All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

Okay MY bags arn't packed, but I'm ready to go home for christmas! 1 more week. One of my cousins is going travelling to New Zealand in the New Year, so for christmas we are giving her some New Zealand cash. I hate giving cash in a plain boring envelope, so I wanted something travel themed. But I also wanted something simple, in case she just chucks it in the trash. I came up with a simple little suitcase in brown and orange (her favorite colors). Unwind the string and the top opens up.

On Another Note, my dream studio:





http://andreawalford.com/?p=2784



she even has a mini kitchen in there!


I guess to be fair she actually teaches classes from her studio...but I am so jealous.





Ugh I am too tired tonight to craft, but tomorrow is my day off. YAY! Thanks for visiting!

Mojo Challenge

Hello. Yesterday I decided to play along with the mojo monday sketch challenge. I was trying to keep this card simple and masculine enough so I can give it to my dad. I don't love how it came out, but thats how it goes sometimes!

Right now I am having a major craving for some new stampin' up stamps...and ink pads...and cardstock...SIGH! Need more money!

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Sunday!

Good Morning! I am getting lots of items crossed off my Christmas lists these days, which is a lovely feeling. I made this little notebook for my auntie who lives too far away and cant come home for the holidays.

For my secret santa gift at work I bought a sudoku book from the dollar store, and made my own covers for it. I think it came out pretty cute.










Well I'm not in a very chatsy mood today, but thought I would share these. Okay, I'm off for more crafting! Have a great week!

Christmas Lists

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. I've been creating lots, but not blogging much. Two reasons: 1 - I'm mostly working on christmas presents right now, so not sharing them here. 2 - My computer is making this humming buzzing noise, so if its on too long you start to go a little bit crazy. Anywho!
I made a little paper bag, attached a couple of ribbon handles on the top.













I made a little wedding tag, to attach to a bag of gifts for a bride I've been working with for the past year and half. I wanted something simple I can tie on to the handle of the bag. I think it is pretty.















I am a dedicated list maker, I always have at least one list of things on the go. Projects, shopping lists etc. At christmastime I have even more lists on the go. I was inspired while I was trying to decide if I should throw out some scraps of skinny pages of paper. I decided to make them into some notepads, perfect for lists. I decided to have a notepad on each side, so I can have numerous lists on the go. The ribbon comes through the binding, so it can hold a pen inside. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

Anyways, got a couple more things to get done tonight before Desperate Housewives! I cant believe it is December this week! So much to do. Only 10 1/2 work days until I go home for christmas. Thanks for visiting!

Quilting - with paper

Hello! Well this week I've been spending lots of time at my sewing machine, but working more with paper than fabrics. I got inspired by one scrapbooking page I did, where I pieced the background together, and sewed all the pieces together using a zig zag stich. I've been busy recreating this look on lots of my other projects.

I was inspired by my amazing Auntie Kim who always makes beautiful handmade journals. I've altered journals before, but I've never built my own. So today I did. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I think I will have to make some more of these.

This is a toilet paper roll, covered in paper, with a ribbon to hide where the paper meets. I wrapped cellophane around, dropped 3 lindt chocolates inside and tied the ends. I put my little santa

on the outside of the cellophane. Its cute and super fast and easy.

Well thats it for now. Where does the time go?

Thanks for visiting!

Susie the Sewing Machine

Good Afternoon!
Well for those of you who don't know, my sewing machine's name is Susie. On Thursday night (after I went out shopping for a bunch of fabric), me and Susie got in a huge fight because she was miss-behaving. Friday morning before work I tried again to sort things out with her, and even Friday after work she was still acting out. I was ready to go out and get a new sewing machine...
Well she must of heard the threat of that. My sister sat down with her and gave her a talking to, and she has been a little doll ever since. So I have been sewing all weekend, partly afraid she will start acting up again. I realized this weekend, that I have become addicted to sewing very quickly. Anyways, that is my story about Susie. Here are the things we made this weekend.

I found an amazing tutorial on how to make little zippered pouches, with a photo for each step and easy simple instructions, so I decided to make my own zippered pouch. This little one matches the material on my camera strap, and it can clip onto the camera strap, so I can stick my camera lens, or filter, or a extra memory card in there and have it handy. It was super simple, and I'm quite proud of myself for sewing my first zipper!

