handmade cass

I couldn't wait to start stitching some brightly colored hearts, using the Concord & 9th Sew In Love die set. My first stitched piece was finished right in time for a mother's day card. It was a serious pain to get all the die cut holes poked out, but less than 10 minutes of work with a needle tool meant I didn't have to deal with dots flying everywhere while I was stitching. This brightly colored DMC embroidery floss grabbed my attention the last time I was at the craft store. I always love to see the back of stitched pieces. I have an ongoing competition with myself to try to keep the backs just as neat as the front. I trimmed the stitched piece down right before mounting it on a square card with foam tape. It is currently in transit to my mother in law in Hawaii. She loves raspberry pink, so hopefully this makes her smile. Supplies : white cardstock - Neenah Solar White 110 lb pink cardstock - Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz embroidery floss - DMC tapestry needle (blun...

I have a few YouTube channels that I watch every week. One my favorites is Laura Bassen, and her masked card this week had me so inspired! I pulled out an older Avery Elle set that I had not used yet for the "anything goes" challenge at Simon Says . Love the sentiments in this Modern Leaves set!  Just wish I could find a better white ink. I have tried a number of them and they never turn out to be opaque on dark card stock. Suggestions? Supplies : Stamps - Avery Elle Ink - Memento | Hero Arts | Brilliance Cardstock - Papertrey Ink

This was another card that I spent a crazy amount of time on, because it was for a crafty friend's birthday and I had new stamps to play with. I have had these two step floral stamps for a while but this was my first time trying them. They are red rubber cling stamps and a little bit difficult to line up perfectly. Supplies : Stamps - Stampin' Up | Paper Source Ink - Stampin' Up | Hero Arts Twine - Papertrey Ink Jumbo glitter - Tree House Studio

I made this doughnut card for my husband for Valentine's Day this year. This was the conversation that followed... Him: I really like this card. That donut is awesome. And I still like it even if it isn't true. Me: No, it's true. Him: Aww. That's nice. I love you too. Me: I actually like cinnamon rolls more than donuts now. Him: Oh. Makes more sense now. I tried using my Distress Markers with a water brush for the first time on the donut. I'm not so sure about the technique.  Jennifer McGuire makes it look so easy!  Supplies : Stamps - Hero Arts | Stampin' Up Dies - Papertrey Ink Ink - Memento | Ranger Archival Ink Markers - Tim Holtz Distress Markers Glitter - Stickles

I had the best of intentions when it came to putting together a little Christmas package of crafty love for a friend, but I was late. Really late. Sorry Christine! So I changed themes and made her some tags for Valentine's Day instead.  Supplies: Embroidery Kit: Amy Tangerine for American Crafts "Capture" kit Washi Tape: We R Memory Keepers Stamps: Simon Says Stamp "Envelope Sentiments", Lawn Fawn "Critters in the Forest" & "Bee Mine", Avery Elle "Party Animal" Twine: Peppermint Divine Twine from Whisker Graphics Tag Die: Papertrey Ink Ink: Hero Arts Neon, Hero Hues Chalk Markers & Pens: Stampin' Up Stampin' Write markers (heart ombre), Copic (fox), Sakura Glaze  Cardstock: assorted scraps

Merry Christmas!  My Christmas cards this year (and every year) are a labor of love.  I had purchased some green honeycomb paper a while back, as soon as I saw this Tim Holtz video  (you can skip to 7:45 to see his tree).  And I'm glad I finally got the cards out this year.  The feedback has been pretty great - they even survived the mail. The cards arrived like this, with a Post-It protecting the honeycomb and giving assembly instructions. Under the Post-It you can thee the honeycomb with an adhesive strip that needs to be removed. And once you fold it over and push gently you have a 3D Christmas tree. This angle shows off the honeycomb dimension a bit better. Every card was different because I hand cut the trees from the honeycomb paper.   Supplies : Honeycomb paper - Inky Antics HoneyPOP Sentiment stamps - Papertrey Ink Background stamp - Hero Arts Ink - Brilliance (Moonlight White) and Stampin' Up (Gumball Green and R...

I am at least 10 hours into my Christmas card making this year and I have learned a few lessons along the way.  Hopefully it can help someone else in their quest to make a million cards in a short amount of time. stamping with multiple ink colors I wanted to use a new mini stamp set from Papertrey Ink this year, called Peace, Love, and Joy .  And I wanted to be able to use more than one ink color to tie everything together for my cards.  So this is how I did it - quick and super easy with clear stamps! First I laid out the bulk of my message, lining up the stamps on my cutting mat with a grid to get them straight, and then pressing my clear block on top.  I used this block to stamp the message with pink ink 40 times. Then I took one of the stamped images and lined up the rest of the stamps I was going to use.   Once they were perfectly placed I pressed the clear block on top and had everything lined up.  Then I used this block to stamp in gree...

