Coaster Box

Here is a coaster box I made for a friend as a 'thank you' gift...let me just say, I have seen TONS of these made, even read a tutorial about them; but nowhere did I see a notation that you should use the MEDIUM WEIGHT coasters. Yeah, it's really made with coasters - go figure!! When I ordered mine from an Ebay store, they only had the light weight coasters in stock (so I didn't even know they had DIFFERENT weights) - so that's what I bought. Let me just say; this was the HARDEST project I have ever done in my life!!! It sure didn't turn out like all those 'other' great samples I saw - LOL! Nonetheless, my friend liked it - so that alone made the pain worth it! I filled it with a bag of candy, I think the candy has since been removed and it holds pens and pencils. I do love the paper covering the box...just didn't like the process. Can't wait to order some medium weight coasters and try this again! :)
Thanks for stopping by; have a great day! ~M.

Last card from play time Friday

This is the last card I photographed from Friday....BUT I still have some other things to share! :) I did a religious notecard set for a friend and really liked how this one turned out. The flowers are from the Happy Harmony set by Stampin' Up. The base card (with the orange stripes) was from a pre-purchased package; so I just added the flowers and the "Let Go and Let God" stamp in the upper right-hand corner. I colored the flowers in with the Stampin' Up markers; two orange, one yellow then two yellow, one orange. I also spritzed them with water before stamping onto the card.
Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Take care and as always, thanks for stopping by!! ~M.

More cards from play time Friday!

I'm telling you - I got LOTS of cards made Friday afternoon. Even though I only had a couple hours when I finally got around to working on them; I was able to accomplish a lot; that always feels good.
These cards are the same - just changed up the colors and ribbons. The base card is black; then layered with Certainly Celery that I embossed with the D'vine Swirl Cuttlebug Folder. Several of you have asked...I didn't buy a Cuttlebug, I bought a Big Shot; but it works with the Cuttlebug Folders, Sizzix and many others. Probably one of the best purchases I have ever made! The ribbon is from Michael's and I LOVE the colors. The birthday cake has blue, green and pink flowers; the cake stand is colored in with a silver gel pen. Such fun. The blue piece is also embossed with the same Cuttlebug folder.

This card also has the black base card; it's then layered with Pink Passion and Only Orange. This one is embossed with the Stylized Flowers Cuttlebug Folder; just like the "Faith" card I posted yesterday. My white gel pen quit working quite a few weeks ago, so I've been looking really hard to find another one...well, they're very popular right now and I haven't been able find one. I came across a white Sharpie yesterday and purchased it in a heartbeat...you can see I've put it to good use already.
Thanks for stopping by; I hope each of you have a great weekend! ~M.

Anniversary & Play Time (cards that is)

Ah....I saw where your minds went immediately when you saw Anniversary and then the words play time....come on girls! (**wink**)
This first picture is the most beautiful flowers DH sent me for our anniversary - 15 years on 2/22/07. He sure knows how to spoil a girl...and I love it! Since you spend more time at work than at home; I left them at work so I could enjoy them next week - they'll last for quite some time.
I also took Friday afternoon off to have lunch with my hubby - a rare occurrence; then I had the afternoon to play. Well...that was after I did some shopping, then figured the money for Girl Scout Cookies - THEN I finally got down to business. These next 2 cards are for another card set for a friend. The first uses the flowers from the Happy Harmony Set - I spritzed them with water and stamped onto watercolor paper - they're bright; but I love the watercolor effect. The word in the lower right-hand corner says friends - I wrote it myself and I NEVER, EVER, EVER write in cursive. My name is the ONLY thing I write in cursive...but it'll work. I punched it out with Stampin' Up's word punch and adhered with pop dots. The inside says "A Friend Loves At All Times"; I like how it turned out.
The last card is one that I embossed with the "Stylized Flowers" Cuttlebug folder - I sure love those things! I then ran a piece of blue cardstock through using the same Cuttlebug folder. I then stamped the saying "Faith makes things possible not easy" on white cardstock and adhered to the blue cardstock. I like this one too - simple, yet elegant. What do you think?

