Breast Cancer Donation Basket Is Done!

Hi Everyone,
As you may know from past posts, my daughter Samantha works for an Oncology office.  As in the past I have mentioned how cancer is a large part of life for all the employees of the office.  I simply cannot sing their praises enough. Through out the year the office participates in numerous fund raising events as well as having some in office mood elevators (like luncheons and such).  During October each year the office donates a basket for auction at a local event.  Sam and I have been assembling the baskets for a few years now.  Here is a picture of this years:

  Look how awesome and big this years is!  The staff went all out! There is all kinds of good stuff in that bad boy!  Pants, shorts, shirts, candles, travel mug, note pads, handmade scarf . . .  I can't even list the goodies there is so much!  But you know what my favorite part of this basket is? 'come on you know . . .  it's my awesome butterfly! Yup, the same one that will be on the cupcakes for their luncheon.  Here is a close up:

Print and cut with my MTC of course. I just love it.  Would make a great t-shirt decal wouldn't it? Back over the summer I uploaded this butterfly over at the MTC forum.  I have tweaked it just a bit and you can grab it as a vector .pdf here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?o3j8kr3bk65r7nj
This file will import into MTC so that you can alter it to suit your needs. I hope you will leave me a comment to let me know if you use it or if you have any questions. I did remove our Doctor's name so that you can add whatever you wish to the center.  Maybe even add other words or name that may mean something more personal to you.  I hope you like my butterfly and use it too.  I also hope you, I, and all of us enjoy days filled with good health!
Thanks for visiting,
Lysa

More Halloween Crafty Goodness

Hi Everyone,
The month is flying by, but I am still in Halloween mode! I saw a Christmas version of this Rocher candy holder on a Stampin 'Up blog and the minute I saw it I knew I had to make them.  I will make Christmas ones for sure.  Since all my Halloween papers are on my desk I thought I would give it a try. I put coconut Rochers in them . . . yummy! I am so glad I am getting use out of the EK Success spider and web garland punch that I bought last year. For the Christmas holiday I will most likely use craft paper and the gold Rochers hazelnut candy.
 Here is a vector .pdf of the file I used to create the treat holder. I know it looks a bit confusing but once cut you will see it goes together fairly quickly.  You may need to flip or manipulated it if patterns like words and such are on your paper so that the pattern faces correctly. I left in the score lines but true to form I have been hand scoring.  Let me know if you have questions.  Here is the link to the file:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?c9omdt9sblktza4
 This .pdf should import to MTC sized at 7X7.5 inches.
We have been so busy this month with the house that I feel like I haven't spent much time in the craftspace. I have completed 25 of my little web nugget holders but I still need to make more!  I am off on Monday for Columbus Day so I hope to bang some out. I hope you like these little treat holders. They went together quickly.  Thanks for visiting,
Lysa

Tricks & Treats for my Peeps

Hi Everyone, Now that the house is in full Halloween mode I am able to settle in to crafting. OK, so the Hubs and dear Daughter are at Walmart getting me some more orange lights for the living room. See that the thing is, I never really finish until I have completely exhausted my Halloween mojo. I am like that with Christmas too! I have what some people call . . . issues. But as always I can say this phrase "I like me, I really, really like me"! See that's the best part of being in your 50's. You finally get to like yourself with no questions asked. Yeah! because that leaves lots of room for good crafty mojo like these little nugget holders I am making for all the peeps I see at work and in my daily travels. Here is a picture:

 

 How cute are they!! I love 'em! Each one holds 2 Hershey nuggets and best yet I had all the paper. No new purchases for me. The vector cutting file was made in MTC. I broke apart a web and added the solid base. I sized it specific for the 2 nuggets. I welded in the words Tricks - Treats (one on each side) made the tag in Craft Artist 2 using  an .svg Stampin 'Up  file and punched them out with a standard 3/4 inch punch.  The paper is all Stampin 'Up that I had in black and old olive. Googly eyes from Joann's Fabric.  The tag is printed on HP advanced photo paper.  See my little green spider?  He is my EK Success punch that I bought last year and never used.  How cute is HE!  LOVE HIM! You can see on the tag I punched one and scanned him in to CA2 so that I had him as a digi as well.  I love how he holds the web top together. I hope to make about 60 of these so that I have enough for work and some to give Sam to take to work as well. I hope you like them and they put you in the mood to start your Halloween crafting. Before I go I thought I would leave you with  a picture of my Halloween tree.

