beaded flower

Good Mornin' to ya!! promises to be a great day here in Sunny Toronto. We're off to the inlaws to celebrate my DH's birthday.
last night I took him out for a surprise evening. Started with a date at the sushi place we often frequented as a couple without children. Remember that life? Then I whisked him off to see the musical Crazy for You. it was put off by a group I used to sing with before I was a person with children. My other life. Nice night for sure.

Anyhow, on to why you're here:


I saw a pack of beaded flowers at Michael's and thought, I can make those. So I tried it. These beads are bigger than the ones they had, but it's all I had. I like it. Just covered a little notebook and took the paper out of the silver rim. nothing too exciting, but something to show you.


Have a great one.
thanks for looking,
Amanda

We've moved

No not us, yet, but a coworker of my husband is moving. So I brought this to the dinner.



The wood box and buckle are from the buck store. Paper is Autumn Leaves? Flower- prima and ribbon from my stash.


I covered a little note book with the same paper. The wagon on the card is from Stamping Bella and the house is from the Stampin' Up! jumbo wheel. Just let me say, put a few rows of that wheel on a page and the kid will stay quiet for a LONG time. colour, colour, colour, cut cut cut. bliss bliss bliss.

That's it. Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Butterfly flutterby

So, this little idea grew into a 3D project. i love it. i wish I didn't have to give it away.


The chipboard shape is from Michael's, as is the DP on it. They come separately, but fit together. Glued it on, sanded it and did the edges with SU basic grey. kinda dark isn't it. I think i would like to get a lighter grey ink pad.

All the pieces on the green side is from the Amy Butler pack, also from Michael's. Love that set. can't wait to try something with the sewing elements in it. may have to break out the sewing machine. I just added a few bling centers to the flowers.



On the blue side, I coloured my favoured tulips. Luckily, there was some paper that went perfectly with it. The fence came from a card making kit my thoughtful aunt sent to me last year. butterfly charm- dollar store. The pin is from the 2nd hand sale. A whole bunch of them. See, I didn't hoard. Ribbon-SU. I think the corner bracket is from Basic Grey? and the dangly bling is from a yard sale. i think it came from a chandeliere. (I know I didn't spell that one right.) Perfect card is from Amy Butler. I beaded an earring hoop to hang it from. Oh yes, I stamped a few of my SU backgrounder stamps on the blue paper.


Different look for me, but i love it.
Thanks for looking,
Amanda

damask frame

I got this idea from Becky Oehlers at
http://hemidemisemiquaverdesignblog.com/2009/02/14/damask-designs/

I changed up the colour and had a different damask set from inkadinkado. Sorry for the dark photos. I missed my chance to get it in the sunlight this afternoon. I wanted to show you tonight.



To repeat her directions:
1. paint frame (from Michael's) with (green) paint. a few light coats. Go with the grain of the wood
2. stamp image with versa mark. you may do all of them if you work quickly.
3. heat emboss with clear embossing powder
4. paint light paint over top and wipe immediately with a paper towel. I wet a corner of the towel to go over the embossed parts to remove some of the paint.

i still need to sand the edges to distress it a bit more.
I'll be doing this project in the class I'm teaching on Sunday. If you're coming, I'll have a few more colours you can choose from. If you want a specific colour, email me your wishes.

Thanks for looking and go check out Becky's blog.

Amanda

Boy album

k, lame title.
This is a Making memories plain album. I covered the front and inside panel with paper. not liking that effect as it is so easy for the paper to bubble. So i painted the rest of the album green. That also bubbled, so I covered little bits of it, as you can see on the side cover. I covered the inside because it is a triangle/frame type and when it is open, you can see the inside cover. It's the one with the airplane.

The chipboard shapes are from Memory Keepers. Love how they go with the paper.



uummmm, lost my train of thought and my consistent typos are driving me crazy. So I'll sign off. lol

thanks for looking,
Amanda

photo cube

I wanted to make something for my DH's new office at his new job. So this photo cube fit the bill. Actually, it will probably be a pen holder.
I used cork backed coasters from the dollar store. The lovely cropadile did a fantastic job of punching through those babies.
One of the papers is from Scenic Route, the other from a pad I bought at the LSS.
I printed the photos around 2.5 as the coasters were just over 3.5. I also made the photos sepia toned to create a sense of cohesiveness, conformity. I can't think of the correct word right now.
I looked through my shoe box of rub ons and stickers and was tickled to find just the right sayings. See, there is a reason for buying those things to sit around. Imagine having to go to the store at 11 pm to find something that would work! You must have them on hand, at home. Waiting for you. lol

Instead of using the favoured ribbon that is done, I wanted to make it a little more manly (?) so I used twine to make a blanket stitch down the sides. I still have to figure out how to finish it off inside. Do you put a bottom on these things? Or just insert a can?

Anyhow, it was fun and easy to make. I think I'll make a few more.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

T42

Tea anyone? I was so excited to make this set. The box template comes from a tutorial at www.sarahiscrafty.com Dec. 4 entry
The box contains 2 tea bags, a tin with 2 heart shaped sugar cubes, 2 heart chocolates and a 3x3 note tag.


