Wrapped Candy Bar

For my ARTHaven swap partner, Judee, I wrapped this 4.5 oz Hershey's Chocolate bar with a sheet of my sage green handmade paper. I also used the Tim Holz supplies that my friend Angie gave me, the flourish mask and the peeled paint distress ink pad. Then I just wrapped it with a white fuzzy fiber and added the tag! I just love it! I am thinking of making up some of these for some of my co-workers for Christmas. It is just a neat little gift idea, don't you think?

Ace of Diamonds ATC

My Yahoo Arthaven group is having a monthly swap that involves making an ATC for each card in a deck of playing cards. I am using an actual deck of cards and altering each card as we go. This is my Ace of Diamonds ATC. I was browsing through my paper stash and found the diamond paper in orange and black so I knew I just had to use it for this card! I found a matching sheet of paper that had the alphabet in different fonts so I found a couple of A's and glued them to the corners. I wanted some kind of sparkle because I just love things that sparkle! And because diamonds sparkle! LOL so I added the gold glitter paint in the middle. This is the result. :) I really like the different fonts of the A and I plan to use that method again.

Heartfelt Gratitude - ATC

My very good Friend Angie sent me some goodies last week: A Tim Holz mask (Flourish) and a Tim Holz distress ink pad (peeled paint). I was very excited because I don't have anything by Tim Holz and I had read so many good things about his line of craft goodies. Angie was so very thoughtful to share those goodies with me that I thought I needed to make something to show my gratitude using those very items. This ATC is the result. The background paper is a Christmas paper that I have had for a while. I don't know who makes it but it is so pretty and the color of the green peeled paint ink pad works perfectly with it. I brushed on the peeled paint ink over the flourish mask on the background paper as well as on the border piece. The words are from my stash of words that I have started collecting thanks to Angie who has a major stash of words for her art. This ATC will be on the way to Angie as soon as I brave going to the Post Office to buy some stamps!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Today is a beautiful day in North Carolina. The sun is shining and the outside temperature is nice a comfortable. I am showing off a Zinnia that has bloomed in my not so flourishing flower garden. It is such a bright flower!

I am enjoying the day at home with my wonderful Hubby and Daughter. We had a Thanksgiving lunch of ham, potato salad, lettuce/tomato salad and pinto beans. I didn't cook a turkey. I thought that might be too much for just us 3. LOL.

We are having a relaxing day watching football. I am just so thankful that I have my family and even though we can't go home for the Holiday, I know that my family is able to enjoy the day with other family members and that they are all safe and healthy. I am also very thankful for my friends who are always there for me with a smile, encouraging email or just to say "hi, how are ya?". Thank you all for being a part of my life!

I am so thankful for my daughter who never ceases to amaze me with her vision of the world and who is always quick to laugh and put a smile on my face. She is the best daughter ever!

And of course I am thankful for my wonderful Hubby who is an awesome Marine (and he looks so handsome in his blues) and who is very understanding an supportive of my love of paper.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!!

Marine Corps Ball - 234th Birthday Ball

We went to Wilmington last night to the USMC Birthday Ball. We had a lot of fun. It was really a lot of fun watching those Marines dance. Marines really know how to have fun on the dance floor. :)

I did get some pics, not very many though. There was some neat art in our hotel room and our hotel room view was nice too. Even though the weather was overcast, rainy and windy.

Here is the cake...

This was an origami shadow box that was in our hotel room...

Another piece of art from our room...

This was the view from our hotel room window. That is the USS North Carolina across the river...

I am really glad we got the chance to go this year. It is always nice to get together with other Marines and their spouses and enjoy a birthday party with dinner and dancing.

Happy Birthday Marines!

Today is the United States Marine Corps Birthday. Jason and I have been a part of the Marine Corps for 16.5 years! Every year there is a big birthday party and we are going to ours on Thursday night. Should be a fun time. We get to get all dressed up and have dinner (with birthday cake!) and dancing.

I put together this set of paper in Crimson and Gold (USMC colors) and posted it on my Etsy shop. Happy Birthday Marines! Semper Fi!

Tags!!!!

I discovered a really nifty way to make different shapes of handmade papers and as I make them, I put them aside until I have a bunch of the same shape, then I list them in my Etsy shop. I have a whole bunch of tag shapes so I thought I'd just share those with you here...

I can see all kinds of possibilities for these tags. Use them on gifts! (of course!) They can be written on with a ball point pen so they could easily be added to a gift. Another great thing would be to use them on a greeting card or a mixed media piece of art. These tags take rubber stamping and glueing very well. In fact, I am thinking of making up more of these to use on Christmas cards this year!

