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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Fall Card


Well since Fall is upon all of us now, I thought I would share this card that I made last year for a swap I was in. This is a retired Stampin' Up set called, A Basket Full of Fun. The cardstock is from Jo-Ann's as are the brads too. I used Bic Mark-It's to color in the image. As you can see I LOVE to color! The grass is done free hand.
Hope you are all having a nice week-end, it's a beautiful, sunny day here. Bye for now....Mary

Friday, October 29, 2010

Baby Boy Card



Happy Friday to all of you! Today I'm showing you the card that I made to go with the baby quilt that I showed you. It is similar to this one here:http://maryscraftroom.blogspot.com/2010/05/baby-card.html Just like that one I used a retired Stampin' Up stamp set called, A New Little Someone. I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the border and ribbon from Jo-Ann's. The cardstock is also a retired Stampin Up product. For the background, I put it into the Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug embossing folder and ran that thru the Big Kick. To color the image I used my Prismacolor pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirits. You can click on the picture if you would like to see it up close.
We had our first frost for the season, the trees will really start to turn colors even more now! Thanks for stopping by.......Mary

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Testing Out a New Technique

Well I'm sharing two cards that I made over the week-end with a new technique called Faux Leather. You take some Fun Foam and heat it up with a heat embossing tool until it get warm/hot, than you place a inked up stamp on it for about 30 seconds, while applying some pressure and it will leave an impression in the foam. Now I, in all my craftiness, got the hair brained idea to use white foam instead of tan because I don't have any manly stamps to play with (oh that doesn't sound to nice, does it)! Well, I'm just not to sure if I like it with the white foam. What do you all think?? The brads on the right card are some that I tried to make the same color as the flower with some glitter added to it, but I'm not impressed with them either. Oh well, live and learn. Click on picture to see up close. Here is a link for a video on how to do this:http://thestampcamp.com/blog/10/11/faux-leather-video/
I will show you what this same stamp looks like on tan foam. If you try this, let me know, I would like to see your creation! The stamp set is from Stampin' Up-Because I Care, scallop punch is also from Stampin' Up, cardstock from Archiver's, ribbon and rhinestones are from Michael's.

I hope you have a nice day......Mary

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Ice Cream Shoppe Birthday Card

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to share this cute card with you that I made Sunday while I was playing in my craft room! I wish you all could see this in real life, it is so cute! Click on the picture and you can see the glitter that I added to the "cream" part of the card. I saw a video on how to make this card here:http://dostamping.typepad.com/dostamping_with_dawn/2010/06/sweet-scoops-ice-cream-shoppe-awning-card.html I didn't have the scallop border punch that she had, so I cut the rectangle part of the awning so that my little scallops would just hang over the bottom edge and it worked just fine. The border punch I used for the little shelve part was punched with a Fiskar punch, the ribbon is from Michael's and the rest is from Stampin' Up.

I got caught up on making some cards and did get my craft table cleaned up, will be showing you another card in a couple of days. Thanks for dropping in and I hope you take some time to play today.....Mary

Friday, October 22, 2010

College Team Bag/Purse




Below is a closer view of the bag.




TGIF to everyone, hope you are having a wonderful day today.
Today I'm going to share with you a simple bag/purse that came my way via e-mail last week. When I watched this video:http://www.thediydish.com/2010/10/episode-5-how-to-make-the-diy-dish-basic-handbag/ I knew that I wanted to try my hand at making one. So I used this left-over material from some other projects. I thought my daughter who lives in Columbia, MO. would like to use this bag when she goes to the football games on Saturdays, shows some extra support for the team! I hope she likes it. Now to be honest the written directions for this bag are not the greatest, so be sure to watch the video, I had to watch it for a total of three times to get the information that I needed to make the bag. I would still print off the directions and make notes on them for future reference. The bag itself is not very hard to make at all, you will need some sewing experience to make, maybe beginner and up. I will have to try this again with some different material. Oh, I did add two pockets on the inside for keys and cellphone.
Thanks for dropping in to visit with me, have a crafty week-end......Mary

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Breast Cancer Awareness



Hello today to all of my blog followers!! I hope you all are having a great day today. I've got Beef Stew in the crock-pot (recipe on my blog) and also the bread machine going too, making Tangy Buttermilk Bread (this is also on my blog).


I wanted to share with you a little holder that I made to hold some special Tic-Tac's that only come out once a year. They are always sold in the month of October, for a limited time, to help raise awareness about breast cancer. I hope you all follow the guidelines on having your mammograms, this also includes you guys who have a family history of breast cancer.


I found this holder here:http://chicnscratch.typepad.com/chic_n_scratch/2007/09/tic-tac-tutoria.html They are very easy to make (will show you some more when it gets closer to Christmas). I found the ribbon stamp at Archiver's last year (yes, these were around last year, I'm always late on showing stuff)! Click on the picture to read what it says on the circle,tee-hee.
Thanks for taking the time to stop in to visit with me, I appreciate it so much and would love to hear your comments too! Have a crafty day.....Mary

Friday, October 15, 2010

Halloween Candy Bar Sliders

Hi everyone, hope your day is off to a good start. The sun is out here and it is on the cool side today, fall is starting to come more and more each day.