The heart shaped sugar cubes are molded in an ice cube tray. I used the reciped from the Jan. 14th entry for
http://hemidemisemiquaver.wordpress.com. Look it up under recipes on her side bar. Becky has really great ides! Thanks Becky. In short, I mixed one beaten egg white in 3 cups of sugar. It goes a long way. but that was good, as I worked a long time on the sugar. My molds were too deep to fit 2 into the tin, so I had to half fill them. I also had to bake them longer, like 15-20 minutes. I decided not to tint them, as I had no red dye.
The tin is a 53 mm tin from Lee Valley with double stitched Pomegrante ribbon on the side. The paper is from SU, Berry Bliss. Yummy no? The heart on the cover is from SU "time well spent", stamped on the outside of the glass with Pallete ink.


I wanted to add a card, but a full card would have been too thick for the box, so I just used a card front. You can write a note on the back. The hearts are from SU "Loads of Love" set.


The last picture shows the contents of the T42 box. Of course, a nice compliment to a cuppa tea is a friend and a bikkie. (biscut), but I didn't have wrapped cookies. So of course, I substituted chocolate. Any objections?

Anyone wanna come over for a break?

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Sewn book and Blog Candy reminder

Howdy, here is your reminder to comment for the blog candy. I still need to get a picture of it, but never have my camera and project in the same room. It's all upstairs on the 3rd floor. I'll be drawing tomorrow evening. Leave your comment on the post previous to this one.

Here is what I worked on today.







I got this idea from my upline Sarah at www.sarahiscrafty.com Great ideas here, go take a look.

Paper is by Scenic route. Lovely isn't it? I put some SU plain pages in there also. The cover size is 5 inches, the inside is 4.5. You need a special ribbon slot punching tool for this project and cloth binding fabric? I used some fabric paper that was from Winners. They had a great line of it. This pkg had mostly shiny ones, but this textured page worked perfectly.

Pages are inserted 2 together and sewn in the accordian style binding. THe ribbon is also sewn into it at this time. Front flaps from the binding are glued to the paper. Don't glue both sides, or it won't allow you to turn the pages fully or properly. The pages of the newly created inside are attached to the cover via the ribbon through the slotted holes.

k, so I can't explain things well. In a few days, I should be able to take you through it with a tutorial. I have another book cut out ready to assemble, so I'll do it in steps.

What are you doing for New Year's Eve? Sarah and her family are coming over for an early celebration. Going to buy some noise makers and streamers for a kiddie countdown. Plan on having a music making time and just some fun all around.

Hope you get to do what you want to do..
Thanks for looking,
Amanda

cutie pies

This is a fridge magnet I did for my son's friends. They just turned 4. It's about 6x9, I think. Bigger than a 5x7. Whatever the whole fridge magnet was. I usually cut them in half, but I had some bigger embellishments to use for this one.

Things have slowed on the creating front. Thank goodness. I just have a few picture ornaments to make for family. I'll post them when they are made. I'm enjoying taking it easy at night. I went to bed at 8:45 last night and passed out, probably before my son. For the "Late Night Stamper" that is sooo early.:}

Hope you are finding peace in this busy time of year.
Cheers,
Amanda

skate ornaments

See, told ya. More of the same, just a different picture. Don't have time to design any new stuff for the craft fair on Thursday. I hope I can get a bunch of cards done. I'm empty. Need more stock.

Skate is from Quickutz die. I laced the skate using embroidery thread. That's about it.
Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Reindeer kits

Sorry it's been awhile since I've been here. Just making orders and family things.

So here are the Reindeer kits I talked about earlier.
The reindeer image is a stamp from the QuickKutz Reindeer die. They have foam that you can use to make stamps from their die cuts. I make stamps with all my dies before I use them as dies.
The Dec. circle stamp is from Stampin Up, "perfect Presentation" hostess set.

The poem for the Reindeer noses is one I got from the internet. Sorry, I don't know where I got it from now. On Splitcoast Stampersduring my quest, I think. The candy is from Bulk Barn- Holly Berries. I just picked out the red ones. (they come in a mix of red, green and white.)

The poem for the Magic Reindeer is my own poem. There are many out there and most include glitter. I had a problem finding large amounts of glitter and then there is the little niggling problem of whether the critters will eat the glitter. So I used cupcake decorations- red, white and green. The poem had to reflect that somehow.

Must feed the wee one and continue making stuff!
Thanks for looking,
Amanda

PMS?

I did it. woohoo. I love it when a plan comes together. Yes, you've seen this tin idea before here. But I LOVE them. I've been working on getting things for Magic Reindeer and Rudolph 's Spare nose kits. Um hello-- where is all the glitter in Toronto? I can't find it anywhere except little vials of it and TONS of glue glitter. But I digress. Like, 1.5 hours looking for the stuff. ok. I'm done.
I had the idea to do the same with a PMS and Menopause kit. Goodies in a bag with a cardstock topper. You'll see what I mean when I show you the reindeer stuff. But as I was driving home (from my unsuccessful quest) I thought of how I can package the "female" kits a little better. Upscale them. Then I thought of the lovely tins.
So here ya go.

