shiny and new

While I'm spending the afternoon waiting, I thought I'd update the blog! I have been working everyday for the past couple of weeks and while I love to be busy creating stuff, it sure is nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My term for Bad Girls has come to an end, and I'm super excited about my next job. I'm joining the creative team for Celine Navarro's magazine, entreARTistes!!
I've been a huge fan of Celine's work for some time now, and being able to make pretty scrapbook layouts and projects just seems like the perfect fit for me!



Here's a left-over photo for my very first post on the entreARTistes Magazine blog. This was an extra project that I didn't end up including. I've made a few of these lately, little books for holding notes, tiny photos,and quotes. Just something pretty to hold. Watch for my post this month on their blog!!



I started collecting all of the pages I make in this small suitcase box. I love filling up the box, it makes me feel so accomplished by the end of the day!



one last photo, just a dainty tag I made from a photo negative :))



Peter got me flowers last week. Maybe a pre-Valentines Day gift? I don't think you could ever go wrong with flowers as a gift, and it sure beats the frying pan I received a couple of Valentines ago. ;)) With Valentines Day being on Sunday, I'm having a cute little dinner party for us and the kids, and Alaina and I have some school things to work on. I hope everyone has a lovely and romantic Valentines Day!!

my newest project.

It's a very big work in progress at the moment and my guess is that it will take me months to complete it... and again, it's nice to work on something that doesn't involve paper or glue. :))) I love quilts, but I wanted to make something a little more artsy-fun-young..... and not your typical grandmas quilt. That's when I had the fantastic idea of making an Inside-Out/Art-Quilt. (okay, so I don't even know if that's a real term for a quilt, but I like it!!) Lot's of crazy sewing lines, seams showing and mis-matched frayed fabrics, try saying that 3 times fast, and I wanted each square to look a little like my scrapbook pages that I've made.



I'm using mostly repurposed fabrics, some of Alaina's old clothing, and vintage linens I've collected over the years. It's probably the perfect project for me, as I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to pretty fabrics. Just can't help myself! I still haven't decided on a size yet, but to date, I have 36 squares completed. Each square is 6x6 inches and has about 8-10 layers of fabric. I thinks it's just the right project to keep me creatively challenged for awhile!!



I've been a bit under the weather lately, so I haven't really made any more progress with it, but as soon as I start to feel better, I'll keep updating with new photos!

I Heart Valentines Day

For my Bad Girls Blog project this month, I wanted to take a break from paper and use some of my favorite crafty products. Paint + Clay + Cookie Cutters = cuteness! I thought about lots of Valentines Day themed projects, but making magnets to hang some of our favorite Valentines Day cards on the fridge would be fun!

Here's what you'll need to make these Conversation Heart magnets:


Polymer Clay
paint
cookie cutters
wooden stamps
magnets
strong hold glue ( E6000 )

Directions:

1. Roll out clay to about a 1/4 inch thick.
2. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes in the clay, and transfer to a covered baking sheet.
3. Use the stamps to create words on the clay hearts.



4. Bake clay according to package directions.
5. After the clay hearts cool enough to handle, add paint to the letters. Use a damp paper towel to remove any extra paint.
6. Once paint had dried, glue on a magnet to the back of each heart.





Alaina and I want to try using pink and red clay for our next set of heart magnets. It's the perfect rainy-day crafty project. Hope you enjoy the tutorial!!

brb

my computer is having some tech. difficulties at the moment!! I have no photos, so sad... I'm really hoping to pick up my computer from the repair place this weekend so I can get back to work! I want to share some of the photos of my newest creation, I started working on a quilt this month. It might just be my new hobby!! Happy weekend!

My top favs. of '09

reading Sasha's post on FB gave me this idea and yah, I'm a day early, but wanted to share this anyway. I chose 9 of my favorite paperish projects from this past year. Looking back on everything I've created, 4 things stand out the most to me, I love my sewing machine, spray paint, Elles Studio & Kitschy Digitals!!

Out of all the fabulous-wonderful most beautiful creations you've made this past year, what are your favorites? Happy New Years!

Happy Holidays to you,

Did you survive the whirlwind of the holidays this year? I actually took a very long and much needed nap this afternoon. One stressful trip to the airport and I needed a rest! That whole week before Christmas just seems to go by so fast, and every year there is more and more to do. Next year, I will definitely have a schedule planned out and will sticking to it!



