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