  

This year I let the little girl do the decorating and she did a fantastic job. I am breaking her in so she can help me at Christmas.

Might not be the best picture but you get the idea, we are ready for Halloween! Enjoy your week and hope you all start thinking Halloween.  Thanks for visiting,

Lysa

Still Here - Just Lost in CA2

Hi Everyone,
Wow, September is so O-V-E-R! Really you should see my house! We are completely Halloween! For the last week or so I have been putting away summer and bringing Halloween down from the attic. In addition to work and decorating I have been playing with my new Craft Artist 2 software. In a word, AWESOME! I wish I could just sit here and play. Let me tell you what my favorite parts are. First off I love the .pdf import. Yes, even though I have other software that does that. I like this the best. You can really get some great graphic in that format so its a winner in my book.  The .svg import/export is also a fav.  Thanks to the Daisy Trail forum we are all learning the best way to use that feature.  Also I love the punch. I have so many of my Stampin 'Up punches in .svg format so that is just a great crafty addition for me to use along with all my Stampin 'Up digi files.  Now as you know I don't make videos often. I always want to but time gets in the way.  I wanted to show everyone how to flatten a graphic that has multiple layers and I really could not explain with words so I took a shot with this screen recording software.  Please my voice was enough to make the cat run.  Anyway I hope it helps someone along the way.  Here it is!

Again, I am not a video maker!  Have a great day.  Check back soon as I hope to start posting my Halloween goodies soon.
Lysa

Rory's Strangling Raven Costume - Part 2

Hi Everyone,
FEATHERS! Not my thing! I really think as a crafter we all have a craft we jive with! I think I am somewhat versatile as I seem to always be searching for some new crafty goodness to float my boat.  Feathers?  I just don't  like 'um!  I think I'd have more fun painting cute faces on little rocks (remember pet rocks?) Feathers just seem to have a mind of their own.  I'm telling you I will be picking up feathers for months. They are everywhere. And by everywhere I mean everywhere! I know they made it upstairs from the craftspace to the kitchen, and the bedrooms too! They are floating everywhere through the house, I am pretty sure I saw them on the floor of my cubicle at work. I think I coughed one up the other day.  To me feathers are like glitter, only with wings! They are never really going to be gone. You know what I mean, I'll bet you dollars to donuts when I empty the lint catcher in the dryer that I will see some black feathers.  Next time I need to make a set of wings I am going to make it butterfly wings that are made out of a coat hanger and some pantyhose.  NO MORE FEATHERS FOR ME!! Well, with that said . . .  I finished Rory's wings.  To be honest it was not an easy task. Now I am not sure if it is because me and the feathers just did not get along or maybe it was because I just did not know what I was doing.  So you saw the picture of the blank and bland back of the wings in my first post. Well, just to take up some space here is the picture again:

A blank canvas for sure! I started off by gluing single marabou feathers to the border of the back.  I was able to buy black duck feathers from Joann's and I laid them out before gluing. Here is that pic:

I kept flipping back to the front to make sure I was placing the feathers correctly.  This really does matter because if you stack them wrong they look kind of funky!  The key was to work from the center out to the edges of the wings. First from center to the left, then from center to the right.  I added a marabou boa at the neck to hide the end of the quills.  It took lots of glue and lots of time and I think it was worth it because here is a picture of how they turned out:

 

 You can see how the marabou feathers really bumped up the wings and the fact that both the back and the front are covered make all the difference.  I can't wait for Halloween and I can't wait to post a picture of Rory in this costume. I also want to tell you that stated on the costume and on the purchased feathers they tell you the black dyed feathers are not water safe. In fact my hands were black just from working with them.  If it rains this Halloween, Rory will have black running all over her costume for sure.  It's back to papercrafting and favor making for me.  I have a lot going on in the craftspace this weekend and I can't wait to show you all my 2012 Halloween nugget holder. Have a great week end! Thanks for stopping by.

