Super adorable mini books

Good morning friends! I wanted to show you the mini books I just finished for my two nieces. My brother and sister in law adopted our dear Kate almost exactly 8 years ago. It took them about 2 years from start to finish because they adopted her from China, she was almost 1 when she finally became part of our family. Now this past Christmas they began the process to adopt another daughter, Morgan. She is 11 and from a town local to where they all live. I wanted a special way to welcome Morgan to the family and celebrate the deep friendship she and Kate have already begun. I guess they are inseparable and so silly!

 So these are the two different covers to the books. I made the books identical except for the tags on the cover and throughout them. Most of the pattern paper was from Cosmo Cricket Mini Deck called DeLovely. I got two of these mini decks and I adore them! The paper was just great for cutting with. The solids were some left overs from a Basic Grey Urban Prairie stack I had and my usual Core'dinations paper I always have on hand. For the girl's names I took some iridescent white paper I had from Hobby Lobby and went to town on it with my alcohol inks. I just love how they turned out, they are so much prettier in person! I used Gypsy Font to weld their names together, it such a great font for welding! The green paper was punched with a Martha Stewart punch around the page set.

 Forever title on this page is from Gypsy Wanderings and embellished with my stickles and a rhinestone of course! The daisy border is from Paper Doll Dress Up. I know you can't tell in this picture but I completely covered this border with white glitter and then added I-Rock jewels to the center of each flower. Crocheted flower was from a stash I've had for years. The center is a basic brad that I glittered. Throughout the books I added double sided blank tags for the girls to write on.

 This set of pages is because both girls love music, especially playing the piano and keyboard. Music notes are from Gypsy Wanderings. Again I glittered parts of the notes so they would really stand out.

 These pages are in honor of Kate and her chickens. She adores them and they are her pets. Apparently she sits and visits with them quite a bit and now Morgan has joined in on that fun too!

 I made the word sweet using Alphalicious and glittered the S just for fun. I think the little chick turned out so sweet, couldn't you just hug her? She's from Create A Critter. Her wings are glittered and her beak and legs were cut with the Core'dinations glittered cardstock-that stuff is so fantastic and easy to cut! Of course Chickie's eyes are more rhinestones.

 This set I decided to just make glittery and girly. Ribbon is some I picked up from Walmart, it is so pretty! Of course I added rhinestones to the ribbon and picture mats. I also stickled the edges of the paper flowers for some extra sparkle. One can never have enough sparkle I say!

 Kate and Morgan both love horses so this is in honor of that love. What young girls wouldn't want a pink sparkle pony? I stickled the mane, tail and hooves of the horse and glittered her bandanna. This horse is from Create A Critter, isn't she FAB?! All the cuts and embellishments in these books are strategically pop dotted so the girls can attach their pictures with out having to remove anything.

 And finally, the back cover...so exciting isn't it?! This was also the first project I made using my new Cinch. It worked like a dream and I am so excited to have a different way to bind my fun little projects now.

I hope you all have a very blessed day!

Playing with alcohol ink

In my bix box 'o goodies I got last week were four bottles of Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks...I've been itching to play with these for a while now. Today I got myself a big piece of freezer paper (who needs those pricey craft mats anyhow?!), my ink, some metal do-dads, plastic buttons, and flowers I cut with my dear Love Bug. Yes, I cut some flowers from a book page or two. This was a book that had fallen apart and I wanted to give this a go too. Cutting up book pages is a little fickle to say the least.  I know I've seen people on the internet coloring paper flowers with this ink, but for the life of me, I can't find them now. So I resorted to experimenting myself. I ended up spraying the freezer paper with some water, added a few drops of the ink and then swirling my flowers in said concoction. The more compact flowers were much easier to work with, they didn't tear like the ones with long petals. I crumpled the flowers as I dried them with my heat gun and then I added a spritz or two of my homemade glitter mist. I dried the flowers again. I'm pretty happy with my outcome. I'm not thrilled with how my buttons turned out, sure that will take more practice. I'm loving the way my silver brads were colored to match my flowers, so pretty and vibrant. To make the brads work I put them in a little foam brad holder I had (the ones the fancy brads come in from the store) and I dropped one drop of ink on to each brad then let them dry, easy! I tried other methods too, but this seemed to work the best for me.

Yes, I know my brads are off center...that is common with me unfortunately!

Sorry I've been MIA latley, I work on my nieces mini books this past weekend, they are almost done and I'm thrilled with them! Pictures will follow soon!

Have a blessed day!

Yippy Skippy!!!!

My first order from Consumer Crafts arrived yesterday and oh I am so excited!!!! I got such a sweet deal on this stuff and I will most certainly be shopping there again. Here's a couple pics of my haul....

I can't wait until I have a few minutes to play with my new Cinch tool...

Mike said this stuff should last me at least two days...can't wait to play!!!

Hmmmm....wonder what I'll be doing this weekend????  :)
Oh, and the winter sale is still going on at CC, I have nothing but great things to say about them!

Have a great evening!

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with special people you love!

Thank you Karen at the Graphics Fairy for this adorable print!

Here are the Valentine's I made for my family...

This was for my mom, the inside says "Love You Sew Much" The scalloped heart is from Gypsy Wanderings, the sewing machine is from Nifty Fifties and the sentiment on the inside was made using the Gypsy Font.  I embossed the sewing machine just to make it stand out a bit more and the thread spool is glittered with Martha Stewart glitter. Of course there is lots of purple bling on the front too.  Any guess what mom's favorite color is???

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This was the card I made for my daughter who loves high heels. The ornate frame is from Sentimentals, shoe is from Gypsy Wanderings and again I used the Gypsy Font to weld the word fabulous and the I Love You sentiment on the inside of this card.

The border on this mat was made using my Martha Stewart around the page punch (first time I've ever gotten it to work out!!!!)

This is the one I made my son. I knew he wouldn't want anything cutsie so I came up with this. Bomb is from Indy Art, I think the jagged border is from Gypsy Wanderings and I welded the sentiment with the font from Robotz.

Bacon and Eggs Card

My daughter wanted me to make a funny Valentine to give her new boyfriend, I agreed, of course! He LOVES bacon and eats it every chance he gets (I know, not too healthy!) so we decided to do this...

Yes, I know roosters don't lay eggs! Isn't it the funniest card ever? I've been giggling all afternoon! I welded the words together on Chloe and used the front from Printing Press (I think!) The pig, rooster and eggs are from From My Kitchen, hearts and cloud are from Create A Critter. I think this is my favorite card ever! Oh and by the way it is a whopping 10 x 10 inches! Here's the inside...

It's pretty plain but I love the fried egg. I made the egg by using a cloud from Create A Critter and an oval from George.

 I hope this gives you the giggles too!