Sharing another oldie today, but it is so appropriate for the week!  It has been a very successful few days here.  I've managed to get quite a few valentine kits ready for this winter, I started tutoring (at a ridiculously early time) and the kiddos were great, and....drumroll......................................................... Cida and I passed the Therapy Dog test!!!! Whaaaaahoooooo!

This banner has me, once again, jonesing for some sassy nautical paper.  Nautical stuff is so yummy! I'm trying very hard to resist getting some new paper until I finish a few more projects.  There's no room for any new stuff!!!!  Of course I could always order the paper now and stash it until I'm finished with my projects.  But then there is the risk of never finding the stashed paper.  Ya know, 'cause by the time I actually get those projects finished I will have forgotten where I hid the paper!

For this "celebrate" banner, the base is cardboard coasters covered in lots of different patterned papers.  I ended up with a huge stack of these oval coasters and for some reason they just screamed banners to me.  It was a bit of a learning curve with that though.  The holes to string them together have to be a little more than halfway up, otherwise they might flip and then you have celbte instead! ;-) The layers used PTI dies and the letters are stickers that were part of the ancient (seriously like 8 years ago or something) paper line. 

Going to load this banner into the shop this weekend.  Make sure to stop by and check out the new goodies!

While I was on my Spooky banner kick, I went ahead and made some new Thankful banners too! They are modeled after the ones my coworkers had asked for last year. They are so much fun to make and each end up with their own personality when embellished.  I'm loading them into my Etsy Shoppe and I'm in the process of filling out all the paperwork for about 3-4 craft fairs this year.  Time to get BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! :)

For anyone in the Lowell MA area- OMG!  DH and I went to the Lowell Open Studios yesterday and we were blown away by all the talent!  We vastly underestimated how many studios were involved and have vowed to return to the next one much earlier in the day.  We saw only a small fraction, but WOW.  I am inspired to try a couple new techniques on my cards.  We'll see if they make the blog post cut. LOL!

Well, just a quick post today as I'm off to my "day job".

It is early yet, but what are you thankful for this fine Monday? 

Morning' Peeps!! I'm still checking off items from my Summer Resolutions List. Guess I just can't let go of Summer! LOL! So along with finally getting my final boxes of donations out the door (I can check that off the list now), I've created some new banners. :)

These banners were fun to play around with, especially to embellish!  The bonus is that my Halloween box is looking a little more empty now. Yay! 

Lots of times I make a bunch of the same thing with the same colors, sorta assemble line style.  This time I went outside of my box and played around to see how this would look with different combos. :)

The letters I cut with my Cricut and the doilies are cupcake doilies. :) For this banner I also cut shadow letters from a grayish-brown chevron paper and I love the look!

This last banner was originally going to be only orange, black, and white.  It was just too match-matchy (I can't believe I said that since I kinda swoon for match-matchy!).  Green was just the right thing to add for some spooky pop. 

I've got a couple more banners in the works.  We'll see if they make the cut to be shown off.  In the meantime, these puppies are in my Etsy Shoppe for sale and I'll be showing them off at work to see if anyone wants to order one. :)

With the yucky weather we are having this weekend, I'm off to clean (and hopefully create) in my studio.  Happy World Card Making Day (realy weekend)!!!!

Whoa!  Two posts in 2 days!!!  Well, I'm procrastinating on some other jobs right now.  Seemed like a good time to post something I made last month. *wink*  Honestly, extended exposure to those 5,6, & 7 year old's I work with has given me their attention span (yeah sure that's where my distractibility cam from LOL)

 I made a few versions of "merry" banners this past season.  A couple had gingerbread people in place of the flag base.  One of those I sold to a coworker and another was a gift.  One used large mittens as the base and went all the way across The Pond to "Merry Old England".  Merry- get it?  Yup, I've had too much coffee this morning. :)

Most of the papers came from a Kit Club kit I am a part of at Ink About It.  The circles I mounted the lettering on I "made" from my stash.  I couldn't find anything that matched, but wasn't too busy to distract from the letters.  I pulled out a paper that had the right soft background, but it needed some umph.  A few snowflakes stamped in grey & red later...voila!

The paper looks like it came with the kit!  Even better I made room in my stash for new stuff. hee-hee!  The mitten is an Amuse die.  It was looking a little naked and needed some glitter to help it smile.

