BFF Open House Link Party

Happy Friday Eve all! I hope the week has been good to you and that you've stayed warm! We were spared the snowstorm visited upon our PNW neighbors to the south in Oregon and I'm hoping it stays that way!

Grap a cup of your favorite whatever and let's look at some great ideas shared at last week's party. 

First up, a huge CONGRATS to Andrew and Dennis , the creators of Crafty Lumberjacks on not only starting their new You Tube Channel but on also joining HGTV's Handmade Channel!! Check out this genius idea they shared for their first feature: 

These fabulous tags from Much More Creative couldn't be more timely could they? 

I've yet to try candle making but this idea from Woods of Bell Trees is definitely one to try! Can you ever have too many candles? (Heather, I couldn't figure out where to leave you a comment)

Finally this printable from Lolly Jane is always a good reminder. A quote I've loved since "Dead Poets Society". 

Now, let's see what you've been up to this week! Thanks so much for stopping by. 

2017 Cards: Life Is Great Birthday

I have a few January birthdays to celebrate so this is the first of the cards I'll be making for them. For this one I went with foiled black white and gold papers, along with a wintry blue glitter scrap and black glitter paper. 

The focal sentiments were straight off the page. Literally. The DCWV Decor Noir  Stack they came from includes a couple pages of them so I chose two and put them together. 

Supplies: 

• DCWV Decor Noir Stack
• Craft Smith Gold Foil Stack (Numbers Sheet)
• Cordenons Cover Weight Cardstock: Crystal
• Gold Mirror, Blue, and Black Glitter Scraps
• Strong Double Sided Tape ( I used Scor Pal / Sookwang)
• Foam Dots 

Cut card base (5x7) from cover weight card cardstock. Score, fold. Cut base panel from gold and white Numbers paper. Layer onto card.

Trim sentiments and layer as shown. Adhere top sentiment to card using foam dots. Adhere bottom sentiment to card. 

The ScorPal / Sookwang brand of tape is great for glitter papers which can be a challenge to get things to stick to. Love this stuff. Most scrapbook and stamp stores sell it or of course there's Amazon! 

Easy, clean, fast! My kind of card. 

2017 New (and Old) Favorite Places for Fonts and Graphics (Update II))

Shortly before Christmas, I ended up having to replace my hard drive. Grrr. "Oh but you had backed everything up right?"  No comment. Lesson learned. Better yet, learn from my mistake! Back up back up back up!

On the upside, it gave me a good reason to discover some new resources for graphics and fonts (as well as discover some new images at familiar places). On the whole , the experience was more good than bad.  I thought I'd share some of my new finds as well as some of my go to regulars. 

Creative Market: This is definitely one of my new finds and fast favorites. It's free but you do need to sign up in order to use. Photos, graphics, themes, fonts etc. most of which are fee based, but the awesome part is that each week they release 6 freebies for you to download. The fonts are fresh and clean and the free graphics packs I've downloaded come with multiple elements. The magnolia wreath at the top of this post is from Creative Market!



Moritz Fine Designs: "Free Printables for Your Home and Workspace" and where I found 500, yes 500 free fonts! No I haven't downloaded them all...yet. What I love is that they're grouped and organized so if you're looking for Typewriter Fonts for example, they're grouped together. If you're a font addict, you want to pin / bookmark this site.

Star Sunflower Studio: In my search for fonts, I found this lovely grouping of brush fonts here but they have tons more! Again a site that's a combo of free and fee. 

Expressions Vinyl: In addition to being a resource for your vinyl needs, there's a fab collection of fonts at the Expressions Vinyl Blog! 

Fontbundles.net: Combination of fee and free and requires free account sign up. Fonts do expire so check periodically. 

Other great font resources:
DaFont (mostly free)
1001 Fonts ("Free fonts baby")
Fontspace (free)

You can also follow my Pinterest board on Fonts Typography and Hand Lettering

I also love these places I visited regularly before my hard drive bit it and am having fun re-building my library:

The Graphics Fairy OK who doesn't already know about The Graphics Fairy?!
Free Pretty Things For You
Free Vintage Digital Stamps
The Old Design Shop
New York Public Library Public Domains Collection
Just Something I Made

My Twist on New Year's Resolutions...The Stop Doing List

I know most people make lists of things they're going to start doing and I've done that too, but this year I'm taking a different approach in making a list of things I want to stop doing. Many of these are blog specific but they're applicable in my life too. So in 2017, here are some things that I have promised myself I will stop doing. 

• Stop seeking perfection. Whether it's because it's just my nature, or I am a quintessential Virgo personality, I have a tendency to not do / try something because I know it won't be perfect. True confession time: whether it's a recipe or a craft or whatever, if I don't think I can do it "right" I often won't do it at all. That has to stop.  Which leads to the next one which is the other side of the same coin...

• Stop being afraid to fail. A lot of things have come naturally to me. In life, in crafting / making etc. I don't mean that to sound arrogant because the truth is that I gravitate towards the things that come easily to me and avoid the things that don't because I'm afraid to fail. Really and truly afraid to fail. I need to let this go because in failures there are opportunities. Many of us makers refer to them as "happy accidents" and true, I've had a few of them but I need to have some more. I also need to post the things that don't go quite as planned. Heck Heather Mann wrote a whole book on Craft Fails. I want to stop being afraid to fail enough to make Heather's next book ! 

