Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Treat No Tricks: David Tutera "Celebrate" Giveaway Winner

BOO

Happy Trick or Treat day everyone! I hope those of you impacted by Sandy are safe and dry.

As scheduled, today is the day to announce the winner of the $50 David Tutera “Celebrate” card making goodies giveaway. And the winner is:

Tutera Celebrate

Congrats Tabitha! I’ll email the folks at Darice and they’ll coordinate getting your goodies to you.

Wishing everyone a safe and Happy Halloween filled of course with lots of chocolate!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Fall Vinyl Embellished Candles


Sharing a project I did for the Expressions Vinyl blog last week.

I’m having a long overdue lunch with some girlfriends and I always like to take them a little gift. I love embellishing these tall glass candles . I downloaded the image for the vinyl from the Silhouette online store and cut from gold metallic vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo.


Gold Vinyl Maple Leaf Border

Here are my images after peeling away the extra vinyl. For images with lots of detail, like these swirls, I like to use transfer paper to get my images cleanly off the backing and onto my project.

PA256685

This made it easy to center the image and place it on the candle.  I used a Canvas Corp damask print paper ( white on kraft) and Mod Podged the paper to the candle, then applied the vinyl image.

Leaf Vinyl Candle

Then I just poked around in my stash and embellished with some complementary rhinestones, plain old twine, beads, and paper flowers.

Fall Vinyl Embellished Candle

PA256700

What's a gift without a gift tag? Since I have an abundance of paper scraps, I found a coordinating scrap from another project, covered a plain white tag and finished with a K&Co fall leaf scrapbook border, a giant eyelet, and coordinating baker's twine. 





Monday, October 29, 2012

BFF Open House Link Party #76 : Wrap Up and Features

Boo! Oh wait, that’s still a couple of days away. Thanks for another fun party! Here are a few ideas including some things you can still whip up in the next few days. For example:


How about these fun spooky spider straws that Keri over at Shaken Together linked up. 

They go perfectly with these potion jars by Laura over at The Shed:

Vintage Potion and Spell Jars, easy how-to from The Shed blog

Need a centerpiece for your Halloween table? See how to make one with just a few items over at Southern Scraps:

If you’ve already moved on from Halloween or it’s not your thing, Malia over at Yesterday on Tuesday has a gorgeous and fun fall wreath idea:
Easy Autumn Rose Wreath - Yesterday on Tuesday #marthastewarthalloween

Finally, you’re going to line up a big glass of milk to go with this week’s chocolate feature.


Try to say that five times fast! Go visit Karen at Pint Sized Baker for the recipe.

Thanks again to everyone who linked up and hope to see you again on Friday. Make it a creative week!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

BFF Open House Link Party #76


Happy Friday Eve! We're in Halloween countdown mode now. Less than a week to get all the ghouls goblins tricks and treats lined up. Don't forget I have a special treat to announce on Halloween....the winner of the $50 worth of  David Tutera Celebrate card making goodies. Still time to enter if you haven't already!


Now, let’s see what everyone’s been up to this week.

link party rules-001








Tuesday, October 23, 2012

More Fun With Tutera Celebrate Including A $50 Giveaway!

Tutera 60th

A sweet couple, friends of The Mumster, are celebrating their 60th Anniversary this month. 60! I hope when we celebrate our 60th Anniversary we’re as energetic and on the go as they are.

Tutera Anniversary Card

You might remember last week, I posted about the new David Tutera Celebrate line at JoAnn’s? Well they sent me so much fun stuff to play with you’ll probably see several future cards made from this line. I used it for this card along with some other stuff I had in my stash.

Here’s the even more fun part. The wonderful folks at Core'dinations who sponsored my post last week are giving one of my readers the chance to win a “Celebrate” prize pack of their own, valued at $50. I’ll be using Rafflecopter for this giveaway which will run from today through October 30, winner announced on Halloween. Kind of a reverse trick or treat! Like I said in my post last week, ANYONE can be a cardmaker with this line.

a Rafflecopter giveaway





Core'dinations_CardsNov
Good luck!

Monday, October 22, 2012

BFF Open House Link Party #75 : Wrap Up and Features

Thanks everyone for another fun party. I can’t believe Halloween is only 9 days away. As always, lots of inspiration was shared by you and here are just a few features.

First, Michele at The Scrap Shoppe shared this spectacular skeleton head idea but the magic is in the tutorial to achieve the look:


Carolyn at homework, shared how to make this adorable treat bags with supplies from the Dollar Store and eyes that glow in the dark.


