Simply Crafting

{spencer's froggy}

2012-01-12T13:18:00.002-07:00

One more stuffed animal...This one I made for Spencer for Christmas. I got the pattern here @ Coloured Buttons. This pattern makes a pretty small frog, so I enlarged the pattern by probably about 25% (I'm not sure exactly). I stuffed it with poly-fil, but plan to open it back up & add some beans to make it more flexible.

Once again I used some vintage buttons from my mom for the eyes. I used cotton fabric for the top of the frog & some white minky fabric for the belly. It was very difficult putting these two different kinds of fabric together because the minky stretches & the cotton doesn't.

{spencer's silly snake}

2012-01-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

I love this snake! I made this one for my son, Spencer's birthday, using the Silly Scrap Snake from www.funkyfriendsfactory.com. I did make this snake a little longer than the pattern called for because I knew my son would like it that way. This was a very simple pattern, with great instructions. The one thing I changed was that I stitched the mouth shut more after I finished it, because I didn't like how wide open the mouth was.

When Spencer first opened the snake & was checking it out, the first thing he said was "I love his eyes". I loved that because I used some more vintage buttons that I got from my mom on this one too.

To order your custom Silly Snake email me at: chelscraps@yahoo.com. The Silly Snake is $18 (plus shipping, if applicable). Your snake will be 10 sections long (not the 14 that is shown here). When ordering please indicate your color choices & any prints (stripes, polka-dots, flowers, etc.) you would like.

{Kyla's teddy bear}

2012-01-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Here's another teddy bear that I made with the Honey Teddy pattern from www.funkyfriendsfactory.com. She makes some really cute patterns for lots of different stuffed animals. I also made the Silly Scrap Snake that you'll see soon. This Honey Teddy pattern is free when you sign up for her newsletter.

The eyes on this cute little guy are vintage buttons from my mother's collection that she let me have. I got the minky fabric in the remnant section at Scrapbooks Etc., a local scrapbook store. I love minky fabric, but it is not so fun to sew with. It sheds like you wouldn't believe (unless you have sewn with it before)!

Even though Kyla is almost 12, she still loves her soft, teddy bear. You can never be too old for a teddy bear, right?

{caden's teddy bear}

2012-01-12T11:37:00.006-07:00

This last Christmas I decided to try something new, making stuffed animals for my younger kids. This first teddy bear I made was somewhat difficult because the pattern did not offer good instructions at all. I used this How Joyful pattern, which is free. I have sewn for a long time, and I have made lots of different things and followed lots of different patterns, but this was the first time making a stuffed animal & I could not for the life of me figure out what I did wrong with the feet. They are funky looking and usually this would drive me so crazy that I would take it apart & fix it, but for now it's staying with some weird feet.

Despite his imperfections Caden loved his new teddy bear when he opened it on Christmas morning.

{MarQuette's bag}

2012-01-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

I made this bag for my mom to give to my sister for her birthday. I let her choose which of my patterns she wanted me to use & the colors, but I didn't let her see what fabric I picked out until I was done.

She wanted a large bag to fit all of the things she likes to carry & she wanted it to be made of denim. I added lots of pockets to it, so she can be very organized. She loved how it turned out!

I made this bag from my "Carol Tote" pattern.

{camera & lens cozies}

2012-01-05T14:47:00.001-07:00

This is a "special" hobo bag. I used the same pattern that I've made my other "hobo" bags from, but I added padding in this one. I made it specifically so I could put this bag in a larger purse when my husband & I took a trip to Chicago back in September. I didn't want to lug around my purse & a camera bag, so I made a purse large enough to hold all of my necessities plus my camera & lens.

I made the lens cozy for the same purpost, but I made the pattern for this one from scratch.

If you would like one of these custom made, please email me at: chelscraps @ yahoo.com. Indicate colors/prints that you would like.

The camera cozy is $10 & the lens cozy is $6. Both will include padding & a lining of waterproof material.

This lens cozy shown is a large size, for a longer lens (up to 6.5" long). You can also order a small cozy (for lenses up to 4" long). Please indicate if you need a regular size or a wide size (for full-framed cameras/lenses).

{Trisha's apron}

2012-01-05T14:46:00.003-07:00

Trisha is a friend of mine from church. Actually, I first met her when she was a student teacher for my oldest daughter's choir class a few years ago. Then when we moved back in March we ended up in the same ward and I got to know Trisha while we were both in Primary together. She just moved down to St. Maarten last week for her husband to go to medical school. I already miss her!

She asked me to make her a ruffly apron. She gave me a picture to base it on, so this is what I came up with. It's defintaely not perfect (shh, don't look too close), but it was my first time making an apron and I did make my own pattern for it. I loved the prints she picked out, so fun!

{Christmas crafting...}

2012-01-05T14:46:00.001-07:00

I've got a lot of catching up to do here. I was very busy with school this Fall, and although I haven't posted here for several months I did get some crafting in. I just didn't have time to post my projects here. So now that I'm done with school I plan to get caught up with showing you all the fun crafts I've made in the last few months.

These first two projects I made with some ladies from church. We get together every couple months & make some fun, seasonal projects. I had a Halloween & Thanksgiving craft too, but forgot to take photos of them before I packed them away.

This last one I actually made probably about 12 years ago, back when I was doing a lot of tole painting. This is probably one of my favorite nativity's that I display at Christmas time and it's the only one I've made.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and found time to spend with family and loved ones.

