SPOOKY Bat Banner

It's me again. I am sad to see Halloween to go, but look forward to Thanksgiving and of course Christmas! I never posted my Spooky Halloween Banner, so I figured I should do it now, or wait a whole year! I love this banner! It turned out cute and it is super fun. I will look forward to getting it out every year!

The year Thong, and I moved into our house, my parents got me a gift card to one of my most favorite stores, Rod Works! I was ecstatic to see that it was for $200!!! So I ended up buying the mirror and shelf you see in the picture below. I am wishing they would have had the bigger shelves they have now, when I bought it, but I love the red color! I bought some of the smaller decorations too that you see - black drawers, green candlesticks and candles, the red clock.

The one thing I don't do is change out the items really for holidays. I am thinking I need to start though! I change it out for Christmas every year, but other than that, the items stay the same. I put my Halloween decorations on my high counter top, but next year, I think I will add them to the shelf. And maybe I can start adding to my Halloween decorations. I have hardly any.

The one thing with my banner is that it is heavy - which I didn't take into account when I was making it - so it weighs down too much to actually hang. I set it up on my shelf, but as you can see, there aren't any other Halloween decorations with it. But next year, I think it will be cute when it's all Halloween!

Here are the pics:

Here are the details:

Banner - Black bat glitter Tai Pan Trading

Patterned Paper - My Minds Eye, Martha Stewart, Stampin' Up!

Cardstock Letter Squares - Little Yellow Bicycle

Gold Glass Glitter - Stampin' Up! {Careful with this! It hurts when you cut your finger!}
Black Lace Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Stamp Set - Dark & Dreary set Stampin' Up!
Ink - Basic Gray Stampin' Up!
Punches - Large Scallop Circle, Large Oval, Scallop Oval, 3/4" Circle, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Stampin' Up!; Real Estate Sign EK Success
Jewels - Black and Silver Rhinestones Stampin' Up!
Buttons - Stampin' Up!
Clear Buttons w/Rhinestones- Bazil Basics
Crystal Effects - Stampin' Up! {I used this to attach the glitter. I also used it to trace each letter and have them stand out more}
Black Glitter Spiders - Paper Creations LSS here in Salt Lake - aren't these so cute! They were all cut out and ready for me to buy them! I had to buy like 8 of them since they were only $.15 each!
Ribbon - Purple Satin May Arts; Cream and Gray Polka Dot Tai Pan Trading
Embossing Plate - Spider Web Stampin' Up!

Hope you guys like it! It was a lot of fun to make! I can't wait to get started on Thanksgiving and Christmas projects! I still have my village to work on, and wreath to finish!

Hope you all are good!

Happy Halloween & Happy Birthday Hubby!

Hi Everyone! Hope you  have all had a great Halloween weekend! It was a lot of fun here! Not only was today Halloween, but it is also Thong's birthday! We celebrated by waking up early with Peyton, watching Disney movies in our bed, letting Peyton head down to St. George with her "Pink Gramma" and Papa {Pink Gramma is the name she has given my mom! She gave Thong's Mom the name of "Black Gramma!} until Friday, went to Simply Sushi with Thong's brother, Kyto and friend Bean, came back to watch football and take a nap {Thong did the watching, I did the napping!}.

Are you guys Trick-Or-Treating tonight or did you already yesterday? Here in Utah, most people did it yesterday. We took Peyton to the mall here. There were so many kids in costume and it was a lot of fun! She was the cutest little witch ever, if I do say so my self! :) Here she is in her costume glory!

I had this bright idea to spray the tutu, hat and shirt with glitter. So I got glitter body/hairspray to add it on. Can I just tell you, glitter is all over my house now!!!! It is everywhere! On my couch, kitchen floor, on my dogs, on me and Thong, on our clothes! Great idea I had :)

Thank you Marci for selling me your priceless plastic cauldron so I could use it to go with Peyton's costume as her candy bucket and decorate it up a bit! The $45 was totally worth it! :-). Okay, I didn't really spend that much. You can't tell from this picture, but the handle is covered with ribbon, there is orange flower trim around the brim, and then the green flower has an orange center and purple rhinestone brad. I searched and searched all over for a plastic cauldron and couldn't find one!!! So my good friend Marci was kind enough to let me have hers for the price of a fountain Diet Coke. Deal!:) Thanks Marci!

Aren't these the cutest leggings! The tutu, hat and leggings are from Swiss Days back in September. I love this costume! Gotta love the spider socks too!

This picture just makes me laugh!

