Could It Really Be A New Post?

Hello, my dear friends!
I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! I have a fun craft project to show you today but before I get to that I'll give you a little update on what I've been up to. Remember that I mentioned I was reorganizing my craft room? Well, that went very well! I pulled some furniture from some other rooms. I took an organizer from my closet. I swapped a shelf from my sewing room upstairs. I removed everything from my room that didn't belong there. In other words...I turned my house upside down! Then I found out we were going to be getting company...UH OH!! haha At least I had a little bit of warning and enough time to get it all back in order! Whew!! I'm quite happy with the condition of my room and I have some tweeking that I'll continue to work on. As for the rest of my house...it's cleaner then it's been in quite some time! After all the hard work I did...I was tired! My husband took a couple of days off and we just had some fun together! One of our favorite things to do is enjoy our lovely yard, so I've got a few more photos to share with you!
First, though, let me tell you about my project!
My new friend, Kit, recently shared how to make these wonderful paper baskets. You can find Kit's paper basket blog post HERE. You'll find links to videos there, as well. These baskets fit in perfectly with my organization kick. It takes one sheet of 12 X 12 double sided paper. I actually adhered 2 single sided Vintage Findings papers together. During my cleaning I came across my Vintage Findings bits, and I thought this would be a lovely container to display them out in the open so I would remember to use them. This basket measures almost 6 inches square and almost 3 inches deep. It was so quick and easy to make! Lots of fun to fill with all kinds of goodies! :o)

I added a layered flower with a brad onto each flap before adhering the flap down. 

I also did a little inking around the edges. 

Here's a photo with some of the Vintage Findings goodies in it:

Now a few other photos to share:

This gorgeous Finch blends right into the Sunflowers, doesn't he? I could have totally bored you with Finch/Sunflower photos alone I took so many! lol There were about 20 of these beautiful birds having a feast the other morning. 

We could have played the "how many can you find" game because they sure do blend in! lol

I really love Hollyhocks...they conjure up some very sweet childhood memories! 

This single beauty suddenly appeared in the middle of our garden this year! What a lovely gift! :o)

We always have lots of these lilies everywhere! 

The Hummingbirds love them but they refused to pose for a photo! lol

So, my friends, with all of that beauty to enjoy outside, with my Sweetie at my side, it's been slow on the crafting side of things. I do intend to be back in a day or two with a 12 X 12 layout. I haven't shared one of those in forever. I was inspired to make one by some very talented friends. When I went to put it together I discovered I didn't have any of the elements I needed for it! I actually took a tray of punched papers outside and made some flowers. 

I hope you'll come back soon and take a look at that! 

Hope your day is filled with JOY and laughter! :o)

Mini In A Box

Hello, my friends! Apparently I'm having attentions span issues! In my last post I mentioned all of the projects that I'm in the middle of. Then my Simon Says Stamp Card Kit shows up...and I dropped all my jobs to do some playing. The kit didn't even include any sparkly shiny things this time! lol
I came across this little wooden box during the reorganizing of my studio and was inspired to alter it using this great kit. My challenge to myself was to use ONLY the kit and a bare minimum of necessary items. I'll have them listed under the last photo. Now, an empty box must be filled so I had to create a little mini album to put in the box. The album measures 6" X 3" and there are 12 pages in it. I took just a couple of pictures of the inside pages to show you some of the stamping I've done. I'm thinking it would be a wonderful little "THANKFUL" journal...hence the title on the cover. After my fun with this project there is still SO MUCH more of my kit left to play with! You can find out all about the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit HERE.
So here's the box:

Here's the box and the mini album:

Here are a few inside pages:

Finally...here's the back of the box! 

Items Used:

Simon Says Stamp August Card Kit;

Wooden Box;

Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Forest Moss;

Tim Holtz Distress Stain - Forest Moss;

Distrezz-it-All;

Bind-it-All;

1/2" O wire;

2 - 3" X 6" Mat Board for Covers.

Well, the list looks a little bit longer then I thought it would! lol I did include EVERYTHING though...which I usually don't. I think I did really good, don't you? I hope you enjoyed this interruption in my regular schedule! Now I have to get back to it! :o)

Linking Up to - Simon Says Stamp August Card Kit Creations - HERE 

It's In The Bag...And More Guests In My Yard!

