handmade by linda

moving...

2009-01-26T18:41:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone! I am moving my blog over to http://www.lindaspaperie.blogspot.com/. I have been thinking about this for a while now and decided to just go for it. All of my blog posts have been imported to my new blog so I won't lose anything when I delete this blog. But don't worry, I won't do that for a month or so. :) Hope to see you over at my new home. I would miss you if you didn't come and visit me.

nap time

2009-01-23T11:59:00.003-05:00

You would think this can't be comfortable but Daisy stayed like this for about an hour. No toys for Patches.

4 U bee card

2009-01-21T20:06:00.003-05:00

It is so cold here. Or maybe I just feel that way because my hands are cold all the time. So now I am wishing for Spring to hurry up and get here. I made this card with the hopes of getting warm and I was for a moment when I had my heat gun on. :)

Supplies: paper, Scenic Route. stamp, Stampendous. punches, Marvy Uchida. ink, Versamark. black embossing powder.

card: bird thank you

2009-01-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

The top half is embossed with the Cuttlebug, I used the folder with the vines and birds. Then I used my Slice to cut out the bird on 2 different papers and piece them together. All the solid papers are outlined with a coordinating pen.

Supplies: paper, Me and My Big Ideas. embossing folder, Cuttlebug. stickers, Making Memories. die cuts, Slice, Fall/Back to School card. punch, Marvy Uchida. pens, EK Success. ribbon, Offray.

cuttlebug challenge #14

2009-01-19T07:52:00.000-05:00

I made this card for the Cuttlebug Challenge #14, use your favorite folder or die. So far my favorite is the birthday folder because I can make a fast and easy birthday card with it.

Supplies: paper, Scenic Route. embossing folder, Cuttlebug. die cut, Slice Noteworthy card. Dymo label maker.

card: valentines

2009-01-18T07:06:00.000-05:00

Here are two Valentines made with classic KI Memories paper. I also pulled out some ignored fiber for both of these cards...so exciting because I using up what I have!

Supplies: paper, KI Memories. fiber, EK Success. punches (heart and circle), Marvy Uchida. love die cut, Slice Basics 1 card. flower, Prima. heart rhinestone. Diamond Dust.

layout: halloween party

2009-01-17T07:50:00.001-05:00

I'm working on photos from last fall. These are a couple of my ds's Halloween party at preschool. I thought he was such a cute dinosaur. The bottom photo is him being silly with his best friend at snack time.

Supplies: paper and chipboard, KI Memories. journal stickers, Scenic Route. die cut letters, Slice Fall/Back to school card. Dymo label maker. clear buttons and floss.

cats like water?

2009-01-16T07:53:00.000-05:00

I didn't think cats like water. Well, not mine she seems to love it. I think this happened when I was trying to keep her out of the Christmas tree, I would squirt her with a spray bottle and at first this worked. Then my sweet little boy decided to help me keep her out of the tree and would squirt her too, even when she wasn't in the tree.

So now I have Tiger in my sink every time I am using it.

After a few close calls with some toothpaste, I thought what can I do with her? I have kicked her out of the bathroom but she will only meow outside the door. She is pretty loud too. Now I turn the water on in the bath tub. This works out well (even though dh thinks I have now ruined her by encouraging this) because I can do my business at the sink and she can have her water fix.

card: make a wish

2009-01-15T06:32:00.001-05:00

I made this card using a sketch from the Cuttlebug Challenge blog and the Basic Grey challenge over at 2 peas. The challenge was to use Black Tie, Blitzen, or Bittersweet pattern paper and a Basic Grey rub on. The paper was an easy choice since Blitzen was the only one I had...shocking isn't it.

Supplies: paper and rubon, Basic Grey. die cuts and stickers, Making Memories. embossing folder, Cuttlebug

CPS challenges #98 and #99

2009-01-14T07:16:00.001-05:00

I took the scraps from yesterday's layout and I made these 2 birthday cards using the last 2 sketches from CPS.

This one is for sketch #98.

