Hoarding Pays Off!

Happy Sunday!

Having a LOVELY day today!  Slept in … AGAIN!!! … walked Doodles then went to see the new Star Trek movie with Craig and Becca.  LOVED it!!!!!!  So much so we're gunna re-watch the first two movies after dinner.  Wa-Hoo!

Just a quick one today.  I couldn't resist as this little project just makes me giddy.  Check it out!

I know, I know - it's not paper crafting but it IS crafting, right??

Craig's Family Reunion is coming up this weekend.  We aren't going but his sister is.  Every reunion there is an auction.  Half the proceeds go to charity and half to into the "pot" towards the next reunion.  Every family "clan" puts together a basket to auction off.  Naturally I donate cards … and I volunteered two jars of Craig's Crimson Passion Cherry jam.  This stuff is seriously more addictive than drugs.  He always comments that I don't eat his jam.  I always reply I can't because I can't stop once I start.  Seriously.  Two pieces of toast ALWAYS turns into four … plus a few spoonfuls right from the jar.  It would be faster to just smear the stuff directly onto my thighs and be done with it.  It's that good.  Really.

Now it just wouldn't be right to hand over two boring old jars of jam.  They didn't even have labels on them … so I went to work.

I cut out circles of my hidden stash of Stampin' Up! fabric using a retired circle Bigs Die to decorate the tops.  The LABELS - oh, I thought I was a genius on this one!  Sometimes items ordered are on backorder.  When the item comes into stock they ship it to us.  In the shipment there is a packing slip that is actually a sticker.  Being a bordering line hoarder and a true crafter (who hates to throw anything away that may be craft-able at some point in the future), I cut of the label info and keep the rest of the label.  As I stared at the jars and tried to figure out how I would attach a tag … or label … they came to mind.  Grabbed one of my retired framelits and BAM!  Had me some labels!  Grabbed my retired Tart & Tangy stamp set and my markers and Wa-LOW!  A key-UTE little label for the back of the jars.  Used my markers to write on the front label and DONE!

Love, love, love!

See?  Hoarding pays off!  Retired fabric, retired framelit, retired stamp set and sticky labels.  So glad I kept it all :)

Hope you're having a stampy day!  Have a fun night!


Tam

Stepping up the Flourishes

Happy Saturday!

Been a while since I posted, I know!  Sorry  'bout that!  I haven't been crafting much this week as I've been running around town with the kids, enjoying summer.  Swimming pools, dentist appointments (OK, that day was NOT a lot of fun as we spent 5 ours and 177.7 kms driving to and from …), K-Days Carnival, "playdates" and a few deliveries to make.  Luckily I have a project to share today - one I made last week.  Check it out!

I was insured by a card made by Australian Stampin' Up! Artisan Taneale Wlliams.  She is amazingly talented and creative.  You can check her work out here.

This is her card that inspired me ...

I loved the clean look of it.  I had the stamp set she used (Grateful Bunch) ...

… but thought I'd see what else I could come up with that had a similar feel.  Here is mine again …

I really liked the simplicity of it.  I used the Falling Flowers …

I embossed the image on Crumb Cake card stock with Winter White embossing powered.  The Winter White isn't a WHITE white - it's almost vanilla … so I layered it on a Very Vanilla card stock.

I used my Blossom Bunch punch …

… for the flowers, made a banner with the Banner Trio Punch and paper pierced the bottom of it for a little added interest.  Each flower has an enamel dot in the centre and the middle flower is popped up on a dimensional (as is the banner).

The sentiment I used is from …. I haven't got a clue.  I've been through the catalogue three times now and can't find which set it's from - grrrrrr.  I'll amend this when I hit the Craft Cave and find it!

Whilst I liked the look or my "clean card" when I went back to it the next day I wasn't in such a "clean" mood.  I love this flourish so thought I would just "step it up a notch" …. and THIS is what I came up with ...

Ahh yes - THAT'S better!  Just added pops of black … and coloured the enamel dots with a black sharpie.  Perfect!

If you love a layout don't be afraid to try different things WITH that layout.  So many options and different looks.

Gotta run - Koda wants his walk :)

Whatever you get up to I hope you have a stampy weekend :)


Tam
SaveSave

Flowering Flourishes Notebooks

Happy Sunday!

