Ghosty and Witch Hat Clothespins and A Skully Necklace Too!

Hi Everyone,
Oh my, the month is flying by.  Surely it can't be Oct. 12th  already.  Normally in the month of October I have a lot of crafty good pictures to show.  This year while I have been banging out some crafty good Halloween projects I just have not had time to post or to prep a file for a file share. Let me catch you all up on craftroom happenings. First I have to tell you that I pre-ordered the KnK Force. YES, The Force WILL Be With Me! I am so excited that the machine will be coming to live in my craftroom sometime in November.  People it has a camera, Yes! A CAMERA. That is what you use for alignment for print and cut. Not only does it have a camera, it has true z axis, and a rotary tool. I plan to cut my little heart out.  The first thing I am going to cut is . . . a record album. Oh yes, records make for great recycled projects.  I plan to cut wood too.  I think that the craftroom is going to get pretty darn messy once the Force comes to play here. OK, so enough of that (mostly because I bought the Force with limited info and based my decision on how much I love my other 2 KnK cutters) but I do have a cool pic I got off of Facebook.  Here it is:

How sweet! It has color lighting!
Now for Halloween, I fell head over heals for the Stampin Up Witch Hat clothespin. True to form I had to make more of it than what it was. I just could not see why anyone would want the white paper backing on the glitter paper to show.  Come on Peeps, its all about the details. Part of me does understand that at $2.50 a sheet one might want to live with the white showing. I blew through my 4 sheets in about a minute because I made them double sided. So off to Michael's I went to get some more black glitter paper (also backed in white)(what's up with that, why would you not have a black backing???) Well it was a saving at @1.99 less 20% off my entire order (Thank you Michael's) While I was there I saw white glitter paper and knew right then that I had to make ghosties too.  Here is my pic of how they all came out.

I made 40 and the only thing I wish I had was white clothespins for the ghosties. I just didn't think to pick them up when I was at the store.  I love how they came out. I made so many that I even had some to donate to the Halloween bake sale at work.  I cut the ghosts with my ZING and most of the hat were made with SU punches but then I made a digital file because I was making so many.  Oh and Mr. Ghosts bow tie is my all time favorite Martha Stewart bat punch.  I swear I use it every year!!
So are you still with me? quick story, I get a home party catalog at work for Touchstone Crystal by Swarovski. Whooo baby, talk about pricey! So I see a necklace called the Zoe.  I loved it and thought this would be a great necklace for all us girls at the house.  After all we are all up and into Halloween.  Here is a pic of the necklace:

The price was $79.00 for the skull bead and the 6mm light amethyst pave ball bead. OK so it is two necklaces but no way could I buy 3. So off I went to one of my favorite bead suppliers Fusion Bead. Don't you know I made all 3 necklaces for less than the cost of 1.  And I even changed it up a bit to make them our own.  Here is a pic of mine and Sam's:

Hard as I tried to get good pics it was tough. But you get the idea. I am so happy with how they came out.  If you need to order Swarovski beads Fusion is a great source.  They always have a coupon. I made Rory's necklace just as the catalog one and it will look awesome with her costume this Halloween. Pics to follow for sure! All total with findings and chain I made the 3 necklaces for $58.00. The best part is that it is all Swarovski.
Thanks for visiting and let me know if you are interested in the cut file for either the Witch Hat or Ghostie clip, they were fun to make and if anyone wants the file I will take the time to upload it.
Lysa

Mets Shower Favor 2, Back to School and WORK too!

Hi Everyone,
Gone for 2 weeks or so but now I am back in the craftroom for a last hooray before going back to work tomorrow. UGH!!!! So I had a wonderful vacation at the Jersey Shore. Love me some LBI.  I have to show you my moon pictures. Not because they are great but because I love them. I took a pic on the first night and then one on the last night.  How cool is my Nikon to catch the craters . . .