Supplies: paper and sticker, Scenic Route. paper frills, Doodlebug. punches, Marvy Uchida

This one is for sketch #99. I made it a horizontal card but the sketch was for a vertical card. It worked out better for the size scraps I had.

Supplies: paper and stickers, Scenic Route. paper frills, Doodlebug.

layout: happy birthday

2009-01-13T13:55:00.003-05:00

I was going through my photos and I realized I didn't scrap Emily's friend party for her birthday last year. I don't have many photos because we went to a glow in the dark, indoor mini golf place. I also used a PageMap s sketch, love that site.

In keeping with using my stash, I finally used these papers. True confession time...I bought them in August (along with a lot of Basic Grey) before the kids went back to school...almost 5 months ago. Yikes!

The cupcakes I made using a circle punch and cutting the bottom to fit. I used deco scissors on the top edge of the green paper and added a black rhinestone for a cherry. This was inspired by an article I saw in Scrapbooks Etc., either the December 2008 or January 2009 issue.

Supplies: pattern paper and stickers, Scenic Route. journal spot, Making Memories. circle punches, rhinestones and deco scissors.

card: thank you

2009-01-11T19:06:00.005-05:00

I love how this card came out even though I had a hard time getting the colors right in this photo. I still don't think the paper is right, even with editing but it is close. And I am continuing my love affair with my Cuttlebug.

Supplies: paper, SEI. trim, Making Memories. rubon, Pebbles.

organizing my son's room

2009-01-10T14:16:00.007-05:00

On Tuesday, I decided to work on my ds's room and make some sense of his toys. I also wanted to get his toys out of the family room. Things were getting out of control and it was starting to feeling it was his second room. I took some before photos. The first one is along the wall by the door. Lots of stuffed animals and a bulky kitchen.

This is the wall opposite the first. An unmade bed and dinosaurs on the dresser are featured. In the corner is a plastic 2 drawer unit that doubles as a night stand.

Here is the inside of his closet. I took part of a plastic shelf unit, dh has the rest in the garage. On the other side of the right door is a large bus to hold his Duplo blocks.

This is a shot of the chaos that lurks in one of the drawers of his night stand. Who knows what could be in there.

So I put together the 4 shelf unit with 12 plastic bins I bought from Target. It looks similar to this one except the bin colors are dark blue, light blue, red and green. It took me about 20 minutes to put it together. I probably could have done it faster if my sister didn't call me 4 times that day to talk about Facebook.

I put the bins next to the bookcase. It fit perfectly which was good since the bookcase is bolted to the wall. All I had to do was raise the Pokemon poster. Another thing I was happy about was the wood finish was a very good match. The junk that was in his night stand was sorted, and yes I did throw some things away.

I left his bookcase alone other than sorting through the books and taking a few out that I know he didn't like. I left the Pokemon display alone as well as the truck on the top shelf. And then I brought out the larger trucks that were hiding in the closet.

The only thing that changed here is the bed is now made and the dresser and night stand are cleaned off. The night stand drawers now hold all of his Imaginext dinosaurs. The Duplo block are now in the Duplo table with is to the left of the bed in between the windows and I got rid of the storage bus that took up too much space.

By now you are wondering where did the kitchen and all the stuffed animals go? The stuffed animals are to the left of the kitchen in a larger basket that the dinosaurs were in, a much better fit than before. I really wanted to take the kitchen out of his room but instead I put it in the closet because I knew he would have a big fit if I did. The only problem with that was I didn't have room for the rest of the toys from the family room.

When ds and dd came home from school they say the shelf unit box in the garage, so they ran upstairs to see what I had done. He came back down and I got the biggest hug from him. He was so happy with the changes I made so I figured the time to ask about the kitchen was now. His only concern was how was he going to microwave his animals' food. Which is a good point, and I honestly didn't have an answer for that. In the end, he agreed to getting rid of the kitchen and keeping the dishes with the condition that he could have the kitchen back after a month or so if he really, really misses it. I'm really hoping he doesn't miss it because I don't know where I would put it. So now his closet looks like this.