As you know, I usually post on a Sunday morning … here it is 4:26 pm and I'm just getting around to it  now.  Been a busy day but better late than never, yes?

Rather than posting on THIS blog this morning I was busy posting on my OTHER blog.  Yup - got a new one now.  If you are middle aged, slightly overweight, a "commit-a-phobe" or a "diet-a-holic" … or if you just want a scary look into the my life and my mind, check it out here.  You'll come along on my journey to a healthier me in the 50 weeks leading up to my 50th birthday.  Be warned - it's "raw" Tamara!  No "filters" on that blog! *lol*

Today I'm sharing a project I made last week that I SUPER LOVE!  I was waiting to post it until my last order came in with my fabulous new copper embossing powder inside.  After it came in I had to wait to post it because I couldn't get decent lighting for a picture that did it justice.  Well today I got the picture and here we are.  Ready?

OH little notebooks of loveliness.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways ….

*swoon*

SO love these little cuties!  The are little 5" x 3 1/4" notebooks (with elastic) that I picked up at Ikea.  Similar notebooks can be found in lots of places - the Dollar Store, Staples, Walmart - lots of places.  These ones grabbed my attention and I immediately started thinking of ways I could alter them "Stampin' Up! Style".  As soon as I got home I headed south to my Craft Cave.  Of course I had NO space on my desk … there was still chaos left over from my last crafting session.  As I started to pile things on top of each other (you know - 'cause actually DEALING with stuff and putting it AWAY was just to "out there" to do!) I came across my beautiful flourish stamp … still attached to a block.  Well!  That was obviously a sign to USE it again, right?  Obviously!

The flourish is from Flourishing Phrases.  You need to own it.  Not kidding.  Need.

I simply wiped my Powder Pal on the front cover, inked the flourish in Versamark then covered a booklet in each of our current embossing powders (ok - the black isn't current - but I love it - so I used it, retired or not!) and heat set.  Done!

Love love LOVE!  Which is your favourite??  At first I loved the black … and was going to do them all in black .. then I tried the gold.  Yup - loved it .. then silver - SO nice "live" … then the copper came in … and now I can't decide.  I love them all!

Anyone in the Edmonton area want to come to a class where we will be making these?

5 notebooks for $15 or
10 notebooks for $25

Everything is included.

Friday, August 5th at 6:30 - my house.
RSVP by the end of Monday (tomorrow) so I can buy enough supplies.  I'd LOVE to have you over so we can ooooo and ahhhhhh over these!  Send me an email ASAP (or leave a comment) if you'd like to come.

That's it for today - gotta go have dinner!  Have a stampy night!


Tam

First Day of School Teacher Gifts

Happy Friday!

Not much going on around here today - just another relaxing summer day as I keep chipping away at my "one day" list.  Yesterday I tackled under the sink in the girls bathroom.  I'm not sure how we acquired 32 head bands over the years … and 14 rolls of dental floss … but they are all now neatly in their designated bucket (and/or the trash!).  The linen/cleaning/medicine cupboard saw 3 expired medicines "get gone" and a few things I had lost, found :)

Today I think I'll hit the Craft Cave.  Not sure if I'll craft, organize or "Project Life" … but something fun will happen down there!

Today I'm sharing a project I WANTED to share at the end of June.  Alas, Staples on-line totally BITES when it comes to prompt service!  I ordered a box of clear clip boards to use for my Teacher Gifts.  The sales associate at the Staples store told me they should arrive in one to two days.  Sa-Weet!  I ordered them June 15th.  When did I get them?  Monday, July 18th!!  Seriously.  Won't be ordering from THEM again anytime soon … and if I DO I'll make sure I have a 2 month lead-time.  Sheesh.

Any-who …. let's see what I wanted the clip boards for, shall we?  

LOVE!  I really can't take any credit for them.  My friend Darlene gave me the idea last year and she produced the vinyl pieces for me using her Silhouette machine.  They turned out so GREAT!   I REALLY want to get one of these magic machines.  I just keep waiting, hoping Stampin' Up! will offer one some day.  I may have to break down soon, though, as patience is NOT one of my virtues!