I am in love with this harp chair from Kristy over at Shona Skye Creations. Just gorgeous:


And finally, this week’s chocolate feature is brought to you by Back for Seconds. Perfect for those cold Fall nights: Spicy Cinnamon Brownie Pie. Mmmmmmm.



Make it a creative week everyone!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Chunky Cowl Scarves

Poodle Yarn Cowl

So, I was in Michaels one day wandering around and fell in love with this Poodle yarn. I’ve been seeing lots of chunky infinity and cowl scarves and thought even with my limited crochet and knitting skills , I could do this. This yarn proved a little more of a challenge than I thought. First plan was to crochet it. Plan FAIL. Knitting worked much better.

Poodle Cowl

I cast on about 10 stitches and then just knit two skeins worth and sewed the ends together.

Cowl Scarves

LIke a lot of crafty people, I buy supplies without really having a project in mind. OK just go along with me and tell me I’m not the only one who does that.

I had some chunky textured yarns I picked up somewhere along the way and since I still wanted to crochet an infinity scarf, played around with it. This one’s for a family friend who loves color. These colors remind my of changing leaves and Fall.

Moda Dea Cowl

I didn’t have enough of either yarn to make it as thick as I wanted so I used to two different yarns. I like the effect when you twist the scarf. For this one, I crocheted about 160 stitches, joined in a circle then just double crocheted until I felt it was done.

Moda Dea Tangerine

Sharing At:


Thursday, October 18, 2012

BFF Open House Link Party # 75 and Exciting News!


75 parties! WOW.  If it's your first time linking up, Welcome. If you're a regular, thanks for making this party so much fun.

I'm so excited to be able to share some fun news with you. Die Cuts With A View had a call for design team members for Blue Moon Beads ( one of their other great brands in addition to their glorious paper). Yours truly applied and was notified this week that I am on the Design Team! I screamed out loud. Did you hear me? I am so excited and will be posting 3 projects each month . This was truly a dream come true and I can't wait to get started so check back.

I never would have had the confidence to do this without the brilliant and supportive bloggers behind  Crafterminds. If you are a creative blogger, I cannot urge you strongly enough to visit the Crafterminds blog and if you can, participate in the weekly Twitter chats each week on Monday at 4 Eastern. Doesn't matter if you have 1 Follower or 1000, you'll learn something and make some new bloggy friends.


 Now, let’s see what everyone’s been up to this week. Only two more weeks until Halloween. What tricks and treats are up your sleeves?

link party rules-001






Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Everyone's A Card Maker With David Tutera Celebrate

David Tutera Celebrate Birthday

You might remember a few weeks ago when I posted a video about the new David Tutera Celebrate line that’s available (exclusively)  at Jo Ann’s? I’m so excited to post today about what I made with products from this fun new line of cardmaking and paper products.

This line is perfect for the novice or seasoned cardmaker. It requires no tools beyond adhesive and your imagination and takes no time at all to whip up a card that looks like it took hours and cost a fortune.

David Tutera Haul

The Celebrate line is literally as easy as 1, 2, 3 which is how each of the components are labeled.

1.) The Card. Cards come in 4 x 5.5 or 5x7 and come in everything from plain white to metallic to natural and several colors.
2.) Layers sized to match you card. These are wonderful for those who may not have a fancy die cutting or embossing machine because the work is already done for you.
3.) Accents. These include borders, tags, layered sentiment stickers, rhinestones and smaller diecuts.

Tutera 1 2 3

For the birthday card above I used a metallic silver 5x7 card  (Step 1), a grey layer with scrolled edges and a center cutout, along with a white embossed layer underneath ( Step 2) , some borders, birthday sentiment, and small diecuts ( Step 3).  1.2.3.

Tutera Celebrate Layer Sanding

One of the things included in my package was this sanding block . His line uses papers by Core’dinations, one of my favorite papers to use in cards and other projects. When you sand the papers you reveal some of the color underneath and it completely changes the texture and appearance of your piece.

Tutera Celebrate Sanded Layer

I love the shabbied up look after sanding and my supplies also  included a wonderful rag that wipes up all of the dust without affecting the paper.

I cut two of the  borders the width of the grey layer and adhered with a glue dots runner.

Tutera Layer with Border

The borders are already textured for you so you there’s no dry embossing required.

