An altered desk drawer organizer for a friend

I am really excited about how this latest project turned out!  I took a regular desk organizer (something like this),
only this one only had 6 spaces in it.  I spray painted it black (it was clear), and got to work!

I wanted to make a special gift for a dear friend of mine.  We went to college together, she was in my wedding, we have known each other for about 10 years.  We always exchange gifts, and I wanted to make her something instead of simply buying something in a store.  This way she can keep it forever!  And think of me!  LOL!

So, here's the project as a whole:

      She is a teacher, so I made a blackboard.  I drew the flag, apple and computer.  You can't see it, but I did stamp 0's and 1's from MFT's Who's That Geek Guy.  I guess w/ the lead pencil, the camera and computer just couldn't tell it apart.

        She is a runner, as well as a cross country and track coach.  I drew the shoe, based on a shoe I found on the Dick's Sporting Goods website.  The tree is from MFT's Sheltering Tree & Leaf Trio.  I also used SU! circle punches to add to the tree.  I sponged all edges on leaves, circles and tree.  The grass is from MFT's Fresh Cut Grass.

 She loves sports, especially football and basketball.  She played basketball in high school, and coached it for a while after she became a teacher.  Since we live in Pittsburgh, I HAD to add a Terrible Towel!  We both went to Robert Morris University, so I had to put that pennant up.  She and her family are huge Penn State fans, and her sister went to both Penn State and Pitt, so I put those two pennants up as well.

 She LOVES the beach, like I do!  The surfboards are from Verve's Relax set.  The tiki torches are from Hampton Art's Luau set.  The sun is MFT's Die-namics Sunshine.  Paper is from Linen Closet (DCWV).

 This was a fun one to do!  She has two kittens, and she loves to read.  The ball of yarn is actually a small bell that I wrapped w/ thread.  The kittens are from Kitchen Sink Stamps Kittens and Pup.  The girl reading is from MFT's WTG Well Read.  I drew the lamp, floor boards and art work on the wall.

And of course, she is a great friend of mine!  These two girls are from SU!'s Lively Little Ones.  Paper is SU!.  I found the quote online.  It says: A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.  By Douglas Pagels.  I thought this quote was really great for something like this!

And that's it!  My friend absolutely LOVES it and is taking it in to her classroom to hang on the wall!

Have a great day!

A Teacher gift

So, school will be out soon for Christmas break!  And if you're a mom w/ school aged children, I'm sure you've already bought teacher gifts and probably already presented them w/ their gift!  Well, I'm a little slow!  I finally had time to make my son's teacher a set of cards.  I made my daughter's teachers cards as well, but I've made similar ones, so I didn't take pics of those.  But, these I have never made.  I used Fancy Tags Shapeabilities and I have never used them before!  FUN!!!!  And, here's a little sidenote!  The Large Oval punch from SU! fits perfectly in the tag w/ the oval middle!  Well, you'll see below!  I was SO excited to discover that little kernel of information! 

ANYWAY, here's the card!  And below is a closeup of the butterflies that I used.  They are from the Sizzlet from SU!  Embosslits Beautiful Wings!  I am in love!  I will be using these A LOT!

They really look better in person.  I have a zoom lens on my Christmas wish list!  Perhaps THEN I'll have nicer pictures to share on here!  The point and shoot camera just don't do my creations justice!

See you in a few!

Annual Christmas card and a gift

Another year is upon us!  I can't believe how quickly 2010 has passed by!  I guess when you're busy w/ 3 kids, helping a sister get married, being supportive to a husband who was in the throes of a new principal job of 3 elementary schools, and just going about daily life, the year just does fly right by!

So, now that it's Christmas time again, I am finding myself SUPER busy w/ homemade gifts to make and I know hardly any will actually be given BEFORE Christmas!  My life just doesn't work that way!  I'm sorry, but I just can't fit it all in!  So, if you haven't received a gift from me, 9 chances out of 10, the design is still in my head and the paper and stamps have yet to be touched!  They will though!  Don't worry!

Well, I WAS able to get ONE gift done!  Whoo hoo!  This is for my friend who cuts my hair.  We have become very good friends, and she truly appreciates my time and talent and my crazy style!  So, it's worth it to make her something special!

I have been collecting wood from Stampin' Up!, from all the rubber mount stamps that I have purchased over the last year and a half that I have had my stamps in binders.  Ssshhhh!  Don't tell anyone!  ;)  So, I am in the process of making my friend a set of seasons to put on her windowsill, or wherever!  Christmas is done!  Haha!

