Watching and Creating

I have been watching television since 8 AM. I have had a cup of coffee with a homemade cranberry,orange and white chocolate biscotti. I made the biscottis yesterday, they were very easy! I wanted something special for my breakfast today. I have also planned a fantastic lunch. I am going to make pasta with grilled vegetables. I have watched every Presidential Inauguration since 1981. It doesn't matter to me which party is in or out, I just like the day. I love American history. So, I will watch television and hopefully make a few Valentine cards. Please ignore the post date, I looked for the picture on Saturday and forgot to change the date. It is January 20, 2009.

Martini Glasses

I have owned a book by Anna Corba for over a year now. It is full of so many great ideas on how to use paper. Most of the ideas use pages from books, I love that. I take it out once in a while to look at, but I have never made anything from it, until last night. I bought two martini glasses at Pier One for $2 each. Believe it or not the glasses at The Dollar Store were too fancy! So a few pages from a book, Mod Podge, pretty trim and black paint and I have finished two martini glasses.

I filled mine with candy, but how cute would they be in the bathroom with soaps? I already gave the red pom pom trimmed glass away today, filled with some Kisses of course. I am now down to one glass. So this week I will be back at Pier One to but two more. I think they will look better as a group rather than just one.

Please take a few Kisses. I made sure I found the kind that are fat and calorie free! So please, take a handful!

I am going to try and make at least one thing a week from this book. I love everything in it. It is time to get off the couch, stop cleaning and be creative! I will also give up making supper, food shopping and put of cleaning the basement! I know these are big sacrifices, but I am willing to do this. A girl has got to do, what a girl has got to do!

Lucky Crafter

Jo Ann's was having quite a good sale yesterday, 40% off all my favorite things. As it turned out I did not buy anything that was 40% off. But, I did buy this little notepad that was marked down to 50 cents. It is smaller than it appears, 4 1/2 " x 3 ". Small enough for a quick little project. I made it while making super, macaroni and meatballs.

I tried to get the price tags a little clearer, it is a dark day here, it is snowing. Not much I can do to increase the light, without moving lamps and then I would probably start rearranging furniture. $2.97 for 50 sheets of paper, heavy card stock paper. $1.97 for 24 sheets of tags, letters, words, flowers and frames. These were no brainers, they had to come home with me.

I consider myself a lucky crafter. I live about 20 minutes from three craft stores, Michael's, AC Moore and Jo Ann's. They are located within less than five minutes from each other. I wonder how long they will all stay open? I usually shop at Jo Ann's because they have fabric. They also have a great paper selection too. I have never been to a Hobby Lobby, I am not sure if there is even one in New England. I will have to do some investigating, that means a google search.

Pink Box

Over the weekend I made this Valentine box. It is made from a little paper box that I painted a pretty shade of pink. I painted a few Popsicles/craft sticks the same color. Then I dry brushed a little white over the pink and then added some pink glitter. I noticed while searching for Valentine ideas that there were a few ideas using craft sticks. I like the homemade look of Valentines. I guess you could say vintage. Something you could of made in school for your Mom.

The couple image is just perfect for Valentine's Day. A few cut out hearts, flowers, beads and the box is ready to fill with a few Valentine treats. I bought the heart shaped cards at "The Dollar" store, how cute. I must say the thought of actually using them to play a few card games never entered my mind. I know they will be used for paper crafts. I am just not sure how they will be used.

I wanted to show you that there really is a box under all those sticks. I used a paint pen for a little detailing. Then I noticed that I only put one coat of paint, it needs two. Oh well, that is easily fixed.

Enter something New

To some you see a diffuser, to me, a blank canvas. So, with a few pieces of paper, a bit of glue, a button and a little time and I still have a diffuser! No miracle here, just a little creative fun.

I love burning candles, who doesn't? For as long as I can remember (20 years or so) on Christmas morning I received a basket full of candles. They would come in all shapes, scents and sizes. Three years ago, enter something new. A diffuser was in the basket. When I took the new diffuser out of the box the other night I noticed it could use.............paper!

I do like using pages from old books in a lot of things I do. They make great backgrounds.

Note to self, when in doubt use a heart with a button for a little something extra!

Thursday

Welcome to my lazy Thursday afternoon. I bought a few books the other day using a gift card from Barnes and Noble. I love to go to Barnes and Noble and look at all the books and other irresistible things they have to offer. There is a small Starbucks too, so it is like one stop shopping! I also have become a big fan of Hallmark magazine. These two books were given the Hallmark seal of approval. The book title that you can not see is "The Lost Recipe for Happiness". I am reading that one right now, so far, so good.

I thought I would make a bookmark, instead of folding over the corner as I usually do. I put together something quick, using the papers that were on the counter. I could easily get lost in paper crafting if I started taking out everything . I still have to take my trees down! I just love the way they look at night, but they will be gone tomorrow. I was not even thinking about Valentine's Day when I added the red heart, it just added a punch of color to the bookmark.

The other day I came to the conclusion that winter is here to stay. I may want spring to be just around the corner, but the fact is it isn't. I have decided not to wish away the long, dark, dreary, cold, bitter days of winter. A nice cup of tea with whipped cream and cinnamon is something I do enjoy about winter. I can not see myself wanting one in the summer. So there, I found something to like about winter! A major break through!

My favorite tea, really the only tea I like is Chai. I like it hot or cold!

I am off to read a few pages and enjoy my cup of tea. I do use a cup and saucer for my tea. I think I am worth it, and I can put a few cookies on the saucer! Not today though, I ate a few too many chocolate covered clementines. I made a few more yesterday. Please, give them a try.

Mitten Garland

On New Year's Day, it hit me. The Christmas season is over, what am I going to blog about now? I thought, this might be the end of my blogging. Can I really post about the Christmas ornaments I didn't finish? I have since decided yes, on that. I have a few more to finish and I may just post them! I came to the conclusion, I was done, finished. I didn't think I could make one more cute thing. Well, at least I could visit my favorite blogs. So I began reading and some had already moved on to Valentine's Day! How could I have forgotten about Valentine's Day.


I started to google Valentine's Day images, there are many. I began to realize, I may just be back in the blogging business! I found a cute mitten garland that I just had to make. I guess it was in the Valentine images because it had a heart in the middle of the mitten. It is from the blog "Two Straight Lines". It was posted February 20, 2007. Her garland was all mittens. I knew I had to make one. I could not just copy hers, I would have to give it a little twist. I decided to put a star in the middle and put cuffs on the mittens. I distressed it a bit, added some glitter and a few buttons. I would of never come up with the idea of using mittens for a garland, so I would like to thank a fellow blogger for inspiring me.

I took down my Christmas Joy garland and replaced it with the mittens. It should stay up for a while. I left all the snowmen on the window sill. They will be there for a little while longer. I worked too hard on them to just put them away just yet.