Peace out, 2012!

I want to wish you all a Happy New Year and hope you all have nothing but happiness in the coming year! 

I am really going to try to get more updates done in the new year, it's actually one of my many resolutions.  Thank you for all the support, encouragement and wonderful comments over the last year.

If you like my blog, don't forget to follow me!

Be safe tonight everyone!
xo

Adventures in Sewing: Oscar's Halloween Costume! (And how I spent my October)

I know this is kind of late, but better late than never!

If you know me, you know how much I LOVE Halloween!  So this being Oscar's very first Halloween, I wanted to make sure he had an extra special costume.  So what I came up with was a Frog Pond.  I know, completely random, but complete unique too, right?

I went to Atlantic Fabrics and bought some cheap cotton fabric that looked like water and some different colored sheets of felt.  At first I was just going to use one of his coats as a template, and then I remembered my McCall's M6455 pattern I used for the bed also had pattern for coats.  Bonus!  Side note, that coat is SUPER easy to make!

I used the leftover fleece from the dog bed to line the inside of the coat as I wasn't sure how chilly it would be on Halloween.  So I got the base of the coat made and then I cut out some grassy looking shapes to use for the underwater plants, some small brown ovals for rocks,  some fish shapes and, of course a big lily pad.

I decided to sew sequins on the fish to make them stand out more and I sewed some more around the outside of the lily pad.  I had thought I'd just be able to glue the felt on, but ended up going back and hand stitching all the felt pieces down, just to make sure they'd stay on.

I got the little frog from Michael's ages ago in a 97¢ bag.  It actually came in handy!

So without further ado, here's Oscar, the Frog Pond!

Originally I had a lily pad hat for him to wear too, but he was NOT havin' it at all.  So I gave up lol

We went to an event called Howl O' Ween Around the Shubie Canal Festival at Shubie park.  It was so much fun!  There were all kinds of booths set up with information and services for dogs, and as you went around, your dog could Trick or Treat and get goodie bags!  Oscar loved it and his costume was a big hit!  There was a costume contest at the end, and we won a prize!

Hard work paid off!  Now I'll have to start planning for next year lol

Since we're on the topic of Halloween, I'll share a few more random shots from October :)

On our way to the Valley

At Howard Dill's

At Howard Dill's sitting on a giant pumpkin

Not sure what to make of the Jack-o-lanterns

Had to share this.  My nephews.  My sister MADE THESE COSTUMES.  By hand. from scratch.  She's amazing!

I guess that's enough picture spamming for now.  That's pretty much what I did in October lol  All Halloween. All the time.  Let me know how your Halloweens were!

Craft Fair Season 2012: Show 1 (Nov 10)

Well the first Craft Fair of the season has come and gone, and let me just say, after paying for the table, everything I sold and everything I bought, I made a profit of $5 lol  It's not my fault!  I'm a SUCKER for sweets and handmade goodness!  But lesson learned:  I will NOT buy anything at the next one.  Don't laugh!

Moving on...

Here's a shot of our display:

My partner in crime!  My sister Leigh-Anne & I, shenanigans ensued as always lol:

  

And as luck would have it, sitting next to me was THIS sexy bitch!   You might recognize her as Brigitte from Bricolage de Brigitte.

I bought this card from her, I fell in love with it!!  I'm going to frame it though, I'm not giving it away to someone lol  But seriously, go check out her blog, she's pretty amazing!

Here are some shots of the items I was selling.  I have to apologize for the lack of staging for these pics.  I shot them last minute as I was packing up to leave, so they were just kind of thrown on my desk and snapped... very unprofessional, I know lol

First up:  These are card & coaster sets I made at Carousel Rubber Stamps.  I haven't done anything with them yet, but I love them all.  I made the decision that I would try to sell them at the craft fairs and if they didn't sell then they are destined to have a spot in my house lol

Floral Sets

 

House Mouse Christmas Sets

Christmas Flower Sets

Next up are my tag sets.  I LOVE these!  They were fiddly to make, but I LOVE the end result!

Snowman Soup! 

Wishlist Kits!

Pencil & Candy Sets!

Charms!  I made some of these last year, and on a whim I decided to try to sell them, and they sold FAST.  I decided to make some more this year :)

I also had out some leftover tags from last year, and I had 2 boxes of my 'old stock' cards that I'd like to sell off so I can start fresh in the New Year. 

