Lovin' Swap-Bot

Hello Craftmates, Tonight is going to be short and sweet. I recently signed up on www.swap-bot.com to have fun sending and receiving goodies in the snail mail from all over the world. Boy have I done just that this week (I skip to the mailbox while whisteling a joyful tune now ;)  The pics below will be described by their captions. I 'm in quite a bit of pain at the moment so I need to make this quick, hope you understand.

1. Friendship Book from Japan

Very cute design, front cover is laminated :) thank you Kakinotane

2. Valentine from Vidor, Tx.

Beautiful design on front, love the collage look....

 the inside was even cuter...many hugs to you Marilyn, your card warms my heart :)

She even accented the first letter of my last name on the envie, love it <3

3.The Sweetest Be Mine Valentine

 This valentine is from Jan in Salem, Mo. I love the inspiring words on the bookmark and the heart's body is a stick of Orbit's gum. The sentiment is perfect and reminds me of one of my fav songs "Stuck like Glue" by Sugarland.:) thank you Jan for the sweet valentine.

4. Saving the Best for Last

 This Valentine made me cry because I miss her sooooooo much, my sister in Christ Elaina ;0) (In fact the card is wet from the tears of joy and sadness all mixed up together) Looking forward to sipping this pink-a-choco-licious treat while I concoct a return surprise (no Elaina I'm not tellin'). Thanks for sending me choco-love this Valentine's Day;) Love ya bunches <3

Well my friends, this is the end of this evening's post. Hope you enjoyed my pics of goodies. Give Swap-Bot a try, you never know what you will receive. Pleasant dreams from the Scraptuary :)

Late Night Crafting

Hello, anybody still awake? I hope everyone is nice and snuggly warm in their beds. When I have an upcoming event it is VERY hard for me to sleep. So I thought I would show you what my crafty fingers have been up to since the midnight hour......

My youngest daughter is in 8th grade and she's at that age where she wants to give out Valentine's to her friends, but just not the store bought kiddie kind. So she and I came up with these inexpensive ideas, and I made them after she went to bed. I used the Cricut Soluions Cart. Indie Art and cut out the guitars, and butterflies and threaded Pixie Sticks thru them. I used DCWV, Heidi Grace, and Bazzill cardstock to cut them out. Added some bling and there you go, 13 yr.old approved Valentine treats.

The guitars were the an image that could go either guy or girl.

The fun thing about the butterflies is when you hold the pixie stix and move it up and down the wings flap :) That was an added bonus discovered by a happy mistake :)

Time for me to catch some ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's......6hr's until I have to wake up and start all over again. Hope my creations help to inspire you to think outside the box.

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Snow Day Craftliciousness

Ok it's official now I have seen everything...we had snow here in San Antonio. The sun has melted it all away by now but it was beautiful. I think it's pretty awesome that we received it today because one of my dear friends is celebrating her birthday today. Imagine receiving the original embellishments of nature from God on your day, He is awesome and so is she.

1. A CRAFTMATE'S CHALLENGE

Today's post begins with  a challenge I received from a fellow craftmate, she wanted me to make an all turquoise valentine. Well I failed, (I'm sorry Kris but I have a very hard time being monochromatic). So the above pic is what I came up with. Wednesday I majorly scored at one of my fav store Big Lots. I found the best paper, a 24 sheet DS pack by g.c.d. named CANNA for $5. The color combos are funky and different and perfect for Kris' challenge. She is into crochet and unique art so it was a given to use sparkly fun fur.

I like to embellish the inside of my creations. It just doesn't feel right to add a personal sentiment on a blank space. Plus it adds that lil' somethin' somethin', you know what I mean.

2. INSPIRATION from DOLLARCRAFT

I was recently advised to join Twitter to get the word out as well as inspiration about my passion for paper and crafting.  What on Earth took me soooooooooo long to do this? It is AWESOME :) These next pics are a nod of thanks to a fellow twitter friend dollarcraft (look her up and follow her). She has awesome ideas using everyday stuff from all of our fav and only true dollar store, Dollar Tree. So during my wednesday shopping trip , I wandered into Dollar Tree and stumbled upon 10" paper lace dollies. My brain thru a breaker with the ideas that started flooding in. So what can you make with a paper dollie, some decorative paper, a stamped sentiment, ribbon, and a brad or two....

this lil' Valentine gift for a good friend. I simply folded the dollie, secured the flaps with doublesided tape in the right places, added the embellishments on the outside (paper from the g.c.d. 24 sheet DS pack Chianti Collection, Big Lots $5) and then....

stuffed the inside with a dark chocolate square and a mini 31/2" x 4" blank notecard (valentine). The great thing about using the dollie for this is it creates two pockets on the inside for the items and serves as the envelope for the whole gift. I will be making several of these for the craftshow I'm participating in Sunday that benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation :)

3. FRIENDSHIP TISSUE FLOWERS

My youngest daughter wanted to make something to pass out to her friends and teachers for Valentine's Day. We came up with tissue flowers with a Hershey's Kiss or Reese's Candy Heart in the center. Below are two pics of what they look like so far. We will be embellishing them a lil' more next week. I think I'll make a couple of dozen or so for the craftshow...

Thanks for droppin' by :) Hope my creations inspire you to get creative this holiday.

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2010 Valentine Designs

Hello my fellow bloggospherians :) Hope you are having an awesome day filled with goodness and light, and joy.  Today I am still playing post catch up on projects I completed last year. One of my favorite holidays is Valentines Day. Love is universial, does not discriminate, and is and was created to be unconditional.  Now matter what the age everyone has a desire to be loved.   

These are some one of a kind designs I made for last year's Valentine's Day. I challenged myself to make a total of 36 cards. Some I sold and the ones in these pics are what I have left.

 I'm currently working on this year's collection. I would love your opinions for color schemes, quotes, etc. I have received one challenge already from a dear friend to make one for her grandbaby.  Please leave comments with your ideas and let me know what you would like to see.