Saturday, April 13, 2013

I Took the Strong Moms Empowerment Pledge and a Printable


I took the StrongMoms Empowerment pledge because I believe in supporting the decisions moms make. Visit www.strongmomsempower.com and pledge to empower moms today!
This is an uncompensated post through my affiliation with One2OneNetwork. Opinions expressed here, as usual,  are my own.

I know... this is not a craft or chocolate post. But in addition to being addicted to crafts and chocolate, I'm addicted to being a mom. Maybe not something that my 20 year old son would want to hear but he already knows it's an affliction for which there is no cure and I think he's pretty OK with it. No College Boy, I am not trying to convince you to be Facebook friends. I Twitter stalk you instead mwah!

So why am I writing this? Because even though my son is technically an adult, I'll be a mom forever. And one thing I know after having been a mom for 20 years is that moms need to empower and support other moms. Mr. Chocolate has been an extraordinary parenting partner, but sometimes "It's a mom thing".

I had my son during what I think was the height of "the Mommy wars" , a term I always loathed. I was never at war with another mother. The moms I've been fortunate enough to know throughout my trip down "mommy-hood lane" took a practical approach to motherhood. How do we all make this work for all of us? What's right for my family? Some of us stayed home. Some of us didn't. Some of us had plans change and rugs pulled out from under us.  None of us were better or worse than each other. We did what was right for us and left the judging to Judge Judy and the other wearers of black robes.

It seemed that this false narrative (and I believe manufactured) competition had dissipated but there was a recent online re-hashing of it when one mom judged another mom for being on her phone while at the park with kids yada yada yada and round things went again.  I'm not going to get into that here.

I think why I've been so happy blogging is because I've met even more moms who don't have a rigid "there is a right and wrong way to be a mom". I mean other than not letting your kids play with sharp knives and matches or forgetting them on top of the car kind of wrong. 

I've met moms who blog as an escape, as a full time business, as a side job, ( and some dads too!) and my experience has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive and clearly all of these mompreneurs have their kids best interests at the forefront of their minds.  If the so called "mommy wars" are still going on, I am grateful I don't see that in my online interactions.

Life isn't perfect for any of us, but it's so much easier when we're there for each other instead of at each other don't you think? So that's why I am writing this post and why I took the "Strong Moms Empowerment Pledge" . I want to thank every mom who's been there for me throughout my time as a mom. From The Mumster (aka my mom) real life besties with whom I survived the teen years, to those of you whom I may never meet face to face. Moms rock and we need to support each other!

If you want to take the Strong Moms Empowerment pledge and / or show your support for moms you can go here: Strong Moms Empower.

Oh and for all you moms , I made a printable too:

MOMtacular

Click to bring to full resolution; right click to save as.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

BFF Open House Link Party #100 !

The Answer Is Chocolate

Welcome back and welcome to first time linker uppers to the BFF Open House Link party here at The Answer Is Chocolate. So glad to have you! Can you believe this is my 100th link party?! Me either. Thanks to everyone for making this weekly get together so much fun. 

We will get right to our features from last week's party and then see what everyone's been up to this week. 

Book Page Flowers :: Flowering Branches :: AnExtraordinaryDay.net

I love book page projects and flowers and Diane from An Extraordinary Day has combined them into one project featuring an actual tree branch. 


Despite the fact that technology dominates our communication these days, "snail mail" is still very much a reality. Doreen from Altered Artworks, turned a thrift store find into a fabulous mail station. 


Fonda from Southern Scraps transformed some ordinary bottles of soap into extraordinary gifts. Perfect with Mother's Day coming up or just to spruce up your own bath or powder room. 


I debated about including this amazing "Cars" cake by Michele at The Scrap Shoppe only because a certain big kid in my life whose initials are Mr. Chocolate is a HUGE "Cars" fan and might expect me to replicate this. If that happens, I'm calling you Michele! You have got to check out the whole party !

