TOO sTINKING CUTE

I wanted to share something I made recently - which was a custom request for a dear lady friend of mine. It's a paper bag album but this one is special because it holds an ENTIRE years worth of photos. 2 pages for each month - well here let me show you...

 

here is the cover page

 

and each month the pages reflect that month

 

with some cute little subway art details ( for girls I would add more flowers, of course)

 

Cute right?

 

And the best part of the whole book is the BIRTHDAY LAYOUT - in this case - it'll showcase Ryan's 1st birthday = how special is that...

The cool thing about these albums is that you could take JUST 2 photos a month for a year and by the end of that year you would have a full documentation of your child's growth and keepsakes of memento's throughout the year...how incredibly cool is that...

 

I have these listed in my Ebay store - come by and order one for your special little one and let me know who I can dedicate it to--- these make great presents for new parents or for the grandparents who can't  be there to see the child grow up first hand.

 

I am linking this up to the following challenges:

 

WHAT I WHIPPED UP WEDNESDAYS

OVERFLOWING W/ CREATIVITY

KEEP CALM & LINK UP

A CRAFT SOIREE

FREESTYLE FRIDAY

friendship Friday

 

 

have a crafty day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Crafting

Wowzers who could believe that Christmas is a month away---so now the fun

Christmas CRAFTING begins...love me some Holiday Crafting for the pure JOY of it!

 

To start off I started to make some Christmas cards and some all occasion cards too-maybe I will group some together and give them as a gift. Cool gift right? Handmade is ALWAYS better!

 

 

Sweet and with a touch of vintage ---Love it! Simple vintage image accented with some hand dyed ribbon and just some glitter dots around the edges - not to much just enough!

 

Gosh it feels good to make something that offers quick and INSTANT gratification!

 

Best yet it qualifies for the following challenges:

 

the crafty pad - add glitter

stampin sisters in Christ - xmas card

crazy for challenges - put a bow on it

one stop craft challenges - vintage xmas

delightful sketches - red & green

bloggers challenge - Christmas

 

here's to your own Holiday crafting

 

xo

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Boy am I stuft! I woke up early to put the turkey in the oven and get the side dishes started
and set our table - of which I sewed up last night.

WHat do you think?

 

I used some burlap and made some ruffles for the edges of the table runner

 

I cut out some leaf shapes from felt and then used my sewing machine to add some accents stems and decoration to each leaf...

 

Because I wanted this to be versatile I didn't sew on the leaves just laid them on the runner.

 

 

Then I just added my other decorations to the top of the runner some handmade fabric pumpkins and some smaller stuft leaves...

 

It was a great addition to our table but I would have added some more length to the runner because the edges just ended at the end of the table so when you sit down to eat you have to lift up the table runner so that the plate doesn't wobble over the ruffle.

 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch and I hope you did too...

 

the kids table!!

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

xo

tina

 

Project life

Oh my - time has flown by. Project life has taken a back seat but I am finally done crafting for bizness and now can enjoy what I love to do and that is to play with paper and scrapbook and paint and just create - FOR me...

 

I have been taking pictures with the intent to scrap them...so here I am sharing a few pages that pretty much share the past 2 months - September & October & the beginning of November - yowzers - what a jumbled mess...but I really wanted to stay on top of this so I will carry on...

 

here you go

 

October

 

 

 

 

I really want to work on adding some fun accents to my pics and to take better pics of these pages because they always look so dark - but of course in the interest of getting Project Life caught up - this is what you get sometimes...

 

 

Quick and easy and NO FUSS - is all life has time for.

 

Hope you are having better luck with your Project Life albums..

 

I am linking this up to the following party:

 

one-happy-mama

 

have a great day

xo

 

 

Bottle BRUSH bleaching

ok are you feeling the Tim Holtz rage yet? I know you must think I am a serious stalker or wanna be. But I just think he is such the genius...anyway I found this cool photo by

Tim Holtz

I know GASP} right? totally - the colors look so magical and dreamy...

anyway I wanted to make something similar and knew that you needed bleach and "HIS" inks & stains of which I had very few. Here is my short but sweet tutorial...

