hangin' with my bestie and painting and such

Spending a Saturday with your bestie is always the best!

Leslie asked me to go to a painting class with her.. and of course I jumped at the chance to be crafty & creative! Our time together seems to get more scarce with those boys of hers and their busy-busy schedules.

My poor church friend has been trying to get me to go Goodwill-ing for months and I had to cancel on her this cold Saturday. Apparently the first Saturday of the month is half price day. Because it's not already cheap enough I s'pose. ;-) I'll get there eventually! 

But back to the painting. 

There was a nice pro painter who led the class. She's just started a biz and if you wanna get a group together and do it, GIVE HER A CALL! 
Heather Viramontes is her name and her phone number is 270-618-0702

Here we are with our 
       :: M A S T E R P I E C E S ::

Pardon my sweatpants. It was SATURDAY people. 

This picture collage sorta shows you how we got there.  

If you're a perfectionist or a little OCD about trying to make it look just like the pro's example {cough cough} you may find yourself stressing a bit during the process. . .  

Les & I wouldn't know a thing about that. 

Have I hung mine up? No. But I do like it. 

And the best part was doing it alongside a chic that knows me better than just about anyone else. 

And still likes me. 

Friends are cool. And so is painting. 

Call Heather!

Monday Rewind: a Valentine's sweet treat

I realize it is February 24th and Valentine's Day was 10 days ago. 

What of it? 

This snack is yummy and I feel compelled to share it with you. 
So there. 

:: Sweetheart buddies ::

This was another little dandy I found on Pinterest. here's the link

I didn't have time to go out and get the red candy melts so mine isn't as pretty as the original creator's, but none of my friends complained. HA! 

I'm toying with the idea of trying this as a lemony treat - if I do, I'll be sure to post the results and a better picture. 

cheer someone up OR save it for your Valentine

I made this for Anthony for Valentine's Day, BUT it could easily convert to one of those cheer someone up kinda things. Could even be a quick teacher gift. 

After all, who doesn't love being told they're THE BOMB?!

What you need - - 

 

3 packs of Rolo candy

Red cardstock or scrapbook paper

Black cardstock or scrapbook paper

1 Black pipe cleaner

Two sided tape

Glue pen & Cricut machine (optional)

 

What you do -  - 

Measure the paper to be the length of the Rolo with just a little of the foil peeping out on each end. Cut with a paper trimmer to ensure straight edges.

 

Put a strip of two-sided tape on one end of your paper. Wrap the paper around each Rolo to act as a wrapper and press firmly to seal the "cover."

 

Once you've done this with all 3 Rolos, stack them together like 3 sticks of dynamite. Tie with the pipe cleaner. Cut off a short piece to stick in the top as the fuse. There's really no need for adhesive. 

 

I don't trust my own handwriting so I cut the phrase out with my Cricut. Then I stuck the letters down with a glue pen on a circle shape. I mounted the red circle on a slightly bigger black circle to give it a little separation from the red of the wrappers. Had to hole punch it too of course. Then I stuck it through the pipe cleaner and cut off the excess. 

 

This was simple but oh so cute, don't you think?! 

 

Like I said, this isn't just for Valentine's. 

 

It could be a little thank you for a coworker that helped you out. It could be a pick me up to your kid who's had a rough week at school. 

 

Go make someone's day - everybody loves thoughtful gifts involving chocolate & caramel!  #yum

another crafty card

While we're on the subject of crafty, homemade cards...

I also recently made this Pinterest inspired birthday card for our little nephew who turned 2. 

here's the link to my inspiration

If you don't own a Cricut, you should!!! 

That's how I cut out the numbers. You just have to turn your paper every which way to make the numbers turn differently. 

The whole panel on the front of the card is raised because it's mounted on 3D glue dots. One of my scrapbooking/crafting staples. 

I wrote the word "celebrate" myself. 

And instead of a button I did a metal eyelet. Couldn't find the right size or color in my stash of buttons. #crafterprobs 

Inking the edges of the paper just always makes it have a bit of a pop in my opinion. I just like the look.  

This is an easy card! Not much time involved here. But a good result! 

cure for winter boredom - a crafty birthday card

Sometimes when it's gloomy & cold outside I get bored. It's not that I'm an outdoor girl so much, but I think it's just the fact that you can't really go out and do much for very long when it's the bitter cold days of winter, ya know? 

We've had a lot of those kinds of days this winter. BOOOO !

The other day I felt like making a cute birthday card for a friend. I had seen it on Pinterest and when I clicked the pin, it took me to a blogger who was kind enough to share the tutorial. 
Step.by.step.by.step.
For a detail oriented girl like me (with a dash of OCD/perfectionism) you can't imagine how happy this made me.  
{ s w o o n } 

Anyway, here's MY CARD - - 

happy birthday message was a Stampin' Up stamp

The front of the card was the last thing I did... 

I like how it turned out! 

The dry embossing on the lighter green strip toward the bottom was pretty much a waste of my time. {lesson learned} But I think the wet embossing of the Happy Birthday circle design gives it a bit of texture & shine. I also put the 3D glue dots under that, which gave some dimension to the front. 

Here's the link to Ms. Lisa Young's blog and her tutorial for making this card - - Lisa Young's blog

If I'm being honest, it took me a couple hours to make my card but I was flipping through papers, searching for ribbon, playing around with things on my Cricut and what not. 

If I did it again (and I plan to) I think I'd be able to do it much faster the second time around. 

Now go make a card! Stat! 

Homemade is A L W A Y S better than store bought!