Frame It!

Happy Holiday Monday! 

I gotta admit ... I'm feeling just a little bit guilty that I'm not out and baout having fun with the girls today ... the last day of summer break.  Maybe a bit later I'll jump rope with them or something.  It's pretty windy out today ... and Craig is on call for work so our options are a bit limited.  They are out playing at the moment so I thought I'd do my Monday post ... chances are it's gunna be a looooooong one, so get comfy!

As you know there is nothing I love more than a rainy Sunday.  They bring such fond memories for me.  When I was a kid rainy Sunday's meant I would spend HOURS at the kitchen table doing puzzles or my paint-by-number.  Mom would be putzing in the kitchen making a lovely Sunday dinner complete with dessert and the house was just calm and happy.    During the summer rules were relaxed a little but come fall the old "everyone has to be home for dinner" applied and always stuck.  As I got older I still loved my Sundays ... especially in the fall.  When I moved out I would always go home for Sunday dinner (yes, it was the only time I got a decent meal and then I'd get leftovers to get me through the week so I didn't starve!).  When I was in University I would always head to school to study on the weekends but on Sundays I ALWAYS left by 2:00 pm to be home to watch football with my dad.  Well ... he would watch football ... I would knit or crochet and just listen to it ... and just "be" with my dad.  Such great memories.  So yep - I love a cold, rainy (or snowy) Sunday.  Yesterday was bliss.  I walked the dog and got a good, healthy glow and chill ... then took a hot shower.  Craig headed to the store for me and picked up all the fixin's for Sunday Roast Beef dinner.  I invited Ma and Pa over for dinner ... and I even made dessert (just like Mom used to).  While dinner was cooking, and before my parents showed up I hit the craft room.  Yes ... I have about  projects I needed to work on but yesterday was about doing what a WANTED to do, not what I HAD to do.  MAN did I have fun!!  I have been wanting to make these projects for MONTHS ... yesterday was the day!  So ... without further adeau ... I give you ... my Sunday Fun Projects ...

First up is a project I started back in May.  Here it is:

This is a framed birthday card I made for my Australian friend, Laura.  I posted about her before ... she is a dear friend who I have knows since I was about 8 years old ... our families were / are very close, spending MANY holiday dinners together.  Laura now lives in Australia with her beautiful family.  Last year she launched her own company "Page Buddies" which make and sell accessories for books - primarily magnetic book marks.  You can check out their offering here: http://www.pagebuddy.com/  I have two of their bookmarks and love them!  This little reindeer is one of the characters on one of their bookmarks and my personal favorite.  I just HAD to make her a 1st Birthday present to mark the 1 year point.  I blew up a picture of this little guy and then cut him out of Crumb Cake Card stock.  I had fun adding the Real Red Nose, Polka Dot Parade tie and Daffodil Delight bell.  While I love it in a frame I figure it will take a lot longer, and a lot more money to mail it in a frame so I will likely turn it into a card for her.  It was a lot of fun to make and was on my To-Do list for months!!!

Once I dug out the frame for the Page Buddy project I figured I'd work on some other frame projects I've wanted to do forever.  I had so much fun!  I had stocked up on a few frames (me?  stock up on stuff?  how unusual?!  *lol*) to use for little noted to my family.  I have seen quite a few project on Pinterest using frames as dry erase boards ... that got me thinking about all SORTS of fun projects!  Here is the first frame I made for my girls:

I don't know if you can read it ... the words are from the retired set "Three Little Words".  I bought the frame at Winners and then just cut some whisper white for the insert.  I stamped the sentiment and butterfly (from Papillon Potpourri) in Whisteria Wonder.  I plan to put it in their bathroom with little notes to them ... like ...

Or ...

Hee hee.  Yes, the message is on glass, written with a dry erase marker so it just wipes off ... so fun!  I made the mistake of making a frame with a PLASTIC frame ... nope - doesn't wip off those *lol*

Here is another one I made.  I didn't realize this paper was retired.  It is the Attic Boutique from the Occasions Mini last year ... I thought it carried over to the new catty but I was wrong :(  Too bad ... I just LOVE this DSP ... of course I loved it so much I never USED it!  (I'm sure everyone knows how THAT goes *lol*)  Here it is:

LOVE IT!!  This is a different type of frame that I bought at Dollarama ...

I turned it on it's side and it still stands up.  I stamped Three Little Words in Soft Sued and then made a paper flower with Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, So Saffron and Bashful Blue Scalloped Circles with an antique brad in the middle.  I added a little Crochet Trim to finish it off.  I LOVE it!  Does anyone follow Kimberley Van Diepen's blog?  This just screams her style to me!  Check out here work at www.stampinbythesa.com 

Finally ... my all time favorite!  My friend Peggy L had given me a post-it-note holder made from a similar frame MONTHS ago.  Naturally I ran right out and bought 12 frames to make themself ... and then they sat there ever since.  No longer!  I LOVE this little project and plan to make 10 more for hostess gifts and door prizes later today:

LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I turned the frame upside down which poses a problem because the glass keeps sliding down.  How to stop that?  Tie it with a piece of ribbon!  This literally took me 3 minutes to make from start to finish!  I cut a piece of retired Mocha Morning DSP (yes, I now have 5 packs being hoarded in my basement *lol*), tied a piece of ribbon around it (satin), put some snail on the back of a pack of post-it-notes and stamped it with Flowering Flourishes and "A Note of Thanks" (retired).  The pen just sits on top of the the post-it-notes.  Yep ... LOVE it!  I had to laugh, though ... when I showed my family my works of art they were more than a littel underwhelmed ... they just didn't "get" it .... oh well, I had fun!

I think I'll stop there for now.  I have a tutorial on how to make these cute little Halloween boxes ... but there are 11 pictures and will take me another half hour to post ... so I'll do that another day.  I think I better get cracking on those First-Day-Of-School cards for the girls ... and the teachers.  Tomorrow IS the big day!

Enjoy your day off and hopefully you'll have a stampy day :)


Tam