Lysa

Rory's Strangling Raven Costume - Part 1

Hi Everyone,
So here we are at September 2nd! I can't believe summer is almost completely behind us.  School starts in just 3 days.  I was lucky enough to grab a few vacation days so I could enjoy the holiday weekend. You all know we are lovers of Halloween in this house. Well . . . I should say I am a lover of all things Halloween.  I don't do scary as a rule.  No blood, guts and gore for me.  No sir, I like more mellow side of Halloween.  The colors, the pumpkins and maybe a cute little ghost or two. It is true I like to get an early start with crafting and I do try to get decorating as early as I can.  We get the costume action going in August as soon as the catalogs start to come.  This year the little girl picked another awesome costume.  This year she will be sporting the "Strangling Raven" based on artist Jasmine Becket-Griffith's artwork.  The 3 of us (the girl, the Mom, & the Nonna) loved it the minute we saw it in the catalog. So the order was placed.  Here is a picture from the catalog:

WOW!! How Cute is that! We were so excited to get it. I myself, loved the wings the most.  I kept looking at the picture.  I thought they did a fantastic job with the wings. I mean I loved the jumper and the belt with the birds. I loved the blue, black and gray color scheme. We all thought it was great. And it is! I know because it came yesterday.  The jumper is well made even though the fabric is standard costume level fabric.  The quality of the sewing is well done.  The seams are well done and the patterns line up well.  The chain belt with the birds is awesome because the birds are pins and can be recycled somewhere after the fact.  The tights are great. Plain striped footless tights that will be used again. Gloves are good, Choker necklace is good but I need to make it smaller. The wings, well, NOT SO GOOD! I mean they are do-able but they look nothing like the picture.  The wings in that picture are not the wings that come with the costume. OK, OK . . . so I am a bit picky.  I just really thought the wings made this costume.  So they should be awesome crafty good, right?
If you really look at the picture you will see that the wings have 2 courses of feathers. No, they only have one. Even worse yet, they only have feathers on one side.  The back has only black felt.  Here are the pics:

I know what your thinking!(your thinking: "Lady you are nuts!, These wings are beautiful and are just fine for a kids costume for trick or treating") I know that's what your thinking because I am quoting the Hubs from yesterday while we were standing on line at Joann fabrics. Which was where we went after A.C. Moore. Which was where I bought the first supply of black feathers. Which just didn't seem to be right so I needed to go to Joann's too. . . . . .( this is me trailing off as wonder how the man stayed married to me for 29 years) Yup! A mere $18.00 later and we are going to have ourselves a pair of double sided wings! OH YEA! Here is a pic of my new found feather supply:

 

 Really, I think I just may have hit the crafting wall! So I got up at like 5 a.m. this morning and started to plot how I was going to bump up these wings. The feathers don't match the front, I just barely have enough long ones to cover the felt. With that said I am off to give it a go.  I will post part 2 at some point after I finish the wings and vacuum up all this feather stuff that is all over the floor and floating in the air.  Thanks for stopping by and here's hoping your laughing with me and not at me.

Lysa

My 2012 Breast Cancer Butterfly

Hi Everyone,
My daughter Sam works in an Oncology office.  Cancer is their life! They spend their days (and many times nights) assisting folks who are involved in their own private war.  Each and everyday the staff of this office leaves their own problems in their cars and walks through the door with smiles and eyes filled with hope for all of the people they will be seeing during the course of their day.  These girls are all special, no matter what their specific job is they all are an important aspect to the well being of the patients.  They are all very aware of all the effects cancer has on the life of their patients.  The office gets involved in all sorts of charity work to help keep cancer research going.  They participate in walks and make donations to charity events. They try to assist, teach and create a community support system. In October (breast cancer awareness month) they get together and have an office luncheon where they all cook or bake something.  These little breaks from the normal day helps to keep them together as group. A little bit of lightness in a stressful situation so to speak.  Last year Sam was on cupcakes and we made really nice toppers for the cupcake display (of course I didn't get a picture).  This year I got a jump on the graphic and I really like the way it looks.  Here is a .png of the graphic. I hope you like it too.

 Can't you just see this on a toothpick coming out of pink and white frosted cupcakes!  I think the girls will love them.  I just hope I didn't make a spelling mistake.  If you catch one please let me know so I can fix it before I go to print!  Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend,
Lysa
EDITED ON 10-11-2012:
Please see this blog post for a link to download the .pdf file of the butterfly.
http://www.lysaandhueyink.blogspot.com/2012/10/breast-cancer-donation-basket-is-done.html

Another Halloween Ornament or Two!

