Halloween Crafts

As I talked about earlier this year, I'm working on Halloween projects all year long! I went to my sister, Jennifer's as part of our family's staycation and this is what I made while there:

This is my banner, although I haven't tied the pieces together with ribbon yet.

I also made these card thingies, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet:

And I used the cricut to cut out this big owl. Cute, isn't he? He'll probably end up on my wall just by himself.

Speaking of cards, I also made some cute cards while I was there:

Fun, huh? It got me all in the mood to be crafty, so tonight I"m going to Sarah's to make a really cute mini-album, as found here

I have one thing to say....

...to my cold.

BOOOOOOOOOO and go away.

Ok, now that I'm done complaining, here are some valentine's day cards I made for a family swap:

And here is a cute boy to wish you a Happy Saturday

Told You So! Oh, and a challenge.

Aaaaalrighty!  Here are the pic updates. I've been to a couple CTMH parties that have made me want to play w/ paper SOOO bad, but not enough to actually scrap. So I made cards. And I'm having a TON of fun doing it!

Also, I finished this baseball bat (with baseballs) for Gavin. Yes, I'm aware that one baseball is bigger than the other. Same hook, same yarn, different stress levels.

I can't wait to start a few more projects soon. Christmas has been fun!

PLEASE do a challenge with me, please, please, please. Here's the challenge. Go through your digiscrap stash (if you don't have one, go to shabby princess and download one). Pick TWO things - paper, embellishments, brushes... whatever- that you've admired for a long time and USE them! I don't care if you make a scrapbook page, a digital note paper, a flyer, whatever. Just use them! :D Post links here!

I finally did it!!!

I made a shirt today! I found THIS tutorial and decided, what the heck, why not? So I grabbed some material. Now- I know better than to do first time clothes with anything but regular cotton. But all I had was this fairly heavy silky/polyesterish- I don't know what it is exactly. So I thought, eh, if it doesn't work, I"ll use it for a skirt for Juliana eventually. I followed the tut prety much, then went to try it on. It was a tent. I looked like an old lady that owns 25 cats and lives in a dump. It was awful! Nothing wrong w/ the tut, I just used WAY too much fabric was all (I didn't measure everything exactly). So I decided to take it in and after taking it in like 3" on each side...... still a tent! So I went upstairs and asked Roger to do some pinning where I wanted it to fit. He did and I sewed up the adjustments. I bought some ribbon tonight to use for a belt (I have some D-rings here at home I need to spray paint gold). I've been wearing the shirt since like 3PM but every time I passed a mirror something just didn't sit well. I don't know if it's the line straight down the middle.... DH and BFF said that it was cute and I don't *think* they'd lie to me. Tonight it hit me though- it was the neck. There's so much fabric between my neck and my breasts that they look saggy to me. So I think soon I"m going to adjust the neckline. Either square it, v it, or scoop it. I just need a little less fabric there.
Anyway- here it is- I'm very proud of myself!

You can't see, but there's kind of darts on the side so it's tighter by my breasts and looser by my waist.

Also, I made a couple hand-painted cards last night.

orange, pink, and green

I set out to make a bookmark tonight, since I started a new book. The book is called "A Murderous Yarn." It's by Monica Ferris. I'm only 5 pages in, but it looks cute. Apparently she has a series of "Needlecraft Mysteries." Anyway, I read a lot and every time I read a book I think to myself, "You really should make yourself a bookmark." Somehow, I never do. Tonight, I figured, would be different. So I picked my colors and cut my bookpage. After I painted the bookmark, however, I got carried away w/ the paints and made a bunch of things! This is what happened!

Ok, here's the bookmark, on the left. Not sure how I feel about the paint/stamp letters. But I'd been itching to try to use stamps w/ my paints, so I'm glad I did.

The one on the right is a card. I got SO lucky to actually happen to have the Bazzil cardstock that matched my acrylic paints. Makes me want more!
The "find peace within" stamp was a last minute addition. I think I like it.

This one was just goofing off. It's like 2"x4" or something like that. Don't know what I'm going to use it for yet.

This is just some artwork I did. I was wondering if I was capable. I think if I practice it might end up kinda cute next time!

"Inspiration is Everywhere"

Ok, on the Thriftin' And Craftin' blog today, she had an inspiration piece, to be used as one desired. Right when I saw it, I kinda knew what I wanted to do. Then a friend called who's had a rough week so I knew it was PERFECT timing. Now, this does not mean that I'm DONE using this piece as inspiration. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve, too. For now, here is what came from the quilt on her blog:

I'm not sure how I feel about the one on the left. It's almost too depressing to give to someone, even if that someone's had a rough time. But I knew that I wouldn't know which style I liked better till I tried.

More Cards

Ok, so now I'm addicted to this book page art!!!! I haven't made cards in SUCH a long time, and now I feel like I can't stop. There are SO many I want to try. Still lacking confidence a little, so I ask you:


What's something that YOU have done that you were afraid to do that turned out better than expected?
Here are my three new cards:

Inspired by Kristin

Ok, so you all know I talk about Reclaiming the Home all the time, but Kristin has really inspired me. Not just by sending me TWO boxes of delicious goodies, but in more ways than I can describe. So tonight's post is dedicated to the inspiration of Kristin. I hope you're having fun at RENT!!!


Ok, first up, If you look at Kristin's blog, you'll see this incredible card she made w/ an owl on it. She sent me that card, yeah, LUCKY me, it should be framed and the book she used to make it so that I could experiment w/ book paper. Here is my first product.























Next, these two chalkboards are inspired by the one Kristin did for her girls' room. I have almost a dozen of these little chalkboards, so it was nice to know what I can do with them. I hope you love it, Jeanette




























And one more thing. Just one more. Kristin and I were talking about Kielbasa and Italian Sausage. I hadn't ever paid attention to packaging. Anyway, just to clarify WHY I was confused, when I saw this at Wal-Mart I had to take a pic. Maybe I won't seem such the idiot anymore and instead just seem pregnant. :D