And today I made those Covered Pens.

I bought a package of pens with the clear center and filled it with scrapbook paper. I used size 1 inch by 3 inch paper. I rolled the paper up and inserted it into the tube. I think they turned out GREAT. But you tell me what you think.

Would you buy one for 50 cents??

Don't forget to enter for the give away in the entry two posts down. Deadline is August 16th.

My Paper Clamp Angels

I couldn't wait to try these paper clamp angels. They turned out so cute and it is so super quick to do. I would totally recommend making these for Christmas gifts either for a tag decoration on a gift or make a few for your coworkers or neighbors.

Not only will they work as Christmas gifts but also for first communion, baptism, or for a newborn or shower gift for a baby. Of course it is not a toy but the mom could hang it over the baby's crib or in their room.

If you want some and are not ambitious enough to make them yourself, I would be happy to sell you some. I am thinking a $1 a piece. Leave me a comment with your contact info and I will get in touch with you.

Can we start talking about Christmas yet?

I know that the stores don't have the Christmas decorations up just yet but I think I need to begin thinking about Christmas presents and decorations and such. This year will be a lean year in our household. The economy has decreased our household income by almost 50%. So I have begun to think about who I will be buying for and who will appreciate handmade gifts. I have begun making my lists and checking it twice (laugh) and assigning projects and gifts.

I was blog hopping today and found this blog: http://craftsonawhim.com/. It is so cute and has a great many easy projects. One of the things I like about this site is that it has a difficulty factor with each project.

Here are a few I love!

Beaded Angel: Check this out. I will be making a ton of these (going out today to get the supplies for it and will be working on them tonight). How easy are they??? I am thinking that these will be nice gifts for my co-workers, as gift tag decorations, for kids to make for their teachers and perhaps to sell at the next craft show I am doing.

I found these through a link from AMR that Nicole posted and love these little clothespin magnets. I am thinking that these will also be fun to make and sell as well as for little gifts. I want to make my girls bulletin boards for their room and if I use some metal frames for them they can use these magnets too.
And what about this idea? I love the idea of putting scrapbook paper in a tube of a pen. You could do Christmas paper and give as a gift. You could do fun paper and they can be a great first day of school gift to the kid going off to middle or high school. OR for the teacher, just make it a RED pen (laugh). Oh, I think I need to make some of these too!!!

So, what are you making for Christmas gifts? Leave me a link to your blog with the ideas you have or leave your ideas in my comments, but I will tell you I can learn best from a picture!!!

You leave me a comment with some ideas or other sites that I can go to for more great homemade stuff no later than August 16th at 6pm eastern time, and I will put everyone's name in a hat and get one of my kids to pull it out and I will send you a goodie.

Tried and True Knit Washcloth Pattern

This is a tried and true knit washcloth pattern. It has been handed down through the ages and makes a great washcloth for the bath or kitchen.

Step 1:

Cast on 3 stitches. Rows 1-3: Knit 3.
Step 2:
Row 4: Knit 2, yarn-over(YO), K 1.Row 5: Knit 2, YO, Knit to end. Continue with Knit 2, YO, and Knit to end until you have 44 stitches on your needles.
Step 3:
Next row: Knit 1, Knit 2 together, YO, Knit 2 together, knit to end. Continue Knit 1, Knit 2 together, YO, Knit 2 together, and knit to end until you have 5 stitches on your needles.
Step 4:
Next row (with 5 stitches): Knit 1, knit 2 together, YO, Knit 2 together. Next row (with 4 stitches): Knit 1, Knit 2 together, knit 1. Next three rows: knit 3, Cast off and weave in yarn.

My Daily Online Routine

In my daily online routine I scan a few sites. The first on I go to every morning is Peachy Cheap. If you have never been then I suggest you go if you are a scrapbooker or a paper crafter. They have a daily deal and have great prices on the product (s) they feature daily. So I went to that site this morning and this is what I saw:

It is the Daily Grind kit from Fancy Pants. AND the bonus is that it is ONLY $5.99!!! So hurry over there and grab yourself one!!

The second place I go is the AMR message board! I check in with all my friends there and see what they are doing, what news they have, etc. I love this group of fun, caring, talented group. Check us out! All Moments Remembered.

I am so ready...

for summer. The kids get out of school for the year on Friday and I have so many projects I want to do. BUT I still have school until June 30th. I am not feeling good about being at work and the kids being out of school without me. Not that I think that they will be injured or anything. I am just plain jealous. Okay, there, I said it, I am jealous! I want to be home too and it isn't fair.

