BFF Open House Link Party#39 and BFF Pitter and Glink!

OK it’s February already! YIKES how did that happen? We’ve still got Valentine’s Day ahead of us (THE chocolate holiday of the year!) and I keep seeing the cutest ideas out there. Which brings me to this week’s BFF: Bethany from Pitter and Glink!

Bethany has got some adorable Valentine’s ideas on her blog, By day, she teaches literature to High School students, something I’m sure is as challenging as it is rewarding. Then she comes home to her wonderful hubs and fur baby and makes fun and beautiful things like these cute crochet thread pendants:

These go right along with the adorable heart shaped earrings she made from PAPER CLIPS!

Of course Bethany does more than just Valentine’s projects. I adore this curio shelf makeover she did…so 

elegant!

And I love this side table she did over using sewing patterns:

Bethany has got great, detailed, tutorials and you can check these and more lovely projects out on her prokject gallery page. I hope you’ll go over and visit.

Now let’s see what everyone’s been up to this week. Please link up anything that’s been made by you. Papercrafts, cards, layouts, DIY, upcycle, re-purpose, home dec, sewing, jewelry, recipes you name it! Just no ads or shops please and won’t you go visit at least one other person? Party On!

Valentine's Treats for College Kids

I used to love doing treats for class parties etc. when my son was in Elementary school.

Middle and High School provided fewer opportunities but surprisingly, College has brought them back!

I think it’s because he and a lot of his dorm group are away from home and it’s fun to receive things in the mail, but also now that they’re actually older, they don’t have to pretend like this stuff is just too “kiddie” for them.

I decided to go with a turquoise and red color combo. Still not totally traditional for Valentine’s Day and incorporates a current color combo trend.

The tags for the goodie bags were made from a printable I created using My Memories Suite digital software. I resized the image and then trimmed the corners into a tag shape.

I bought several different candies…Nerds, Smarties, Reeses Hearts, Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses etc. Oh darn...there may be extras!

I changed the printable size and used it on a card I made for my son, and also made him a special grab bag. I thought I had some bigger clear bags ( I can be a little OCD about everything coordinating!) but didn’t, so improvised with a brown paper lunch bag:

Embellised with misc. stickers from my stash and tied all of the bags with red and turquoise bakers twine ( Twinery).

Sharing the printable here :

Sharing At:

My Sunny (Yellow) Valentine

One of the most popular trends right now is the color combination of gray and yellow. I know neither of these colors is normally associated with Valentine’s Day but I decided, why shouldn’t they be?!

I have the DCWV Lemon Flower Stack ( LOVE this paper!)  and chose a couple of complementary patterns to use on these cards. Cut panels from the black and gray sheets and then used scraps of one with the other, and finished off the panels with silver glittered ribbon.

For the focal point of the card, I used a G Studio $1 clear “LOVE” stamp (Michaels)  and Fresh Ink pigment ink in mango. Layered that on a scrap of the DCWV paper, and then on a scrap of silver glitter paper.

I stamped the swirl heart (from Inkadinkado’s Hearts collection #97637) and cut out. Added a couple of hearts punched from more silver glitter scraps.

I love Stickles and the patterns on this paper gave me an excuse to dot iridescent Stickles everywhere!

By now, friends and family who receive cards from me understand they never know what they’re going to get. Sometimes very traditional colors; other times…..

Sharing At:

BFF Open House Link Party #38 Wrap Up and Features!

Thanks to everyone who linked up to Friday’s party. Hopefully my link issues are all resolved and thumbnails will be back at this Friday’s party. As always, so much creativity! Here are just a few highlights.

Katie, from Creatively Living, shared wall art combining one of the most popular design trends, chevron, with one of my favorite sayings “Carpe DIem” ( Seize the Day):


Carolyn from homework, shared how she freshened up some existing artwork in her home using nature as her guide. Crisp, fresh, beautiful!

You’ve got to see what Megan from Polish The Stars did in her son’s bedroom! My college aged comic geek ( self described) would love this!

Not only did she bring Gotham City, complete with Bat signal to her son’s room, she also brought Superman’s phone booth! Stay away comic villains!

And with Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching. you need to check out the ideas that Michele at The Scrap Shoppe shared:

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

Valentine's Banner from Coffee Filters and Christmas Ornaments

I finally got to sit down and play today! I had the general idea for this in my head but it was greatly helped along when Rachel from Holy Craft shared a tutorial on coffee filter flowers that made me really want to bring the idea for this banner (that’s now on our bedroom mirror)  to life.

The banner is a combination of coffee filter flowers and paper mache heart shaped Christmas ornaments I picked up 50% off after Christmas.

I covered the heart with a gray paper from Echo Park. I had some great lace ribbon trim in my stash and hot glued that around the edge of each ornament.

Here’s a better shot of what the ribbon looks like.

I cut out the letters L O V E on CoCo, my Silhouette Cameo, and put one letter on each heart.

Then I made my flowers. 5 coffee filters per flower and following Rachel’s tutorial.

Thank you Dollar Tree. 160 coffee filters for $1!

I made 5 flowers so I had one for each end and to go between the letters. I strung the hearts on some silver tulle using the thread that was already attached and then clipped the flowers using clothespins, then strung the banner across the mirror. And while this might be Valentine’s themed, with the colors I used I can actually leave it up permanently.

Sharing At:

BFF Open House Link Party #38 The I Almost Forgot Edition!

Well howdy. This week is a blur and I barely remember what day it is which is why I almost forgot to post the party! Needless to say, I didn't get around to doing a BFF Feature this week. Hopefully next week will bring neither crazy weather or crazy work stuff. I'm crazy enough without the help!

We had a fantastic turnout last week...the most ever 100 links! Thanks to everyone who linked up.

Let's see what everyone's been up to this week. I've done squat so I need to live vicariously through you. The rules are simple...if you made it, link it. Recipes, paper crafts, general crafts, jewelry, DIY, upcycle, recyle, you name it. Please link to your specific post and not your main blog page and if you can, please go and visit at least one other link.

Please Note: This week the links will be text only. I needed to update my InLinkz account so the thumbnails will show up and I posted the party before I did that.

More Valentine's in Gray and White

I had so much fun playing with a gray and white color palette that I made some more Valentine’s Day cards using it. This time I used G Studio’s clear stamps…the kind you find at Michaels for $1, and ink by “Fresh Ink” in Provincial Gray.

I love this ink because it’s a pigment ink with a chalk like finish, but it’s kinda hard to see in a picture.

I stamped the image on white cardstock and punched with a circle punch and used two heart shaped brads to attach to a panel of silver cardstock.

I ran the same Core’dinations gray paper I used in my other cards through my Cuttlebug using a Tim Holtz texture folder, and layered that onto a gray damask panel. Accented w/ black and white baker’s twine.

Stamped the sentiment in white cardstock, trimmed then layered onto another piece of white, trimmed with decorative edge scissors.

Sharing At: