Just Pin It!

Good afternoon everyone!

Spring is just around the corner, I can feel it in my bones (or rather my feet..soaked through my boots and gonna have to invest in some rubber boots very very soon!) and I can hear it in the air.  Yesterday I heard a bird outside my house that I haven't heard all winter..couldn't tell you what kind of bird it is but I recognized it's song as one that comes every spring and that got me all excited and giddy like a kid.  I am sooooo not a winter person.  I bundle up in the winter, I try to hibernate, and I most definitely do NOT enjoy outdoor winter sports, pfft...just give me a good book, a warm blanket, and a place in cozy bed to hide.  Anyhow, Spring is so close and one of the things that comes with spring is new inspirations to craft, cook, and yes, even clean!  Crazy huh!  I've been pinning like crazy on my fave social bookmarking site - Pinterest.  Feel free to look me up under My Pinterest Profile .  I am a bit of a Pin addict and I try to go on the site at LEAST once a day for new ideas and inspirations.

YUP This is ME!!

Today I thought I would share some of my favourite pinspirations with you so you can see that not only do I pin voraciously but I do actually use the sites I've bookmarked as well.  There are some great recipes, some great craft inspirations but also some genious gifting ideas too...I just love this site, can't say that enough..love love love Pinterest!  Anyhoo..enjoy my pinspirations and have an awesomely cheery spring day!

This image just makes me smile because there really is beauty in the unlikely and the simple.
find it at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107756057495/

I have 365 pins on Stampin' Up! Inspirations alone, soo many great ideas
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107760372282/

Tried these, loved these, and will make again!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107759343465/

Used this idea for a work giveaway..it was fabulous!!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107757638638/

These are just some of the many many pinspirations that are out there and just a taste of what's on my boards.  Feel free to check out my boards, and please share with me any great ideas you might have, I'm always looking for something new to pin!!

P.S.  This is a site I keep going back to because I just love making these flowers and the tutorials show you how to make different kinds and it's really simple to follow.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107757350377/

Getting Creative Again, Part 2

I've completed the card organizer that I mentioned in my blog post last week, actually I finished it the day after I posted the sneak peek.  Unfortunately it still had quite a few rough edges and as much as I liked how it came together, it still seemed unfinished.  So I started another one and deemed the first one my prototype.  I used my entire Stampin' Up! stash of designer papers to make the modge podge prototype and as much as I liked all the different colours and the fun vibe it had, I decided to try for a more cohesive look on my second go round. Thus inspiration came from Graphic 45!


It just so happened that I have been looking for some way to use my G45 'Place in Time' Paper pack and I wanted something special for my mom's birthday.  This organizer seemed like the perfect opportunity to do both!  I feel a little guilty because I really wanted to promote the card organizer as an upcoming Stampin' Up! Class but between the prototype photos I'm about to show you and the finished G45 gift photos, you will see that I haven't gotten around to a finished and fabulous Stampin' Up! version yet, not to say that I won't..just not yet and I'm too excited and impatient to wait to do a third organizer before I show you all the pics I've taken of the project(s).

Oh well, such is life..I got creative and I want to share with you all so here goes:

This is the binder that I started out with

I covered the edges with washi tape and used Sizzix adhesive sheets to adhere the Paper cover

This is what the finished cover looks like

Next I had to create the card holders themselves.  I did this by covering up file folders

two file folders were glued back to back before covering with papers

I also created a mini card holder, accordian style

I also used an envelope to create a pocket holder, great for tags

this is the layered look of the inside

and thus, the prototype is born!

 Now I want to show you what the Second Card Holder looks like.  I think having a coordinating paper pack does pull the look all together, but really I kinda like the eclectic mix of the first one too!  Either way, I don't judge..it's all crafty to me :)

The Cover isn't made from G45 papers but Little Yellow Bicycle Papers**

The finished Organizer

The inside

Now I just need to make some cards with various themes to put inside the organizer and then this gift is ready to give to my mom.  I hope she likes it!!

Cheers!

p.s.  ** the Papers I used from the Little Yellow Bicycle collection are actually from a kit I bought from www.birdsofafeatherkitco.com .  I belong to their monthly kit club and honestly I can't get through all of the great stuff I get each month from this company.  I just wanted to share the link because this is an amazing site with great deals!!

The best crafts are the ones you can eat....Seriously!!

AHH..I love Saturday mornings!  I get to sleep in an extra hour (usually), I get to enjoy a gourmet cup of coffee (usually during the week I sprint out the door with a basic cup but on the weekends I can take the time to make a latte or froth the milk, etc.), and I get to sit in my comfy chair while I browse through Pinterest or other internet interests.  It's my time of bliss.  So hard sometimes to find those few moments where I just relax and do what I want, without having a task or to do list in mind, so I try to make my Saturday mornings a priority for me and my own peace of mind.

This Saturday morning I found myself wanting to record on my blog one of the projects I finished this week.  Every have those times where you get an idea stuck in your head and you just have to see it through?!  I get tunnel vision like that all the time.  I'll get an idea or project in my head and it will sit there in my consciousness like a stone until i do something about it, doesn't matter if it's impractical or time consuming, it will bug me and bug me until I pull it out of my brain and make it 3 dimensional.  *Sigh* that's what it was like with the knitting I did so much of last week...now that I've done a few scarves the feeling has passed.  This week it was the idea of making a Candy Bouquet for a donation.  I just had it in my head at first to make a small one, nothing big or expensive, but then when I went shopping for supplies it morphed into two Candy Bouquets, One big one and one Easter themed one and I couldn't seem to stop myself from grabbing a myriad of candy confections and treats to stick in these bouquets.  Suffice to say I totally blew my original budget out of the water and went a little overboard on supplies, but my children and hubby thanked me in the end because they got to enjoy the leftovers *L*.