All in all I had a FANTASTIC time!  There was a pancake breakfast, lots of great things for sale and, of course, amazing conversation!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll all be sitting next to each other again next year.  Next sale is this coming Saturday, so I'll try to remember to take pictures there too.  Have a great week, peeps!!

Wow, It's November!

Hello my lovelies!  I'm so sorry I haven't been updating much, October has been a trying and busy month for me, medically and otherwise.

This is a busy season for me, as I'm sure it is for most of you too.  I have my first of 2 Craft Fairs coming up on Saturday, the second one a week later.  So I've been trying to force myself into a creative state of mind to get some things made up to sell.  I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and make a nice long blog post showing all the stuff I've made, and How-Tos, if you guys want them :)

Well, I better get back to it!  Wish me luck lol

(And since I know you are all DYING to know how the little one is doing, here's a picture from a couple days ago.  He's OBSESSED with leaves lol)

Tutorial: Rainbow Glitter Zebra Print iPhone Case

I have had more compliments on my current iPhone case, and people are always asking where I got it, so I figured I'd do a tutorial to show you guys how to make your own!  You can thank me later ;)

The case itself is a clear soft rubber case I got on the cheap from ebay for $.99, shipping included.  The seller is easy to find and fantastic to deal with.  Message me if you are having a hard time finding them.

So your supplies:

1.  Glitter in whatever colors you choose.  I used my Martha Stewart super rainbow glitters lol
2.  Cuttlebug & zebra print folder (comes in a set of 4 different animal prints)
3. Old paintbrush
4.  Pencil
5.  Blade
6.  Mod Podge or equivalent
7. Your iPhone
8.  Clear iPhone case
9. Piece of plain white paper (something lighter than cardstock. text-weight works great!)



So the first thing I did was use the pencil to trace around the outside of my iPhone on the white paper. Cut it out on the line.

Next get out your Cuttlebug, put the paper into the zebra print folder & use your A+B+B plates.  Emboss!

Take your embossed paper and fit it into the case. Trace the camera hole and cut it out.

 Next get out your Mod Podge and your old paintbrush.  Use the paintbrush to apply the MP to the first (and second, if you so desire) indented section of the embossed image.  Make sure you have the correct side of the insert faced up, you don't want to finish glittering and discover your camera hole is on the wrong side ;)

Sprinkle your first color of glitter liberally over the MP'd section and gently press it down with your finger.  Tap off extra and return it to the container. 

 Repeat the above steps until you have all the areas filled in that you want glittered.

After it's dry you may want to go back and repeat the process on any sparse areas.

 

Once it's completely dry, dust off any extra glitter that might be lingering and fit it into your case and onto your phone!  Enjoy!

I could have used my massive Glitter Ritz collection for this, but let's be serious, GR is expensive, so I save it for cards, and my other high end products ;)  In case you were curious which shades of the Martha Stewart glitter I used:

Hope For Wildlife - Please Help Support :)

Hey guys,
If you have a spare minute today, please go and vote for Hope For Wildlife's entry for the Aviva Community Fund.  They are trying to raise money to start a Marine Wildlife Rescue Centre.

Here's a little more info from their Facebook page:

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Hope for Wildlife is vying for a top spot in this year's Aviva Community Fund competition and we NEED your help! The Aviva Community Fund is awarding over $1 million to Canadian charities and we need VOTES for Hope for Wildlife to WIN!

So what are you voting for? As many of you know, the need for dedicated marine animal facilities is rising at Hope for Wildlife. With our FIRST EVER successful releases of orphaned seals this year, we now know that we have the skills, now we just need the facilities! And its not just seals that will benefit - this is a Marine Animal Rehab Centre - so the facilities will also cater to wayward pelicans and oiled seabirds. We've submitted a proposal in the $50-$100 category to pay for the construction of a facility completely unique in Nova Scotia. We're talking pumps, pools, caging, oiled birdwashing facilities AND an oceanside location! View our full profile at http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf13800

Here's how you help: Anyone in Canada who is registered on the Aviva Community Fund website can vote for ideas during the Idea Entry and Semi-Final phases of the competition.

