My Crochet Buddy & new creations....

Lucky is my new crochet buddy! LOL. He sits and guards my yarn ball for me while I work on my projects and hubby snapped this picture today. He's just too cute! We have gotten so attached to one another in just a few weeks! He follows me around like a shadow and when I come home he dances with excitement to see me. I'm sooo glad that he finally came to me and that we were happy to doctor him up, clean him, and give him the love and attention that he totally deserves! He's such a wonderful addition to my family, and I couldn't imagine him not being here now. Its so weird how attached to an animal you can get, and how loyal they really are. I just had to share this adorable picture. Now on to the crafty goodness.. hee hee!

Last night I completed and listed this new addition to my shop. Its a crocheted reusable swiffer pad! Those refills from the store are so pricey and annoying. They hardly last any time, especially with kids or pets! So I made this reusable pad that is 100% durable, and washable. A simple solution to help save the environment and the wallet! Just slip it on, clean your floors like usual and when you are finished pull it off and pop it in your wash. Easy Peasy! The grooves crocheted in these pads are great for picking up dirt and grim, so you're sure to come out with super clean floors! If you're interested in purchasing please visit my shop.

I also created this crocheted bookmark, kind of as a mistake lol. I was teaching a ustream class on simple crochet for beginners and the pieces I created in the class created this super cute bookmark! It was pretty ironic actually. I taught how to crochet simple stitches for the swatch and then I taught how to crochet a simple flower. When the class was over I had the two pieces left and thought 'heck why not' and just attached them together with a cute button and wa-lah! I love the color combo, don't you? One of my favorites! I will be posting this bookmark for sale in my shop this evening as well for anyone interested. And you can check out the class by clicking here!

As always thanks so much for taking a peek! Have a great night! 

Kanzashi Flowers

I love youtube! Especially when it comes to learning stuff! Like I mentioned in my last vlog, its my best friend when it comes to learning new crafts lol. Last night I found a video tuturial on how to make Kanzashi Flowers by DreamBigLover. The flowers are sooooo adorable and she explained it so well that I just HAD to try it. So between late last night and this morning I made these kanzashi flowers using her tutorial. I think it took me about 2 hours to make all of these. Not bad, and its VERY addicting! I just wanted to share the link to the tutorial and also what I have put together. I plan on using these flowers in various projects whether it be scrapbook pages, mini albums, altered frames etc. a few of them I already have plans for LOL.

My first flower...

This one would be so pretty for a girls
 scrapbook page, a hair clip or even a frame! 

This one is the largest of the set I have made.
 I like how the fabric folded with this one. 

This one is actually made from vintage fabric that I snagged from my grandma's fabric stash way back in junior high! I used to go into her closet all the time and find different fabric remnants that I liked and use them for crafts. I can't believe I found this! I am definately planning on using this one for a mini album or scrapbook page pertaining to my grandma... this one is special to me!

I made this one for my graduation scrapbook page. Shout out to CCHS! GO VIKS! haha! Our school colors were green and gold, so these will be perfect to add! I'm not sure how I will add them but I think I will be able to figure it out! BTW... remember the tarn from a previous post... these flowers were made from the left over sleeves of the t-shirts I used to make the tarn. So now I am definitely recycling almost the entire shirt into something else =) Yay me! {go green! =D}

This happens to be my favorite from the set. I really love how simple but elegant it looks. The versatility of using white fabric is great too. I was thinking that with the white fabric it would be possible to take versamark ink (because its waterproof) and stamp designs on it. You could even take ranger inks and dye the fabric. Or what about glimmer mists... or better yet, edging the petals in stickles! That would be AWESOME! This flower would be PERFECT for a wedding, or christening or some sort of special occassion. Even using this flower when altering a frame for a wedding gift would be cool! The possibilities are endless. I found the button in a bag of buttons I bought from Michaels. You can get a ton of buttons for a reasonable price at either Michaels or Walmart, and I'm sure plenty of other places. I think I lucked out finding that one in my bag lol. 

