Back To Work . . .

Hi All,
Yup, It was back to work today.  Truth is I just wanted to stay home and play with my awesome new plotter!  So as soon as I got home from work I hit the ole' craftspace to play around and see if I could whip up some crafty goodness.  So back in March of 2010 I had dressed up some of Hubby stools in his music area with logos of his favorite toys.  He loved them and if you want to see them just hit the vinyl link on the side bar.  But his absolute favorite amp is his Messa Boogie and he wanted a vinyl sticker of the logo for his last stool.  So I had at it and to be honest it only took about ten minutes to make, print and apply.  He loved it and I got lots of hugs, kisses and kudos for it.  Here are the pics.

  

I really love this cutter, the print and cut went smoother than any other cutter I own.  This is as close to a professional cutter you can get that is under $500.00.  I have only had it for 2 days and I feel like I have owned it for months. Thanks for stopping by and please check back to see what else I can create with this amaZING new machine.

Lysa

I Have Been Zinged!!

Hi Everyone,
I hope all had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Here at our house was awesome!  The friends, family and food, I sure feel blessed.  And it's not over yet because New Year's Eve is here as well!!  I can't wait! I am so excited about my (extreme) Christmas gift that Paul, Sam & Rory got me.  Now mind you I don't want to sound like a greedy gus, but this was awesome good craftyness!! Just look at the picture (Can you believe I am willing to post a picture of myself with no make up and hair not brushed on the web for all to see!)

OK, you can stop screaming "MY EYES, MY EYES" now (Are those my tonsils?).  Look at the shear joy on my face. Anyone can tell this was the right gift for me.  So what is it? It's my new cutting plotter!! I was so surprised and I could not get the smile off of my face for the whole day. In fact I am still smiling.  Paul and the Kids were so happy that they surprised me.  I have been up and cutting all day.  I just have to say if you are in the market for a new cutter this is the one check out.  If your an experienced cutter there is no learning curve at all and if your not, there are great forums out there ready to help. Here is my list of FAVS.

The Make the Cut forum can be found here:

http://forum.make-the-cut.com/
The yahoo group can be found here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KNK_Zing/messages
The KNK website is here:
http://knkusa.com/
Sandy McCauly's Blog and tutorials are here:
http://www.iloveknk.com/
and the Paperthreads forum is here:
http://www.paperthreads.com/forum/

Now I have been a member of all these sites for a long time and pretty much all I know I learned from all these great folks. New members are always welcome and if you are into or want to learn all there is about digital die cutting these are the peeps that can teach you.  A shout out of thanks to all these great crafters.
I love the new ZING.  I can't wait to start my Valentine's Day favors. The print and cut feature is amaZING. I have been printing and cutting all day.  I hope everyone had a Christmas like mine.  Thanks for stopping by and good wishes to all for a Happy, Healthy, and Crafty New Year!
Lysa

Reindeer Food 2011!

Hi Everyone,
I am so excited to say that Rory and I are finished with this years batch of Reindeer Food.  We had a fantastic time this year with our new recipe.  I think they came out fantastic and the Little Miss can't wait to hand them out to her friends.  I just want to point out that as always our reindeer food is non toxic.  There is no glitter in it.  Please if you make it DO NOT ADD GLITTER!!!!  Our animal friends just can't handle it.  Sure, Sure the magic flying reindeer can handle it, but Mr. Rabbit, Lady Bird and Sir Squirrel will just get sick!  So please leave the glitter out and use only decorating sugar for the sparkle.  Here is our recipe.
Rolled Oats, Red & White Sugar, a bit of Cinnamon, Pumpkin Pie Spice, a touch if Ginger, Cinnamon Dots (Rudolph Spares) and Crushed Candy Canes.  Yummmmmy!!!  We even put a ingredient label and the phrase "Do Not Eat - For Reindeer Only" on the bottom of the tin.  I figure this way all the Mom's & Dad's will know it is non toxic just in case it gets eaten. Here are our pics ... Well just a couple.  Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by.
Lysa 

