Lamp Shades with Echo Park

I recently got to play with some Echo Park Be Mine collection. It matched my scrapbook room perfectly so I knew what I needed to create with it. ;)

If you have a little chandelier it is so easy to swap out these clip on shades for holidays or seasons. I found my shade bases at Lowe's for under $5 each. you can easily make your own template by laying the lampshade on a large piece of kraft paper (like a paper grocery bag). start with the seam down and mark the edges of the shade on the paper as you roll the shade across the paper (it will make a big arc). cut out the template leaving 1/4" on each side to allow for enough paper to fold under the shade and hide the edges of the paper. don't worry if it is not perfect. ;) you can always cover it with ribbon or ruffles and hide all of your hot glue mistakes! Decorate with bows, sticker elements or flowers.




In the example above I used Echo Park's Be Mine collection.




Try using a collection like Summer Days for a birthday party!



Or Springtime for Easter.

An Anniversary Box

In case you are like me and procrastinated on using your Echo Park Be Mine collection because you wanted to find something *perfect* to make...no problem! It makes some really great anniversary and wedding themed projects! ;) I pulled a few of the black & white papers from this collection (and they are YUMMY aren't they?) along with a few of the pretty pink prints for some rose buds. This collection is so eclectic I can see using it for many themes beyond Valentine's Day. (which is a good think because the cold and flu season this year has been hitting our house along with everyone else we know! so much for the old flu shot :P )

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Shadowbox Class

My friend Cassandra Cooper is offering a digital download for this class and will be having live instruction on Dec 18th. Check it out!

I got a sneak peek of the class recently and just knew I had to put one together with all my vintage Christmas goodies! I like to call this "Tinsel Chic"! ;) I had a blast putting this box together (yeah it even has LIGHTS!)

Hope you all are having fun with your Christmas crafting!

Happy 103rd to you TWO!

My Grandmother asked me for some cards she needed for the next couple months. Apparently TWO ladies where she lives are turning 103! (and still only needing assisted living care) I gave the cards a bit of a theme as they are both very proud of their careers I hear. One lady is a retired school teacher and the other was a Navy Waves ("Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service")

The snow is here!

this is some of the earliest snowfall I can remember and it's wonderful! last year Rob put the xmas lights up over this weekend and is kicking himself that they are not up yet for the snowfall. ;)

This pic was only the beginnings of it. we have about 3 inches right now and should be getting an additional Trace-4" tonight. YEAH! The roads are a mess though.

Auggie gets so excited seeing it out there. he asks to go out about a dozen times just so he can go eat the snow LOL He'd love to just park himself on the back of my chair and watch it out the window like a cat! unfortunately he's not as graceful ;)

Man in the Moon

This is the first time I've picked up sculpting in about... (omg the calculator doesn't lie! ...unfortunately LOL) 18 years! how is that possible??!! ugh.

well anyway so it's been a loooong time apparently but much of it came back to me quickly. ;)

I sculpted out of Creative Paperclay over a hand formed base. I love the shimmer of the paint on him too. (some old discontinued Lil' Davis Pearl paint) It's probably hard to tell from this picture but he's about 8-9" across. (about the size of a salad plate)

A friend is sending me her stash of paperclay to play with, so I may be doing more of these soon. :)

Toil & Trouble

I've been wanting to make these for a couple years and finally got around to it a couple nights ago (ahhh insomnia lol). The skulls I found at the dollar store. DH thought I was crazy buying more glittered skulls (we probably have a few dozen for Halloween props). I knew they would work perfect for these though. I always forget to buy dowels unfortunately. For these I used the bottom edge of a plastic tubular coat hanger! (an "ah-ha!" sorta moment ;) ) I just cut it with a large pair of wire cutters and filed the ends smooth (great way to recycle a few if you've switch to the new velvet flocked hangers ;) ) I covered each in fabric strips I twirled around and secured with hot glue.

I was inspired by the Skull Parade Batons made by The Holiday Queen. Her style is a bit more simple and folkart-ish. I wanted mine more colorful and bright so I used the DCWV Midnight spell. Love the foils and glitter on these papers. I think my favorite is the purple with tiny silver spiders! Or maybe the glittered hounds tooth?

Pink Paislee Warehouse Sale

It's not easy to find Pink Paislee products locally. Sometimes there are products you just have to see in person to appreciate. I have to say that since I got some of the artisan elements flourishes a few months back I have become a fan! So when I saw the warehouse sale I jumped on it. (it's still going on until the 17th! so hurry!)

here are the fronts of all the 12x12's I got




I also got a couple sheets of the newest releases. the house of three has some clear glazing on it so when you ink/mist etc over it you will have a nice white contrast to the design. Very versatile line.




I was also impressed to see two canvas albums in the box, each have several thick chipboard pages in a binder album so you could add more pages if you like. Also Pixie stix! (which I forgot all about as I was making the kits below! :P)



...and I wouldn't have probably bought these online cause I would have never seen all the cool images on them. some are lined, some aren't, some have patterns and swirls, others have mini quotes. (still leaving room for journaling though.) there were 3 pkgs of these.



I decided to put a few kits together with all the products I got and will store it this way until I use it the first time. The papers are shown with the sides *I* would most likely use but if you scroll up you can see the opposite sides of most of them. (like the Postcards clip sheet for instance. I'm known to cut stuff out from the back side of a LO where matting layers hide the holes, and use it for the front :) )

Christmas (I'd probably use the gold Pixie stix in here ;) )


Halloween *the glitter chipboard letters are a lot like AC Thickers which I know most people LOVE.


Mostly 360 products with a few extras


Mostly Bayberry (plus Sugar Plum Pixie Stix)


I only have 6 random items and one of those were just white letters which could go anywhere! out of the entire box there was maybe 3-4 things I wouldn't really reach for right away.


that's it! totally worth it IMO. a medium flat rate box PACKED with products. the only repeats I got were a few sheets of the twilight and the iron-ons (which I already have a plan for! to decorate some pillow covers for Oct.)