Birthday Countdown

My little girly is at the age where she always wants to know how long until something is going to occur. How long until Halloween, how long until Santa... and right now the most pressing one- How long until my birthday??

She knows it is getting close, so to help her track the time I made this super quick countdown for her. Of course it uses the always wonderful MDS program. I was able to throw it together and have it printing out in less than 5 minutes (and that was even with two kids poking at me while I did it). Woo Hoo! :)

I left some of the spots colorless so that she could do her own decorating. Then, each night at super we can cover up one of the numbers with a sticker. What kid doesn't love stickers :) She's super excited, can you tell!

Flutterby again soon!

Thankful Banner

When I saw the Grateful For Days simply created kit in the Holiday catalog I just knew I wanted to make something with it!

I decided that I didn't want quite such a large display (it has enough slots for 30 days of Thankfulness) but instead I just wanted a short banner for my fireplace mantle. Also, I wanted to dress it up a bit with pretty fall leaves (I love fall decor!!) and have a phrase like Thankful or Give Thanks on it.

So during naptime last weekend I got busy with my supplies. I was so blessed that both my kiddos took a REALLY long nap and I was able to get the whole thing done in 1 day. That never happens around here :). Here's what I came up with (click on the picture to see it larger):

For the leaves I used the Autumn Accents die for the Big Shot and all the colors of cardstock from the kit. Then I ran the leaves (but not the acorns) through the Woodgrain texture folder to give them a little dimension. After that I had a huge pile of leaves to decorate with :) Here is a bit of a detail shot of a couple of the pennants:

I decided on the phrase THANKFUL so that I could have some ornamental images on the ends to give it a little extra style. And I used MDS to make sure the letters were all the size I needed for the circle punch. I know I didn't 'need' to use MDS for this project... but what can I say. I'm addicted to it as you all well know, and it made it so much easier to figure out the letter sizing than just using a word processing program would have :)

I had some extra leaves over after I finished all the pennants, but I figured they just HAD to get used anyway. So I added them to the ends of the banner in a cluster. To attach them to the string I just used a small strip of extra cardstock, which I folded in half and glued together to the back of the 'pile of leaves'.

I figure I should also mention that I tried out the new Fast Fuse runner for the first time on this project. It took a little getting used to, but I was impressed with the results. Way easier than dealing with all that sticky strip, but feels much more secure than just using a snail tape runner. I highly suggest giving one a try :)

Flutterby again soon!

Naptime Fun

I had some fun while my little ones napped this weekend. Can you guess what it will become?

Flutterby again soon to see the finished product!

Diva Swap and Share

I had so much fun at the last Diva Swap and Share. It is always great to get together with these creative ladies and get my craft on :) Do you want to come too? Just join my team and you're in for a lot of fun!

The 'Share' portion of the meeting this quarter was all about Blendabilities. Now if you follow me often, you know that I am not a colorer. Please give me colored ink and a bold stamp... not some lined image and markers *shudder*. It is like a coloring book, and I guess I just don't like to relive that part of my childhood. BUT- and that is a big BUT ;) - There is SO MUCH more that you can do with with these alcohol markers! And even I'm thinking I need some now :)

Our group's leader, Patsy Waggoner, shared an awesome video with us about all the things you can do with the blendability markers. And then she shared an equally awesome swap that showcased two of the techniques from the video.

As you can see her card has no fussy coloring on it. So what did she do with the markers you may ask. Well, look a little bit closer.

See the snowflake? Those come in silver only. But she made it a beautiful blue to match the card, and then added a rhinestone colored blue as well. Pretty and an easy way to make your embellishments a little more specialized.

Now keep looking closer. See the ribbon. Yep- also colored with a blendability. It is just silver when you buy it. So ribbons are also colorable! Now I want you to imagine all the beautifully coordinated ribbons you could make out of the while lace and organza ribbons we sell. Are you feeling the amazing possibilities yet?

Flutterby again soon!

Thanksgiving Wishes

Fall is just whooshing past me this year with hardly a second to breath. So I know Thanksgiving will be here before I know it. Good thing I am already set with a simple yet gorgeous card.

I created this hybrid MDS card for my most recent swap.  I started by searching My Digital Studio for some nice Thanksgiving stamps. Never used the search function before? It is only the most amazing and helpful tool in MDS- check it out in your bottom right hand corner. It makes finding the perfect stamp/saying/embellishment a snap with just a key word. Awesomeness. I found some great stamps in the Autumn Traditions kit and got started.

So, here is what it looked like at the end of my MDS portion of the designing. A little blah right now, but don't worry- I've got plans to dress it up like a princess. This is just the solid base we need to get started.

I printed this card front four to a piece of vanilla cardstock (with a margin around the outside) and then chopped it up. Then comes the tricky part. I punched the sentiment right out of the printed layer. Don't worry about the hole- it will be hidden later.

I also punched out two labels from the green In Color cardstock. I cut one in half vertically, the other horizontally, and then mounted them to the back of my sentiment with a sliver of a gap between each of the halves. This gave it a sliver of a border color.

Last but not least I punched out some little flowers- roughed them up a bit so I could peel the paper into two layers (gives it a softer look) and then mounted everything to the card. And it was beautiful. Love it. Hope you do too!

Fluttery again soon!

Boo!!

When I saw the Frightful Wreath in the Holiday mini catalog I KNEW I wanted to make one, and I ordered it right away. Then of course I hid it from Elli 'cause I knew she would want to make it right away... and I didn't want a Halloween wreath hanging on my door in August :)

Apparently out of sight is out of mind for me too :P It just dawned on me this past weekend that I still hadn't made it with her! So we had us some fun today during naptime yesterday.

I love how easy this kit comes together. Elli didn't actually end up helping much (she was in more of a wild mood- not the best for projects :)  ) but after she went down for her nap too I had it done in a little over half an hour.

And it gave me an excuse to use my September Paper Pumpkin stamps again, as well as some of the extra stickers from that kit. Didn't it turn out adorable!

I know it is too late to order and make for Halloween this year- but you could always delight Trick-or-Treaters with it next time around. If you love it make sure to order it soon- it will be gone with the Holiday catalog.

Flutterby again soon!

There was a Pumpkin in my Mailbox!

And no, it wasn't the orange round kind :) As much as I LOVE those types of pumpkins (in fact there are 4 on my porch right now- I love fall decor!) THIS pumpkin was much more fun.

This pumpkin meant playtime for me and my girly on Saturday afternoon. I think it is awesome that these projects are designed with a beginner in mind- which makes them great for kids to help out. And yet even though they are simple, they are also super cute! And with pinterest there are so many other ideas for what you can do with your kit if you want to step it up even more.

This month's kit was geared towards Thanksgiving next month. Check out the super cute stamp set. My favorite is the one on the right :) If only it were true!

And the project was.... Pie Boxes! Complete with a pom-pom puff for the 'whipped cream'. Here are our completed boxes. Adorbs right?

And I just couldn't resist a selfie. Elli LOVES taking selfies (actually both of my kids do- and if they get their hands on my phone will take them 50+ at a time... Yikes!). Can't you just tell this girl loves craft time with her Mommy. Thank you Paper Pumpkin for making that possible :)

Flutterby again soon!