Alaina with her new Barbie. (I hate to use the flash on my camera, but it was so early when she wanted to open presents that it was still dark outside. Too bad kids don't unstand the importance of naututral light for good photos!! haha ;))



my little guy on Christmas morning, with some serious bed-hair!!

After presents and breakfast Christmas morning, we decided to pack a picnic lunch and head out to our favorite park. Alaina brought along some bread to feed the ducks. Chase didn't quite grasp the concept of feeding the ducks bread, but that was okay too because he was too cute walking around eating his slice of bread!



Alaina danced around in the sunlight and posed for a few pics.





and for 3 days, we had 2 doggies. Leonardo DaVinci, a 4 yr. old Westie, came to join us for the holidays. Chase loved him and Alaina had him sleep in her room. He was a cute little boy dog, who had one trick of sitting up and begging that was quite effective with the kids!




Now for the clean up!! We have lots of family arriving soon and I'm kind of looking forward to doing some touristy stuff in the next couple of weeks. Oh, and getting back to crafting again!! I took the entire month off to focus on the holidays, and I did make a few things for some custom orders, but nothing for myself. So, I'm really excited to pull out the sewing machine and play with some paper this weekend!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday this year!

a Winter Wonderland

I'm usually a big fan of color, but this time of year, things seems a little simpler and I end up leaning towards white and other light colors. Alaina has spent the last few days at home with me, (too much shopping this past weekend) and we came up with an idea to take 'light-white' colored photos. It was actually a fun (and a little challenging) idea for a photo theme, while we searched the house for items to photograph. It was also a great excuse to get out the Anscoflex and play with some ttv photos. Oh, how I love that little old camera!!













I'm going to finish my afternoon with a little more gift wrapping, some old holiday music and a Pumpkin Latte. Have you started/finished your gift wrapping already? I feel like I'm behind this year, Christmas is coming much sooner than I anticipated!! I have a small surprise to share, hopefully this weekend and it kind of ties in with my winter white theme. So excited about this one ~ Be back to share photos soon!!

Candy Ornaments - Tutorial

Can you believe that Christmas is only 10 days away!! It's going by so fast, and there are still so many fun things to do and make! I'm planning a sugar cookie decorating party this weekend, and Alaina and I have been busy making ornaments this past weekend. We wanted to share one of our favorites, it's a super simple candy ornament, that is easy to make, pretty to look at and even sweeter to eat!
*This 'recipe' will make about 14 ornaments, only if a few don't get eaten in the process!!*



Materials Needed:
2 14oz. packages of Jolly Ranchers
metal cookie cutters
non-stick cooking spray
non-stick foil or Silpat
cookie sheet
ribbon
tooth pick or chopstick



Directions:
1. Unwrap all of the Jolly Rancher candies.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil or Silpat and lightly spray the cookie cutters with non-stick spray.
3. Preheat oven to 325 F.
4. Place all of the cookie cutters on the cookie sheet, and fill with one layer of Jolly Ranchers. (the more colors you use, the more the ornaments resemble stained glass!) You can also break the candy pieces to get them to fit into the cookie cutters better.
5. Once all of the cookie-cutters are filled with candy, you're going to put them into the oven, and cook for about 10 minutes. Or until the candy has completely melted. (Don't worried if the candy melts out of the molds, once it hardens it's easy to break away from the cookie cutter.)
6. Wait about 3 to 4 minutes, and spray non-stick spray on the tip of a chopstick, and make a hole close to the top of each ornament. (It takes a few minutes for the candy to cool enough to make the holes. If the candy is still to hot, the hole will close, so just be patient and wait a minute longer. I know this from experience! :))
7. After the candy has completely cooled, about 30-45 minutes, lightly pull the cookie cutters so that the candy ornaments comes loose.
8. String with ribbon and hang on the tree!



I'm thinking of doing this project with Alaina's friends when they come over next. A perfect project for the little ones, and I can send home a little box of ornaments that they made. I love quick crafts! Hope eveyone is enjoying the holiday season!!

Tis the Season

my newest Elements D'Art creation for the Bad Girls Blog!! I'm reposting the project here, because typepad doesn't like my photos.