It may be a little preemptive, but I wanted to put this out there so I have some accountability.  I am going to make a December Daily album this year.  There - I said it.  And I just finished putting together the kit for it so I'm pretty excited to get started.  I'm planning to have all the pages filled out ahead of time, so I just need to add photos and captions throughout the month. I got really inspired after seeing this video about creating a kit for a mini album .  The kit keeps me from staring at the wall and thinking about all the other bits and pieces I could be looking for.  When I first saw the album she used I thought that it looked like a mini Project Life, which is something I've been wanting to try.  Then I was at my favorite store last week and they had the album.  That sealed the deal! Supplies : Thickers Alphabet Stickers - Amy Tangerine for American Crafts Mix & Match 6x8 Album - Simple Stories Sn@p! Pocket Pages...

Just whipped up a card set that I really, really like.  This set has all the bright colors I love right now (coral and purple and orange) and the kraft envelopes from my favorite Neenah recycled paper.  I had to throw in some glitter hearts to spice them up a bit and add a surprise on the inside. And I made sure that each card had a sewn border, because I have been wanting to use my Janome mini again.  Let me know what you think! Supplies Card stock: Papertrey Ink (card base), Basic Grey (floral pattern), Neenah (natural kraft) Envelopes: Neenah Heart Punch: Marvy

Today I set out to use my new hexagon stamps from Papertrey Ink.  I have a bad habit of buying new stamps and then putting them away - never to be seen again.  Not this time! I wanted to do various colors of pink and coral on the hexagons, and ended up using all VersaMagic and Brilliance inks. After all that inking and cleaning and stamping and more cleaning (seriously, this took almost an hour to get about a dozen hexagons that I liked), I got stuck at this point. I was thinking I would do a pennant banner hanging down with a sentiment on it.  Then I couldn't decide on a color for the pennant. So I considered something with pink baker's twine and buttons - too many trends I decided.  So I ended up with some hand lettering and a bumble bee because the hexagons reminded me of honeycomb.  Pink honeycomb.  And because I ran out of time. Supplies: Hexagon stamps: Papertrey Ink Buble Bee stamp: Memory Box Ink: VersaMagic and Brilliance Cardstock: ...

I have been really good about not buying too many extra crafty things this year...but June was the exception.  I had to do my last Hambly order, and then I needed a few things from Papertrey this month (I am madly in love with the hexagons), and lastly a new color obsession from Stampin' Up.   I go to a monthly card making class put on by my Stampin' Up demonstrator and our projects last month used the Calypso Coral color.  Coral happens to be my favorite at the moment - I usually have a new favorite color every other year.  So I had to get this: Calypso Coral card stock and {new style} stamp pad, Tangerine Tango ribbon, Champagne shimmer mist, and chevron embossing folder.   Then I got a surprise from Christine (aka Listgirl) .  This date stamp from Dear Lizzy (by American Crafts) has been on my wish list since I started my Book of Lists.  Thank you!

I'm jumping in!  I had this great idea to make a few gift baskets for birthdays and mother's day, and while I was at it I figured I might as well open my etsy shop  too.  So please take a look and I promise to add more fun and exciting things soon.  I have big plans! These were a couple of the gift baskets I made... And the tags - using stamps from Papertrey Ink and baker's twine from Divine Twine.

Well, the great Christmas card debate was never really resolved.  I waited too long and had to make a very simplified version of a homemade card because I ran out of the Shutterfly picture cards (which turned out really nice!). There were a few exceptions.  I had about an hour last weekend to work on cards and I made up this beauty.   My Copic markers were feeling neglected and I have been wanting to use this matryoshka nativity stamp for almost a year.  I am really happy with the card!  Unfortunately I only had time to make one.   I also started taking a picture of the colors I am using if I want to reference later.   AND I got to use my new Janome mini.  I love this fun little machine for paper crafts.  Please excuse the serious mess behind it.  No time for cleaning - only making a mess then leaving the room. I may be taking a break for a while while we celebrate my daughter's birthday and visit with the in-laws.  ...

