Stars and Snowflakes Forever

Hi all! wanted to play this challenge at Jingle Belles this week! The challenge is to CASE an old Jingle Belles card. I chose to case Lauren's Stars and Stripes card. I LOOOOVED this, too cute, and what I loved about it was that even though it was red, white and blue, it felt totally "Christmasy" and not "4th of July-ey" (I know, not a word!) at all! 

Here is Lauren's card, my inspiration! 

Isn't this cute? I love the DP she used, I used to have some of that same kind, but alas, I used it all! I also loved the vintage feel she had, so I tried to put some of that into my card. 

I started with an old scalloped note that Stampin' Up! used to sell, it's a very light blue (an old InColor) called Soft Sky. I layered another round card I had, again REALLY old from Target, it had a little asterik pattern on it, I was thinking snowflakes! I decorated the edges with some green glitter buttons. I pleated some red ribbon across the center of the card and pleated it down, stapling as I went. But by the time I finished the card very little of that was still showing! I die cut a piece of Tempting Turquoise, and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with white EP. I stamped that cute little (I thought vintage looking?) elf onto white cardstock and colored him with Copics. I fussy cut him out and attached him to my die-cut piece with some foam tape. I added a little Stickles to his jingle bell to make it sparkle (very hard to see in these pics, that bell is so tiny!) I added a layered, punched star that I made with Real Red and a piece of glittered Tempting Turquoise cardstock. I topped it off with an oooold snowman eyelet. To the left of this layered/glittered/punched/embossed/die-cut/Copic-colored/fussy-cut piece of fabulousness ;) I put an acetate star topped with a larger glitter button in blue. 

Well, that is all for me today! I hope you are having a lovely holiday weekend! We took the boys to the Denver Art Museum today, it was really fun. Be back soon! 

xoxo, Noelle

supply list: round and scalloped circle cards: SU! and Target; stamps: Inkadinkado; star punches: EK Success; glitter buttons: Recollections; markers: Copic; die: Spellbinders; white EP & heat gun; acetate star: Heidi Swapp; red satin ribbon: The Ribbon Boutique/Hobby Lobby

DUST IT OFF!: LOADS of old goodies on this card, starting with the cards themselves! Threw in an old acetate star and an old snowman eyelet, too. 

Homework Boxes for Kids

New boxes with tags.

Hi there! Do you have big plans for the long weekend? Hoping everyone is looking forward to a fun time! I had a great day with my Mom on Thursday. :) It was so nice to just have girl time, and we found some great sales, too! Including an adorable dress from my fave store, Ann Taylor LOFT for only 12$!! Woot woot! I love me some good sales :) Today I got a haircut and all my Fall decorations up! Yippeee! I love the change in seasons, and with record setting heat in August, I am SO ready for some cooler weather, cozy sweaters and Pumpkin Spice Lattes! :) While shopping yesterday at this really cool home store, I saw a gorgeous Fall display that I tried to emulate on our mantel. I think it turned out pretty cool! I'll try to put up some pics of that soon. 

Ok, so why am I here? Bet you want to see some crafty goodies and NOT just hear about some good sales in Colorado! I made these homework boxes a couple years ago, and they have been SO handy for all the stuff the boys bring home, their Math workbooks, library books, etc. Here's a couple pics of the old ones...

Old boxes from front

Old boxes from back

I wanted to include these old pics, in case you would like the magazine file shape better. To be honest, I thought of just recovering these, but the cardboard was pretty chewed up and I liked the idea of something plastic, so I could wipe them down and spray them with Lysol from time to time! ;) So, the old boxes hit the recycling bin & I got these boxes at the Container Store for 5$ each...

