Hats Off for the Men Ensemble by Yapha Mason

Hats Off for the Men Ensemble!– Yapha Mason

If you’re looking for some ‘formal attire’ for a card ensemble gift set – This is it! With Father’s Day coming up, graduations, or weddings, this little set is sure to please! You’ll learn how to make the Top Hat, which you can use as just a fun décor piece, or fill it with a special treat. Plus you’ll make six simple Note Cards that will be perfect for all those masculine card needs. And those Note Cards are a perfect fit into the simple, but sophisticated Suit Box. Wrap it all up for the most stylish masculine gift!   Get full step-by-step instructions for creating this project by heading over to Craft Project Central and subscribing to the month of May.

Help For The Bees

Today's Lesson From Outside The Craft Room:  Provide Help For The Bees
"One-third of every bite we eat is due to a pollinator," Scott Black, executive director of the invertebrate conservation nonprofit Xerces Society told the Huffington Post last year.   He continued, "These pollinators are vital for us as humans, but they're also vital for the planet -- we require animal pollination for 85 percent of flowering plants. These bees are producing the fruits and the seeds from pollination that feed everything from songbirds to grizzly bears."  We forget how much we really on these beautiful pollinators and how different our lives would look without them.
The other day Michael and I were out for a walk with Buddy and we came upon a swarm of bees on the ground.  They were wet and some were barely moving, but we had hope for them.  We are comfortable around bees - we have a few bird baths in the backyard that we fill with a very low level of water so that the bees can come and get the water they need.  Every so often a bee will land in the water and their body temperature quickly drops and they look as if they are dead.  But we pick them up and blow on them to warm them up and it is amazing to watch them spring back to life and fly off on their journey.  Sometimes we have even had to bring a bee in overnight - we have a little "bee box" that we created that we place flowers and sugar water in - because they won't fly at night.  So when we saw this pile of bees, we knew there must be something we could do to help.  We made a little lean-to with cardboard and a tarp (since rain was threatening) and then we hit the internet to find somehow who might help.  We contacted Gregg McMahan (aka The Bee Guru here in Denver) by phone and he was able to send out a call to local beekeepers to see if someone could come and relocate this swarm.  Within and hour and a half I was standing in the pouring rain with a beekeeper named Brent and a friend of his and we were capturing all the bees to be relocated to a safe spot where they could thrive!  It was a thrill!  The bees were totally willing participants - not an angry bee in the bunch!  (I am not recommending relocating bees on your own - please consult an expert!!!).  While we were waiting for Brent's arrival, someone walked by us and said, "Oh!  Those bees have been there for a few days!  When I was out the other day someone told me to be careful!"  Learning this made me sad.  Knowing that someone could have saved more of these bees had they made a call a few days earlier.  Don't just walk by.  See if you can help.  Provide help for the bees - we need each other!

Monogrammed Cards For Mother's Day

Today's Lesson From the Craft Room:  Whip Together A Quick Homemade Gift!
Flowers.  Candy.  Jewelry.  Somehow the usual Mother's Day gifts just weren't exciting me this year.  So I decided to whip up a quick homemade Mother's Day gift for my mom using the Flower Patch stamp set!  Just stamps, ink and a few punches and I had everything I needed to create the perfect present for my mom.  I love how these cards look like they are woodblock prints!  I used some colors that are retiring and a few stamps that I have had in my stash for ages (Lovely Letters Alphabet is a set that I use over and over and can't imagine living without!).  I boxed up 8 cards with matching envelopes and they were a huge hit!  What homemade gift can you whip together today?

Wedding Table Décor & Card by Buffy Cooper

Wedding Table Décor & Card! –  Buffy Cooper

Butterflies, roses, diamonds and gold glitz make this table decoration and card extra special for a summer wedding.  The Something Borrowed suite from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog makes this project a snap to pull together.  Change the sentiment on the card, and the ensemble is perfect for a bridal shower, tea party, or wedding anniversary.  It’s also a fun Stamp Camp project!  Get full step-by-step instructions for creating this project by heading over to Craft Project Central and subscribing to the month of May.

Amidst The Chaos Art Journal Page

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Put Your Chaos Down On Paper
Expressing our feelings - letting those feelings out - through art can be incredibly cathartic.  You may have noticed that my personal art posts on my blog have been a bit sporadic lately.  Part of that is due to the chaos that found its way into my life over the past few months.  I won't go into details.  Needless to say, I found expressing some of those feelings in an art journal page was really helpful.  I added a tab to the page and was able to do some private art journaling on the back of the tab while still being able to share the page with you.  This is a page that I created for Paper Crafter's Library.  Well really, I created the page for myself and filmed it for Paper Crafter's Library (also minus the personal journaling).  If you are interested in the full step-by-step videos for how I created this art journal page, head on over to Paper Crafter's Library by clicking on the badge in the upper right-hand corner of my blog and explore becoming a member.  I think you'll enjoy the resources that Paper Crafter's Library has to offer!

Shimmy Mob Shirt Decorating!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Boldly Go Where You Haven't Gone Before!
If you told me I would be belly dancing in the morning at Denver International Airport and then belly dancing in the evening in a hotel lobby and then outdoors on a major street in the pouring rain...I would have told you you were nuts!!!!!  But the truth is...you're not nuts!  I was the nutty one - out there in all my belly dancing glory at the airport, the hotel and on the rain-filled street.  Mind you, I had not belly danced before.  But my friend Caitlin has a dance studio (Bella Diva Dance) and she was gathering people together to participate in an international shimmy mob to promote awareness around domestic violence.  How could I say no?!  I had every reason to say no:  lack of belly dance knowledge; perceived inability to memorize steps in any order; a whole bunch of self-consciousness when doing something I haven't done before in a public setting...and a whole other host of reasons.  But heck - you only live once - so why not boldly go where you haven't gone before!  As a result, I now have memories that will last a lifetime and I met some incredible people on the journey.  I was even able to bring some of my creativity to the experience by painting my shirt :)  The design on the back of the shirt was inspired by search I did online for henna designs and lotus flowers.  I wish I knew who the original artist was so that I could give them full credit for the beautiful design.  I did a little improvising, but not much!  I used the design on the back as a platform to launch from for creating the flower on the front.  That one I did on my own :)  I used Tulip Slick dimensional fabric paint and I just added the gems on blobs of paint...and they stayed on!  We'll see if they make it through a hand washing :)  Now I have to go and find the next place I can boldly go where I haven't gone before!!!!  How 'bout you????