 For the block, I put music tissue tape all over the front, and sponge inked it w/ Ridinghood Red.  Then, I stamped and colored in w/ Koh-i-noor pencils and turpentine Santa and his reindeer.  Santa and JOY are from Crafty Secrets, one of their Christmas sets.  I added some MFT Die-namic snowflakes and faux crochet border to complete the look!

And here is my annual Christmas card:

The pine on top is from Kitchen Sink Stamps Build A Garland.  The sentiment is from Crafty Secrets.  The ornaments are from Fiskars or Inkadinkado.  I can't remember. 

Unless I get more projects done, I'll see you after Christmas is over.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!  I hope you get everything on your list!

Christmas tag

Hi there!  I have been busy getting ready for Christmas, and I thought I would share a quick gift tag that I made this evening.  I had to make 10 for a gift exchange w/ my Mom's Group tomorrow night.  I made chocolate covered pretzels!  They turned out really well!  This is the first time I have ever made them!


I wanted to make a cute tag for each bag because the cellophane was just begging for some creativity!!!  And this finishes the package!  The little girl is from SU!'s Greeting Card Kids!  I thought this set was so cute, and a definite must have!  I colored her in w/ Copics and a gel pen for the sparkle.  For the white, I adhered white flocking.  She is stamped on MFT's Vanilla Perfect Paper Panels in Chocolate Chip.  I have had this paper for so long, it needed to be used!  Enjoy!

Hopefully I'll be back soon w/ more creative projects!  I have a TON of homemade gifts, just not enough time to do them!
Have a great day!

LOVE

LOVE!  Love is grand!  Love is patient, love is kind.  Do you feel like you're at a wedding?!  NO!  You're on the MFT BLOG HOP!  YAY!!!!!  Hopefully you came from the talented Jessie Rone!  If not, go to Kim's blog and I'll meet you back here in a bit!  Anyway, this month MFT concentrated on Valentine's Day for their release!  From the Pure Innocence girls to Who's That Girl to MFT's Inspired By line, it's all about the heart!

Well, a few months ago, I was buying something online for my sister's wedding, and I happened to find this LOVE chipboard album.  I put that in my virtual shopping card as I have never made a chipboard album like this!  Then, when I received my stamps for this month's release, I instantly thought of this album and this would be the blog hop project!  A culmination of all the sets together in one big project!  Are you ready?!

Here you go!

 I had a theme going here, only using floral paper, using a lock and key on each page except the L, along w/ lace and ribbon.  And there's a PI girl and WTG on every page as well.  Also, you will find a different sentiment from the Clearly Sentimental about Love on each page.  So you can see the versatility of these sets!

 Here's a closeup of clear hearts stitched onto the lace on the L page.

 Here is my threading ribbon.  I thought this was a brilliant idea, and then the next day I saw that everyone else had thought of the same thing too!  Hahaha!  Great minds think alike!

 50 buttons sewn onto the ribbon & paper!

Did a little cross stitching on the heart.  I tried several different ideas and pitched all of them!  Then, I just started punching little holes and did a little cross stitch!

As I was working on this, I thought that I could give this as a wedding shower gift for my cousin.  So, after the blog hop while you all are shopping away, I'm going to make this personal and add some pictures and things of my cousin and her fiance!  Hopefully it will be well received and will last as long as their marriage!

Thanks for stopping by!  Your next stop is one of your favorite dirty girls, Christina Fischer!
Enjoy your new stamps!!!!

MFTeaser Day 5! We're almost there!!!!

HELLO MFT FANS!!!!  You have arrived at release day!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!  Tonight you will finally get your hands on these fantastic stamps that you have been drooling over for a week now!  Well, almost a week!  ;)  Long enough, right?!!!!  Are you ready to party?!  Well hop on over to Splitcoast tonight and join all of us at the release cocktail party at 8pm EST!  Get ready to have some fun, play games and win prizes!  Perhaps you could win a set for FREE!!!!

Also, today you get two more chances to win a $10.00 gift voucher to the MFT Boutique if you visit all the participating blogs for this last teaser!  You have to go to Kim's blog at 11am EST to get the full listing!  Make sure you comment so that you get a chance to win!  You never who's blog will be pulling names!

Ok, today for our last day of teasers, we are featuring WTG From the Bottom of My Heart and Clearly Sentimental about Love!  This was part of the VIP package, and now you can purchase them by themselves if you didn't get a chance at the VIP!  They just go so fast!
Anyway, I decided to take a page out of Sherrie Siemens' book and make a tag!  I never do tags, but her Tag-A-Long posts that she's doing are just so darn cute, I had to do one too!!!!  So, thank you Sherrie for the inspiration!