Whilst I'm sad I didn't get the gifts done for the end of the 2015/2016 school year I figure I'll be the favourite mom on day 1 of the 2016/2017 school year *lol*.  Mind you I will likely be the most HATED mom by the OTHER moms if they think I'm an overachiever trying to start a "first day of school gift" trend *lol*.

That's it for now.  More projects to come so keep popping back.

Make sure you have a stampy day!


xoxo  Tam

Flourishing Phrases Fun … not ...

Happy Thursday!

I've been managing to spend a few hours a day in the Craft Cave this week so I have a few projects to share.  Yay!  I have to admit I've been struggling to create this week!  Oh, I seem to get there in the end but it's almost PAINFUL to go through the process!  I start off GREAT - I get the main image within minutes …. and then - nuthin.  I sit and stare, and fiddle and play, and punch and add and delete and say bad words.  Today's project is the perfect example.  Check it out ...

What do you think?  I'm still a little on the fence on this one.  I LOVE the flourish.  I stamped it (from Flourishing Phrases) ….

… in my Archival Black ink.  I had recently re-inked it so the pad was nice and "juicy" leaving the image quite wet.  I immediately sprinkled clear embossing powder on top and heat set it.  This is how you can get an embossed image in any colour you want - just ink it very well, then cover it with clear embossing powder.  Yes, I could have just use black embossing powder but Stampin' Up! no longer carries black (???!!!) so I did it "the hard way".  Just goes to show that even if you don't have all the tools / products needed there is usually another way to get the same (or similar) look!

Right.  So after I embossed it I coloured it.  I LOVE colouring (I always said that's why God gave me two girls - I could often be found colouring my picture after they abandoned theirs and were in bed *lol*)  I used Real Red, Old Olive and Pear Pizzazz markers.

LOVED what I had.  Two hours later I was no further ahead.  Sigh.  The above is what I ended up with.  Again, not sure I love it … but it's growing on me.

I embossed the sentiment in the same way, using a set called Floral Phrases …

I then grabbed my oval thinlits and cut the sentiment out.  I cut a second oval the same size, out of Real Red card stock and taped it in the hole.  I cut a black strip using the Flourishing Thinlits ...

… taped it down, added some black thread behind the sentiment and popped that up on dimensionals.

I GUESS it works.  Dunno.  Need to think about it a bit more, I guess.

That's it for now.  Pop in again soon - I have 3 more projects to share.  Until then, have a stampy day!


Tam

Gift of Love Z-Fold Card

Happy Monday!

Today will be a fun day all around :)  Craig is on Week #2 of holidays and is taking the girls (and a friend each) to West Edmonton Mall Waterpark.  I won't be going.  I think I was a cat in a previous life and am NOT a fan of water … nor watersides … so I will be picking up my mother and heading to Ikea and "South Edmonton Common" for a lovely day of light shopping and a wee spot of lunch.  Yes - everyone will have a great time (well … Craig won't but he's willing to take the hit for the home team *lol*)

As promised, I have a project to share - woo hoo!  This one took me a few hours - not because it is complicated or labour intensive but simply because I spent hours and hours just "playing" - trying different layouts, different colours, different embellishments.  Here's what I came up with …

Love!  I made what we in the card-making world call a Z-fold card.  It is the same size as a standard card (8 1/2" x 4 1/4").  What makes it a "Z-fold" is once you fold the card in half (as usual), you then fold the front piece back on itself, making the front 5 1/2" x 2 1/8".

The front 2 1/2" x 5" piece came together in the first 3 minutes of making the card.  It's exactly what I had in mind (it's the other elements that took 1 our and 57 minutes to decide on!).

I used the oh-so-pretty Hostess Set "Gift of Love" …

I started by stamping the sentiment in Smoky Slate four times (make sure you use a pierce mat for non-blurry stamping!).

I then stamped the main flower image using Basic Grey.  The green is Pear Pizzazz and the pink is Flirty Flamingo.  For both of these colours I "stamped off" on scrap paper before stamping on my card so the colours were less intense.  I then coloured the flower with my clear Wink of Stella (what a surprise!) and added a single White enamel dot to one of the flowers.

I then punched out the Pear Pizzazz embellishment that goes behind the flower layer using the Flourish Thinlits …

Using the Big Shot Die Brush after punching it out removed 100% of the little pieces - I didn't have to use my "pokey tool" at all - LOVE that thing!  Best $13.50 I've spent in a LONG time (and I highly recommend it to anyone who uses thinlits!)

