I’m like a big furry alien…

…you’ll just have to watch the video to get that reference. Kidding aside, can you believe it is just 25 days until Christmas? There are so many things to do this month: Parties, concerts, plays, decorating, cooking, cleaning (no seriously, I do from time to time) and entertaining! Who has time to scrapbook? But what if you could put a book together cheaply, quickly and easily so you could just jot stuff in as it happens and enjoy the month guilt free? Well, my friend you can, and I’m gonna show you how!

That’s pretty chic huh? And it is made from coffee filters! I had hundreds of them left over when my coffee make broke and they do not fit my new machine. The fancy bakers twine, tags, rhinestones and other odds and ends are fromPapermart. Let me tell you folks, if they sell it they will have the best price, often times by as much as 50% so check them out if you are in need of some crafty goodness 😀

OK, folks, this is an easy project but the video is a bit long so grab your favorite beverage (Whatever you want, I don’t judge LOL), sit back and watch some scrapbook magic happen…no wait, can’t say that with a straight face…I mean, we are using coffee filters…maybe not magic per say but some darn nifty crafting!

So, are you ready to give crafting with coffee filters a try? Do you have a Bobby McFerrin song stuck in your head! well, welcome to my crazy world then!

Got questions? Leave a comment and I will get back to you. Have a wonderful weekend and til next time happy crafting!

Paint with me!

Howdy folks! I have had fun this week painting with watercolors and I posted 4 new lessons in my shop Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff. These new lessons are intermediate level. I don’t think they are any more difficult than the beginner projects but they do not have the in-depth explanation of each technique because if you painted my beginner projects (also in my shop) you would already know how to do them. Also if you have painted with watercolors before the intermediate projects should be easy. They are like a traditional painting packet you would buy in a tole painting shop or read in a decorative painting magazine. So basically in the beginner lessons I assume you have never picked up a brush in your life and in the intermediate kits I assume you know basic techniques 🙂 Here is what you can paint!

Winter chickadee (this would be cute on Christmas cards!):

Magnolias:

Blue Bunting:

Crocus:

Don’t worry, it is really easy, I like to have several paintings going at once so I have something to work on while I am waiting to parts to dry. One change I made to the intermediate painting kits is that the pattern is a re-sizable jpg so you could print it small to go on a card or larger if you like. Keep in mind that you can change colors and leave out (or add more) spattering because they are YOUR paintings, have fun! All the kits are $3 and think of how much you can learn and the fun you will have! Thanks for stopping by and til next time Happy crafting (and painting!)

WOYWW: Random Painting & Projects

Howdy folks and happy Wednesday! You (hopefully by now) know what it is time for…What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday! I have had a plethora of projects on my desk this week…well, just have a look:

I have been painting! I am happy with the bird and lily painting but the one at the bottom of my desk is an epic fail…it was looking a bit too stark so I decided to use some spray mist and stencils however I was too impatient to wait for the paint to dry and ended up with a big ugly blob which I dumped some glimmer eye-shadow on and then smooshed some plastic wrap into the puddle. It’s like I ran out of bullets and I threw the gun. I thought about pitching this in the trash before I took the picture but I didn’t want anyone to think I never make mistakes…OK you can STOP laughing now…really. Stop. Oh, shameless plug, I have a couple new watercolor painting kits at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff this week!

On the other side of my mayhem I have some cleaner crafts. Some fun candy-colored plastic beads that my daughters sorted for me and some cute tags I made so I can price some of my loose necklaces and bracelets I have made for the craft fair (because I was a doof and forgot to buy the stick-on ones!)

But luckily I have a tiny tag punch (splurge from a stampin-up party last summer) and my new yummy baker’s twine from Papermart and I made my own! I think my jewelry might just sell due to the cute tags! Quick tip: This tag punch does not have a hole in it so make sure to punch 1/8″ holes first and then punch the tag upside-down so you can center the hole in the circle because you will not be able to punch the hole after you punch the tag, it will get stuck in your punch!

Well, there you have it! I do have herbal tea (instead of coffee) on my desk as I am trying to be healthier, I even took a spin on the treadmill today (highly unpleasant but being able to watch Torchwood on my kindle made it tolerable) so, yeah, woo…go health. That’s sarcasm by the way 🙂 Oh, here are the two paintings I didn’t mess up…

I am going to mat them and sell them as well at the craft fair…boy don’t I sound optimistic!

You can check out more crafty desks on Julia’s blog, the home of WOYWW. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A Study in Pink…

Honestly I intended to put away my jewelry supplies this weekend but there was a bag of bright shiny pink beads smiling at me and I had to make a multi strand necklace.

 

Also I had an overflowing box of white/clear-black-nutreal beads talking to me (huh, my beads smile and talk to me, clearly I need my head examined!) so I decided to make a dent in the clear ones. Apparently I ignore any neutral colors when I bead…I  hope other people’s taste in jewelry is as gaudy as mine or I am going to be left with a lot of jewelry after next weeks craft fair LOL! It’s a good thing I like it I guess!

 The necklace has a toggle clasp that I embellished with a dangle and it is to be fastened in the front or on the side.

 

Also I like pink and green together…

 

I plan on selling these as sets but it might be a bit much…OK seriosly I think you could signal spaceships with that amount of sparkle…just the way I like it!

 

Well, I suppose I should pack up these beads for a bit and focus on the last few things I have yet to make for the craft fair. BTW I did manage to upload 2 new watercolor lessons to my shop Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff. I plan on finishing 3 more paintings today (if I can find room to paint among the beads!)

