What I've been up too!

After I went to convention in 2008, I had a falling out with my up-line. This lead to stamping/crafting/creating to not be "fun" anymore. For basically 4 years I have done nothing! A couple gifts here and there but nothing exciting. I mean, you can't even safely walk into my crafting room any more.

Well, this holiday I starting crafting again. Nothing big! Just old techniques that were easy and super fast to complete. Remember, I said I can not safely walking into my craft room. This means I can not safely get to items that I may need.

This year, in January, I joined a "Pay It Forward" post on Facebook. That meant that I had 1 year, 12 months to come up with a pay it forward gift to send to the person who originally posted the posting and then 1 gift to everyone who responded to my copy and pasted post.

My pay it forward gift came early. I want to say around April. My gift was homemade fudge from Maine. Yummy!

I stumbled and fought with what to make for the 2 I had promised gifts too. I bought wood letters thinking I would decorate them for the two ladies and ship them out. Hated it! I loved the one I did for my last name but hated the way theirs came out.

This one is mine!

I bought a wooden sign for one of the ladies and thought I'd mod podge pictures of her family on the back and then put her last name across it. Again, hated it! (Should have known better. I have never mod podged a day in my life!)

The other lady I thought I'd get a wooden cross, distress it and them embellish it and voila! You guessed it, hated it! Could not figure out how to embellish it the way I wanted too. And giving a way a plain distressed wooden cross was not what I wanted to do.

This is it...unfinished and on a shelf in my front hallway.

So then, with 6 weeks left of the year, it came to me. I will make snow globe ornaments with their pictures on it instead of using stamps. Ok! Now if you are thinking "great idea" lets stop for a minute. I just want to put it out there that printer ink and window sheets are not made for each other. Not even if you try to emboss the image when it first prints out, heat set the ink, leave it alone and hope it works....none of that does the trick and then you are left with a dark inky mess that looks gross. I was left with trying to figure out how to print an image that would look good in the inside of the clear globe, and still be transparent.

I did this ornament during a class that I had back when the set was new. Very simple project.

Velium was the answer! The ink stuck to the paper. It rolled up easy for insertion and unrolled easy when you slid it into the ornament. It is "somewhat" transparent. Everything I needed. So away I went.


Here is the one I made that needs to be sent to Maine:

I posted these on facebook and I quickly made a 3rd due to a close friend liking them. Then, when she seen her's she asked me to make her 2 more for presents for family members. I set a price and away I rode into the sunset (literally as it was time to go home).

The 3rd one I did.

I was hired to do these 2.

After all these project were said and done it was time to start thinking about wrapping and setting up the house for Christmas. I luckily already did ALL my shopping for my extending family/friends, one day I will share my secret with you, but I wanted a cute way to mark who they where for. Gift tags, but not the cheap store bought ones. At first I thought I'd have my son, who is 9 and wanted to make them for me, use my sizzix with the tag press and cut out tags then decorate with stickers, glitter, what ever. Problem, I don't know where my cutting plate is for the sizzix....remember the natural disaster that is my craft room?

I didn't give up though. I put my thinking cap on and came up with a plan. Formica chips....yep, those FREE things that the hardware store loves to give away to us crafters. SO I drove 13 miles across town one way and walked into the local craft...I mean, hardware store, and loaded up my "big" purse with FREE gift tags. (Yes, I changed to the "big" purse before I left home!)




Now, my 9 year old with all his imagination, was left alone with formica chips, dollar store stickers, elmers glue (I don't think my carpet will ever be the same again) and a movie on the TV. This is what we got:

I am planning on finishing them up with ribbon and attaching them to present (the names will be on the back). If people, like grandma and grandpa, want to keep the "gift tags" for ornaments they can. If not, that is fine too!

Have a great Christmas Season ya' all! And, keep checking back. I forgot how much fun this was and you never know what I will be up to in a month or so (or sooner!).