Hello, my friends! I've had such a busy week! My sweet husband took the whole week off, so we've been very busy having fun! It sure hasn't left much time for crafting or blogging though! lol I'll have lots of catching up to do next week!
I did have just a few minutes yesterday to quickly decorate this gift bag, and I thought I would share it with you. It was fun to make because I made it with an assortment of some of my new toys. I hope you like it! :o)

Papers: K & Company;

Pins: Vintage Findings;

Bag: Unknown;

All Else: Tim Holtz.

Now, I'd like to share a couple of pictures that I took in my garden yesterday.

Isn't God's creation incredible? Tomorrow we're off for more fun together as we're celebrating our 27th Anniversary! 

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend! :o)

More Pages in My "Happy Little" Altered Book

YAY!! I finally got some more pages finished! This is such a FUN project! If you missed hearing what it is I'm up to...just check out the label in the sidebar entitled "Happy Little Moments Class". I do a lot of rambling here, so feel free to skip down to the pictures! Then leave a comment and let me know what you think!

 It was fun to break out the sewing machine for this project, although it did sent me into a fit of the giggles! :o) I'm working on sewing a set of 5-7 pages together. So I practiced with a stack of pages that had been cut out of the book, adjusting the stitch length and tension until I was pretty happy with the way things looked. I'm working with a whole book now, so it's a little bit awkward. I fit everything into place and prepare to sew when I realize the presser foot is off! Well, that's weird! I take the book out of position...reattach the presser foot and start all over again! Okay, here we go...but the presser foot falls off again! What on earth is going on? Now, most people might catch on after just the two times but it took me a little bit longer. I guess it was one of my "slow" days! lol It turns out that as I was pushing the book as close as I could get it to the presser bar, it would hit the lever in the back of the machine that would release the presser foot. Hence my fit of giggles! I'm not sure exactly what I was laughing at but the whole thing just cracked me up! You would probably laugh the hardest if I actually told you how many times that silly foot came off! haha So after that I decided I'd take the book upstairs to my good sewing machine and use that instead. It turns out my good machine doesn't get as close as the machine my husband bought me for paper. So I'll just keep giggling! :o)

Here's the inside front cover:

On this page I spritzed the doily with Perfect Pearls Mist, and I added one of the definitions of "collection". I'll be adding more definitions throughout the book. Here you can see the first of the machine stitching.

Shortly after the class had begun, I was fortunate enough to be one of the winners of a wonderful giveaway. Debbie mailed the fabulous prizes in this little paper bag wrapped with a doily. Of course I had to use it in my book. The other prize winnings will be showing up on later pages. I added some embellishments to the doily and put a tag in the bag. There is a list of my collections on the tag but you can't see that part yet! :o)

This next, and final page, I have to show you today is very much like the lesson. Maggie had this fabulous idea to include a glassine bag wrapped over the pages and filled with confetti bits. I had one bag in my stash, other than the teenie Vintage Findings ones. I decided to punch a couple of little holes in it and strategically place some iridescent stars behind them. Another thing that I really love...but still have a little bit of difficulty with...is leaving all the thread bits hanging! As a quilter, I'm used to snipping all my threads and leaving things neat and tidy. It's an adjustment I'm willing to make for my art! lol

That's it for today! I'd love to hear what you think so far! Please let me know if you have any questions about anything! Thanks so much for looking!...Nancy :o)

52 Week Scrapbook Challenge - Decoupage On a Page

Hello again, my friends! I guess I'm making up for lost time since I have another post already! :o)
I haven't done a page for this Challenge in FOREVER! The only plan I had in mind when I started was to decoupage the star tissue paper on the background. After that I had no idea what I was going to do. Boy, oh boy, did I have fun! After tearing, cutting, inking, layering, and gluing everything, I pulled out the Glimmer Glam, Stickles, pearls and gems to "blingorize" it all...as my friend Titi would say! lol Some of it doesn't show up very well in the photo as I took it late in the day! If you click on it you might see it a bit better! It's so good to be playing again! :o)

Let me know if you have any questions about anything? :o)