 I would like to thank Kim and the whole MFT Design Team for inviting me to join their wonderful team this month!  Thank you so much for the opportunity!  I had a blast creating w/ these awesome stamps, and I was so excited each day to post my creations along w/ you all, and to see what wonderful creations you and my fellow Temp Team came up with!  Thanks for an awesome experience!  Now let's party tonight!!!!!  :D

Paper: Tag: made my own, dp: DCWV stack, scrap from Making Memories tag, Very Vanilla
Ink: Choc. Chip, Copics, white gel pen
Accessories: Dainty Dots die, Bracket Edge die, Martha heart punch, burgundy ribbon,  Labels 8 nestie

MFTeasers Day 4!

Hello MFTer's!  Today is Day 4 of the MFTeasers!  Are you having lots of fun?!

Today we are featuring 3 fabulous sets: Heartfelt, Inspired By Love & Jolinne - Friendship is Shelter!  Make sure you go to Kim's blog at 11am EST for a full listing of participants so that you can see all of these sets in action!
Don't forget about the release party tomorrow night from 8-10pm, finishing up w/ a blog hop and shop at 10pm and then shop your little heart out!!!!  So many great sets and dies that will be for sale!  And if you can, become a TLCer and you can get everything an hour early!  One little perk among quite a few when you become an elite MFT TLCer!  ;)  Just thought I'd dangle that little carrot in front of you!

Ok, on to the card!  I have a sweet little card using the Heartfelt set!  What a great set to have! I absolutely am in love w/ this image and the sentiments!!!!  The font is awesome and perfect for this little sweetie! 

Snowflake Trio Die

  Well, I hope you enjoyed your visit here!  Don't forget to stop at everyone else's blogs for 2 chances to win $10.00 gift vouchers to the MFT Boutique!!!!

Have a heartfelt day!

MFTeaser Day 3!

Are you enjoying the teasers so far?!  I am!!!!!  Everyone has done such a fabulous job!!!  Today is another day of sneak peeks!  Guess what we have today?!  PI'S!!!!!!!!!!  Pure Innocence are here and they will literally melt your heart!  You will HAVE to purchase all of them, because they are all so fantastic and wonderful!

Ok, some preliminary info for ya!  Don't forget that the release is Wednesday, Dec. 1st at 10pm!  You have to join all of us MFT Junkies (MFT DT included!) for a fun night of chatting and chances to win prizes!!  FUN!!!  That will be starting at 8pm on Wed., on the Splitcoast forum HERE!  For a list of all participants showcasing their awesomeness today, visit Kim's blog at 11am EST! Don't forget to comment on everyone's blogs for two chances to win $10.00 gift vouchers at the MFT Boutique!!!!

And we're ready!

The first card that I am going to show you is Pure Innocence Splish Splash!  This sweet little boy and his dog are now splashing through rain puddles after a big storm!  What little boy doesn't like to do this?!

  Are you ready for the Pure Innocence girls?!  We have Love You With All My Heart, Hello Cupcake & Sending a Box of Love!  I decided to make a little valentine envelope!  Each doily is a separate valentine!

 Clearly, this is the outside of the envelope!  I used two rolled roses here, along w/ the faux crochet die and decorative doily die.

 

Here is the envelope w/ the flap open and you can see the valentines peeking out!

First up is Hello Cupcake!  Isn't she sweet holding that huge cupcake?!  Who wouldn't like one of THOSE?!

Secondly, we have Love You With All My Heart!  Isn't she darling?!

 And last but not least, Sending a Box of Love!  That is an "X" and an "O" stitched in there, in case you didn't know....!

 One of the really cool things about that Decoratively Doily die is that you can punch out whatever pattern you want after you run it through your cutting machine!  Most, if not all, of the little cutouts stay intact, so that allows for more versatility and you can make up different designs!  This at least works w/ MY cuttlebug!

I hope you enjoyed my projects today!  Get YOUR PI's out and ink them up!!!!

MFTeaser Day 2!

 Hello there!  Today is Day 2 of the MFTeasers!  Welcome!  Today we are featuring three fabulously awesome sets Flapper Doodles: Cheers to a New Year, Ice Skating Flopsey, and Flower Silhouette set w/ a coordinating Die-namic!  All three sets are MUST HAVES!!!

