Random on Purpose

There I Go Again...

...unintentionally telling lies...  This is not EARLY - like I planned - at ALL!  Ah well, some days just go like that, right?  (Have you noticed a pattern yet...that most of my days seem to go like that...?)  Regardless, here's today's Fast-Track Friday project:

 

Are you thinking that it doesn't look all that fast?  Let me assure you, it DEFINITELY is!  I'll explain on this little guy:

 

There is exactly ONE little Hershey's Kiss in there!  To make it, I cut a 1" x 4" strip of double-sided paper (a little heavier), scored 1 1/2" from each end, punched the corners with a corner punch, punched a hole near each end, threaded ribbon through and tied it, added a little embellishment - done!

I made two different sizes to show that - while the idea is the same - you can use this for other things besides just candy.  This one:

has two of those little gift books inside.  I started with a 4" x 10" strip for this one, trimmed the edges with decorative scissors, punched two holes, tied the ribbon through, and embellished.  I even cheated on the embellishment - a Wilton doily, a dimensional K & Co sticker, and a K & Co chipboard heart - no stamping, cutting, etc. - just stick 'em and go!  Fast, just like I told ya!  (The teensy one has a stamped, punched circle and sentiment - still fast, though!)

You could make these any size you wanted to, to accomodate any gift you wanted to!  And that's the rest of the story!  Greg and I are going to go "do the stairs" now.  We go up and down six flights of stairs at least three times every night as part of our exercise program (oh, all right - that is our exercise program...at least we do that!)  Back tomorrow with "Sue's Choice"!  Hmm...what will it be...?

I'm Late, I'm Late!

...for a very important date - posting an idea for you faithful blog followers!  It's Thrifty Thursday, and I have a way to use punches that you already own a totally new way.  I've been searching high and low for a Martha Stewart heart border punch - to no avail - and time's a-wastin'!  Valentine's Day is only two weeks away, so I need hearts on my borders NOW!  What's a girl to do?  Pull out her Fiskars Threading Water punch and her Fiskars hand-held 1/4" heart punch and do this:

 

First I punched the border along the length of my paper, so it looked like this:

 

then I took my heart punch and punched every other hole into a heart like this:

 

Sorry I didn't have time to make an actual project with my punched border - too much going on today - but there's an idea for you, anyway!  Try other combinations of border-and-hand-held (or just small) punches, or decorative-edge scissors and punches, too! 

I'm gonna go get a snack ready to eat while I watch Grey's Anatomy, then do a crash-and-burn - I'm one tired girl (but both bathrooms are done)!  I'll be back EARLY tomorrow with a Fast-track project!  Thanks for stopping by and good night and good night!

Ah, to Be Young!

Actually, I still feel young, most days (unless I've been climbing - and moving - a ladder for two days, then my body does its "what the....?" thing, LOL!)  Anyway, on to the fun stuff:

I subscribe to Jackie Pedro's blog, and yesterday's post led me to today's fun stuff.  Verve Stamps is having a project parade of "Kid at Heart" Valentine ideas.  Jackie contributed the idea that was in her post yesterday, but included a link to the original post at Verve.  After you read the original  post (January 19th), you can hit the "newer post" button at the bottom to see the next project, and so on and so on, until you get to Jackie's project from yesterday!  Fun stuff, and great alternatives to just plain old cards and candy!

Okay, off to have some breakfast before I go put up the molding I cut and painted yesterday, and "hammer" some copper onto some bathroom walls!  Have fun making some of these great "Kid at Heart" projects (send me a link if you do, please, so I can see...) and have a great day!  We're supposed to get massive amounts of snow, so hopefully it will be a short one for me so I can get home and cozy soon!  Ta!

I'm Sooooo Tired...

So - I had a project all planned, but my "real job" intruded - again!  I'm painting two bathrooms for a girl that I've done so much work for that she has become one of my friends instead of just a client.  Both are faux finishes.  The bathroom off the mudroom is a hammered copper finish, and the bathroom off the game room downstairs is a dry brush finish with a wide border of hand-painted leopard spots trimmed out with molding, so I had a lot to try to get done!  I had to be at her house at 7:00 this morning (which means I have to be in the shower by 5:30), and I worked straight through until 4:00, then went and got the rest of the molding I needed and grabbed some Taco Bell for dinner.  Since I've been up and down a ladder for two days, plus on my knees with a miter box cutting mitered corners for the molding and painting it, I'm too pooped to peep!  So, instead of a project, I'll just leave you with this little tip:

 

This is a sheet of printer paper with color combinations stuck to it.  They are clipped from Close To My Heart catalogs that are OLD and no longer needed/wanted.  Here's a closeup view:

 

I also clipped out pics of cards/layouts/ideas that I pasted into my art journal/sketchbook for future reference.  And I also clipped out pics of the stamp sets I have so that I can index them more efficiently.  I did the same thing with my old Stampin'Up! catalogs, too!  One other little note on this:  I save pictures of the designer papers to spark ideas for random-stamped backgrounds, etc.  You just never know...

