Just Magnolias - A Christmas Card

Friday is Just Magnolias and it is getting really close Christmas.. so here is a chance to make another needed card for someone special.

I got a chance to use another new Tilda - love this one, cuz I think she is perfect for not only Christmas, but you could get away with a birthday here or there.. :0)

I colored her with my copics - and high lighted with white gel pen. Then I went a bit nuts with the ink, and shimmerz... well. it does give a nice old fashioned look I guess.

The card base is a dark red card stock, then two of the Basic Grey Jovial pattern papers. I matted with cream colored card stock and then sewed everything together. A scrap of old lace for a border - My sentiment is from Stampabilies and is matted with a Spellbinders Fancy Tag, embellished with some gold rhinestones.  I then cut out a flower from a scrap of the pattern paper, and pop dotted it on the top corner with an added rhinestone. Then after all finished, I decided it needed just a bit more sparkle - so I pulled out some gold stickles and glittered the bow on Tilda's present!

Hope you like my Christmas card - and will now pop over to the Just Magnolias Challenge site and see all the DT projects - then make sure to join us with a Christmas Card with Tilda or Edwin too!

Me.. gotta run now - having lunch with my good buddy for her birthday, and then getting a pedicure :0) Gotta love being Girlie :0)

HUGS and -

Me and My Space #7 - Punches Part 1 and a favorite tool.

Happy Wednesday - my feet are moving a million miles an hour, but I am not getting anywhere - actually feels more like I am moving in slow motion! Do you ever have that feeling. I get this way when I am overwhelmed with a long list of need to do's.  Best way to get over it is to tackle things on my list and feel like I am accomplishing things.  So first is blogging!! Priorities you know :0)

Today I wanted to start showing you how I keep some of my punches. This is going to have to be done in sections... You guys just thought I had a lot of paper a couple of weeks ago!! Punches is a real weakness!! So today I am going to show you my best and favorite way I store my EK Success and Fiskars squeeze punches.

I love that the EK Success punches will stand on their own, but seriously I don't have that much desk space available. I have a "punch drawer" I will show at a later time, but I found this jewelry organizer at Tuesday Morning earlier in the year I loved it. I hung it off my paper basket on the side of my paper cabinet I showed two weeks ago. This sits just to my left behind my Crafting chair. I just spin around and see some of my favorite punches. The clear slots are just the perfect size to hold the EK Success punches as well as just a few of my Fiskar's Squeeze punches. Three of the pockets are larger at the bottom, again perfect for the larger squeezes. Now the new Jumbo EK Success punches do not fit - boo hoo.. then again I am pretty much all full.... I noticed that there are two empty pockets at the top after I took this photo... those punches were on my desk.  I have punches in three other places as well. I just have WAY too many of them, and I keep buying more! Just this last week, they were on sale at Micheal's and I came home with the Jumbo cupcake punch! I blame those 40% off coupons! I tell you this hobby and supplies are a real sickness. But I am happy in my weakness :0) I'll clean up my other punch areas and show them off in future weeks.

Now I thought I would also share some favorite tools and products from time to time on my Me and My Space post - Today I thought I might show off one of my oldest and newest favorite tools that is always left on my desk - and I use all the time! I have talked about this tool many times in the past, but just recently got an updated version of it - LOVE IT!!

 I have had my Fingertip Kraft Knife for years now, I just love it. I have given away at least a dozen of them over the past couple of years. Some love it too.. others it just feels odd. For me, the control you get in cutting out little details is really amazing, In my scrapbooking days, before die cuts and fancy machines, I use to print out titles and then cut out the letters and fonts... Also now when cutting out images, for masking or building scenes, my hand cramps and hurts.. never did this when I was younger.. hmmm....  But when got this, no more cramping!  Mine is worn looking, and the lid has been cracked. But I still use that original knife! It holds regular kraft knife blades and changes out very easily - But then... I received something new.... and well... I do believe my old fingertip knife is going to go into the drawer... (insert shocking face here!!)