Hi Everyone,
I am clearly obsessed with the Stampin' Up holiday ornament. I rushed home from work each day this week so I could work on them. I have made a total of five so far and am hoping to make more. Many more! On Monday I ran to Joann's for some colored tulle.  All I had was black and I thought some orange would be cool to have around. It was cheap enough at $1.97 per yard so I got some lime green too.  I also picked up some white thinking I might be able to give it a dye job.  We will see how the nylon takes the dye.  I wanted some bright purple but it was not available so I thought my purple Stazon ink might just do the trick. Maybe even a Sharpie marker, that's the fun of crafting - just playing with all the supplies. I have decided on my three themes (bats, pumpkins and skulls) Here is a picture of the second skully:

Sadly, I only had one awesome metal skull for the first one.  If I get to the store I will look in the bead dept. for more because I really liked how the different center piece looks.
Here is a picture of the pumpkin themed one:

Oh I love the traditional black, green and orange. but again, here I want to change out the center piece.  The paper on these two are Stampin' Up digi files from their "Cast a Spell" line. I am so glad I purchased it because I use it over and over.  The bonus is that you can make coordinating embellishments as I did here.  I use DSA2 but any photo editing software will do.  I have had so much fun with this project that I just want to keep going and going and going . . .! I hope you all give these a try and if Halloween isn't your thing Christmas is on the way. Don't you think a Birthday themed one would be awesome? Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting,
Lysa

Halloween 2012, Finding My Crafty MOJO!

Hi Everyone,
Each and every August I go looking for my Halloween mojo. I always start in August because I just love Halloween!  I like to let the anticipation build for weeks.  I am not rushing the holiday, I am just enjoying every moment of the vibe that builds up to the big day.  It's silly I know, but I just love all things Halloween. Starting with the colors, moving through all the crafty goodness, picking a perfect costume, and ending with yummy candy! What's not to like? But true to form, with the pool open and a thermometer that is reading 85 degrees it is a bit hard to catch the "spirit"! So I go a look'n! It's kind of like a seek and you shall find thing.  I know for sure it is out there because the catalog from Costume Express arrived on Monday and I have been seeing little signs here and there around on the internet.  I reworked the craftspace for the fall/winter projects. I knew the mojo was upon me. I was struggling a bit but, once I got all my paper out and placed my fall Stampin' Up order I knew I was good to go.  I have to say I just love, love, love Stampin' Up! My favorite demonstrator to follow is Angie Juda Kennedy, click her to visit her awesome blog:  http://www.mychicnscratch.com
Today she posted a video on youtube that shows how to make an ornament for Christmas that is featured on the front of the Holiday 2012 catalog. Here is a picture:

Gee, it sure is pretty! I loved it the minute I saw it. As soon as Angie posted her video I got right to work using the supplies I had on hand to make one. Since all my Halloween paper was at hand I went that route.  Here is what I made:

LOVE IT!!! and now I am onto the next one! I really think this is the piece that helped me find my Halloween 2012 mojo, 'cause from today till the end of October, I am all about HALLOWEEN!
Have a great weekend everyone.  Thanks for visiting and I promise more Halloween mojo is on the way.
Lysa
Just a quick edit to add a pic of my second ornament.  I really enjoyed making these and I am looking forward to a Christmas themed piece.  They are fun to make though a bit long winded but, so worth the effort.  Here is a picture of the one I made for Sam. I think she will love it.

 Enjoy whats left of the weekend, Lysa

Halloween, Already!

Hi Everyone,
Its August 4th! Summer is winding down for us here at the homestead. I know school does not start for another 5 weeks.  Truth be told Rory's new lunch box and backpack are sitting in the kitchen ready to go.  How scary is that? So that scary leads me to . . .  Halloween! yeah my favorite crafty holiday! I have started to see a few things popping up here and there on the blogs and boards I follow.  I have been thinking on a few things for this years treats.  I try to come up with a treat for Rory to take to school and something for Sam and I to take to work. I also try for a little home decor piece to add to my vast collection.  So it seems simple enough when I get started but there is so much crafty goodness floating around that I keep re-focusing on something else.  So this year I am going to simplify! So the first thing is I am NOT going to buy more themed paper. Sitting on my work table is pad after pad, sheet after sheet of Halloween themed paper. True I love it all, and I even saw more that I loved via this years CHA summer previews.  But I am taking a stand.  I will NOT buy anymore Halloween paper no matter how much I love it!! One can clearly see I have issues with Halloween themed paper. Here is a picture of my Halloween stash.