I sound like a salesman huh? LOL! I just can't help it, I think they are so neat and I just love making them and I will never be able to use them all myself. :)

Mini Composition Books

I love those little composition books and at the beginning of the school year I was able to get a few for CHEAP! These two mini composition books are covered with my handmade paper and are embellished with flowers that were given to me by my friend Penny. The words were hand written on bond paper and torn around the edges or cut with decorative scissors. Then I inked the edges up a little. I think they are really cute.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I hope all of you ghosts, ghouls, fairy princesses, cowboys, pirates and witches have a fun-filled, candy loaded HALLOWEEN!!!

Mmmmwwwwwwaaaaaahhhhhaaahhhaaahhhaaahhaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!


:)

Christmas Tree Card

This weekend I made up a bunch of Christmas handmade paper shapes and background paper for my Christmas cards for this year. The design is very simple, but I really like the texture of these cards. The Christmas trees are just green handmade paper. The background paper is white handmade paper with red, green and gold glitter (which I have tried to show in the pic below). The stamp is by Denami Design. I have other shapes that I will be making as well such as stockings and stars. I can't wait to make more. :)

Fall Trees - Backyard View

Just thought I'd share the view off my backyard deck. Just so pretty. :) I am happy to see the reds and yellows. Fall in North Carolina is a great time of year!

The Ace of Spades - ATC

My Yahoo group is hosting a Deck of Cards swap and each month we make one ATC based on a card in the deck. This is my Ace of Spades ATC. . . I thought music notes would be appropriate. :)

The Great Pumpkin

I recently joined a swap with the theme "The Great Pumpkin". I jumped at the chance to play in this swap because I have a few fantastic pumpkins I made using handmade paper. I thought one of these pumpkins would be great on a card. The background paper is also my handmade paper. I stamped "Hello" on handmade paper and used fabric flowers that I got on clearance at Michaels for embellishment. I just cut them to fit behind the objects. The handmade paper pumpkin has gold glitter included.

This card is now on the way to its new owner!

Feature - Penny Duncan Creations

I am always so excited to see how my papers are used by others in their ART. I've had a few people send me photos of their ART using my papers and I thought I'd share those creations with you as well.

My friend Penny bought this set of handmade paper tags and used one on a card. When she sent me the photos, I was just blown away! She altered the tag and it made a perfect accent to her card creation.

Check out Penny's blog here. She is so creative! I know you will enjoy browsing through her blog.

Potpourri Paper

I am a pack rat. I get it from my grandmother. And when you combine that with being a papermaker, well, you don't want to throw anything away! I have shoe boxes full of things that I eventually want to use in my papermaking. This weekend I pulled down one of those boxes and found a small bag of spice scented potpourri. So, I soaked it and blended it and stirred it into some white paper. The results are just wonderful! The scent is still there but it is very subtle. The sheets are very textured and would be better used as a decorative paper rather than a stationery. But, wow! I just love how they turned out...

Magic Cat ATC

I was challenged to make a piece of art for a monthly lottery. This month's theme was "cat". After struggling with one piece I had to step back and take a break because I just was not liking what I made. So I completely trashed that piece and started over. This piece I like much better! The background is my very own crayon paper. The cat image is one I have had forever. I don't know where I got it. ( I am thinking maybe Dover Publishing) The word "Magic" is a stencil I got at Michaels that was on clearance. Love those clearance sections! I traced it with a black Sharpie. The stars are also from a clearance sale stencil and they are also traced with black Sharpie. The diamonds are made using my orange metallic Gelly Roll pen and I also colored in the cat's eyes with the metallic Gelly Roll pen. This little guy will be on his way to his new owner this week...

Halloween ATC

Last year I made this "ghostly" background crayon paper. I hoped to sell it in my Etsy shop but I never got it listed so it sat in a folder until this year. I decided not to sell it but to use it for an ATC swap. I really like how this turned out. It's not really my style to use a vintage photo but this little child looked perfect for this ATC. I don't know where my friend Angie got the image, but she was nice enough to send it to me a while back. When my husband looked at the finished ATC, he said "creepy", refering to the child. Yes, indeed.

Making a Drawer

I am always saving boxes and containers. Sometimes they just get stored forever until I am forced to put them in the recycle bin, however, this cardboard box really caught my attention. My husband loves bottled water. I buy a certain brand out of habit I guess, but I keep saving the cardboard bottoms from every package I buy. Most of them are currently full of items in my studio but one got a make-over.

To me, the cardboard box looked like it would fit perfectly in the slot on my cabinet. They ended up being about 1/2 inch too tall and 1/2 inch too long so I cut the top down and re-folded the ends and glued them back in order to make the box fit. Then I decorated the front with paper and created and handle out of the discarded cardboard. The handle was decorated with matching paper and glued into place. I am very happy that this worked! I have several emply slots and LOTS of items that could be placed in a drawer. :)

This was such a fun project! I have a few more "drawers" that I can make now and I am headed to the grocery store tomorrow for more bottled water. :) Now, I just have to do something with the many other containers I've saved!

