Monsters!

Do not be alarmed! There are no real monsters. Just a few monster cards that I made to exchange with my friends.

I am lucky to have a super fun job. And I am lucky to work with friends, all of who are very talented. Each month we do a card exchange/challenge hosted by Amazing Amanda. So, this month's challenge was "The Ugly Paper Exchange."  Fun!

We had to find what we thought was the ugliest paper and give two pieces to our secretly chosen by random drawing friend. This ugly paper had to be prominently used on our cards for the month.

Amazing Amanda picked my name and bought me what she considered ugly. Really? I already own that paper, Amanda! I like it! She selected a circle patterned paper from BasicGrey's Lime Rickey Collection.

This is what I made.

I was very pleased with how it turned out! Since I already had the entire Lime Rickey Collection I was able to easily match my colors and cut the monster with my Silhouette.  He just looks so darn happy.

I hope you like him too.

Karen





Leap Day and a San Francisco Treat

No, I did not give my child Rice-a-Roni for her birthday. Yes, I did take her to San Francisco! Why Leap Day you ask?  Because that is her birthday.  She is not 4 years old. She despises that joke. She is 16.
SIXTEEN! My baby. Where does the time go? 

Most people have questions when they find out she was born on February 29.

•  Does she only get a party every 4 years?  No. How mean do you think we are?
• What day do you celebrate?  We usually party on February 28. We figured keeping it in the same month made sense.
• So how old is she?  Well, generally people age 1 year every year. She is no different.

If you have any strange Leap Day birthday questions please let me know.

Now back to the fun!  We wanted to do something special for her 16th birthday and since it was an "official" birthday year, something out of the ordinary.  O really likes Oriental culture.  Loves Japanese crafts and anything Kawaii.  Loves Chinese food, art, and gardens.  San Francisco was the perfect choice.

The Peace Tower in
 Japan Town

More trip details to come later.
Let's just look at some photos, shall we?

The Floating Sushi Boat for lunch.

China Town

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses An Eye

First things first...Merry Christmas!  Hope your day was wonderful.


Now the explanation.


Yup! Shot my kid in the eye. "Mother of the Year"...that's me!


Before you go freakin' out too much it was with a Nerf gun. And it hit her in the corner of her eye.  Close range though. Maybe she should have been wearing her safety glasses. Ya, that's it. Deflect the blame.  


She has really matured lately.  I expected her to milk it for all it was worth but she didn't. She acted suitably injured in body and spirit and then got over it.  She is a great kid.


What near disaster can I plan for her birthday?  Stay tuned to find out.


Karen

Thanksgiving Decorative Plate

I wanted a little something new for our Thanksgiving decor this year.  So I purchased a pretty plate from Tai Pan Trading and using my Silhouette, whipped out this little baby in about 5 minutes. 

I liked it so much I made another for my friend, Hammie.

I am very thankful for Hammie. She is a wonderful person. Generous and kind. A friend that loves unconditionally. Friends like that are hard to find. What a lucky person I am.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Karen

Gosh, I hope I win!

So I was checking out one of my very favorite, check it everyday blogs, Flamingo Toes, and I read about the awesome accuquilt giveaway. 
 Very cool.  I could make some fun stuff with that. 

I was going for as many entries as I could so I visited the accuquilt website to check out the dies.
Lo and behold they have a bacon die!  Oops. That is a rick rack die, not bacon. But can't you see it too? It could easily be bacon. And if I win I will make a bacon shirt. Because I like bacon. A lot.
You should enter too.  Go on, you know you want to.
Good Luck!

Karen

Plain to Pretty Purple Tee

A very long time ago, at least 10 years, I gave my mother-in-law a purple T-shirt that I had embellished with embroidered silk ribbon flowers. She loves it. And still wears it even though many of the stitches are worn through and falling apart.

So I guess it's time for a new purple T-shirt.

This time with a more updated look. A cluster of little felt flowers at the neckline.

This is the tee I started with. I love the softness of the neckline.

I searched my stash of wool felt and found a slightly darker purple and a nice mossy green. Using my Sizzix Tattered Florals die, I cut flowers from both shades of felt.

My daughter,O, tells me I have trouble being random. It's true, but I gave it my best shot and arranged the flowers in what I hope is a pleasing and suitably random fashion.
                                               (wow, lookie at that color difference!)

Using two strands of embroidery floss I stitched each flower to the shirt with five small "spoke" stitches and a french knot in the center. It needed  more sparkle so out came the bead stash.  I stitched a cluster of three purpley-pink (oh yes, that is a color) seed beads to four random flowers. O will be so proud!



Hope she likes this new one as much as the first! She'll be visiting soon. Maybe I can get her to model.

Stay tuned!







A Halloween Treat...but Not to Eat!

Give your special Trick or Treaters a fun Halloween treat that won't rot their teeth. Shaped crayons are fast, fun and easy to make. Dollar stores, grocery stores and even thrift stores are a great place to find inexpensive ice cube trays with holiday shapes.  Candy molds work well too.


You will need:
Crayons     I picked up 10 boxes for $2 at Target during their back to school sale
Ice cube tray or candy mold
Craft knife
Paper cups  One for each color
Cookie sheet
Craft stick or skewer to stir the melted crayons
Parchment paper (optional)
Foil
Oven


Preheat your oven to a low setting, 225 to 250
Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper if you want. This is just to protect it from spills.

Peel your crayons. 
I found they peel much easier if you use a craft knife to slit the wrapper down the side.

Break the crayons up into pieces and place one color in each cup.

Place the cups on the cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet in the oven.

While your crayons are busily melting away, lay a piece of foil on the counter and place your trays or molds on it. The foil should be large enough to protect your counter from spills. You want your molds to be as level as possible. (Pretend that I used foil, which I didn't and my spills soaked through and I had to scrub my countertop to remove the colored wax. Yuck.)

After about 15 minutes, take a peek at the crayons.  Give them a stir with a craft stick or skewer to check for lumps in the bottom of the cup. If there are lumps, return them to the oven for about 5 minutes more. When all the crayons are melted, remove the cookie sheet from the oven.  Let everything cool for about 1 minute. The top edge of the cup should be cool enough to handle. Please be careful. This is supposed to be fun, not painful. Pinch the edge of the cup to form a pour spout.

Pour your melted crayons into the design of your choice.  Fill the design to the top.  As the crayons cool and harden again you will get an indentation in the middle. Reserve some of the melted crayons to fill in any dips in the center.  I leave my oven on, with the cookie sheet and cups in it while the molded crayons cool. Then it's easy to fill in the dips as they form.

Let the crayons cool completely and then just pop them out of the molds. 

My pumpkin mold was not very deep so it only took about 2 crayons to fill each section.  The skeleton and bones were 3/4" deep and it took about 5 crayons to fill each section.  I love the detail of the skeletons!  They have great teeth and eyes.

Now color! Coloring is so relaxing and fun.  By the way, the awesome coloring page is from Faces Faces Everywhere by Yukiko Kido. And yes, I bought it for myself. Because I'm a grown up and I can.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! If you try it out, please let me know how it goes for you. Comments are always welcome.
Thanks!

Hopefully (crossing my fingers) I will be linking to Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes. Since this is all new to me and I am technically challenged, we'll see what I can do.