I found this pattern, for wide leg lounge pants in Amy Butlers In Stiches book, and I was so excited to make them. I made a size medium, but I ended up taking in the waist about an inch and half. In total I ended up taking about 3 inches off each leg, but in the end I am very happy with them. Drawstring closure at the top, they are wide and very comfy. I love them. Pretty proud of myself for making my first pair of pj pants, and they only took one evening. And I got the material on sale. Love them.

Well once I was done the pants, and so in love with them I decided I would use some of the scaps to make myself a sleep mask. I actually use my existing sleep mask everynight, so I figured it made sense to have a cute one matching my new favorite pants. It was pretty simple, I ended up putting eyelets in to tie the ribbon through. Popcorn seeds inside so I can keep it chilled in the freezer.

So after that was done I figured I better actually do at least one of the things that was on my to do list for the weekend, so I made this cute frame. Just printed out a quote, cut it out and mounted on some cardstock. Easy peasy.

Well thats all I've created so far this weekend. Hope you've had time to create something! Thanks for visiting! Have a fantastic week!

Thursdays!

Well this week worked out just lovely for me, with Wednesday being the holiday and Thursday my day off, I got a full weekend in the middle of the week! And back to work tomorrow then another weekend! I am just loving my thursdays off...dont know how I will manage going back to a 5 day work week....oh well, wont think about that now!

Well I've been busy working on christmas christmas christmas. I wanted a simple wreath for our apartment door, but nothing too fancy so if someone steals it I wont be devastated. I came up with this, using some green ribbons, red jingle bells, and a few pine cones all from dollarama. The most expensive thing on it is the ribbon for the bow. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. The colors dont photograph very well, but it looks okay!

I wanted to make something coordinating with the wallet I made the other day, so I made this up using the scraps. The notebook is just a smidge too big for it, but I think its cute. Together I think it is a cute set.

This week was one of my favorite people's birthdays. I made her a super simple little gift, but I think it came out pretty cute. I got this tile from Hallmark, and it just reminded me of her because she is such a fun aunt! When I bought it, they gave me a little halmark pocket calender. I thought it would be perfect to put a new cover on it and make it a beautiful little calendar. To wrap up the tile, I embossed a brown paper bag, and just sewed three edges, leaving the bag open at the top. Decorated and tied shut.

Well thats it for me today. When my sister gets home from classes today we are going out shopping, should be one of our last big christmas shops of the season, and I am on the lookout for some new fabrics for some projects. It should be a fun afternoon! Now I am trying to figure out a complicated pattern to see how much material I NEED....wish me luck!

and the Christmas preparations begin!

Hello and thanks for visiting. This morning I made a list of all the little projects and gifts I need to get done by christmas, and it was a long list. So I figured I better get to it!

I was inspired yesterday at Michaels, they had new christmas stamps in the $1.50 bin, so I stocked up, and now I've got a bajillion christmas projects swirling in my mind!

I just have a few things to share. This is a super simple christmas card, using my new tree stamp from michaels. Stamped it in a few different colors, cut them out, and popped them up on dimensionals, added a sentiment. I think its cute, but simple enough to use for a mass produced christmas card.

I made this little box using one of Lauren's templates, Tucked Away. I love these templates, $5 and you can download them right away, print directly onto your cardstock and they are just so cute. For this one I embossed swirls on the base using my cuttlebug, then used by new $1.50 santa stamp, and a piece of ribbon for a handle.

And a new sewing project. This is for a friend for christmas, and I am going to sew a little something else that matches to go with it. Hopefully should have that up here in the next week or so.

Its a wallet. Its the long skinny kind that I prefer, cause they hold so much more. In this one there are 8 card slots, and the bottom part has two pockets the full length of the wallet. I made a little spot to slide a pen. I think it came out pretty cute, I know she will like it.

Anyways, thats it for now. Got lots to do! Hope you are enjoying your weekend! Thanks for visiting!

Odds & Ends

Hello & Happy Thursday. Thanks for stopping by. I have a confession to make. My fabrics have been stealing me away from my papercrafting. I dont have too much to share today, because I have been spending more and more time with my sewing machine. And I cant share my current sewing project because it just may be a christmas present for someone who visits my blog. Hopefully I will have some sewing stuff to share soon. What I will tell you for now, is to check out the free patterns on Amy Butler's website, my current project was inspired by one of her free patterns.

I did come back to my papercrafting table long enough to play along with this week's sketch at Mojo Monday. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, simple, but I like it. I love that bright pile of presents!