{B&W Patchwork Purse}

2011-09-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

This bag will hopefully be showing up in my Etsy Shop really soon. It is 11" wide at the bottom and 9" wide at the top x 11" high x 5.5" deep (front to back). The strap is 32" long. There is 1 zipper pocket and 1 slip pocket.

{A fun, birthday bag}

2011-09-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

I made this bag at the beginning of September for this beautiful girl's birthday. Her mother emailed me expressing the need for a bag for her daughter for school. They had looked around and hadn't found one that she liked until she saw my "K and C bags" that I had made for my girls for school bags.

The pictures that I took of this bag didn't turn out so Cindy was kind enough to take some of her daugther with the bag. Thank you so much Cindy! I hope your daughter loves the bag and will get a lot of use out of it.

{Patchwork pincushions}

2011-09-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Here's some fun patchwork pincushions that I made. I love how they turned out, and the greatest thing is that I just used scraps left over from other projects.

These first 3 pincushions are for sale...$5 each. If you are interested in purchasing one of these please contact me at: chelscraps@yahoo.com.

And this last one is mine. I love having a smaller pincushion to carry with me when I take my projects with me somewhere.

{Pennant banner card & farewell to SU!}

2011-09-30T10:42:00.001-07:00

Here's another long over due post. This was one of the projects that we did back in July for my Stamp Club. Honestly, I don't like how it turned out. It needs something else, maybe different colors or maybe different embellishments or just a different layout, I don't know what, but it is lacking something.

Speaking of that, I have decided to end my career as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. It's has be 12 years of fun, lots of learning, meeting tons of wonderful people through workshops, my clubs, my upline's meetings, and conventions, making some great friendships with amazing people, and lots and lots crafting. I appreciate all of the wonderful people out there that have taught me and I have taught. I won't actually go inactive as a demonstrator until the end of the year, but I am finished with my club and I am saying farewell to Stampin' Up!

Shelby DVD case

2011-09-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

I made this dvd case last month for one of my clients, but have just been so busy I hadn't had time to post it, so here it is. For those that haven't seen the past posts I make these dvd cases for my photography clients. They are much more attractive than a little jewel case!

Scrapbooking Program Giveaway Winner Announced!

2011-09-23T09:28:00.001-07:00

The winner of the My Memories Suite Digital scrapbooking program is: MarQuette. Congratulations!

Thank you to all of you who entered. Watch for a giveaway on my photography site next week!

Giveaway! (FREE Digital Scrapbooking Software)

2011-09-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

Would you like to win a FREE scrapbooking program? I am hosting a giveaway from My Memories Suite and they are offering one of my lucky readers a free download of their digital scrapbooking software. I made the scrapbook layout above with their program. This is our family picture that we had taken back in January. My friend Rebecca Eubanks took the photo. And since this is a crafting blog I feel the need to mention that my Miss Artsy, daughter # 3, made all of my daughter's headbands {I made mine}. They are all similar, but each a little different.

They have some gorgeous digital scrapbooking kits, like this one below. They also have album templates, papers, embellishments, an online photobook creator, a dollar store and FREE downloads.

My Memories Suite is also offering a discount to all of my readers. Use this code: STMMMS27552 when checking out to receive a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbooking Software, and a $10 coupon to use in the MyMemories.com store .

To enter this giveaway:
1. Visit the My Memories Suite site, browse through all of their fun products. Come back here and leave a comment telling me which is your favorite digital product from their site.

For extra entries:

You can "like" or "follow" on the following pages. Once you have done each of these, come back here and leave a comment for each of these tasks, for a total of 4 entries possible. (I'm sorry about the link issues earlier, I just re-entered them & they should be working now).
1. "Like" My Memories Suite on their Facebook page.
2. "Follow" My Memories Suite on Twitter.
3. And "Follow" My Memories Suite on their blog.
This giveaway will close on Friday, September 23rd at 9am and the winner will be chosen randomly from all of the comments and announced on Friday at noon. Please make sure to leave your email so I can contact you if you win.
Make sure to check back on the 23rd to see who the lucky winner is. I may also have another giveaway on that day...;)

Want to win a $100 gift card?

2011-08-22T16:28:00.001-07:00

(photo from www.whippycake.com)

Head on over to Whippy Cake to get in on this great giveaway to win a $100 gift card to their shop! It runs through the rest of this week & they will post the winner on Friday 8/26/11.

onesie dress & a burp cloth

2011-08-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

I made this little dress for my good friend, Marissa's new little one that will be coming soon, as well as a burp cloth and a little headband and hair clip.

birthday bags

2011-08-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

As you can see from many past posts I am addicted to bags. So here are some new ones. These two bags I made for some little neighbor boys. We got them some matchbox cars for their birthdays, but I wanted to make bags for them to carry the cars in also. We also used them for gift bags so they serve a dual purpose.

I thought they turned out pretty cute, but wish I would have made the plaid one a little wider. I also wish I would have appliqued thier initials on the bags as well. Now I know for future reference.

a new little one...

2011-08-16T15:57:00.001-07:00

These fun baby items were ones I made for my cousin's baby shower back in May. I have wanted to make one of these little "tie onesies" for a long time. They are so adorable!

