handmade cass

My second Pipsticks package arrived this week! Hooray for happy mail. Here is a peek inside the February 2017 Pro Club Classic subscription from Pipsticks . There was a great selection and wide variety in this set. I loved the paper thin planet stickers (like metallic washi tape). I'm not sure how I will use the "I Love Lucy" sticker or the Instax frames (since I don't have an Instax camera).  I was really happy to see another pre-stamped postcard because postcards are my new go-to for sending happy mail to friends and family. Also glad that a bunch of smaller stickers I can use in my planner/journal. were included I already used all of the succulent stickers in there to document the my houseplant buying frenzy - hello spring fever! Below are the three sticker sets I won't use from this month's subscription set. Hipster animals strike again! 3/15 isn't bad. My daughter ended up using all of the animals but that sumo sheet is still sad and untouch...

I just got my first Pipsticks envelope in the mail and I was swooning over the packaging right away. Everyone knows about my affinity for clear envelops since I professed my love last December. Pipsticks came to my attention last December when an ad popped up in my Facebook feed. I clicked through and kept going back every few days...I couldn't get the idea of a sticker subscription out of my head. In grade school I had a sticker book and collected all the best glitter, fuzzy, puffy stickers the early 90s had to offer. I don't have that sticker book any more. But because I have been crafting for my entire adult life I clearly don't need any more stickers. See for yourself. This stack of 12" x 12" bins is half stickers...mostly ABC stickers from scrapbooking. Eeek! I can't believe I showed that to everyone. Despite all those stickers sitting in a bin, I decided to try this out for just a month. I want to show you what I got in the January Pro Club Class...

I have always had a wall calendar at home to track family birthdays and school schedules. I am so excited about the photo calendar I made using Shutterfly this year - Whimsical Florals style. It's a bit smaller than my normal wall calendar at 8" x 11" (so I have to write appointments really small), but I love the photo quality and how easy it was to customize. Since it is full of photos of my kids I chose not to share the final result here. Trust me - it looks fabulous! I am also starting a paper planner this year that I plan to use for journaling and memory keeping. I picked up a Heidi Swapp Gold Stripe Monthly Planner  (by American Crafts) last year. I'm hoping to add a few photos every month and business cards or other mementos from our adventures. It is also a great way to keep myself accountable for personal goals and to do lists. I love li sts! This was also the first chance I've taken to use my Fuse tool. The Heidi Swapp planner comes with one p...

I'm done! I am so happy to have all of my Christmas cards in the mail and I love the way they turned out. I didn't have to buy any new materials (aside from the postage and photo prints) and got to use some supplies that I really love. Hooray!  They were done on December 1st but it took me a few days to get photos.   I wanted to use clear envelopes without mailing labels, so I needed to address the dark purple metallic paper that was the card backing. Originally, I tried using copper ink and pens to tie in with the copper metallic thread I used, but the white stood out much better. The return address was stamped with Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink and then embossed with WOW Super Fine White Embossing Powder. I had to learn the hard way that the white pigment ink never dried on the metallic paper. My Christmas cards evolved a bit from the sketch I made a few months back . After I started die-cutting all the layers and did a test version, I streamlined the process ...

I had some crafting time with my daughter a few days ago and I was able to stamp and die cut all the shapes from the Avery Elle "polar pals" stamp set. This morning I'm spending some time coloring and learning to love my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers. I don't know if it is due to the marker colors in the 36 set or if it is a user error, but I am having some trouble blending the pinks. However this shows that I am getting better. Celebrate the small stuff!

This is the year I promised myself I would start making handmade Christmas cards again. And since it has been years since I have attempted it (4 years since I made these honeycomb Christmas tree cards ) I have a really complicated idea for what I want to accomplish. It is a book style card, with layers and a pocket inside for a photo. I have it sketched out and have a month and a half to get all 51 cards finished up. So far, I have the Lawn Fawn trees stamped on Basic Grey paper (Copic colored trunks) and they are waiting to be fussy cut. Ironically, I think it is going to be more difficult to get a good photo of my two kids to include than to finish all of these labor intensive cards. If you need me anytime soon, I'll be working on these! 

I had this crazy idea to build a king size bed frame. We moved in 2014, but saved our own room as the last one to paint, decorate, and furnish. After sleeping in a deep, dark red room for two years my mom offered to paint it for us. That really got the ball rolling because I was in love with the room again once that dark red hue was gone and I was surrounded in serene Benjamin Moore "Misted Green" paint. But once it came down to actually buying new furniture my budget got the best of me. I have expensive taste and limited secondhand furniture options because we live in a small town. I picked out this set of instructions for a DIY West Elm Alexa reclaimed wood bed frame . My mom also agreed to help me out with the construction and teach me how to use some new to me power tools. It took me three weekends, and cost just about $260 for all the supplies needed - I had the wood stain and power tools, but needed to buy everything else including a Kreg jig. There were a f...