I know that the end of the month will come quickly and I will have my measly month off of work. But right now I am stewing in jealousy.

I haven't been very crafty recently. I have sewed on all my daughter's Brownie patches on her vest. I have made two and a half baby blankets in the granny square pattern. They are really cute and they are mindless. I have thought about cleaning off my scrap table, which desperitely needs to be done but not feeling the mojo there at all. I don't think that I have 'moved on' from scrapbooking but I think I just need a bit of a break. It has been almost three months though and I am getting a bit worried.

So help me out my oh, two readers here, how long have you gone without scrapping? Should I be worried?

Isn't this cute?

Two birthdays in 4 days!

Here are the birthday cakes that I made for the parties.

One was a Luau and the other was a jungle theme party and the cake is a monkey.

Still haven't found my mojo yet.

Hmmmm....if you have found it at your house can you ship it back to me. I am a bit frustrated by the lack of even interest in scrapbooking and that is just not like me. What is worse is that I have two of my children's birthdays coming up and I thought about making invitations but thought against it and decided to BUY! Oh my, my creative strike is worse than I originally thought. However, I might be FORCED to make the invitations just due to lack of funds in our household right now. Maybe if I am forced to do it then the Mojo will be found in the stacks of junk on my scrabook table.

Anyway, I have NOT been without a project and I recently picked up a couple skeins of yarn and am crocheting again. It is nice to have the rhythem and pace of crocheting back. You really move into a trance with it and it is welcoming to my brain. I am currently making two baby blankets. One is green and off white and the other is a blue yarn with pink, purple, yellow, and green specks. Both are make in the granny square pattern and will be a square blanket. I sure hope the recipients like them. A baby is always great for crocheting.

So check back because I might just have to play with some paper soon. Or maybe I will just make the invites on the computer instead......

When you can't find your scrapping mojo...

.....it is a good sign that you at least are playing with paper. And that is just what I have been doing. I still haven't found my scrapping mojo and it has been a month. However, I am getting closer, I can feel it.

I have been beading for the last few weeks and have really enjoyed that but I have cut myself off with purchasing some new beads to play with. I have quite a little stash so I really don't need any new ones for a while but I thought it would be fun to work on a hybrid project. So paper beads it is. I found a great site, and now can't find it again but there was some good tips and I used many of them. First I learned that Modge Podge is a great glue and sealant for these beads. I just happened to have that. Then there was a great template that I used as a guide. I think if I hadn't had this template my beads would have been huge and I would have had to make many practice beads before perfecting it. Luckily, with the template things came into place easily. My beads are 1/2 inch long. Another great suggestion was using pins and a piece of cardboard or something to stick them in to dry the beads.

This is my husband's mouse pad for his laptop flipped upside down and is a great pin cushion for my drying beads. Shhhh, don't tell him.

Yesterday I made about 30 or so beads and created this bracelet with small glass cat's eye beads in between the paper beads.

Tonight I made the ones in the first picture. The beads are blue and pink and yellow. Perfect for summery jewelry!

Picture Frames

Raw frames purchased at Michaels for $1 each and I painted them with acrylic paints and then decorated them with balsa wood pieces. These pieces were pre-painted. They were purchased either in packs for $1 a pack or $.59 each. The most expensive frame cost me $2.20 to make, not including the price of the paints. I will sell them for $5. each. What do you think?

A few layouts I did this past weekend. These photos are from 2005 and were taken at the beach in the spring.

New card and a screw-up!

I screwed up the challenge that I made the card in the previous post for. UGH! I was supposed to not use any straight lines at all. Well I am straight lines all over on that card. So I screwed it up. Oh well, it was a cute card anyway.


I made a new card, not for that challenge but for another one. This one was to use this sketch to make a card. Let me tell you, that was fun. I like sketches for cards. But can't do them for layouts. It never seems that my pictures fit the sketch. So anyway. Here is the sketch and here is the card.

A "shape" card

This is a card I whipped up for a card challenge on AMR. If you aren't hanging out over there already you really need to check them out. I love it there. So much creativity.

Anyway here is my card. It was supposed to be in the form of a shape. I don't have any dies that would cut a shape so I used my zigzag scissors to make it shapely.