Holiday 2011 Favors

Hi Everyone,
Wow, I am sure on a roll! All needed Thanksgiving food items are in the HOUSE! So that of course means that I can get a bit crafty.  I have my annual Board Holiday Dinner in early December so I wanted to get a jump on the table favors and since craft paper and snowmen is my theme for this year I made a nugget holder based on the 2 tag Stampin Up die.  I don't own this die but making a .svg file for this was easy peasy!  All I did was take a basic tag shape. Used my MTC to copy, paste and weld the 2 shapes together.  Easily made a shadow layer with MTC. Filled my page with the shapes and cut with my Cricut Expression.  I stamped and colored the image with plain ole' Sharpie markers.  Hand scored to suit the width of the nuggets.  The best part is the quick spray with my homemade glimmer mist.  I bought spools of rayon raffia ribbon for my gift wrap this year so I used that for the bows.  I made 16 of these for the table at the restaurant. They went so quick I think I will make more.  I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday prep before the season gets ahead of us all.  Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Tags For The Season

Hi Everyone,
What a nice weekend it has been.  The homestead is clean from top to bottom.  Lists are made and I am ahead of schedule.  I even went to Joann's yesterday and got all my wrapping supplies for Christmas.  I decided to go kraft paper and snowmen this year.  They had an awesome collection of bags and such.  I thought I would get a jump on the tags today while the laundry is going.  As always I have to say the tags look better than the photo shows because the camera did not pick up the glimmer mist gold spray.  I had so much fun filling my gift wrap caddy with all my new paper, ribbon and tags.  Now all I have to do is get out there and start shopping! Have a great Sunday.  Thanks for visiting.
Lysa

The Holiday's Are Upon Us!

Oh my, Oh my!
It is November 8th. I just finished the Thanksgiving Day Menu and shopping list so that I could get a jump start on things.  I have always been the type that is strong out of the gate and then I fall behind.  Really behind, if you know what I mean.  I was off from work today and tried my best to get things done.  I also spent the day making lists and cleaning.  I figure if I could just get myself a bit of holiday spirit I would be able to fly through chores.  So I started to dig through the Christmas buckets for some inspiration and the first bucket I opened had this tic tac toe board that I made years ago.  So I pulled it out and put it on the coffee table in the living room.  I think I made this back in 1995 or some where there about.  Even though the outside temperature was about 68 degrees today the little snowmen did give me some inspiration.  I was able to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the holiday hoopla. Here is a picture of the tic tac toe board. I used rubber stamps on a wood plaque and then used my wood burning tool to go over the lines.  I still have (and use) those snowmen stamps!  I can't wait till everyone is home for dinner.  They will laugh when they see it out on the table.  I bet they will play a few games too!

I hope everyone out there is beginning to feel the holiday magic and trying to find that one something or someone that kicks off their holiday mojo.  In the meantime, I am hoping this little game keeps me going as I have to work a double tomorrow!
Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Rory's Halloween Favors!

Hey Everyone,
This weekend was the time to finish up the Halloween goodies for Rory's school and some extras for handing out on Halloween.  I had earned a free stamp set from Stamp'in Up and I chose "spooky bingo bits".  Wow, it came on Friday so we shifted gears from note pads to pencils.  Rory did all the stamping and I helped with punching and with the tag tops.  Rory did a great job.  Do you not love the googly eyes!?!  We dropped a solo cup into a black paper bag and tied it off with some ribbon.  What a nice little treat we made for Rory to bring to school.  So quick and easy.  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Thanks for visiting,
Lysa

A Little Halloween Fun

Hi There Everyone,
With so much going on around here this fall I just have been behind on making my Halloween treats for family and friends.  I know with the calendar date showing that we are half way to Halloween I need something super quick and simple.  I also wanted to make about 60 or so treats.  I just love having something to bring to work and to send to Samantha's office as well.  I also still have to bag up the pencils and notepads for Rory to pass out to her friends.  So with all that and limited time I reached back into the deep recesses of the crafty brain and remembered the ribbon pull candy bar holder.  If I remember correctly I had seen them on splitcoast stampers years ago.  They are simple and I know I can bang out a bunch.  I had purchased a digi download from Stampin Up for the Pick your Poison paper pack.  I just love it, and wanted to use it. I made the tag in DS2 and punched them out with the Stamp'in Up scallop oval punch.  The Pick your Poison paper was printed on parchment paper as was the tag.  The shadow oval was cut with MTC and my expression. The black cardstock base is 3 7/8" X 3 3/4" so I got 9 sleeves out of a 12" X 12" piece of cardstock.  I measured the Kit Kat bar to determine the size and score lines.  The Kit Kat bar fit perfect.  I really liked making these because they went so quick and easy.  In fact they were so easy that while I was making them I was also making my families favorite potato cheese soup.  It came out so good  and yummy.  A true autumn treat.  Here is a picture:

Just look at the color!! YUM!! Now crafting and cooking on a brisk autumn Sunday, That's my kind of Sunday.  Have a great week and thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Just Checking In

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick post to say I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  The family took a trip to visit our Massachusetts family.  We got home and sure enough autumn has hit New Jersey.  All of us here are busy busy busy!  We have had all the "fun" of back to school, and we have all the Halloween decorations up.  We also have celebrated Rory's birthday (about 3 times). We have even had some crafty goodness happening.  Along with some Halloween crafty fun.  Samantha and I put together an awesome gift basket donation for a breast cancer fund raiser that the office she works in was donating (pic to follow as it is on my phone). Sam works for an oncologist and the basket was the office donation for an annual fund raiser.  Today we made some cupcake embellishments for a staff luncheon this coming week.  Above is the graphic we used for the cupcake tags. I made it in inkscape and used MTC to export it as an png file. I used my DSA2 to add text.  The tags were punched out and attached to toothpicks for the cupcakes.  Hopefully I will be here when Sam assembles the cupcake platter so I can snap a picture of the tags.  Now that I am done with that I hope to start banging out some Halloween projects before the holiday is here and gone.  If you want the svg or MTC file for the butterfly leave me a comment on how to contact you and I will send it off to you. Thanks for visiting, Lysa

Let's All Get Our Batty On!

Hi Everyone,
As the Labor Day weekend comes to a close I was able to get some craftn' done.  I made this cute triangle box that holds two Hershey Nuggets perfectly.  I didn't try but I am pretty sure that three Hershey kisses (maybe even four) would also work great too.  This box was so easy and came together so fast. Look how silly it looks!

I made it in my KnK Studio software just by making 4 rectangles the size I needed, I converted it to curves and pulled out the sides on 3 of them. Then I lined them up and welded the whole thing together.  A simple copy and paste into my MTC software and I was cutting.  Here is how they came out:

Click for larger image

And here is the side.  I just love how it closes to hold the candy in:

Click for larger image

You can see I am still stuck on Stampin up Cast a Spell paper.  It is a favorite of mine and I have the digi file so I can print to my hearts content.  I do plan on changing these up just a bit and making them in black and white. I also used my Martha bat punch.  I made the tag in DSA2.  I like this project because I will be able to bang out a large quantity in a short time.  Thanks for visiting, and enjoy whats left of the holiday.
Lysa

The Halloween Mojo (It Has Arrived!)

Hi Everyone,
What a fantastic weekend it has been.  Paul and I went to a birthday dinner for a our friend Bill last night and we had a blast.  I had a chance to relax a bit and clear out the cobwebs. So when I woke this morning I made a b-line to Huey and boy did I hit on some crafty goodness.  First I have to say that I am so excited about this box that I am not even finished with it and I have to post a picture.  I fell in love the minute I saw it.  Now I have to tell you I stumbled on this box on a blog post from "Addicted to Stamping".  You can view it here and there is a video too!
http://jackietopa.typepad.com/addicted_to_stamping/2010/10/boo-box.html

Thank you Jackie Topa, I have now added you to my list of crafty muses!!