And this does not even show my Halloween scraps!
The second stand I am taking is I will NOT buy any Halloween themed embellies! Nope I am done there too! No more brads, punches, scullys, stamps or stickers.  Here is a picture of my Halloween embellie draw. Which I must tell you does not include my Halloween fabric bin or my Halloween rubber stamps. Yup, this picture does not even show my magnet board that is filled with containers of plastic spiders and brads etc.

 People, you do realize I can duplicate these 2 pictures for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Baby, Wedding, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthday . . . The list goes on and on. I think I need a crafting intervention!  Is there shelving in padded rooms?
OK, back on topic, So this year I thought to simplify I would use 1 color scheme to cross the 3 projects I want to make. So looking at the stash I notice I have a good supply of green (Stampin' up Lucky Limeaid) black and white.  I see a lot of black and white stripes again this year so I am thinking this will be my colors for Halloween 2012. For the work favors I will use Ghirardelli chocolates. Last year Rory and I did pencils for her class.  There were simple, cute and candy free.  I loved them and I am thinking of using them again this year because the kids just get so much candy when they "trick or treat".  So this week end I hope to clear the "cobwebs" and get started on design my work favors.  Last years theme was bats. The tag line was "It's Halloween, Let's all go a little batty" Here a picture from last years post:

I am working on this years.  I had seen the phase "You say wicked like it's a bad thing" I liked it so much I wrote it down in my Halloween Smash book. I think I am headed in that direction.
So off I go to get started and here is a .png of a digi paper I made using my DSA2.  My inspiration came from the new Carta Bella paper line.  I figured since I have committed to not buy any paper I might as well make my own. The image is a Stampin' Up spider from their dark and dreary stamp set. Hope you like it.

Have a great week end everyone!
Lysa

It's All JUNK! or Don't Be So Negative!

Hi Everyone,
So the other day I am rooting through the basement and I come across this plastic bin of junk (that is junk as in my folks stuff that I simply can't throw out) I have so many definitions of the junk. Like there is junk as in the ole stuff junk (other wise known as pre - marital junk) and I have kitchen junk (stuff I will never use and refuse to get rid of) the kids junk (are they every going to move out) The hubs junk (do I need to explain that one?) Other peoples junk (stuff they were getting rid of and I felt the need to rescue it) and of course there is my favorite, craft junk (I am taking that with me when I go, just in case they put me in the angel wing department and I need that obnoxious huge supply of white organza favor bags that I own) Now one would think that would be enough junk for one person, sadly I come from the mind set that a person just can't have enough junk so enter the new little piece of joy (my new photo and negative scanner) which will happily live in my electronic junk category.

The story goes like this:
What I found in the plastic bin o' folks junk was some slides and negatives. Which I then pulled out so that I could add them to my bin of old photos and negatives. Which by the way is just different plastic bin of junk. I opened my bin to throw their negatives in and I just could not believe how many negatives I had! yup, about 4 thousand or so. I got 35mm, 110mm, slides and even these odd disc wheel negatives.  WOW that doesn't even include the prints. I got boxes and bags filled with photos and negatives and slides.  I don't have to tell you, because I know you have them too! Here is just one shot of the mess:

Times that picture by 5 and we are getting close to what I have in negatives. Gee, I thought I should just throw them out, but wait I can't just throw them away without seeing whats on them, right? I mean who knows what is on them. I see things labeled 1960. Beside in the grand scheme of JUNK they take up so little space! So I thought a great project to start (a by the way, never finish) was to scan in all the negatives and prints.  I figure by the time I do this my grand daughter will have graduated college or maybe she will be married with children and taking pictures and giving them to me to scan.  See where I am headed.  It will never end! Did I mention that I am waiting for the UPS dude to deliver my new cropper hopper photo boxes. I got 2, each one holds 2000 photos with room for negatives of course. Yes, silly they are made of plastic.  They will fit right in with all the other junk. Thanks for reading my junky little story. Just a couple of quick notes about the scanner.  I have a lot of 110mm negatives and the scanner only comes with holders for slides and 35mm negatives.  I used my ZING to cut a holder out of black cardstock and it works like a charm.  Looks like the only thing I can't use it for is the disc wheel. Also to bump up the quality for printing you do need to make some adjustments in a photo editing software like photoshop. I hope you have a great weekend. I will leave you with this picture of my Dad.  It was one of the slides I found in their box and it was the first thing I scanned.  I peg it for the early '50s.