Something new for me!  I am dedicating more time to my crafts now and have started submitting some projects for publication and design teams.  I recently did a few new projects for The Twinery's design team application, and I would love to share them. Chevron patterned Christmas card and matching envelope set. I have been loving the Chevron patterns that are popping up everywhere and this idea came to me right before I went to sleep one night last week.  I used American Crafts double-sided tape to adhere the twine in strips.  Then cut into the proper shapes and adhered to the card.  The twine is from The Twinery and Thickers letters are from American Crafts. Quick tip: If you plan to make your own chevron pattern, it is really helpful to have a line guide so your pattern doesn't get too crooked.  My first attempt went off track really quickly (you can see it in the corner below), so I used some post-it strips as a guide to keep me in line. Ro...

Yay for mothers!  I can really celebrate since this is my first mother's day.  And while I'm on that topic, why did I ever think that I would have more time for craft projects if I stayed at home with the baby?  It was a rookie mistake. But I have been spending every free minute I have (never longer than about 6 consecutive minutes) to make a beautiful card for my mom for mother's day.  And not to toot my own horn or anything, but I really like the end result.  Toot toot! I started with a little kraft paper bag that I had gotten on my last trip to Paper Tales.  I knew that I would be able to use it for a future project and have been wanting to try making a inter-office style envelope like this.  My orange Crop-A-Dile (with the long reach) was able to set the eyelets that were layered over some cardstock circles (from Papertrey) that I had punched out.  And on one of the eyelets I also wrapped around some embroidery floss for the string before se...

I had a few new things that I've been wanting to try, including the Tim Holtz popcorn stamp that I'm convinced was made for me.  There are many days when all I want for dinner is a nice big bowl of stove-popped popcorn (using my Whirly Pop ...no Jiffy Pop in this house).  But back to the crafts... On this mini card I used a scrap of Creative Memories red cardstock from about 15 years ago, the Tim Holtz stamp, some Papertrey ink "vintage touch" ink along the edges before using the Making Memories distress tool, a Copic marker and Sakura Glaze pens to color in the image, and a bit of Distress Stickles on three of the popcorn kernels that I had cut out for extra dimension.  Now I just need to have a movie night so I can use this as an invitation. I've also made a resolution to finish up my Alaska scrapbook from our vacation three years ago.  As soon as we got back I was excited to get started and had printed all of the pictures, but then one thing or another go...

Happy Easter! We had an exciting family Easter that included mini golf, BBQ, and a 7.2 earthquake just south of the border!  It had all of our hearts pounding for a quite a while afterwards.  We just went back to cooking but kept saying, "Was that another aftershock?".  Glad everyone is okay and I don't think there was any major damage in the area. Before I knew how exciting the day would turn out I had been using my new Chocolate Bunny stamp from Stampin' Up.  We used it in a class and I fell in love.  Since you can only have so many chocolate bunny cut-outs, I decided to make a tag for my husband's easter basket.  I also used a new Stampin' Up bird punch and the Papertrey Ink Vintage Touch ink to distress the bunny edges a bit.

A few months back when Craft Critique put out a call for reporters I got a rare surge of bravery and submitted a test review for the site.  I was so surprised and excited to hear that they had picked me!  And my first review was just posted here . The fine print: whenever I link to one of my reviews I have to mention that I was not paid or bribed for my opinion.   Since my next review will be on Clearsnap's Smooch Spritz I decided to make a card to celebrate.  And I needed something to do while my husband was finishing up our taxes tonight. On this card I started with the antique text paper that I had sprayed for the review - it has the meanings of girl's names!  Then added a distress flower that I had made with the Smooch Spritz and a McGill scallop punch a while back.  It's topped off with and a Papertrey button and twine.  Purple cardstock from Stampin' Up matted it quite nicely and then I decided to use the "celebrate" sentiment fro...

For some reason I had a bit more time than usual for crafting this week. It was awesome! I always forget that I should set aside time when I get home from work - another goal to work towards. But on to the projects... I got my Color Cubbie in the mail and had so much fun filling it up. All of my scrapbooking pens had started to take over one of my office drawers, and the Copics were overflowing for the case I had for them on my desktop. The perfect solution: I didn't even think I would have enough to fill in each of the cubbies! Just goes to show that I should start using all of the supplies I buy. Speaking of which - still haven't tried the Copic airbrushing can sitting next to the Color Cubbie. Once I had that all organized I wanted to use my Copics on that fabulous doughnut stamp from Hero Arts that I mentioned earlier . Also ended up using some Distress Stickles for the frosting. And since I found myself with so much extra time this week, I dug out all of the Pape...