I also made a changing pad and baby wipes case that fold and wrap up together. I found the tutorial for the folding changing pad here, which wraps around the wipes case and a diaper and closes with velcro.

Wallets ~ (some for sale)

2011-08-16T10:22:00.006-07:00

I've seen these clutches all over the internet and I love them. I've been wanting to make some for quite awhile. So this summer I finally got some made. The first one (at top) I made for my sister for her birthday. This second one (above) I made for myself. I love these fabric that I found at one of our local scrapbook stores, Scrapbooks, Etc.

The next two clutches are available to purchase. They are $15 each (plus shipping, if necessary). They each have a zipper pocket inside as well as 4 card pockets and they each have a zipper closure. They measure 8.5" wide x 5" high.

This last one (below on left) is for my daughter's best friend, for her birthday. She saw my daughter's wallet that I made for her birthday last year and fell in love with it and wanted one for herself, so my daughter asked me to make her one for her birthday.

If you are interested in purchasing one of the two that are available to purchase please contact me: chelscraps@yahoo.com.

another hobo bag

2011-08-12T23:14:00.000-07:00

Here's another fun hobo bag. This one I made for my daughter's friend, for her birthday last month. She loved it so much she wants me to make her more bags.

a t-shirt makeover

2011-08-12T22:45:00.001-07:00

(sorry, the picture is a little blurry and there too much light)

Last year our 2nd daughter was on the JV soccer team at her high school. When we ordered t-shirts we accidently ordered a child size shirt and sweatshirt for her so they were a little small. Well, they actually fit her little brothers (ages 9 & 7). That's pretty bad. I couldn't believe I had done that. So, to try to make it up to her I told her I would take in my t-shirt to fit her. She tried to talk me out of it, but I told her it was more important for her to have one than for me to.

I used one of her other t-shirts to measure for the size, and took it in to fit her! She was so excited! I hope you can see in the above picture how I cut down the large shirt. I cut the shoulder seam out first, to raise the sleeve higher on the shoulder, and then cut out the side seam all the way up to the end of the sleeve. Last I hemmed the bottom of the shirt.

And we made the shirt into a small, from a large and my daughter has a new t-shirt again.

some older cards...

2011-08-09T17:20:00.005-07:00

I thought that I had blogged these cards a long time ago. These first two are my daughters birthday invitations. I'm obviously very late on posting these. Both of these I made in Photoshop and added ric rac to Makyla's.

And this are from my April Stamp Club.

Red, White & Blue Banner

2011-08-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

So, I know I'm really late with some of these posts, but I'm trying to catch up with several projects that I worked on this summer. I made this red, white and blue banner for the 4th of July, as well as any other patriotic holiday. I didn't get to keep the banner up most of the month, because we had several dust/wind storms and it kept getting blown down, so I finally hung it up in my livingroom.

I plan to make birthday banners similar to this, but luckily I have several months before our next birthday!

dvd case redo

2011-08-09T15:25:00.001-07:00

So many of you know that I am a photographer as well as a crafter. I also sell Stampin' Up! and we have blank dvd cases that we sell for clear stamps. So I decided to get some and make dvd holders for the discs that I give to my photography clients. This was the first one that I made.

I made a little sleeve for the actual DVD. And then made a sleeve for my business cards. This was also perfect for me to add my print release on the left side. I like how this turned out, with the exception that the dvd slides out too easily.

banana bread~yummy!

2011-08-09T15:23:00.001-07:00

Last month I made this banana bread for my dad's birthday. He is hypoglycemic and cannot have sugar so my mom used to always make banana cake with fructose (a natural sugar that comes from fruit). She can't make it anymore, so I made it this year for him. This was the first time I made banana bread and it turned out really good.

I used this recipe here from http://allrecipes.com.

{another bag}

2011-06-29T13:38:00.001-07:00

Here's another one of the make-up bags that I made. This one is for my 15 year old. She's not into make-up at all, so she is just using it for other little things.

Here is what it looks like open. This one was the original size from the pattern that I used. I really didn't like how small it ended up. It's more narrow & tall and doesn't hold much, but my daughter doesn't seem to mind. She has used it several times already.

Click here to see the other make-up bag I made. There you can find the link to the pattern & tutorial I used.

{make-up bags}

2011-06-26T17:22:00.001-07:00

I have been planning to make some toiletry bags for my 4 daughters before our vacation this summer. Then my 13 year old girl has been begging me to make her a make-up bag, so I figured it was time to get busy.

I used the tutorial over here at Made! I did make some alterations to the pattern so I could make the bag a little bigger. So the first picture is what it looks like empty. The second is with some of her things inside {she was embarrased that I was posting this one online-mainly because of the deoderant-silly girl!}.

And here it is with it closed. I think it turned out really cute!

{Father's Day Basket}

2011-06-24T17:27:00.002-07:00

Here's another fun project I made for Father's day. I got the printables here! I chose the foods and candies that I know my hubby loves. The printable on the soda I got from here. This is my husband's favorite

{Father's Day Banner tutorial}

2011-06-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

I made this tie banner for my hubby and wanted to be able to use it again so I made it out of fabric rather than paper. I didn't really intend to make this a tutorial, but I think I have enough pictures that I may be able to show you all the steps. I'm not very good at explaining everything, so please email me if you don't understand something. I found the pattern for the tie & the idea for this banner here. She made hers out of paper, but, like I said before I'm showing you how to make it out of fabric.