Sure do miss him! I love the picture and now you know why I couldn't just throw out the negatives!
Lysa

I'm Still Crafty but It's Summer!

So here we are almost the end of July! Oh no where is summer going.  I am lost in the little sunshine I get when I am not at work. I have been ignoring just about everything so that I can get some pool time in. The house, a mess! Laundry, oh so many loads ... so little time! Well I am surely tan and filled with sunshine! Yeah, I will take it while I can get it!! So not to bore you with yet another non crafty post I had to show you all my dragonfly picture.  I will tell you they are just getting started. Awesome little creatures, I just love them.  I have been seeing monarch butterflies as well but I just can't get the shot.  I still have time, I know I can get at least one. For now here is my dragonfly ... so cute with his little bubble eyes!  I can watch them for hours.  Thanks for staying with me I am sure I will be back in crafty mode very soon ... after all Halloween is on the way!!!!

He is just a baby, Some of the others look like birds!!
Have a great day! Lysa

I Just Want To BEE Friends

click on the pic ... it's pretty

Hi There Everyone,
Pardon my non crafty post and just look at my BEE picture.
Oh how I love the bees that populate my neighbors bushes. I took this shot while standing in the pool. That is my little bit of backyard heaven. I am in awe of how many bees there are and how hard they are working at gathering up all the pollen. This bush hangs over the far side of my pool and year after year I watch the bees as they coat themselves in all this yellow pollen. I can watch them for hours. You know I live in a somewhat urban area. Major highways are this towns claim to fame. Sometimes I get sad at how our town has changed ... but I can still find my bit of nature lurking around this wired city. I have big ole fat ground hog that is living under my shed (probably doing scads of damage) and rabbits like crazy who are eating everyone's tomato plants. Birds by day and I can even see bats at night. I Don't even want to talk about the squirrels that are all over my deck. But it is all good with me because if they are all willing to put up with this city than I will surely put up with them. Here is one more bee shot I took and just so you know in another week or two I should be able to grab some shots of dragonflies.
I am almost done with my little breather from crafting and hope to start my Halloween goodies soon. Thanks for stopping by and hope you check in soon to see what I come up with for my fall projects. Blessings and hope you all are enjoying the summer! Lysa

click on the pic ... I love this bee!

Fourth of July Favors 2012

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick little treat for the work peeps! I had something else in mind for these cute AVON hand creams, but you know the best laid plans . . . !  So I settled for a quick tag and a bit of ribbon. I think they look adorable and who wouldn't want to come into work and find this little baby next to their keyboard? AVON always has a little 99 cent something in almost every book and I like to try to dress them up just a bit. I used my favorite DSA2 for the tag and printed then out on photo paper, punched them out with a Stampin' up punch, tied the tags on and called it a day.  Easy peasy for sure!
Here they are happily on my sideboard until I take them to work.

  Have a great holiday and thanks for stopping by.
Lysa

This Year's Teacher Gifts

Hi Everyone,
School's out for summer! And boy, did it end with a heat wave! Even at a 1/2 day session I don't know how the Teachers or the kids got through.  I made a few gifts for Rory to bring for her Teachers and her bus driver.  I didn't get good pictures but I thought I would post them anyway.  We are big, big Starbucks fans in this house.  Well we are just coffee addicts, It does not have to be Starbucks.  So we did coffee gifts for the end of the year.  Each person got a permanent to-go cup with a domed and a flat lid. Along with that a gift card to Starbucks so that they could fill'um up.  I saw this great creative packaging idea on Pinterest and had to use it. I love how they came out.  I just could not stop talking about them at work.(Yes, I was annoying) I did this very last minute due to other things that were going on. As you can see this makes a great last minute gift as well as a well thought out one.  Here is a pic of the gift bag:

 The Teachers got apple tags and a cute school bus for our favorite bus driver.(both cricut files, shhhhh, I cut them with my ZING) more time would have allowed for a more elaborate tag.
Here is a cell phone pic of the cups:

The bottom is kraft crinkle basket filler and the dome lid is stuffed with white tissue.  The gift card is inside of the cup.  The recipient can choose to use the dome lid or the flat lid.  What you can't see is on the cups for the Teachers there is a second tag that says:
"Thanks for quenching my thirst for knowledge" (no I did not make that up, saw it on Pinterest)
Also you can't see that the gift card is Teacher specific. Really nice that Starbucks has a Teacher card. I just love these.  I would love to get this as a gift.  I have it in my mind that even if the person is not a coffee drinker, this cup can be used for any soft drink as well. I will keep this in mind for the holidays as well. Thanks for stopping by. And a big shout out to all the Teachers and school bus drivers out there. Thanks for all you have done this year!!!!!
Lysa

Kristen's Shower Favors! Done!!

Hi Everyone,
Wow, I haven't posted in weeks!  I have been busy, busy, busy! Work (busy), Household (busy), and my favorite of all CRAFTY BUSY!!  Yet, I am still behind on everything. So the shower favors for Kristen are done and that completes my contribution to this wedding.  I am honored that I was able to help a friend and be part of a young couple's wedding. I showed you all the buttons and the shower invitations, here are the favors that will be given out at the shower. First let me tell you the theme is Mickey's kitchen and cookies.  The couple both work for Disney at the Orlando resort.  They love their MOUSE. and cookies are a large part of this family.  My friend Donna is a baker extraordinaire.  Donna always has that yum, yum recipe that you need in a pinch. So this shower theme makes perfect sense if you know the family. The centerpieces are cookie jars of Mickey.  The table linen is all red, white and black.  I am sure the room will look awesome.  The favor box will hold 3 cookies that are made with the included recipe. The cookies are cut with a Mickey logo cookie cutter, one of which is tied to the top of the box.  They look fantastic! Here are some pics I took along the way.  I of course have to tell you some crafty info as well.  Here is a picture of the box blanks.  I cut them with my ZING. I made the file in my KnK studio software (still a fav of mine) and easily copied and pasted the file in to my MTC software for cutting.  Donna bought me awesome cardstock from LCI paper in Massachusetts.  It is the same paper used for the invitations. Here is the first picture:

 That is 40 boxes ready to go.  This cardstock was so thick. Cut beautifully, but scoring was a bit hard on the hand. No worry, it got done.
 Here is a picture with the added belly band.  I used my DSA2 to create the printed strip.  Just like I did with the invitations.  The key here for me is to create a bounding box that is 1/4 inch larger on the four sides. I line that line up with the 1/4 inch mark on the right side of the blade, that is the line I use to cut with my fiskars trimmer.  Makes easy work of cutting all those strips

 This picture shows the tag parts along with the clear plastic box tops.  My best tip here is if you need clear plastic for windows, boxes or box tops - go to staples and buy clear report covers.  They work great. They cut and score like butter.

I just had to throw in this picture of the tag fronts coming off of the xyron.  I mostly use tombow or sctoch glue but I ran out and wanted to finish the front of the tags. My tip here is if you are using your xyron anything make sure you give a good rub down to avoid the pesky glue balls (keep a glue eraser hand too)!

and here at last is the finished favor. I love the bakery string which I must tell you was donated by our favorite local bakery. The red tissue is food safe Wilton brand tissue. The finished box is 41/4 inch square. See the cookie cutter?  How cute are they?

Donna's friend KG will be baking up a storm to fill these boxes with her wonderful cookies just prior to the shower.  Everyone will be joining together the evening before to fill and tie the boxes.  A family celebrating a wedding is a blessing and I feel better than good that I was able to contribute.  I wish Adam and Kristen a long happy, love filled journey. I have been married for 28 years and to be honest another 28 wouldn't be enough! That is what I wish for this young couple. Love you Donna! Many blessings to your family!!!
A shout out of thanks to Donna, Kristen, Adam(for allowing me to share in your joy), KG (for your delicious cookie sample) my ZING, DS2, Tombow, Fiskars, Xyron, my HP Printer, Vodka (anyone who knows me, understands)(inside joke), my MICKEY martini glasses(a gift from Adam & Kristen) and the Hubs (for my awesome craftspace)
Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Red, White & Blue! A Friend So True!