I decided a simple tag would be good identification. That way it can be removed if I want to wipe the boxes down, and I can easily make more tags later, while covering those cardboard boxes took a lot of time, tags are easy & fast! I used my Spellbinders dies to cut the oversized tags. I wanted each boy's tag to be a bit different, I'm not into matchy matchy... So i used some different "boy" themed DP's and some OA letter stickers for their names. I added some cute acrylic accents to the bottom of the tags and used ribbons and ribbon scraps for the ties. And, now we have fresh, clean, new homework boxes. And that makes me happy! :) I hope you have a stellar weekend! I am looking forward to it. :)

xoxox, Noelle

supply list: dies: Spellbinders; ribbon: Hobby Lobby; acrylic accents: The Paper Studio; solid cardstock in Poppy Parade, Tempting Turquoise; and Apricot Appeal:SU!; letter stickers: October Afternoon; adhesive rivets: Tim Holtz; designer papers: Crate Paper, Fancy Pants, and The Paper Studio

DUST IT OFF!: I save my old ribbon scraps in a ziploc and then when I need little pieces of ribbon, like here right above the rivets, I dive into that bag. 

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Hi all! My mom's birthday was last week. And tomorrow we are spending the whole day together, yea!!!! I am REALLY looking forward to having a a "girl day" some shopping, lunch, and I have the WHOLE day for fun! :)

So, I am **late** getting this card made, but since I knew I was going to see her, I thought I'd give her a birthday card/gift then.

I used my new Papertrey Ink stamps and dies, that was my jumping off point for the card... I went in search of a sketch and found this cool one in the Mojo Monday archives, a great resource for sketches!

This is sketch 140 from 5/2010. I flipped it onto it's side and subbed my PTI die shape for the square shape. I used some cute MME and SU! DPs. Lots of layering and lining everything up just so.... And, in the LR hand corner of the square panel, it is NOT crooked cutting, I swear! The adhesive wasn't stuck down all the way, LOL! For the tab, I used a small Nestabilities die & some sticker letters to spell out "mom." 

The button in the LL hand corner uses a technique I like to use sometimes, I opened up the prongs of a decorative brad all the way (pull the prongs apart so they are sticking straight up) and then I put the prongs through the holes in the button, to create this "layered button" effect. Kind of fun & not  a technique I see used very often. 

In the inside of the card, I put this cute sticker, I'd been saving it for a card for my Mom. The colors and shapes just happened to work beautifully with this! :)

Well, that's it for me today, folks! Be back in a couple days with some more fun challenges! :)

xoxo, Noelle

supply list: stamps: Papertrey Ink; dies: Papertrey Ink & Spellbinders; DP: Stampin' Up! and My Mind's Eye; button: Crate Paper; letter stickers: Authentique; sticker: lilybee design; brad: BoBunny

DUST IT OFF!: Pull out some papers you haven't used in awhile, but still love! :)

Mixing the old with the new 1st Halloween card of the year!

Hi there! Wanted to share my first Halloween card of the year. I ordered some new goodies from Inkadinkado  and Papertrey Ink. Everything came yesterday evening, it was like Christmas for me! :) I wanted to use my new goodies on a Halloween card. I ordered so many cute Halloween stamps over at Inkadinkado ;) They had a sale when I ordered and all the Halloween stamps were 20% off, so this Trickster Cat mini set and most of the other stamps I ordered were only 1.60 a piece! Woot woot, I love me a good deal and so cute as well.... You'll be seeing more in the upcoming months :)

Shockingly enough, I'd never ordered anything from Papertrey Ink before.... and OH MY GOSH, if you haven't you should go over there & check it out, so many cool stamps and coordinating dies. I had to rein myself in and keep it to these stamps, and the coordinating layering dies, all of which I used on this card. I also ordered some test tubes, so I can make some adorable Halloween goodies like Niki Estes these are too cute! The final thing I got from there were some clear boxes to package my cards in. I have so many cards, and as much as I love Etsy, I just haven't had the drive to spend time posting (and posting regularly, too...) to make 3-5$ per card. So, I decided to package some up/ 4 to a box and save them for when I need little gifts! In fact, I used a box today! :)

Ok, enough yammering, I know.... ;) My card: started with a base of handmade paper (I love this stuff/generic brand, I bought it at Xpedx if you have one of those...) and added a strip of late year's SU! Halloween DSP with a punched strip behind. Then topped it off with the die cut and stamped pieces. The cat was heat embossed with black EP on ivory cardstock and fussy cut. I colored his eyes and nose with markers and used pop dots to attach him to the die cut. The colors used on this card are: Ivory, Black, Rich Razzleberry, Concord Crush, and Old Olive. I hope you like it! I am SO READY for fall! Bring on the cooler weather, autumn leaves, hot cider, and cute Halloween crafts! I CAN'T WAIT!!! :)

Have a stellar day!! xoxox, Noelle

supply list: stamps: Inakdinkado & Papertrey Ink; dies: Papertrey Ink; punch: EK Success; DP: Stampin' Up! and generic; solid cardstock: SU!; black embossing powder and heat gun; ink pads and markers: SU!