Now that's is a crafty good box, but I am a digital girl and I didn't have the Stamp'in up bitty box die to make the box.  But what I did have was Qbee's (Brenda Quintana, she's famous!) peek a boo box from her splitcoast stampers post and you can find it here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/templates-f143/qbees-peek-boo-box-t289773.html

And that is a super crafty good box, but I need to change it just a bit for this purpose. So Huey and I redrew this box using my KnK studio software and it came out great.  Here is a picture of the sizzix die cut (Angie over at chick n Scratch had sent me one as a gift) and my box

Once I had the box shaped the way that worked for me I cut it using MTC and the expression out of Fellowes Presentation Covers. Here is how it came out:

The box will hold 3 wrapped Ghirardelli chocolates (a true favorite of mine). Now I really want to do more to this box.  I was thinking of adding a sentiment to the inside of the shutters and a tag to the outside of the shutters on the lower right side.  I love this box! Its a cutie.  I want to give a shout out to both Jackie and Brenda for their inspiration.  "Thanks Crafty Girls....may the HALLOWEEN mojo be with you both!"



Thanks for visiting, Lysa

Halloween 2011 - Finding The Crafty Mojo

Hi Everyone,
Oh my, it's August 13th.  My summer is melting away just like the witch in the Wizard of Oz!  I have completed all my crafty obligations for the summer and now I can start to bring on Halloween.  I cleaned up the craftspace and brought out the Halloween craft supplies (rubber stamps, paper, embellies, etc.)  I even organized my digi files.  Angie over at Chic n Scratch (her link is on the sidebar) started her 12 weeks of Halloween this past Wednesday.  Wow, she made the cutest box for week #1!  I made it already.  But even after getting all my goodies together and making Angie's awesome box I still am lacking in the Halloween Mojo.  So I thought I better get going and find it.  I know it's here somewhere.
So have you all seen the video for K&Co. SMASH book.  I loved the video.  I love the song too.  Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PFsArr4Z1s

Most of us have been using notebook journals for years.  I always have and I keep them all.  Just like an old fashion scrapbook. So I love the word SMASH and I knew I would have more fun making one than buying one.  Even though they do look so nice.  I just wanted to make one.  I have a great paper stash and all kinds of good stuff, so why not?  So being I was looking for my Halloween Mojo I thought I'd make a Halloween SMASH book for myself.  And here it is:

Now keep in mind I am just starting to add to it and by this time next year it will be bursting with crafty goodness.  I made the chipboard cover and did all the punching with the CINCH.  I used a recycled spiral coil from an old pad I had.  I printed some of the paper as well as used some from the stash.  One of my favorite papers are from a column journal that I cut down.  I can't wait to start jotting things and adding to it.
Can you see the picture of  little man on the inside cover? He is here with me in the craftspace all year long to remind me of Halloween.  The only time he leaves is at Halloween to go upstairs so he is by all the decorations.  He is a great muse.  I smile every time I look at him.  The book was so much fun to make.  I think I will have to make a Christmas specific SMASH as well.  I think I really did find my Halloween Mojo because making this book really got me thinking and making my list of things to make.  Enjoy the weekend and thanks for visiting.
Lysa 

Bats At The Bar Mitzvah

Hi Everyone,
Yes, it's true the Bar Mitzvah has bats!  Bats everywhere! No silly, not the flying kind.  The wood kind!
I loved this project.  I have never really done a large quantity vinyl project in the past so I thought this was a great time to give it a try.  First I have to tell you all the labeled bats are only a component of a larger table centerpiece.  My part was just to get the logo on the bats.  I will get a photo of the completed centerpiece at a later date.  I used my MTC software along with my cricut expression to cut all the vinyl.  All the vinyl cut with no problems and it was so easy to transfer the logo to the bats.  I just loved cutting vinyl and I can't wait to try another large project. Here are a few pictures I took along the way.  I hope everyone enjoys the weekend.  I know I am taking off this weekend to enjoy the pool and catch up on some chores as our summer weekends are fading fast.  Stop back soon because my next post will be something Halloween for sure!

CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A BETTER VIEW

CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A BETTER VIEW

Thanks for visiting,
Lysa

And Here They Are!