Peyton was so done with pictures but I kept trying. Didn't turn out so well but this picture totally captures Peyton in this moment. The moment was "Mom, I just want to get my trick-or-treat on!"

Like most little girls, Peyton is obsessed with the Disney princesses! But when we saw 4 of them dressed up yesterday at the mall, she did not want to even get close to them!!! So in order to convince her to get her picture taken with them, I had to do it with her, and even then she was still not wanting to do it. Now when she sees the picture she talks about them, but she was not having it in that moment!

On the way home from the mall, Peyton fell asleep and was down for the count! We were going to go up to my brothers house to go hang out with the Fam, but that didn't happen. But like I mentioned, she ended up going to my parents house and won't be back until Friday! It is going to be a quiet week for sure!!!!

Thong and I are spending the rest of his birthday going grocery shopping at Walmart and then coming back and watching The Event! Woot! Happy birthday Hun! I love you and I can't imagine a life without you! You make everyday better and I am proud to be your wife.

Hope you all have a great rest of October and I look forward to November!!! Turkey and stuffing! Can't wait!!!

A Birthday Present For Marci

My really good friend, Marci, had a birthday yesterday, so I knew that I had to make her a plate stand! I couldn't wait to get started on it, but unfortunately I ran out of E6000, so I had to borrower Amber's. So I made the lollie on Wednesday and then glued the plate stand together on Thursday night and then put it all together.

When I saw this gorgeous yellow plate - at my current favorite store, Tai Pan Trading!!! - I knew I would have to make it mine. But then I decided that it would actually be a good color for Marci's house. I debated back and forth about adding soft blue or olive green papers and accessories to decorate it. But I decided to stay with the brown, cream and really cool mustard color instead.

So here you have it:

Again, these are super, super, super inexpensive to make!!!! This plate was $2.97 and the glass was $1.01! Everything else I had on hand. I think that is why I like this project so much. It's super inexpensive to make and I don't have to buy a lot of new and expensive crafty supplies to make one!

The Details:

LOLLIE -
Patterned Paper & Dandelion Tag - My Minds Eye
Cardstock - Very Vanilla Stampin' Up!
Book Page - {bird wing} Danielle Steele's Sisters {I found a better use for this book :-)}
Clear Buttons - Bazzil Basics
Brown & Cream Flower Buttons - Stampin' Up!
Clear Mounted Stamps - Stampin' Up!
Inks - Early Espresso & More Mustard Stampin' Up!
Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip Stampin' Up!
Jewel Rhinestones - Stampin' Up!
Bird Punch - Stampin' Up!
Real Estate Sign Punch - EK Success {the Friends tag is punched from this}

STAND -
Plate - Tai Pan Trading
Glass - Tai Pan Trading
Ribbon - Large Brown Grosgrain is my stash, Yellow is American Crafts, Cream Organza is Stampin' Up!

PACKAGING -
Ribbon - Large Brown Grosgrain is my stash, Blue & Brown Polka-Dot Organza is All My Memories
Cellophane - Tai Pan Trading
Card - a really old one that I made and apparently I didn't even notice the flower that was attached came off :). Sorry Marci!

Once I got to work yesterday, I added some chocolate onto the plate that I had stashed away. These are totally my current favorite gift to give right now! I am making my sister one, and my sister-in-law, who had a birthday last week. {She, she doesn't know what she is getting!} Happy Birthday Lindsi!!! And of course I need to make myself one!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

A Sneak Peak Of A Halloween Banner - Spooky Bats!

Hi everyone! I was too excited to wait until I am finished to start posting about this project!!! I took pictures from my phone and emailed myself. So hopefully you can see them all okay.

Here are the pics of it so far:

As I said, I am not finished yet. I know, I know - Halloween is right around the corner. My craftiness has been fleeting lately. I just haven't been feeling like crafting a whole lot. But I got out this banner that I purchased from Tai Pan a month or so ago, and all of a sudden I felt the urge to add to it! Love it when inspiration strikes!!! I have said before how much I love that store, but it's true. I so do love it! The banner part is the glitter bats, wire and beads. And it was only $3! My goal is to have the banner finished tomorrow, so hopefully that will happen. Knowing me, the lollies that I have pictured here will have much more stuff on them before it's all said and done! Cause that's the way I like it! :D

I am off everyone! Have a great day!

A Wedding Shower Present

Last weekend, one of my husband's oldest friends got married. It was a beautiful wedding, reception and location! Shauna and her new husband, Eloy were married at the Mill Creek Inn up Mill Creek Canyon, here in Salt Lake. I wasn't able to go to her wedding shower the week before, so I added her shower present into her main wedding present.