So now let's see what everyone's been up to this week. Following's not a requirement to join the fun but I do love finding new blogs and follow back so if you are a new follower, please be sure to leave a comment. 




Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Beachy and Botanical Altered Cigar Box

Altered Beach and Floral Cigar Box

I wanted something special to hold the earring and bracelet sets I shared in my previous post.

Not long ago, Mr. Chocolate came home with several empty cigar boxes for me ( and came home with MORE again this week!)  I grabbed one of them and got to work.

For this project you will need:
  • Cigar or wood box to alter
  • Paint ( I used Ceramcoat Paradise and Martha Stewart Wedding Cake)
  • Decorative papers (I used a piece of scrapbook paper and some washi paper I collect but rarely ever use)
  • Embellishments (I used botanical rub ons by K&Co, postage themed tag stickers, self adhesive copper frame, and coordinating washi tape)
  • Mod Podge
  • Clear drying dimensional glue

Altered Beach Box

I started by painting the edges of my box with the beachy blue ( Paradise). I didn't sand or remove any of the paper that's on top of the wood. I liked the texture. Just painted right over it.

Altered Beach Box Dry Brush

After that was dry, I dry brushed it with the white paint. I was going for a weathered beachy feel.

Altered Beach Box Cover

I measured my scrapbook paper ( top, bottom, and inside lid) and the washi paper ( sides) and then applied them to the box with Mod Podge. Added scraps of the washi paper to the corners of the top and then added the postal tag stickers and botanical rub-ons.

Altered Beach Box K&Co Frame

For the focal point of my box, I used the brochure from the hotel owned by the recipients. Placed an adhesive copper frame over the section I wanted to feature and added some super glue to get it really good and stuck. Trimmed using an XActo knife and filled with clear dimensional adhesive to give it a 3-D  look.

Altered Beach Box Dimensional Glue

Ooops I got a bubble in there but oh well. If you catch those before your glue is dry, you can pop them with a pin. Once the glue was dry, I superglued it to the top of the box.

Altered Beach Box Inside Lid

I finished up the box by applying the same scrapbook paper to the inside of the lid, added more washi tape and a couple more of the rub ons.

The owners of the hotel are avid gardeners so I thought beachy and  botanical worked out.

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Monday, April 8, 2013

Thank You For Being A Friend: Earring and Bracelet Sets

Four Pair o Earrings

So here's the story behind this post. Several years ago, my husband's parents retired to a small town on the Washington coast. To say it's remote is an understatement, but that's where they wanted to be. They quickly settled in and made tons of new friends. A few years after they moved, my father in law's brother joined them and he became part of their bunch. I've never seen retired people keep so busy with so many clubs and activities.


Since we started going to visit them, we've always gone to brunch at a local historic hotel owned by a sweet couple who decided they'd had enough of city life. They've been great friends to my in-laws and present for happy occasions and sad ones like when my mother-in-law passed away.

We recently celebrated my Uncle-in law's 80th birthday and they were no less gracious when we went to brunch at the hotel. They have some equally warm and funny ladies who work there and we have lots of laughs with them . I decided I'd make these ladies some things to show our appreciation for always making our extended family feel so special. I made four sets of coordinating earrings and stretchy bracelets.

Black and White Set

The first set is silver, white, grey and gold. Most of the beads and findings are Blue Moon Beads.

Black Silver White Gold Earrings

The second set is blues and berries, using dichroic glass beads along with faceted acrylic beads:

Raspberry and Blueberry Set

The third set is shades of toffee and purples with antique gold connectors:

Grape and Gold Set

And the last set is copper and amber using more of the copper toggle clasps from my birds nest pendant necklace:

Copper and Amber Set

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Saturday, April 6, 2013

April Birthdays Continue: Cards in Yellow and Gray

Yellow and Gray Birthdays

I wasn't kidding about April being birthday month for me. Here are two more cards for April birthdays. These use papers from Teresa Collins, Cosmo Cricket, and Recollections.