I've had a great afternoon of free time - I seldom get time all by myself, I've enjoyed it immensely. I made LOTS of other things too; so you'll have to stop by and check them out. I hope to get them loaded this weekend!
We've got another busy weekend - 3 basketball games tomorrow, church tomorrow night...and then maybe some rest on Sunday? I hope you each have a great weekend!
Thanks for stopping by!! ~M.

More *SASSY* Chicks!

A few more cards I made with the Sassy Silhouette line from Stampendous - I love these SASSY chicks! Hope you can see the details added with gel pens; they really make the cards *pop*!
I'm off to bed; sleep well friends. ~M.

Valentine's Day

Well, as long as I'm being sappy today; I thought I would upload this card! I made this for my DH for Valentine's Day....at the last minute of course!

The rectangle where you see the heart is actually cut out and the heart is glued to the inside of the card. When you open it, the card says "I (the wooden heart for love) U!".

Ah.......special huh?

MORE Bellas!

These were two more "bella" cards I made to go in a set of note cards for a friend. The base cards were purchased with the striping already there - I just added the bellas, ribbon, rub-ons and card stock underneath the bellas. The 'orange' bella is called "imeldabella" and the "green" bella is called "emmybella"; aren't they just adorable?
I colored the bellas in with Aquacolors and odorless mineral spirits - still experimenting with this; but learning to love the results!
I purchased the bellas from http://www.stampingbella.com. I love working with Em from this place; they're located in Canada, but she's wonderful to work with and her blog CRACKS ME UP!!! And I sure need a laugh now and then!
Did anyone notice the new picture I added by my profile? Yep; that's our 3 precious little ones, stair-stepping in age but growing up so quickly. Two just had b-days, one more to come in April.
Tomorrow the DH and I are celebrating 15 years - WOO HOO. Hard to squeeze in a date with 3 kids, basketball practice the rest of the week and 3 basketball games on Saturday; but I'm taking Friday afternoon off to work on items for my upcoming craft show so he's going to meet me for lunch. He works 45 minutes from where I work; so that's a big chunk out of his day...but he loves me! I wouldn't trade our years for ANYTHING; I'd go back and do my wedding EXACTLY THE SAME if we did it tomorrow! What a fantastic memory! (<*wink*>)....OK, sappy time has ended.
Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!! ~M.

Birthday Cards & Fun

WOW; what a busy weekend we've had! Our two girls had basketball games on Saturday; one at 8 a.m. (MUCH TOO early for a Saturday); the other at noon. Then today, Sunday, two of our babes had b-day parties to attend.

I made these two cards with the "curly surpriseabella" from http://www.stampingfreak.com/; I LOVE these stamps! I don't even have the stamp mounted on foam yet; I just stamped it 'as is' and the image turned out great! I made an extra one to keep for my upcoming craft show. Our daughter chose the "bella" with blonde hair for the birthday girl. I added some crystals to the other one (brown hair) and I like the sparkle they give the card. The ribbon is from Michael's - they were having a sell on ribbon...just ask my girls; I'm addicted. LOL!

This card was for the other birthday party we had to attend; the inside says "It's your birthday....go HOG wild!". The card is mounted on black cardstock. I really like these colors together and as you can see...I can't seem to do a card without ribbon.

AND I have a new toy....can anyone guess what it is? Oh come on; anyone that knows me well will know what I got!?! Think hard and submit your guess by clicking on COMMENTS. It's always fun to see what everyone says and yes, I read every single comment!!

Hope you have a great week and for those of you that have Monday off - enjoy the day!

Baby Boy Congrats!

Greetings friends! It's been awhile since I've had a chance to blog...I've missed it - have you missed seeing new things? I attended a stamp club meeting tonight; we made some super cute items.

