Corner Bookmark Smooches

About a month ago, my friend Olivia texted and asked me to make a corner bookmark so she would have a sample to follow. I of course said I would do it but up until this week I still hadn't done it. My intentions were good but I just hadn't had the time to do it at a decent hour and I didn't have the energy to stay up late to work on it. So on Monday night I was determined to make one but laid down with Malachi to put him to sleep and then I woke up and it was 2 AM. I got up and changed into my pjs and went back to bed. So all morning Tuesday I kept thinking I need to squeeze this in today so I could use it as a make and take at my SU! demonstrator meeting that evening.

So finally when the kids were down for a nap and I had gotten a few things done around the house I crept into my craft room and started creating but then Kaiden woke up. I put his bouncer in my craft room near my desk and all was well so back to creating I went until I heard "Mom?" Malachi was awake. He came into my craft room and I thought I'm never going to get this done but to my surprise Malachi was content to play on my stool so I kept creating. I did have to take the scissors, glue, and paper cutter away from him at different points but for the most part he did well with just spinning on the stool.

I ended up with one failed attempt at a bookmark and then I started on this one. I am much more happy with this bookmark than my first one. I love it when all of a sudden my creativity flows and I love what I made. After I made this I quickly cut my supplies for my make and take and then the boys and I moved over to the family room to read a book. I guess these are the adventures of a crafty mom.

So if you have a toddler in your home, I hope you find time to craft soon.

Scrapbooking

I started out paper crafting because I wanted to create a scrapbook of my wedding. That was 7 years ago. Ultimately scrapbooking lead me to making cards and that lead me to Stampin' Up! So now I do all of the above.

One of my club members asked me when my next scrapbook class would be so that made me get to work on a class. The class was last weekend. This is one of the layouts we created. The great thing about me creating for classes is that is gives me pages to add to my own scrapbook.

I am currently trying to work on another class but this one isn't for scrapbooking. It will be a gift class where we will make coasters, a journal, and a couple other items. I am hoping to finish up my samples this weekend but the flu bug has hit my house. Malachi is feeling much better and I am getting there. So here is to hoping for a productive weekend.

The Petal Cone Again

It's the Petal Cone die again. I've said it before, I really love this die. I've just found so many great things to do with it. It's always great to realize that I didn't just buy a product that I will rarely use. Believe me when I say I have plenty of those items.

I began paper crafting in 2004 after I got married. At that point I bought so much stuff, some of the stuff I really didn't even know what to do with it. I guess I have a problem, an obsessive compulsive need to have, buying problem. In March of 2007 I became a SU! demo and since I love the fact that all their paper and ink coordinate, I just had to have it all. So when you add up the past 7 years of purchasing craft stuff, you can imagine that there has been numerous items that I bought and then realized that I could have lived without them.

Just before Malachi was born I had to get things cleaned out and I donated a lot of stuff to my sister's school. Some stuff I'd never even opened the packages. The other thing that happened with the arrival of Malachi was I realized I didn't want to work full time anymore. That sure did cut into my crafting budget, although it is well worth it! So over the past year I have definitely made my purchases more wisely.

So I said all that to say this, the petal cone has been a good investment for me.

Now to actually tell you about the project, This time I cut part of the bottom of the cone, this shape looks more like a take out box. I used the Sale-A-Bration Bliss Stamp Set, Fun Flowers die, First Edition DSP, and Baja Breeze Seem Binding Ribbon. I filled the box with some chocolate and now all I have to do is deliver it to someone special.

Real Fun Flowers

I was inspired to make this card when I saw Mary Brown's card that she made for the Mary and Connie's Color Challenge. This is a great color combination. This was the first time I had seen Mary & Connie's blog and I am so happy that I found it. They have some great color challenges and layout challenges. I will definitely be visiting their blog again.

I hadn't used the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder in a long time, so it was good to get it out and use it. The fun flowers die is becoming one of my favorite dies. The flowers are so fun, I love the different shapes each flower has.

Fun Flowers

I got inspired to make this card when I visited Dianne Sisneros's blog, she created a cute 8x8 scrapbook page. I had purchased the DSP from the occasions mini but hadn't even opened the package and this gave me the perfect reason to open it. I also used the Fun Flowers die to cut out the flowers. When I first seen this flower die, I thought I don't need another flower die cut but after seeing all the samples, I realized that I needed it. Really it was a need, not a want! Who am I kidding, I wanted it.

Once again I did the scrunched ribbon. The other night I tried to show some fellow demonstrators how to do the scrunched ribbon and for the life of me I couldn't get the ribbon to scrunch but as soon as they left I did it within seconds. I hope I didn't scare them away from trying it at home.

All day Friday, I kept thinking I should work on some cards or a scrapbook layout but the laziness in me won. Finally in the evening I got to work on this card. In the process I made a few mistakes and set some stuff aside but in the end I used those other pieces for other cards. So I ended up making three cards. I will share the other two over the next couple of days. Enjoy your weekend.