About a month ago, Amber, Marci and I went to an annual festival here in Utah called Swiss Days. It is up in Midway - one of my most favorite places in this world! - and there is tons of crafty goodness everywhere there!!!!!! One of our most favorite booths was a booth that had these most darling stands! They were made of things, you wouldn't ever think of. Picture frames on top of candle sticks, plates on top of glasses, and on and on! So Alice in Wonderland for sure! I knew I needed to make one. So for Shauna's shower present that is what I made here. I was in a hurry when I took the pictures, so unfortunately I didn't get a good one to really be able to tell what it's made from. For her shower, I was assigned the color black.

Here is what I made:

Do you like that you can see Peyton in the background! She sees the camera and thinks she needs to be in the pictures!

All wrapped up. Yep, that is Peyton's hand and shoulder that you see there too! I know you can't really see it in the pic too well, but I live the cream and gray ribbon that I used to wrap up the package! It was super cheap from one of my most favorite stores, Tai Pan Trading.

So here are the details: The plate and cup {the stand part} are both from Tai Pan Trading. The plate was $2 and the cup was $1. Yep, that's all they cost! Right after we went to Swiss Days, I went to Tai Pan and got a green plate and pink bowl to make stands as well. How much fun are these! Perfect for a bedside table for jewelry, or to serve a special dessert! I used E6000 glue to attach the cup to the plate, let it dry over night, and then added the ribbon and paper. All the paper is Stampin' Up!. The punches, glitter and stamps are as well. The fabric {turquoise and cream} is Joanne's and I can't remember the brand of the black extra thick grosgrain ribbon. I can't wait to make more of these! I think they are a fun and unique gift.

For wedding and shower presents, my most favorite thing to do is to get a bunch of stuff from the registry list, and get a fun basket to put everything in, and have it all wrapped up in cellophane! For Shauna and Eloy, we got cookie sheets, a shaker, measuring glass, a picture frame, water goblets, a door mat and some other things. Again, from Tai Pan Trading, I got a huge basket and put everything inside. I wrapped it all up with cellophane and then tied it all together with ribbon, fabric and flowers! The basket was absolutely huge, so here is a picture of the pretty wrapping, since it was hard to get a big pic of everything:

I love the flower! I took a long stemmed rose {again from Tai Pan :-)} and took all the leaves and flowers off the stem. Then I glued the pieces onto the ribbon and fabric. So no, it's not too easy to open, but it sure looks pretty, and that's what really matters, right! He he he! I love giving pretty wrapped presents. I know it really isn't the case, but it always makes me feel like whatever is inside is even better because the outside looks so nice! I am a cheese, I know!

Well, I am off to hopefully do a little crafting before I head off to bed. We shall see if I will actually get anything done though! {Probably watch a little Vampire Diaries!!! That's for you ljkwoody!}

One last thing before I am off... I love the new Add Images feature for Blogger. It is so much better than even the last update. You can upload more than one picture at a time, and add them all at the same time! Yay, it's about time!

Alright, I am off! Till next time...

Fun With Foam

Sometimes do you just not feel that creative spark! Do you ever get so excited to go craft, sit down to do it, and then..... Nothing! That is what happened to me last night. I haven't felt that way for a long time. But sure enough it happened. So I watched a little bit of T.V. in my craft room instead - How I Met Your Mother & Big Bang Theory {Love those shows!} - and then decided to go downstairs and work on my Ipod.

Whataya do!

Tonight I went and got a foam wreath to work on a project that I have been wanting to tackle for about 3 months now. I have seen all kinds of cool versions of this, and I have in my head how I want it to turn out, so we will see how it goes. But I am going to make a wreath with book pages!!!! Can't wait! To see the one Amber made, check out her blog! It is awesome! I love it!

Tonight, Peyton and I had a little crafting fun together. She got a foam princess crown and foam stickers. So we sat down and decorated her crown for like 20 minutes! I kept asking her if she was finished and she kept saying, "No, not quite yet mama!" It was pretty cute!

Here is what we came up with:

Peyton, you are such a total ham!

Princess and Daddy!

This was a fun and inexpensive project. I haven't ever bought the foam stuff before for her, but I can tell she is going to be wanting more. It was a perfect craft for a girl that wants to be so crafty! She cracks me up because she is such a tomboy but she loves to be girly and wear dresses and pretend to put on makeup and do her hair. And she loves to craft just like her mama!!!