1. Print & cut out the tie pattern.

2. Cut the tie out of fusible Wonder Under (you'll need to cut out 30-two pieces for each tie).

3. Next you'll cut the tie out of your choice of fabric. You'll need 2 pieces for each tie--one for the front & one for the back. Before you cut them out decide if you want your "knot" to go a different direction like mine is. If so then you need to cut your pattern piece and cut these out separately changing the angle of the "knot" piece when you cut them out. Do this only for 1/2 of the ties (just for the front pieces). You'll need the back pieces to be one whole piece to hold the whole tie together. Note: you do not need to cut the Wonder Under into two pieces.

4. Iron the Wonder Under to each tie piece. Make sure to tuck the bottom piece under the "knot".

5. Peel the paper backing off the ties (from the Wonder Under). I laid out my ties for one word & a time so I could see how close I needed them to be. Using a hot glue gun glue each tie to your choice of string. I only glued the top where the tie touches the cording, because the rest of it will be ironed together. I'm sorry I don't have a good picture of this part. I happened to have this cording that turned out to be perfect for this project. {I love it when that happens}! I glued all the fronts for each word ("Happy", "Father's", etc.) at one time. Then went back & glue the back's on. Does that make sense?

6. Next cut out your letters. I just went onto the computer, found a font that I love {I used this one}. These are some other good ones "My Own Topher" & "Howser". I opened a document in photoshop and sized them to the size I wanted. I typed out just the letters that I needed, printed them out, cut them out & then cut them out of my fabric.

7. Iron your letters onto the Wonder Under and cut out. Next, peel the backing off and iron them to the ties.

8. I wish I would have taken a good picture of the ends, but I just tied a knot with a loop so that I could just hook them onto a thumb tack. I hope that makes sense.

If you have any questions please feel free to comment here or email me at: chelscraps@yahoo.com.

{Alfredo Sauce-yum}

2011-06-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

For dinner tonight we had bowtie pasta with homemade Alfredo sauce, along with some veggies. I went to a class at Shar's Kitchen Store last month & learned how to make homemade fettucine & alfredo sauce. I was going to use it tonight, but I couldn't find the recipe anywhere. So I went searching on the internet & found this one at All Recipes. It is so yummy. We had used the Bertoli brand of alfredo sauce in the past, but it just wasn't very good so I had decided I needed to learn to make it homemade. Oh, my gosh. It is soooo much better than the store bought. I would honestly say it is as good as the the Alfredo sauce you get at Olive Garden.

{Love notebook}

2011-06-02T22:41:00.001-07:00

I made this journal quite awhile ago and I'm not sure why I didn't blog it, but here it is. I used some of my big shot dies to make the flower, leaves, & the "Love".

{Tiny plastic flower clips}

2011-06-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun baby clips I've made recently. They are only 1.5" long and have little gripping teeth inside to grab onto babies thing hair. I plan to get them up on my Etsy shop soon, along with many more.

{turquoise rosette}

2011-06-02T14:09:00.001-07:00

Here's another flower that my Miss Artsy made for another friend {can I just say that her friends love that she loves to make these flowers}.

I remember when Miss Artsy was only about 3 or 4 & I would tell my mom about times when she would get into all of my things and it would drive me crazy because my older two girls never did this. My mom would say "she reminds me of you, that's exactly how you were...always inquisitive, always wanting to learn. It's been fun to have one of my girls enjoy the same things that I do, although it does still drive me crazy that she still gets into all of my craft stuff.

{yellow rolled headband}

2011-06-01T22:59:00.001-07:00

Here's another one of my rolled flower headbands. I don't wear yellow very often, but I really like this one & it makes me want to wear it more often.

{my birthday headband}

2011-06-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

Here's another flower headband that my daughter made. She made this one for me for my birthday in April.

{boutique rosettes}

2011-06-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

My 13 year old daughter, Miss Artsy, made this adorable headband for her friend. I love how it turned out.

{glass etching}

2011-05-19T21:32:00.001-07:00

This week several women from church got together to do glass etching. I have seen this quite a bit lately and have wanted to try it for a long time even thought I hardly ever use my glass dishes. I use my stoneware more than anything, but regardless, I was so happy when they chose this as this month's craft.

I was so excited to do a fun design on my trifle bowl, which I'm sorry to say I have had for just over a year now and just opened the box the day before we did this craft. How rediculous is that?

I also wanted to etch my pie pan because I do actually use this one every Thanksgiving when I make pumpkin pies.

January Club Projects

2011-03-31T15:39:00.001-07:00

I am so behind on posting projects. This semester of school has really bogged me down and I haven't had much time for crafting, which I have missed greatly. I still have managed to do a little, but not nearly as much as I would like to. These projects are from our January Stamp Club.

This first little candy bar holder is madef from an envelope that is slightly larger than 5x7. It is called a bag-a-lope and you can find the directions here on Splitcoast Stampers. If you have never visited Splitcoast Stampers you must give it a try. It is a great resource for anything to do with any sort of paper crafting, 3d crafts, etc. They have tons of resources for techniques too.

red singed flowers

2011-02-02T21:23:00.006-07:00

Here are some more singed flowers that I made recently. This red & black one is for me & the red & white one is for my etsy shop!

