Birthdays and Bows!

Long time no post!  Yes this is why I have my reservations about a blog!  I get super crafty for a while and then whamp back to reality I have 3 kids and a full time job which requires more than 24 hours in a day!  So, I had to get my mother-in-laws gift ready since her birthday is this week (time crunch!!!). 

I have been on a bow kick since I made the wine basket, I am in search of the best bow tool!  I LOVE my bow easy for my cards and have thought several times about making a BIGGER version of it to use.  I went out and bought the Bowdabra, which my user rating on it is O.K. I am not super excited about it but, I have not really worked with it a lot so that may be why I am not super thrilled (good thing there was a coupon involved with the purchase!).  I refuse to buy a Jiffy bow because my super handy Dad can make me one much cheaper than I can purchase one!  I also hate to purchase the star bow maker thingy because again why not just make your own! I say all of this because I played with the Bowdabra to make the bow for the present.  So check it out and see my 1st attempt at it! 

I would try to make it prettier but, I have a time issue they are droping my son off and I want to have the present ready to go in oh, lets say a hour (yikes)!

Since I am in such a time rush the card had to be super simple!  Thank goodness that while on my shopping day with my Mom yesterday I was able to stop by Sassy Scrapper.  I have been dieing to get a "negative image" stamp after I was inspired by another bloggers card.  So I happen upon this awesome Hero Arts stamp, my original plan was to stamp it then emboss with white embossing powder and then color with Copics as I saw on the blog.  Well, I don't have time to color so..... here it is stamped with Close to My Heart inks, I added the Happy Birthday stamp after the base stamp had dried.

Well I guess that wraps up the post for the day!  I swear I will try to post more offten!  Trust me as soon as I get to try the embossing and coloring this image I will put it up for you to see it!  It is an awesome look!

Home Decor

About a year ago when I moved to my current position at the hospital, I also upgraded to an actual office.  I happen to work with a decorating diva, and she had helped most of the people in our department put their offices together.  She had an awesome magazine that showed 9 12x12 squares covered in scrapbook pattern paper and hung on a wall, it was an really neat look.  I happened to be stumped at the time on what to hang on the wall that I would be facing every day.  So I went out to purchase all the materials and make these squares.  Luck would have it I could not find 9 different papers I liked in the same color scheme.  I found 2 pieces of fabric I LOVED!  Now what was a girl to do?  I was milling through the idea and found 3 3'x1' foam boards.  I had learned long ago from my mother when doing flowers or anything artistic it must be in odd numbers, so I raced back to the fabric department and picked up a solid.  I used only a ½ yard of fabric per board.  I used Elmer’s spray adhesive and sprayed the foam board sections at a time and laid the fabric on the board “smoothed” with my hand to get the wrinkles out. I then folded the fabric over like I was wrapping a present.  On the back side I used hot glue to ensure the fabric was secure.  I used push in picture hangers (secured with LOTS of hot glue).  They are super light weight so a tiny nail holds them up.  I tossed the idea of using ribbon to hang them but in the end like the clean look of the boards themselves.

Here they all done and in my office!  They go wonderful with my black white and red theme!



Final Product

So, after getting the wine and there being 2 bottles I had to make it into a wine basket.  I am however excited with the out come.  I wish I was better at more puffy bows, so if there is a tool out there to assist in making bows like that I am in need of one!  I guess that means I am on the hunt again huh!  I have to say I am proud of this one and love the basket idea even more than the original bucket!

Sorry the photos aren't great I had to finish it up at the office and take the pictures with my phone in my office!  I was dieing to post it though!



House Warming Basket

My "craft" business is slowly building, here is the house warming gift I created for a customer.  I love putting this together!  I etched the wine glasses and used Viva Decors Precious Metal paint on the cheese cloth drip towel.  The card was a quick creation just to play on the color.