I glued the piece down with my fine tip glue pen then attached the flower layer with dimensionals.

For the inside I cut a Pear Pizzazz pice measuring  2 3/4" x 5 1/2" and a whisper white layer of 2 1/2" x 5".  I stamped the sentiment in Basic Grey and added a Smoky Slate flower that had been stamped off twice for just a "hint" of the image.  When I attached the inside piece I needed to be very precise in it's placement so that, when it's closed, the green mat actually layers the front piece … like this …

I really, really, REALLY like how it turned out.  I'm pretty sure I'll be playing with this set again soon. It's a keeper!

That's it for now - off I go to get ready for shopping.  Whatever you get up to today I hope you have a stampy time! xoxo


Tam

Christmas Ornaments 2016

Happy Sunday!

As I stated last post, it had been WAYYYYYY too long since I had been in the Craft Cave.  Yesterday was the day - I headed down and got lost for a total of about four hours.  Yay!  The down side was I had to spend the first half hour trying to find the top of my desk.  Boo!  The chaos from my class July 5th (!!!) was a sad reminder that it had, in fact, been 11 days sine I darkened the doorway.  Given that it's summer and I have nothing but time on my hands I am shocked it's been that long … alas - the mess don't lie *lol*

As I started putting things away I got distracted (quite a normal occurrence for ME!)

I had cleared off a space about 6" x 6" … good enough, right?  CERTAINLY enough room to start making Christmas decorations! … so that's what I did *lol*

Wa-LOW!  I give you the Bertram 2016 Christmas Ornament!

Side Bar - for those of you new to my blog ... that was my daughter's attempt at "voila" when she was younger - love how they constantly tried to parrot my sayings …. and got them wrong about 50% of the time hee hee.

Another Side Bar - for those of you new to my blog … every year, for the last 13 years, I have made a Christmas ornament for my daughters.  Than plan was//is to give them a box of ornaments for their trees when they move out.  After all, when you get your first apartment/home who has money to buy something as frivolous (and expensive!) as tree ornaments, right?  … and how lovely would it be to open a box of special memories and love from your mom?

Most years December sneaks up on me and I'm making my annual ornaments the day before Christmas.  Not this year!  Done mid JULY!!!

This fabulous little ornament was inspired by my friend Casey.  Last month she showed me some tiles she had picked up at the hardware store …

Casey has a Silhouette machine and is a wizard at creating fabulous personalized items and home decor using vinyl.  Her plan was/is to turn them into Christmas ornaments using vinyl.  I fell in LOVE with the idea!  Of course MINE would be with ink and paper!  Next time I was out running errands I bought the tiles and started researching how to stamp on them.  (Thank You "Uncle Google"!)

Naturally this was over a month ago *lol*.  Yes, I BOUGHT the tiles … put them in The Cave … and there they sat… until I found them yesterday under the pile of chaos on my desk.  Well … no one procrastinates on cleaning like I do … so cleaning was abandoned and 2 hours later this is what I had come up with ...

"Two HOURS?", I hear you cry.  "How could that take you two HOURS?"  Well … this is about the 9th version *lol*.  Stamping on tiles is tricky.  First and foremost the tiles are slippery making stamping on them a little more difficult than on paper.  My first few versions involved stamping the above image with black Staz-on (the recommended ink on most of the tutorials I found).  There was a definite learning curve as the image slipped and smudged.  No problem - Staz-on cleaner wiped it right off for a quick "do-over".

I DID come up with a version that was stamped in black and then coloured green and red with my Sharpies.  Alas … the tutorials said I needed to BAKE the tiles to set the ink … and then spray them with an acrylic glaze to seal everything so it doesn't chip, bleed or rub off.  Ya no.  I don't bake crafts.  NO patience for THAT nonsense.  Rather than doing as I was told I went straight to "spray with acrylic glaze".  Mistake.  BIG mistake!  The inks turned into a big runny, sloppy puddle of green, black and red.  Straight into the garbage!  *lol*.  So!  What was I going to DO with these things?  Normally they would be pushed aside to try again "another day" (of course "another day" never actually arrives and they would collect dust like the other 72 projects that have suffered the same fate!)