As of yesterday, it was six weeks until I go home for christmas. This week I have made a little scrapbook challenge to myself, I want to have 21 more (double) scrapbook pages done by christmas, so I can take them home and show off to my family. My goal is 3 double pages per week, and the last week before I leave 6 double pages. So I have just finished my second double page for this week, so I am on track so far. I dont normally share my scrapbooking, but since I dont have much else this week, figured I would.

This page is "Best Friends" and showcases my three 'major' best friends while growing up. My

photography isn't great, the pages look much better in person.

Well I'm off, got lots of other crafty projects swirling in my head, better get to it! Thanks for visiting!

Boo!

Happy Halloween. Hope you are having a good Saturday. We had a pretty quiet halloween around here. I have one project to share that I worked on tonight.

First of all, here is me and my sister in our pj's enjoying our Halloween banana splits on the couch, with our Nightmare before christmas jack-o-latern (much easier and cleaner than carving your own).

Today my sister and I went out to Fabricland, where I got a few new fabrics, as well as some wonderfull goodies from a few dollar stores and finally walmart (some more fabric). Here are my new fabric treasures.

So here is my project for this evening. Can you guess what it is? I put the globe there as a clue...

It's a little travel wallet to hold my passport, a few dollars, and anything else I want to be able to grab quickly out of my carry on bag. Depending on where I am travelling to, I often dont use my regular wallet, especially on airport days. This way, my important stuff isn't loose in my carry on, and its something small and cute I can grab and have with me. I have a bulky leather travel wallet from work, but I want something smaller, that I will actually use.

Here it is, all unfolded. There are three seperate little pouches, for whatever I need with me.

To keep it closed, I wanted something simple (my sewing skills are pretty basic) so at the dollar store today I found these little stick on velcro circles. I wasn't sure if the adhesive on them would be strong enough, but they work great.

The sewing went pretty well this evening. I sketched it all out, and made sure I knew what I was doing, before I did it (so that I didn't sew it inside out or something!)

Thats all I have to share. Didn't do much papercrafty today...hopefully tomorrow. Thanks for visiting. Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Friday, and Happy Halloween for tomorrow. I made a few Halloween cards for a few of my favorite people, hopefully they have recieved them by now.

Tonight I puttered around with my sewing machine and some fabric. I am on the hunt for some simple sewing projects to work on. I was working on a little keychain for my sister. It turned out to be a bit more fiddley than expected, but I think it came out okay. She can slip it over her wrist, if her hands are full.

I have a few other sewing projects swirling around my mind...so I'll probably have some more of that to share sometime this weekend. I have a few other papercrafting things on the go to, so hopefully its a good crafting weekend. We dont have much else planned, but I did convince my sister to drive me to a fabric store tomorrow..hopefully that will be inspiring! Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful weekend :)

Paper Bag Princess

Well for those of you who dont know, I am completely obsessed with all forms of paper bags...I've just realized that I used paper bags in all my projects I am sharing today!

Hello! Well its finally Thursday again, so I have time to be crafty and actually post it! It has been a crazy week at work, which has been sucking away most of my energy. Anyways, I have a few things to share today.

Since it is *almost* Halloween, I decided to share the little treats me and my sister have been working on. I love these little brown paper bags (they come in white too) from Walmart. I thought they would be perfect and easy, to decorate the fronts for Halloween. So that's what we've been doing. I made eight bags for my coworkers. My sister made 5 for her school friends, here are our bags all together :)

Today I wanted to package up a "just because" gift for my sister. No special occasion, just because. I bought this little tile thing in the summer, thought it would be the perfect thing for today. I decided to decorate it with one of my favorite styles, its great for using little scraps. Just find a few shades of the same color, and lay them out together in a row, I usually go from dark - light but it depends, then stamp a flower or something basic over it. Simple, but I am always happy with how it looks. On this one I white embossed the flowers. I like it with the little white paper bag.

So as I mentioned, this has been a crazy, difficult work at week. The only thing that got me through was my coworkers (okay, and also the fact that I have no other job to go to, and I haven't won the lottery - yet). My boss, Maria, was quite useful and supportive this week (yes I know that is her job) so I wanted to give her something tiny to know that it is appreciated. So often (especially in my job) you work so hard for little/no rewards or acknowledgement, so I wanted her to know that her help was appreciated.

