Friday, January 31, 2014

Valentine's Day Card - Bee Mine

Hello Crafty Friends! I am in love with card making! Even more now than during the Christmas season. And today I would like to share with you two cards. Another Valentine's Day card (Valentine's Day is right around the corner, ya know)...and an everyday card (because our friends and  loved ones deserve to know we think about them on other days besides holidays). LOL


I am just love making VDAY cards!! I plan on making a few more before Valentine's Day gets here. This card is an A2 size. I used Designs on Cloud 9's Bee Bears file to make the flying bee bear. I got the hearts & honeycomb from the ecal shape library (for the honeycomb shape I used polygon 6 and added a shadow to get the honeycomb look). I also used a font called BubbleGum for the sentiment. 


Believe it or not this card started as a birthday card... Well, I had other elements originally incuded but as sometimes happens with my projects, things don't pan out the way I'd imagined... so presto, It became an everyday card. And, a very cute card at that.

This card is 5"x7". The Sun & Clouds I used DC9's Sunshine Title. This pattern is one of my absolute favorites and is THE must have cutting file! I use this sun in quite a lot of my projects... cards & layouts... it's awesome in both! The "sunshine" word and the sun's little hands came from DC9's My Sunshine Bear file. And, the face on the sun is actually a stamp from Treasure Box Designs. I used Cuttlebug's Divine Swirls embossing folder to add more depth & interest to the clouds. And I  two different corner punches from EK Success for the filigree & scalloped photo corners. 

Hope you enjoyed my cards... because I really enjoy making them! Stay tuned for more cards to come. I'm on a roll and I have to take advantage of it so I don't lose my crafting mojo. LOL... It's not fun to be in a craft funk!! So, I'm gonna let that baby ride as long as I can!

AND...

Don't forget today is FREEBIE FRIDAY! Every Friday Designs on Cloud 9 release a new FREEBIE for the week. This week's file is:

Cute Snail


And, you can find it here.


Hope you enjoyed your visit
HAPPY CRAFTING EVERYONE!!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Bath Salts

I've been on a "Gift in a Jar" making spree lately. My most recent one I made was a birthday gift for a dear friend of mine.  I decided to make her some homemade strawberry scented bath salts. 

And, here it is



If you read my previous post about my homemade colloidal oatmeal bath... half of the bath formula called for bath salts(also homemade). But unlike that post, instead of using just two ingredients (Epsom salt & fragrant oil), I added a third ingredient... color. I did this by just adding a few drops of colorant (these are the same colorants you find in the soap section of your hobby/ craft store) to the salt & oil mixture and stir with plastic spoon as if you were mixing cookies dough...almost smashing the color into the crystals. For the intensity in my jar I added about 4 or 5 drops of colorant.  Mix till fully blended. And pour into jar or container of your choice.

For the label I used Design on Cloud 9's Artisan Labels. I sized it 3" wide by 1" high.

More jar projects are soon too come!!

But for now, I'm going to enjoying soaking in my bath tub smelling like strawberries!

Craft Happy Friends!



Friday, January 24, 2014

Valentine's Day Card - I Dig You

Hello Crafty Friends... I've decided to do more male friendly cards.
I know most of the items out on the market are geared towards women & girls... Valentine's Day color are reds and pinks. Which makes it increasingly hard to find something for that special guy (or little guy) in your life. I hope that me posting these GUY inspired cards will help inspire you to make something special also. So,this week I have another BOY valentine I'd like to share with you all entitled I DIG YOU. 




All cutting files are from Designs on Cloud 9.
I used the following:
Big Boy Toys for the excavator (digger).
My Sunshine Title for the sun & clouds.
Photo Mat Fun for the wavy mat & scalloped border.
And, Beach Stuff's (sandcastle's sand) for the pile of dirt.

Heart shape is from the Sizzix Eclips Library.
Font used is called EastMarket  by Nick Fonts



 Don't forget...
Freebie Friday



This week's freebie is called Flourish Heart.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Colloidal Oatmeal Bath

So... I have a friend who is a bazillion weeks pregnant... ok, that is a bit of an exaggeration... ok-ok-ok, maybe like only 38 or 39...well, anyway,  she's due within the week (at least that's what I've been told)... and she has been having the major case of the "itchies".  So I came up with making her a gift that would help her soothe her skin and ease her "mama-to-be" aches and pains.


Well, I remember being a zillion years pregnant myself (having 4 babies back to back)... and I kept thinking and thinking about her and how miserable she must be.  I decided to make her some homemade colloidal oatmeal. But not just plain colloidal oatmeal. I wanted something to ease her itching AND wanted something to take away her aches and pains too.So, I concocted a special bath soak that will do both.

First, I needed to make the colloidal oatmeal... wait, what is "colloidal oatmeal"? Colloidal oatmeal is just grounded up oatmeal to a super fine powder.That's it. Wait, that's it??!! No way!! That's it, people!! The same stuff we buy at our local drug store that comes in a box with 4 small little paper packets barely filled with brown dust. Yup, the same stuff that sells for $6 or more... hey on etsy it's $10!! That is stinkin' redonkulous!! How 'bout... "uuughh no, thank you"! I can grind up my own, thank you very much!!!

So, with the help of my vitamix blender and the dry goods blending container. f you don't have one that's ok... a food processor works fine. You could use pretty much anything that will grind/process your oats to a fine powder (blender, food mill, coffee grinder). I blended about 4-5 cups of oats (you'll need to use the regular old fashioned oats NOT the instant kind). Then, this the hard part, I flip the switch and made the machine do all the work! Then I finally stopped blending when it looked like that brown dust I used to get in the little paper packets ... you know, the ones that emptied my poor pocketbook... yeah, exactly like that. 
I used 4-5 cups of oats(with this project you don't have to be exact, I just eyeballed it) blending half the oats at a time to make sure I got them down to the finest powder possible.


