Distress Watercolor Dry Embossing

Came across this tutorial today at SplitCoastStampers (LOVE them!!). It looked so incredible I had to clean my craft room so I could get inky.
You can see their tutorial HERE
A wonderful crafty lady (Mel) did this tutorial, you can see it on her blog HERE

I got to use my new SU embossing folder! This technique was a lot of fun, but then again, watercoloring in ANY technique has been right up there with breathing since I discovered it!

Arn't those little photo corners fun? It's actually a scrap from a punched scallop oval that I cut. Waste not, want not.

New Toys!!

I got myself some new Stampin' Up! goodies that I just can't wait to play with!

I got a new pack of designer paper: See it HERE
A pack of Very Vanilla Cardstock: See it HERE
Sanding blocks: See them HERE
A new impression folder (SO EXCITED): See it HERE
A new stamp wheel (LACE!!!): See it HERE
and the new spritzers (WAY COOL!): See it HERE

Dishcloth Apron

My biggest complaint in the kitchen is that the baby constantly takes the dish towel off the oven rack so when I'm washing my hands, there's nothing to dry them off on.

Seriously.
HATE it!!

So I took an old dishcloth (there was a hole in it, and the edges were worn pretty bad) and "fancied" it up.
To hide the hole, I made a pocket out of an old T-shirt sleeve. I hid the worn edges with a pretty pleated layer of lace and another old T-shirt. To make the tie around, I used the bottom seam part of the old T-shirt since it should hold up well, and let's face it. It keeps the theme.

I haven't cooked with it yet, think I made it a bit short for me, I'd like more towel. This one now belongs to my daughter, the lovely model you see (isn't she just plain GORGEOUS?!).

When I make mine, I will applique something on the pocket before I sew it to the towel. I'm really bummed I didn't think of that with this one :(

Family Command Center

This is how our family of 5 (currently 8) keeps it all together. We have our calendar up and i put everyones activities on it. Guess what? COLOR CODED!! I assigned a colored marker to everyone so at a glance I know who has what.

Got the boards from Wal*Mart and guess what... they're magnetic!!

I hate to hear "What's for dinner" at least twice per kid, per day. That's at least 12 times per day!! Sooo, dinner is planned out in advance and all I have to do is point.

This is a 12x12 shadow box that I found at a garage sale. I painted it white, distressed it, added a lovely piece of paper as a background, and viola! Ready for my menu! I printed the menu out on regular printer paper, tore and inked the edges, then straight pinned in place.

Found this big ole frame also at a garage sale, SUPER cheap. I created a mat around it with scrapbook paper so my regular printer paper would fit inside it. I printed off the kids daily, weekly, and monthly chores on one side, the other side is for miscellaneous stuff I want them to get done. With the paper under the glass, we get to use it as a dry erase board!!

I was given the chalk board clip board as a birthday gift and decided to use it with this project. We have 4 hanging clipboards under the big board to keep individual papers from getting lost in the shuffle. Everyone has their own board so they are responsible for keeping track of their own papers. LOVE the accountability!

Repurposed Planter

BEFORE

Normal run-of-the-mill thick wire over-the-rail planter.
All I did was spray paint it.

AFTER

I have a perfect caddy for all those necessities that should be at hands reach while changing my little guy. Perfect!

Paper accessories

Please disregard my face-
That said, a new class being offered at Michael's is "Paper Crown" and "Paper Party". These are some of the things that are made in the two classes.
The crown is GINORMOUS. After wearing it around the store for a few hours (you should have seen the looks I got!), the ribbon had cut my ears. It's HUGE and heavy but very cool.
The name tag is super simple to make, in fact, these classes are geared towards kids! It's a folded medallion style flower, with a scallop punch in the center and a lapel pin on the back. Add some ribbon, and VIOLA!

I am thinking of doing my little princesses next birthday party with these crowns. I will cut out all the pieces first though, there's a lot of them.
You can't see them all too well, I would use different colors for the different layers next time so they pop, but these require a lot of paper, and a lot of pop up glue dots. I would also fold thick ribbon in half for the band next time so as it rests on top of my ears, I don't get cut.

Plank Sign

I found these fabulous metal letters at my local Michael's store in the dollar bin. YAY!!
Took the most rustic looking cedar planks I could find and lightly spray painted them white. I attacked them with a hammer and screwdriver (on the ends) to make them more rugged.
The staple gun that I was using was going right through the metal, no matter the setting, so I decided to go the old fashioned route and use a hammer and nails.
After I got the first one in half way, I missed the top of the nail head and bent it down. LOVED it!! Needless to say, I continued in that fashion for the rest of the letters.

Home Made Smash Book

At one of our last M.O.P.S. meetings, the craft was "Smash Books".

I teach the class using the books from K & Company at my local Michael's store, but honestly I prefer this kind.
This is what I call the "Cram-What-You-Can Book"

Seriously. To save money on scrapbooks, make your own. Head to the craft store to get some rings (like $3 for 6, I think) and then just use scraps!

I decided to go for texture. I got canvas pieces, rope, twine, netting, magazine paper, cardstock, envelopes, cardboard... anything that I thought might not get used, I used. A lot of the pages are made with 12x12 paper cut into fourths (so 6x6 squares) and glued to each other. I only glued 3 sides though, make every page a pocket! Give me glue, a paper trimmer, a pile of junk mail and a Crop-o-dile, I'll give you a Smash Book!

This has been in the works for months now, I wanted to get as much in it as possible before giving to hubby for Father's Day. I got all the ticket stubs from our outings (Plays, Seahawks & Mariners games, Museum trips, etc), included family pictures of us & our parents, and found miscellaneous stuff that I know he loves. I found a great vintage koala bear postcard at a garage sale for next to nothing, also found some vintage Father's Day cards that just happened to say the perfect things :)

A gift from a lovely

This was one of my birthday gifts this year from my youngest sister. She's so freaking talented and CRAZY creative!
I had been having a hard few months, it was so difficult getting off that pity party train! My sister flew in from San Fran to surprise me. Boy did she! Hubby helped orchestrate her home-coming and a surprise party for myself and our daughter (who's birthday is around the same time as mine), once again, they did a great job. He had about 40 people hiding in our garage when I came home from church.

I think this is such a cute idea. We sat around for hours talking about the documented memories of our childhood that filled the pages. We laughed, we cried, I felt ashamed at not helping do her hair at Homecoming, and we laughed some more. I decided that this could be a great tradition for us, plus a great way to keep track of all the crazy, funny, scary, embarrassing stuff that we lived through together.