirt material.  I was going to do a separate post for this, but I wanted to give you all some ideas so you wouldn't toss that left-over fabric.  The original shirt was a small, so I had to be creative with cutting (crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out a little).

This is the coolest little hat, I refer to the style as a "pageboy hat", but I don't know what else to call it.  I got all the directions from a talented gal named Kalleen who has a blog called At Second Street.  If you follow the link, you can find all the measurements and such.  She did a great job with the directions.

So have fun checking your closets for those old t-shirts you haven't worn in a while.  If you have little ones this is a great way to move up to a larger size and keep you kids favorite images without spending as much.  You can pick up great solid color shirts at the Red Dot Boutique (Target) or the big "W" that would be a good backdrop. 

I will be sharing with:

Strut Your Stuff Thursdays atSomewhat Simple

The Train into Crazy blog

Everyting Etsy blog

The Shabby Chic Cottage blog

Tea Rose Home blog

Getting ready for summer....

I've been busy getting ready for a new summer this last few weeks.  I've been thinking about all the pictures that I'll be taking, hopefully and what I'll do with them so I've made up some mini books just for summer time. 

 This one is my favorite so far.  I had a 12 x 12 sheet of colored chipboard that I cut down to 6 x 6 pieces to make a front and back cover, then filled with cream colored cardstock pages to fill with pictures.  The cover has some fabric scraps, a little doily and some fun cardstockpieces.  The I finished with my Zutter, what a fun tool.

I tend to do things like this, making the fun book before taking the pictures.  Some folks have the fun pictures first...oh well, whatever works.  There is also a little pocket inside the front cover waiting for notes about all the adventures I hope to have...maybe that will be my motivation to get out there. 

I'll have to post it when it's full of pictures when summer is fading.  I'm sure that will be sooner than I would like, seasons seem to pass so quickly. 

My heart has been heavy with the tragedyin the Gulf, and all the other things going on, so I'm wanting to make time to fill the summer with good memories too.  We live near the Gulf of Mexico in florida and don't know what the future holds.  I plan to remain optimistic and hope for some good things to come as this situation hopefully gets better soon.

When I was younger my Mother used to say "That's how life is" when a lot of bad things were happening.  That used to drive me crazy, thinking to myself that I could do something to change that in my own life.  Now I now know what she meant...there will always be something to make us sad in life.  World events, family illness, job concerns, they all seem to be in the background.  I guess that just makes the happy times more precious and worth celebrating as much as we can. 

Big hugs...

Kitchen dish towel mat project....

There have been a lot of great ideas popping up in blog land lately.  One of them I found recently is this idea of a kitchen dish towel mat.  I found the idea and good instructions on Toad's Treasure blog.  Emily has great instructions, but as usual, I made up my own along the way.

In the end, you have a cute towel mat to put beside your sink for those hand wash dishes that I'm sure we all have.  I know I always hand wash all of my saucepans, good Pampered Chefitems, and all of my hubby's coffee mugs.

All you need to start with is a dish or bath hand towel and some fabric pieces.  I decided to recycle an old bath towel I had that was really thick and not really used much.  I then used some pieces of fabric I had from some fat quarters and some other scraps.  You can recycle what you have, or get some new fabric to match the colors in you kitchen.

Start by laying out your fabric pieces to see how you want them.  You can have as many as you want, or have a mix of smaller and larger pieces.  I started with the two pieces that were the largest scraps.  Trim the ends about an inch wider than the towel you are using.

Lay each piece where you would like, pin right sides together and sew them all with a single straight stitch.  You can just eye it like I do, or get out your tape measure and go for it.  There is a running joke at our house about my hubby's need for measuring everything, me, I just need my thumb and a good squint.....Where's my level?

Then, iron down your seams in the back to make them nice and flat.  This is the time I usually give all the fabric a little ironing too.

Then just top stitch onto the towel base.  This is when you might want to change out your thread to color it up a bit.  I choose some nice orange thread for mine.  I top stitched on both sides of the seams on each piece.

   For the edge, just fold over the fabric two times from the back, iron, and pin down on the top side of your towel.  Then top stitch around the edge of the whole piece. 

When you are done, you have a nice pretty towel to lay on your counter.  The towel on the bottom soaks up the better than just a dish towel too. Personally, I don't like to dirty up a too many dish towels and I'm hopeful this will help. 

It just fits the little space I have next to my sink in my little condo and brightens it up a little too.

