Uh-oh...Guess what?!?!

Hello Crafty Friends!!

I got a Wacom Graphics Tablet from a local on-line garage sale here in our town.  I am sooooo excited.  I have been playing with it all day.  Can't wait to dive in and learn how to create my own custom digital creations and learn how to use in PhotoShop!!!

There is a huge learning curve for me, but I am up for the challenge. Already made a little holidy scene and a ghosty.  hehe.  Very rough, but I am sure I will get the hang of it eventually.  LOL!

4th Blogaversary and long overdue posting...

Hello Crafty Friends!!!

What a super busy few months I've been having.  Whew!!...I'm exhausted.  Time for a little down time and catch up on the blog.  I totally missed celebrating my 4th Blogaversary...WHAT?!?! IKR?! Oh well, there is always next year.  hehe

Lot's of new and exciting things going on around here that I will share soon, but until then, here is a really quick floral arrangement I made for the front door.  Just got a few fall floral groupings and VOILA!  Got to love Dollar Tree and Joann's 60% off sales.  :)

Before Spring/Summer

After Fall

Hopefully there will be more fall projects coming soon.

Until then...

New adventure...Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Part 1

Hello Crafty Friends!!!

Today I will be stepping out of my box and learning something new.  Painting with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I am going to a free workshop at The Red Door Antiques & More  I am soooo excited!!! I already started working on my old bedroom furniture which will be the new guest bedroom furniture.  :)

I wanted to have a darker top, and tried using just the dark wax, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for.  Then I remembered I had left over Rustoleum Furniture Transformations from my daughters tables project here.  That was the color I was looking for and since all I was doing is the tops I had plenty for this project.

So here I will share the before and then after the workshop today, I will come home with supplies and get started chalk painting and antiquing and will share when I am finished.  Did I mention how excited I am!?!?

I got this bedroom set at a consignment shop many many years ago.  They looked
a lot nicer back then.  LOL!

You can see the wear and tear on the front night stand.  The back
one looked pretty much the same before I tried just the
dark was alone.

Yuck!!

Just using the dark wax.  Not the look I was going for, but
if I was just cleaning it up I think it would work
just fine.

My leftover Rustoleum

I followed the directions, and skipped the glazing
process which is optional before I
put on the final protection coat.
My daughters tables from last year still look great so
I am very happy with this product.  Kind of pricey but since
I see I can use it on more projects worth it. 

These are the pulls I got from Overstock.com
Hint-buy when you get the email coupon for 10% off after you set up
an account.  I only paid
$49.74 for 25 pulls.  That was the cheapest I found.

OK, well I better get...workshop starts in 30 minutes!!!!  I'm soooo exciiiiited!!  Oh yeah, I think I mentioned that.  ;) lol

Happy First Birthday Card....

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today's birthday card share is one I made with the new The Stamps of Life stamp set candles4birthday.  I love, love, love this set.  Plus, it came in just in the nick of time for Hunter's first birthday!!  I thought the sentiment was very fitting.  :)

I am a Die Hard Member at The Stamps of Life, so my stamp set came with a matching die set.  Click on the link and check out how you can become a member too!

Here is the card...

Re-purpose old patio chairs...

Hello Crafty Friends!

My daughter has been looking for some patio chairs, but she didn't want just any old patio chair, she wanted some with an old school vintage like look.  My mother in law has had these chairs outside on the side of her house for as long as I can remember (30+ years) and years ago I had asked her about them.  We never sat in them as I can recall and she said she didn't have any plans to use them, so I snagged them.

They are rusted through and through so I wasn't able to do too much to them, the metal tubing was literally flaking off in my hands if I pressed too hard and the bolts were so rusted on there that I was afraid of making a total mess of it.  They are sturdy enough to sit on though and the arms just have a few rusty holes in them so I just scrubbed them up and put on a few coats of paint. (Shabby chic right?!) They probably won't get much use anyways, more of an decorator item for her cute little patio.  :)

When my husband was young he had welded some braces on one of the chairs as they were showing some metal fatigue way back when.  So they had sentimental value for him.  :)  

So there you go Chels...a up cycled family heir loom.  :)  Enjoy!!