Awesome, between the moon and the ocean I started to feel a bit small. Which was OK by me! The whole family had a so much fun, We did all the normal Jersey Shore things and I shopped my little heart out too. The sun was great and no rain fell on our parade.  Please don't ask about how many calories I consumed!  Yummy food every night! Not just back to work but back to diet too!  So I took an extra 2 days off so that I would be home for the Stampin Up holiday catalog launch.  Yes, I did get up at like 3:00 a.m. so I could place my order. Yes, I did. Crazy I know but can you blame me?, it is an awesome holiday catalog.  Good thing I saved some of that vacation money cause I did some heavy damage this morning. So since getting home on Saturday I knew I had to get some work done on the Met themed baby shower favors. On Sunday I used my ZING to cut the 80 Night of Navy box bottoms. It was a pain because I could only get 1 box on an 8.5 X 11 piece of cardstock. So shame on you Stampin Up for no longer making 12X12 cardstock in the colors. So that was a full 80 cuts and the left over scraps? well who knows what I will do with all that paper.  On Monday I cut all the box tops, but this time I hand cut them.  I just could not get into loading the mat hitting the cut button etc. . . . Once done with that chore I hand scored them both. Yup, 4 score lines times 160 yet again equals OUCH! but it is done and I am a happy crafter! Here is a pic of 40 box bottom:

They folded up great and I used SU fast fuse to glue them.  So now it is onto the belly band for all those boxes. Before I go the little one (who is no longer little) is headed back to school tomorrow.  Her Mom took her for a hair cut and a mini shopping spree for some new clothes.  I have to share last years first day and a pic from last night.  I could just hug the life out of her I love her so much . . .Here she is  ready to conquer Middle School.

And here she is the mighty conqueror.

 Wow, what a difference a year makes! Congrats Rory on making it into honors math and performing arts gifted program! Hope to be back with more of the Met's shower favors by Saturday, wish me luck. Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Crib Explosion Box

Hi Everyone,
I took a break from wedding things to make this explosion box for a co-working who is having a baby. I had so much fun making this box that I just had to share it with you all.  First I have to say I was under a bit of pressure to get it done as I was asked late in the game to make a card that would hold the gift card we were giving her.  Well I spent just about the entire weekend in the craftroom making it.  But I have to say I think it was because of the theme.  I just don't have a lot of "baby" themed graphics and papers kicking around in my craftspace.  I had said to the family if I needed to make a Christmas or Halloween themed explosion box I could have banged it out quickly.  I had spent so much time looking for graphics and making the crib that the whole thing got away from me.  In the end it was worth the effort because it came out awesome and my all my co-workers were excited to give the new Mom her gift card. First I have to show you a picture of my desk as I was making it.  This was my first so you know the paper scraps were flying! I even posted this on my facebook page. Here is the pic:

WHAT a mess!!! But then it all started to come together around that adorable 3-D crib that is perfectly sized to hold a gift card. Here are the pictures that I took and while they are not the best I am sure you will get the idea of how the box came out.

Wow, Do you love it too?? I knew I was pressed for time and searched for a crib file online but they were all for sale and I thought I could make one fairly easy just by looking at a picture.  I saw some really pretty ones for sale but I thought if I kept it simple I would be able to create it quickly.  I used my CAP2 software to make the file and  exported it as a pdf so that I could use my ZING and MTC to cut it.  Well all went well and I thought I would share the file with you all.  Here is a picture of the pdf file:

So cute! If you want to try to make the crib you can fine the pdf file here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/hkr6ldzmvlx3weh/crib_to_post.pdf
and as always for my MTC peeps you can download the file here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/wc8788k344oev2l/crib_by_lysa_and_huey_to_post.mtc 
 If any of you have any questions just leave me a comment and I will do my best to help.  I really love this explosion box card and will make more in the future. I am already thinking a wedding one would be fun to create.  I could just see a wedding cake in the center. Thanks for visiting and PLEASE enjoy the file and consider leaving me a comment, I so love to share files and comments inspire me to share more.
Lysa

Big News about A Big Day!

