Christmas in July for Arianna

Bella, from Bella Before and After sent out an SOS today. While Christmas is almost always a happy occasion, the reason for this Christmas related SOS is a sad one.

A little girl named Arianna loves Christmas. Sadly, she  has been battling cancer since 2009 and her doctors have advised the family to start making as many memories as possible with her. I can’t write more about this without getting too emotional. I also just finished sympathy cards for mf BFF and her family for the sudden loss of her brother. Too much sadness.

Friends of Arianna’s family are planning a Christmas party for her on July 22 which includes showering her with as many cards as possible.That’s something I can do!

I don’t  always have a lot of kid stuff in my stash but I did have some cute Santa rub ons. So I got those out and picked out some papers that coordinated. I found some green and white polka dotted paper that reminded my of snow, and a scrap of Beachy Shadow Wash paper.

I embellished the Santas with adhesive pearls on their hats, and even one for a nose and stamped the sentiment on another scrap. Had to use some Twinery twine in maraschino and key lime. Finished with some red and clear rhinestone strips. A little girl needs to have a blingy card dontcha think?

If you’d like to learn more about Arianna’s Christmas party you can click here.

BFF Link Party #11 Wrap Up and Features

Thanks to everyone who linked up to last week’s BFF Open House! I hope everyone enjoyed meeting Tammy from Not Just Paper and Glue. Fantabulous ideas as always and here are just a few highlights:
Bethany, from A Fish Who Likes Flowers shows us what to do with a Goodwill mirror, some sisal rope and a lot of hot glue

Must be a GW bug in the air…in another fantastic transformation, Kathleen from Charm Bracelet Diva linked up this beautiful stool she made from a GW find and a coffee sack:

Kathleen has a weekly “Club GW” link party each week where you can link up your transformed Goodwill goodies!
And Maggie  from Midwestern Sewing Girl showed she’s not just famous for her sewing skills. I’ve seen lots of starburst mirrors but the detail Maggie  added to hers just makes it pop:

Finally, this is so elegant and beautiful and you would never, ever, guess that it’s made from………………wax paper! Only Carolyn from homework could transform something so ordinary into something SO extraordinary!

Hope to see everyone back again at this week’s Open House on Friday!!

Graphics Fairy Mantel

I’ve mentioned before that I have a four slot frame that I keep on my mantel and change out seasonally. After Fourth of July, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do since I didn’t have this up last Summer. Where better to turn for inspiration than The Graphics Fairy?!

I chose a lock, a text printed fleur de lis, a key and alphabet exemplar and then printed two of the images on textured cardstock ( Core’dinations) and two on a complimentary scrapbook paper (Paper Adventures Beachy Shadow Wash) . Framed and DONE!

 

Thank you Graphics Fairy!! I’ve seen similar prints in stores for a fortune and this was an easy and very inexpensive way to change up décor.

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BFF Link Party #11 and BFF Not Just Paper and Glue

Happy Friday all! It’s been a week filled with Jello and pudding ( chocolate of course) here at casa de Chocolate since Chocolate Chip had his wisdom teeth out. Confession…it’s been a chance to baby my baby which doesn’t happen much when they’re 18 and 6’4! Ssssshhhh.

This week’s featured blog is Not Just Paper and Glue run by a busy blogger named Tammy. In addition to being a wife and mom and running  NJPandG and two other blogs she also contributes to the PK Glitz blog. In her own words:

Not Just Paper and Glue is a place where you'll find everything from scrapbooking to cheesemaking, handmade cards to homemade soap, wild flowers to tame sunsets and cool crafts to fresh hot bread - because life is not just about paper and glue; it's a whole lot more!

On top of all of that she teamed up with Michelle at The Scrap Shoppe to create:

So if you’re a crafty Pinner and you haven’t joined up, you might want to check it out.

When she’s not doing all of the above she’s making gorgeous stuff! Like this corsage:

and these flowers to embellish her supply holders:

Or this lovely fabric flower!

Tammy is also wonderful enough to show the “how to” via many videos on her Tutorials page. I hope you’ll go visit and meet a new very creative bloggy friend!

