Oh dear...

I didn't write a blog post for Monday.  I didn't write one for today.  My sister introduced me Pocket Frogs last week so you can blame her.  Feel free to leave me a really nasty "Shame on you!" comment if you want to - I totally deserve it!  Now please excuse me.  I need to get back to my frogs ;)

See you Friday! (I hope!)

Things I found on the internet this week that I thought were just swell!

I forgot to write my blog post again last night...  I'm not going to let myself off the hook though.  It is too easy to go from letting myself off the hook for one blog post to letting myself off the hook for quitting the blog.  I just need to get back into a writing schedule like I used to have.  So, today I'm going to highlight a few projects that I saw this week that I thought were great, and I want to share (and really want to try if I ever get the time). That's cool right?  Maybe you have seen these already but I know I would love it if one of my projects made it to like every single craft blog on the internet so...  Here we go!

Fabulous find 1: V and Co. Ruffled Heart Pillow

How cute is this pillow?  I want to make a ton of them to throw around my house.  Or maybe I should make one for my office chair.  I've had a Christmas tree pillow sitting on my chair for over a year now.  (It was pretty exciting when it was back in season, but sadly, now I'm feeling like a goober again for still having it out, especially since I put away the rest of my Christmas stuff...) I've been toying with the idea of making myself a set of seasonal pillows that I could stash somewhere near my desk, since I am eternally forgetting things I want to bring to/take home from work.  This pillow might be the jump-start I need.  Also, I wish I had pretty white furniture/white walls to take photos against.  I'm so jealous of good craft photographers!  Great job Vanessa!

Fabulous find #2: Craftify It Ric Rac Rosettes

What a great idea!  I kind of love the rosette trend going around right now, but am way to lazy to go to the effort to make them.  Too much prep involved.  But I already have ric-rac and I know I can roll things up!  I even have some beads already so I'm on my way to making an adorable necklace like the one featured on Craftify It.  So so cute!  I'm all for simple projects with fantastic results.  Thanks for the awesome tutorial Staci!

Fabulous find #3: Magnetic Bunting at Hickety Pickety Handmade

To me, this project is so so clever and so awesome!  I just love it! Along with rosettes, I'm also kind of crazy about the bunting trend in the crafting world.  I would love to dress my fridge up with this bunting (if my husband will let me, I already have about 8 billion magnets on there...)  I have some old promotional magnets that I've been saving for a project and I think this is going to be the one! So cute Chrissy!

Thanks all of you for the inspiration!  Where would I be without all the other crafters in the world to spark my creativity? 

*All images featured here are property of the respective blog owners. I only wish I could take photos this nice.

Fun fun fun with the Family Creative Workshop!

Have I talked about the Family Creative Workshop series on here before?  I feel like I have...  Regardless!  I am talking about it again today!

The Family Creative Workshop is a very cool set of craft books from about the mid seventies.  I was lucky enough to receive a set from my aunt (I get all kinds of cool stuff from her when she's cleaning out her closets!).  It is sort an everything crafty reference guide.  It's got things in there I'd never even think of as a craft (gold panning, hibachi...) to things I have no idea what they are (Sprang??).  The cover art is beautiful too.  Here are a few of my favorites:

I thought it might be fun to hi-light a few of the interesting things I find in this series here on the blog - what do you think? Once a week or so I'll skim the books and find something fun, funky, useful, or just plain weird.  And if I'm able, I'll even have a go at some of their project ideas.  Sounds good to me!

So here's my first quick hi-light.  Today, I'm bringing you a project from Family Creative Workshop Vol 2:

This project is part of the beachcombing section, and I know it is something you will not be able to live without.  So without further ado, may I present to you, Lobster Man!

Please enlarge the photo to get the full effect

Now you too can scour the beach in search of old lobster parts to create this work of art. You will be the envy of all your friends and family!

Ok ok - all kidding aside, I really do think this is a great set of books, and there really are some useful tips in here - I just thought I'd start you out with a little of the ridiculous.  

Till next time,

JB

The best card I've ever made - the iPad card.

