A Box of Hearts

I'm so excited today because I can finally share my "Box of Hearts" with you!

Last week, I sent my sister one for a Valentine's gift and she just got it yesterday. She's one of my best readers and I wanted her gift to be a total surprise. Saturday morning, my "Breakfast Buddy" friends and I got together and I gave a box to each of them. So here is is......


It's based on THIS post by Ali Edwards. I loved her butterfly box so much I thought it would be neat to try other punches used the same way. Here's a picture of the box she made using the Martha Stewart Butterfly punch.



There were so many different and beautiful heart punches out there over the Valentine holiday and I used the EK Success X-Large Heart Punch for my hearts. I liked the size, about 2 1/2 inches, which gave me space to embellish in. The paper is "Mariposa" from DCWV (Die Cuts with a View) and it's SO romantic and beautiful, I knew the hearts would turn out awesome. Each little heart is then embellished with a little extra. This heart is stamped with the word LOVE.

Here are a few more so you can see the detail. The first has a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch in coordinating paper. Next is a sticky back pearl half on a button. Below is a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Foliage Flower and brad. Then another cute little Tim Holtz piece, the Trinket pin with a little "X" and "O" bead.

Some had little sticky diamonds on them. Others had flowers with pearl brad centered flowers. There is even a cute little Yo-Yo fabric heart I made using THIS.

The little hugs and kisses pin quickly became my favorite!

I hope all of you had a great Valentine's Day and made many people handy with your crafts.

Recreation - My Word Of The Year

I chose a Word of the Year this year, RECREATE. For those of you new to choosing a Word of the Year, it's picking a focus word that describes your intention for the upcoming year. If you're interested in picking YOUR word, a really good list can be found HERE at Ali Edwards Design: One Little Word: 2010 Word List.

This journal started with a black and white composition book for around $1. I used 4 sheets of scrapbook paper, 2 in each color, along with some white cardstock for the lace treatment. The flower is covered chipboard from Stampin' Up and chipboard letters were inked up with Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie ink. Since the R and E had already been used up, I used the outsides which at first made me feel so uncomfortable but ended up so cute!


I embellished it with fibers, Tim Holtz keys and a fragment which I still need to decorate and a little butterfly pendant that opens to reveal a mirror. I also used an Inkadinkado clear stamp, Garden Words, for the stamping.

Inside the journal are pockets to put little inspirational tags into or momentos of times I spent relaxing this year. It was a really fun project to complete and I use it weekly to recap successes in my week. Try one today. Basic instructions for a journal can be found HERE.

Taking a Drawing/ Sketch Class

Are you a doodler? You know, when you talk on the phone you play around with a pencil and pad of paper. Circles, squares, swirls, stick people.... well that's me too! I've always wanted to be able to draw beautiful pictures. Heck, I'd settle for being able to draw something someone else could recognize! Over the years, I've accumulated all kinds of drawing supplies like sketch pads, pencils, erasers and instruction books hoping that one day I would actually be able to draw. So a few days ago, while looking through our local Adult Education catalog, I saw a Beginning Drawing class being offered. I've wanted to take one for a VERY long time so I signed up!! And people, yesterday was the day I'm going to claim as the day I started to draw! We had 20 minutes to sketch anything in the classroom and I chose my water bottle that I brought to class. We had to turn it in so I have nothing to show you here... yet!

Well, I could show you the tools of an pencil artist.... or at least a pencil artist wantabee!

An 11 x 17 Drawing pad and an 8 1/2 x 11 Sketch pad.

And let's not forget the pencils, erasers, chalk and sharpeners.

While we're at it, maybe I'll throw in the definition of sketching.....

(Taken from Webster's Dictionary)

Main Entry: ¹sketch
Pronunciation: \ˈskech\

Function: noun

Etymology: Dutch schets, from Italian schizzo, literally, splash, from schizzare to splash, of imitative origin

Date: 1668

1 a : a rough drawing representing the chief features of an object or scene and often made as a preliminary study

Ok, I particularly like that it is derived from the Italian Schizzo and where have we seen a word like THAT before??? As in, I must be "schizo" to have thought I could do this! I also like that sketching is a "rough" representation or preliminary study. Why you ask? 'Cause what you are about to see is about as rough as it comes.

Oh man! Get a load of all those smudges in the word FUN.... umm yeah, I've got a ways to go.....

How Do I Love Thee?