On a personal note, today would have been my daddy's 76th birthday so Happy Birthday Daddy.
For the first card I used:

Yellow and Silver Birthday
  • 5x7 white card ( made mine from heavy cardstock)
  • Cosmo Cricket yellow leaf paper
  • Teresa Collins yellow and gray floral paper
  • Silver paper
  • Washi Tape
  • Baker's Twine
  • Charm
I trimmed the yellow leaf paper to 4.75x6.75 then trimmed the silver and floral papers to 4x6 and tore the edges of the floral paper. Wrapped coordinating baker's twine around this panel and tied a small silver charm to the middle.

Stamped the birthday candle and sentiment ( also Teresa Collins) using yellow inks on white paper scraps, trimmed w/ decorative edge scissors and mounted on paper scraps. Assembled card as show using foam dots to add the candle and sentiment panels. Dotted the candles with silver liquid pearls and added coordinating washi tape.

Yellow and Gray Irises

For the second card, construction was the same. This time I used the reverse side of the Teresa Collins paper , a washed yellow, with a damask print gray paper For the focal I used dimensional stickers by K&Co, and a coordinating piece of green washi tape to match the leaves. Finished with silver and white polka dotted washi tape.

Yellow Irises

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Thursday, April 4, 2013

BFF Open House Link Party #99 and Carmex Giveaway WInner

The Answer Is Chocolate

Happy Friday Eve everyone and welcome to the first link party of April. I hope you all survived April Fool's Day...definitely not one of my favorite days especially since blogging because some of the "fake" ideas people share I think are actually legit!

The winner of the Carmex giveaway I held is : Allison ( #37 as selected by Rafflecopter). Allison has been notified. 

OK. let's start with some of the highlights from last week's party: 

Confetti Bowl 7

This gorgeous creation was shared by Carolyn at homework. It's paper mache! Isn't it amazing?! What a great way to use up paper scraps too. 


Carolyn's bowl would look great atop this made over end table by Sherry at Pondered Primed Perfected. You really need to see the before pics. You won't believe it. Love this color combo! 


Debi, from Adorned from Above shared this chic pedestal cake plate. It is so fresh and perfect for Spring. Pop over for the tute on how she made it. 

And what better to put on a cake plate than cake pops? Especially chocolate cake pops? Especially especially these gorgeous cake pops from Karyn at Pint Sized Baker?

Cake Pops, Flower, Fondant, Spring, Elegant, Fancy

So now, let's see what all of you incredibly talented creative folks have been up to this week! If you're new to the party, say hi in the comments. A follow isn't required (but appreciated) and I love meeting new bloggers. 







Wednesday, April 3, 2013

April Seems To Be Birthday Month: Rose and Gold Birthday Card

Rose and Gold Birthday

I didn't realize exactly how many April birthdays were in my life until I did the logical thing and wrote them all down in one place.

This card has to travel across the ocean so to keep myself from having to take out a loan for postage, I tried to keep it pretty flat and light. A challenge for me since I love dimension and embellishments.

Rose Birthday

I gathered up the things I planned to use in my card, starting with computer generating the focal image and sentiment using my My Memories digital scrapbooking software.  Printed on white cardstock and trimmed to size.  My card was guided by the colors in this image so I chose papers from my stash to match.

Gold Embossed Panel

I cut white cardstock to 5x7 card size, trimmed the rose paper to 4.75x6.75 and a white gold cardstock to 4.5x6.5. Ran the gold paper through my Cuttlebug to emboss it.

Cuttlebug Embossing

Mounted the panels as shown and added a scrap of the rose paper across the middle with a coordinating self adhesive scrapbooking sticker by K&Co. I may or may not hoard these. Just sayin'.

Rose and Gold Embossed Card

Mounted the focal image and sentiment as shown and finished off by adding drops of  liquid pearls ( bisque) to the butterflies and flowers.

Rose Gold Birthday Closeup

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