Party gift

My DD had a couple of birthday parties last weekend. And to be truthful, I just didn't have cash to buy gifts. However, what I did have was some old jeans. And a sewing machine. (That every time we move, my husband asks me if we can get rid of...) And stamps. And Stayz-On ink. Not to mention, I had some rhinestones and a little heat applicator. What does that mean? This.....






This is only one of the fancy little denim purses I made. I made the purse out of one of the legs of some old jeans. Afer that I stamped the image with Stayz-on ink. (this dragonfly image is from Basic Grey out of their Wisteria line. yum!) I then used a little heat applicator wand to apply all those nail heads and rhinestones. My DD got to pick the stamps for each of the gifts she gave. Of course, she also talked Mommy into making her one too! Now, as soon as I can hook up with some more old jeans, I am going to make myself one. Mine, however, will have to be a bit bigger. Of course, that has nothing at all to do with the fact that I have to carry all my junk and everyone else's too. In that case...maybe I ought to make mine about the size of a suitcase. Just think of all the stamping I would have room for!

Is it gone yet??

Is Christmas done yet?? Well, after downloading the pictures from my camera's memory card, I am quite convinced that it is. Between photos of projects I did for gifts (and I didn't photograph all of them...) and the photos we took of the Christmas season, there were 314 photos to be moved around. Yikes.

I looked back at the photos I had taken and thought about what kind of projects I had done this year. I have done 15 mini albums and one 12 x 12 album. I didn't count the cards and DT projects or the pages I did for my own family. It was a productive and busy year. (Can you hear the pride in my voice???? hee-hee.)

Below are two photos from an album I gave as a gift. The recipient has a daughter that plays soccer, so I added some soccer pages. When the album is folded up it is approximately 6x12. There are two sets of binding rings (Zutter) on each side because the book opens on both sides. (Making the album approximately 18x12 inches.

This photo is of two 6x12 panels. They work together to form a layout. The mats for the photos were run through my Sizzix Big Kick using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The soccer ball on the bottom right was an Accu-Cut die that I used from the workroom at Archiver's. The grid behind the photo mats was done with magic mesh. (I don't really know the brand name, sorry Peeps.) I is a canvas mesh that I layed on the cardstock and then dabbed green Makine Memories craft paint over it. Then I moved the mesh and it left this negative image. It reminded me of grass and a soccer net. (Yep...that's me. All about the symbolism.)

This photo is of the album with all three panels open. The panel on the left is the same as the left panel in the top photo. The right panel in this photo is the back side of the right panel in the top photo. The middle panel was underneath the right panel in the first photo. Confused yet?? The soccer girl is a die cut from the Quickutz Silhouette and the word "life" is a Making Memories rub on.

I was so pleased with how this album came out. It was fun and funky. I love that! I will have more photos of this album in the days to come. It has some really fun "features" to it. I have enough photos of all those gift albums to last me a couple of months of blog posts. (aren't you lucky!??)

Well, Peeps, I hope you had a great Christmas and now are anticipating heading into the new year. I am excited to see what it will bring! At the Gem house, we always pray that it will be a good year with good health and that God leads us to make wise choices. We found out last week that my DH's employer changed health insurance carriers. That is always a big, big deal for a family that has two people that have a rare, chronic illness. On another note, however, my DH graduated with high honors with his accounting degree in December. He has worked 2 1/2 years to get to this point. Now we are just trusting God to provide the right job for him.

Hope you have a great New Year's week. I still have a list a mile long to do before the kiddos start back to school here at the Gem house. They are at loose ends because of all their free time. Next week we will be getting back on schedule with school to do every day. This mom is not sure she is quite ready for that! yikes!

Be safe out there and thanks for stopping by!

Pop your top!

While looking through Paper Crafts Magazine recently, I noticed that Kim Kesti made the cutest little Matryoshka Doll gift card holder. I however, didn't actually think about making it until I realized that I could do the same thing with a different subject. My DS LOVES penguins....so it was one of the firsts things that popped into my little brain. I tried to download the template off their website, but it wasn't posted yet. However, not one to give up easily...after several "versions", I came up with my own. Here is a picture of the penguin with his head popped off. The gift card is hidden inside! You just pull his head off and that secret is hidden inside. (kinda' like brains. Or not.) The possibilities are endless. You could make him wearing a Santa hat and holding holly. He could hold a small Christmas tree. The penguin could be made out of patterned paper also.