REGISTER AT https://www.avivacommunityfund.org/users/registration/register

How do you vote?: Once you're registered and signed in to the site, all you need to do is click on the "Vote now" button on any idea. Or, if you registered using Facebook Connect, you can now vote directly through our Facebook voting app, which you can find on the Facebook page of most ideas or at Facebook.com/AvivaCommunityFund.

You can also find our idea by looking up our unique idea number: ACF13800

Or link directly to our idea URL at: http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf13800

How else can you help?: Help us spread the word! Please forward this email to your contacts, tell your friends, share it on facebook and twitter, post it on your blog, post it on your website, pass out and post up mini flyers (attached!), shout it from the rooftops! We have 15 days to make it through qualifying rounds - so round up your troops and start voting!!!

_____________________________________________

So please, take a minute from your busy day and help out a great cause :)

Scrapbooking Cafe Online September/Fall Challenge

This is my first ever challenge entry for a contest like this!  Over at Scrapbooking Cafe Online Blog, they are having a challenge to "create any paper item with a fall feel to it".  Well you all know how much I LOVE Halloween, so here's what I came up with:

The image is an Outlines stamp, coloured in with Copics, Viva Decor & ribbon Accents.  Background paper is from Michael's.  I'm pumped with how this turned out, and I'm in the process of making a bunch more to give to my peeps for Halloween :)







I think I have the challenge bug now!  Can't wait to try some more!  If you know of any other blogs that offer challenges, please let me know so I can check them out ^.^

Whimsy Stamps - Sealed With a Kiss

Happy Monday everyone!

Yesterday I went to a charity event at Carousel Rubber Stamps, where a bunch of crafty ladies got together to make cards and then donate whatever we made to Hope for Wildlife so that they, in turn, could sell them to raise money for the rescue.

I didn't know how productive I'd be since I'm so easily distracted by fabulous conversation, so I brought a bunch of my inventory to donate, just in case.  I did get 1 original card made, and I put together 3 more cards that were left over from a class that was held at the store.

Here's the original:

 

I used the Whimsy Stamp "Sealed With a Kiss", coloured it in with Copics, and used Smooch Spritz with an image mask to create the shimmer behind the seals.  The border was part of an Outline stamp (I believe, I can get all the info for you if you are interested, just comment or message me on Twitter.  I don't have the stamp, but they have it at the store), it was coloured in with Copics and a Spica, and then popped. 

A great time was had by all and HFW ended up with lots of cards! 

Slacker Update!

Alright, so it's been at least a week, alright, more than that, but I DID actually start getting things accomplished!

Let's take a look at the original list:

1.  Plan out blog posts
2.  Make August ATCs
3.  Make Sept. ATCs
4.  Start planning for upcoming Craft Shows
5.  Sort unfinished scrapbook projects.
 
Okay, so I only did 2 of the 5.  TWO IS BETTER THAN ZERO!  I probably could have crossed off number 1 too, as I did get a couple of good suggestions for blog posts, and they can at least get me through September. 

So what have I been doing?  I'm ashamed to admit it, but since Guild Wars 2 launched at the end of August, I'd kinda gotten myself sucked back into the gamer world.  I was playing a lot, and ignoring my other responsibilities, so obviously I had to put a stop to that.  For the last couple of days I've limited myself to an hour a day.  And surprisingly it's been in the last couple of days that I've started being productive in life again lol  Go figure.

Oscar is growing and becoming more awesome each day.  Puppy Socialization is going MUCH better.  He's actually getting out and sniffing/kinda playing with the other dogs!  And yes, here comes the mini photo spam ;)

He seriously gets cuter every day :)

As far as crafting goes, I'm FINALLY feeling creative again!  I've finished my ATCs for August (lol slacker) and September (EARLY!).  I have a few cards I need to finish up, Christmas Cards to start (for craft shows and for my peeps), and a couple of potential card classes to plan.  I'm not even going to include all the Scrapbooking projects that are staring at me right now... 

Oh, and I made a YouTube Channel!  There's no videos on it yet, but I've been asked to do some video tutorials, so I figure I'd at least get it all set up before I start.  So Subscribe to me!

Well that's about it.  I PROMISE to be better about blogging.  I have my list to work from, so I'll get something up by the end of the week.  As always, feel free to give me topics to write about, ask questions or request tutorials!  AND FOLLOW MY BLOG IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

;)