I also want to give a shout-out to two of our blog candy winners - Tina Hudson and Jenn Embry.  They've both actually USED some of it!  You can see what Jenn did here, and Tina sent me this:

   

along with some goodies for me to play with!  Thanks, girls!

Okay, hopefully I'll manage a "real" post tomorrow or the next day or the next day or...  Have a great tonight and tomorrow and thanks for stopping by! 

Have a Heart...

...or two or three or six...!  Welcome to another Monday Muse!  I hope you had a good weekend!  My "situation" is resolving nicely (more on that later this week), so I'm back to posting again - hooray!  Today I have a pic of some very fun Valentine-y bowls and a tray that I got at Target last year (year before?  I forget...)

Make whatever you're inspired to make from this pic, and use whatever strikes you - the colors, the hearts, the layout - whatever!  Here are a couple of items I made to start you off:

 

Although they don't look it in the picture, both note cards are the same size -  3 1/4" square.  I didn't start off with that size in mind, but that's what I ended up with to make it look right with the size of my stamped/embossed image on the one, and my punched hearts on the other.  The heart one is really a card, while the "love" one is just a card front - I only had enough pink to mat the front - so I'll adhere it to a white card base later.  On the tray there were some white hearts with a pink outline, but I couldn't get that to look right (trust me, I tried - too pathetisad), so I opted for sponging on my punched white hearts instead.

And there you go!  I'm begging - again! - please play along and post a comment with a link to what you've made!  I really, really want to see what any of you come up with!  On to other things now...  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget Tricky Tuesday tomorrow!

Stamps: Close to My Heart "Love Is"; Ink: Versamark, Close to My Heart Bubblegum; Paper: Close to My Heart Bubblegum, DCWV red, Georgia Pacific white, unknown light pink; Accesories: Stampendous detail white embossing powder, EK Success large corner rounder punch, Martha Stewart and Target heart punches

What Gives?

I know, I know - I said I wasn't going to be posting for a bit...  However, today someone else (actually, three someone elses) has done the work for me, so it only takes a quick sec to type up an intro to the links I'm sharing. 

First up - I was perusing the Michael's ad Sunday, and the frames that I use to make my dry-erase calendars are on sale for $4.00!  That's a $6 savings, people!  Now's the time to stock up if you're planning on making any this year! 

Secondly, I wanted to alert you to a very cool sale at The Cat's Pajamas - THREE stamp sets for $33!  Two of the three have been on my wish list for quite a while, and the third one I was unaware of but now must have, as well, so guess what?  "They will be mine...oh, yes, they will be mine..."  It's called the Kitty Kat Pack - go get one!

Finally, I came across this incredibly clever and cool project last week, and knew it would be what I wanted to share with you this week, so check out Cheryl Penner's blog for an awesome Valentine idea!  I don't have the die she used, so when I get some time I'm going to try to figure out how to make a template...  Further bulletins on that as events warrant!

Okay, back to resolving my "situation" - have fun with "What's Up", and I'll be back soon, I promise!  

I'm So Sorry...

I have two posts halfway-written - one for Monday Muse and one for Tricky Tuesday - but I currently have a "situation" (there's just no other word for it) that prevents me from posting anything for a bit.  Please don't worry or anything, nothing's wrong, per se, I just have to divert all of my attention elsewhere until it gets resolved.

I hope those of you who have subscribed to my blog will stick around - I promise I'll be back as soon as I can!  Hopefully it will only be a few days, but may spill over into the weekend...  Meanwhile, have a great week, and try something new - you might trip over something you really like!

FAST-Track? Really?!

WHOO-WEE-YAH!!!  What's that saying..."If anything can go wrong, it will?"  Can I just say, UH-HUH!!!  I've spent the last few hours trouble-shooting computer issues, after losing my Internet connection and trying unsuccessfully to uninstall a duplicate anti-virus/anti-spyware program that was wreaking havoc with my system.  All problems solved now, I believe, so I can actually post this!  (Now, if I could just do the same with my cell phone...right, Sherry?)

