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Just wanted to say sorry i've been off the mark blogging creative stuff this week. I've been in super busy Mommy mode. I have been crafting and creating as well, but haven't got the photos or editing done. I'll work on that lots this weekend so next week will be packed full of things to see.
Have a great weekend!
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Doesn't it seem like we are traveling at warp speed towards the holidays? It sure does for me. Tonight it even feels like fall as we are getting a north wind and its a little chilly. Chilly for us anyway its about 65 degrees.
Spent today shopping for some supplies and starting to get some projects ready for CHA (craft and hobby show). I worked on the November Card Kits and am loving the cards this month! Tonight I am trying to think of some kind of crafty things to make as christmas gifts. The focus this year will be simple, simple, simple!
Here's a super simple card to share this evening. Trying out some different things trying to decide
what I want to do for my personal family Christmas card. I like this one but I think I want something a little more contemporary. So will you be making your cards for the holidays?
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What did you do this weekend? Well I spent 8 hours on Saturday cleaning Kylah's room. One small 12x12 room. I've been avoiding going in her room except to kiss her goodnight and I've been wanting to turn the lights off before I go in lately. I think I have a hoarder on my hands. I've done some pretty good clean outs this year already but none as aggressive as this one. Not one strand of carpet went unturned. Kylah loves to tape things, anything, if it sits still to long she'll tape it to something. We found dead bugs under her bed and an old band aid stuck to the underside of her bed (gross, I know!) I found at least 100 hairbands that have been transformed into horse bridles, rocks, pinecones, wires, a stack clothing tags in her jewelry box, a plastic iguana in a pink satin barbi dress, about 25 tupperware bowls (which explains why I have lots of lids but no bowls), a collection of "keep out signs", lots of erasers that have been ripped from their pencil mates in a monkey pencil pouch, the decapitated pencils had all been laid to rest in a box that I think she took from my laundry room, 15 gummie lizards each in their own snack size zip lock bag placed in her sock drawer. Most of the tons and tons of crap, I mean treasures was organized in a really weird sort of way. What really had me thinking was where she gets all this stuff? I thinkyou could work at it full time and not be able to accumulate this much stuff. But besides all the gross stuff and the unimaginable amount of stuff I learned alot about Kylah. Here's a few of my favorite items that I discovered in the cleaning. Kylah is becoming a talented clay artist.
These beauties were saved from the non stop vacuuming.
These wonderful treasures were saved from the three lawn bags and one big box of giveaway items.
And these beauties were saved from two lawn bags of trash.
And while I was doing all this Kylah was freezing plastic sea animals. Just to see what they would look like. Yep, thats a frozen shark!
Can't even tell you how much I am enjoying the results. I can actually go in the room and not have an anxiety attack or trip over a boobie trap of chinese jump ropes.
I'm enjoying it so much that next week I'm doing the same to Niguels room. Shes been served her 6 day notice that if she wants to keep it she better get it put away.
Look out house i'm on a roll!
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I had a wonderful Christmas Card class this week. So many gals joined me for some fun and card making. Just loving all the time I spend teaching card making and getting to know all my new online friends.
I have just a couple Christmas Card Kits left, if you haven't ordered yours yet shoot me an email if you're interested. [email protected]
Hope you have a great weekend!
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Congratulations to Nicky "I am going to be positive today" You're the winner of yesterdays card give away! Email me your address and i'll send it out to you!
Today I bring you a tutorial on probably my most asked question in class and all around where I craft... How do you tie a perfect bow? Well first off mine are far from perfect. My best advice is PRACTICE. It does take a while to get it down but keep at it and you will. Here's how I do it... you can try it and see how it works out for you. Leave me a comment on how it goes, I really want to know if you're successful
So go grab a piece of ribbon at least 12" long so you'll have plenty to work with. Go ahead i'll wait... (insert elevator music)... Ready...
Step 1... Make a loop and pinch between your thumb and index finger. Leave one tail long and one shorter.
Step 2... Wrap the long ribbon tail around your thumb.
Step 3... Pinch the tail you just wrapped around between your thumb and index finger.
Step 4... Now push the ribbon with the pointy part of your index finger through the hole your thumb is creating and pull out your thumb.
Step 5... Now this is where you need 10 more fingers but since we don't have them I pinch the bow parts between my thumb and index finger and I hold the tails between my thumbs and middle fingers. Now begin to pull the bow tight, but not all the way tight. As you do continue to hold all the parts in the places you want them.
Step 6... Before it is pulled totally tight you can flip and manipulate the loops and tails till they are laying right and the way you want them.
Step 7... Now just keep pulling the ends and make the loops even.
Step 8... You're just about finished... you want to pull the bow tight enough that it stays but not too tight. When you really make it tight is when it gets all crazy and lumpy and you loose that pretty piece in the middle.
Step 9... You're done just fluff up the loops and trim the tails. Pretty perfect bow!
After typing this up I realized that there are a few more techniques I could share about actually tying a bow on a card. I'll post some pictures and tips on that tomorrow. Now go practice... Good Luck!
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I'll pick a winner from the comments tomorrow morning... so tell me... what are you going to do with your day? Bow tying tutorial coming tomorrow.
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This weekend we took off at about 4am on Friday morning to head to Monterey. We went to the Aquarium which is incredible if you've never been! We also spent lots of time at the beach which was a very bountiful shelling day for us girls that collect shells. We also hit two missions on the trip one in Carmel (kylahs 4th grade mission) and San Luis Obispo (Niguels 4th grade mission). Really feel blessed to have so many beautiful things to see and do so close to home!
I turned my camera over to Kylah at both missions and it was pretty comical to see the pictures tonight. She must have taken a picture of every flower at both missions. I have ALOT of flower pictures! But the funniest by far was the photo of Randy doing the bigfoot walk through the center of the mission courtyard. Big laughs! Hope you had a great weekend too... Smiles
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More Christmas today... One of my favorite dies ever from Sizzix, I love this little bird!
TGIF... Hope you have a creative weekend! This weekend i'll be writing some posts about the things you suggested this week so watch for those next week... Sizzix, bows, and i'll be brainstorming on Christmas gift ideas. Smiles...
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Today I have no less than 1512 things to do. Well that might be over stating it a bit but that's the way it feels. So last night I sat down I wrote out what needs to be done and then put it in order that most made sense. Today I'm just plugging away at the list and hoping that I can hit the hay at a somewhat reasonable time. One item on my to do list (very early I might add) was to make up some simple christmas cards to share today but it had to be in keeping with my simple theme.
So here they are... I grabbed some old epoxy stickers and some scrap paper and this is what I came up with. Ok... enjoy but I gotta run. Have a good day!
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