 

Oh and back to the title..yes a Sherlock reference, I was in major BBC Sherlock withdrawal so I watched a bunch of the episodes of Elementary on CBS.com and they weren’t as bad as I expected. Hey, even bad Sherlock is better than no Sherlock. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A Painterly Playdate!

Back to the ol’ grind today! I hope you had a nice weekend! It was a mini vacation here as the kids had nearly a week off for Thanksgiving break. We are in full craft fair prep mode. My kids have been crafting stuff to sell, as have I! This year I have conned…er I mean invited some friends to exhibit at a craft fair with me. My Friend Kath who is an extremely talented seamstress is making “American Girl” sized clothes to sell and we have gotten together several times for crafty playdates to prepare… basically we drink a lot of tea, chit-chat and occasionally make some product for our tables. On Friday she invited me over to craft, I was going to bring my beads and make jewelry but I decided it would be less of a bother to bring my watercolor supplies. Here is one of the paintings I completed:

I started 6 paintings. I have a method where I start a painting and put in the background and then sketch out and paint the backgrounds on as many paintings as I can while waiting for the first one to dry. I like to work on very wet paper to start so I would have quite lot of ‘sittin’ around waiting’ to do if I did not get to work on other paintings. I started 6 and finished 3!

Did I mention we had 6 kids between the two of us. Actually we each have a set of 8-year-old twin daughters who entertained themselves playing with their American Girl dolls while we crafted and our boys wandered about playing video games and chess. You would never have know that there were a half-dozen kids there LOL!

I have quite a stack of watercolors to mat and put in clear archival bags to sell at the craft fair, my booth is going to be so schizophrenic looking with the mish-mash of craftyness I have planned but oh what fun it is to plan for a craft fair! BTW, I will be working some of the new paintings into downloadable how-to painting packets for my shop, I’ll let you know when they are available! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Orange & Pink: A fun color combo!

We were challenged to use the colors orange and pink at Oriental Stamp Art this week. Since I had to make a card for a little girls birthday party my daughters were invited to (at a swimming pool no less) I thought this Asian inspired mermaid stamp from Sweet Pea would be perfect! Hey, I used my new baker’s twine from Papermart on this set too!

I grabbed a bunch of orange and pink markers and quickly colored the image and grabbed some animal print stencils and home made spray ink to do the backgrounds on the tag, card and muslin bag. I also stamped the birthday girl’s name on the bag. As you can imagine there are lots of girly goodies in the bag!

I like to make a pretty tag for my gifts, I often get told by parents that the kids save the tag and use it as a bookmark or decoration. Awww. Totally worth the extra few minutes to make it special!

Well, I better go or I am going to be LATE for the party! Til next time happy crafting!

String Storage Solution! {video tutorial}

Happy Black Friday everyone! I did not go out into the madness but I cheered on all of my girlfriends who kept me updated on facebook…vicarious Black Friday shopping is probably more my pace anyway. I do intend to check out some Cyber-Monday deals if my kids ever tell me what they want for Christmas LOL! Today I have a storage tutorial for you. I have made a  storage bag for the luscious newbaker’s twine I got from Papermart but this would also be great to get all of your holiday wrapping ribbons and string in order too!

Here is the video:

You can use this method to store any ribbon, yarn, string or fibers. Just punch more holes as needed! Be sure to save the bags that bath sets (we always seem to get some of these as Christmas gifts don’t we?) curtains and blankets come is because the plastic is thick and the zippers are sturdy and best of all the bags are clear so you can see your ribbons and trims! Speaking of ribbon, string and trims be sure to check out the wonderful selection at Papermart. I have realized that if they sell it it will be the cheapest place to get it. Sometimes the quantities are large but you can always split it with your stamping friends, I do that a lot!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant…

…I have had that song playing in my head all day! Well, it is a Thanksgiving classic I guess! I just wanted to pop in quickly and wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! I have had a quiet morning with the kids at my folks and hubby at work but in about 30 minutes I will pick him up and we will head to my parents for dinner! (I really have to hurry because I still need to bag up the rolls I just made and slap on some makeup and do something with my hair!) Have a look at these beauties:

I don’r mean to brag but it is just about the only thing I can cook that other people WANT to eat…really, I’m not joking…bread, chili and coffee, that’s the extent of my cooking prowess.  While I was waiting for the bread to rise I packaged up some earrings for my upcoming craft fair:

I had the itch to stamp so I made ATC sided cards to go in the baggies.

That it, I really have to go but I did wan to let you know that everything at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff is 50% off today. Also Joann.com and Oriental Trading have free shipping (no minimum purchase!) at all stamping and jewelry making supplies are 40% off at Joann online (hold me back ladies!) I guess it is good that I have to motor or I would be doing some shopping myself! Have a safe and happy holiday and til next time happy crafting!

WOYWW: Eat Your Heart Out!

Hello WOYWWers! For those of you who don’t know WOYWW stands for What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday, a weekly crafty party where we all snoop around to our fellow crafter’s desks (so we don’t have to feel so bad about our own hording and messes LOL!) You can join the fun on Julia’s blog, don’t be shy now! OK, on my desk today are some goodies that just arrived from Paper Mart:

I will be using these products in many upcoming video tutorials. When I saw the Baker’s Twine at Papermart I fell in love, their big spools (notice the brand, it’s The Twinery, yep, the same brand the scrapbook stores sell for $15 a spool) cost between $8.60-$10.75 a 240 yard roll. The cool thing about Paper Mart is that you get discounts the more you spend so I recommend going in on a shipment with a friend or two so you can save big! I also got some coffee bags, tags and flat tins. I can’t wait to whip up some Christmas cheer!

I want to wish a happy Thanksgiving (in the US) and safe travels to everyone! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!