Last Weekend's Projects

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend for me because I got MLK Day off. I used the time to get some cards made and put them up in the shop.

This first one has a photo of two sweet little girls. I found this photo at a flea market in Hell's Kitchen, New York. I spent over an hour sifting through photos in old suit cases in the HOT sun. I sure smelled good for the plane ride home!! It was worth it because I found some real gems. I really wish I would have just offered the man an amount for ALL of the photos that he had. I don't know how much I would have offered him, but he had some really good ones. I think some were very historic because they were from when the troops were in Europe during WWII.



I have done this card before with different paper. I'm still not satisfied with it, but I do like the paper better. I might have to rethink the whole design.



This card came about because someone asked me to make some gender neutral thank you cards. I don't know if this is what she was looking for or not. I think it will work for both genders. What do you think?



This is also a remake. I like this card a lot better than the first one! I think it's because this one has patterned paper as a background. The flowers are also a lot more 3 dimensional.



When I was at Michael's a couple of weeks ago I picked up these yellow coasters and I knew I had to do something with them! This is what I came up with. I like the depth that they give the card.


These tags started out to just be from scraps from the above card, but it turned out that I needed to use more than the scraps. Oh well, it was worth using a bit more paper.


I also found this photo in NY. I love this little guy. Doesn't it look like he's hanging from a clothes line? He actually has his feet on the ground, but I thought "Hang In There" would be a good theme for the card.

Noah's 3rd Birthday

Last Sunday we celebrated Noah's (my nephew) 3rd birthday at the Mall of America. He got a wrist band for the rides and we all took turns being his chaperon. It was basically his day and he got to do whatever he wanted. He had a great time!


He was really anxious to get on the first ride (the carousel). He didn't want to wait in line.

He chose grandma to go with him first.

He went straight for the pig. He also liked the race horse and the ostrich. I think he went on the carousel 4 times!

Uncle Nathan took him on the train.


We only got one picture of Noah and I on the balloons. He didn't like them at all and got pretty scared.

He also got a little scared on the farm friends (??) ride, but by the end he enjoyed it. I think he was apprehensive because he had to go by himself. By the time he got off he wanted to go again.

He was a good listener when they said to "raise your hands."

On daddy's shoulders.


He enjoyed honking the horns on the semi trucks with uncle Jeremy.

Two days in a row?

That's right, I'm posting two days in a row! I thought I would post some of the projects that I have been working on. It isn't anything too exciting, but I like to document my projects. It is kind of fun to be able to go back and look at what you have done in the past and see how your style has changed.

In case anyone is wondering, I have posted all of these in my Etsy shop!!


I started out making these tags just from scraps. The funny thing is that most of the time when I do this I love the finished product from those little scraps even more than the finish product that created the scraps! I think it is because you really do have to be creative in the ways that you use the scraps.




I have created these hand-stitched cards before, but I really did like the way they turned out, so I decided to make them again. I'm not pleased with the white balance of these photos, but you get the picture!



I *think* I found this photo at an antique store in Omaha (either that or on ebay). This little girl is so cute and I was looking for the perfect paper for the longest time. I think this paper is from My Mind's Eye. I got it at Hobby Lobby and the flowers are from the Target Dollar Spot.



I have also made this card before. My aunt Carol bought it from me when I was first starting my Etsy shop. She was such an encouragement to me because she bought a ton of cards the first week I was open! It made me believe I might be able to do this thing!


These tags are also made from some scraps and I don't really love them as much as the above tags. I didn't feel very creative making them because I just stole an earlier idea that I had from the Friendly Flower card.



Finally, I have also made this card before and it sold out, so I made it again with a slight variation of the center brad on the flower. I love the bright colors on this card.



Thanks for looking my latest cards and tags! I feel a little silly by adding the commentary... Thanks so much for visiting!

Finally Back!

After almost a month I'm finally posting again! I have been really lazy in by blog posts mainly due to the fact that the holidays were really busy and I didn't bring my camera to many of the holiday functions. I don't really like to post without pictures because I personally become disinterested in blogs that are all writing and no photos. I like to skim through the photos and if there is something that interests me I then read the writing. That is probably pretty shallow of me, but it's the truth.

Anyway, as promised, there are some before and after photos of our counter tops and sink! The before isn't terrible. It's not like our counters were pink or in really bad shape, but we were just really getting tired of them. Whenever we put a metal pan, bowl, utensil or even opened a can on top of them it would leave a terrible mark that could only be removed by extreme scrubbing or the magic eraser. It also had a seam on the corner of the island. Here are the before pictures:
(much thanks to Jeremy the photographer who took these while I was in the shower and we were waiting for the guy to come.)


This is the mess of stuff on the table that is normally in the kitchen either on the counter, under the sink or in the top drawers.

Seam going through the corner of the island

Sink with old school sprayer.



Here's the new sink! I LOVE this sink! It seems deeper, even though I don't think it is. The sprayer is in the handle and can reach every inch of the sink. The right bowl is bigger than the left side which is nice when I have big pans. The left side is smaller and a little cutting board came in the box and it fits exactly over the sink. The new disposal is so quiet that I can barely hear it! The old one used to shake the whole kitchen.



The new corner has no seam!