A layout and a Card

This is the card that I made for the AMR challenge. The challenge was to make a card that was mostly green. I used a pattern from a Stampin' Up video I saw on YouTube. It thought it was neat how the card was a Z-fold. However, when I made it I didn't like it so much. Perhaps with different paper or a different style but this card is just okay in my book. I ended up having to glue the short foldover on the front of the card down. I am not sure that the card was supposed to be glued on the top but it just wouldn't stay shut. Maybe it was the thickness of the paper. I am rambling. I used crystal stickles on the chick and around the border.

The layout is from 2005. It is of my son and youngest daughter. It was bathtime. Well, I guess you can surmise that from the pictures of the layouts. It is a two-page spread and I used skittles to resemble bubble water spray. How did I do?

A "No Adhesive" Card

If you are not familiar, All Moments Remembered has challenges every day. I tried a few weeks ago to keep up with them but just can't do that. So I pick and choose what I want to challenge myself with. They are great challenges and this one was no different. This card challenge was to make a card with no adhesive. Nope, nada, nothing. So here is my card.

I sewed for the first time ever paper to paper. And I also sewed the ribbon on. Everything else was done with brads. It was a lot of fun AND most of all challenged me to do something that I wouldn't probably have ever done, and I liked it. I sewed. I have liked the looks of stitching or sewing on layouts and cards before but have never done it myself. This challenge stretched me to do just that. And I am glad for it.

Head on over there and check out the challenges in the scrapbooking section.

Lookie what my friends sent me! And other Random Thoughts.

I got these for Valentine's Day. I love them.

This one is from my friend Gay. She and I scrap together once a month and hang out together on the AMR message board.

This one is from my great Scrap Pal Cheeky! She lives way up north and is enjoying much snow while we are just wishing for it. She is so cute and I just love her card.

And now for some random thoughts:
I have been thinking a lot about those cute little crocheted flowers. I really would love to try them in a varigated thread. I am going to stop by the store tomorrow and check out their threads. I can't stand it. I think they may become addicting.
I posted a few cards for Cliff's Card Challenge (ha ha CCC) over on AMR MB. He is great and a scrapper too. He joins us for the crops over there and comes up with some fun layouts and some fun cards. He is so cute. His wife Melonscraps is an avid scrapper too. I guess in their family "if you can't beat em join em" fits. They are wonderful and I highly suggest you head over to Melonscraps blog. She has some great stuff over there. Okay, I am rambling. So I made two cards for the challenge. Here they are:

I started on my daughter's sweater and have chosen to do the child's size 6-8. She is petite and I think if the arms are too short I can lengthen them with no problem. I will measure her several times throughout the knitting process. Again like the last one, the back and front go so fast and then the sleeves just drag along. I am about a fifth of the way up the back already. She chose a bright blue and a coral color for her accent stripe. I think it will be cute and if she doesn't like it in the end I will give it to the other daughter and she will love it. I am not worried. Someone will wear this sweater.

Let's talk Spaghetti

Do you ever have the thought whilst cooking that you are on a cooking show like on Food Network and whilst cooking you start thinking in your head all the things you would say if you were truly on that cooking show? Well, from time to time it happens to me. I will be cooking dinner in the kitchen (because that is the logical place to cook) and I will be minding my own business and all of the sudden, suddenly, I start thinking, "now add a dash of this", "when you see it starting to brown....". Yup, those thoughts of what I would say if I were the host of my own cooking show pop into my brain.

So it happened tonight and I thought that I should be the next Paula Deen. Now I pick her because she cooks 'down home' meals. You know, with real butter and stuff. Now I didn't go get my camera which I probably should have but didn't. So we have no pictures here. But I thought I would post MY spaghetti sauce tonight.

I don't make mine from scratch and it would probably be good to take a moment to review my story about my father and his spaghetti sauce. You can find it here.

Now that you read that you understand that I have yet to actually make my father's world famous meat sauce. I used his suggestion and I doctor up a jar of spaghetti. So here goes:

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 TBS Italian Seasoning
1 medium onion
1 small can sliced mushrooms
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I use Prego chunky mushroom)

Brown the meat and chopped onion in a skillet. Drain the fat from the skillet and add the Italian Seasoning. Stir and cook until you can start to smell the spices. Then add the jar of spaghetti sauce and mushrooms. Cook on low (ish) until just boiling. Serve on top of spaghetti noodles and top with parmesian cheese.

Now this is a base for me. This is the normal sauce and we do eat this sauce as is often. But I have been known to doctor it up a bit by adding chopped black olives or pepperonis, or whatever else I have on hand. Sometimes I will add 2/3 ground beef and 1/3 sausage. Play with it and make it your own.

