Shara's Egg Swap

I participated in Shara's Easter Egg Swap again this year.

I have always loved those sugar eggs with the window. I had wanted to make these last year, but I ran out of time. This year I was determined to make eggs with a window. Yet again, time got the best of me so I had to scale back my quilling plans. I created paper machae eggs using plastic eggs as molds. Then the question was, what to put inside?


Lacking in ideas, I fell back on my moss nest/birds egg filler of past projects. Once I had a bird theme, it was easy to make it up as I went along.


The little tub of Model Magic I picked up several years ago at the $ store is still going strong.  It has this weird gold glitter in it which is probably why it was at the $ store. Anyway, I thought about painting each egg and bird, but decided against it out of sheer "tone on tone is good" laziness.

While it wasn't at all what I had envisioned at the beginning of the swap, I was quite pleased with the outcome.

Heart to Heart Valentines Swap

Once again this year I participated in the Heart to Heart Valentines Swap. I was pretty much stuck for ideas until I saw this post and learned how to make picture holders out of little metal tart tins. I just so happened to have 14 of the tart tins!


Here they are lined up like little soldiers. The photo is of my Aunt Janet and she is holding a quilled heart. The quote by ee cumings says, "I carry your heart, I carry it in my heart."  I figure the recipients can use the photo holder for their own picture after Valentines is over. The hardest part was thinking of how to package them. I ended up using Gorilla tape to secure the wire underneath. It's less permanent than hot glue, but I figured if it all popped apart in transit it would be very simple to fix. Simply press everything back in place.

Today I received my package! Oh my word! The amazing stuff inside! I will let Sarah share it on her blog, but I do want to say thanks to all the creative talent that participated!

Vintage Cowgirl Swap

I had a terrific time coming up with stuff for the Sweet Goodness Girl's Vintage Cowgirl Swap.My partner, Raesha, has already received her gifts, so now I can share what I sent!

First up, the embroidered cowgirl was made into an embellished dishtowel.

Next, I used made three zippered pouches with calico lining. Pardon my hand sewing.
 
I got three great vintage cowgirl comic book illustrations from Wanted Cowgirls and used Citra-Solv transfer to make them into patches for the pouches. Say that three times fast!


As always, you can click on any picture to enlarge them.
I filled each pouch with a few goodies.

Wanted Cowgirls had a slew of vintage cowgirl advertisements. This one was perfect to fix up a Trader Joe's candy bar. I think I also added some Big Red gum because I thought that might be a cowgirl favorite.


In one of the pouches I included these two posy pins. I took the logo from the Cowgirl Cafe in Santa Fe and modified it in Picnik to make my own packaging. I also included a thrifted paisley scarf that was bandanna-esque, a thrifted brass cowboy girl hat Christmas ornament, and the pajama bottom apron seen here.

For the craft part, I included glitter, ribbon, and some vinyl lettering that said, "Home Sweet Home."

This swap was especially fun for me because I was fix'n to go to Texas while I made all this stuff.
And, now I am officially back from Texas and the beautiful wedding of my baby cousin.

My baby cousin who is a beautiful woman full of grace.

The bride and groom had custom bobble heads made! Also, check out the groom's cake. Part of the groom's job is to get companies a higher google ranking.


G&J we had a wonderful time at your wedding and couldn't be happier for the both of you!

Swap Eggs

Shara from Monkey Box held an Easter Egg Swap this year and I was very "eggcited" to participate.

This is a sampling of my swap eggs. You can click on any picture to see them larger.



I bought the string wrapped eggs at Giant Dollar. I loved the texture and knew they would be perfect for quilling!

Most of the designs came from Alli's book Paper Quilling for the First Time, but I did branch out and try my hand at some of my own designs.





On Monday I will share all the amazing eggs I recieved in the swap. Hope you have a wonderful Easter!

I am linking this post to Tatertots and Jello's Weekend Wrap Up. There are always lots of great ideas over there!

Tutorial:Chalkboard Valentines with Sweet Book Page Ruffles

Trends of '09
-Chalkboards
-Text & old books
-Ruffles

Check! Check! Check! Got them all into my valentines for Sarah's Sweetheart Swap! I actually did this shortly after New Years in anticipation of a busy Valentines season and it's been burning a hole in my pocket ever since. I had to share it with you all today!

Here's how I made them:

Supplies:
 2" squares of old book.
plain cardboard
chalkboard paint
chalk
ribbon scrap
heart shaped cookie cutter
hot glue gun
pinking scissors
pen

I had tons of these 2" squares leftover from this project. Goodness knows I couldn't just throw all those little bits of perfectly aged text away! I also had a great cardboard box to recycle. My heart cookie cutter was about 4" wide.

First paint the cardboard with the chalkboard paint and allow it to dry. Then cut out two hearts.

Next roll those squares around a pen and secure with a dot of hot glue. Dot. Dot. Not a lot! (Sorry! Couldn't resist a little teacher talk.) It takes nearly 30 rolls to really cover one heart.



Really jam them in tight.


Then glue a second layer to fill in the gaps at the curves and the point.

Next, glue your ribbon bit to the second heart and load that baby up with hot glue.


Now, carefully feel for the points and the curves on the back and sandwich the two layers together. This is a bit tricky.

Trim around as evenly as possible with the pinking scissors. This part was is not a perfect science. One side looked better than the other.

