Happy New Years Eve 2009

So, I really have not been very good about keeping up. Boy of boy I know I am not alone. I am going to try harder for 2010 for sure.

To all my friends and family....Happy New Year. Have a safe and happy night tonight.

See you in 2010!!!!!!

First Holiday Memory

Here are some Holiday funsies to take a look at. I can't believe it is almost time to scrap Christmas again.

What is your first holiday memory. Shell over at SBO is doing the Jess Sprague "Holidays In Hand" class and her first journaling prompt was to write about her first holiday memory.

Here is mine....kind of corney but I know my Mom would get a kick out of it.

"My parents had a fake tree and it was so old that we had to tie up the bottom branches to the ones up above to keep it looking like a new tree. I still remember getting under there and tie them up with yarn."

Snowman Make and Take How To

So, would you like to make this little cutie pie for your tree this year. Or maybe you can use it as a tag on a package. My How-To is below. The ladies that will be attending my fall retreat in Maine this weekend will be making thise little guy. How adorable is he?

Snowman Ornament How To

Supplies Needed:

One chipboard snowman (You can buy these little guys in the dollar bin at Ms.)

1 4 x 8 inch piece of patterned paper

1 Scrap of black cardstock for hat

3 small buttons

2 small twigs

1 yard twine

12 inch piece of ribbon for scarf

Stickles in black, orange and crystal (optional)

Tools:

Paper Cutter

Scissors

Hole punch

Adhesive

Sanding block (optional)

Directions:

Cover chipboard snowman with cardstock, sand edges if desired

Attach buttons to middle of body

Cut hat and attach to head of body

Punch three holes: 2 hole for the arms and one in the middle of the head for the hanging ribbon

Attach arms using twine. Take a 10 inch piece of twine and fold it in half. Tie a large enough knot in the middle so when you pass the piece through the hole for the arm it stops the twine from going all the way through to the front. Place the twig in the middle of the piece of twine and tie it on the body. Do the same for the other side.

Attach the ribbon as a scarf around the neck. Fringe the ends if desired.

Use Stickles or pens to make the eyes and the carrot nose.

Attach remaining piece of twine as hanger from hole in middle of head.

Use Stickles to decorate and add bling if desired.

365 Update

10-26-09 The start of the cover for my calendar class I will be teaching at Ink About It.

10-27-09 This is the stack of paper bags that make up the Halloween album I will teach to Grant's class this year.

10-28-09 The finished album.

10-30-09 The boys doing the final BLITZ for Scout popcorn selling.

10-31-09 Pre Halloween Costumes.

11-01-09 The last football game of the season. Grant made a great tackle on this play.

11-03-09 Geocaching box for Grady Scout den.

11-06-09 One of my new ribbon belts.

11-08-09 Grady geocaching at Prospect Park with his den.

11-09-09 Ace crackrf a toe nail and had to have it removed today....poor baby.

One Sketch...Many Layouts (30 in all!) And a WINNER!!!

AND THE WINNER IS.....

Corey!!!! Hey Hey Miss Corey! You won my ribbon raffle. I will send you some goodies this week girl. Same address?

And now to some scrapping goodness.

A SIMPLE SKETCH

I have been putting off doing the kids school pages for years now. I have been gathering up school photos each year...along with the class photo in the hopes of getting them all in albums by the time the kids were in college. What a laugh that is.

Well, I finally got off my butt and put some pages together. Helen and I went again to "A Time For Memories" in Grafton, MA for the scrap pink crop. I told myself I was going to get these pages done and not come home with any left over to scrap. Well, I did it. 30 pages in all and now the kids are caught up. Untill this years photos came home in backpacks last week...oh well!

How I made this easy and doable was using one sketch and a stack of papers and embellies that I had collected in one box. I stopped myself from using anything else. Some examples are below along with the sketch that I used.

This was a fantatic way to get things done and I mean A LOT of things done in a short period of time. Limiting myself to just one bin of product made the whole process work up quick and with low stress. I would suggest that you find a sketch you like, gather up some products and just limit yourselft to what you have. Don't keep buying more supplies and putting it off. It can get so out of hand that the task is just too daunting to want to tackle.

I am so happy I got these done. Now I can move on to tackling my next pile and bin of STUFF!!! And I am really happy about that.

New Ribbon Belt in Velvet and a PRIZE

Yes, I have been at it again. This is another ribbon belt that I have made. This time I used some velvet and chinelle ribbon I picked up when I was out with Alice, Laurie and Jen a few weeks ago. I also added some brown bias binding to this one to cover the ends of the ribbon. I could not really just zig zag stitch down the side of this one due to the ribbon that I used. So instead I stitched on some binding tape and I think it did the trick.

The belt buckle is made of plastic and I just love it. It matches the green crushed velvet ribbon perfectly. All in all I think this one came out great. I am still working on some diffent ways of putting this together but so far so good.


Just a little shot of my ribbon scraps before I started. In fact this time around I did not use scraps. It took about 10 yards of ribbon and I have a lot left over. Not enough for another belt but I sure could use the scraps along with some other ribbon to make another...which I think I may just do that.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Oh, and for the prize. Leave me a comment here and tell me what you have done this week that is crafty and I will pull a name on Monday and send you out some yummy ribbon so you can start making your own belt.

RIBBON BELTS and a funsie for my Mom

So, I have been very busy for the past few weeks. I had some K aren Foster work to do for their October release....very cool new papers and embellishment coming out this month from KF.

I have also been working on a calendar class for Ink About It, in Westford MA. I'm not done yet so no photos right now. I will be teaching this class in early December. If you live in MA you should come and take my class for sure.

More about my busy crafting adventures the past few weeks. I saw this really neat belt made from ribbon scraps. Leslie posted it at SBO and I fell in love. She found the tutorial at Lil Blue Boo. Seeing that I have more Strano Ribbon that I know what to do with I decided to make one. When Jen Strano, on of my SB friends, saw the belt a few days later she went nuts and send me a box with another 3lbs of ribbon scraps in it. You may think 3 lbs is no big deal but when you are talking ribbon scraps it is an AMAZING gift to receive. When I opened the box ribbon came oozing out...now that's a package you want to get in the mail.

So, here is my belt and the one I just finished for one of Jen's daughters. Jen....btw, you never sent the measurements so I just went for it. I think it will fit. Gail tried it on and all was good on her end. Don't they look like such good buds?

These belts make me so happy. They just are so bright and colorful....mmmmmm yummmy!!

And below is the bag I just finished for my Mom. It is using the Amy Butler Sling bag pattern. My mom is always buying me fabric to make things so I thought it was time for me to use it up and create something with it. I hope she likes it...you are seeing it before her. WEll, if she came to my blog maybe she would see it first.

Got to run. I am teaching the paperbag album from yesterday to Grant's class at 2pm. Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween to all!