This banner went to live with our friends Jeff and Erin.  They were part of the 13 Man, Woman, and Child Crew that helped to decorate our house for Christmas this year.  It was funny to see it on their mantle!  I got so used to seeing it like it is in this pic.  They have the prettiest reindeer on their mantle, you'd have thought I knew that when I picked the reindeer paper that is on the banner (I mean OF COURSE I knew that *wink-wink*)

Huh, I finished the post.  Does that mean I have to go do my jobs????

Thanks for stopping by today!  Happy Sunday and stay warm out there!

Hiya Folks!  Wowzers, this past holiday season was BUSY.  Now that things have calmed down I'm taking a look back at my favorite creations.  Join me for a stroll down Memory Lane. :)

November had me madly making banners for coworkers to have in time for family gatherings!  This first one is a "shalom" banner.  One of my roomies wanted this for her mantle in time for Hanukkah.  I went simple with the embellishments because we both agreed that she would be able to use this for the High Holy Days that typically fall earlier in the fall and then still be able to use it for Hanukkah (which after this year will be more into winter again).

This is the "harvest" banner that was inspired by the "lilah" birthday banner from an earlier post.  I ended up sending it to my DH's cousin who is in London this year.  Obviously they don't celebrate Thanksgiving and I was hoping she would have it in time to decorate her room for our holiday. :)

This is the "thankful" banner that a coworker wanted, but then decided it was too small.  I thought I would keep it for myself, but then another coworker wanted it for her mantle. :D

I have yet to download the pics for the "merry" banners I have created, so stay tuned!  They may even get posted before Christmas. ;)

I had the coolest Etsy order last week!  The community our summer cottage is in had a craft fair for the residents.  It was held outside at our pavilion and it was COLD!!!!  Totally worth it though 'cause I sold a bunch & a couple custom orders were placed. :)  I brought a bunch of goodies I had on hand, including these cards.  One of the gals that stopped by was excited to find out that I also had an Etsy shop because after getting a couple cards & seeing the pumpkin cards, she contacted me about making a pumpkin banner for her little gals birthday this month.

The theme for the party was pumpkins- how stinkin' cute!!!!!!  I pulled out my PTI pumpkin die and lots of pumpkiny colors & embellies.  So much fun to make & I'm so happy that she loved it.

In the process of making this inspiration struck.  I just finished that piece on Monday, so hopefully I'll get some pics up here soon. :)  Inspiration hit DH too.  He was looking at the banner as I had it set up to assemble and he said "The pumpkin looks kinda flat.  Can you add some extra texture like those dots?"  He meant the Swiss dot folder (which he bought for me when he got me a Cuttlebug years ago- such a great idea!)  Sadly, it just wouldn't cover the whole pumpkin and was a hot mess when I tried.  Then I thought- what about using the pumpkin ridge die (meant to cut slices of the pumpkin) and embossing the lines on instead?  Can you believe I had the foam/rubbery layer that helps you do this and NEVER used it?!?!  My husband was a genius to suggest added dimension AND I used another tool that I had never used.

Well enough of my babbling.  Hope you enjoyed this banner and are inspired to get out some goods you have and haven't used yet. ;)  While we are on the subject- have any of you joined the "50 in 50" group on Facebook?  A friend just told me about it.  The goal is to make 50 projects, in 50 days, without buying anything.  You make whatever you want and try to use up what you already have instead of buying new stuff.  I'm thinking I might have to join so I force myself to get more done!

Let me know if you've tried it!  I'd love to hear thoughts. :)

Back at the beginning of September I was the "entertainment" at an 8 year old's birthday party.  Her mom set the prettiest table for the girls to enjoy their sweets after they finished their project. :)
It was one of those really warm days, so having a screened porch to enjoy when the sun set is ideal.  The girls (and I) enjoyed some punk lemonade and ice cream on this porch- don't you just love those glasses with their matchy-matchy straws!!!!!
This is the tablescape that I had going on in the dining room. :P  As the entertainment, I taught the girls how to make a name banner with rolled roses.  These girls are natural paper crafters!  It was so exciting to see them get excited to create.
This is the model they were using.  I had cut letters for each of them to make their own name, but some of them had very long names and some very short.  Luckily I had a couple moms helping the long name girls while I had small groups working on making roses.
They were so much fun to watch as the roses came to life!  Gosh I love introducing kids (and adults) to new ways of expressing creativity, maybe because I love learning about new stuff myself. :)  I ended up with leftover papers, so I have loaded a banner into my Etsy Shoppe.  Instead of a name banner, it is a "celebrate" banner.  Pop over to check it out! :)

I'm all decorated for the party here:
Tablescape Thursday- Between Naps on the Porch