I used my Nestabilities to cut two circles for his belly out of black cardtock. (You will want to adhere them carefully together around the outside edges, leaving a space for the gift card to slide in.)Then I also cut a smaller circle out of white for the contrasting part of his belly. I will admit that I drew the head, (which is two pieces stuck together with adhesive around the edges) the feet, the flippers and the beak, freehand. I also used my Chestnut Roan Cateye ink around the edges of feet and beak, white ink around the penguin body and pink ink around the edge of his white belly. The gift you can make out of any little scrap. The bow was a Cuttlebug die of a flower that I cut in half.

I will admit that I tinkered with several versions before getting one I was happy with. I also want to try making a snowman and a santa gift card holder. If you come up with one I would love to see it!!! Just leave a comment and put your blog or a link to it so I can rush over and see it! I hope you are inspired by this little project.

I must tell you that I am entrenched in working on Christmas gifts now. I knew if I didn't start early that I would never get done. I work on them as I have time...thus it is a painfully slow process! LOL! Every time I go to Archiver's I see more and more things that I think would make great gifts. Hopefully, you will be seeing some of those posted here in the near future!

Thanks for checking in and seeing what is new! If you have any inspiring projects, don't hesitate to leave me a link! Have a rockin' good week, Peeps! Oh...and if the election isn't enough to scare ya'...here is another fact: Only NINE more Saturdays until Christmas.

Oh Brother!

Last month I posted a layout from an album I did for my lil' brother. Well, here is another page from that same album. I love the paper and the format for this album. I love the tall 6 x 12 format for this album. It also uses my favorite paper...Kraft cardstock!! woo-hoo. The stamps were from Zach's Life from Little Yellow Bicycle and also Prickley Pear. I wish I could remember what company the patterned paper is from, but I will freely admit it, I am too lazy to get up and go look for the scraps tonight. Please forgive my laziness. Also, since this album was a gift, I left the mats blank so that my lil' bro could put in his own photos.

Things have been rockin' and rollin' here at the Gem house. My darling husband has an extra day off this week and is helping with schooling the kiddos. Today, we planned to get a bunch of school done and plans changed all day long. My darling son, who just tested in Tae Kwon Do for his yellow belt got to wear his black belt during his class today. (It was a reward for good leadership during his previous classes and he got to wear it for just one class.) He earned enough special points to do that and he was so excited!!! He got to lead some of the drills during class and did a great job! Darling daughter had soccer practice and then after practice fell off the monkey bars on the playground. She wasn't badly injured (PTL!) but enough to make her tired little body hurt. After a nice shower, she was easy to get into bed!

Well, Peeps! Hope you have a rockin' good week. Check back for more inspiration later in the week and thanks for stoppin' by!

Finally!

How many weeks have I been promising new pics??? Well, here is one! Finally. I have had a couple of really busy weeks. Blah, blah, blah! I know you have been busy too, Peeps. I want to thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to check out my blog. I hope you all will keep returning again and again!!!

Well, darling son tested for his yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do last night. He was so excited and Mom and Dad were so proud! He tested before a TKD Master. His instructor told them that many people practicing TKD don't ever get to test before a Master, so it should be considered a privilege. Otherwise, we have been busy doing tests and assignments in school. We school at home and the kids attend a virtual academy. We have had some problems with our online school in the past two weeks so the schooling has been going kind of slow. It's hard to get anything done because we haven't known whether the school will be online or not. Such a major frustration! Anywho....it is Friday and tomorrow will be the weekend. No worries then!

Well, Peeps... here is a project I have been telling you about! This is a layout from an album I gave as a gift. I finally got it "given" and the receiver has "received" it so I felt okay about posting some photos. This is one of my favorite layouts from the little album and the patterned paper is from DCWV. I cut the circles with my Nestabilities circle die cuts. (Which I won from Vicki's blog! http://www.stampedsmiles.com/ Thanks Vicki!!!)

The album is 6 x 12 inches when folded, and then when you open the pages out, the album is a 12 x 12 size. I used my trusty Bind-it-All to create the binding. I used my Sizzix Big Kick to die cut the stars. The "AWESOME" stamp is from a set from Little Yellow Bicycle. After I got the layout done, I thought it needed a little "bling". What better for a little boy than rhinestones...oops, I mean, BUTTONS! So I added a few assorted ones. I like the way the stars, circles and buttons look like they have been tossed on there! Really, it is more like controlled chaos!

Okay, Peeps. Another important day of school is about to start here at the Gem house! Have a great weekend!