Hi Everyone,
Wow, I finished the ping pong ball party favors without a hitch.  I am so glad they are done.  I really wanted to take a great picture but once again my photography skills got in the way.  I like to think its the camera and not me.  I really did have a blast with these.  I just love the clear boxes.  I didn't even have to use any adhesive to hold them together.  When you slip the belly band off the box opens.  I am always happy when I use the crafty good tools I own.  Kinda makes me feel like I was right to buy them.  I used my new TC rubber stamp maker, the cricut expression to cut the boxes, the HP large format for the printing and even my fiskers cutter got a work out.  I really liked making these favors because I don't often make party favors that don't use candy.  Now I think I can think a bit further out of the candy box and start to think of other things to stuff into a cute box.  I love when I make a project and it sparks another thought in my mind.  I also don't usually make something geared toward this age group.  I do a lot of little girl style things because of my grand daughter. I make so many holiday style items too.  This project allowed me to stretch a bit.  I must say the tag is a tad rude but come on this is a party for the 20-30 set.  They deserve a laugh.  I hope Anthony and his friends like them and get a kick out of them.  I hope they all have a great time at the birthday party.(rumor has it that there will be a bouncy house and a dunk tank too!)

Thanks for visiting,
Lysa
Next up on my project list:
"Oh my, there are bats at the BarMitzvah"

I Am So On The Ball (the ping pong ball that is!)

Please just indulge me as I continue to work on Anthony's 30th ping pong ball favors.  I was not going to be happy until I somehow got his name on 100 ping pong balls.  I know, I know they can be ordered online for about $1.00 a ball.  I know the printing would be fabulous but really, is that the crafty way to go?  I ask you ... Had I just ordered them I would have never taken apart the Barbie nail printer and explored  all the fun of that!  I would have never tried to put a different ink into my Brother flash stamp.  I also tried printing on a plastic transparency and using the rub on method.  I tried some old fashion store bought rub on letters.  I even tried a printable vinyl sticker.  I was going to try an ink jet water slide decal paper ... but I didn't have any. As you can see I was failing.  I knew a rubber stamp was the thing that would work best but my flash stamp machine is really for things like address stamps.  It makes those self inking stampers that are in a plastic holder.  You know like a return address stamp.  So even though it made a great stamp I just could not stamp the ball.  So my last shot was the Teresa Collins polymer stamp maker from Photocentric.

WOW!! Not only do I love this product, It worked first time!  I can't wait to make my next stamp. In five minutes, using the small polymer packet I had four tiny stamps in four slightly different sizes.  I did this as I just was not sure which would fit the ball the best.

 As you can see the smallest (1/2 X 1/2) inch is the size I needed.  I used my DSA2 to print my negative on my HP 7500 wide format printer (after market ink system) and it came out perfect the first time using the recommended printer settings. I did stamp with stazon ink which is not the recommended ink (I think it is because the solvents to clean the stamp effect the polymer over time) But hey I will most likely never use this stamp again.  This was a very cost effect way to go as the cost was less than $2.00 for all four little stamps!  I first mounted the stamp to my smallest acrylic block but I was having a hard time rolling it across the ball and then it hit me (like a ton of bricks) get a glue dot and stick the stamp to your finger.  YES ... it worked like a charm!  I stamped 100 ping pong balls in about an hour or so with only a few mistakes here and there.  After all the failed attempts it was the Teresa Collins Stampmaker  that was the winner. And true to form I have the picture to prove it.  And here it is:

Now, just wait because by the end of this week all 100 boxes will be filled, decorated, bowed and ready to go! Thank you Teresa Collins and Photocentric.  You guys saved me! Everyone check out this stamp machine it is amazing.  Here is a link:
http://www.photocentricusa.com/
Thanks for visiting and please stop back to see the finished favors!

As The Ping Pong Ball Bounces...

