Mar20

Handmade Card for 20th Birthday

Posted on by
Standard

My granddaughter Kelsey has just turned 20, and I made her this birthday card.  I’m not sure she was very impressed with my illustration skills, but I’m quite convinced she appreciated the cash that accompanied the card!

I first washed the front of a blank white notecard with some Distress crayons and water.  Once dry, I penned the words “Happy birthday” and dotted each letter with a white Gelly Roll pen.

On the inside, I again used Gelly Roll pens to create birthday candles representing tally marks.  My signature, “G & G”, is our standard one for “Grandma and Grandpa.”  Love, love, love!

Advertisements
Mar11

My $3.04 Easter Tablescape

Posted on by
Standard

Easter 1

Yes, the title of this post is a little misleading. Most of the items on my Easter dining table came directly from my springtime storage tub.

I had the table runner, white porcelain bunnies,

Easter 4

pink Easter grass, the white eggs, white dishes, and the pink paper plate I stationed between the plate and bowl.Easter 3I used some green polka-dotted washi tape to make the “placecards,”

Easter 2

and spent $3.04 on pink striped scrapbook paper which serves as the placemats.  Easter 5

Smart, huh?

Mar5

DIY Gift Wrap

Posted on by
Standard

Wrap 1

For the last few gifts I’ve given, I have played around with creating my own gift wrap. The paper design turns out big and sloppy and interesting, and I like the fact that it isn’t neat and pretty. It’s clearly DIY and is a fun, cheap project.

I started out with a large roll of white paper I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I found this for $10 in the kids’ craft section, and used a 40% off coupon. I cut pieces down to the size I needed for each particular gift, and then used acrylic and/or watercolor paints and markers to decorate. These were for my granddaughter when she turned five.

Wrap 7

Thursday is my BFF’s birthday, but I won’t tell how old she is! This is the paper I made for her today.
Wrap 3
Since she’s a crapsman too, I know she’ll appreciate the effort!

 

Feb26

Sugar-Free Blackberry Fluff

Posted on by
Standard

Fluff

Dan the Man and I have been on the ketogenic diet. With this diet, the focus is on eating fat and protein and eliminating most carbs and sugars. In an effort to satisfy my ever-present sweet tooth, I eat a daily dose of sugar-free pudding made with heavy cream. But last night, I invented a new and easy recipe that turned out to be delicious.

I used a 3-ounce package of sugar-free cheesecake Jello instant pudding,

Fluff 2

one 8-ounce package of softened cream cheese,

Fluff 3

two cups of heavy cream,

Fluff 4

and about half a jar (no, I didn’t measure) of sugar-free blackberry jam.

Fluff 5

My intent was to mix the pudding, cream cheese, and cream using my stand mixer and then swirl the blackberry jam into it.  Didn’t work!  So, instead, I used the mixer to mix all four ingredients. It turned out creamy, sweet, mildly fruity, and yummilicious.  This recipe is a keto keeper!

 

Feb5

V-Day Cards

Posted on by
Standard

For the last week or so, I’ve been experimenting with a few techniques for making Valentine’s Day cards.  Coincidentally, I’ve had to send out both a get well card and a condolence card, and I’ve used my newly-created cards for those purposes too.

I began by looking for inspiration on YouTube and Pinterest. I found this “Masked Gelli Plate Hearts” from Balzar Designs on YouTube at https://youtu.be/8VGfRw8L6T4. Since I’d just acquired a Gelli Plate and was anxious to experiment, this seemed like a great starting point. The tutorial showed me how to use all sorts of paints, stencils, and stamps to build color onto plain card stock.  Once I was happy with my paper, I cut out hearts (using my kindergarten cutting technique beginning with a paper fold), and then I glued them onto previously-purchased cards.  A few pen strokes later, here are a few of my creations.

Next, I tried some bright red acrylic paint, white paint, and a spray bottle of water.  I plopped some dabs of paint onto a piece of parchment paper (my favorite crafting underlayment!), sprayed it with a healthy dose of water, and used my finger to swirl the water into the paints. Using more white cardstock, I ran the paper through the paints, getting a somewhat marbled effect.  Once dry, I cut out my hearts and added them to cards.

For my final effort, I followed a watercolor tutorial I found on Pinterest from Bedlam answers Butterflies (http://bedlamandbutterflies.co.uk/2016/02/last-minute-valentines-day-cards/).  I’m kind of “Meh” about these, and they certainly didn’t turn out as pretty as the original, but whatever!

Now I’m on to decorating the envelopes.  More on that next week!

Jan28

A Much-Belated Hand-Made Holiday

Posted on by
Standard

It’s been about six weeks since I’ve last posted on this blog. I haven’t lost my crafting mojo, but my motivation to write has been sorely missing. I’ve finally decided to get back to it — writing can be hard work, but it’s an excellent mental exercise. So here goes!

This post was a long time in coming, and I’m afraid the topic is much belated. Christmas. Planned, prepped, celebrated, and finally all put away. But my Christmas prep started early last year and lasted a long time, because my goal was to make it a hand-made holiday. Gifts, tags, and bags, handmade by yours truly. Here’s a slide show of many of the items that I gifted this year.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Dec10

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Posted on by
Standard

Pillow 1

To be frank, today I’m just showing off. This might be the cutest thing I’ve ever made!!! Li’l Miss, aged four, had a loose tooth, and her mom asked me to make a tooth fairy pillow. After scouring Pinterest for inspiration, I combined several ideas to make this one:

Pillow 2

I bought white and pink felt sheets, embroidery thread, and the dotted pink ribbon. I used pink fabric scraps and fiber-fill I already had in my stash. I used a back stitch to create the tooth fairy and the “Lauren’s Tooth” part. I stitched the felt heart onto the white felt, leaving an opening at the top to insert the tooth. I then ironed on interfacing to the white rectangle, cross-stitched it onto the pink fabric, leaving a large opening for the treasures that the tooth fairy would bring. I assembled the pillow on my sewing machine, stuffed it, and hand-sewed the closing.

Li’l Miss lost her tooth this weekend, and hung the pillow on the inside knob of the front door so the tooth fairy had easy access. The fairy sneaked in last night to leave a treat, and Li’l Miss was a happy camper!

Dec3

Marshmallow Snowmen

Posted on by
Standard

Snowmen

One of our family holiday traditions is cookie decorating for the young ones. I made these cute marshmallow snowmen as part of a treat for the kid crowd. Using orange and black food-safe paint pens, I drew the black eyes, coal smile, and carrot nose on each large marshmallow. Five snowmen fit perfectly into a sandwich-sized zip-lock. I then loaded five packs of hot chocolate mix into a small gift bag, inserted a snowman pack, and voila, a cute treat for our cookie decorating afternoon!