Jillian's Dress & Cake

This is the dress two of my friends bought for their daughters and have been adding a candle to every year. I had a really hard time with the $70+ price, and I thought maybe I could make it myself. I knew I could make the jumper, but wasn't too sure about the applique.


With a lot of help and encouragement from my friends Gretchen and Paula, a mom from St. George's who did Jillian's name, and some finishing help from my mom (who always comes to my rescue!), I made this:


It is no where near as perfect, but I am so happy with it!

Next up was a cake. Kellie loaned me her cake decorating tools and expertise so I could create this:

When I care enough, I make it myself!

Christmas Craft

I like to make little crafty gifts for my girlfriends for Christmas. Usually it's because I find a cute craft and need an excuse to make it. It's also because I like to let my friends know how much they mean to me (without spending a ton of money!).

This past Christmas, I made monogram stationary:

It was VERY simple! I printed out the monogram on cardstock (I buy 110 lb 8 1/2 x 11 paper by the ream at the office supply store because I use it in so many of my cards. You can just cut any 8 1/2 x 11 paper in half to make two small cards.). Then I added some bling. Easy!

Invitation

Made this for a friend's brunch. I don't color in my stamping much, and I like how this turned out. May need to make her some thank you notes to go with it!


Paper & Stamp: Archiver's, Ink & Blending Pen: Stampin' Up, Fonts: Print Clearly and at mahogany.

Snow Day + 3 Hour Nap = Creativity!

Everyone stayed home today because of the snow and ice. Jillian took a three hour nap, so I finally got some projects done!

I am an assembly-line card maker. Every now and then I make a special, one-of-a-kind card, but mostly I mass produce. I like to find one card that I can replicate to send to lots of people or that I can make sets of to give to friends as gifts. I like it even better if it's a card that I can use for several occasions by just changing the sentiment.

So, my big plan for this year was to make all the birthday and anniversary cards I needed for the year in one setting (rather than make a few at a time and run out and be late getting new ones to the next batch of people).

This part of the post is kind of anti-climatic, because I am not actually going to show you the card...you will have to wait until your birthday (or anniverary)!
My other big project is a book of Christmas cards. A local scrapping celebrity used to do these and now that she's not, she sent a customer my way to do it. All I did was bind together all her holiday cards between two self-designed covers. I've never done this for myself (though I think it's a great idea) because I make a collage in the end of my yearly family scrapbook of my cards. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I'm working on 5 years worth of cards from this woman's sister.




If anyone out there is interested, I could do this for you, too! Cost is $25 for up to 25 cards and $5 more for each additional set of up to ten. Leave me a comment and I'll get in contact!

Girl's Weekend

Another January, another Girl's Weekend. I think I realized this time why I love it so much...it's a few days where I am responsible for no one but myself. I don't have to listen to see if Jillian is waking from her nap. I don't have to make dinner (well, I did, but just because that was the meal I had signed up for). It's nice to have a little freedom like that every now and then.

For some reason, we were not as productive this year (I hit a jam when my slice stopped working...grrr), but it was still a blast!


We got everyone in the picture this year, but some didn't want their faces in it so early on a Sunday morning.

I did 18 pages, and was really happy with how a few of them came together. The one below was in my head and I almost bought some road trip stuff at Archiver's, but thought I'd see what I could do with what I had. I'm really hapy with how it turned out, and all with supplies I already had!


Similarly, the one below was the result of just playing with supplies I had on hand. Fun! Plus the pictures are really funny!

Once I got home, I kept going. Love this one. Scraplifted from page 43 of 2/10 Creating Keepsakes.

The left side of this one is a scraplifted from page 49 of 2/10 Creating Keepsakes. All those embellishments, are definitely not my style, but I am glad I tried something different and pleased with how it turned out.

I love the combination of color and stripes in this one, and again, I used old paper from my stash. This is scraplifted from this fun crafter. I really like her style (and she has an adorable baby girl a few months older than Jillian).

Thanks for looking!

First Place!

I created this mini tag book off of a design by Cathy Zielske. She had it set up to be a month long album, but I thought it was perfect to tell the stories of our very fun Spring Break in 2008. It was fun to make, as I used all products that I already had, put in photos and memorabilia as full pages (although they were all small since it's a mini album).







So, when I was reading through the Delta Fair guide for entries and saw a category for scrapbooks, I thought, 'What the heck' and was rewarded with this:

Catching Up

Here are some things I created this summer, along with the inspiration from them.

I ripped this from an old LIFE magazine years ago:

And finally created in Ryan's room:

It was pretty easy to do and inexpensive with cabinet knobs and picture wire.

And this was in a Creating Keepsakes this summer. I'll be making them for many family members, so don't be surprised if you see one in your mailbox!