It's a jungle in there!

We recently decided to move our three children into one room and change our other bedroom into a school room/play room. All the toys stay in the play room {well, they are supposed to stay there} and the kids only sleep in their bedroom. We've got 2 sets of bunk beds in the room - they just barely fit!


I haven't ever been great at decorating the kids rooms. I have lots of ideas, but they take time {which I seem to run short on}.

For this room my plan is to decorate in a "Peter Pan" theme. {The theme is mainly based off the forest/tree where the Lost Boys live.} The kids all love the Disney movie of Peter Pan and it has enough of a neutral design that I don't feel like it is too boyish {or too girly}.

I came on a cute little shop and found a great little bundle of linen/canvas type fabrics and some vintage bias tape. I created a few leaf patterns and cut out leaves from different fabrics from the bundle with my trusty Fiskars and then sewed them all together using the double fold bias tape. It turned out to be a quick and easy project that gave their bedroom a little bit of flair.


In this picture you can see the leaf "veins" that I sewed into each leaf - I think it adds just the right touch.

We also created these hanging leaves as a fun entrance to the kids' room.

{They started out hanging just above our kids' heads - they are now considerably shorter due to a certain little 1 1/2 year old climbing onto a stool and ripping them down.}

Soon I will show some fabulous Peter Pan themed pictures that were taken by the amazing Alisha from Alisha Hurt Photography...and hopefully soon I will order some prints and make a fun display on a wall in the kids' room.

A little "peas" of inspiration

Sometimes inspiration comes in unusual places.
Places like baby bibs and dishes.


{The dish is one I painted at Color Me Mine.}

Prompted by a challenge on the Fiskateer message board, I created a card using these pieces for inspiration.


The card uses supplies from Kraft Outlet (lunch bag kraft note card, cardstock, and chipboard). I cut the chipboard into a peapod shape and painted it, then used a Medium Fiskars Round N Round squeeze punch to create the peas. The sentiment is hand written.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft Outlet and American Traditional Designs
Pre-made Note Card: Kraft Outlet
Color Media: Paint and Sharpie Pen
Tools: Fiskars Trimmer and Fiskars Round N Round Squeeze Punch

Fast & Fabulous Holiday Cards

I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by!
It's almost December...have you sent out your holiday cards yet?

If you are looking for some great holiday cards with only a little bit of effort, be sure to check out the great deals at Shutterfly.
They offer folded greeting cards, flat stationery cards, flat photo cards, holiday invitations, and even thank you cards and address labels...and so much more!

I think my favorite are the flat stationery cards - great for displaying on the fridge or hung and displayed with other Christmas cards.

There are fabulous designs like this for multiple photos:

Or designs for highlighting one special photo:

{And of course they will look better with photos of your family than they do with pictures of these strangers!}

If you'd like to get 50 FREE holiday cards just for creating a blog post about it (like I've just done) be sure to submit your information here and wait for an e-mail telling you what to do to get those free cards!

Happy Holidays!

Cyber Monday - it's a BIG deal!

If you were still in a turkey coma this morning or just too tired from a long day yesterday...or maybe you didn't care to fight the Black Friday crowds for a few good deals, you will want to hear this:

The Twinery is having a fantastic Cyber Monday sale - they will be giving 30% off every order placed using the code CRAZYSALE30 on Monday, November 29 between 12:00 am and 11:59 pm.


Be sure to catch this deal as it is happening for one day only!

And while you are waiting for Monday to roll around...come and visit The Twinery on Facebook.

You Color My World

Happy Friday!

You may have noticed that I have a new look for my blog (thanks to Shabby Blogs) and that I have also updated the format of my blog by adding tabs. (You can click on "Blog", "Publications & Special Accomplishments", or "Designer Positions" to see it all.)
I hope you enjoy the new look!
(Be sure to check out the free blog backgrounds and headers and extras that Shabby Blogs has to offer.)

Today I have a very quick & easy card to share.
(And some more good news!)

I was trying to come up with some sketch ideas for different cards and was wanting to use Pink Paislee's fun Artisan Tape and came up with this quick design.