Those are just a few of my flowers that I thought I would share! A BIIIIG thank you for the AWESOME video tutorial on making these! If you are interested in trying this out please visit DreamBigLover's YouTube Channel or Click HERE to go directly to the video! Thanks for visiting! 

Weekend Crafters: Pink & Green

This week's Challenge at Weekend Crafters is the color Combo: Pink and Green.

Since I wasnt able to participate in the Mygrafico challenge there for last week, I thought I would put the 2 challenges together. So I used 2 digital stamps from the Playful Pals set from MyGrafico, and lots of pink & green for this card. I colored the cat with colored pencil. There's a lot of sewing on this card as well. The center of the flower, the leaf, and the edges around the cat have glitter on them. It was fun doing this challenge. Pink & Green were the colors I used for my wedding Aug. 2nd 2003. =) It was fun working with them. I cant wait to see what everyone else is going to create!

The Challenge is open to anyone & can be anything your heart desires!

In other news, My Printer died. =*( My hubby wasnt able to bring it back to life =( Bless his heart, he tried.... but I guess my poor little printer went to printer heaven. We went and got me a new printer though and its working well. Its about time. I have so much stuff that I need to print that has piled up on my computer due to not having a working printer. I'm so glad I can finally get it all caught up now =) Even if it did cost me $50! lol.

I think thats pretty much it for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Challenge #10. April Showers, Bring May Flowers

Candy hosted the challenge this week at PAMC and she choose 'April Showers, Bring May Flowers'.. very fitting for the weather we've been having recently. BLEH!

This is my card that I put together =D I haven't had the chance to use this stamp for anything. Its been sitting in the drawer for almost 6 years untouched! EEP!
So happy that I got to make something with her. Isn't she beautiful???

I used a really pretty vellum glitter decorative paper for the background as well as a nice embossed type of lavender paper. Sorry folks not sure who they are by. The beautiful Lavender Fairy is by Stamps Happen. I colored her using colored pencils. I used purple and clear self stick gems, my sewing machine, and lavendar ribbon. =D

Head over to PAMC and check out what the rest of the design team made. Everyone has until Wednesday at noon to participate, and everyone is welcome to jump in. You dont have to be a member of the group or anything. MyGrafico is sponsoring the prize there for the month so participate and you might win a super cute digital stamp set!

Home Sweet Home Wall Hanging

Eesh, its been a while since I blogged anything. I have been pretty sick the last week or so and then I also started a new job and just havent had the time. Luckily I'm getting it together haha. Last week I put together this wall hanging for my living room and thought I would share.

The bases of each section is wood planks that I sanded down and rounded the edges using my dremel tool. I used matching sheets of decorative papers and pink, and blue cardstocks. I also used green and pink Flowers by Prima, and 2 large pearl like buttons. (I cut the backs off the buttons and shaved it smooth with the dremel) It helped to be able to attach them to the flowers flatly.
I also used crystal glitter glue for the top and bottom of each panel (sorry the pic doesnt show this) The cord to hang it is made of 3 different colored floss's that I braided together to match.

It was something different and fun for me to try. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for taking a looksy =)

Stay tuned more to come today.

'Bling' ATC's for PAMC

I created these ATC's for this week's Bling Challenge over at PAMC. Toni was the host this week. Every one did great work! I loved the challenge. The Treasure The Moment ATC is my favorite :) I actually made the backgrounds for these ATC's for my tutorial on PAMC for the Bandana Technique :) If you get the chance check out the challenge at the blog HERE or you can visit the group HERE. Participate if you get the chance, the winner of the weekly challenge is featured on both sites & gets entered into a monthly drawing for a Grand Prize :)

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Spring & Summer

Today I finished the spring and summer sides to the Season's wooden tissue box I have been working on. I think they turned out nicely. I still think that fall is my favorite of the 4 but I like the summer one also. :) Now I just need to finish the top and bottom of the box... Get some good shots of it for my shop.. and it'll be up and ready for sell. Fun Fun. Im so tired right now. I think I am going to head to bed early tonight. Good night all!