Do you ever make something, and you're so excited about it that you want to tell everyone you know about it?  That is how it was for me with this card.  Except I made it as a surprise for my husband so I couldn't put it up on the blog right away.  And then I got distracted.  And then it was like 6 months later, and I realized I never shared it.  Well today is the day!

Check out the coolest card in the entire world, made by yours truly:

 Ok, ok.  I know not everyone is a mac person.  And I know that there are people out there who think iPads are dumb.  Still, you have to admit this is a cool card! BTW - it is the size of an actual iPad - I know right?  Awesome!

  I made this for Stephen for our first anniversary back in July.  He is a huge apple fan, and was saving up for an iPad at the time, so I thought it was appropriate.  I on the other hand, don't care all that much about apple, so I had to secretly surf the apple website, looking at all the iPad pictures I could find, and looking up all the dimensions I could to get my card as realistic as possible.  Well, at least as realistic as and iPad made out of cardstock could get.  And then I would lock myself in my craft room, and tell Stephen "You can't come in - I'm working on your card!"  He probably thought I was nuts,  because I was in there a loooong time...  ANYWAYS - I'm super excited about how it turned out.

 I felt super clever writing out my message using app icons.  I had to browse the app store looking for icons with letters that fit my needs, but of course I had to adapt some of them (thank goodness for all the apps with big blank spaces to write on!)

I even tried to preserve the placement of the apps as they were on the apple website's iPad picture.  I had to move some of course.  My art skills aren't fantastic, but after hand drawing all these apps I'm pretty pleased with the results.  Also, I tried my best to replicate the stock photo that is the iPad's default background.

Angry birds anyone?

The heart above the email means you've got love letters waiting in your inbox!

For the date I put our anniversary...  Now I wish I had put Saturday since the wedding was on a Saturday, but that's not really a big deal.

And I had to go out and buy a new set of colored pencils so I'd have a white one to put the time/wi-fi/battery on the top.  Full battery and wi-fi signal!  I thought I had written the time of our wedding ceremony, but then I remembered it was at 2:30...  oops!

This is my favorite part of the card.  The button is an actual button!  White embroidery thread looped through it to make the little square.  Sometimes I'm so clever I just can't believe myself!

Inside was a little apple logo...

Sorry guys, this message is private!

...which was actually a little pocket which I stuffed with CASH! (To go towards the purchase of a real iPad)

Real money was included at the time of presentation.

And on the back of the card, I used a silver sharpie to draw the apple logo and a sweet sentiment. Awww!

I put a lot of work into this iPad.  It took a lot of cutting and gluing (there are so many layers of cardstock going on - it is very hard to cut out clouds!) Now that Stephen has a real iPad, I can barely tell the difference...

The real one is on the right.  You're welcome ;)

Things of interest (to me, and maybe to you too!)

Oops!  I forgot to write my blog post last night.  That means I have to wing it and make up something quick this morning!  How about a quick little blurb about a couple of the interesting crafty things I’ve come across lately?

Item 1:  Iron Craft

First of all, have you heard about Iron Craft yet?  If you’re involved in the crafting scene at all you probably have – it’s popping up on a lot of the craft blogs I read.  Crafty friends Kathy and Susi host weekly craft challenges and anyone is free to join in.  Then they post some of the submissions on their blog.  It sounds like so much fun!  I haven’t participated yet, but I hope to do at least a few of these challenges this year.  So far, there have been broad challenges (lighting the winter gloom) and more concrete challenges (draft dodgers).  This week’s challenge is bunting and garlands.  I’ve been wanting to make a bunting for a long time (although the fabric I want to use is more summer themed…) so maybe I’ll have to jump in!

Item 2: Swap-bot

 I also recently discovered swap-bot.  It’s a site that hosts nationwide (and international) swaps for all sorts of stuff – a lot of it handmade. Ok, I guess the users host the swaps on the site.  Anyways!  I’ve just started getting into it, but it seems really fun to me.  Like pen pal 2.0.  I figure it will be a good way to get me crafting in a more timely manner, and if I ever decide to do the etsy shop thing, I will have some experience with shipping goodies.  Plus you get neat stuff in the mail from all over the world!

That's all for today!

Stay crafty!

JB