 

Meet the new and improved fingertip kraft knife!! I will admit this knife I had to get use to, it is a bit longer than the original, but hold on to your hats... it is retractable! Yep.. that dangerous, sharp knife - slides into the handle! No worries for cutting myself when laying in a mess of papers and the lid falls off... yes that has happen to me. No getting stuck under my desk looking for a clear tiny lid in the dark ... yes that has happen to me. No poking my fingers when trying to put the lid on the end of the knife and not paying enough attention ( oh or having no depth perception and missing the lid completely ) yes that has happened to me too... Now this knife has a little sliding button on the side, and as soon as I am done cutting, I just slide the knife away! Love it!  

Do you have a Fiskar's Kraft Knife? Do you like it? Love it? or Hate it? 

Thanks for visiting my rambling today - hope you like my idea of a jewelry organizer for "some of your punches" and thanks for letting me share one of my favorite tools too! 

Have a wonderful Wednesday... me... back to that long list, next is starting the laundry... then feeding the puppies - 

HUGS and-

Spoon Full of Sugar - Christmas, with a Stampavie Santa!

A Spoon Full of Sugar Day and today the challenge is to make a Christmas Card! I feel like I have been doing that since September :0) And still don't have my families Photo Cards done! Sigh... this week they will all be done and mailed! But I had real fun making this Christmas Card for today - I just adore this Santa Stamp from Stampavie's Penny Johnson - I think this is a fabulous Santa Image, Classic! It is called "SHHHH..."

I wanted this to have some texture and for sure some sparkle. So after coloring with my Copics - I went back and added lots of stickles for some real holiday shine, his fur trim, the garland, the star and all his buckles. But then I felt he needed his beard to be fluffy. So I pulled out my Marvy snow marker, now that I have learned to color with it, let it dry completely and then heat it with my heat gun -I love this thing. Forever I have been disapointed with my results with this and I stopped using it. Mine never had real fluff to it. And then after over a year I read the instructions on the side of it and BAM! This stuff works! Don't you just love his fluffy beard? It really has a lot of texture. Ok.. moving on.. LOL

My card - Now for the traditional, classic feel I had to go with red and green - I found a piece of this enameled green pattern paper from "Me and My Big Idea" Christmas Specialty papers stack. I love the shiny enameled pattern on it. Darn wish you could see how is it shiny in the photo! I then went to my special scraps.. you know those pieces of paper that you save every square inch of the paper cuz you love it so much. This Red Glittered paper is in that folder.... I cut a long band for the right of the card and then a piece for a mat for my sentiment. The remaining went back into the special folder.. LOL Love this paper! It is from K&Company. (I have a gorgeous brown piece too :0) ) Ok.. rambling again, I then decided that the card needed some white to balance out everything. So I matted the green on white and sewed it, and then punched out a Martha Stewart Extra Large Lattice punch and layered it over the glitter and wrapped it with a red satin ribbon. I cut my Santa into a circle, and them matted him with a Nestie Lace Circle. The sentiment is from Stampabilities. I think it is my favorite Christmas sentiment this year.

I think we need to see that sparkle a bit closer -

I hope you liked my Santa - I enjoy the newer different color combination's that we play with for Christmas, but for that memory of childhood - I just have to go back to deep red and green!

Hope you will pop over to A Spoon Full of Sugar and see all the wonderful DT Christmas Cards, and then join us for some fun - show off you Christmas card!

Better get out of my Jammies and get to work... I looked at the calendar and realized just how close Christmas is...AAAHHH Panic!! LOL

Have a great Tuesday and see you tomorrow for "Me and My Space" -
HUGS and-

Dust It Off Sunday - 7 - House Mouse, Cup of Cocoa

Well one chilly night I was looking at my wall of stamps to decided what stamp I wanted to use this week for my Dust It Off Sunday - and well.. the warm Cocoa on this House Mouse Stamp seemed just so yummy!