Stampin Up! Handmade Papers

As an experiment, I wanted to see if I could turn Stampin Up! cardstock into handmade paper and keep the color so that the new handmade paper would coordinate with the original cardstock. I did contact Stampin Up! first to see if they would allow me to do this and they said yes! I finally got through a package of Earth Elements cardstock and I am very happy with the results! As you can see from the first picture, the handmade paper still keeps the color of the cardstock and matches the original cardstock beautifully! This is the Old Olive cardstock, the scalloped circle is the original cardstock and the two handmade paper sheets were made with the Old Olive plus some used white office paper to lighten the color up a little. The resulting set is now listed in my Etsy Shop. I will be listing a 24 sheet set and a 12 sheet set soon!

First home improvement project

Well, the project wasn't on our home but on the yard. One of the selling points of this house for us was all the trees behind the house. We both love trees. Last time we lived here in Jacksonville we rented a house out in the country that had acres and acres of trees behind it, but shortly after we moved in, the owner's of that property had most of the trees removed. We hear there are new houses out there now. We were very sad that our tree view had been destroyed. So, when we saw this house and knew that the trees could not be removed because they were part of the property of the house, we knew we wanted to live here.

The backyard had a fence that was even with the detached garage. It was covered with a dead vine. There is another fence that goes behind the garage. We figure it was probably the previous owner's dog pen. We decided we wanted to see more of the trees and thought we should take down the fence in the middle. My hubby did a great job of it! Now we just have a little bit of clearing to do. There are some dead trees that need to come down and some old logs that are filled with termites that need to be destroyed.

I really like the new view. And there is new territory for our dog and cats to explore.

Handmade Paper Leaves

As promised! Here are the handmade paper leaves that I mentioned in the pumpkin shape post. I pulled a leaf from one of the trees in by backyard and traced out a template. I think they turned out great. I need to make a few more so I can get them listed in my Etsy shop.

I am also going to be making some ghost shapes as well! My dear friend Diann has gotten me in the Halloween spirit. :) Thanks Diann!!!

Pumpkin Shapes

Happy September! I just can't believe that September is upon us. Today was a gorgeous day in NC. You can feel the cooler air and the leaves are starting to turn. In fact, I will have to rake the yard pretty soon...

Everyone seems to be playing with Fall items so I thought I'd play too! I drew up a couple of pumpkin templates for my handmade paper and made up a batch. I also made some leaves, but they are not dry yet. I'll post them later. :)

Don't these pumpkins just looks neat? I can see them being used on a fall themed card.

"Hello" Tag

I made this tag for a swap I am in. It has been a while since I made any tags and I was really struggling with what to do! But, I saw this quote in an old book I have and thought it would be a perfect theme for a tag... I placed the quote on the back.

The recipient of this tag likes the color blue and I thought that it just needed a simple "hello" on the front. I drew the silver swirls with my silver metallic Gelly Roll pen which, by the way, not only writes very well on the blue paper on the front but also on the dark blue acrylic paint on the back of the tag.

Welcome to the World Cards

My good Friend Sarah (Fellow EtsyPaper Street Team Member) has been making these cards for a store owner in New Jersey. These cute cards have my handmade paper as a background. :) Recently she asked me to send her more brown paper so I went to my storage closet and pulled out a bunch of brown and beige papers.

This batch turned out really "textured". Most of the papers would not blend easily. Not sure if is was the papers or my blender. Maybe the poor thing has been used way too much. However, I just loved the outcome. That is one of the things I love about making paper. You blend up a bunch of different types and colors of paper and when you form the sheet, you are never sure how it will look. It is always a surprise! I pulled 10 sheets out for Sarah (you can see her shops here and here) and I have a few more left for doing with as I please! LOL

I really think I have way too much fun making paper...

It's my Birthday!

I have been blessed with a wonderful Husband, a daughter who never lets me forget how to laugh, a supportive family and an amazing group of friends. You all make my days happy! I just want to say thank you to everyone for being a part of my life and for supporting me in everything I do or try to do. :) For all the smiles and hugs and words of encouragement. And thank you to everyone who posts a comment here, I may not know you, but our paths have crossed and I am so thankful that you take the time to comment on my blog.

Today is my birthday. I am planning on going out to get a cake this afternoon. I am NOT baking. LOL I have gotten some cards from some very wonderful people. Thank you! This weekend, my Hubby will be taking me out for dinner. It's hard to get out on the weekdays. I am not sure where I want to go eat yet.

Thank you everyone! Big hugs to you all! It is a wonderful day! :)

Survey Drawing Winners!!!

I want to thank everyone who participated in my survey! I got lots of great feedback. :)

Winner of the handmade paper pack is Elizabeth!

Winner of the notecard pack is Kristina!

Congratulations Ladies! I hope you will enjoy your prizes. :)

For those of you who did not get to participate before today but would still like to complete the survey, please feel free to do so! I am always happy to hear from you. :)