Mural finished, or not?

Well Im not sure if its complete or not. I like it... but I keep going back and looking at it thinking theres something it needs. *sighs* I didnt add much more to it. I added a wooden border that I white washed. Thought it would be a nice 'frame' and then I added the quote "We are each of us Angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another" by Lucretius. I was thinking of maybe blocking in the quote in white (or perhaps another solid color) so that they pop more. I think maybe its too hidden in the flowers. I just dont want to do that and then ruin the flowers *lol* You know how sometimes you do TOO much and ruin the piece. I would really hate to ruin this with all the time and effort I have put into it. But I think it needs SOMETHING. Any advice, opinions would be awesome. I think I'm pretty stumped at the moment. *sighs*

Mural- Day 3

[ Day 3 began with painting a bird silhouette]

[Next I decided I wanted to add a butterfly too... so this is the outline I drew in pencil]

[then I painted the butterfly. I wanted to add a few warm colors to contrast the flowers :) ]

[At the end of Day 3 this is how it looks :) ]

Almost done I think, yay! More to come soon!

My Mural's Coming along...

I worked on my studio mural again. This is the first time I have ever done a mural before but I wanted to do something creative in my studio and I already have to do 'spring cleaning' soooo I took everything out and have been working on this. Once Im finished I will clean and organize. :) Thats going to be a chore lol. Maybe I'll find some neat things I didnt remember having that I can use in my art. Thats always fun. So here is the progress of my mural.

Day 1

[ I decided to do something floral]

Day 2

[Starting fresh I added more flowers & since I had the light of day the colors show better in the pic lol]

[I decided to 'frame' the flowers and paint the entire wall a solid color. Its called Ancient Purple. But I painted it w/ streaks to add some design and dimension]

[Once that was finished I added the blue background and clouds]

[another view]

I think todays progress was good. Tomorrow is Detail day lol. Then I'll need to figure out how to incorporate the other walls of the room in some way. I'm thinking of adding a butterfly or maybe a flying ladybug.. or a bird. Hmm. Not sure yet :) Thanks for visiting! Stay tuned for more!

My Studio Mural

So today I started renovating my studio. I decided I wanted to do something crazy and start a mural. lol. So here's the beginning. I dont exactly know where Im going with it but we'll see. lol. I just liked the colors together. I stopped working on it tonight to watch American Idol and then I was so excited to share I just had to get online! Now its too late to go work on it, go figure, so I will start fresh tomorrow. Just wanted to share. We'll see how this turns out.... So far so good :)

The Glory of Spring- an original

'The Glory of Spring'
(Click to Enlarge)

This isnt the best photo of my newest piece but I was so excited I just had to take a quick pic and blog about it =D I just finished this piece about an hour ago... its been an on going project for 2 months now. SIGHS... Im sooooo relieved that its complete! I wanted to challenge myself with something on a large scale with ALOT of detail and I thought the contrast of the darks and lights would be a nice challenge. =) This piece measures 19x24. Im hoping to add it to my shop in the coming days, but I do want a better picture of it to show more of the details and everything. Im so thrilled with its outcome, and more relieved than anything. =)

"To see a hillside white with dogwood bloom is to know a particular ecstasy of beauty, but to walk the gray Winter woods and find the buds which will resurrect that beauty in another May is to partake of continuity.” ~Hal Borland

New Drawing- "Dogwood Blossom"

Today I completed this drawing... I simply call it 'Dogwood Blossom' because well thats what it is (lol). I took the photo at the beginning of April at the park and just knew I wanted to draw it. So I did :) Its not a large drawing, just an 8x10 but thats ok. I didnt want to do anything too huge. I have this drawing for sell at Ande's Custom Creations for $40. Thanks so much for taking the time to view my artwork!