Now off to find a cute table.  :)

Hubby's Birthday card...

Hello Crafty Friends!

It was my hubby's birthday the other day.  He went on a motorcycle ride for the weekend with his friend and our son.  They had a wonderful time cruising up the Norther California coastline and through the Redwood Forest.

My hubby <3

So staying with the Redwood Tree theme, I made this card for him.  :)

Baby Shower for Vianna Rae...

Hello Crafty Friends!

I had to share the Baby shower card and water bottle labels I made for the shower.  Vianna Rae will soon be making her appearance and we can't wait!!  My Bestie is soooo lucky.  She has two wonderful and beautiful DIL's!!  (I should say her boys are lucky too, hehe.)

I found this cute little girl dress template on Paper Crafts and created
my own designer paper using ladybugs2love stamp set
from The {Stamps} of Life

I actually learned how to make polk a dot paper on Photoshop!  There are some great
tutorials on YouTube.  

Had to share my Besties delicious artwork!   

Here's momma Tania and her beautiful diaper cake.
I'm not sure who made it, but it's adorable and I had
to share!

Congrats to Curt and Tania!!
We can't wait to meet little Vianna Rae!!  

Wine glass gift ideas for teachers....

Hello Crafty Friends!!

Just wanted to pop in and say "HI!!!" and share a crafty project that my daughter made for her fellow teachers last day of school gifts.  (From now on she will be painting on glass for all of my projects, she has great writing.)  LOL!  My contributions were the wine charms (a little Swarovski bling).  I really miss beading and really should get back into it!  I have TONS of beads.

Here ya go...

Besties bday card...

Hello Crafty Friends!

Wanted to share the card I made for my besties birthday last month.

Using The Stamps of Life stamps.

My son has been teaching me Photoshop and creating logos and watermarks for when I release my newly renovated blog.  Not exactly what I want but getting close.  :)  Need a few more hours in the day to get it done.  :)

In the mean time...

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Hello Crafty Friends!!!

"Where have I been?!", you ask, well.....

It has been crazy busy and I am waaaaay behind in postings.  So, so sorry.  I will probably be doing this a lot lately in the coming months.  Lot's going on around our house.  I  will fill you in on that later.  Very exciting stuff.  :)

To start this summer, our son, our youngest child, graduated and turned 18 within a week of each other. Actually today is his birthday!  Woo Hoo!  He is excited to be 18.  Happy Birthday Brady!!!

We have been so busy that a lot of projects have been put on the back burner and graduation cards were made in a jiffy.  Thankfully there is good old Pinterest full of ideas that helped me out since I literally could not get the creative juices going to create anything!!

Anyway, here is a quick card I made for Chelsea's friend at college.  Loved this idea (found on Pinterest)  I could have and should have made it better proportioned, but then, you know, busy busy busy brain.  LOL!

Here it is:

Until next time...

Mother's Day Box Card...

Hello Crafty Friends!

I just couldn't wait to share the lovely Floral Box Card I made from the SVGCuts.com Box Card SVG kit. Hurry over and get it while it is still free with purchase.

We are having a Mother's Day BBQ at my sisters on Sunday and this will go to one of the BEST moms in the world...MINE!!!!  :)  (No worries...she won't see this in social media.)  LOL!

Got a few more projects I'm working on...I hope I get them all done before Friday.  Busy weekend.  :)

Crafty tip...

Hello Crafty Friends!

Just wanted to share with you a little crafty tip that I use from an old trick during my early typing days.  You know, when we had to type with carbon???  Maybe not you young ones, but you ladies know what I'm talking about, right?!  HAHA!!!

I also used a cutting tool (or razor blade), but now I just use this buffing file method.

Oops!  

To the rescue!!

Lightly rub in circular motion until mark dissappears.

And Voila!  Sometimes the ink gets in a little to
deep and results could vary.  This was a very heavy cardstock 100# I think.

You're welcome!  hehe!