This was in the family room and held some of his toys. My dh made it, complete with bun feet. Now it holds the rest of the stuff that was in the closet plus the rest of the stuff that was in the family room. The dishes are in the middle drawer so the animals can eat. Hopefully they don't mind cold food too much. We also hung up some of his paintings from school on the inside of his closet, much better than lying on the floor of the closet.

I am really happy with how the room turned out. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, probably because I was doing this without any helpers that don't like to get rid of things. The best part about his project is that my ds is super happy about what I did.

cuttlebug challenge #13

2009-01-08T16:48:00.004-05:00

I found a new to me challenge blog the other day, Cuttlebug Challenge. This week's challenge was to make a white card. The sentiment is on pop dots.

Supplies: embossing folder, Cuttlebug. stamp, Stampin' Up. flowers, Heidi Swapp and Prima. punch, Marvy Uchida. ink, Versamark. pearl brad. black embossing powder.

organize or play

2009-01-05T14:00:00.005-05:00

I went to Target today and bought some storage containers while they were on sale. I have 2 projects calling my name right now. The first is to finish organizing the holiday decorations in the basement and then label the containers. The second is to make some sense of the monster mess of ds's toys. I keep trying to fix it but so far nothing has worked but I also bought a toy bin today to help.

So after lunch instead of doing any of those things, I decided to make this card. This may be dh's valentine. The center of the heart is mounted on pop dots.

Supplies: paper KI Memories. Basic Shapes 1 card, Slice. embossing template, Cuttlebug. heart, Me and My Big Ideas. ribbon and pop dots.

So tomorrow, I will work on my boy's room. I will need the entire day to get it done. Although I am hoping that the library will be calling tomorrow. I put a hold on Forever Princess, the last book in the Princess Diaries series back in November right after I finished the 9th book. Its release date is tomorrow! My oldest has been making fun of me because of this but I don't care. I really enjoyed this series.

card: thank you

2009-01-03T10:21:00.001-05:00

On this card I took some seed beads that I have had for a while and stitched them onto the centers of the flowers.

Supplies: paper, Basic Grey. stamp, Stampin Up. deco scissors, Dollar Store. trim, Offray. clear seed beads.

intentions for 2009

2009-01-02T17:55:00.004-05:00

I have thought about this for a couple of days, writing down my goals for the year and everything that I want to do all comes down to me managing my day a little bit better than I have been. There are some days I get a lot done around the house and others I can't figure out where the day went. I thought about it for a couple of days and realized that the days I am most productive is when I write everything down...keeps me on track. This is something I am going to continue to do everyday.

So I found an old journal that I only used a couple pages in and I wrote everything down that I want to accomplish this year. There is the usual stuff like eat healthy, exercise, use my stash but I also wrote down some of the projects I want to tackle but just haven't gotten done like organize the closets, figure out a method to store the kids' school papers (report cards, awards and some assignments). I keep the book on the counter and I add to it as I think of more things that should get done and on a light day around the house, I plan on moving the projects to the to do list.

The first project I am working on is meal planning. My dh has been telling me for years to do this, that it would help keep me on track instead of wandering around the house at 5pm, looking for something to cook itself. For a few months in 2008, I was actually doing this. I'm sure you are wondering, why did I stop if it was working so well for me. Well, I got overconfident, thinking I didn't need to write this stuff down. This was before I had the big light bulb moment that I do in fact need to write everything down. I'm going food shopping tomorrow so I need to figure out the meals for the week tonight. I hope I can come up with some good ideas.

card: thank you

2009-01-02T13:03:00.003-05:00

Having more fun with the Slice. This shape is from the Noteworthy card.