Tuesday we played with Hershey's Kisses, and I certainly don't want to offend the peanut butter cups or make them feel left out, so today we're going to make a little package for them - EASY PEASY and FAST and IDIOT-PROOF - gotta love that!  I'm showing a VERY bare-bones version, which I intend to bling up a bit later on, but I wanted to give you the fast and easy part here for Fast-Track Friday.  This is the project:

 

And this is how you make it:  First, you need to determine how many peanut butter cups you want to put in your little tube, so you know how high to make it, so stack 'em up and measure:

 

I wanted five, so I need my tube to be about 3 1/2" high.  The tube is made of a transparency (the office supply, write-on kind) cut to size.  Regardless of how many peanut butter cups, the circumference stays the same, so you will cut your transparency (or acetate or vellum or whatever) 4 1/2" x the measurement you came up with in the first step.  Mine is 4 1/2" x 3 1/2".

Apply a strip of 1/4" redline tape at one end (going the 4 1/2" way), then peel off the red liner and overlap the other end just enough to cover the tape.

Next, find a piece of ribbon that is about an inch wide, and long enough to wrap completely around the tube top-to-bottom (as opposed to around the circumference) and tie in a bow.  Apply redline tape around the top and bottom of the tube, with the ribbon UNDER the tape against the tube, forming the bottom and going up the sides (that way the tape is holding on the ribbon without an extra layer of adhesive - tricky, tricky!):

 

 

Cut two strips of patterned paper 4 1/2" in length x whatever width blows your hair back, peel the red liner from the tape, and adhere the patterned paper strips around the top and bottom.  You should put a bit of adhesive on one end to seal the little overlap where the two ends meet.  I did take a quick sec to trim around the hearts a bit before I stuck the strips on - I'm going to add some red heart sequins and a tag later on...

Then drop your peanut butter cups in and tie a bow - done!

 

If it bothers you to have the top open like this, you could put a punched piece or Prima or something over it before you tie the bow, but I figure after you add a tag and some bling, who's to care?

And there you have it!  Another quick-and-easy project for you to play around with!  Advance warning for tomorrow:  one of my good friend's father died a couple of nights ago, and the services are in the morning with a gathering after, and I'm helping with setup/cooking/serving/cleanup, so I won't be able to do anything fun and/or creative until much later in the day (we have to take Greg's daughter out to lunch for her birthday, too...)  HOPEFULLY I'll be able to do SOMETHING, but these days I just never know!

Have a fantabulous weekend, make something fun and link it up so I can see, and I'll be back ASAP, k?  Love you all, really!  Buh-bye!

Translation Update

It was brought to my attention that I needed to let you know which language to translate Bibbi's blog from into English (??? sounded weird - you know what I mean...maybe I need a translator...)  Anyway, I've never translated it before - just looked at the pretty pictures - but I've discovered it is in Norwegian, so when you go to the translation link, select Norwegian>English, and you should be able to read it.  Realize that it is an automatic translation (meaning computerized), so the grammar is funky, etc.  If you're tuning into my blog for the first time and have no clue what I'm talking about, go to this post to get de-mystified...

I'll be back later with my Fast-Track Friday project - ta! 

Going Green With Kraft

Were you beginning to worry that I forgot about Thrifty Thursday?  Nah - just workin' first!  Here's the project du jour:

 

Wanna know what's so thrifty about this card?  Well, the story goes like this...  Back in December when I was making my niece's wedding cake, I had all these cake mix boxes in my arms ready to take down to the recycling bin when it occurred to me that they were a nice weight to do crafty stuff with, so I cut them all up instead, mostly into panels (side panels, front and back panels, etc.), but also some punched shapes:

 

My thought was that they could serve as chipboard - stiffer and heavier than cardstock - without the extra bulk or weight of actual chipboard, so they would work well in scrapbooks and/or mail that needed to be flat, and I could cover them with patterned papers, or paint them or whatever.  However, when I started making this card, I liked the color on the inside of the box so well, that I just used that side instead!  I cut a panel and embossed it with the paisley folder in my Cuttlebug, and punched a couple of small dp stars to layer over the cardboard ones.  All of the edges are inked up with distress inks, and I sanded the base layer to expose the texture and white core.

It pleases me that I did something productive with an item that would otherwise be "trash", and I saved some money, as well!  Cereal boxes work, too - think again next time you're going to take out the trash and reuse/recycle/repurpose instead!

I still haven't heard from two of the blog candy winners, so I've chosen two new ones to take their place:  Cindy Frazier and Jenn Embry.  Congrats!  Send me an email with your snail mail address, and I'll get the goodies off to you!

That's it for today - have a fabulous evening, and thanks for stopping by!

Paper: CTMH Bamboo, Cosmo Cricket Journey dp, DCWV brown, cake mix box (!); Stamps: Stampin'Up! Bronc Buster; Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Ranger Tea Dye and Vintage Photo;Accessories: Cuttlebug w/paisley embossing folder, copper mini brads