Stuff I love!

Inspired by Robyn at My Pink Stamper, I made this little Google search video, just for fun.  It gives you a very quick idea of some of the things I love - besides Cricut, of course!

It's super quick and easy to make one, so give it a try!

"When Your Day Sucks" Bouquet

I'm leaving tonight to go help my sister move into an apartment because she and her husband of 27 years are splitting up.  She's very depressed at the prospect of leaving her beautiful farm in the Virginia countryside and trying to start her life over in an inpersonal furnished apartment.  I thought I would take her something that would brighten up the apartment, give her strength when she needs it, and hopefully make her laugh.
I saw a version of this bouquet quite a while ago made for a 40th birthday, and it said "40 sucks" and had 40 suckers in it.  It could also be used for a hospital gift when a patient isn't allowed to have real flowers and say something like, "Being sick SUCKS. Hope you LICK it soon!"   Whatever you use it for, the recipient is sure to feel loved.

Supplies:

• plastic flower pot

• glass florist marbles

• 1 large green silk  hydrangea stem

• spanish moss

• wired florist picks

• Dumb Dumb suckers

• 1/2 florists foam ball to fit pot

• florists tape

• ribbon, card stock

• wire cutters

• hot glue gun and high heat glue sticks

Using hot glue, adhere ribbon to outside of pot.

Fill the bottom of the pot about half to 2/3 full to keep arrangement from being top-heavy when filled with flowers.

Using hot glue gun, generously put a bead of glue all around the inside top edge of pot and place foam ball so it fits  just inside.  Use a craft knife to trim the edge of the ball if necessary to make it fit.

Using hot glue and doing a small section at a time, adhere moss to completely cover ball.

Using wire cutters, cut hydrangea into smaller stems or bunches. Attach each bunch to florist's pick by wrapping the wire around the stem, then using the florist's tape to cover the stem and about 1/2 of the pick. Push picks into foam, spacing evenly around arrangment.

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Cut flowers from assorted colors of cardstock.  I used a flower from "Walk in My Garden" and cut at about 4".  Using a craft knife, cut an "x" in the center of each flower.

Attach a pick to each Dumb Dumb as you did with the hydrangea stems by wrapping the wire around the pick and sucker stick.  Insert a sucker pick through the center of each flower and finish by wrapping pick and stick with florist's tape, making sure to press sucker flat against flower and start tape tightly against the bottom and catching flaps that were made by the "x".

Add completed flowers to pot, filling in spaces between hydrangea picks.  Print sign, sandwich pick between front of sign and a back piece, add ribbon, and add to the arrangement.

And the WINNERS are....

The winner for tonight's drawing in celebration of my blog having 50,000 hits and the Blog Candy shown above is.....Staci from New Jersey! (her blog is Precious Memories Scrapbooking and More) Congratulations Staci! E-mail me your addy so I can send your goodies to you!

And the winner of the drawing when I hit 700 followers the other night was Nicole of Croppin Momma Designs! Congratulations Nicole! Your goodies are on their way!

Candy Bar Purse is back just in time for Mom!

I just love seeing what you all do with my designs, and these 3 Candy Bar Purses from Staci at Precious Memories Scrapbooking and More are no exception.  I absolutely adore the way she embellished them with the swirlies and flowers, and her color and paper choices are so cheerful!  Stop by her blog and take a look at her other creations.

I thought this might be a good time to repost these with Mother's Day right around the corner.  I know my mom would love one containing a Ghirardelli chocolate bar and a gift card tucked in the pocket.  If you want to make your own Candy Bar Purses and missed the files the first time around, click here to go to my original post with links to the files for either Gypsy or Design Studio.  You'll also need the George cartridge,12x12 cardstock, and a velcro dot set for the closure.  Have fun with it!

Cricut Kisses and Crafty Wishes!

Make Room For More Rubber and Ribbon!

I am one lucky lady who has a big room dedicated to my crafting, but with so much room to spread out, I neglected to realize the importance of organizing all my stuff from the beginning.  Once it began to get out of control, something HAD to be done!  So, recently, I started an honest attempt at getting my scraproom in order. After all, if I'm going to continue to invite all of you in for tutorials, I must clean it up. My mom would be horrified at me having company when it's such a mess!

