Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 1 & 2

I can’t BELIEVE it is already December.  This year has literally flown by!  I am creating Christmas tags again this year based on the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas.  If you are interested in following along, check out his blog.  Each day until the 12th, at 12:01 AM he posts a new tag along with instructions and pictures to help you complete the tag.  I really look forward to it each year.  Here are the first two days of tags I made:

This week…

I have been preparing all the goodies for the class I am teaching tonight and tomorrow.  This will be my last class of the year (since the holidays have snuck up on me again!).  And, just because a good blog post needs pics, here are the tags we will be doing in class and a pic I took of my daughter this week.

Have a great weekend!!!!!!

Halloween Tag #3

Here is tag 3 of 3.  Tim's tags are too much fun.  I actually had to make a run to the store to by the little beads to hang on the bird cage.  Tim is releasing some baubles, but they are not here yet :( 



There is a whole lot going on in this tag:  Poioson label stamp: stampers anonymous, ornate on the edge die and bird cage die: Tim Holtz, washers and brads (distressed with distress hammer): Tim Holtz, locker key and keyhole: Tim Holtz, Wood grain embossing folder: yep you guessed it Tim Holtz, the chain was from my stash and the beads were from Michaels.  I used the Distress it All for the edges of the poison label - I totally love that tool. 



Halloween Tag #2

Here is the 2nd Halloween tag. 

For this tag I used the calendar and cat stamp, and the Bingo embossing folder from Tim Holtz.  The clock face and spinner are also Mr. Holtz and of course some distress inks and stickles!  I had those sequins laying around in my stash for a long time!  

Halloween Tag #1

I saw this in the current issue of Papercrafts magazine and really liked it.  Then a customer emailed me about what you would need to make it and it intigued me to make it myself.  This is the first of three tags. 

For this tag I used one of the new Tim Holtz embossing folders, his fabulous skeleton stamp, grungeboard, tiny attacher for the mini staples, and of course distress inks.



Tag Class #2 this weekend

I will be teaching the 2nd of 3 tags classes this Friday and Saturday based on Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas from last year :)  If you are local and you have not already reserved your spot you can reserve online at http://www.scrapbookgadgets.com/



An Actual Finished Layout!

It has been a little too long since I completed a layout.  It feels good to get back to scrapbooking.  I made this layout of my son at age 3 (2007).  I think that it is actually better for me to scrapbook things a year or so later.  There are things that I notice and appreciate in the pictures from a couple of years ago that I do not think I would have noticed at the time the picture was taken. 

Week in Review

This week my daughter lost her ninth baby tooth.  She stayed up two hours past bedtime wiggling it until it was loose enough to come out.  I was making bread for the next morning and I heard a shriek from upstairs...not a scarey shriek, but a totally excited one.  Her brother quickly got in on the excitement.  He is 6 and has not lost a baby tooth yet.  After seeing her bloody mouth he declared "I do not want to ever loose a tooth EVER!"

I have been trying to learn how to use my camera (that I have had for four years).  I took photography classes in high school and used a 35mm camera (can't even imagine it now) and I even had my own black and white darkroom.  I really enjoyed it and I am hoping to get back to photography now.

Here are some pictures I took of my kids yesterday while I was trying to remember everthing I learned in high school photography 16 years ago :)

Have a great weekend!

Just testing...Again

Craigslist Table: Before and After

I bought this table, a similar coffee table and end table on Craigslist for $120.00!  I sanded the top down, restained it, and put polyurethane.  For the legs, I painted them with brown semigloss paint.  The chairs were stripped down and repaired with wood glue and wood bondo and then painted brown to match the table chairs.  I then reuphostered the seats.  It came out really nice if I do say so myself!

Before:

After:

Acrylic Word Book

I can't believe we are already heading in to the last full week of August!  I am not sure where the summer went.  The kids and I went to their new school today to meet their teachers.  I can't believe that they will be going to 3rd and 1st grade!  I am so excited for them -  making new friends and learning all kinds of things (I am sure both good and bad, but hopefully way more good).  Have a great weekend everyone.

This is a project that I made last year, but I had some requests for pictures so here it is.  If you have any questions about how it is made, etc. just leave me a comment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Test

Just testing something out.

Baby Rattle Shaker Card

Here is a super cute shaker card I made for my good friend Marie.  She is due to have her baby Ryan anyday now and I can not wait to see the pictures of him!

End of Year Teacher Present

I made this cute chalkboard for both the kiddos teachers.  They had a wonderful year in Kinder and 2nd grade.  Both kids really liked their teachers this year.  The apples are cut from the Cricut - I think it was the A Child's Year cartridge.  The little roses are just hand cut and rolled.  I was amazed at how many roses it took to cover the apples (around 60).  The teacher's name was done in white vinyl.

Here is a pic of the finsihed chalkboard for my daughter's teacher.

Just a Quick Pic

No new crafty projects to post; so here is a quick picture I took last Friday.  We took the kids to a Hooks baseball game.  It was a lot of fun and there was even a pretty spectacular fireworks show after the game.  I took this as the sun was setting.  The picture shows a cargo ship docked in the port and a lot of wind turbine parts waiting to be installed.  I really was just taking a picture of the pretty sky, but I bet in 20 years, looking back at a picture of wind turbine parts will definately be pretty crazy.

How to make Paper Roses

Here are the instructions for making paper roses.  In the pictures I am using the black magic paper so you can easily see the front and back of the paper.  I have used both paper and grungepaper to make these and both have come out absolutely fabulous! 

First cut out three of the same sized flower.  Any six petal flower will work. 

Here is what you should have to get started:
Your three flowers cut as shown.
Liquid adhesive - I use Glossy Accents because it dries quickly or you could use hot glue (a little messy for my taste - but works good)
A small stick - I use a wooden skewer that I bought in a pack of 100 from the local grocery store.
Small paper clips
Scissors

Cut a line in one flower to the center.
Cut two lines on either side of one petal to the center of the flower to remove one petal from the second flower.
Cut two lines on either side of two petals to the center of the flower to remove two petals (heart shape) from the third flower.

(See picture below)

Take the flower that does not have any pieces cut out of it and overlap the petals at either side of the cut line.  Glue the petals together and use a paper clip to hold it in place.

Using the flower with the single petal removed and overlap the petals.  Adhere the petals with liquid adhesive and use a paper clip to hold it in place.

Take the final flower that has two petals cut out of it and adhere the petals together.  Use a paper clip to hold the petals in place.

Now take the heart shaped cut out and use your stick to curl the petals.

Here is what it looks like when you have curled both sides:

Take one of the petals and pinch it in half with your fingers.  Here's a pic:

Roll the pinched petal around the other petal.  Take your time with this because the paper will tear if you roll it to tight.  Glue it and use a paper clip to hold it together while the glue dries.

For the single petal, startine at the wide side of the petal roll the petal horizontally towards the small tip of the petal.  Place a little glue on the small tip and use a paper clip to hold it together.

That's the hard part!  You are almost done.  Here is what everything should look like:

By now, the glue should have dried on the large flowers so remove the paper clips.  Using your stick, curl all of the petals.  The largest flower will be the base of the rose.  Place the middle flower into the largest flower.  Trim the base of the middle flower slightly so that it will sit inside the large flower without being to tall. 

Glue the middle flower into the large flower.

Trim the smallest flower as needed and glue the smallest flower into the middle flower.

Trim the next largest piece and glue into the center of the flower.  I usually stick my finger into the center and hold it for about 30 seconds to get it to stay in there.

Now trim and glue the final piece into the center of the flower and taa dah! 

I placed mine on top of a lily pad in my pond:

Here is the rose I made from grungepaper for the halloween class.  I colored the flower with distress ink and stamped a textured stamp onto it before I started adhering everything together.