Hi Everyone,
I can't believe that  I lost touch with my blog for a whole month.  This seems to happen every spring as I take on spring cleaning, room decor switch and pool opening. Now that I have things somewhat in order I am back in the craftroom and ready to go.  My big news about a big day is that my Daughter and her fiance Leon have set a wedding date. Booked the Church and the venue as well.  I have signed on to assist with some crafty goodness.  We have plenty of time but we have started getting some things together.  The invitation mock up is done.  The colors are still in the air until we get out to the stores or online for paper samples.  Looks like Black, White and Stampin Up's Cherry Cobbler are in the lead.  The Cherry Cobbler may be switched out for a merlot or burgundy. We just won't know till we sample some papers. I made a logo for them. Which now adorns the rear window of her car.  I cut it in vinyl and it looks great. Here is a pic:

So reflective you really can't see how nice it looks.  Here is a picture of the graphic:

I plan to make a rubber stamp and an embossing folder of the logo.  The double hearts are an Inkadinkadoo stamp that is still available for purchase.  I will buy that as well.  The font is chaucer and is the same as my blog header.  It has been a favorite of mine for years. I made this logo using CAP2 and cut the vinyl using SCAL4 and my KnK ZING. Sam really likes the logo and I think we will switch it up here and there keeping the linked hearts as a running theme.  Well that's about it for now. I will keep you all posted on the wedding crafts as they appear on my craft desk.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend,
Lysa

Lindt Easter Bunnies, I LOVE 'EM!!

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick pit stop to show off this years Easter table favors for Sunday.  I have been so busy I didn't think I would get to it.  But, with those cute little bunnies starring at me I had no choice but to stop what I was doing and make them up for Easter Sunday dinner. Here is a picture of how they came out:

 So cute, all I did was use my ZING to cut a four petal shape.  I just folded each petal up and tied around the square to create a box. I curled the paper around pen to create a petal look.  The shape looks like this:

I didn't even need to score the fold lines! The paper is K&Co. and it folded and curled perfectly.  I made the tag markers in CA2 and used my Brother SnC to cut them out.  They came together so quick and easy this morning that I can move on to making my cheesecake! Here is one last pic:

Wishing you all a Happy Easter,
Lysa

Valentine's For School 2015 - What To Do, What To Do!

Hi Friends,
One week before Valentine's Day and I haven't even thought of what I am bringing in for the work peeps. More important than that was what is Rory going to do for school.  Now that brings in a whole new question. New school, now Middle School, should I, should I not?  That was the question asked by the little one. Still young and wanting to make any occasion fun, but savvy enough to not want to appear a bit corny. Well, Nonna has the answer and here it is: "To thine own self be true, and be like all good Girl Scouts and be prepared." I suggested that we make a nice Valentine treat that would fit in her backpack.  She would be prepared and if she felt uncomfortable handing them out, well in the backpack they would stay.  No harm, No foul!  The best of both sides of a story if you ask me. Gee, I am getting wise as I push 60!  So we chose some Valentine's themed pencils from Walgreens and a Dove chocolate heart.  We chose a push pencil and Dove chocolate as perhaps they are just a bit more appealing to the "more mature audience" that we are making them for. No Monster High or Spiderman involved (It's the Dove chocolate heart that steps it up)! I really do think Middle School is on the tough side, but hey if you make it through you can most likely survive whatever life throws at you. So here are a few pics of this easy peasy favor that should please anyone. In fact I just may be making these for work as well.  After all who doesn't need a pencil?

I made the page of tags using CAP2 and we punched them out with the Stampin' Up heart punch.  I used my ZING and MTC to cut the shadow heart.  The cello bags are from Stampin' Up. The white rubber bands are Rainbow Loom.  I use those bands for all sorts of things!

Here they are in a vase by the front door until she takes them to school.  Let's hope not to many peeps stop by for a visit because who could resist saying "help yourself"!

So easy, all we did was bag up the pencil and trim the bag to about 1.5 inches above the top of the pencil. Grabbed a chocolate heart and wrapped it in a 5 inch square of white tulle and secured it to the pencil bag with a white rubber band. We punched a 1/8 inch hold in the tag and made an angle cut into the hole and stretched the rubber band to lock the tag on. They came out great. We made 16 in about 40 minutes or so.  Here is one more picture:

I hope Rory ends up passing these out but worst comes to worst we will have a few extra pencils in the house and some darn good chocolate too!
Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Lip Balm Holder for Halloween 2014