About 6 months ago, I started collecting the Jetmax craft storage cubes.  That was a good start, but I soon realized that they weren't going to solve all my problems.  The three biggest things that needed wrangling were my ever-growing collections of ribbon, rubber stamps, and card stock.  Jetmax makes a couple of units that are perfect for the card stock, but I couldn't find a suitable home for my rubber and ribbon in Jetmax.  In fact, I've been looking for more than 4 years for the "perfect" ribbon storage solution, and my stamps had simply outgrown the space I had available for them.  Something had to change.

I'm so pleased with the 2 solutions I've found for my ribbon and rubber that I want to share them with you, but I've decided to do a whole series of how I've solved some of  my craft room issues, starting with this one about converting your rubber stamps from wood mounted to unmounted.  Thanks to the awesome new storage cases from Stampin' Up! I've started umounting all of my stamps and reducing their storage to about 1/4 of the space they took before.  This is possibly the BIGGEST space saving change I could have made, and I can't recommend it enough!  It's also allowed me to store similar stamp sets together so I can plan my projects more efficiently.
UPDATE: Thank you Jamie for sharing your idea for using the old wood blocks! Visit Jamie's blog to see what she did. I'm totally going to be scraplifting this one!

Below is the link for the video tutorial, along with information on how to order the cases and acrylic blocks.  Take a look and start wrangling that rubber!  And stay tuned for my ribbon storage solution!

Clear-Mount Stamp Storage Cases, (set of 4) $4.95  Item #119105
Acrylic Blocks
118487 Block A (1-3/16" x 1-1/4") $3.95
117147 Block B (1-5/8" x 1-15/16") $5.95
118486 Block C (2" x 2-1/4") $6.95
118485 Block D (2-7/8" x 2-11/16") $8.50
118484 Block E (3-7/16" x 4-7/16") $11.95
118483 Block F (4-7/8" x 6") $16.95
118489 Block G (3/4" x 2-1/2") $4.50
118490 Block H (1-5/8" x 4-7/16") $8.50
118488 Block I (2-1/4" x 5-7/8") $11.95
118491 Block Bundle (Blocks A-I) $69.95

Click the Stampin' Up! logo to go to my site where you can order these products and wrangle YOUR rubber!







click here to view larger on my tutorials page

CELEBRATION - Blog Candy!It's not too late to enter!

Click the image to see it larger

And the WINNER IS.....Staci from New Jersey! (her blog is Precious Memories Scrapbooking and More) Congratulations Staci!  E-mail me your addy so I can send your goodies to you!

WOW!  I can't believe I've hit 50,000 visits already!  I can't thank all of you enough for making me feel every day that my blog is worthwhile.  I love sharing with all of you, and I love being a part of the online crafting community.  I have made some wonderful friends because of this blog, and I hope to make many, many more.

In celebration of my 50,000 visits, in the year that I turned 50 - two big milestones - I have some BLOG CANDY to give away!  Last week I promised you all a peek at my haul from Tuesday Morning.  Well, I decided not to show you and save it as a surprise giveaway instead, so here is part of it - the part I'm giving away!  All you have to do to win is be or become a follower AND leave a comment under this post.  On Wednesday, April 21 at 11:00 PM, I'll choose a winner from the comments and post the winner here. 

But wait, there's more!!   I'm currently at 683 followers.  If I reach 700 by midnight tonight, I'll also give away a pink Target pencil case for storing Gypsy, a 3-pack of styluses (is that the plural of stylus?) that includes one of the new bendable ones to "attach" to your finger for those marathon Gypsy design sessions, AND a surprise package of miscellaneous scrapping and cardmaking supplies.

That's TWO chances to win a prize - one at midnight tonight and one on Wednesday! All you need to do is comment, then spread the word so I can get 17 more followers by midnight tonight!  Easy Peasy!

PS - Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you!  If your user ID doesn't connect me to your email, please leave it in your comment so I can let you know the minute you win!  Good luck!

Had 703 followers by 9:27 PM Sunday!  Thank you all!
THE WINNER OF THE MIDNIGHT DRAWING IS....

Nicole of Croppin Momma Designs! Congratulations Nicole! E-mail your address and I'll get your prize to you ASAP!

Cricut Kisses and Crafty Wishes!