Now, what’s everyone been up to this week? What wonderful creations do you have to share? Can’t wait to see! Anything goes as long as it was made by you! No advertising or Etsy stores please and please link to your project page and not your main blog. Spread the love! Everyone loves to see a comment from someone new. Party on!

Free Craft Supplies? HELLO!

I discovered Wholeport and the Creativity Expo when visiting my friend Jenn at Rook No. 17. Among many things they offer,  they have a large selection of craft supplies and they’re offering you the chance to sample some for my favorite four letter word FREE! NOTE: This offer ends tomorrow July 14! Sorry for the late notice but better late free than no free!

That’s right! FREE. Here are the details:

Contest RULES:

1. Wholeport wants YOU to go on a create-a-thon! Like them on our facebook page or follow us them on twitter in order to receive a package of one of these nine different crafting supplies completely free of charge! You can find descriptions of the nine supplies by clicking on the images above and by visiting this album on their facebook page.
2. Wholeport wants you to incorporate these supplies into the most beautiful, unique, fun, CRAZY crafts you can think of! When you think you’ve made the perfect creation, take a picture of it and then post it on their facebook wall to be entered into a competition for a $50 cash coupon for www.wholeport.com.
3. Wholeport will then upload your pictures into their Creativity Expo Contestants facebook album. The winner will be determined by the picture with the most likes on facebook! So make sure you tell as many of your friends to “like” your creation as you can!

I ordered a package of paper (chocolate wasn’t an option!) which is #9 and can’t wait to get it and start playing.

So you want to PARTICIPATE?

1. Like them on facebook or follow them on twitter and then send the, an email at create@wholeport.comsaying that you have done so. Make sure you mention in your email which of the nine crafting supplies you would like to receive and include your mailing address.
2. Create your masterpiece
3. Admire it for a moment.
4. Then take a picture of it and post it on their facebook wall along with a description of which supply package you used and what you intend your creation to be. They will upload your picture and description into the Creativity Expo Contestants facebook album. Each person to upload a photo of his or her creation will also receive a $2 coupon to www.wholeport.com!
5. The top 10 creations with the most likes on facebook will each win a $50 cash coupon forwww.wholeport.com. So tell your friends, your family, your acquaintances, Everyone! The more people that see your lovely work, the merrier!

 

S is for Sweet

I recently changed positions at work and a colleague whom I’ve come to consider a friend over the years but who lives in a different state was thoughtful enough to send me some delicious cookies. Of course this sweet gesture was a reason to make a sweet Thank You card. Can’t nag at my son to be on top of his Thank You cards if I’m not modeling the way right?! Plus I can’t exactly use the excuse of not getting to the store to buy one since I make cards.

S is also her initial so for the card’s focal point I used the Wall Décor and More cartridge to do a monogram on my Cricut Expression.

I ran a piece of cream cardstock through my Cuttlebug using the Textile folder, and mounted that on a green then turquoise panel. Card embellishments are from where else…K and Co. Susan Winget’s SW Botanical Grand Adhesions to be exact, along with a scrapbook border from the Abrianna collection. I used some of the small dimensional stickers to embellish the monogram.

Applied the clear “Sweet” sticker to a cream scrap, mounted to a blue scrap and tucked in the corner of the monogram. Off to have a cookie!

Grape, Gold, and Chocolate Necklace

This is the gift that I made to go along with the birthday card I shared a couple of days ago.

I went shopping in my stash which Mr. Chocolate would tell you means I don’t need to go to Michaels or JoAnn’s for the rest of the year. HA
Main components: Bead Landing gold chain ( Michaels), an antiqued gold toggle clasp that I picked up @ JoAnn’s, and the pendant is from Blue Moon’s Global Nomad collection.

The beads are faceted crystal I picked up on a couple of different trips. Hubs is used to me scoping out bead, paper, art stores wherever we go on vacation!
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I started so I made some different combos using head pins or bead caps and strung some spacer beads ( all of the findings are from Blue Moon) on larger jump rings.

I ended up spacing some of the beads throughout the chain and using others with the pendant. I liked the combo of the chocolately brown pendant with the deep grape of the beads. The other beads are an iridescent light brown that pick up the gold from the chain , the brown from the pendant and the purple from the other beads.
It’s for a cousin who’s really more like an Auntie to me. I hope she likes it!

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