DUST IT OFF!: Use last year's DP scraps for your cards this year! Don't forget your trusty non-themed punches either!!

ColourQ 100!!!!

Hi all! VERY exciting fun over at colourQ today, as it is our ONE HUNDREDTH challenge! I hope you will come play! For this commemorative week, we are using a sketch from clean&simple stamping and ANY past colourQ palette! They are all on the sidebar at the colourQ blog. I used palette 72. 

Here's my page....

I did a lot more stamping on this page than I have as of late! I used the birthday themed builder wheels from Stampin' Up! as the base of my page. I stamped them in Versamark ink and used chalk over them. An old technique I hadn't pulled out in awhile, and I like the way it turned out!!! For the title block I background stamped with the woodgrain stamp before stamping the "look who's" with some cute (but old!!) acrylic stamps by Sassafrass Lass. The chipboard "8" I had was bright turquoise & wasn't going to fly with the colors, so I covered it in DP to get the color I wanted. I layered the 8 over a Tim Holtz journaling tag and accented it with an old chipboard heart from my stash. The acrylic stars are accented with a red felt brad that I covered myself and some blue snap/eyelet things. At the bottom of the page, I found this half a pocket in my stash, all made up from when I did this card waaaaay back in January! I thought it would be a cute accent for this page. I stapled a ticket with the date to the LL hand corner of the pic. For the banner I used a jumbo stamp wheel with stars on it, which I inked up with the inkpad since I didn't have a cartridge that color, and trimmed down to size. Used a fun BasicGrey birthday sticker in the middle of the banner to accent. Here's some detailed shots for ya....

I hope you like my page! And I hope that YOU will come over to colourQ and pair your fave of the last 99 palettes with this fun sketch to play with us on our 100th week! :) 

Have a stellar day!! xoxo, Noelle

supply list: solid cardstock and inkpads/cartridges: Stampin' Up!; stamps: SU!, Sassafrass, Close to my Heart; pastels: SU!; sticker: BasicGrey; ticket and navy blue DP: My Mind's Eye; journaling ticket behind 8: Tim Holtz; acrylic stars and chipboard heart: Heidi Swapp; felt brad made with iTop; blue snaps: making memories

DUST IT OFF!: Pleased to tell you there are SO many old goodies on this page! The pastels for one, also the chipboard heart, that half pocket piece, the acrylic stars and the snaps, the star wheel, the pocket stamp, even that blue ticket with the date is pretty old! Now I'll feel less guilty playing with the NEW supplies I just got in the mail last night! :) 

Kids Art Center

Hi there! No paper crafts for you today, but I know that the organization posts have been the most popular I've written. Here and here they are if you are needing some crafty organization tips. Maybe I should include organization tips at the bottom of each page instead of "dust it off" tips! But still today's post is a bit different.... Being involved in theater for much as my life, as well as being a crafter for most of it too, creativity is HUGELY important to me! And, after having two little boys who just weren't all that into coloring, painting, chalk, etc., my 3rd son, Ev is HUGE into art! Super fun for him AND me! :) I have been meaning to put this space together for him for AWHILE! So glad I finally got myself together and did this! I have this very pretty curved staircase in my house. When we bought this house I thought I would put a pretty round table here, maybe some flowers, etc. But then cold hard REALITY kicked in, LOL! That may be a possibility for someday, but for now, while I've still got three rambunctious boys throwing balls, wrestling, and spilling all over my house.... well, I can just see that delicate vase getting knocked over and broken, as well as, the pretty round table getting colored on by Evan! I have a strong belief that kids come into your life and home, not the other way around, and even though we do have "nice" rooms in our house as well, I decided it would be better to turn this into functional, usable space, and save the pretties for later in life! ;) 

I actually had almost everything on hand I needed to make this space up, too. The only things I bought to make this work, were the vinyl for the floor, to cover my pretty bamboo floors up and keep them from getting paint or marker on them! Also, those cute little hooks on the wall, I happened upon those last night at JoAnn crafts, on sale for only 2.50 a piece! Too perfect for this space and cheap too! What could be better, I ask you? :) Would still love to have something to hang above the easel... in fact I do have a cute board with clips on it for hanging kids art, but as this wall is curved, I don't know I can properly hang it! Ok, enough rambling, here's a tour for you....