I got the PMS blurb from the net on a site called Craft Survival Kits. They have a lot of ideas there. Their suggestions are for M&M's, but I bought Smarties. The only difference is that Smarties have pink and purple. So I tagged the line at the end.

I made up the Menopause blurb m'self. Just thinking of the ladies who are suddenly overcome with da heat and want to jump naiked in the snowbank. I also decided to make a little gift card to go with the tins also.
The nice thing about these tins is that it's all one sheet of paper. Don't you just love the paper out now that have a page of sample prints from the line? Great idea. How often do you cut into your 12x12 scrapbook paper for a little strip? Now you can just buy it that way. Cool beans. Add a bit of ribbon and an embellishment, you have your tin.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda



oh, look what you get when you feed your kid a blue popsicle. No I will not let the baby have one, no matter how much she screams! She already ate all the yellow ones. 2nd child.. she'll eat anything.

All About Me

Here is another example of an info tin. I previously showed a tin for "Baby's Fist Year".

The paper is Stampin' Up, but I'm not sure what it is. I received it in a pack of samplers from my upline. Isn't it lovely though? Love coral and brown together.
K, Covered a band aid tin and added embellishments. The info cards on the inside were designed with my InDesign program on the Mac. I love this program. Since it's the only one I've ever used for publishing (I used to be editor of 2 newsletters, in my other life) I can't compare it with any others. It is easy to use though.

This one is for my neice's birthday so I made a matching card. (Thanks to my cousin's daughter, Morgan, for ideas)
There are 18 tabbed cards. Too many for the tin I think. I can weed them out, but that will be on the next tin. Things like...
Favorites, dislikes, school, friends, family, vacation, animals, hobbies, music, sports etc.

Do ya like the little bookmark? She's an avid reader, so it's another little gift in a gift.

I feel like I'm rambling and not in the mood to do the product recipe, so I'll sign off.

Thanks for looking.
Amanda

tin ornaments

I made a few of these the other night and have plans for many more styles. I had 2 more designs already done, but gave them away before I got a pic of them.

53 mm tin from Lee Valley. Can you tell I bought a lot of them. tee hee

Stamped the snowman from SU Perfect presentation. Added a bit of White paint pen. Adhered ribbon on the bottom part of the tin. Used the cropadile to punch a hole in the bottom part. NOTE:: You can't go in too far from the lip or you won't be able to squeeze the eyelet in.
And then added the fake snow from the dollar store. Gotta get me more of that. I like the shimmery-ness of it.

For the Chanukah one, I embossed a chip board candle from one of Basic Grey's Christmas sets. Stamped the sentiment, from Stamping Bella, on the front of the tin. Punched out 2 different sized circles to mat the candle. and used the 2 inch marvy punch (i'm still so tickled that I actually found one in the states, and for half the price of here and then a Michael's 50 %off that! It was practically free!

Happy Halloween for tomorrow. (Yes, it is still only Halloween. I've been in Christmas mode for soo long now.)

Thanks for looking.
Amanda

candle sets

I worked on some of these sets last night. I wasn't as productive as I would have liked, but I'll work on it again tonight.

Very easy, once you get the knack of it.
Stamp your image on white tissue paper. (I started with ones I needed to colour, not wise in the interest of time). Trim paper around image. Lay it on your candle. Some people prefer to put a strip of wax paper over top of that, making sure it is longer than the candle. Grasp it tight to the candle in the back as a handle.
Use your heat tool and move it over the tissue paper. The wax from the candle will melt and the tissue paper will become one with the candle. Careful not to hold the heat tool over an area too long, or your wax will run. Also, make sure your tissue paper is not wrinkled ot it won't melt flat against the candle.

For a step by step tutorial, Gina K designs has on on her blog.

I made the matching coaster on tile using stazon ink. And then a simple card to finish off the set.

I'm so into Christmas making mode, that when I see blogs with Halloween stuff on them, I'm snapped back to reality that yes, indeed, it is only October!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

baby's firsts tin

Remember that tin I covered a while back? Well, here is the kit I had planned for it. there are still come cards to put inside and I need to design a title for it, but here it is!

All SU products on the tin and cards. I don't know who's site I first saw it on. I looked on Splitcoast stampers, but couldn't find this tin there. I did lift the ideas for the cards from another person though.

If you need the recipe, email me. I'm rushing out the door right now.

I plan on making a tin for teen girls. I'm going to ask advice from some of my younger cousins who are in the know.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

vellum embossed ornaments

These ornament were very fun to make. For the full tutorial and whereabouts of their origin, check out this blog:
http://paperpleasing.typepad.com/ Oct. 18 entry.

I hung them from my light, so the top ball has all the glow on the double ornament. I'll find another place to hang it tomorrow to see what it looks like.

Now I have to buy more vellum and organza ribbon..... what a chore. lol

Thanks for looking,
Amanda