Leave me a comment and tell me what you add to your spaghetti.

Finished the Sweater

FINALLY!! It only took me almost 6 weeks to complete. That is way too slow for me. By the time I finish the next one it will be too warm to wear. I finished my son's sweater, and now I have the two girls to do.

I used Vanna's Choice yarn (2- 7oz skeins of Olive and 1/2 - 3.5oz skein of espresso). I used the Bernat pattern here "Berella 4-sweaters for the family". I didn't use a third color as I just wanted one small stripe on the collar and on the cuffs. This was an easy pattern to knit. The front and back was quick and the pattern was very easy to read. The only slow part were the sleeves which took longer because I had to count.

The sweater is a bit big. They have a child's size and then an adult size. My son needed the 10-12 size for kids but they had child's 6-8 and then adult small. So I opted for the adult small and he will grow into it.

Last year I knitted him a sweater using the Lion Brand Homespun yarn. A bulky yarn and the sweater knitted up quickly, however when it was washed the first time the yarn got matted up and looked horrible. I am hoping that this yarn will faire better in the wash. Thanks for reading and happy crafting.

Here is another flower

This flower pattern that I blogged about yesterday has been bothering me a bit. As I was working the other flowers yesterday I felt that the center was too big and that the flowers were still a bit large for scrapbooking. So today I worked up a few more. I used crochet thread this time, like the stuff you use to make doilies and a #6 hook (1.80mm). I chose off white in color because that was all I had available to play with right then.

I made these:

Now I know that they are a bit different from the original Lionbrand.com pattern. I made the center of the flower smaller making a chain of 5 instead of 8. I also only did 5 petals instead of 6. These measure 1 1/2 inches in diameter and are a good size for scrapbooking.

They sort of look like little pansies to me and I am anxious to try them in another color. But to do that I need to convince my husband to let me spend some money and I don't think he will go for it right now. I may need to wait a week or so. Laugh.

Trying new things.

I saw this:

on the Lionbrand.com website today and thought it looked really cute and would be fun to put on a scrapbook page. So when I got home from work I tried it.

I tried it two different ways. The first one with Vanna's Yarn a bulky #5 weight and I used an H hook. It ended up being 5 inches in diameter.

That was way too big. I knew when I started it that it would be too big but wanted to go through the motions of the pattern before trying on a smaller yarn. So then the second was using DMC thread (6 ply). I used a B hook and this pattern took most of a whole skein of thread. It ended up being 2 1/2 inches in diameter. A much more manageable size.

Paper roses

I made some paper roses. AND I think they turned out great. I followed the directions from here: http://nancyburke.typepad.com/scraps_and_ink/2009/02/roses-are-red.html and it was super easy.

Here is mine:

Need scrappy stuff???

My friend, Crop-a-holic, is purging a bunch of her scrappy stuff. She is getting into digital scrapping and now wants to reduce her stash of papers and embellies. Oh, just read it here. Anyway she is giving away 5 boxes of random items. One girl's trash is another scrappy girl's treasure! So head on over there and leave her a comment to enter. Hurry as you only have until February 17th!! Oh, and tell her I sent ya.

Here is the link!!

More Digital Layouts

I have been a digital fiend recently. Here are some of my new creations.

I am really enjoying the digital work. AND I love the PSE7 program.

I am loving the freebie papers and kits from Andrea over at Here's A Scrap There's A Scrap. She as such great papers and embellies and they are all free downloads! It makes it easier on my pocketbook to use the freebies to play with and see if I like this digital thing.

Most of these layouts were using pictures from 1999. They are of my son when he was a baby and it was fun to see these again and play with them.

My second digi layout

My First Digital Layout

I was curious so I tried it. I think I like it but it was hard at first and I am having a hard time getting it to upload. So I hope this works. This is a layout using Photo Elements 7 and all free products. It is of my middle one horseback riding.

Some more cards I have made this weekend.

Here is this one:

And this one:

A window card for you all!

This was from a challenge on AMR!

My window card:

Two days into the AMR Crop

and I am having a ball. There are so many great challenges that have been posted. I have completed two and wanted to share one with you all. One lady asked us 10 questions and then challenged us to use our questions and answers to come up with a layout or a project. So I made my first mini-album. I used chipboard, a condensed cardboard and cut it into pieces. Then I covered it and decorated the pages with embellishments and with the questions and my answers. I had a lot of fun doing this and I think it turned out great. I will be doing more, I just feel it in my bones.