Tacky Tuesday's Challenge #3

I love participating in challenges to get the creative juices flowing... One of my favorite bloggers and FB friends, September Ninth,  issued a new  challenge using a chick from the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge and the word "CHICK" in our sentiment.  I love movies, especially witty, funny, romantic chick flicks...so this one was a no-brainer. :)  Why don't you stop by her blog and give this a try?  It's so much  fun!

President's Day = Crafting

I cannot believe I haven't posted anything in the past few weeks...I have scrapbooked and made a few cards, but nothing big enough to blog about.  I hope to get a lot of crafting done on my day off tomorrow.  Hope you get to do the same!

Please stay tuned. 

Great Reads...or Listens!

If you are looking for great books to read or audio books to listen to, pick up the books from the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig.  I have never zoomed through a book series as quickly as this one!  Historical, mysterious, romantic, and funny...they're the perfect books to begin the Valentine Day weekend...

Ever hear of a "Paint-n-Party"?

Neither had I since this past Friday...

Never one to pass up a chance to get creative, I joined several of my friends from Hope Church last Friday for an event called "Paint-n-Party."    (Debi and her daughter Randi were my tablemates!)

We all started with a blank canvas arranged in "portrait" layout.  

Then, we were given squirts of yellow, red, white, and dark brown paint.
As I squirted out my paint, I suddenly got a flashback of a tole painting class I took 10 years ago.  Tole painting is a folk artsy, country way of painting that was popular back in the 90's.

After TWO month-long classes and several attempts at artwork, I quit and never picked up a paint brush again until last Friday!  I silently panicked, "What in the WORLD was I doing here...?"

I already paid my fee...so I plugged along.  The instructor then told the group to mix a little yellow with white to make a bright fresco yellow (if that is a color)  kind of like this flower's color:
...or...mix any color we want.

While the majority of the class followed the guidance of our instructor, I decided I didn't like yellow... so, being the rebel without a cause that I am, I chose to create my own shade...of....tan fresco.... I should have just stopped right here....

After the "tan fresco" dried, the instructor asked us to create flowers out of paper towels and LIGHTLY dip them into the white and brown paints...Then, we were to randomly apply said towel to the canvas...I'm sure you heard my moans, as I followed the instructor and patted my canvas....

Yeah...my sentiments exactly!  I was not happy with this at all....but then...she asked to use to the red to paint on a heart.

The instructor asked us to trace the heart, using a template that she laid on the table....Again, being ME, I painted my heart free hand.  It turned out ok, but it was too small...so as she went on about swirls and lines and more pats of color.  All I heard was Charlie Brown's teacher and just went with it....

Debi's picture is what the picture was SUPPOSED to look like...Mine was well...another version.

Next time...well, there will probably not be a next time.  I'm retiring my paint brush....  LOL!
I did have fun and enjoyed the time with my more compliant and artistic friends.

We have a WINNER!!!!

GREEN BAY stomped the Steelers...much to my dismay! :(

But, that is NOT the winner I am referring to.

I am talking about my two Feel the Love Blog Hop Blog Candy winners!  Yes, that's right...TWO winners of the handmade Valentine earrings that will be packed in the winners' choice of envelope...Owl or Valentine gift set!

What a fun blog hop...I really felt the love from all the nice visitors to my blog and the many many sweet comments!  Below are my two winners...Thanks again for stopping and hopping by!

WINNER #1... Lisa!

WINNER #2... Brenna!

I will be in touch with the winners by blog address or email!!  Happy Valentine's Week.... <3 Angie

Season of Love...

February is a love month...

so I am spending as much time as I can loving on my family (mainly my littlest one...just because she is just sooo loveable) and doing the things I love to do most...Blogging and Crafting!  One of my first projects this month was to create a Valentine-y matching necklace set for my little girl and I.   