So I have been loving the paper bags lately, because they are cheap and you can do like a million things with them! For this I cut the front off a paper bag, cut it down to the size I wanted it, and then ran it through my cuttlebug to emboss the swirls on it. Then I took it to my sewing machine and sewed it into a little pouchy envelope. My sentiment is from the 1.50 bin at Michaels, and it is just so Maria. She is always on these diets where all she is allowed to eat is spinach, but she is such a chocoholic, that we always catch her sneaking off to get a chocolate bar. I know it will make her laugh...and after the week we've had...that is good! I bought the little Bliss chocolate pouches at dollarama, and one package of four fits beautifully in my little pouch. Decorated, and tied shut with ribbon. You will be seeing more of these little paper bag pouches for sure...I already have another one but I cant share it just yet. ANyways, I love them! Well that is all of my craftiness for the day. Thanks for visiting. I will be sharing some more halloween ish stuff tomorrow or Saturday!

Simple Sewing

Hello and happy thursday. I'm off today, so its a good day. Got all my chores done this morning, so free crafting time this afternoon. First thing this morning I worked on a very simple sewing project. My mom helped me get the sewing machine all worked out this weekend, so I figured I better keep practicing. At a craft show I went to a few weekends ago I picked up some fabric, with this project in mind. My camera has been acting up lately, so I thought maybe if I sewed it a fancy new strap that might keep her happy.

It is just a sleeve that I can slip on over the existing strap, but I think its super cute. Very happy with how it came out.

My mom was here to visit this past weekend, and we had 4 days of scrapbooking together. We made some beautiful pages. Here's us with all of our hard work!

Well I think thats it for me for now. I still have a list of stuff I want to get done this afternoon...but hopefully I will be back later with some cards or something! Thanks for visiting!

Happy Thanksgiving

Good Morning. Its Thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada, so I'm off work today. I haven't been in much of a crafty mood this weekend...but I have a few little things to share.

My new favorite way to package gifts is super simple, and super cheap. Its just a brown paper bag, that I've run through my cuttlebug with an embossing folder. For my size of paper bag, I have to do it three times, and the lines dont match up perfectly, but you really dont notice. I just decorated the front, punched a couple holes for my ribbon. Done in like 5 minutes. And I love it. This little gift is for my friend's mom, who had to have her dog put to sleep. I hope it cheers her up :)

I made this little card quick last night. There are some silver swirls behind the snowflake. Pretty simple, but cute enough.

I am hoping to play along with a couple challenges in the next couple of days...but my creativity is just not flowing. I am also trying to get my crafting table cleaned up, my mom is coming to visit on Wednesday and we are hoping to do lots of crafts, so I have to try and make some room for her!

Anyways, thats it for me. Thanks for visiting! Have a great week!

A snowy craft day

This morning when I woke up I was dissapointed to see it had snowed...winter is here. I didn't have to work today, so I've spent most of the day crafting away. I got a double scrapbook page done, so thats good. I have a couple of cousin's birthdays coming up this month, so I made a couple of birthday cards using my supplies I bought last weekend. The ladies on the black/pink card are from Be Yourself by Close to my Heart. You cant really tell, but the black cardstock has been embossed with the swirly embossing folder. The pinky orange card I made using my new background stamp from Local King Rubber Stamp, on my glossy paper. Hope they like them!

This little pillow box has been waiting for me in my pile of unfinished projects. I painted the edges of my cream cardstock gold, tied a ribbon round the box and slapped the christmas tree on the front. Its hard to see the actual tree in the picture, but in real life its pretty cute. Dont know where it will go to yet...but I'm sure it will have some yummy christmassy treats inside. I always love how pillow boxes look, I really need to make them more often.

Next up, a project I made with my grandma in mind. My grandma came to visit me for two weekends this summer, and we had such a great time together. I wanted to make her a little something to thank her for coming down to visit, and I know she will use christmas cards, so I made up a little set of 5 cards with matching envelopes and some return address labels. Of course I had to package them up all cute for her. I hope she likes them!

Well thats all for me today. Thanks for visiting!

Another Challenge

Well today I decided to play along with the challenge over at Verve Stamps. Their challenge was to create a project using encouraging words or phrases. I don't have any Verve Stamps yet (I dont know why, they're are some gorgeous sets, great prices, free shipping to Canada), but I still wanted to play along because I love quotes! I was inspired by a bookmark my sister showed me at chapters a few weeks ago, using this quote, and a turquoisy color, so I made this simple little card. I'm not sure if its too simple...but I decided to just leave it. It looks kind of cute standing up vertically as well. Well thats it for now. Tomorrow I have work training in the morning, but then the rest of the day to scrap and craft. How Exciting! I'm not too sure what I will be up to...will have to find another challenge to play allong with!