I wanted a project that I could use for a class … something that would be FABULOUS without being tedious, time consuming and/or involving my oven!  The above "final version" ticks all the boxes.  Yay me!

Gold is "anything" is a hot trend right now … so gold is what I wanted.

I simply stamped the image from Embellished Ornaments in Versamark …

… and heat set it with Gold Embossing Powder.  *** WARNING *** These tiles get HOT when you heat emboss them.  Holy COW!  I was vey surprised at a) how LONG it took for the embossing powder to melt (about 3 times as long as it does on paper!) and b) how screaming hot the tile got!  I guess the tile absorbs the heat from the heat gun, heating up the tile and drawing the heat away from the powder, slowing down the melting process.  Whatever the science behind it, know that if you are holding the tile in your hand it will burn you.  I quickly learned to place the tile on my desk to melt the powder (I will put the tile on a block of wood in future just to protect my desk).

I LOVE how thick the embossing powder is and how well/evenly it melted.  It looks great "live".

I made the banner using the FAB hostess set "Time of Year"

Love love LOVE this banner!  I stamped it on Whisper White with Versamark and heat set the gold embossing powder.  I then punched it out with the corresponding banner framelit from the Bunch of Banners set ...

I used a fine tip Sharpie to write '16 in the corner and popped it up on dimensionals.

Oh!  The hole!  Yes, I needed to drill a hole to HANG the ornament!  Remember, these are tiles, intended for kitchens and bathrooms, not crafting *lol*.  Last month I had Craig pick me up  drill bit specifically for drilling tile.  He set me up with a block of wood, his drill, instructions not to lose any body parts and off I went.  It worked perfectly!  No chipping, cracking or breaking!  Craig DID mention it would be a lot faster, easier and more precise if "ONE of us" had a drill press.  20 minutes later Uncle Amazon had one winging it's way to our house.  It will arrive next Monday.  Yes, it will be a business write off … but I'll let him use it from time to time *lol*

Quick, cute and no oven needed!  My kind of project!  Naturally, I'll be offering a class in the fall for my local customers so stay tuned for a date on that!

I managed to spend another two hours in The Cave after dinner last night so pop in again soon to see how that one turned out.  Until then, have a stampy Sunday!



Tam

2016 Catalogue Ribbon and DSP Share

Happy Friday!

Hope you're having a relaxing day.  We are - but my butt is KILLING me …. we just got back from bowling.  Oi VEY do I ever need to do a few lunges at home every now and then!!  I forgot I even HAD muscles back there! *lol*

Still no project to share :(  I haven't been down to my cave it WEEKS!  I need a good, solid 2 days of rain so I can justify being inside and crafting!!  Once way or another it's gunna happen at SOME point this weekend.  I'm overflowing with things I want to try/play with after going through 10 crafting magazines I found in my closet!!  Pop in again soon to see if I come up with anything fun!

In the meantime I'm posting the email I sent out to my Canadian customers yesterday.  They wanted a paper share and a ribbon share so yesterday I sat down with my trusty catalogue, calculator, coloured pens and LOTS of paper to put something together.  2 hours (and a few glasses of wine) later I had it all figured out.  Hmmmmm - now that I think about it I should probably check my work … that wine may have resulted in some errors *lol*.

If you are in Canada and would like to get in on my "shares" let me know.  Hopefully the postal strike will be avoided but if not I'll have to figure out shipping via other methods.  Send me an email to bertram4@shaw.ca if you'd like to partake :)

"Shares" are a great way to get a little bit of everything - a little bit of ribbon in each colour or a little bit of designer paper from each pack.  If you are like me you want ALL the papers and ALL the ribbons but a whole package or roll is usually way too much.  By "sharing" a pack with 3 other people you all get a portion of the pack/roll and you don't have to invest hundreds of dollars to get it all.

Here is what I have on offer ….