Hope everyone is doing good! I am on the lookout for some crafty inspiration! Any suggestions, let me know :D

Something In The Works

Hi Everyone! I have a project that I am working on but it is taking me a little while to complete so I figured I would post a picture of the work currently in progress. Sorry it is so dark! It was taken at night with my cell phone! Excuses, sorry!

Here is the pic though:

I can't wait to get it finished! But the roof is freakin' hard to do! So it is taking some practice but I will get it on there!

The wreath was made with the bird punch from Stampin' Up! The punch consists of the bird, wing and branch. So I took the branch and punched out several of them and started to wrap them around in the wreath shape. Then I snipped of the branch ends that poked out the back. It's not a perfect circle. But I think it will be okay. And no I know I can duplicate it! I still have more paper to add onto the front of the roof, that is why I haven't attached the wreath yet. And knowing me I will probably put a huge flower on the chimney! You guys know I love my big flowers :-). Also, once I get the roof done, I have gold and silver glass glitter that I am putting along the edges of it! Can't wait!!!!! Then only 4 more houses to go, plus landscaping and I have my village :-). I doubt I will have it all finished before Christmas, but it will be something that I think I will love for a long time to get out for Christmas every year!!!

I am looking forward to working on some Halloween projects though too, so we shall see where my mood takes me :-).

I am off for the night! Thanks for visiting :-)

A Quick Post

Happy weekend everyone! Hope you are all good! Things are great here. We went to dinner with some good friends on Friday night at Rodizio Grill - yum, yum!! We went to my sister, Miriam's graduation yesterday, and today we went to our friends, Marci and Gary's son, Shane's 3rd birthday party. So it's been busy but definitely fun!

I did get a little crafty on Thursday when I was watching Vampire Diaries! I love that show! It was a good episode, even though the ending got a little cheesy. But I completely enjoyed it! Are you guys just as excited as I am for fall T.V. to be back on! Can't wait for Grey's Anatomy to come on this week for sure! I watched the season finale again and even though I knew what was going to happen, I totally cried like I hadn't ever watched it before. I am a sucker for drama!

Now onto the craftiness!

Here is what I made:

Hope the pictures aren't too bad, they are from my phone. I am having problems with my camera's memory card right now.

All the supplies used are Stampin' Up! except for the brown and white bakers twine. When I first signed up to be a demonstrator - in 2006 - I was not a fan of their patterned paper. I am so happy to say that is no longer the case! I love how they have started to coordinate stamps and papers and accessories. The company has done very well in staying up to date with trends while still offering the quality images for stamps that has made them successful.

Here are the supplies I used:

Cardstock - Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

Patterned Paper - Elegant Soiree

Stamps - Always, {clear mount}

Inks - Basic Gray, Early Espresso

Punches - Itty Bitty flower, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border

Accessories - Designer Buttons Neutrals & Jewels Basic Rhinestones

Foam Adhesive - Dimensionals
Twine - brown and white bakers twine

As you can see I made a set of 2 cards. I can't just make one card anymore! I always have to make at least 2! Sometimes I make a set of 3 or 4 even. I think I might as well so that I don't end up with scraps that I won't ever use.

So remember how just 2 posts ago, I was totally complaining about my Ipod calling it quits... Well for our anniversary, guess what I got! A brand new 160GB Ipod Classic!! Thanks Thong! I love it of course! I was thinking about getting the 64GB Ipod Touch, but I can't justify getting the smaller one when I had the biggest size already - even with the extra stuff you get with the Touch. So I am slowly building my library of music back up on my Ipod. I am so excited to have it back :-).

One last thing before I go. I wanted to give you crafty gals a link to my crafty soul mate - Amber -project that got featured on one of our most favorite blogs!!!! Yay! So cool Amber! Here is the link to Tatertots And Jello!! Her project is the Halloween Haunted House. I absolutely love it! It is making me want to do a Halloween house instead of the Christmas village for sure! So go and check out Amber's blog, her house and Tatertots and Jello! You won't be disapointed!

Six Years Ago Today

Six years ago today, I married a pretty funny guy {even though I am funnier!}. Six years ago today, I committed to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. Six years ago today, I married someone whose name wasn't even spoken correctly once during the ceremony! {We can laugh about it now} Six years ago today, my happily ever after was just getting started. Six years ago today, I couldn't imagine how much more I would love you now. Six years ago today, you made me the happiest girl in the world.

