I’m Smitten

I have never worked on canvas before. I decided to try it and I'm smitten. I just love it! Here are a few tiny peeks of two I am working on. Hope your having a lovely weekend!

Yikes Its February!

Wow where did January go! I thought I would share some of my new creations and a tutorial! First here is a little cupcake stand I made. I LOVE it! I plan on making more. If you LOVE it too you can find it in my shop. Speaking of my shop I have marked down some of my Valentine items and I only have a few Valentine Cupcake Cottage Kits left.
Nothing makes me think of a Vintage Valentine than honeycomb paper. Honeycomb hearts are just the sweetest. Here is a tutorial on how to make one. They can be any size or color. You can use the same technique and make any shape of honeycomb. Just think of all the possibilities!
Supplies:
Cardstock
Tissue paper
Glue stick
Scissors, punch, or paper shape cutter

I used my Cuttlebug and my Spellbinder Nestabilities Hearts to cut the hearts out. You could hand cut them also. You need one cardstock heart and 9 tissue paper hearts. Crease the cardstock heart by folding it in half.

Glue the first tissue heart onto the cardstock heart.
I have marked the heart using A and B. You will NOT do this. I did it for demonstration purpose

Put a dot of glue where each A would be. Press a tissue heart to each one.
On top of that heart put a dot of glue where each B would be. Press another tissue heart to that.
Repeat this process alternating between A and B. Use 8 tissue hearts.

Cut the ninth heart in half. Glue fully onto right side. Add glue to left side and fold heart pressing together.
Unfold and you should have a honeycomb heart!

Thanks!

I just want to give a big hug and thank you to everyone who commented on my Life resolution. Almost a month in and I'm still going strong! I thought I would answer a few questions y'all had here. I do the online Weight Watchers. I don't go to any meetings. My mom has done fabulous on it so she is a great support. I think the biggest change I made that works so well for me is I eat 5 small meals a day. I got a treadmill and I look forward to working out everyday. That's just crazy for me! I have so much energy now!

I'm happy to say my muse has come back and my creativity is better than ever! I cant wait to show you some pretties I'm working on.

I also have been wanting to make books for awhile. That's why I bought the Zutter Bind it All. You can read about it here. After a lot of practice and screwed up books I am finally happy to announce to can find my books in my shop. I'm calling them "Gathered Fragments Journals". Because they are very time consuming to create I will only make a few at a time. See you soon!

Kits Are In!

The Valentine Cupcake Cottage Kit is available in my shop. I will be listing them in small bunches to make it easier to get them shipped.

Valentine Cottage Cupcake Kit

The Valentine Cottage Cupcake kit coming soon to the Shop

A New Year A New Me

I know its so cliche but its true. I have never made a News Year resolution but this year I'm making a New Life resolution. In a way I can narrow it down to a word. Last year I chose the word GRACE. I'm happy to say I feel like I lived up to it. This years word is Purify. I want to purify my life, soul, mind, body, and home of negative clutter. First on my list was my home. I can happily say one pickup load donated and a dumpster full of trash later and I'm well on my way to purifying our home.

I also started Weight Watchers and started working out everyday. This is HUGE for me. I have been overweight my whole life. A month ago I was at my heaviest. Diabetes and heart problems run in my family. At age 32 its no longer a choice. I have to get healthy.After just a few weeks I feel wonderful, have lost weight, and feel a true change in how I think.

I'm also getting rid of negative emotions and thoughts that have plagued me for so long. I have a really lovely, blessed life. Its time to let the past go and enjoy what I have.

The only downside to all this change is my muse, mojo, and creativity seems to have left. It still shows up in spurts but not much. I'm taking it as a sign to put my energy into changing myself. So that's why my shop is not brimming with stuff and why I haven't been around blogland much. Thank you so much to everyone who wished me a good year. I have a feeling its going to be the best ever!

Hearts

I have added a few Valentines Day pretties to the shop.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
This video is so funny I thought I would share.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I can't believe it but my Christmas wish came true. We are having a white Christmas! Its only the 2nd time in my life. I have never seen so much snow!!! Wishing all of you the best Holidays ever!

A Winner!

I have to make this post short because I stabbed myself in the finger with scissors last night. Its super hard to type. Crafting CAN be dangerous!
I used a random number generator and it picked melanie's all my favorite things. Congrats! Just e-mail me your address Melanie!

Joli paquet still has a give away going on so go comment if you haven’t yet. Thanks for all your comments. I now have some new Holiday movies watch thanks to y’all!