 

grab a bucket - some bleach - some trees and some spray inks (like tattered angels or studio calico spray inks)

 

 

 
 
Dip trees intl the bleach and let them soak for a little bit. Keep turning them  every once in awhile.
 
 

soak the trees for about 20-30 minutes. just keep checking on them and turning them.

- they begin to look dingy beige... the water looks really dirty when you are done. Try using some
gloves because I found out the  bleach burns a bit on the skin

 

once out - let them dry - aren't they lovely as WHITE TREES?

 

then grab a shoe box and your sprays and put the trees into the box one at a time and spray till you get the color of tree you desire. Then just group them up and sit back and admire them aren't they gorgeous??? I am itching to make a ton more!!!

 

 

purple-icious

 

robins egg blue

 

pretty in pink

 

ornery orange

 

and then the rainbow of loveliness....

 

 

Hope you try your hand at this...

 

Here's wishing you a wonderful weekend...

 

linking this up to the following parties:

 

EBTKS

freestyle Friday

Aloha Friday

sunday scoop

spotlight Saturday

made with love Monday

market yourself Monday

craft-o-maniac

masterpiece monday

 

 

 

 

 

 

& more

 

xo

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin make-over

Awhile back I made some fun pumpkins for a Halloween Craft Boutique I was participating in. I made them using various fabrics including chenille, velvet and some linen. I topped them with moss and added a fun tag. They were a huge hit so I decided to make some for the Thanksgiving holiday. So here is my transformation of Halloween pumpkins into

Fall decorative pumpkins.

 

 

 

I had this wreath I purchased from a thrift store for 99 cents that was covered in mini acorns and leaves and knew it had to come home with me...

these acorns are easily cut with some wire cutters

 

 

I made some more fabric pumpkins and added larger drift wood type stems used some

moss then took the leaves from the wreath and some of the acorns and adorned the pumpkins

with them and wah-la new lovely AUTUMN DECOR.

 

I think they add just the right amount of fall accents and I didn't add the tag this time

since I want them to be able to move around the house this time.

 

here are my sweet lovelies in all their splendor.

 

Aren't they sweet?

best part is that I still have more acorns and leaves left to use for another project

(maybe for next year)

 

I hope you are done decorating and can sit back and enjoy your Thanksgiving feast next week.

 

I am linking this up to the following parties:

 

whatever you want Wednesdays

whatever goes Wednesdays

we did it Wednesdays

wicked good Wednesday

handmade-Tuesdays

 

have a crafty Wednesday

xo

 

 

 

 

 

 



Month of Thanks

I had planned to be apart of this NOVEMBER MOVEMENT where we share things we are thankful for: since I am 10 days late --- I will be sharing 10 days worth....***loads of pics ALERT***

November 1st - Thankful to know, that with no help on my part, I have given birth and raised some really SMART & beautiful kids:

 

 

November 2: Thankful for a fantastic husband  - who gets ME!

 

 

NOV. 3: I am thankful for weekend get-a-ways with my husband (thanks to his job)

 

Nov. 4th: thankful for a pet that I truly LOVE

 

Nov. 5th:  thankful for DESSERT {aren't you? ;)}

 

Nov 6th:  Thankful that these 2 have each other to talk to and they get each other 

(my youngest brother & my youngest son)

 

 

Nov 8th:  THANKFUL for vintage goods and the FLEA MARKETS I have to scour to find said goods

 

Nov 8th: Thankful that today's my mom's birthday. Very thankful for the time I was given with her and wish it could have been more.

 

 

Nov. 9th:   Thankful that "tis the season" for red cups @STARBUCKS

 

 

Here's wishing you all a very thankful November--- see side bar for link ups

 

the happy day project

aloha Friday

insta-friday

 

xo

 

 



Let's Paint

Oh wow - another week gone. I have been taking loads of photos of all the things I have been busy making with the intentions to blog about it all and have yet to do it. Doh! anyway, Friday night is here and I have decided to sit and BLOG...and here is a fun new technique to try.

Here is an easy way to create a simple piece of art for the upcoming holiday or any holiday or occasion. Let's get started.