 Hi Everyone,
I am so happy to say my final Halloween favors are done.  As you know my most favorite non candy favors are made with AVON products.  I love their lip balms and hand creams for crafting.  I am almost always able to purchase them for .79 cents or so.  I also like to buy from AVON as I have a co-worker who is an AVON lady and I would much rather support her than Dollar Tree.  I used CraftArtistist2 to design the file and I used my Zing and MTC software to cut them out.  The pumpkin and bat are Martha Stewart punches that I have had for years.  Don't you just love when you spend money on something and you use it for years! I also printed all the paper using Stampin' Up digital files.  I buy all my favorite papers as digi files because as you know once they retire they are gone.  The pumpkin paper is from the "Cast A Spell" DSP line from back in either '09 or maybe '10.  I still use it all the time because I love it so much.  Here is a picture of the pdf file share for these quick and easy favors:

You can find the PDF file here at this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/r5hf80cw3mmtr58/lip_balm_holder_halloween_2014with_photo_and_tips.pdf
and the MTC file can be found using this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/n02t6gc70vcxz7i/apothacary_lip_holder.mtc
Here is a picture of the lip balm holders and whats left of the little jack o' lantern boxes waiting to be handed out at work next week:

So to sum up Halloween 2014, I think my favorite favor was the beaded spider.  I made so many of them and could have kept going if I had more peeps that I wanted to give them to.  He may resurface this Christmas as "The Christmas Spider" from the Ukrainian legend. Next week I will be on vacation from work for a few days and all the Halloween paper gets put away and out comes all the Christmas craft supplies. I can't wait for this years Christmas crafting season as I bought some great Stampin' Up paper and supplies.  They did a lot with Kraft paper and boxes this year.  Kraft is my all time favorite for Christmas.  Thanks for pit stopping my blog and I hope to see you again soon.  Enjoy Halloween!!
Lysa

Halloween Is In The House!

Hi Everyone,
The past week has been so crazy busy that I barely had time to play in the craft room. The whole living room and dining room are glowing in black and orange and we are totally ready for Halloween.  Rory and I made a new banner for the mantle way back in September.  It was the last day of summer vacation and I have had it hanging off the china cabinet since then.  It looked so silly amongst the summer patriotic decorations.  I am sure everyone who stopped by thought I was a bit off my rocker.  I did have a hard time getting good pictures (as usual) but I thought I would post them anyway.  I think Rory and I did a great job. Here is the picture:

Well, that is really a better picture of Rory than the banner!  Maybe this one is a bit better:

and here is a close up of the letter S, I was glad I could catch a bit of  the gold sparkle:

So here is our crafty recipe:  The banner base pieces are from the Stampin Up banner kit called chalkboard.  The DSP layer is from SU's cast a spell from years ago.  I have the digital file so we printed the paper using CraftArtistPro2. The stars and the medallions were also made and printed with CAP2 and we used the Brother SnC to cut them out.  I made so many of the stars and I still want to make more. The letters and shadows were cut with my Zing through make the cut.  I love watching Rory use the computer and the die cutters. She really is a wiz with the Zing. If you look closely behind the letters you can see we added an embossed piece.  We used our sizzix and a cuttlebug embossing folder of a web.  Last but not least we even used my favorite Martha Stewart bat punch for the little bats. Each piece is sprayed with champagne mist so it sparkles. Wow, that's is a lot of product.  But worth it for sure.  We did not plan to hang this in front of the mirror but it was so long that this was the only place we could put it.  So if I had to change one thing, I would have made sure that the backs of the pieces were black.  I think that the chipboard reflection makes for an unfinished look.  All in all we love how are banner came out.  Today I have to finish some craft kits for Rory's friends that are coming over for a little celebration.  The girls will be making the paper pumpkins that I made last year.  We needed a quick and easy craft to do and this is perfect. Here is a peek at the project and the kits:

Don't the kits look great in the Stampin Up cases??  Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Halloween 2014 Favor Box