2016/2018 In Colour 3/8" Ruched Ribbon Share:

• Single Share - $15.00

• approximately 2 yards (or 72" … or 183 cm *lol) of EACH of the 5 new In Color Ruched Ribbons (seen on page 178 of the annual catalogue)

• Dapper Denim

• Emerald Envy

• Flirty Flamingo

• Peekaboo Peach

• Sweet Sugarplum

• Double Share - $25.00

• double the amount of the above :)

Designer Series Paper Shares (found on pages 172-173 of the annual catalogue)

• Single Share - $35 - 84 sheets of DSP

• get (2) each of 6 double-sided designs - 6" x 6" - of the following papers:

• Floral Boutique DSP

• Moroccan DSP

• Fruit Stand DSP

• Blooms & Bliss DSP

• Festive Birthday DSP

• By The Shore DSP

• This Christmas Specialty DSP

• Double Share - $65 - 84 (larger) sheets of DSP ****** PLUS 36 sheets of coordinating card stock as a BONUS!!!

• get twice the amount as above.  

• You will still get (2) each of the above but the pieces will be 6" x 12" rather than 6" x 6" (allowing you more flexibility in creating your own size)

• ** bonus - get 36 sheets of coordinating card stock to match each of the Designer Series Paper colours!  That's over $17 value FREE!

• you get (2) each of the following colours:

• Cherry Cobbler

• Garden Green

• Delightful Dijon

• Emerald Envy

• Very Vanilla

• Pear Pizzazz

• Peekaboo Peach

• Watermelon Wonder

• Island Indigo

• Mint Macaron

• Sweet Sugarplum

• Pumpkin Pie

• Tempting Turquoise

• Calypso Coral

• Dapper Denim

• Soft Sky

• Night of Navy

• Whisper White

Designer Series Paper STACK Shares (found on page 174 of the annual catalogue)

• Single Share - $30 - 72 sheets of DSPS

• get (2) each of 12 double sided designs - 6" x 6" - of the following papers:

• A Little Foxy DSPS

• Serene Scenery DSPS

• Playful Palette DSPS

• Double Share - $55 - 144 sheets of DSPS ******* PLUS 36 sheets of coordinating card stock as a BONUS!!!

• get twice the amount as above of the DSPS (so 4 each of 12 double sided designs)

• ** all pieces will be 6" x 6"

• ***** bonus - get 36 sheets of coordinating card stock to match each of the Designer Series Paper Stack colours!  That's over $17 value FREE!

• you get (4) each of the following colours:

• Calypso Coral

• Pool Party

• Smoky Slate

• Crumb Cake

• Pool Party

• Whisper White

• Blushing Bride

• Sweet Sugarplum

• Very Vanilla

So?  Who's in?  Email with which share(s) you would like (and whether you want a singe or a double).  

A reminder that the "Bonus Days" promotion runs until the end of July.  For every $60 in product you purchase you will receive a coupon for $6 to use on an August order.  Email me by July 30th if you want to take advantage of that promo.

That's it!  Have yourself a stampy night :)

Tamara

Photos, photos, photos ….

Happy Wednesday!

… it IS Wednesday, isn't it?  I woke up this morning (at 3:12 am *sigh*) and had to seriously try to figure out what day it is.  Oh sure, it could have been because it was, in fact, 3:12 AM but I think it's more because it's summer and the lack of schedule has all the days blurring together.  Not necessarily a bad thing!

I tossed and turned and TRIED to get back to sleep.  Alas, my brain wouldn't shut off so, at 5:00 am  I grabbed the dog, the cat, a coffee and an my lap tap for the ONE routine I maintain all year round - surfing the internet for news, inspiration and fun.  Yes, I AM trying to cut down on my electronics time but let's face it - at 5:00 am there isn't a lot to do … and even of there was I'm not bursting with energy to actually DO it *lol*

What I DID plan to do (and I will get to it right after this post!) was finish writing out my photographs.  By that I mean writing the dates, people, ages and place on the back of the 170 pictures I printed out on the weekend.  MUCH more manageable than the 968 I had to deal with back in March/April!  (See that post here).  My mission for today is to a) finish logging the current 170 pics and then spend a few hours getting them, and the Disneyland pictures from May, in my albums.  I've been procrastinating on this but today is the day.  Using the Project Life system is really so VERY quick and easy.  It will seriously take me less than 2 hours to get 'er done!

Why am I sharing this?  As I was surfing Pinterest I stumbled across a GREAT article on pictures … picture taking, picture managing and picture mistakes.  I wanted to share that with you.  So thanks to Lindsay Ross for sharing your tips.  They are "bang on" and a great reminder on lots of levels.