Happy anniversary Thong! Here's to hoping the next six years are just as great as the last six have been. Life has not been easy for us, but it has certainly been good! I love getting to wake up to you everyday. You have the biggest heart of anyone I know. You are always striving to do the right thing and to make sure those you care about are taken care of. You have more patience than I thought one person could have. You are an amazing father to our beautiful daughter. Thank you for being my husband and for being my best friend. Thank you for making me laugh everyday. I love you! Happy Six years!!!

Crafty Weekend

Hi everyone! This weekend I got a little bit of crafting done! I made a layout, some cards {of which I am going to list for sale on my Etsy store sometime in the next week!} and my favorite thing of the weekend, a Christmas shadow box! The shadowbox is 7 Gypsy's brand and all the patterned paper is My Minds Eye. I was hoping to get the larger shadow box that 7 Gypsy's makes, but this was the only one left. Turns out, I liked making it on such a small scale so it all worked out in the end. Maybe another time I can find one of the larger ones. At first I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it, but then I was going through my paper and came across this fun line of Christmas paper from My Minds Eye and new I was going to make the shadow box Christmas, Christmas, Christmas! It's fun to make Christmas decorations when it is still 70 degrees outside.

Here are the pictures:

Hopefully the picture is ok. I couldn't fit it too well close up so it may be sort of hard to see all the detail at a glance. I took more pictures of all the details for that reason and they are posted just here below.

I took lots of pictures so that you could see the details close up! Hope you guys like it!

Here are the supplies used:

Shadow Box: 7 Gypsy's
Patterned Paper and pre-made tags: My Minds Eye
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Punches: Stampin' Up! Large Scallop Circle, Word Window, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border, Scallop Trim border, Designer Label, small star {retired}, Extra Large Bird, Itty Bitty Shapes, Pinking Hearts border, 1" Circle; Martha Stewart Lace border punch
Dies: Stampin' Up! Lots Of Tags, Birds & Blooms
Buttons: Stampin' Up! Big Deck The Halls, Bitty buttons, Brights and Naturals Designer buttons,
Stamps: Stampin' Up!
Inks: Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze, Ridinghood Red, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Crumb Cake
Rhinestone Stickers, beads {retired} and Silver Tinsel Trim: Stampin' Up!
Embossing plate: Northern Furry
Rhinestone and metal flower brad: Hobby Lobby
Thimble: Robert's Crafts
Paint: Making Memories
Flowers: Bazil Basics
Ribbon: my stash, All My Memories, Stampin' Up!, American Crafts, baker's Twine

Lots and lots of supplies for such a little thing, right!

Onto the next project! Here are the cards that I made to exchange with my friends, Amber and Marci, for our purchase and exchange swap. When we go to our Stampin' Up! crafty night, we have to use whatever we bought to make something for each of us. I decided I liked the cards so much that I made 3 more to sell them on my Etsy store, Craftydork. Hope you guys like them! If you would like to purchase this set from my Etsy store - once I have the item listed, leave a comment and I will waive the shipping for you for being a bloggy friend! Love you guys!

Here are the pics:

Here are the supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla
Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up! Love Letter
Embossing Plate: Stampin' Up! Elegant Bouquet
Punches: Stampin' Up! Large Scallop Circle, 1" circle, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border, Fancy Label; Martha Stewart Lacey border
Stamps: Stampin' Up
Inks: Ridinghood Red, Crumb Cake
Brads: Very Vintage

The scrapbook page matches the cards I made. I have gone crazy over Maggie Holmes! She is my current favorite celebrity scrapbooker. She had a post that was a picture of a kitchen table covered in scrapbook pages. So I zoomed into the picture and loved the pages I saw. It was filled with inspiration. I used it to help inspire scrapbook pages. This is the 3rd one I made from her picture. I by no means copied the layouts to the T but I did put my own spin on them.

I will actually post the page tomorrow. Sorry to hold off. The pictures I took were blurry so I want to make sure I get better ones before I post it. Plus there is a lot of stuff to look at here!

On a non related scrapper note, I was watching the True Blood season finale and then started onto Weeds from this season. Love both of those shows! Now that I am completely caught up with both of them, I am probably going to start catching up on Big Love, one of my other favorite shows! After that, then that will probably be it on catching up on older shows because the new fall season is starting! I already watched Vampire Diaries last week and loved it!

I do have some slightly sad news to report! My Ipod crashed! It went to Ipod heaven this week :(. Moment of silence please. It has served me well...

I only had it for about 3 years though so I am really sad. I was completely attached to the thing and didn't leave my house without it. I will hopefully get to replace it this Christmas. We shall see if Santa can bring me one :-).
Hope you are all good and have a great rest of your week!