I found some really colorful (purple, pink, and blue) clay beads at my local bead store...For my necklace, I paired them up with light purple glass beads and pearly beads.  I used the wire wrapping technique to link the beads together.  I am quite pleased by how it turned out.

Here is a slide show about the wire wrapping technique:

For Baby Girl's necklace, I used the same clay beads, but I matched them up with simple blue glass beads and some smaller clay beads I had left over from a Christmas beading project.  Instead of using a clasp, I just created loops to connect.  The necklace is all that a necklace for a 2 (almost 3) yr old should be...light weight and sturdy.

She absolutely loves it...

What can I say...I'm raising a sweet little clown! :)

Enjoy this month of LOVE...doing all the things you love with those you love!  <3 Angie

Feel the Love Blog Hop

HELLO AND WELCOME to your 21st stop on the Feel the Love Blog Hop... 

If you just arrived here from: Kathy at The Beautiful Life, you are hopping along the right trail!  If for some reason, you stopped here first…Please start with Jamie, our Hostess with the Mostest (#1 Glitter, Stamps, and Paper, Oh My!).

For my project, I decided to mix my two favorite crafting past times, beading and paper crafting.  For this hop, I have created a special pair of Valentine's Day heart earrings and two fun ways to gift them.

Earrings are my favorite quick project to gift to friends and family. It's also nice to be able to make a pair of earrings, when you need just the right earrings to match a specific outfit. If you have never made a pair of earrings, here is a slide show displaying the steps to make some.

Cute little Valentine's Day earrings need a fun case to gift them in...CD envelopes are probably the most versatile office supply I've ever found!  I use them all the time to give away cookies or candy...or in this case, earrings!  Using CD envelopes, heart ribbon, and some Valentine's Day heart paper, I made this gift pack for my earrings.  I used the George Basic Shapes Cricut cartridge to cut out the hearts.

I had so much fun making this case that I made another...

I just love owls...I was thrilled when I found this cute stamp "Owl always love you!" at Michael's for a $1.00!

Then, I chuckled at the cute owls on this ribbon...a perfect addition to my owl creation...

The design possibilities are endless for CD envelopes!  I hope you have enjoyed this post. 

If you would like a chance at winning a pair of earrings in a cute gift case, please leave me a comment and follow my blog.  I will pick a winner Sunday night using Random.org.

For the next blog, please visit the next hop on the blog hop http://createdwithjoy.blogspot.com/!

Oh SCRAP!

Up until this past weekend, I suffered from a bad case of catch 22...

Despite my efforts to recycle and reuse my scraps, my scraps were in such disarray that I would give up digging through my envelope of scraps...I'd grumble and procrastinate to myself that,

"ONE OF THESE DAYS (not today but some day...), I have GOT to do something about these stinkin' scraps!"

UGH!!!!  Then, I'd just grap another full sheet of paper..make my 3inch cut into a 12x12 sheet of paper...put those new scraps into my scrap envelope!  My scraps were turning into a pile of cr.... Well, you know!

A couple of weekends ago, I was at a crop...One of my tablemates, Dayna, told me that she organizes her scraps by color and keeps them in separate envelopes.  Seems so simple...and I do that with my normal, uncut papers...But, for some reason, I never thought of organizing my scraps by color...

LIGHT BULB!!

Well, "some day" was this past Sunday evening....I took my Creative Memories DecoFile folders, labeled them by color, and sorted my scraps by color family. 

My DecoFile folders have 3 pockets, so I put colors I use a lot together in the same group, like pink and purple...turquoise and blue...yellow and orange...black and white.

Now, my scraps are nicely organized in a way so that I can find and USE them!  Aaaahhh...much better!

Another fun Blog Hop

Please join me in a Blog Hop this Saturday!  This hop will not only feature wonderful paper crafts but some other forms of crafting and techniques....and BLOG CANDY!  You won't want to miss this.  I will be the last on the hop...so Hope to Hop with ya!  :)  Have a great week.