Welcome to the next episode of "As The Ping Pong Ball Bounces" ... Yes, my friends now we move to the production of 100 ping pong balls happily stuffed into little plastic boxes.  OK, I think of this little blog page as my diary so I can pretty much say what I want.  I love quantity.  Yes, I said once and I'll say it again ... I love to make a lot of the same thing.  I don't really know why.  I think it has to do with my OCD!  There is just something about lining up all the parts.  It's just CRAZY, I know but hey like I say "I 'yam what I 'yam"!  So I thought it might be fun (for me anyway) to follow this ping pong ball project (yes, it's a project now!) from start to finish.  I am laughing to myself because there are 60 blank wooden bats in a box up in the living room that need to be labeled with vinyl stickers for a Bar Mitzvah.  Come on people, this is crafty goodness at it's best.  Did I mention I work full time. (please take this jokingly as I could never really be happy if I was not in crafty turmoil) So really it is all good.  So this weekend I started the ping pong ball line up.  All went well.  I have to tell you if you have a cricut and either SCAL or MTC you can cut boxes to your hearts content.  I don't want to step on toes here but ProvoCraft made a big mistake by suing those companies or at best not making an open source software for their plotters.  I love the the expression and use it more than my other plotters. So sad that they felt the need to shut out all the creative mojo people have.  The expression is really a work horse and I cut 100 boxes (2 on a 8.5 X 11) acetate sheet in less 3 hours.  Wow ... I didn't have a glitch ... not one!  Now about the boxes:

Yet again, I am using the favorite bakery box(3rd in a row).  Same one I used at Easter and for Emma's graduation.  I rarely use the same box 3 times in succession but it just seemed to work out that way. I am pretty sure I killed this box for Halloween or Christmas 2011.  Oh well, 2012 is just 'round the corner if you know what I mean. So like I said I cut the boxes using SCAL and so far I have printed the larger front graphic (25 to a page) using DSA2.  I also printed and deckle cut the "solo cup belly band" (pics to follow) I also finished hand scoring the boxes (thank you Martha Stewart for your oh so awesome scoring board) I just can't wait to start to get all the parts of the whole in place.  I also have a new plan in regard to printing on the ping pong ball.  I am determined to get that done too (can you say Teresa Collins Stampmaker)  Well, OK, we'll see it's my last shot and like I said I am determined to get Anthony's name on the ping pong ball!!  I am really into this favor as it steps outside my normal crafting. A little bitty favor with the target demo as 30 somethings ... NOW THAT'S CRAFTY GOODNESS!!
Thanks so much for visiting,
Lysa

Funny Story!

Hi Everyone, Ok, so I just could not think of the right title for this post.  I tried them all, things like "How I Print On Odd Objects" or "Never Give This Girl A Screw Driver!" maybe even ... "Don't Leave Your Toys Where Nonna Can Play With Them" So I just settled on "Funny Story" and here it is.....
So Donna (remember Donna, sure you do .. she is the friend, co-worker and library volunteer that I always mention) needed a favor for her son Anthony's 30th Birthday bash.  So true to form if there is a party you know I believe it needs a favor. Yes, it is a belief not a need!! So we went back and forth with a few ideas (s'mores) REALLY, S'MORES!! People the mass of the party is 20-30 somethings.  I can't relate. Well maybe I can.  Anthony and his peeps are big into beer pong.  I so don't promote drinking games (pause to take a sip of my martini) no really I so so so do not promote drinking games. (But, somewhere in the back far reaches of my mind I remember playing a simple drinking game called THUMBER!) Enough!!! I just needed a favor that these kids might get a kick out of and this is what happend ...
Lysa said "Paul, how do you think I can print on a ping pong ball"
"try rubber stamping with stazon ink"said Paul
And it worked, but the rubber stamp was a flower and sadly I had no rubber stamp that said Anthony's 30th Birthday. So then Paul said ..."make a flash stamp with your Brother flash stamp machine and fill the stamp with stazon ink."
Wow, that worked too but I could not apply the stamp to the ball correctly .  Round objects are rough!
Then Paul said "check youtube, maybe you'll get an idea"
and that's where it really starts ....
so I see on youtube all these printers that print on rounded objects.  For like a thousand dollars you can buy a cool printer that prints on anything from coffee mugs to tote bags.  But wait! the little girl that lives in my house (and happens to be on vacation at the beach!) has a printer that prints on finger nails.  Finger nails are kinda round ... kinda! Darn the ball is to big for the slot. OK get a screw driver and let's take the housing off of the printer guts and then we can just hold the ping pong ball up to the print head.  Did it work? You tell me. Here are the pictures .....

                                                                               In my own defense I was able to get the Barbie Nail Printer back together and in working order. Rory is never going to know what happened to her printer while she was happily playing on the beach in LBI. (well that would be true as long as she does not read this post when she comes home)

Busy, Busy, Busy! But Always Time For Favors!