Don't forget to stop by Kim's blog at 11AM EST for a full listing of participants today!  If you leave a comment on everyone's blog, you get two chances to win a $10.00 gift voucher to the MFT Boutique!  FUN FREE MONEY to spend on stamps that you love!   Don't forget to join us for the release on Wednesday, Dec. 1st at 8pm EST for some fun times and chatting!  Then the Blog Hop and Shop!  Can you hardly wait?!  I can't!!!!

First up we have the lovely Flapper girls cheering in the new year!  I have to say though that the balloons and strings are just part of MY card, and not the stamp itself!  I tried to make one of the dresses like those fringy dresses from the past.  I don't know if I achieved my look or not...?  I kept to two colors, silver and black.  To me those are New Years colors!  Do you spy the Dainty Dots die?!  LOVE it!!!!  It's so awesome!  And the cut is so clean!  It will dress up your card every time!

 And now we have the always fun, always doing something different each month, Ice Skating Flopsey!  This month he's taking to the ice!  Better watch out, he might grab a snow ball! ;)

In this first picture, I made a gate fold card just on the front.  The snow mountains move when you untie the bow!  I added stickles to the edges of the snow for that sparkly look.  

 Once you open up the gate fold, you can see that Flopsey is indeed ON the ice!  I stamped him on vellum, colored him both on the vellum and the white cardstock w/ Koh-i-noor pencils, and then cut out an oval.  I flipped him over and upside down and viola!  A reflection!  I stamped one of the sentiments that Flopsey comes with on the ice so it looks like he "skated" the word!  I drew the rock wall behind him just to give depth. I added white flocking along the top of the wall for a layer of snow.  I added stickles on the snowballs, snowflake and all around the ice pond for more sparkle!

 On the inside, I wanted to continue the snow theme, so I tore the top of the white layer and added stickles, and then adhered a snowflake to the bottom!  You can find the snowflake Die-namic here

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget to stop by everyone's blog and leave them a little love!

Hugs,

The first sneak peek!

 Hello MFT junkies!  Are you ready for some awesome sneak peeks from myself and my fellow MFT'ers?!

I would like to thank Kim and Jody for inviting me to participate in the December Temp Team!  I am so excited to be part of the team for a month!  Thank you fabulous ladies!

Here is some information that you need to know! Today is Day 1 for MFTeasers!  If you happened on my blog because you just love my work, THANK YOU!  LOL! But, really and truthfully, you should go to Kim's blog, where she will have a list of all the team members who are participating in this month's sneak peeks and release!  She will have them posted at 11am EST.  So, make sure you stop at everyone's blog and leave a kind comment because everyone has worked hard to make this event wonderful and fantastic!As an added bonus, there are two chances for $10.00 gift vouchers to the MFT Boutique!  So make sure you comment on every blog!  Winners will be announced the following day on Kim's blog!

And don't forget that the release will be on Dec. 1st at 8pm at the Splitcoast Member Company Forum!

Ok, enough brown-nosing!  ;)  On to the peek!

Today we are featuring three delightful stamp sets (aren't they all though? ;)), Clearly Sentimental about Teaching, Tweeny Teen You Give Me Wings, and Textile Rectangle Frame Set w/ matching Die-namic!  I'm featuring two of the three today!

First up is my Clearly Sentimental about Teaching.  I just had to get this set because it was so great for the many teachers in my life, present and future!  This set will be awesome for those teacher gifts every year!
Today though, I decided to make a little 8x8 scrapbook page for my son!

I used the notebook die and the jumbo scallop die in this, besides the sentiment.  The paper is all from Basic Grey's School Spirit!  I made my own apple (I don't have a die for that!)  I kept the colors masculine, and when I showed my son, he was VERY happy w/ the result!

Now we move on to the Tweeny Teen You Give Me Wings!  What a cute little fairy she is!  Don't you think so?  When I was brainstorming on what I wanted to do w/ her, my mind kept going back to Gyo Fujikawa's books, especially the one about Fairies and Gnomes and Monsters!  One page in particular was like a little boy's oasis, and I thought that I could build this little fairy her own oasis!  Everything that you see here is hand drawn.  I used my Copics to draw and color in.  I did use a Prima rose though, on the little tag!  And I put in some Stickles in the pond to make it shine!  Her wings are acrylic and I put purple and green stickles to make them sparkly and fairy-like!

Here's a close up of the front.

Thanks so much for visiting!  Don't forget to visit everyone's blogs and give them a little love!

Hugs,