Every year on black Friday, I make my way over to the local Hallmark store to pick out the perfect holiday ornament for our gift exchange. This year, I brought along my 5 yr. old, Alaina, to help with the decision. She promptly found the display of Advent calenders and absolutely had to have one. Being the scrapbooker that I am, none of that commercial stuff would do and I started dreaming up cute ideas for making our own calendar this year!

I decided to make our calendar using a small 2 ft. Christmas tree that we're going to display as our table centerpiece. All 25 of our day ornaments are made using super cute Sassafras Paper Whimsies and Sassafras Paper Flowers. (They look like they were made for this project!!) I collected extra items for embellishing each card like; jingle bells, toy candies, tinsel, glitter, snowflakes, stickers, toy wreathes, flowers, trims and small pieces of lace. There are so many cute little items that could be used, and most likely already in your stash!



Next, you'll start by embellishing each card and layering the paper flowers to together. ** To make the sugared clothes pins, just paint small clothes pins a neutral color and sprinkle glitter on. This was the perfect little project for Alaina, and it kept her occupied while the glue was drying!!**





Once all of the cards are embellished you can print a page of numbers, or search through your stash and use stickers! I glued and sewed each of the tiny numbers onto a card/flower using an all purpose glue. I recommend Aleene's original Tacky Glue.



I used a bright pink a red ribbon as garland for our tree. It also made it a little easier to clip all of the date cards too. Alaina can't wait to start adding each card to the Christmas tree and we hope maybe this project will be something you can share with your own little ones! Happy Holidays xo~ Tara




ps. my crafty friend Angie had the wonderful idea of making a card each day starting with today all the way up to the 25h. I think that would be a great-fun evening craft to do with kids!!

Kitsch love

Thought I would share a couple of projects that I've made recently for Kitschy Digitals. I got to use the Wood Grain cut-out sheets and I think I'm in love with woodgrain! They are so lovely, with soft muted colors and sharp detail. The frames are available Kitschy Digitals.




I made a thankyou gift for a family friend and then found this cute Martha Stewart gift box. It's tiny!! The feather accents are also available as cut-out sheets at Kitschy Digitals.






I'm learning to love velum all over again!!! (remember how popular it was when scrapbooking first started?)


& finally a tiny canvas frame was the perfect size for altering. I love little projects!! I glued alpha. letters to the canvas and then applied thick coats of paint. I used the smallest sized frame on the cut-out sheet for this project.



I want to make a few holiday inspired tags using some of the cutout sheets and maybe some gift adornments.... oh the possibilities!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie - Recipe

A few weeks back, I made Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes for dessert. They were a huge hit in my home, particularly with the 5 yr. old crowd. One morning though, I had a craving for another one, but the guilty part of me couldn't justify ice cream for breakfast. So, I went to work looking for ingredients already in the fridge that I could use to make something healthier. A pumpkin Pie Smoothie. Here's my version and I actually measured everything too!


Ingredients
3/4 cup canned Pumpkin Pie Filling
1/4 cup Plain Yogurt
1 1/2 cups crushed ice
1/2 cup Soy Milk
1/8 cup Applesauce
1 Tbls. Sugar (I have a sweet tooth, so you may want to try a 1/2 Tbls. to start)
1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

Directions
Put the ice into the blender and crush.
Add all other ingredients and blend together.

makes 2 large servings

Apple Butter, recipe

Now that apples are in season, here is the best Apple Butter recipe, and because it's my mom's! I love having a pot of this cooking on the stove in Fall. I add apple butter to almost everything, it's especially wonderful on toast, pancakes or waffles and pumpkin bread. Hope you enjoy the recipe!!

Apple Butter

2 lbs. Rome Beauty
2 lbs. Golden Delicious
2 lbs. Newton or Granny Smith
1/2 c. apple juice or cider
1-3/4 c. sugar
1 t. lemon juice
1-1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. allspice
a pinch of ground cloves



Directions:
Wash, peel, core & slice apples.
Combine with apple juice & bring to boil on medium.
Reduce heat & cover.
Stir occasionally until apples are tender, 20-30 minutes.
Puree in blender or food processor until smooth. (I used an immersion blender)
Return to heat; add sugar, lemon juice, & spices.
Bring to boil.
Turn down to simmer and partially cover until thick, stirring occasionally.
Can in jars or freeze.

Serve on muffins, toast or our favorite waffles! Enjoy!