I colored with my Copics, then sewed onto a scalloped Nestie mat - Just love these little mice, not the real ones that try and come in during the winter!!! One hazzard of living in the country are mice! I don't like Mice!!! Except for ones I can color that is :0) 

For my card I started with the dark brown card stock (same I used for the scalloped mat on the image) The pattern papers are from a DCWV "At Home" paper stack. Love the warm feeling of these papers, oh and that some have a glitter to them, those dots are sparkles!

I sewed mats on each piece and put the front all together. Three brown buttons tied with twine were all the embellishments it needed. House Mouse images do tend to be larger - so not a lot of room for extras. 

Then I just had to move the sentiment to the inside - not enough room on the front :0) But I do enjoy  doing the insides from time to time :0)

The inside is pretty much the same as the front - all the same papers and mats all sewed. I just love the matching sentiment that goes with the image. Fun and perfect for lots of cards. 

Hope you liked my Dust It Off card this week - what have you dusted off? I am having so much fun using some of my older stamps! They need love and ink to you know!

Have a wonderful Sunday - HUGS and-

Animal Crackers - They grow up so fast!!

Seriously - these babies grow up so fast!! All of them Donkeys - Goats - and Dogs!

My baby first  - Miss Libbie - Can you believe it has been two years since I started doing my Saturday post with our new puppy Libbie? And now she has babies of her own! They have grown up so fast too - she is already starting to wean them!! Can you believe they are already 5 weeks old?????  She has been an amazing Mom - very protective, very loving and caring. I couldn't figure out why she would stand outside the pen and not feed them everytime they were crying... then I googled, and yep time to wean... they have been eating hard food soaked for a week or so now... they are doing really well.

They are true little playful puppies now. They play really hard too! And then just in the blink of an eye they fall over and are sound asleep. Too too cute!

I totally adore this photo of "Mini" and Reno - You can almost hear her talking to her brother.. common we can get over this!! Go for it! And little Mr. Reno - he LOVES having his photo taken, just like his Mom did when she was a puppy. I swear this guy stops and poses for me! LOL

Speaking of Weaning ... Jazz is more than ready - HELLO>>> can you please go ahead and move Felipe??? LOL He is a handful, typical little boy, and I think Mom is ready for some peace and quiet. Yes Jazz.. he will be moved soon, just waiting a bit longer so we can move his little 1/2 brother Jorge with him :0)

ME??? What do you mean you are going to move me??? NOOOOOOO!!!  LOL Felipe is such a clown!

Almost time for Jack and Jill to be weaned too... We need to find a new home for Jack, I hate to clip him, he is so stunning I hate to not let him be a stud Buck for someone else. But if I can't find a home soon... we will have to - as he will get dangerous - not to us but all the women in the pen!

 

Wanted to show off how fuzzy little Felicia is getting, they all are! Gonna start getting really cold, nature knows and protects those that need it! 

You can see here it already has gotten cold here... no more green to graze on! Everything has pretty much frozen, so we have to make sure they have plenty of hay to eat and keep warm now. 

Well - better run! Laundry and some Crafting planned for today! :0)
HUGS and-

Just Magnolias - Anything Goes with Maybe a Sparkle?

Friday again and Just Magnolias Challenge Day! This week is our Anything Goes Challenge, so it is easy to join us, we like to add an optional twist, and this week it was to Sparkle.

I was excited to use one of the brand new stamps I just received. Now after I started coloring I realized...hmmm this is really more of a Spring/Summer type of image. But I was having fun with it and loved the fun of it so I went ahead and rolled with it.
So I colored my image with my Copics and then matted with a Nesties Square Lace Mat, layered with Stickles. The paper is Basic Grey, and was in my Scraps. I loved the swirls and the fun feel of it, but it needed just a bit more pop to it. So I took some Diamond Stickles and drew all over it following the swirls. Love it now! I matted a white card stock with another Basic Grey paper, and doodled with white gel pen stitching around the edge. Now my scrap was just a bit small for the piece so I added a MS double loop border on one side and then took pink adhesive rhinestones down the side... more sparkle! For my flowers I punched a scrap of Core'dinations white washed pink card stock, used the white washed side for the larger flower and the pink side for the smaller flowers. I sanded each of them, added MS frond leaf punches, and high lighted with white gel pen. The Centers are Stickles... more sparkle again!!