Tutera Birthday Stickers

I chose one of the layered birthday sentiment stickers, and placed it in the window of the grey layer and then finished off with a coordinating layered flower:

Tutera Birthday Closeup

This card took me 10 minutes or less to make. Seriously. I think you’ll take longer deciding which combination of card, layers, and embellishments to use than to actually make the card. It’s so easy.

David Tutera Celebrate Thanks

I had so much fun with it, I whipped up a Thank You card as well.

David Tutera Thanks

Again, 1. Card 2. Layers 3. Embellishments.

David Tutera Celebrate Thanks
I don’t ever want to hear from anyone that they can’t make a card. Thanks to this line I’ll have to call fibs on you.

Now for even more excitement. You can enter to win $300,  yes $300 worth of David Tutera Celebrate products of your very own! How awesome is that?

DT_ContestGraphic

Three lucky winners will receive a $300 grand prize pack of supplies fromDavid Tutera’s Celebrate cardmaking line AND a personally signed book from David! 20 additional winners will receive a $50 Celebrate prize pack.

Sign up here for a chance to win:  http://pages.exacttarget.com/tutera-optin-blog/.

You can also visit the David Tutera Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/DavidTuteraCelebrate

And follow along on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/TuteraCelebrate







Monday, October 15, 2012

BFF Open House Link Party #74 Wrap Up and Features

Thanks once again for a wonderful party. I love seeing what everyone’s been up to and you all have been as busy as ever. Here are just a few fun ideas I wanted to highlight.
How about we start with this batty-licious headband from Bev over at Flamingo Toes? How cute is this and what a fun and stylish way to dress up for Halloween?

You could wear that while whipping up some of these scary Halloween jars like the ones Carolyn at homework shows us how to make:


What’s Halloween without candy corn? Doreen from Altered Artworks shows us how to make these sweet candy corn themed terra cotta pots ( filled with even more goodies) :


You could make some of these and use as a way to present some of these decadent caramel Oreo pops from Hailey over at The Morris Mojo:


Or, you could tuck some of these incredible Mocha Shortbread bites into some of these pots as great neighbor gifts. Assuming there are any left after you make them. Visit Lemons For Lulu for the recipe:

Mocha Shortbread

This week I have a special feature. My BFF’s daughter is becoming quite the cook and crafter. I’ve dubbed myself her Fairy Craftmother since her mom runs from Michaels as fast as I run to Michaels. I was so proud of her for her first big crafting project, I just had to feature it!

“Boo” has been recovering from getting her wisdom teeth out, and here’s what she’s been up to:
Photo: This is what we do I our free time! I think opening a bakery is in our future!

Banana “muffins” with cream cheese frosting. Yum. I think someone may need to start a blog.

Thanks again to everyone who linked up. Make it a creative week!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Fangtastic Treat Bags

Fangtastic Goodie Bags

I still can’t believe College Boy is a Sophomore but he is. And if I’ve learned one thing as a parent of a college student, even though they’re all “grown up” they still love to get treats from home.

At my son’s college, freshmen are assigned to small groups of 12-14 called Sponsor Groups based on their housing forms which puts them as closely together with people who share similar interests etc. He loved this so much as a freshman, that he applied and was accepted to be a Sponsor this year.He and his “Co-Spo”  have a group of 14 freshmen they help get acclimated, used to college life, are a resource for questions etc.

Last year I decided that I could still have fun with the kinds of things I used to do before he left for college and sent goodies to his “Spiblings” as they’re called. So why should this year be any different?

Fangtastic Treat Bags

It’s also mid-term time for them so I included some things to lighten the intense mood and remind them to be silly. Jumping frogs and glow in the dark Vampire fangs.

Fangtastic Tags

I made the graphic for these labels in PicMonkey, imported to my graphics program,  and printed them on card stock.

Starbucks Hot Cocoa

Got some double chocolate and salted caramel hot cocoa packets.

Fangtastic Treat Goodies

And of course candy…all chocolate of course. I used black and white polka dot paper bags by Whisker Graphics, placed one of each thing in the bag and sealed with red and white dotted Washi tape.

Fangtastic Closeup

Finished off each bag with one of the tags and off to school! Here’s the card I made to go along with the goody bags,  also using my label :

Fangtastic Card

I used some red crepe paper to make a ribbon for the card, mounted the label on red glittered cardstock and went over the letters with red Stickles glitter glue.

Fangtastic Card Closeup