I thought I would share with you a small candy bar slider today. These are decorated for Halloween and would be nice to give to your "special" trick-or-treater's that come by your house. I found the directions for them here:http://www.juliabettencourt.com/blog/?p=1286
They are made using the snack size candy bars instead of the larger size bars. You can find these snack size one at Wal-Mart in a package of 8 for $1.00. They are very easy to make. For mine I use two different punches, the spider punch is made by EK Success, and the bat picket fence is a Martha Stewart punch. I found both of these at Archiver's about a week ago. For the spider one, I used a stamp that I had from last year that I also found at Archiver's in their $1.99 bins. The little ghost on the other one is made with the Owl punch from Stampin' Up, you just trim off his feet and turn him upside down, instant ghost! Most candy bar sliders have ribbon that you use to pull the candy out with, but I omitted it on these. I'm going to have my husband give these to the gals that work at the credit union, they are always helping us. For a closer look, click on the picture.

Hope you all are having a crafty day.........Mary

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Hmm....doesn't this look YUMMY!! It sure was yummy to eat!

We had this salad recently at a funeral luncheon, my daughter has been begging me to make it since August, so I finally put it on the menu of things to make. I found the recipe at Allrecipes.com. It has been years since I've had it and it is still just as good as I remember it. Now some people serve this as a sweet salad and some as a dessert. Either way, it's just plain GOOD!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup butter, melted (this equal to 12 Tablespoons)
3 Tablespoons white sugar
1 - 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 - 8 oz. carton Cool Whip, thawed
2 - 3 oz. packages strawberry Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
2 - 10 oz. cartons frozen strawberries ( I use the sweetened ones), don't thaw

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stir together crushed pretzels, melted butter and 3 Tablespoons sugar; mix well and press mixture into the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until set. Set aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl cream together the cream cheese and 1 cup sugar. Fold in the Cool Whip; combine well. Spread mixture onto cooled crust. In another mixing bowl, dissolve Jell-O in the boiling water. Stir until Jell-O has dissolved, than add the still frozen strawberries and allow to set briefly. When mixture is about the consistency of egg whites, pour and spread over the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until set.

Serves 12

Now the next time I make this, I'm going to halve the recipe, as this makes too much for just two people to eat.

Try it and see for yourself how delicious this is and than you can decide, is it a salad or a dessert.

Thanks for dropping by......Mary

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Baby Rag Quilt

You are probably wondering why I'm showing you piles of material cut into squares. Well this is the start of the baby quilt that I made for my husband's co-worker who was having her first baby, of course, you can tell by the colors and pattern that it is for a little boy. I use the Sizzix scalloped square die (4.50 inches square) to cut these with it makes for fast work. You can cut eight layers of fabric at one time, which is four squares total. Each pile has 20 complete squares to it. I used 6 different colors/patterns. You could also use a ruler and a rotary cutter too.
After I hand cut the cotton batting for each square (3.25 inch square), I than sewed each one with and "X" to hold the batting in place. After that I laid the squares out and arranged them in the order I wanted. Than I pinned each row together to get them ready for the machine again. The seam allowance that I used was to make sure that I sewed below the scallops, I'd say between quarter of an inch to half inch, I didn't want a huge seam.

Here the squares are all sewed together. You also have to sew around the whole outside of the quilt too. I than had to snip each row (I snipped at each scallop or about every quarter of an inch) so that when it is washed it will start to "rag". I must admit that this was the my least favorite thing to do and it seem to take forever. Flip corner shows what the back looks like.

Here is the quilt after it has been washed, it is starting to "rag" some but will need more washings. Click on the picture to see it better. Well after seeing it come out of the washer and dryer, I probably would make another, just not real soon, lol! Oh, the flipped over part shows you what the back of the quilt looks like, I like it just as well, so she will have two different ways to use it. I started with one yard of fabric for each color/pattern, I do have some left of each, so I'm guessing that I used half yard of each.
I found this video on YouTube for you to watch, explains the "how to's" very well:
Hope you all are having a fun, crafty week-end.......Mary



Friday, October 8, 2010

Happy Halloween Card


Hi everyone!! Long time no see, lol! Today I'm going to show you a card that I made for my friend who lives in an assisted living place. I don't get to see her as much as I use to, but I do try and send her a themed card once a month to let her know that I'm still thinking of her.
I don't know who makes this stamp, I received the image thru a swap I was in, but isn't that the cutest witch! She just makes you want to smile! The spider web paper is from The Paper Company, Jeepers Creepers line. The ribbon is some that I've had for a long time and the sentiment stamp is from a set that I found last year at Archiver's in their $1.99 bins.
Hope you are having a spook-tacular day!!
Be back soon with another crafty idea......Mary

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Happy Birthday Molly

Happy 12th Birthday, Molly girl! You've been a wonderful dog to have, I'm so lucky that we got you!




Now why this 70 plus pound lab is laying in Bella's (who is all of 20 pounds) bed is beyond me, but that is where she decided to lay one day about 5 months ago. Molly is so mellow and laid back, my one daughter says "she just plain lazy" and I think she just may be! I hope she stays around for awhile, but only if her health stays good. We call her are "ageless wonder" as she has hardly any gray hair.



Love girl, you are my best friend!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Happy Card Making Day



Happy Card Making Day!


I'm going to share the card that I made for my daughter, Kelly, when she got Bella, the parti-colored Cocker Spaniel from one of her co-workers. We dog sat one week-end about 18 months ago now and Bella just decided that she liked Grandma better than Kelly!! No, Kelly didn't mistreat her in anyway, Bella just decided that she wanted me to be her "human". I CASED this card from my friend, Chanda Stehlik, on SCS. You can see her card here:http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1156829?si=chandapie&perpage=12&thumbsonly=0&thumbcheck=
I used paper that I had for some time and cut the dog face out using heart shaped Nesties. Add some rhinstones to a strip of cardstock to look like a collar and added a flower too! Since Bella is black and white those are the colors I used for this card.
Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day! Mary