I'm linking up to these fun link parties:

more yo-yo's

2011-01-29T22:09:00.009-07:00

These first two are very similar, I just reversed the green & pink fabrics & used different buttons.

I used vintage buttons from my mom's collections for all of these flowers. I was so excited when she gave me permission to raid her buttons. That probably sounds funny to many of you, but I love, love, love buttons {but not quite as much as I love ribbon}!

Someday, hopefully soon, you'll get to see the full version of this fun fabric. The center fabric here has the cutest print that reminds me of The Littlest Petshop animals. I used the scraps from a fun bag that I'm making for my 10 yr. old for her birthday, so when I finish that you'll be able to see the full version of this very cute print!

These last 2 were for a friend's daughter. On this one I used scraps from another bag that I am making for another one of my girls' birthdays. She kept trying to take the scraps of this fabric from me to make her own hair pretties, so I'm pretty sure I picked the right prints for her!

white shabby headband

2011-01-26T10:55:00.003-07:00

Here's another shabby headband that I made awhile back.
To see the vanilla one that I made click here.

Hair Bow Organizer

2011-01-20T21:21:00.004-07:00

this is a new Hair Bow Organizer that a friend commissioned me
to make for her last week. I love how it turned out.

Click here to see the other organizer I made previously.

we chose the colors from her daughter's bedding.

If you are interested in having me make a Bow Organizer for you they are $25 & you can choose the colors of ribbon. Contact me at: chelscraps(at)yahoo.com if you are interested.
I'm linking to these link parties:

more polka-dot flowers

2011-01-10T18:48:00.010-07:00

Here's some of my new headbands that I have for sale! See details at the bottom of this post. I call these "polka-dot" flowers because every layer is circles. And for those that don't know, I like to create my headbands with ribbon. The hard plastic or metal headbands give me headaches after just a short time and the elastic ones won't stay on my head (I must have an odd shaped head), so I found the solution...ribbon! I just simply tie them under my hair & wa-la!

{Brown + Yellow}

{Green + Turquoise + Red}

{Green + Brown}

Polka-dot Flower Headband ~ $5 {plus shipping, if necessary}
There will be a few more added soon!

note: my models are two of my beautiful girls!

theresa's bag

2011-01-09T21:38:00.003-07:00

Here's a new bag that I made for my friend Theresa. I love how it turned out.

Here is a close-up of the inside. It has 4 pockets, two large & two small. The small one are just the right size for a cell phone, lipstick/gloss, keys, etc. And it has a magnetic snap closure.

And here is my lovely daughter modeling the bag for me. Theresa wanted one the same style as my "Kristi bag", but with a longer strap to cross over her body & a little wider so she could carry a water bottle in it. It's a little long on her, because she is only 12, but it's not quite as long on an adult.

If you would like to order a bag with this style they are $35. Please email me to work out the details... chelscraps (at) yahoo.com.

a Christmas journal

2011-01-01T11:11:00.004-07:00

A couple of years ago I made a lot of these journals for Christmas gifts. You can see them here. This is not a good picture at all & of course I don't have these journals anymore so I can't take new pictures. I do have some others that I still have, so I'll take picture of those & add them here, so you can see some others that I've done.

This year my mother-in-law wanted me to make her a journal for Christmas. She's not a frilly kind of woman, so I left all of the fun tabs off. This one suits her personality much more.

Christmas fun

2011-01-01T01:17:00.005-07:00

We made these cute little Christmas mice to give to friends! My oldest daughter got one of these from a friend many years ago in elementary school and we've hung it on our tree every year. I thought this would be a cute, simple gift to give to our friends.

And this is a bigger version of the boxes we made for our December club. I just adjusted the measurements a little to make them big enough for the goodies my sister's and I made.

My sisters & I have an annual Sister's Baking Day. We made fudge, brownies, cookies, caramels, candy cane fudge & rolo pretzels. Click on the names that are in color to find the recipes on our sister's blog.

december club projects

2010-12-31T23:45:00.006-07:00

These are some fun little boxes that we made for one of our December projects. You can find the tutorial here. Watch for my next post that will have another version of these boxes that I used for my Christmas goodies.

And here's a simple, but elegant card that we made. I've been wanting to get this Texturz Template for my Big Shot for a long time and finally got it last month, so I had to play with it.

november club projects

2010-12-31T22:37:00.003-07:00

I know these are really late, but December was just so busy that I haven't had any time to blog. Now that I've had some time to recover from finals and now Christmas, I've finally had a little time to take pictures of the projects I've been working on and edit them to get them posted here.

So you'll be seeing several posts coming up here on this and on my photography blog.

This fun bag is made from a large envelope. The tutorial I followed here uses a regular invitation envelope. The ones I used are about 6x8.

more weaved headbands

2010-12-14T01:04:00.010-07:00

Here's a few more weaved headbands that I've made recently.

If you're interested in ordering one of these weaved headbands contact me at: chelscraps@yahoo.com

Weaved headbands ~$10 each

Your choice of a minimum of 2 and up to 4 colors of ribbon.

Silhouette Giveaway

2010-11-29T09:22:00.005-07:00

Here's another amazing giveaway!

Silhouette SD Machine

Head on over to the House of Hepworths today to get in on this giveaway!

Weaved headbands (purple & white)

2010-11-24T10:04:00.029-07:00

I've seen these weaved headbands on a few sites and have wanted to make one for a long time. A friend asked me last week to make a headband for her daughter & right away I knew what I wanted to do.

