Thankful...

Today's post is not crafty. I just want to express my gratitude to God for all the many blessings that He continues to give me and my family. This holiday weekend gave me a chance to stop and think about the important things in my life and the fact that I am blessed with so much. Sure there are times when I feel down and helpless, but the most important thing for me is that I have my husband and my girls to be thankful for. They don't know how much I appreciate and cherish them when I come home after a rough day at work. Their mere presence is enough to make me feel better. Thank you Lord, for giving me such a loving and wonderful family. Thank you for my dad and my sister, my relatives and my friends. Thank you for my job and the students that You've entrusted in my care. I pray that I will make a difference in their lives. Thank you for continuing to provide for our family. Lastly, thank you for always being there for me in good times and bad. I know I can always depend on you!

Halloween Birthday Party

My younger daughter had a birthday party at a local Pump It Up a couple of weekends ago. Since it was close to halloween, we decided on a halloween birthday party theme for her. Of course that made me excited because I can make different party stuff that are halloween themed. Here are some of them :

I made two of these for the center table. This is a variation of something that I saw at a local QFC. I especially like the medallions. They are very addicting to make!!!

 

 

These are her party favors. I filled them with candies and small halloween toys. I made 24 of these. I have tons of halloween paper that I got on sale last year so I used several designs. I used black clips to close them which I also decorated with different halloween ribbons from Michaels.

 

 

Here's a closer look at one of them....

 

 

I also made these...



I made them big enough so that I can put two boxes of Lemonheads in each one.

There is a funny story about these favors. I have made about 10 of them when I realized that something's not right - I put coffins and mummies together! I told my daughter about it and she said, "That's okay, Mom. We can call them MUFFINS!" Get it? Mummies and coffins together! Hahaha! Very clever!

Anyway, it was a fun birthday party and my daughter had fun with all her friends. :-)

Craft Fair Items

I am getting ready for three craft fairs this coming November, so I am crafting like crazy. I am trying to get stuff done as fast as I can, but my job, which includes checking tons of papers, is getting in the way. Hahaha!!

Love these popsicle cards!. I saw a video on Youtube that shows how to make them. I sell them in packs of five.

 

I love these 3x3 cards. The colors are so vibrant, and they go well together with the flower stickers from Michael's. I simply emboss the background with a Cuttlebug embossing folder to give it some texture.

 

Okay, got to go to make more stuff!!!

Purses

I LOVE purses...I don't know of any woman who doesn't. These paper purses are also my favorite. They're easy to make and they are very cute! I usually use these purses for gift cards, but you can also put other small items in them like lip gloss, candy, or even jewelry! Who wouldn't like that?

I got the instructions on how to make them from this video on Youtube. All you need is a 6 x 6 piece of cardstock or designer paper. If you want a bigger purse, all you need is a 12 x 12 piece of paper. There is also a video for this. Such a fun project!!

Robot Cards

I must admit I don't make a lot of cards (or other items) for boys, but when I saw these stickers at the Dollar Store, I knew I had to use them. They are so cute!

I used regular cardstock for the cards, then silver paper that I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. I stamped a happy birthday greeting and added a couple of brads for a little bit more detail. Love them!!!

More name cards...

Here are two other name cards that I've done for my daughters' friends. It has become sort of a tradition for me to make these cards for their friends.

Here's one for Ashley......

...and one for Ali.

I love playing with patterns and colors for these cards. of course, I couldn't create all these letters without my trusty Cricut machine. That machine is so useful for projects like these!

Tea time!

I found a picture of these tea tins that I made a while back to give as Christmas gifts for my friends. It gave me an idea of another item I can do for some upcoming craft fairs this fall. They're pretty simple to make - I just put a band around tin containers using some designer paper, added some ribbon and a stamp of a teacup that I found at Joann's.

I get my tin containers from this website. I get the rectangular ones which are $1.04 each. The price is pretty reasonable and the shipping is not too bad either. I got this info from Kerry's Paper Crafts. Kerry's an awesome crafter. You should check out her site if you haven't done so. I get so many ideas from her blog.