• Stop comparing myself to others. Especially when it comes to my blog and its "success". I started my blog around the same time as some others that have taken off and grown wildly. I am thrilled for those bloggers so this isn't about jealousy of them, but about me feeling like I failed because I didn't grow as big or as fast. Now, what I will forget to tell myself is that I started this whole thing at a time when I thought my day job was busy but stable,  then about a year or two into blogging that started to change radically and hasn't calmed down since. I also forget to tell myself that for many of those other bloggers, this was their day job. So I need to stop thinking I'm superwoman and remember that I work 65+ hours a week at a crazy job and I can't do that and grow my blog at the same pace as someone who has more time to devote to making things and cultivating their site.

• Stop playing it safe. Again, a lot of these blend into each other but what I mean by this finding a balance between things I'm comfortable with and things I wouldn't normally do. I gravitate to black and white and neutrals and don't use a lot of colors. That will probably always be a large part of my work but I need to stop avoiding using some colors that don't come naturally to me and push some boundaries. 

• Stop not using "special" materials. Anyone else buy really cool stuff that you never use because it's so special you want the perfect project to come to you and/or you're afraid you'll mess it up so you hang on to it and don't use it because all of the bullets that precede this one apply? Anyone? Just me? The end result is you have things that are special that never see the light of day. Stop that!  

There may be other things I need to stop doing but these are the main ones for now. How about you? Are there things you want to stop doing in 2017? If so would love if you shared in the comments! 

BFF Open House Link Party Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a safe and happy start to 2017. My new favorite New Year's Quote is: 

"May the best of last year be the worst of this year"

 Like everyone else, I'm in the process of evaluating things I want to keep, lose, or change in the New Year. I want to revitalize my blog which has been a little stale so look for some changes. If you have any suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comments!


I want to keep my little party but would definitely like it to grow so if you have friends you want to bring, please do!

Let's see some highlights from last year's last party!

I did one of those "what are the first three words you see" word puzzles and the first word I saw was "peace" so this card from Paper Seedlings definitely caught my eye! Not just because of the word but I love the white on white layering and the detail. Beautiful!

Something I'd like to do more of in 2017 is Thrifting. I love found objects and My Thrift Store Addiction has some wonderful projects and ideas to get you started or re-started! 

If like me, you're still getting organized for the New Year, the gals at Lolly Jane have got you covered with 50 FREE printable 2017 calendars. 

This week's chocolate feature isn't actually chocolate but it's about chocolate! Love this vintage chocolate ad shared by Vintage TLC . Great as a printable or to use in image transfer project etc. 

Now onto this week's party! 

Angel Wing Necklace : Handmade Holidays

Like all of us makers, I made a lot of holiday gifts so I'll be sharing some that I wasn't able to share at the time. 

This one was for our favorite server at our regular Friday night go to restaurant. From the first time she came to our table we had an instant bond.  We are creatures of habit and the second time she came to our table she already knew our order! She's so good  to us, often treating us to dessert and just always such a sweet person. So I wanted to make her a little something and this Angel Wing charm seemed perfect. 

With the holidays being so busy I didn't take the time to take pictures of the step-by-step. One of my blogging resolutions for 2017! But the process and materials are simple: 

Supplies: 

• Black chain ( Blue Moon Beads)
• Silver Bead Caps ( Bead Landing)
• Opaque White Crystal Beads ( Stash)
• Black Crystal Spacer (Stash) 
• Head Pins ( Stash)
• Angel Wing Charm ( Shipwreck Beads)
• Jump Rings (Stash)
• Silver and Black Large Rings ( Bead Landing)
• Toggle Clasp ( Stash) 

Measure lengths of black chain. I did 4 sections, 6 inches long, two strands each. Wrap white beads and bead caps on head pins and attach to each end of the double strands of chain.

Attach Angel Wing charm , spacer beads, and wrapped white bead to large jump ring as shown to make the pendant part. Attach chain and pendant to black and silver rings as shown. 

Of course what's a gift without a card so I made this one to go with it since her disposition is always Merry and Bright...not just at holiday time. 

Oops. I see my Merry & Bright was a little crooked. The card was super easy. Combination of papers from Recollections Black and Gold Christmas paper pack I fell in love with and a coordinating scrap from my stash!

Happy New Year all. Happy Making! 

Sharing At: 

BFF Open House Link Party Goodbye 2016!!!

As much as I cannot believe we are at the end of another year, I won't lie and say that I will be unhappy to say goodbye to 2016! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

However, what better way to say goodbye to the year  than with a party? 

What says party more than New Year's Eve and the gals at Lolly Jane have some wonderful ideas like this party hat tutorial which comes with a free clock printable! 

These festive Times Square Ball drink stirrers from Crafty Lumberjacks pair perfectly with the party hats don't they? 

What better time for a makeover than a New Year ? Grandma's House DIY has a gorgeous one. 

Finally, what's a New Year's celebration without a festive and of course chocolate dessert? 

These Peppermint Patty Brownie Cupcakes from Sugar Spice and Family Life are perfect! 

Now on to this week's party. Happy Happy New Year all!!

   

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