 Hi Everyone,
So my friend Karen Allen ... No, not that Karen Allen ... the "real" Karen Allen ... The one I see everyday! was in need of some little flags. Little 2 inch flags. I knew the perfect way to make them. I just printed them on inkjet fabric using my DSA2.  Awesome, look at me I am a flag maker!

And then she took them and made us all this little somethi'n, somethi'n to brighten our day!

Look how cute this little flower arrangement is.  I don't know which I love more, my flowers or my friend Karen! Silly Rabbit, my friend KAREN of course!
Thanks Karen, Your awesome crafty goodness made my day!!

The Day After The Party

Hi Everyone,
 I simply can't believe it is May 28th!  This month just flew by.  I have been so busy with things that the last three weeks have been a blur.  We (the family) have done so much around the house, getting things in summer mode.  I have also been crafty but wasn't able to post any pics in the event Mom checked my blog.  We celebrated Mom's 80th birthday yesterday and it was a blast! Now I can post the pictures of her invitations.  I loved how they came out.  With all the compliments I received yesterday I think everyone loved them as well.  Here is a picture:

And here is the inside:

And we played a couple of games.  Regina created a candy counting game and even gave prizes to the winners. I can't believe I missed getting a picture of the candy filled jar.  It was so cool!  Then we played an "All about Fran" question game that was a lot of fun.  I made a little question book so all could play.  Here is a picture.

My SIL, Regina made awesome chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick and I made a stand for them. Here is a picture of the stand:

Once, Regina added her awesome marshmallows it looked amazing! Here is a picture of the finished display:

It came out beautiful! And a yummy shout out to Regina! The mallows were delish!!!!
And best yet was the Birthday girl!!! We would all be nothing without her love and support!  We love you Mommy!!!!!!

A shout out also to Maryann and Vin who worked so hard to ready their home, created a fantastic menu and put this whole party together.  It was a lovely day.

The Wedding Buttons - Out For Delivery!

The buttons have been done for weeks, but as always I hit a snag! DO NOT and by that I mean DO NOT!!!!spray paint a wicker basket with enamel paint.!.! I say this not because it is bad paint, I say this because it takes about 3 weeks for the smell of the paint to dissipate. Yes, it is true. No matter how much airing out or potpourri or even dryer sheets or baking soda is involved you will need 3 weeks for the smell of the enamel paint to go away. Lesson learned, from now on it is sponged on water based acrylic paint for me! I am now able to put the basket under cello wrap for delivery. Here are the pictures of how the basket came out. I am happy to deliver this basket of goodies to my friend Donna. I hope the Bride, Groom and guests are as happy as I am about how the buttons came out.

 I enjoyed making these buttons because it was such a large scale project.  I was able to print the 200 graphics with my HP 7500a printer, cut them with my KnK ZING using the PnC registration, followed by 200 bag toppers printed with the HP and cut with the ZING. Bagged in a standard Wilton candy cello bag and then tied off with ribbon.  It really made me happy to see 200 items all made by me!
Thanks for stopping by and remember I still have Kristen's shower favors on my crafty list of things to do.
Have a great week end!
Lysa

I'm Here! Just Lost In Spring Cleaning

Hi Everyone,
I am in awe that it is May 1st! I have not left my craftroom, I just have not had a minute to post. As a family we have been busy, busy, busy! Can you believe it is only 50 degrees or so and the pool is open! Paul, the awesome hubs dude, needed to fix the pool heater so that involved an official pool opening. WOW, we worked for two weekends to get the house in summer mode and we are still not done. We have a new screen house going up this year and with a bit of luck I will be power washing this weekend. Now for my crafty review (sorry no pics) I have started the shower favors for Donna, made the invites for my Mother In Laws 80th. Made 12 miniature American flags for Karen (co-worker pics to follow), A baby onesie template for a friend that is making an awesome baby shower gift (hi Ellie)(Can you believe I practically begged the woman to let me cut the onesies for her) Ellie, you go girl, don't let me be a crafty control freak!! My SIL, Regina are planning some awesome crafty goodness for Mom's 80th (had to tell her about my crafty control issues as well) but I am super excited about those as well(ummmm Marshmellows!). The craftroom is still a hopping and I hope to post some picture soon. Thanks for staying with me,
Lysa