The vinyl I bought at Hobby Lobby, using a thumbtack and a red Sharpie,
I was able to mark the circle and it cut easily with fabric scissors.
Had the table, chair and easel already. Hard to tell, but there are ladybugs printed on it!
You could also use leftover vinyl flooring or a plastic tablecloth for this component of the space.

One of the hooks I got at JoAnn! Hanging Evan's art smock on this one,
and I think I have a couple little kid aprons I will add to the hook as well :)

Put some of the crayons in these Elmo pails I bought from the Dollar Spot ages ago.
I thought this might be easier cleanup than trying to keep them in the boxes! 

I had this in the basement, and most of what was in it ended up right in the garbage!
I like this vs. more "specific" art storage because it can change supplies easily,
if I want to take out the coloring books and put play-doh in the drawer instead, easy peasy to do so.
The drawers are large and it will be easy for Ev to clean up by himself, too. 

Top drawer: Crayons, markers, scissors, glue sticks, ta-doodles,
and chalk (the back of the easel is a chalk board).

Bottom drawer: coloring books! We must have 2 dozen
of these, so glad they will finally get used! I even found some Little Einsteins
ones in the pile, which is Ev's FAVORITE right now!! 

Middle drawer: paper. If your kids like art, I HIGHLY recommend
keeping all those useless flyers and old papers the kids bring home from school.
The backs make perfect art papers and then you don't waste your computer paper! I will
 "supplement" this drawer with some scrapbook paper scraps as well,
so there are plenty of colors to play with. :)

Well, I hope this is a fun and useful idea to some of you! As a creative person, I feel one of the greatest gifts I can give my kids is to allow them to explore their own creativity! Additionally, this has the added benefit of being adjacent to MY studio/ craft space, so I'm hoping it will keep Ev occupied while I'M trying to be creative! LOL! That's all for now, have a super day :) 

xoxo, Noelle

Wet Puddle Fun (TCPTUES173)

Hey there! I LOVED the colors over at TCP Tuesday 173 this week, so I decided to play along, I've missed using my adorable TCP stamps :) It's a great color challenge over there this week. Check it! 

I had this embossed cardtock laying around from Ev's birthday party invitations (see last post...) and it seemed to be the perfect fit for this color combo. I pulled out one of my fave TCP sets Wet Puddle, and gave it a go with my Copics, which I haven't used in a while! I think I did a little better with the hair, but I need to take a Copics class so I can learn and get better! I paper pieced her jacket. I also did a little paper piercing along the left side, and some punching with my fave edger punch. I made the "puddle" with a punched oval stamped with the "bubble" stamp from the set. I gave her a giant sparkly orange button on her jacket ;) I completed my card with some orange bakers twine and a yellow button.

For the finishing touch, I decorated the inside, inspired by awesome TCP designer Jenny Peterson, and you should REALLY click on that link to go see her adorable card with these colors! Her card is COMPLETELY perfect! I LOVE it!!! :)

Well, that is it for me tonight! I hope you like my first TCP/Copic/fussy cut card in AWHILE! LOL, have a stellar evening!

-Noelle

SUPPLY LIST: stamps: TCP; embossed cardstock: Bazzill; solid cardstock: SU!; Memento Black inkpad; punches: EK Success; Copic markers; DP: American Crafts; glitter epoxy stickers: Sticko; orange bakers twine: Jillibean Soup; yellow button: SU!; paper piercer tool

DUST IT OFF!: How 'bout dusting off a TECHNIQUE you haven't used in months? For me Copic markers and fussy cutting needed a dust-off! Plus, only cardstock scraps were used on this card :)