Read Lindsay's post here

Pictures ARE one of our most prized possessions.  I encourage you to PRINT them and get them in albums.  I can help you.  Just send me a message.

Right - one more coffee then I'm "up".  Cheers!  Have a stampy Wednesday!


Tam

Repurposed Frame

Happy Sunday!

MAN have I been productive the last few days!  When school ended I decided it was time to "unplug", spend less time on electronics, more time with the kids and getting around to those "one-day" items on the never ending to-do list.  I've been PRETTY good insofar as I've stayed away from Facebook for the most part and that alone has freed up HOURS of time every day.  Instead of getting lost surfing the net every morning over coffee I seem to have hit all my preferred blogs etc within about 6 minutes!  I have spent my extra time writing out recipes (yes, I'm totally addicted to Pinterest and have most of my favourite recipes saved there but I want a hand-written version to refer to and/or to pass on to the kids one day!), purging closets, drawers, printing out photographs, updating the kids' diaries and so on.  heck, this morning alone I went through EIGHT magazines!  I have some dating back to 2011! *lol*

Yesterday, amongst other things, Rebecca and I got some crafting time in.  Woo hoo!

About a month ago she asked me if she could get a cork board for her room so she could pin up pictures of her and her friends.  What???  A CORK BOARD??!!!  No child of MINE is going to have a plain old CORK BOARD in her room!  Seriously - I thought I was going to faint!  No, no NO!  I had visions of FINALLY having a reason to grab a canvas, some batting, some cute fabric and ribbon and making a fabric covered board with ribbon criss-crossing it - you know the ones I mean … something like this …

Then I thought NOOOOOOOO!  I wanna make one of those repurposed picture frame boards that are all the rage - something like this …

 … or this ...

So!  Last week we headed over to Value Village to see if we could find a frame that would work.  Score!  We found this monster and it was PERFECT!

** As an aside, I had to laugh when Craig came home, saw this *lovely* picture in the garage.  He very delicately asked "what's with the picture?"  Of course I HAD to wind him up and tell him how much I loved it and that it was going to be the focal piece in our living room.  Hee hee.  Not saying it's TOTALLY hideous, just not our cup of tea at ALL!

Aside from the great size of the frame (it's about 30" x 36"!) it was a great price ($22.50) but best of all was the texture on the frame.  It is ridged - looks like waves …

When I saw it I immediately envisioned it painted white, which the ridges painted black.  Rebecca has some zebra print in her room and this would look great!

This picture doesn't look very different to the original, gold colour but it is.  It's a great white-wash white with black highlights.  For paint I just grabbed what I had - an Ikea white paint and some black from Michaels.  We used sponge brushes to paint it.

 The whole project only took a few hours.  Once the paint was dry (which was fairly immediately) I headed down to my ribbon stash and we agreed on some retired white sweater trim.  I grabbed Craig's staple gun, stapled it across the frame and Wa-LOW!  Done!

 Craig hung it up and I gave Rebecca a roll of some metal clothespins I had picked up at Michael's last week on Clearance.  I think the roll (probably 30 pins?) was $3.99.

I believe they are "Alphabet Soup" brand - if you're in Edmonton, check the clearance aisles - these were about 5 aisles away from the tills, with all the monogram/alphabet stuff that is was 70% off.

I have sent off a bunch of pictures to be developed so Rebecca can decorate the board to her heart's content.  If I have my way I'll get her to decorate the pictures with journalling cards, punched out embellishments and framelit phrases …. but it's not my room so we'll see *lol*

That's it for now - the kids are both out for sleepovers so it's Date Night.  Craig is making dinner then we'll watch a movie.  Fingers crossed I can stay awake past 8:30 pm!  hee hee

Whatever you get up to tonight I hope you have a stampy evening … and week!  Pop in again soon :)


Tam

Bonus Days Promotion

Happy Saturday!

Another week has come and gone.  I can tell already this summer is going to FLY by!