 
And, in case your wondering what that little basket is peeking by my sink....it's my little wabbit friend.  I've had this little bunny since I was in High School, made by my Aunt JoAnn.  She was into ceramics and had this in her craft shop.  I've had this at every kitchen sink of mine.  It's funny how these little things follow us along in life.

So, this might be fun to do as gifts this year, maybe with matching dish towels, aprons or hot pads....hmmmm.

Hugs.

More projects with vintage images...

Soooo, I already shared this card with my friends at Simply Scrapping Crafts, so I thought I would share it here too.  I love this image of a little girl with big brown eyes.  These images are perfect for cards and scrapbook pages. These are just images taken from old children's books.

This is another example, with the image added to a small tag then attached to a card.  I have been making so many tags with these images...it can be addicting.  I'm hoping to keep them around to use for more cards, and maybe even use with gifts....fun.

Tags like these with cute chicken images on them.  Wouldn't these be great hanging from a jar of some homemade goodies from your garden? Or maybe a gift of goodies for a friend for their garden.....

Or these, with a little paper doily, some other papers added....

Lovin these.

As always, I hope this inspires your creative juices. 

I'm linking up today with The Girl Creative, take a look at all the cool links there.

Dress up your gift tags....

I've been on a tag making frenzy lately.  I just love how you can make a little tag a piece of art, just as fun as making a special gift for your friend or family member.  Something as simple as a little silk flower can make such a difference.  I started with a little bunch I found at a tag sale for next to nothing, maybe a $1.00. 

All you need to do is cut off the wire stem as far to the top as you can.  Get your muscles ready, you made need them.  Or, do what I do, look at your hubby with a desperate face and pucker that lip..... so not fair, but effective.

Then just separate the petals.  You can use just a few as I did or the whole flower.  Just add a sparkle brad in the center and layer over your tag with maybe some patterned paper, or as I did, with a little paper doily.  Easy peasy and more importantly, super cute. You can write your friends name on the back or leave it blank so they can re-use it.  Yes, our family re-uses all kinds of packages and wrapping paper from all the Holidays as much as possible.

Also, think of the one receiving your gift before you box it up.  My daughter received her birthday gift boxed in an old wood cigar box I found instead of a cardboard one.  She loves these and uses them to hold her art supplies all the time.  Think out of the box (wow, that came naturally) when you pick out your box too.  Along with a pretty handmade gift tag, how memorable.

All of these special touches can add so much.  I thought of that after my last post I did on calling cards.  I do realize that most people have cell phones and can just type in a phone number if they need too.  But, how much more fun is it getting a handmade card from someone.  So much more personal and meaningful.  That's something I am working on more and more all the time.  Making the little things more meaningful I do from day to day and attempting to make those gift giving events a lot more personal.  It seems we can fall into a rut and just go through the motions...you know, a late night run to Wally world to pick up "something" for that birthday party.  I'd like to change that myself, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

I'm linking up today with one of my favorite blogs, Tea Rose Home.  Check out her link party for some great ideas too.

Also linking up with Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple....

And at the Shabby Chic Cottage....

Peace out....

How about making your own business card...

Have you ever been at the grocery store, kids ball game or some other place and run into an old friend you would like to connect with?  Or, been at the kids park with your little one and find a new little friend?  It's nice to exchange phone numbers but not always fun to find a pen or paper to write on. 

I was thinking of this when I came up with these little cards to slip in my purse.  In my case, I put the address of my new little ol blog on it to give to some friends that might already have my number.  All you need to do is type out you name and number or anything else you would like on your card in your favorite program.  You can add images or just keep it simple.  Then just copy and paste a few on your page, print out on a piece of cardstock....maybe a fun color.  You can then cut out in a size you like.  I went a step further and sewed mine down onto a piece of kraft cardstock, adding a little strip of fabric that I pleated and some pleated vintage text paper.  This takes a little time, but think of this card on my friend's refrigerator or pined up on a bulletin board.  Fun, right?

The background image is from a picture of a bird silhouette I painted on my wall in my craft room.  The color was changed to pink and then the text added.  My daughter did that for me.  You can use one of your favorite pictures as a backdrop if you would like that too.  Then, just drop a few in your purse or diaper bag and your set.

I'm linking up today with a few blogs, so go check them out....

 

 Making the world cuter blog

Skip to my Lou

   Sumos sweet stuff blog