Handmade Stencils

Just in case you wanted to see what my handmade circle stencils look like - here they are :)  I used these to create today's inspirational tree card :)

Inspired Tree

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Sometimes A Little Insanity Can Be A Good Thing!

What a fun challenge!  This was my inspiration http://www.fabulousstationery.com/mini-joie-brown/.  I have to confess to a bit of insanity in making this card.  I punched some circle templates out of transparency film - a bunch of circles in different sizes - that was the start of the insanity :)  Then I sponged all the different color inks using all the different sized circle templates - that was the middle of the insanity :)  Then I cut out the whole tree and popped it up on dimensionals - that was the end of my insanity :)  The bird and the greeting were embossed with white embossing powder.  Hope you like it!  Sometimes a little insanity can be a good thing :)

Silver Embossed Christmas

Just wanted to share this quick and easy card!  The stamp is from the Season of Joy SU! stamp set and I stamped it with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with silver embossing powder.  Hope you like it!  Happy Holidays!!!!!

Stamped CD Case Calendar

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  A Clean Space Can Clear Your Mind

Pre-New Year's Resolution #1 - get the office and craft room clean!  Right now Michael is in the lead - he cleaned his office today and it is amazing how soothing it is to walk into that space right now!  Before it was a whole lot of clutter - now it is a whole lot of open space and clean - ahhhhhh.  If that doesn't motivate me, I don't know what will!  The feeling of calm and quiet that enters my mind when I enter his office is definitely something I want to experience in the craft room!  Pre-New Year's Resolution #1, here I come!!!!

This calendar idea was inspired by kwerner.  I saw the idea for creating a printed calendar and went from there!  I created the calendar template using Pages on the Mac and then I stamped each month individually.  This version is for my aunt who is a fanatic for white and blue!  The calendar "stand" is a CD case that is folded back on itself (I hope that makes sense - you open the CD case and then you keep pushing...even if you think you're going to break it...and it makes this great little stand that you can slide your calendar pages in each month).  The calendar pages are 4 3/4"x 4 3/4".  I may just have to turn this project into a class!  Hope you like it!  Off I go to tackle that resolution!!!!! :)

Box of Love

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Keep Trying

Keep trying...at least that's what I'm telling myself.  I wonder at what point I'll get too discouraged to keep trying?  Yet why do I allow myself to get discouraged at all?  I created this glittery boxed set of Valentine's cards for one of Stampin' Up!'s challenges and, since I haven't heard by now, it did not get chosen as a winner :(  Yet, when I sent it out I was all smiles - feeling grateful to Robert Indiana for his inspiring and iconic LOVE sculpture that inspired this whole card set.  So why allow myself to get discouraged at all?  Just because the set doesn't make it to the top of someone else's list doesn't mean I need to get all sad and depressed!  If anything, this is an opportunity to keep trying - to dust myself off and go at it again with as much, if not more, gusto than before!!!!  Just wait 'til you see what I come up with next!!!!  Hope you like it...and if you don't, I refuse to be discouraged :)

Happy New Year...A Little Early :)

A little pre-bedtime stamping for tonight.  I decided to put together something for the sketch challenge on SCS.  Guess I just wasn't ready for bed after going to see The Blind Side - great movie by the way!  I used the flower in Kind & Caring Thoughts to try to imitate fireworks :) Not sure if I imitated fireworks or freezing flowers...either way, the sentiment is still the same - Happy New Year! :) (a little early)!

Circle Circus - Happy Everything!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Begin Again!

Wow - the last time I posted on SCS was in October!  Time sure does fly!  But there's no time like today to Begin Again!  How amazing is that?  Any moment of any day, you can make the decision to begin again and to actually do it! You can begin to eat healthy, right now!  You can begin to treat yourself more kindly, right now!  You can begin to exercise, right now!  What can you begin again today, right now??????

This card was quick and easy.  I used a curved mask and then stamped like crazy with Circle Circus on the bottom of the card.  This card is 3.75" x 3.75" - just perfect to tuck in with a gift that I am sending to a friend!

Stamped Tile Coasters...Again!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Some Things Are Better Left Private!

Someone sent me a pretty funny video today.  It is an old SNL skit where a company is advertising a toilet for two!  You can sit next to your sweetheart and share your most intimate bathroom moments...YIKES!!!!  I have to say that might be one of my worst nightmares!  I remember going to the clothing store, Loehmann's as a kid with my mom.  That was close to my second worst nightmare since they had communal changing rooms for trying on clothes.  I guess I'm just one of those modest people - I believe some things are better left private :)  In light of the recent news about this celebrity and that, I wonder how much of what we do and say is appropriate for the public and where our boundaries should be.  Seems like today we want to know every little detail about everyone...and I wonder how healthy that really is for all of us.  Something to ponder...

OK - these might be the last tiles I share with you this year...is that a sigh of relief I just heard from you? :)  I have been in tile-making madness the last few days - trying to get some last minute gifts completed for mailing.  These 2 tiles are for my nieces.  The one on the left is for my niece who LOVES to cook and the one on the right is for my older niece.  I may have shared the butterfly story with you in a post a long time ago...anyway, this tile is a reminder to her of how beautiful and unique she is - something the butterfly represents for us.  Hope you like them!!!!