Winter One-Derland Layout

Shae's First Birthday Party

Shae is two now, but I'm trying to catch up on her baby book. Her Winter 1-derland or One-derland (or O-NEEDerland if you like the movie That Thing You Do) was so special. Her birthday is just after Christmas, so her mom and I found a lot of white decorations on sale, and tried to stay with a white, cream, grey, and blue scheme.  

She looked like a winter princess in a ridiculous tulle-skirted dress with a fur jacket. I took all these pictures at night, so the shades of white and cream aren't contrasting too well in the photos.  I really like the ripped edges on the white paper with the cream color peeking through. The small amount of patterned paper is one sheet from a stack by DCVW called Collage Art. 

Both layouts have a lot of miscellaneous embellishments and silver and gold Nuvo drops. All the decorations were easy--we grabbed all the white dishes and decorations we had sitting around. The treats included a hot chocolate bar with some added liquor for the adults. I LOVE a themed party, and my grandkids are giving me a lot of opportunities to help with craft projects. They've started enjoying making crafts with me, and I hope they continue to enjoy being creative.

Christmas Gift Tags

Progress on My 2019 Goals

One of my 2019 goals is to create at least 5 Christmas tags per month so I'll have a nice stash of them in December 2019 when I'm busy with other Christmas crafts and activities. I'm happy to say that in January and February I've already created more than 30 tags. I'm way ahead! Snow days have probably helped a lot. Here are the tags I made last weekend:

It's very easy to make a batch of similar tags. I cut all these from craft paper and a few white and cream cardstock pieces. I used four CTMH stamps, three punches, some twines, markers, Nuvo drops, and a few holiday brads.

Here are my favorites from each theme:

Not the fanciest, but I think this tag is my favorite.  I like its modern shape and colors.

This has a tag on a tag. The smaller tag is a punch. I colored the image with Copics and added white "snow" using white Nuvo drops.

I like both of these. The tag on the left is made from the negative space from punching out the tag on the right. The tree is a brad.

Not a great photo... I added white ink to a plain stamp, and it really made it pretty.

This is another set where I used the negative (on the right) from the snowflake I punched out for the tag on the left. The silver snowflake is a brad.

Thanks for looking at a Christmas project in February!

Altered Mary Poppins Little Golden Book

Walt Disney's Mary Poppins: A Jolly Holiday

This altered Little Golden Book just went up on my Etsy shop.

I took apart the binding and added three ring binders down the left side (later adorned with ribbon, etc.) Then I added twelve new pages between the original papers. All the original pages of Mary Poppins' A Jolly Holiday are there and 100% readable. Here's a peek inside:

I used papers and embellishments from my stash--two numerous (and too old) to give credit. I know the flash cards are from Tim Holtz Ideaology, and the BINGO card is a real game piece.

Lots of the pages have removable tags and photo or journaling spots tucked into pockets.

A few of the pages are simple--ready for a 4x6 photo to be attached.

Many of the pages have other interactive hidden spots for journaling or more pics. The last page includes a kite (a nod to Let's Go Fly a Kite from the movie).

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at this newest project, and if you're interested, head over to Etsy and check out my shop here: GoodGollyMsMolly

Art Impressions Beach Card

"I Smell Old People."

I am very happy with how this beachy card turned out. I've been practicing my beach (sky, water, & sand) backgrounds with Ranger Distress Oxide Inks. I added some Glossy Accents to the water to look like waves and the water's edge (both look white in this picture). The very front of the sand is made with Flower Soft. It may be the first time I've used Flower Soft in the years and years I've had it. I don't know if it's even on the market anymore, but I thought it looked like dry sand.

The stamps are from Art Impressions. I'm not sure of the actual stamp names because I've thrown away the packaging, which isn't like me. I'm guessing they are older because I keep the packaging now. I colored the stamps with Copics and added little touches with Nuvo drops here and there.

 "I smell old people. Oh wait, that's you." is from the Tim Holtz Ideology Snarky Small Talk set.

The mat around the scene is a paper from the BoBunny 6x6 Beach Therapy Collection papers.

As long as the recipient has a sense of humor, I think this card would be appropriate for a birthday, retirement, or anniversary.

Valentines for the Grandkids

I try to send mail to my grandkids on every holiday and their birthdays and postcards when we're out of town. I remember how fun it was to receive mail as a kid, and with technology, it's even more rare now.

I think they turned out super cute, and they came together pretty quickly.

First, Finn's card:

The cactus, glasses, and sentiment are all from Simon Says Stamp. I colored them with Copic markers. The cactus and glasses are adhered with black dimensional tape. The white dots and the "thorns" on the cactus are Nuvo drops. The hearts are punched from and OLD EK Success punch.

Here's Shae's card:

Again, the sentiment, sun, and sunglasses are from Simon Says Stamp and colored with Copics. Nuvo drops make up the white dots and the gold dots on the edge of the sun. The sun and glasses are raised with black dimensional tape.

All of the stamps are from the same Simon Says Stamp set, One Cool Pineapple:

This set is really cute and works for lots of occasions. The pictures are really fun to color too. It doesn't look like a set I would normally buy, but I've joined Simon Says Stamp monthly card making kit subscription. I'm really enjoying it. Every month you get a preview of the kit, and you aren't required to buy it, but I'm trying to diversify my stamps and products. The kits come with some or a combination of stamps, inks, embellishments, papers, stickers, envelopes, cards, embossing powders, etc. I highly recommend the kit.

Thanks for looking at my post. Surprise someone with a handmade Valentine this year!

No-Spend February

Can I/Will I?

I have designated February as a no-spend month at our house. That means no shopping, no ordering online, and no eating out for lunch or dinner.

Will there be exceptions? Of course. Nick's birthday is this month, we'll have work-related activities we can't skip, and the 22nd is National Margarita Day (can't miss this--it's a tradition to go out with my Parrothead friends).

Hopefully though, most of our expenditures will be the grocery store. No crafts, no clothes, no household items. Nothing that isn't absolutely needed. I'll report back at the end of the month. Will I be rolling in $$$? Doubt it, but if it gets us in the habit to take our lunches more, that's a plus already.