It was a little trickier than I thought it would be, but I always love a challenge and love to learn new things!

I added this little flower clip to the headband. I put the flower & toole on it's own clip so she could wear it seperately if she wanted to.

I love how these turned out, so I've already started on more of them. The next one I'll be posting has 4 different colors {white, green, black & lt. pink}. If you would like to order one see the price list below:

Weaved Headband ~ $10.00 each
Your choice of a minimum of 2 and up to 4 coordinating colors.
This does not include the flower clip.

Flower Clip ~$4.50
With or without toole {color choices will be listed soon}

Order both for $13.00 {save $1.50}

If you have any questions or would like to order one of these headbands and/or flower clips email me at: chelscraps@yahoo.com

polka-dot flower headbands

2010-11-10T22:21:00.012-07:00

Here are a couple more headbands that I've made recently.

If you would like to order one of these round flowers they are $6 each {plus shipping, if necessary}. Contact me and let me know what color scheme you would like {fabric patterns may vary, but I will try to find something as close to what you'd like as possible}.

I'm linking up to these link parties:

October stamp club

2010-11-10T22:04:00.008-07:00

These are the cards we made for my October Stamp Club.

I just realized tonight that I hit my 3 year blogoversary a few weeks ago. I can't believe that I've had this blog for that long. It's been so fun and I love sharing my creativity with others.

I'm linking up to these link parties:

Singed flower headbands

2010-11-10T14:20:00.010-07:00

I am sorry I have been away for so long. School, soccer & ortho appts. are really taking a lot of my time these days. Our Miss C just made the JV soccer team at her school. I am so proud of her.
I have had a little crafting time while sitting in the orthodontics office this past month {our 12 yr. old just got braces}. I have a bag with all the supplies for several different flowers that I make to take with me everytime I have an appt. to go to. I can't stand to just sit and do nothing while waiting forever and I am not a reader so I bring my crafts along. I also won a pattern for some little baby shoes {that are so adorable} & have several of those cut out. One of my niece's just had a little girl, so I'm planning to make some for her & I'll need to get a boy shoe's pattern to make some for another niece that is having a little boy in January. I'll get them posted here whenever I have time to actually sew them.

I have seen these all over the web and have wanted to make them for so long. I have discovered after trying to wear many different plastic & elastic headbands, that I just can't. They all give me headaches, so I have discovered the joy of ribbon headbands. I just tie them under my hair and I can hardly even feel them on my head.

If you would like to place an order for a Singed Flower they are $10 {plus the cost of shipping, if necessary}. Contact me with your choice of color {not all colors maybe available so contact me for more details}. Please allow 2 weeks for completed order, plus shipping time. Payment is due before order will be completed.

I'm linking up to these link parties:

craft room makeover

2010-10-10T21:37:00.010-07:00

I've been working on reorganizing my craft room for awhile now & for now it's finished. There's still more I want to do with it, but for now this will have to do. I have to warn you that I am a perfectionist, so you may find that I am a little crazy when it comes to organizing. This is what works for me & I hope you can find some sort of inspiration from my OCD.

This is a section of drawers with a lot of my crafting supplies in them. Most of them have labels on them now, but some are not finished yet.

This is the top of those drawers, where I have all of my tools, paint brushes, punches, etc.

Some of my drawers are for sewing and some are for other crafting (scrapbooking, stamping, card making, cross-stitching, crocheting, knitting, etc.)

This is my adhesives drawer. I have tape runners (I have a lot for my customers to use at workshops & my Stamp Club-there's even more than what you see here), glue dots, sticky strip, photo corners, glue sticks, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mod Podge, e-6000, etc. I have a few other bottles of different kinds of glue that are too tall for this drawer.

My glue gun/stick drawer

Photo paper, jewel & paper CD cases

This is my alphabet chipboard drawer!

Alphabet chipboard drawer close up. I have a little divider for each letter & then between the dividers there is a folded piece of cardstock so the little pieces don't fall down underneath the dividers. I can just lift that little folded piece of cardstock out & find the pieces that I need. I warned you about the OCD, it's showing now.

My embossing drawer holds my heat tool, versamark ink pads, several different embossing powders & some shimmer paint. A good friend taught me years ago to put the powders in these containers & it's such a great idea. I have a plastic spoon in each container to scoop the powder with. This container system makes it so much easier to dump the excess powder back in.

For some reason I didn't take a picture of my huge white cabinet, but this is one of the shelves in it. It houses my packages of cardstock, current stamp sets, retired stamp sets, cross-stitch supplies, silk flowers, my large die cuts, and many other items that aren't really organized yet.

These are my current stamps...

My cardstock!

It's pretty depleted since SU! retired so many colors this summer, but I'm working on building it back up slowly.

Here's another drawer, with memorabilia in it. We have 2 drawers for "family memorabilia".

And then each child has their own drawer. These are for me to add to their scrapbooks as I create pages. Eventually I will replace each of these drawers with the nicer white ones shown above.

My ribbon spools. Some of you may have seen this here in an earlier post, about how I organize my ribbon.

And this is how I organize my cardstock scraps. I have a file drawer just for this purpose. Each SU! color has it's own file folder, so whenever I need a scrap of a certain color I just go to that folder and pull out what I need.

My thread.