I had a request for a Baby Boy Congrats card so this is what I came up with; it's been rolling around in my head formulating today. It's definitely boy colors and I like the combination!

The background is Chocolate Chip, layered with Brocade Blue and then the 2 white pieces which were mounted to the card with dimensionals. The Brocade Blue has diaper pins stamped randomly on it; I also distressed the edges of the blue.

The ribbon was purchased from http://tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com; her blog offers GREAT inspiration! The brads were some extras I had and the "It's a Boy!" was punched out using the Word Window punch, but I extended the punch to allow some extra room for the brads.

I hope to have some new things posted by this weekend...right now, I can't keep my eyes open; so I'm off to bed! Have a great hump day!!

A few more gifts

Not much to see in these pictures; but I'm making another CD Stationery Holder; so I just snapped a picture of the front of the CD Holder with the Sassy Chick and her dog! (aren't they cute!!!) The request was for chocolate/brown and teal/mint green. All the green was dry embossed with my new BIG SHOT (oooo, lovin' that little gift to myself)!!! I sponged the embossing with Chocolate Chip to make it stand out a bit more. The Sassy Chick is colored with Stampin' Up markers in Cocoa and Pink; I added Diamond Stickles to both the Chick and her dog - ooo la la.

The other is another Valentine gift bucket; this time for my friend's son and his fiance. Hence the little porcupine and doggy. I love the little hearts; they don't show up too well in this picture but I colored the animals and the hearts with odorless mineral spirits and Prismacolor pencils - my first time to experiment with odorless mineral spirits. Sure makes the coloring look more natural...well...I think so! Since this is a combined bucket I tried to capture something for each of them...a beaded gel pen (green); matching mechanical pencil - okay, so I left the beads off his!!! A heart truffle (yum); little pedicure kit, candy...and gosh...can't remember what else I put in there. I hope they enjoy the treats.

And for those of you still with me here...DID YOU NOTICE??? Huh, huh? Didya, didya??? MY NEW BLOG BANNER - is it not the ***COOLEST*** thing? Sam C. designed the banner for me and I LOVE it; she's also helping the technically challenged (that would be me) redo a few more things on the blog. So check back often, you never know what you might find!

Have a great evening; sleep tight!

How 'bout them Colts!

I love sports - just about any and all sports..although I must admit tennis and golf aren't my favorites! Needless to say I was glued to the tube for Super Bowl Sunday - that's the most excited I've been over a Super Bowl in quite some time. I'm a huge fan of Peyton Manning....HE ROCKED...as did his whole team. But believe it or not, before the Super Bowl I found some time to escape and stamp! :)

This was a gift set I made for a co-workers mom; the words on the outside of the card are her favorite to a song; the inside says "May you find perfect peace upon your birthday". The other gift is a "candle in a tin" also stamped with the same floral set with microbeads added to the top to give it some glitz - they make a cute gift set! The "candle in a tin" holds about 1.5 votives - vanilla scented - yummy!

Thanks for looking; hope you had a great weekend!

Puppy Love & Gift Bucket

I made this card for a friend that is going to become an instant Grandmother very soon! Their granddaughter is 5 yrs. old and they're sending Valentine gifts to them; so I made this card for their granddaughter-to-be! I love the colors and the way it turned out. The puppy is black with patches; the heart is stamped with "hugs" (a bit hard to see in the picture); then I filled the heart and the nose of the dog in with Crystal Effects and added glitter - it's so cute IRL! I love how the ribbon tied in so perfect with the colors. Hope the young lady likes it!

I also made a matching gift bucket; just didn't have the scan available when I posted this before. The gift bucket contains a purple beaded gel pen, 2 small stamps, a purple stamp pad, glue stick and lots of candy (of course)! I added googly eyes to the puppy; he's so cute! I also added glitter to the heart that says "You're Special".

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend!