Sunday, January 14

New Projects and a Plan

Like most people do at the beginning of each year, I have come up with a little bit of a resolution. It really got me thinking when I read about Ali Edwards' idea of picking a word for 2007. I kept coming back to my list of things I wanted to accomplish in this brand new year and kept hearing myself say...I want something better....different....fresh....good. So, it hit me...New! All new! Not what we used to do or eat. Not the same grim attitude. Not the same misfortune and poor choices. All new! New is always a good thing, and new is what I will be aspiring to this year. I am sure that by March I will be teetering on the line of quitting and this month with my impending birthday just a couple weeks away (which is a huge dread), it will be hard to keep up with the positive attitude. But, by golly, I am going to try and work at it. At least as long as it is working for me.
That is just one of the things I have been doing while I haven't been blogging. The other is making a ton of samples for an upcoming training in March in Holland Michigan. If you are a demo, and you are near this fabulous event, I recommend it highly. I, myself, haven't attend it yet but I hear that it is fabulous. So fabulous in fact that the reason I did not attend last year was that it was sold out!
My upline and I will be demonstrating some dry embossing techniques and projects, so I have been immersed with classy brass templates and my light table has never been used so much, ever. This is more of a warning than a brag, because all my samples for the next couple of weeks will feature this technique and products, just bear with it.
The first project is a cute little notepad that is dry embossed and uses pieces from the At Home Simply Scrappin Kit. I bought this kit as a challenge to myself and found that I really loved it, I made Connie's christmas swap gift with it and have used it on a ton of projects.
This is one of those projects that I had the whole thing planned in my head before I started and then about half way through almost flung it out the window! I really wanted it to be able to flap open and also have the pen holder at the top but the measuring and scoring was just not working out for about 20 minutes there, but in the end it is exactly what I envisioned.
Am I the only one that this happens to.
Probably would have been simpler to just give up and make it less complicated....oh well.
More details on the project: Notebooks from the Dollar Tree (5x8), Simply Circles Classy Brass, Chocolate Chip Ribbon and the scalloped circle was made with the slit punch and then embossed (although you can't see it in this picture).

I also made a few new samples that will be featured in upcoming classes. This is one of my favorites, it is the Accents and Elements Tin all decorated with cards inside! Love how this turned out. The tin was wiped clean with windex and then completely covered with the embossing buddy. I opened the tin and then inked up my On The Spot Background Stamp with White Craft Ink. I laid the tin (opened) lid face down on the inked background stamp and used my finger to rub the inside of the tin to ensure that I got a good print. Then I sprinkled it with embossing powder and heated. That was tricky because, Man, that little tin got Hot!
Then I created the belly band that slides off with the Loves Me double-sided papers and some of the diecut stickers from the tin. The heart is actually my design. I took a small piece of the paper and adhered it to the cardboard that comes with the paper pack. I then sketched out a heart on the back and cut out. Voila! Chipboard look for free!
Most of the cards that are inside the tin are in this post, but there are a couple more that I will share later this week.
The last project I just had to share is this cute little borthday purse. I love it because it is made with a free Stamp Set all demos got as a little Christmas present (gotta love free) and the purse itself is from the Dollar Tree (12 for $1). I bought these little boxes in the wedding section about 3 months ago with great intention of using them and they just sat with everything else that also has a great idea behind it. And it just hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday. Voila! Little purse! It is held closed to give the purse look with glue dots. So simple and cute. The little purse is only about 3 inches tall, so I figured it could be a great way to give a gift card or the perfect gift...Cash! As you can see I just love that Loves Me paper.
I also wanted to send a shout out to my buddy, Elizabeth! She sent me some hair clips and rings that she made before Christmas and being the dorkwad that I am, I forgot to shoot her a thanks and a paypal...duh!! So, huge apologies and will send out the paypal tomorrow at work and to make it up...Huge Plug for your fabulous etsy store. I love love love the hairclips and everytime I wear one, I get complements. I had Max take this picture of me wearing the hairclip that I love the most, because it is green. I'm also wearin the cute little green ring too, but it is hard to see. And of course I look like a goof in this picture because he was screwing around when we were taking the picture.
"come on mom, work with me, work with me"
What a goof.
And apparently from this picture I am too.
Maybe this isn't the best free advertisement that I had planned. Oh well.

So, in the year of the New, I am trying to post more pictures, more projects, more me and less boring.



5 comments:

Greta Adams said...

oh girl that is fabulous and i wear my clips and rings all the time too....i love them...so sassy!!

okay so i knew i needed that spot stamp set but kept procrastinating...dang it!!

all that is fabulous and you are ingenious

Crafty Connie said...

Love those projects!
You always have such great innovative ideas.

Greta's Mom said...

YAY my cards for the recipe swap are done!

Mimi said...

I love your hair! It looks fabulous.

I try to stay off Etsy because it could be addicting, but I'm off to look.

Jo said...

Thanks so much for commenting on my card on my blog. It made my morning!!! So here I am checking out your blog. I LOVE the idea of stamping the On the Spot b/g on the tin - it looks FANTASTIC.

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