I purchased an awesome new sewing machine eariler this year and with that came the purchase of a new brand of thread. I finally learned that when you buy a pretty pricey sewing machine it deserves only the best thread, so there's another thing I'm working on replacing. I gave my old machine & the many, many spools of thread I had to my friend Kristi. I do still have a few spools of the Coats & Clark brand (shown on the right) for hand stitching, but for all of my machine sewing I've switched over to the Guitermann brand.

This little spool organizer I bought at Walmart & I think it was about $10, but I don't remember for sure.

This beautiful bookshelf was a yard sale find several months ago.

And this is right above that bookshelf. More drawers...with sewing supplies. Divided shelves for my printed papers, SU! business binder, a binder for my bag patterns that I design, catalogs & a few other items. Above that I have my ribbon scraps {there's a close up of that below}, & my stamp pad organizer. This was an old cassette tape holder that my hubby got for Christmas back when we first got married. Yes, I'm dating myself. They don't even sell tapes or tape players anymore...thank goodness for new technology.

I purchased the 5 larger jars (one is hiding behind the brown/black jar) at Goodwill. If I remember right I paid about $10 for all 5 (it was half-price day!) . I originally bought them to use for my sisters bridal shower, but thought what a waste it would be to just store them away in a box after the shower & wanted to find a use for them in my craft room.

I must have had scraps of ribbon in 5 different places until I finally decided to combine them all together. I love how these jars look with the ribbons in them.

This is in the closet. I bought this bookshelf at Ikea & I LOVE it! I made the little circle tags cheap tags you can buy at any office supply store. I used ribbon & glue dots to attach them to the books, and stamped my kids initials on cardstock circles {I also wrote the number of that album on the tag to keep them in chronological order}. Each child has their own color {my 4 oldest are girls, so they have the amethyst, lt. blue, dk. pink & lt. pink & my boys have green & dk. blue-these were their favorite colors at the time I made them}. You can see an earlier post on how I made my fabric bolts here!

You can also see my ironing board tucked away on the left side of the picture. There's just enough space there for it there.

I just recently added these new drawers. Most of them are not filled yet (so no tags yet), but these ones will have mostly sewing supplies in them.

And these jars sit on top of the bookshelf in the closet. There's more jars for the other colors of buttons & another one of the short jars for little flowers & other pretties.

Like I said it's still a work in progress, but it's getting much closer to what I want for this room.

I'm linking up to these link parties:

A crafting vacation...

2010-09-24T00:40:00.007-07:00

No, I'm not going on a crafting vacation {unfortunately, I need that in a bad way!}, but rather I have had no time to do any crafting this week. Life has been very bogged down with school & soccer this last week.

For those that don't know, I am in school, majoring in Web Design. This week, for my Web Development Class, I began writing xhtml code {so cool}, to design a website! At this stage it's nothing exciting to show you, because I just followed a tutorial to learn the whole process! But the fun part is that I'm already being able to insert code into the html here on my blog & change things to look the way that I want them to!

You can see the crazy & fun things I'm learning in my Computer Photographic Imaging class here. The link is a blog specifically for the projects for that class! Let it be known that, in my opinion, Blogger is sooo much more user friendly than Wordpress. I'm sorry to all those out there that love Wordpress, but I am not one of them!

Three of my six children are playing soccer this season & we have practice 4 nights a week, plus games on Thursdays & Saturdays. So you can say soccer is taking up some time on our calendar these days! I just went to Miss C's game tonight {our 14 yr. old} and they lost, but she played the best I've ever seen her play. I love watching them play & I'm so proud of her! It just dawned on me that I still haven't even taken a picture at a game yet & we are 3 weeks into the season! That will change & I'll get one up here hopefully by next weekend!

Well, I hope to be back soon with some fun crafting/organizing projects! I have a big organization project in my craft room that I just finished, 3 cards that I made for events last week, and I did promise a tutorial on my rosette headbands, so watch for that as well!

lots of pretties

2010-09-13T22:23:00.007-07:00

Here are some of the flowers that I made while we were camping this summer. Like I said before I don't like to sit around & do nothing, so I took some little sewing projects with me.

My sister, Heather, made this one. She saw me making these yo-yo flowers & wanted me to teach her, so this was her first one.

I thought this one was really cute. The button in the center is from a new set from Stampin' Up! I love their new buttons.

I decided to combine the yo-yo & a rosette flower on this one.

My 14 yr old daughter took a sewing class last semester & she made a skirt out of this green & brown fabric. So we wanted to make a flower to coordinate with her skirt. I'll have to take a picture of her skirt & post it. It turned out really cute!

This one is made out of knit instead of a cotton fabric. I like how it turned out. The different fabric sure makes it look different!

My sweet little M (my 10 yr old daughter) was my model!

Sewing pattern giveaway

2010-09-13T16:30:00.003-07:00

Head over to

to enter her giveaway for a fun sewing pattern...

Hope Giveaway

2010-09-13T00:14:00.003-07:00

I just found an amazing giveaway, but this one is so much more.

Please head over to...

Lisa, over at Keefer Style Creations is having a giveaway for a beautiful hand stamped necklace. She makes jewelry to support her mission efforts to go to Haiti & help the orphans there. They are trying to build another orphanage for a group of girls that lost theirs in the earthquake back in January. Please go visit her blog & her etsy shop see how you can help her in her efforts.

a new corkboard

2010-09-09T13:12:00.004-07:00

I've had this piece of a corkboard haning in my bedroom for several years. It started out a little nicer than this...still not something I wanted hanging in my bedroom. I needed something to keep my kids schedules & some other important items on.