Sometimes it is fun to color (some might call it "scribble") like a kid again!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill {Lily White}; Kraft Outlet {Paper Bag Kraft}; Georgia Pacific {White};
Stamp {Rolling Rubber}: Provo Craft {12 pt. Circa, 18 pt. Circa};
Stamp {Rubber}: Odd Bird Planet {Earth};
Ink {Pigment}: Rubber Stampede {Black};
Tape: Pink Paislee {Artisan Tape - Orange};
Color Media {Crayons}: Crayola Twistables {orange, green, purple, blue};

And for the good news: I have had three cards accepted for publication in the May/June 2011 issue of Paper Crafts magazine! I am still very new to having anything published (so new that I haven't actually SEEN anything published yet since the magazines won't be printed until next year), and it is so exciting! I can't wait to see my work in print!

It doesn't get any better than this!

I've got great news. Lots of it!

Not only will I have two projects in a Paper Crafts magazine and a Creating Keepsakes magazine...I will also have a project in Simply Handmade magazine! I've decorated a birdhouse that will be in the April/May 2011 Issue: Bloom & Grow. These are my first ever print publications and I can't believe how the acceptances all came in so close together. I can't wait to see my creations in print!

And MORE good news:
I am on the new design team for The Twinery!

Twine is very popular in crafting right now and also gift wrapping and any other sort of thing a person might want to make pretty.
The Twinery has great twine that currently comes in 8 fabulous colors!
Keep checking back for some fun twine projects and also be sure to keep your eye out for a giveaway...I am sure I will have a little to spare. :o)

And the best news yet:
My brother-in-law and sister-in-law got the travel call to go to Korea and pick up their baby! Being an aunt is already fabulous and I haven't even been able to hug him yet. (Unless hugging a picture counts.)
For Thanksgiving they will be in Korea picking up their new little turkey!
I cannot wait to meet him!

Save the Date: May 2011

I HAVE GREAT NEWS:
I have a project - it is a shadowbox - that was just accepted to be published in the Creating Keepsakes Special Issue: Creative Spaces Bookazine!
{It is slated to come out in May 2011.} Keep an eye out for it!

I am SO excited I can hardly stand it!

Two Great Projects

I have two projects that I would like to share with you today.

Here is the first:


Oh!
What's that?

That is all I can show you because my project is going to be featured in Paper Crafts magazine!

But that was just mean...I should at least show you SOMETHING, right?

Okay...here you go:

What?
Again?

That's right! I have TWO projects that will be in Paper Crafts magazine! Guess you'll just have to see them in there. :o)

They are scheduled to be in the Special Issue: 225 Cards & Gifts (it goes on sale March 15, 2011)!

I am SO excited!!!

Orange & Pink Go Together

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there was a challenge issued to the Fiskateers to join the famous Fiskars color of orange with the awareness color of pink. I decided to take on the challenge, and this is what I came up with.

I used a Kraft Outlet Large Lunch Bag Kraft Blank Note Card as my base and added some papers from Pink Paislee and Echo Park Paper Company. The stamps are all from The Girls' Paperie.


Supplies:
Kraft Outlet Large Lunch Bag Kraft Blank Note Card
Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee, Echo Park Paper Co.
White Cardstock: Georgia Pacific
Stamps: The Girls' Paperie
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Orange Marmalade, Worn Lipstick, Vintage Photo)
Embellishments: Prima (flowers), Darice (corsage pins), Wrights (twill tape), Retail, Inc. (flat back pearls), Pink Paislee (Artisan Tape)
Tools: Paper Trimmer, Fiskars Scissors

Two Quick Cards

Here are two quick cards I made recently for some friends who are having babies. They aren't necessarily "baby" cards...but I thought they worked well.
(Sorry for the lack of staging for pretty pictures...I made these and used these in a rush, so I didn't have time to take pictures like I normally try to do.)

The first card has a place on the inside to insert a gift card.

For the second card I embellished a smaller envelope for a gift card.

I'm not feeling well today so I am just going to leave you with this quick post. Below are the supplies I used for these cards (most of which you can get at Kraft Outlet).


Supplies:
Kraft Outlet Lunch Bag Kraft Cardstock
Kraft Outlet Buff Ivory Cover Weight Cardstock
Kraft Outlet Large Lunch Bag Kraft Blank Note Card
Kraft Outlet Lunch Bag Kraft Card Sleeve Envelope
Kraft Outlet Mini Lunch Bag Kraft Envelope
Kraft Outlet Silver Bottle Caps
Kraft Outlet 1.0 Round Brown Kraft Labels
Pebbles Cardstock Stickers
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
Twine (brown & light blue from ARCreations on etsy and orange from The Twinery)
Odd Bird Planet Owl Stamp
Black Pigment Ink
Crop-A-Dile