All you need is some basic supplies: a canvas any size, some paint, some stencil letters or stickers (all sizes) and some MASKS if you have them.....

first - add some paint to the canvas

 

I chose some orange paint and painted the background - I didn't paint to the edges but you could.

 

then I added some stickers OVER the orange paint and spelled out the words GRATEFUL FOR YOU  and added some fun masks (TIM HOLTZ)

the photo below is of all the stickers and masks on the canvas

 

then I took the GOLD METALLIC SPRAY PAINT and sprayed over the whole thing...

 

then I took off the stickers and added some white detail just so things would pop.

I know that the colors are a bit odd together this year I am going for a gold, black and orange scheme --- for my Thanksgiving decorations.

 

See all together it doesn't look too bad right? I have more to share so I will be back

sooner than later.

 

 

I am linking this up to the following parties this week:

 

FRIDAY FROLIC

A CRAFTY SOIREE

STRUT YOUR STUFF THURSDAY 

EBTKS

FREESTYLE FRIDAY

ALOHA FRIDAY

 

xo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

inspired by TIM HOLTZ

Do you love Tim Holtz? his products? his pure genius? Well I am a big fan. Awhile back I won some fun goodies from him and well I love to stare and oogle his art but never really had the courage to actually attempt to make anything with all the goods. Until recently....

I bought some small 3 x 3 canvases (in the clearance section) and used Tim's grunge board cut outs and paint and some adhesive. and this is what I came out with....

I painted up the canvases and inked the edges and added some stamped images to the canvases even though some of the spaces would be covered up.

painted up the grunge board and even used some mismatched chipboard alphabet letters to add some variation

 

the house was from Maya road and I stamped parts of the house with different stamps just to add some interest without adding any weight - those little words are stickers also from TIM HOLTZ-I used cup hooks between the canvases so they could be connected yet leave some space.

I gotta tell you that this really opened the gates for me. It set me free from my fears of trying to create exactly like the master himself and I feel awesome. Almost artsy. I know sounds totally dumb but sometimes we have those fears - fears of living up to something or someone and it keeps us from trying new things. And if this is proof of that then the outcome of taking that next step is exhilarating. I am busting through all that from now on. I can't imagine all the things I am really good at but never attempted. now the fun starts.

as Oprah would say "I just had an Ah HA moment"

o.k. sorry to get deep

I am linking this up to the following parties:

market yourself monday

craft-o-maniac

made with love monday

made you monday

masterpiece mondays

make it pretty monday

have a carefree day?

xo

Instagram Friday

Friday is a great day to share my week in pictures. Thank goodness for my IPHONE - what would life be without our trusty cell phones? Don't even want to find out. Here is what life was like this week via INSTAGRAM

went a little crazy and got my hair color re-done. I had to bleach it

to make it the lighter brown I was aiming for. Not so sure about the end result but it's growing on me. I'll take that photo next week (maybe)

Had my yearly craft show last Saturday and it was SO hot...like sweltering hot, almost melting my face off hot, hence the photo of my sweet dress forms model here :)

 

spent the next day at my brothers house so the cousins could play together for awhile. The 3 painted faced kids are mine...weird I know, but true.

Monday spent the morning at my sons school watching him get HONOR ROLL and yes apparently they do give that honor to KINDERGARTNERS who knew.

 

the hubbs tried on his CHEF BOYARDEE costume whilst helping the kids carve their pumpkins.

 

this was the fruits of my kids & hubbies labor that night - I added some salt, Worcestershire sauce & soy sauce and baked them up to a deliciously crisp yummy goodness. Then made the gift packaging simply festive. you like?

Halloween night we went out trick-or-treating for awhile - boy did they have fun. My feet were really achy...

 

then tonight we went out to have some teppan & sushi - and I tried this wonderful new beer called the LUCKY BUDDHA - it was yummy and dry...make sense?

 

I am so glad for these wonderful cell phones - because I couldn't capture all these moments of my everyday life without the ease of the phone camera. Imagine pulling out the big NIKON from my bag---forget it - I would lose a ton of these special shots.

 

I hope you get some great instagram moments this weekend.

 

xo

 

I am linking this up to the following parties:

 

insta-friday

freestyle friday