        
And, that's it... instant colloidal oatmeal! This stuff is great for dry skin, eczema , chicken pox, poison ivy, & insect bites to name a few. It moisturizes as it coats the skin.


But the colloidal oatmeal was only half of what's in my special oatmeal bath. The other half... bath salts.

And, again I opted to make my own. This was also a very easy thing to make... 2 ingredients:  Epsom salt & fragrance (fragrant oils used for lotions and soaps)... and the second ingredient is totally optional... I just added them because I wanted the bath to smell pretty.  I added the oil to the salts and not to the oatmeal because I didn't want the oatmeal to clump from the oil. I made sure to stir with a plastic spoon to evenly distribute the fragrant oils throughout. And that's it. EASY PEASY!!

I used 2 heaping cups ( again, I just eyeballed the amount... it doesn't have to be exact).



I filled just filled the straw's length full (about half a teaspoon) of oil and stirred. 



O
  Stirred with a plastic spoon until fully blended. And all done...look, no clumps!

Epsom salts as a bath soak works as an anti-inflammatory and aids in the relief of sore muscles and bruises. Which is perfect for my poor friend's self inflicted beaten up body. She's so itchy and sore it's driving her nuts!!

Well, where was I? Oh yeah, back to the bath...

Then I simply layered both the colloidal oatmeal and salts together in a jar and shook until blended.

Tah-dah!!

Add some decorations to the jar and ... Voila!! A great gift for just about anyone... especially pregnant, itchy, sore friends!! 


I used Designs on Cloud 9's cutting file Chevron Labels to make the the label on the jar.
 The font used on the label is called Cafe Rojo.

And there you go... I quick & easy & homemade gift!!

Thanks for looking!!!







Friday, January 17, 2014

Foxy Card - What's Up?

Hello Again Crafty Friends!! I thought that with the major holiday past us and out of the way everything would turn back to normal... I was wrong... I'm still as busy as ever!! I guess that is to be expected with four children, right? 

I was able to squeeze another card out but this time I opted for an everday card and took a break from Valentine's Day. But don't worry with my oldest in school I have to make more valentine's crafts for my princess to share with her class. As a crafty mom it's my obligation!! At least that's what I tell the hubby to validate my very expensive hobby.

My newest card is called "What's Up?".
And here it is:


All cutting files are from Designs on Cloud 9.
 I used the  Foxy file for the fox &  balloons. 
And, the My Sunshine Title file for the sun & clouds. 

I also used an old Hero Arts stamp from their  Birds and Branches Set. I thought the sentiment fit perfectly with the little foxy floating through the air, clutching a bunch of balloons. Too, too cute!! And super simple!

This makes for a great "just because" card.

I LOVE IT!
I love that it was simple but still soooo cute too!

Oooooohhh, Let's not forget today's FREEBIE FRIDAY!!

Here is DC9's free file of the week:
This one is called Whale You Be Mine.  


Hurry and get it before it's gone!! 

And,
 HAPPY CRAFTING FRIENDS!!!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Penguin Card - You make my heart happy

Just wanted to pop in to share with all my crafty friends a custom made card I made for a long time friends... we go all the way back to grade school... yeah, that long! She wanted a card for her sweetie for valentines day and love penguins.


I used Design on Cloud 9's Cute & Cool to make the penguins. 

This will be heading out in the mail today. I hope they both love it! I know I loved making it!

Well, toodles for now. Check back real soon for more Valentine's Day creations!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Valentine's Day Card - Loads Of Love

Good Sunday Morning Crafty Friends!! I'm following a suggestion that I received after posting my Strawberry Shortcake card yesterday... we need more "boy" Valentine's Day cards... So I made this awesome card for all the little fellas out there.


The truck is from Design  on Cloud 9's Monster Trucks file.  I just love those flames! It reminds me of Hot Wheels. LOL. 

I used Cuttlebug's Diamond Plate embossing on metallic/ foil paper to make a mat which gave it a nice masculine touch. I also used the foil paper for the rims of the truck ... which in person gives off a lot of shine. :) LOL... man bling... that's what it is!! Ahhh, no rhinestones or glitter needed! Hehehe!!

Well, hope you enjoyed this Valentine's follow-up post!

Happy Crafting Evveryone!!

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Valentine's Day Card - I Love U Berry Much - Strawberry Shortcake Inspired

Well Crafty Friends I'm finally back to crafting again. That means more layouts and more cards! Yay!! And, speaking of cards...Valentines Day will be here in one month and 10 days.. yeah, I'm counting... lol... and I decided to make my bestie a super cute valentine to let her know I'm thinking of her.


This card measures 5"x7". All files used to make this card are from Designs on Cloud 9

I used Costume Kids Set 2 for Strawberry Shortcake (sorry, the eyes do not come in the file. They are from a special file I personally made). 

The strawberry came from the Berry Title

The scalloped rectangle came from a past freebie... Merry On... don't worry if you missed it, it's now available for purchase for only $0.99. 

AAAANNND for the adorable little scalloped heart I used Cupid Cuties.

I grew up in the eighties and absolutely LOVE Strawberry Shortcake!! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this card turned out! I only hope my BFF LOVES it too!

Thanks for stopping by & craft on my friends... craft on!!