Rub chalk all over both sides and wipe off. This will give it that great chalkboard patina.

Write your Valentine a message. Something short and sweet.
This might be my favorite Valentine yet!
Valentine '09
Valentine '08

I have been thinking of making one that is wreath size.

If you make these, please send me a link or a picture! I'd love to see what you do with this idea.
Linking to:
DIY Day
Trash to Treasure @ Reinvented

I Heart Valentines

First off, my Great Grandmother's last name was Valentine.So I guess you could say, Valentines is in my blood. My grandmother was Mary Valentine. I think that is just the cutest name ever. Of course when she married my Grandpaw her last name changed. Still Valentines Day was always very special to my mother. We usually got presents at our seat at the breakfast table. Something nice like a red shirt or a book. My mom would wrap them in red and white paper. For dinner she often made a meal out of red and white foods. She always made the day very special.

As I teacher I am beyond blessed on Valentines Day. In all my many...many...many...single years I never felt sad on Valentines Day because to me it has always been about family and of course my students.No matter how poor my students are they shower me with love on Valentines Day.

Here are some cupcakes I made for them. It's a mutual admiration society we have going in The Crayon Box. These were so simple. Just place two mini candy canes in the frosting to form a heart. I got these at the Target 90% off sale after Christmas sale. They were "tropical flavor" thus the bright colors.

I always have my students write conversation heart letters to their parents too. It's super fun to read what they come up with. This is one I made for my hubby. You can click on it to enlarge it.

Around the apartment I display pictures of my loves and put out my heart shaped rock collection.



 
I also have fun with my salt and pepper shakers. These are couples and symbols of  love.

For the past three years I have participated in the Heart to Heart Swap over at Sarah's blog.

The first year I made these red work hearts. I used handkerchiefs from the dollar store and images from google images. These took a long time but I love how they turned out.


I made one for me on a dishtowel.
The next year both my parents and my inlaws went to Russia. In honor of their trips I made these Matrioshka Valentines.

This year my Valentines for the swap are already done and mailed, and I am dying to share them with you!
Seriously. Dying.

Here's a behind the scenes peek. :)
Anyway, Someday Crafts is having a Valentines Craft show and tell today and I had to join in. Now I am off to check out everyone's great ideas.

Sweet Goodness!

My swap package from Ashley arrived the other day and I tore without taking a picture of all the goodies first. Rats! Cliff was getting a bit tired of the Santa's workshop vibe we had going on here for nearly a month. (Kate and Piper, you remember that look!) Anywhoo, I quickly put out all the goodies and today I had time to go around and photograph most of the stuff in it's new habitat.

First up, I have over a hundred salt and peppers, but no packages! So these two little gift salt and peppers delighted me to no end!

Next up, this delightful snow day box. It says, "Let it snow!"

 

For the most part snow is just a dream in LA. Nonetheless, I am putting in lots of wishes for another snow day in NJ. Exactly a year ago it snowed so hard that Kate and Piper had a school closing that was perfectly timed with my visit. There is nothing better for three teacher sister-friends than a whole day bundled up on our respective couches watching movies on Lifetime and laughing together. Anyway, that box reminds me of that day-so it is much beloved.

 

Check out the fancy jingle bell garland! The package also contained a dozen or so glittered goodies. There are glittered snowflakes all over the apartment now.

Here is a very lady like silver satin stocking in our bedroom.

How about this cute little fellow?

Speaking of fella's, Ashley is from Tennessee, how cute (and fitting) is this Elvis card?  (Makes me wish I had sent her one of my LA gang prevention program Christmas cards. Oh right! I haven't done my cards yet! Arrg!)

Anyway, thanks so much for everything Ashley! And, thanks to Rebecca, Lucy, Heidi, Leigh Ann, and Shara for organizing another fun swap!

Sweet Goodness Swaps- WInter White Swap

This round of SGS had a winter white theme. A bit challenging for me since I am all about color. For a few weeks I was really stumped. But after reading my partner, Ashley's blog I found my inspiration. And, since Ashley has received her goodies, I can now share them here!



Ashley is into digital scrapbooking and has created an elegant shabby chic vibe for her blog. She also writes very eloquently about her faith. So I tried to create projects that would emphasize the reason for the season.


First up,

A trio of altered bottles. I had so much fun making the first bottle that I couldn't stop. Plus all the designers say to group collections-right?


These were fun and I got to try a new product- etching creme. If you click on the picture you can see the etched bottle is the one with the polka dots.


Next up,
A Christmas stocking of course! This is the year of the stocking around here!
I wasn't able to get to a copy shop as planned. So I didn't use Citra-Solv. Instead I made a patch by taping fabric to a piece of card stock and then printing it on my computer. The trim has tiny bells on it. I was thrilled to find this at Joannes after Thanksgiving.
 

I used an image I found in a google search and this quote from Martin Luther:


Good news from heaven the angels bring,
Glad tidings to the earth they sing:
To us this day a child is given,
To crown us with the joy of heaven.
- Martin Luther


The stocking was filled with a few goodies I hope Ashley will like. 

An ornament, some nail files, and a few crafty odds and ends.


For the thrifted item, I got lucky and found this little pewter (?) snowman dish. 




Once again the ladies at Sweet Goodness Swaps have organized a fun and creative challenge!