No sooner did I get home then I had to go downstairs to my craft room and start pulling out tissue paper, cellophane, floral foam, skewers, and hot glue galore.  I couldn't just put my stash away for another day, no, I had to grab everything and play!!  Two hours later I had two Candy Bouquets completed that looked Good enough to eat (Seriously my 6 year old even offered to help taste test, which he did with some of the candies as I created) and my craft room looked like it had been struck by a tornado, but I was sated.  The tunnel vision had passed and I was able to think clearly again, for the moment.

Here are the results of my tunnel vision:

Since then my tunnel vision has started to twirl and whirl again, this time with thoughts of the scrapbook kits I need to get ready for next weekend, along with my overly organized desire to get organized and packed for same event.  Oh well, this is my life..better take the time while I can this Saturday morning to sit back, enjoy my coffee, browse through my new Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine, take a moment to relax and breath and then.....GO!!!


Cheers!

Creatively Christmas Part Two

Okay so I know it's the brand new Year and not actually the holidays anymore but you'll have to cut me some slack since I only just took down my Christmas tree today!  2013 seems to have hit fast and hard in my house and it's been so tiring and hectic that today is the first time we've all been home to actually get stuff done..the serious after holiday cleaning is still being procrastinated on..I'm thinking February LOL! 

Anyhow, I wanted to share some photos from my holidays because although I didn't post, I was busy crafting and I DID get my FIL's quilt done! I was pretty happy with how it turned out and he loved it, which was the main thing.  I even have more fabric should I be ready to tackle a new quilt any time soon (though I tend to sew only every few months..it's so hard on the back to sew for those long hours, don't know how hardcore seamstresses do it...says the scrapbooker..haha)

So here's what the finished quilt looked like:

Aside from that I made some homemade snack mixes for gift giving!  The kids and I made Smore's snack mixes that we gave to my co-workers, their teachers, the daycare staff, etc.  I only wish we had saved some to snack on at home:

Then of course there were the Christmas cards I did with some students from work and of course I had the best of intentions to get my cards out to F&F before the holidays, BUT  I just sent them out last week *sigh*  oh well, better late than never!  Really I know this reflects bad on me and I seem like the worst of procrastinators *L* but normally I am a very organized and efficient person..truly I am!  I am!!

Finally, I did some baking and I tried some new recipes from Pinterest.  I Love how easy the recipe was for making this French Bread, I learned more from the tips and techniques than I did the recipe itself.  Did you know you can speed up the rise time by placing a warm wet cloth over your dough and popping it into a microwave (don't turn it on) that has been pre-run for 2 minutes.  the residual heat in the microwave and the wet cloth provide an optimally warm moist environment for the dough to rise in, my dough rose in 30 minutes instead of the normal hour...I LOVED THAT!!  Tried the same technique on my Cinnamon bun dough last week and it works great!  Now I'm more likely to make more bread dough recipes because I always hated how long the rising process took. Anyhow here is how the bread turned out, we've gone through 5 loaves already!

Oops, forgot one more thing..See told you I was busy last month..can I use that for the excuse why I didn't post ;P   I must share my photos from the Stampin' Up Cookie Basket Classes I did..these were so cute and the cookies were delicious and fun to make!

So that was the Month of December in Pictures, pretty much!  I did spend my two weeks of holiday blissfully relaxing and catching up on PVR'ed tv shows, holiday movies, and just some oldies but goodies.  I shared time with F&F which is always fun during the holidays and despite January kicking off with a bang, it's also been a good sign of the year to come!  So I'll be posting again soon with more fun stuff from my Gemini Life!

Cheers!

Creatively Christmas

Hi All,

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner, just under two weeks away!  Eeek!  Sorry for posting late, as usual.  I have had every good intention of getting my blog up to date because I have been busy creating over the last month but I've also been seemingly too busy to sit down and jot a post.  It's harder than I thought to keep a blog going, even with reminders.

Anyhow enough procrastinating.  As I said, it's just under two weeks until Christmas, my favourite time of the year, and I'm only halfway through a quilt I'm making for my father-in-law.  I had the great idea to make him a throw quilt with images of his family all over it, since the man spends most of his time in his 'bear den' and nothing means more to him than his family.  I know this is a gift that will bring about the waterworks - his son loves to make him cry..everyone says he's mean to do that but really, I know the real reason why he likes to do it - because then it means the gift has really touched his father and means something to him.  My father-in-law really is just a big old teddy bear and nothing gets him more than sentimental stuff.

I'm still not done the quilt but I thought I would share some images of my project so far and I'll post the finished product once it's completed (hopefully before Christmas Eve!).

This first image is of the pieces all cut and organized ( I may be disorganized when it comes to time frames but I am definitely organized when it comes to my projects :-)

Next is a photo of the start of the quilt.  I'm about halfway done the front of the quilt and then I'll need to figure out how to sew the back part on so it doesn't bunch.

 I can do a basic quilt like this but trust me, I am not nearly advanced enough to put the cool swirly designs on it, etc.  I think he'll like the finished product though.  Stay tuned for more pics, and Happy Holidays Everyone!

Cheers