 Hopefully this side shot shows more of the sparkles -

And here is a close up of the flowers -


 Ok... so my card is totally out of season, but I still like how it came up and honestly, working with a sunny image, with fun bright colors and flowers really did warm me up! LOL

So join us over at Just Magnolias - see all the DT cards and then plan to play with us for a great prize!


HUGS and have a great Friday -I'll be back tomorrow for Animal Crackers!

Me and My Space #6 - My Inky Drawer

Welcome to "Me and My Space" today! - I have had request asking for how I organize my inks. I am not real organized when it comes to my ink, I am still search the net for the best way for me to keep all my inks together in one place. So for now I will show you my "inky"drawer. This drawer is a small metal rolling file thingy I purchased at Office Depot. I have two of them side by side, right next to Dad's drafting table I use for my desk. Since his desk has no drawers I had find things that worked in my space. These metal cabinets work well until I find that perfect piece for me. I am always looking for ways to tweak my space, and make things more organized and prettier :0) And well.. I love to shop!

Today I'll show you the top drawer - There is a lot going on in this one little drawer!

 As you pull the drawer out you will find this drawer holds all my "Inky" Type of items, So lets see what we have here - You will find on the left my sponge daubers in a dauber box. Love that I finally have a house for these.. as I was always loosing them. I'll show a photo below. Then my most used inks stacked up side down. Front is some of  my Mementos - and behind those some of my Ranger Distressing Inks. I have many more of these in another drawer, but these are the most used colors.

Behind my inks you will see my Glimmer Mist - I don't use these often enough, so I moved them recently to this drawer hoping that seeing them more often will get me to use them.  Now back to the front of the drawer you see my Stickles keeper thingy holders - LOL that is what I call them. These are FABULOUS!!! I first saw these last year at CHA, the lady that came up with them were across the isle from us, and when I got home I searched them out and purchased some for myself. They are called  actually called - Bottle Caddys from ScrapCessories and I purchased my HERE at Scrapbook.com they also make storage boxes that stack to put them in, but I didn't need more boxes stacked up, I wanted something at arms reach at my desk for my stickles, the great thing is that they store them upside down if you like, I like, cuz that way all the "stuff" is always at the top of the bottle! No more shaking to move things to come out and spurt all over my card. LOL I also keep my Shimmer Spritz, Smooches, Ranger re-inkers and paints in these. Behind the Bottle Caddy's I put large bottles of paint and embossing powders.  You also will find any seasonal needed items just "placed" in this space. For example... right now you can see my Polar Flower Soft for Snow.. and some Crackle paints that I have been really into right now.

Here are the close ups I promised to show you...

 

 First the Sponge Dauber box. I do believe I actually purchased this at Scrapbook.com as well. I use my white gel pen and write on the sides of my daubers to let me know what color they are used with.

 

And here is the Bottle Caddy out of my drawer... cool huh? Love this and what a brilliant idea! Wish I had come up with it, and then been smart enough to market it!! LOL OH and this company has many other storage solutions for their boxes, Cricut Cartridge holders, ribbon and on and on... check them out!

Well this was a small space in my craft room, but a very important drawer that is opened and closed a million times while I am working! I like having things at easy reach, so the things I use on most projects I try and keep close. I am lazy, don't like to get up and down while working... so my "inky drawer" is a bunch of my favorite products.

Hope you enjoyed - and shout out and let me know what else you would like to see in my room!
HUGS and-

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