Hi All,
Here we are almost to the end of June 2011.  So much has been happening around the ole homestead with the end of the school year and numerous home repair issues. Blogging and computer time have been put on the back burner for just a bit.  I have been working on some crafty goodness but just have not had the time to sit down and blog.  I did a large project for my "real" job that took up a lot of time and ink. No pics for that but I also have been having fun with more bakery boxes.  I JUST LOVE THIS BOX!  I have always used it for Rocher candy at the holidays and more recently at Easter for the mini eggs.  Now, I sized it to fit a perfect piece of Rosa's Fudge ... YUM! I just knew it would be perfect for this little treat.  I have the pictures to prove it.  I wanted to print my paper so I used DSA2 to print on the HP and SCAL with the Expression to cut them. The card stock was Staples brand index card stock. Here are the links for the others supplies
I purchased the Graduation Cap Box that I used for the topper from a wonderful artist that I stumbled upon. Here is the link:
http://www.creativityinprogress.com/blog/2011/04/graduation-cap-box/

You can buy great fudge for favor making here:
http://www.rosasfudge.com/
I love this fudge and have been buying for years!

I made these favors for a party I am attending next week.  I hope everyone enjoys the treats as much as I enjoyed making them.

 Please click on the pics for a better view(darn, wish I was a Photographer)
Thanks for visiting and HAPPY GRADUATION EMMA!

Another Sign

                                                                                    Hi All,

This is the sign I saw

I sure have been busy the last couple of weeks.  So many chores around the house to do for spring clean up.  Add in work and some family time and the ole' craftspace has been dark!  So today I found some free time between laundry loads and made another sign.  I saw this in an online catalog and just loved it.  I again used some recycled chipboard and my friend Huey the VAIO to print the graphics.  I left out the & sign because I just didn't like how it looked.  I like how my version came out and best yet I save myself from another purchase.  I am having a lot of fun playing with ink and sanding the paper.  And the new HP large format printer is amazing.  I am using the new after market ink system and I think that the colors are even nicer than the HP ink. I hope you like my sign and give one a try.
Thanks for visiting,  Lysa


 AND HERE IS THE ONE I MADE:

click on the picture so you can really see it

A Sign Of Things To Come ...

Hey All,
So for Mom's Day (like most other Mom's) I asked for a large format printer. Well I didn't ask (that would just be rude) I hinted! and sure enough the hubs(best dude alive) shows up with not just the printer but with an after market ink system! Gotta love the guy, he is right on with my crafty mojo! So I have been happily printing away with all kinds of digi fun stuff.  I have been playing with all kinds of downloads and even trying to create my own goodies.  Along with all of this we have gotten the ole' homestead ready for summer fun. Away went Easter and out came Summer (yeah, the pool is OPEN!) All the red, white and blue stuff is all over the house.  While browsing all the catalogs I kept seeing all these great wooden beachy crabby signs.  Gee I just love them.  After all we eat shellfish all summer long.  I just wanted a sign for the side board in the dining room.  So I found a picture in one of catalogs for a crab shack and made it my own. (OK, not really I copied it, for the most part)  I think maybe I could have spent a bit more time on it but for now I am happy with it.  I saw a 4th of July sign that I loved too and I think I will try to put my own spin on that one.  I just love this digi interpretation of these wood signs and I hope to do more of them because it helps me to learn a new technique.  That's all I am really after as I travel down this crafty road.  For this sign I pretty much copied a picture I saw and I designed it and printed through DSA2.  I used a sanding block and stampin up chocolate chip ink to distress it.  All I did was print and mount it to some chipboard.  I just attacked it with the sanding block and the ink.  I would like to make more signs like this so that I can refine my hand for it. But you know what?  If I do I do and if I don't I don't!  This is what I like about crafts ... Maybe I will start to paint on tin or maybe I will never make another sign.  Who knows,  Crafting is just all about playing with the resources that live in your craftspace.  I hope you like my sign and I hope you try something new and share it too!
Thanks for visiting, Lysa