 Hi Friends,
Well don't you know Halloween is coming fast and furious.  I could not believe when I got to work today and the first time I typed the date this morning I thought to myself "How the heck did we get to Sept. 17th!"  Time is surely slipping past me. So this weekend I am taking down all the summer/patriotic decorations in the hope that I can get Halloween up the following weekend.  I made my annual speech to the family about how I was going to scale it back.  I say the same thing every year. "No bales of hay, Not taking out the Halloween dishes, Not going to put up the 5 foot twisted wire Dept. 56 tree . . . etc" and then every year I do the exact opposite and put up pretty much every single decoration I have.  Well, that would be me. Say one thing and do the other.  So today I have for you this years candy favor.  I cased it from Stampin Up.  You know they came out with the curvey keepsake die.  Which I think is kind of a blast from the past as this little bon-bon box has been around forever and a day.  I have it as a .gsd file from my Wishblade years!  Now what got me was you have to cut it in 2 pieces.  Which is great when you want to make it with 2 patterns. Plus it does save a bit on paper as you can cut it with half of a sheet of 12X12. My problem is  I really don't like the way it goes together and it was just a bit to big for me.  I have to make about 30 or so of these so I need to take candy cost in to consideration. As it is I went with Hershey Kisses instead of my normal Hershey Nuggets. I created the pattern where the base was 2 inches and it was huge so I shrunk it down to my liking.  I used my CraftArtist2 to draw the box and exported it to a .pdf file so that I could cut it with my Zing using MTC.  I saw these pumpkins all over Pinterest and thought they were so cute.  I see SU peeps are making Frankie and Vampires and all sorts of cuties.  I even saw a penguin.  I loved them all and thought I would share my file with all of my digi cutting friends. Here is a picture of the pdf file:

For those of you who want the PDF you can find it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/8e9iqkb93h8a92z/bonbon_box_with_pic_2014.pdf

And the MTC file is here, I have included the faces and the leaves with the MTC file:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/vu58hx4v42c1y9x/curvey_box__share.mtc
I hope you like this file and I think at Christmas you can make some really cute boxes by adding a cut out window. If you need this box to be larger you can easily resize to your need.  Hope to be back with a picture of Rory and my banner that we made in the next day or so.  It came out great and I can't wait to see it hanging with all the other decorations.  Please let me know if you have any problems with the file.
Thanks for visiting,
Lysa

Not 1 but 2 Crafty Good Things!

Hi Everyone,
I have interrupted my Halloween stars, but for good reason.  First, my friend Donna is having a Birthday! Yup, and it is a biggie( I just won't say which birthday) but she sure deserved a special card this year.  Now, Donna is heading off to Disney for a big celebration to mark the special day so I thought a Disney card was in order.  I have been lovin' making the cards in a box so I set out to make a Disney themed card in a box. Here is what I came up with:

I really had a blast making this card. I got all those images from cricut manuals because back in the day (meaning like '06 or '08) silly Provocraft published all the manuals as .pdf for download.  I still have them all and use them all the time.  I use CAP2 to make all the graphics, right down to the hat with Donna's name.  I mirrored all the images so that the card looks as good from the back as it does from the front.  Here is a picture of the back.

After printing, all the die cuts were cut with my Brother Scan N Cut.  Which does a really nice job as long as you are making cuts with the white border.  Cutting on the line in "Direct Cut" mode is short of perfect (because there is no negative offset) so I chose to use the white border. I left some space on the back to write a small birthday wish to Donna. I gave her the card and she loved it!! All her fav Disney friends can't wait till she hits the road for Florida.  Her Son and DIL work for Disney so it is always a special time when she visits!  Happy Birthday Donna!! Thanks for all you do for so many!  We all love you lots!!!!
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!
So, while I am on the computer visiting forums, pinterest and the like I stumble upon a Tear Bear.  Really, How the heck did I miss these cute little guys.  Well, that is easy to answer.  I was never really a scrapbooker.  I took one look at these little cuties and said to myself . . . "Self, you gotta make one of those"  So I did. I placed a small order for Mulberry paper with The Mulberry Bear.  You can find her on her ebay shop or at www.mulberrybear.com. What a pleasure it was buying from her. I was so excited how my first bear came out I just has to show you all.  Here is a picture:

I am told few crafty peeps are making these now a days, but I can tell you I will be making more.  I fell in L-O-V-E!  I made my pattern in CAP2 and exported the page to a pdf file.  I then used that file with my ZING to cut an acetate report cover.  At first I was tracing around the cut plastic and then I realized to use the negative as a stencil. I can see I need some practice on the face and the shading but for a first try I was a happy crafty girl. The mulberry paper is an awesome medium and I was happy to add it to my crafty stash. As usual I have to go from 0 to 60 so my next plan is a black cat with a witch hat! Take a peek on Pinterest to see some awesome Tear Bears and consider trying to make one. There are many cute critter patterns available for purchase online. With that said it is back to Halloween!  Thanks for visiting,
Lysa

Our Easter Banner

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick pit stop to the blog to post a picture of the Easter banner Rory and I made last weekend.  Every time Rory comes to play in the craftroom something crafty good happens.  I just love when we are getting our craft on together. We started by looking at pictures on Pinterest of Easter banners and Rory fell in love with one that used carrot shapes. Once we had decided that was our inspiration everything fell into place easy peasy.  Once I grabbed some cut files from my digital stash we were off and running. The Zing and MTC made quick work for cutting out our shapes.  Here is a picture of everything lined up:

Right before we started to assemble the banner, Rory took the time to ink the edges of everything.  What a difference the shadowing makes.  It really brings things to life. I always like to grab a few pictures of her working.

Once the inking was all done we ran the cuts through the Xyron.  It is our favorite adhesive as you may know.  We used glue dots to attach the green carrot tops in between the front and back layer of the carrot. The letters are popped up with pop dots to add a bit of dimension. We chose a natural raffia for stringing the banner together and here is how it came out:

 Wow, it looks like we our ready for a visit from the Easter Bunny! We had a blast making this.  I have to say that we do well working together.  I like that we started by using the computer to plan our project.  I like seeing Rory working with MTC software.  Once laid out on the mat you can really get a sense of size and the look of the complete project.  I like that Rory is able to get a feel and understanding of vector plotting.  I see these as skills that may come in handy someday.  You know I want a 3-D printer and if we ever get one I know she will be able to use it.  I like that we move from technology to a handcraft.  It is a great experience to bring a flat piece of paper to life.  I think Rory can see it is important to use all the resources available to get to a final product.   I hope you all like our banner and stop back soon as I hope to get a handle on the 25 little Lindt bunnies I bought. Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting,
Lysa

Itty Bitty Valentine Bread Tag Box

Hi Everyone,
Oh my, I am still obsessed with the bread tag shape.  I just had to make one more little treat box for Valentine's Day 2014.  I think I will make these for my February Board meeting.  They will hold two Dove hearts just perfectly.  Here is a picture of the file:

For those of you who like a pdf file you can download it from this link here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/x0xec1lcc2u7ccs/Itty%20Bitty%20Bread%20Tag%20Box%202014.pdf

and for all the MTC peeps, use this link for the file (I also posted it on the forum)
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7iu0uqqyt2qgghn/Itty%20Bitty%20Bread%20Tag%20Box%202014.mtc


I hope you like this little cutie, I even made a double sided version and will try to post the file at some point.  I made the heart paper in CA2 using Stampin Up digis. I even created the box in CA2. (It really has become my go to software) I used MTC and my ZING to cut the box.
Wishing you all a happy, crafty weekend.  And if you are watching the Superbowl tomorrow I hope your favorite team wins. Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Snow Day Fun

Hi Everyone,
Thanks to Mother Nature we had a snow day this week.  What a fun day Rory and I had crafting some goodies for Valentine's Day.  Now I usually don't put out a lot of decorations for Valentine's or St. Pat's as we do up Halloween and Christmas so big in this house.  I am always looking for a bit of a break before Easter.  Rory has been asking to make a banner, and I thought this was a great opportunity to make one. Mostly because I was thinking if I said no, Rory might suggest we bundle up and go outside to build a snowman.  Not that I have anything against snowmen but it was about 7 degrees outside!  I decided that the banner would be all Rory's ideas.  I let her pick all the paper and shapes.  She even picked the words and did all the assemble too.  Banners are so quick and easy with a digital cutter. We used my ZING and MTC to cut all the pieces.  Rory used the Xyron for all the adhesive.  She loves the Xyron!  Here is a picture of Rory hard at work:

 Here is a picture of the banner once it was completed:

What a great job Rory did.  I keep saying "Rory, your banner is awesome"! and she keeps correcting me saying "OUR banner is awesome"  We had so much fun and just wanted to keep going so we made a few extra paper hearts for the metal Hallmark tree. Here is a picture of that:

I love when Rory comes to play in my craftroom.  I really can see it is just more than quality time with each other.  She is really learning things.  As we were making the banner we discussed color and used math skills for measuring.  We used computer software to created the digital file.  Rory did all the assembly and took time to center the layers.  I let Rory have complete control decorating the mantle so we talked about a center focal point and height balance.  We made that huge red bow out of paper twist (an old time favorite of mine) so she got to untwist the skinny paper rope into wide ribbon and use my old wood bow maker to tie the loops into a bow.  We even took leftover red candy canes and melted them into hearts (235 degree oven for 5 minutes, on parchment paper).  The living room looks very festive and we both agreed it was a job well done.  I hear more snow is on the way next week so maybe, just maybe we will be able to spend more time together getting our CRAFT ON!
Thanks for visiting and have a crafty weekend,
Lysa

Room 2 Is Almost There!!

Hello, Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home? Oh wait that is just a flash back to my youth! OK, OK, I just needed to express that.  Indulge me if you will as I am a bit off  since we started this whole room redo business.  Can you believe I looked the "Hubs" in the eye and said ...
(and I quote) "I am nothing without my craft supplies" Oh yes, sad, I know .... but I really said that.  And what is really sad was at the time I am pretty sure I meant it.  To be honest I think I said it while I was in the garage, crawling over the snow blower to get to my sewing machine. It may have been when I was in the basement where I put all the "VIP" craft supplies and was digging out my ZING and my rolls of vinyl.  I'm not sure when I said it but I did say it.  So what seems to be happening is that all my carefully packed up craft supplies are now needed for decorating Rory's room.  So I am digging for everything and just making a mess of the boxes and the order of things. The living room and dining room are starting to look like a craft room.  The little one's bedroom is all painted and just waiting for furniture and decorations.  Rory requested a Broadway musical theme, which at first I thought would be fun and easy. True to form I have gone full blown nuts and I am now out of control.  So I go online and look for bedding that has a musical theme.  That did not go so well.  I guess music notes are not "trending" right now.  While I did see a few nice sets, none were available locally.  By locally I mean in the United States.  Sure there are some in China and Canada, but the shipping or the bulk buying made them unavailable to me.  Well then, let's just make it.  Here is a picture (minus the headboard, which is coming this week):

 How cute is her blanket?! I think the first thing I learned to make in Brownies was to tie fabric together.  With today's Polar Fleece it was a snap.  Music notes on one side and solid black on the other side, it came out great.
Next up was her window treatment.  I could not find curtains with music notes after searching for 2 days. Hobby Lobby bailed me out with some sheet music fabric that I made quick strips out of.  I bought an extra set of black sheets so that I could make the strips one side sheet music and the other solid black. Here are pictures of the windows:

How simple is that! And left over cotton sheeting to add a strip to the ready made sheet set, and a pillow too!  Here is the pic:

What's that above the window you ask? That's the awesome vinyl Broadway border we are creating (as we go, I might add) Here are some pics of our Playbill inspired vinyl wall art.

And that music staff! Wow, thanks to MTC and my ZING that is the actual notes to the song Look Down from Les Miserables. Here is a picture of that action:

 You know what my favorite part of this picture is? Why it's the fact that the same tablecloth is in my diaper cake video from 2007. See, I take care of my things! Please check back to see the finished border and room.  The furniture arrives this week and we did recycle some things from Rory's old room.  I can see how excited she is each time she peers in to see how things are going.  I feel blessed and lucky that I am able (along with the Hubs and our daughter Sam) to provide this room and space for my awesome Grand-daughter.  Did I mention she is singing a solo of "castle on a cloud" in her spring concert? My joke of the day is that I think we should make Room #3 a guest room because my craft supplies look right at home in the dinning room (after all, that's where they started out!)  Enjoy what's left of the holiday weekend and check back soon to see the finished room.Lysa