5 Blog Give Aways

Wow! Five blog give-aways!!!! Go Here

Candy, Candy, Candy

I LOVE candy! I have always wanted to make some of my own but never seem to have the time. But, then I read this lovely blog post and thought "I could do that!" So on Saturday my kiddo and I went to Michael's and bought candy kits, molds, and candy melts. Then we went to the Dollar Store and found the old fashioned peppermint sticks and the marshmallow poles. All I did was melt the candy melts in the microwave in a glass shot glass (my DH thought that was hilarious) then dipped the stick in it and rolled in the sprinkles. For the marshmallows all I did was cut in half and put in a pretty package. I think they will make perfect teacher gifts! I had so much fun with the packaging! You know how I love making special packages.

A Give-Away

This is just a peek at what I'm giving away! I want it to be a surprise. But I promise you will like it! All you have to do is comment on this post or any I make in the next week. I will anounce a winner Friday December 18th. If you want I would love to know your favorite Holiday movie. Mine is White Christmas. Its been my favorite since I was little.
Also I have a really good deal going on in my shop. I have a lot of green faux feather trees and they are just taking up too much room in my studio. I'm selling them 2 for $12.00.

Home

First of all I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who bought a kit or other goodies from me. I was overwhelmed at the response my kits got. I'm so glad you loved them. All of the purchased ones have been shipped. I only have a few left.

After all that shipping I took the time to add a little winter cheer to our home and took some photos to share with you. I just wish we would get some snow! It hardly ever snows here and I really love snow!

I will be having a blog give away soon so stay tuned. Also I will be closing shop for the holidays at the end of next week. I will re-open in January after I have thoroughly cleaned out my studio. I will be listing some REALLY good deals after that. My studio(and under my bed, closets, cabinets, store room) is just really too full of art and craft stuff. I'm only going to keep what I love and sell the rest in my shop. Don't forget about the give-away. I'm feeling super generous!

Kits Are Here!

My Winter Woodland Kit is now available. I only have so many. Don't forget to go over to Joli Paquet and see the other girls kits. I got a few myself;) I also added a few new cute items to my shop. I will be making more original Cones, cards, and wreaths and adding them soon.

Winter Woodland Kit

Well I couldn't tease you too long! Here is my Joli Paquet kit for this year. It will be available Thursday. I also have a few kits from last year in my shop now. The price has been reduced. Also I have lowered a few prices on some Holiday items. The other Joli Paquet Girls kits are available to view today and tomorrow. They are super cute! Don't forget Joli Paquet has a Flickr group! We would LOVE to see your creations. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who supports the Joli Paquet blog. We LOVE it when you pass on the info about us, leave comments, and share your pictures on Flickr.

Sneak Peek

My Joli Paquet kit will be available soon! I thought I would tease you with a little peek.

Faux Snow Greeting Card

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Well its Black Friday and if your anything like me you would rather be crafting in your pjs than fighting a stampede of shoppers. Need a project? How about a glittery Christmas card for someone special. This card highlights some new techniques I have learned and some fabulous products you just can't live without!
Go on over to the Joli Paquet Blog to see the tutorial!

For The Table

I made this center piece for Thanksgiving and had so much fun I thought I would share.
Materials:
Cheap Styrofoam pumpkin (Dollar Tree)
Ink
Stamps
Tissue Paper
Modpodge
Acorns
Mushrooms
Moss
Sticks
Paper
Leaf Punch
Ribbon

First cut a hole in the pumpkin. Then stamp fall images onto Kraft tissue paper.Tear or cut images out leaving room around them. Glue onto pumpkin. Find a stick that looks like a little tree and glue into pumpkin. Add moss. Glue or wire leaves and acorns on tree. Add a ribbon, sign,and mushrooms. You could make it pretty fall colors or even pink.And of course it would look adorable with glitter! Tiny ones would make great place cards!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Thank you all soooo much on your wonderful advice and comments about our family Holiday problems. My DH and I had a very good long discussion about it. Y'all had some great ideas we are going to use! I will tell you about it soon.

Bah Humbug!

We interrupt the normal crafty goodness for a good old fashioned rant and rave!
I hate that the holidays are a big fat mess when you have a blended family. We are trying to find time to make new traditions for our family. But some of our family gets upset if we don’t do all their holiday events and traditions when they want us too. We don’t even have my step sons this year until after x-mus and barely any time in Dec. at all. I haven’t seen my extended side of the family for x-mus in years! Luckily my family tells us to just do what we need too and they try to schedule around us. I tell you one really good thing about being a single parent, you get to spend the whole holidays with your family. I hate that I now dread the holidays because we just cant make everyone happy. My Dh and I end up giving up the traditions we want to create in favor of trying to satisfy everyone. I know I hardly ever rant or give much personal stuff but this really bums me out. Christmas is NOT about what you get and where you are going. Its about love, family, and spirit. I just hate that the Holidays are now always a stressed time for us. I know some of you can relate because blended families are now more common than traditional families. How crazy is that!? I would LOVE to know how YOU deal with this!