handmade cass

I had started this mini book way back in January, and intended it as a Valentine's Day gift for my mom.  But here we are three months later and I just gave it to her as a "thank you" gift. It all started when I tried to do an at home photo shoot with the baby.  She was not feeling cooperative that day, so most pictures have mad faces, tears, or show her holding a nail clippers (because that held off the tears for a few extra minutes).  When I got the pictures back I knew that they all had to go into a book.  Enjoy! The cover and pages of the book are all from a set of file folders that I bought at Target back when they had the special edition, Liberty of London prints.  Love these colors!  I used my trusty Zutter Bind-it-All and a red O-wire to put the book together. On the first page I used watered down acrylic paint to get some hand prints.  Also found a rhinestone circle in my stash, then cut it in half to accent the date.  You can als...

Look what I found while out and about in the neighborhood! I always loved reading about  yarn bombing online and so happy to see one in person, here in San Diego.  There were actually a number of stop signs that had been converted into flowers around our house.

I have a couple articles that were posted recently on the Craft Critique website.  Take a look and let me know what you think. 10 Essential Tools for Rubber Stamping Sizzix Letterpress Plate Review

A while back I decided I wanted to make a list of 30 things to do while I'm 30.  It was pretty easy to come up with the list, but getting them done in one year is going to be the challenge.  I printed my list on vellum and added it to my Book of Lists (Smash Book). I also celebrated my birthday with a huge stack of homemade waffles and my favorite little helper.

I love it when my husband creates homemade cards for me.  They usually involve a piece of printer paper, a ballpoint pen, and a sharpie.  But this year he went all out.  Luckily I had taken out a bunch of my Valentine's Day supplies for a mini book, and he used what was out on my desk.  This is his masterpiece. My first reaction was - wow!  I was very impressed with his punching.  Then I couldn't hold back and said, "you used my expensive markers!".  He tried to deny it, but there is always bleed-through proof with Copic markers. Love him anyway.  It's best that he doesn't know how much I spend on crafting supplies.

Time to get started on my Valentine's Day cards, because it will be too late to mail them before I know it. I had started a couple cards at my last Stampin' Up class, but ran out of time and mojo.  So I put some finishing touches on these ones today and feel inspired to get a whole new batch done this weekend! This is the "manly" card for my husband.  Not quite what I envisioned, but I know that he will still appreciate the fact that it's not solid pink.  The background is a small ledger stamp from Stampin' Up that I just used over and over again.  Although it was hard to get the image lined up each time, it adds the perfect aged patina I was looking for. This card has lots of embossed texture.  The hearts on the front are all from an embossing/die folder.  Love those because you get double the fun with one pass through the Cuttlebug.  I also added a couple pearls on some smaller hearts to mimic the swiss dots embossing on the white stock.  A re...

Sometime last year I became obsessed with the idea of library pockets for crafting.  I ordered a whole mess of them online (in the standard white/manila combo as well as pink) and they sat on my desk all year waiting for the perfect project.   Library cards and pockets still in original packaging, waiting for the perfect project. Turns out they are the perfect way to make a quick addition to my ongoing book of lists .  I only had a few minutes this week so my embellishments are pretty minimal.  Hoping to be struck a flash of genius for decorating more library pockets in this book. I had a few of the pink embossed hearts all ready to go, and I will be using more of those on a couple Valentine's Day cards in the works.  The embossing die is from Stampin' Up - cuts and embosses with one pass through my Cuttlebug!    And I have a new Valentines letterpress plate from Stampin' Up as well that I can't wait to try.  Gotta wait until the next good n...