Supplies: paper, Basic Grey. ribbon and die cuts, Making Memories. stamp, Stampin Up. flower, Prima. Stickles

card: thank you

2009-01-01T17:05:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year celebration. I have been writing down some of my resolutions/intentions in a notebook to keep me on track for this year. One of my intentions is to use more of my stash. I have made this resolution for a couple years now but I am hoping that I will stick to it since I wrote it down. Because I wrote it down, it is now out there and needs to be acknowledged...like I can't forget about it anymore like I used to...or so that is what I want to happen.

I am working on my thank you cards...sneaking in some time here and there while the kids are home. And I went to my pile of Basic Grey, used some untouched paper and I didn't cry when I cut it...I must be making progress. My dh gave me a Slice for Christmas and a few cartridges. I have been playing with it and so far I like it. The flowers are from the Animal Crackers card.

Supplies: paper, Basic Grey. paper frill, Doodlebug Designs. stamp, Stampin Up. die cuts, Making Memories Slice. ribbon and rhinestone.

my 2008 favorite things

2008-12-31T16:58:00.002-05:00

Janet had posted her top 10 list of favorite scrapping products the other day. So I figured I would make my list too. In no particular order here they are.

1. Cuttlebug: I have a Sizzix but I broke down and got the Cuttlebug just for the embossing folders. I love them for card making and I really should use them more often.

2. Ribbon: I have an addiction to ribbon...so many pretty colors and textures...so hard to resist.

3. Journal stamps: great for easy journaling blocks

4. Scallop punches: For dressing up my cards or journal blocks.

5. ATG gun: I broke down and got this and I am so glad that I did. The adhesive is so strong and lasts a long time before I need a refill.

6. Die Cuts With a View mat stacks: I like these for making cards. I don't have to use a whole sheet of paper...less waste.

7. my iPod: I need music for when I am paper crafting.

8. Stickles: for a little sparkle.

9. pattern paper: This is another one of my weaknesses. I really need to start using more of my stash next year.

10. my iMac: for my photos, journaling, visiting message boards and blogs for inspiration.

Happy New Year!!

Clear Artistic Stamps: card 4

2008-12-30T16:39:00.003-05:00

With December almost over, I can share my final project for Clear Artistic Stamps. I would also like to thank Belinda for the opportunity to work with her stamps this month. I had fun using them.

Supplies: stamps, Clear Artistic Stamps. paper, KI Memories. flower, Prima. circle punch, Marvy Uchida. rhinestone and ribbon.

blog award

2008-12-26T00:21:00.003-05:00

Thank you Shirley for this award.

You must be a true Christmas lover to receive this award.

The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with Christmas.

You must link back to the person who gave you the award.

You must list 5 things that you love about Christmas.

If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space!

Pass the award along to as many people as you like.That can be 1 or 45; it's up to you. But, you must pass it on to at least one person in order to keep the Christmas cheer going!

Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving them a comment.

My 5 things I love about Christmas:

1. I love decorating my tree. I have a thing for ornaments...you can never have too many.

2. I enjoy baking Christmas cookies. I make all the cookies that I normally don't make during the year. I really should make some of them year round but they seem more special at Christmas time.

3. Holiday parties...a time to catch up with old friends and maybe make some new ones.

4. Driving around to look at the holiday lights.

5. Experiencing Christmas through my children's point of view.

I am going to tag Tilda and Alli

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T11:28:00.004-05:00

Here is one more card that I made for this holiday season.

Supplies: paper, Basic Grey. stamps, Rubber Soul. punches, Marvy Uchida.

And I will leave you with some Christmas kitten photos.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Clear Artistic Stamps: card 3

2008-12-23T13:20:00.003-05:00

My 4th project is up at Clear Artistic Stamps. Here is my 3rd project.

Supplies: stamps, Clear Artistic Stamps. paper, Autumn Leaves. Stickles, Ranger. ribbon and pop dots

Clear Artistic Stamps: card 2

2008-12-18T16:16:00.003-05:00

My 3rd project is up at Clear Artistic Stamps. Here is my second project.

Supplies: stamps, Clear Artistic Stamps. paper, Basic Grey. paper frills, Doodlebug. ribbon, Offray. circle punch, Marvy Uchida.