Making a paper bag wreath

Let's get started.

1. Start with a foam wreath (from the dollar store perhaps)
2. Cut out many scalloped circles with a punch...mine was a 2 inch punch and I cut 8 circles out of each folded bag...that gave me 24 circles. I probably used about 20 bags.
3. Fold your circle up around the end of a pencil and add a dab of hot glue
4. Press the flower to your foam wreath.

I packed my circles in close together but yours could be looser.

Have a little fun...NICE BEARD.

NICE HAIR!

A Finished wreath...took some time but oh, so worth it.

I used a free download from WhiskerGraphics.com for some of my butterflies and a Martha Steward Butterfly punch for the smaller ones.

Butterfly... Walk On By

A few days ago I was at one of our local thrift stores and happened upon these filigree butterfly beauties. I almost walked straight on by...but I stopped and for 50 cents a piece and a bit of spray paint I thought I could exact a mighty change in them.

Here's what this corner has looked like for the last nine years or so...well...except there used to be a bunch of dead roses in the pale green thing. I finally got rid of those dust catchers last week.

Butterflies painted and hung...still missing something.

I also had a chrome serving tray which happened to be magnetic. Threw a quick coat of spray paint on the pretty lady and she was ready to join her butterfly friends.

I ended up covering a few button molds with fabric and gluing magnets to the back. Added a picture of the flamingos we saw at the zoo last Saturday to give it a pop of color.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Make your own patterned paper using stamps

Adding this little gal to the "Make your own patterned paper with stamps challenge" over at the Lawnscaping site. Their stamps are so cute and I JUST found out about them. You can join in the fun too!

I made this card using the "emerging color" technique. I first stamped the yellow and orange background stamps. Over the top of those I stamped the larger flower stamp in Versamark, added clear embossing powder and embossed. I then inked up my brayer and rolled on some dark blue ink to cover up the original backgound stamps. Because the larger flower was embossed it resisted the ink and the stamps underneath it EMERGE!

Here's another version of the same technique.

Have a great day!

Aaron is SIX!

Oh, this little boy steals my heart! Aaron turned six on the 18th of March and he was SO EXCITED! He's been taking Jazz dance classes with Tessa and loving it. He also started T-ball a few weeks ago. He's going to be on the Cubs with his good buddy Ben. He requested a "Worms and Dirt" cake and helped me "write" his name with the gummy worms. (I'm a paper crafter not a cake maker :( hence the cake in a pan). He's holding the special birthday plate in the above picture. Each of our kiddos gets to eat their piece of cake from that plate. It's a little tradition we started when Jakob was around two.

Aaron has excelled in kindergarten. He started out a little rough and has come a long way to be in the top reading group. He likes to complain at home that he "can't read the big words" but every time he tries he amazes me. It seems to come more easily to him over time.

He requested hot dogs and hamburgers for his birthday dinner. Travis grilled them and we ate them with avacado and all the condiments a kid could ever want.

Seriously, he's a character. I like to call him my "little leprachaun" because he's so michievious. He recently lost his wallet which had over $20.00 of allowance in it. He said he looked everywhere and he pretty much gave up. Not really TOO upset (don't think he understands money yet) but he was sad. The other day Aaron told me that he hopes the Easter Bunny will bring him an "Easter Wallet" because he misses his. Sheesh. A couple of days ago I found his wallet under my craft table so maybe that bunny will be able to fulfill his wish.

He got an MP3 player along with a shirt that had been on clearance at WM that included these fun headphones. He also got a Bakugan to play with Jakob. Aaron is a charmer and a super good snuggler. He is also adept at NOT cleaning his room...he's pretty good and hiding things so I that I THINK he's done a good job. He's got a ton of energy and really enjoys jumping on the trampoline. He's always hanging around Jakob and Tessa trying to do what they do. He LOVES to draw and seems to have a real eye for things. It's nice to see him becoming his own little person doing things that he likes. Happy birthday to Aaron!

Ben's Real Birthday Card

Entering this card in the Lawnscaping Challenge #7 to make your own patterned paper using stamps. Such great stamps!

Using my map wheel I rolled it a few times across a piece of ivory paper. I then used my water brush and inks to fill in some color.

I added Li'l Davis Designs Glitter Glaze over the "water" part of the image.

Stamped the pirate and made a tag out of him. Added a bit of homemade shimmer spritz to make him like a fairytale.

Here's the finished card after I roughed up the edged a bit and inked them. Have a great day!

You can join to. Just click the pic!!!!

Big Ol' Chippy Mirror

Too bad Travis' head is blocking the hunk of molding missing from the mirror. I'll look for another pic. My friend, Nicole, brought this mirror over to my house (it had a mate which I didn't take). It had been sitting in some standing water somewhere and had some pretty major damage to the bottom edge. Missing molding and cracks.

Ahh here we go...just after getting a cake filled kiss from my birthday boy. I started taking pictures after we had already added globs of wood filler to the edge.

LOTS of wood filler. Here's what it looked like after we had sculpted it out and it had dried some.

Before color...bronzy brown.

Primed with gray primer And painted with Rustoleum's Heirloom White

On the wall at night...yes those cupboards need to change.

Here's the mangled corner all prettied up.

And today...dressed up with her HAPPY EASTER sign!

Argh!!! Me Matey

I love this little pirate. Makes me happy. This week Aaron's friend Ben turns six. I think he might enjoy a little treasure card. I created the background with a wheel and then washed it over with inks and a water brush. Added some glitter paint to the water parts too.

I just found out about this company called Lawn Fawn. Their stuff is SO CUTE. Entering this card in the Lawnscaping challenge#7 for making a backgound paper with stamps.

You can enter the challenge up to three times so as I make them I'll add other cards to this post. Have a great day.