Most people who dabble in crafts do a little bit of everything. I fall into that category. When I get bored making cards, I sew for a while. So a few weeks ago when I was thinking about making a cute little yo yo quilt for a bedroom fix-up I have in mind, I ran across these really cool jigs from the Clover company. I've made up bunches of these in pinks, blues, greens and yellows. It's fun, easy and I just keep a basket on my lap when I'm watching TV at night. So when I heard they had shaped ones like butterflies, flowers and hearts.... well, I went crazy!! Had to have them! I mean, look how cute these little jigs are.

They come apart in two pieces, you lay your fabric nice side down, pinch it between the two pieces, trim and then taking a needle and thread, use the holes to go around the entire heart. At the end, you simply remove the top piece of the jig, gather the thread and tie off your sweet little heart.


They come in a couple of sizes for the hearts, small and large and the card I made today is made with the small one which makes a 1 x 1 1/4 size finished heart.

So this is how my little heart turned out once I added button and ribbon....


And here's my card for today.


I started with a 6 x 6 piece of "Smitten" DP from K & Company and corner rounded the right two corners with the Crop-O-Dile Corner Chomper. It is such pretty paper that I really didn't want or need to do anything else to it! Trying to keep things simple today I cut and embossed a large scalloped heart with Spellbinder's Classic Scalloped Heart. Then distressed around the edges using Tim Holtz' Dusty Rose Distress Ink. A button and ribbon were added to the yo-yo heart and it was applied over an Inkadinkado "stem" I made with the Sketchy Fourishes. Using leftover DP, I trimmed out another butterfly that I could lift off the page a bit and curl the wings for more dimension. I LOVE the Quote, from Flourishes - Lace Heart, and I'm pretty sure my honey is going to get this one!

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to tell you! I decided to take an Adult Education drawing class that begins today. I am so excited!! I'll have to share more on that as I get a little further in the class!

CNN ireport Assignment: Your Home Office Attitude

Around the first of this year, I put pictures of my newly cleaned and organized craft room up on my Flickr site. Right now, I am SOOOoooo in love with my space. It's pretty and functional! So was I ever surprised when I found this email in my mailbox.

You've been sent a Flickr Mail from CNN iReport----- :: Closet office photos

Hi there, I came across your closet office (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xtraspecial/4245732517/in/photostream/) and wanted to encourage you to send it to CNN iReport. We're asking people to share photos of their home offices as part of a special report and have received a few shots of closet offices -- I thought it could be fun to create a gallery of closet offices for CNN.com if we get enough. Here's the assignment:
http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=379044 Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you!

Best, Katie Hawkins-Gaar CNN iReport producer


It took me a couple of days to get my thoughts together and write something up but today, you can find that post HERE. A big shout out and THANK YOU to my husband who made this happen for me!!

Inspiration From "Card Maps"

When I get stumped for ideas on what to make, I usually take a look at Becky Fleck's card map pages. There are lots and lots of ideas there! Here is the map I started with today.

And here are the two cards I completed using this map.

Once I had the inspiration from the card maps, I simply went to my paper supply and pulled out some designer paper my daughter gave me and began working. I used Tim Holtz Old Paper distress ink to edge the Whisper White Stampin' Up paper. I also used it to stamp a Flourish image from Inkadinkado clear stamps. Instead of using a pinking scissors to edge the paper, I chose Lacy Apron punch from Fiskars. Then from a pack of sentiment stamps I had, I made two different cards, Birthday and Thinking of You.

I've used some card sketches from Splitcoast Stampers that you can find HERE before, but these maps from Becky Fleck were really easy and downloadable. So the next time you are stumped for something to do, give these sources a try!

Froggie Birthday Gift Card

After a much needed rest, I'm getting to it again. My Son-In-Law's Birthday was this past week and I knew I wanted to give him an Itunes gift card. After looking at templates several people had made, I decided to make my own since none were quite right. When you untie the bow, open the card and peer inside, you see the pull out gift card on the right, snugly held in with little slits. On the left is a card that pulls out and you can either write or stamp a private Birthday message.

Stampin' Up: Stamp-Birthday Banter, Bodacious Bouquet (lilly pads/leaf) Punches: Simplicity Corner Slot, Lg. Corner Rounder, Paper: Bordering Blue, Whisper White
Cuttlebug: Swirls Folder
Fiskar: Threading Water Punch
Other: Ribbon, "Cowboy" Dew Drops, 3-D Dots (EK Success)