It was a fun week as we spent lots of time with my mom, dad and brother.  Bowling, shopping, lunches, dinners - so relaxing!  He left yesterday and for the first time in three weeks I had a "down day" - nothing on the calendar.  Just the way I like it!  It was also my birthday so I took full advantage of doing what I pleased.  Oddly that involved cleaning.  Yes, I love a day when I get to just putz from room to room, organizing, tidying and cleaning as I go.  I allowed the girls to play their computer game all day so it was a win/win :)  We had a Chinese Take-Away followed by ice cream and "Finding Dory".  All in all a fabulous, relaxing day filled with the people I love.  Perfect!

With all the comings and goings lately I haven't had much time to create so today I'll just be sharing the latest SU promotion - "Bonus Days".  In a nutshell, for every $60 CDN you spend between now and July 31st gets you a $6 coupon to redeem in August.  It may not seem like a lot but it covers the cost of shipping and you can bet I'll be taking advantage of it!  The details are noted below.  My next order goes in July 14th.  Make sure you get in touch prior to the 14th to place your order.

Not sure what today holds but, as always, it starts with walking Doodle Dog so off I go.  Whatever YOU get up to I hope you have a stampy day :)


Tam

Sunshine Sayings with Sweet Sugarplum

Happy Tuesday!

Holy COW was it an epic busy weekend … and by weekend I mean Thursday until now!  Not only was it busy but it was emotionally exhausting - I had ALL the emotions going on - excitement, anticipation, relaxation, elation, stress, worry, love … you name it, I had it!

Reader's Digest Version:

• Thursday morning my brother came to town as a surprise for my Mom's 75th birthday
• Thursday afternoon we "revealed" the big surprise
• Friday morning Alicia headed off to a friend's lake for the weekend
• Friday afternoon Craig and I hosted a BBQ for both of our families (which required Craig to get up at 4:00 am to start smoking the brisket and me in the kitchen prepping all day)
• Friday evening Rebecca's sniffles from the day before had turned into the nastiest cold known to mankind
• Saturday day Rebecca looked like death, felt worse and was in agony from a super tight chest
• Saturday night I "slept" with one eye open as Rebecca's breathing was totally freaking me out - shallow, gurgle noises like I've never heard and wheezing like a 99 year old man
• Sunday morning spent 3 hours at the medicentre getting Rebecca checked out and treated for bronchitis 
• Sunday afternoon drove to Stony Plain to pick up Alicia
• Sunday evening got all dolled up and went to dinner theatre with everyone (except Rebecca and Craig) to celebrate mom's birthday
• Monday afternoon spent the day with my brother
• Monday night prepped for my stamping classes … that start in a few hours

It's been just NUTS around here!  But it's all good now.  Rebecca is on the mend, my brother is here for the rest of the week and there is no real schedule to adhere to.  Summer is here and the living is easy (well, last weekend notwithstanding *lol*)

So let's take a look at on of the projects we're making today at my class, shall we?  OK!  Here it is …

I wasn't too sure how I felt about this one when I first made it … but when I went back to it yesterday I decided "yup" I like it :)

Started off with a standard card base (5 1/2" x 4 1/4")

Added a layer of Rich Razzleberry Card Stock - 3 3/4" x 5" 

Added a layer of Whisper White 3 1/2" x 4 3/4"

***  Tip - make sure when you tape the top whisper white layer down that it is parallel to the card base - you don't want the top layer to be tilted at all of the word "sunshine" and/or stamping will look (or actually BE) crooked. ***

The flower and "sunshine" are from the Sunshine Wishes Framelits (page 194 of the catalogue)

The flower is cut from the new Sweet Sugarplum card stock, the "sunshine" from Rich Razzleberry.

The "You are my" is stamped in Rich Razzleberry and is from the set that corresponds with the above framelits, Sunshine Sayings ...

Love love LOVE these two items - absolute MUSTS, in m opinion!

I glued the flower and sentiment down with my Fine Tip Glue pen, added 3 enamel dots and then, as always, reached for my Clear Wink of Stella to add a bit of bling.  MAN I have NEVER used a product as much as the Wink.  Every card we are making today uses it … and I'd say 95% of the cards I've made since this product has become available have at least a BIT of it.  Can't seem to craft without it!  LOVE that stuff!

So there you have it - a run down on my "crazy" and a quick, easy, cute project to try.  I must dash - need to walk the Doodle Dog before my crafters get here.

thanks for popping in and have your self a super stampy day!

Tam