Before...

and here's the

After...

I used blue, cream & brown ribbons to coordinate with the colors in my bedroom.

Some of these were the scraps from this fun project!

I love how this turned out!

I'm linking up to these awesome link parties...please take a few minutes to visit their parties and see the other great projects.

Organizing Bows

2010-09-08T20:19:00.006-07:00

I've had this project on my crafty "to-do" list for a long time!

I used a painters canvas that I bought at Michael's a couple of years ago & used a bunch of fun ribbons that I got at our local Ruffler's Roost Ribbon's & Lace store. You can go here to get to their blog! This is one of the most amazing places on earth! Those that know me well know that I LOVE ribbon, so it's like heaven in this store to me!

Our kids bathroom is green & decorated with frogs, so I wanted something to coordinate with it, because I wasn't going to put frogs on this. I loved how these colors look together!

This is a very small portion of our flowers, these just happen to be the ones I've made recently!

I'm linking up to these awesome link parties...please take a few minutes to visit their parties and see the other great projects.

black rosette headband

2010-09-07T08:00:00.002-07:00

As promised, here's another one of my rosette headbands that I made last week! I love this one just as much as my white one! I put this on this black ribbon, I guess you'd call it. It's much thicker than any ribbon I've ever seen. My former neighbor moved suddenly about a month ago & she gave me a bunch of trims she was getting rid of & I found this in that stash.

I actually made this one to fit my head exactly with a little overlap & then I sewed velcro to the ends so it just velcro's together. The only problem with this is that my teenage & pre-teen girls want to wear it & it's too big for their little heads. I guess this means I need to make more!

Through my lens giveaway

2010-09-06T22:47:00.004-07:00

Head on over to...

Lisa Leonard's-It's the Little Things giveaway

to get in on this amazing giveaway!

Lena's Pattern Giveaway

2010-09-03T12:26:00.003-07:00

I hope you aren't sick of hearing about all of these giveaways, but I like to share when I find something that others might be interested in.

So if you are interested head on over to:

to enter the giveaway for one of Lena's adorable patterns for baby booties & more!

Easy Peasy Giveaway

2010-08-31T21:12:00.004-07:00

Here's another fun giveaway offered by:

Click here to enter her giveaway for one of three items.

I'm torn between this one...

or this one...

shabby white rosette headband

2010-08-28T19:32:00.005-07:00

I think I finally found the type of flower clips & headbands that I LOVE! I love how all the silk flowers & yo-yo's flowers look, but I love the toned down effect of these rosette flowers! They are a little more subtle, which is much more my style! I made this headband with the same type of flowers that I made this shirt with!

You'll be seeing more of these soon because I've already made a black one & a brown one as well!

As requested I will do a tutorial on these rosettes soon & I will also have some available to purchase for those that are interested!

I'm linking up to some of these great link parties! Please take a few minutes to visit their links & see the other great projects linked there!

Another Amazing Giveaway

2010-08-26T23:16:00.003-07:00

Head on over to:

Craftopotamus

for an amazing Quilt giveaway! Trust me, it's beautiful & you're going to want it. But, even if you don't & you enter & you win, you can donate it to me, jk ;)! I know you'll want it!

{if the link to the picture doesn't take you to the giveaway blog post, click on the linked name}

shabby headband

2010-08-26T21:28:00.007-07:00

This post was featured over at Tickled Pink! Thank you Holly!

Ok, so I made this headband about 1-1/2 months ago, while camping. I am the kind of person that can't stand to sit & do nothing, so when we went to my family reunion back in July I had to bring some projects with me. Of course I had to have something that was small enough that it wouldn't get dirty. One time, many years ago I actually brought my scrapbooking stuff with me...needless to say, I brought it out once & quickly realized how hard it was going to be to keep everything clean.

I got this idea & followed the tutorial from Heart of Light. I used a fun fabric that I have had in my fabric stash for many years.

I found that I can't really wear this with just any outfit, but I did find an outfit that it looks great with & I really love how it turned out! My daughter is begging me to make her one now!

Linking to the following link parties {Please take a few minutes to see some of the other great projects at these parties}:

Kootoyoo's My Creative Space

A giveaway

2010-08-26T00:26:00.002-07:00

Head on over to:

to get in on a...

gift card giveaway!

While you're there take a few minutes to hop around her blog a little...

she's got some fun projects too!

Rosette shirt

2010-08-25T11:18:00.006-07:00

Here's a fun project I just made yesterday. I have been wanting to make one of these fun shirt redo's for a long time. I was going to make one with floppy flowers, but decided to do these rosette's instead.

I purchased 2 of the same shirts. They were only $3 each at Walmart. I wanted the V-neck shirts, but they didn't have any in a color that I wanted, so I went with the round neck. So for only $6 I have a new blouse, that doesn't look like anyone else's.

Sorry about all the wrinkles...I didn't have time to take pictures before I had to run off to my first day back to school, so I took them after, and you all know how things get wrinkled just simply by wearing them!

As requested I will do a tutorial on these rosettes soon & I will also have some available to purchase for those that are interested!

I'm linking up to the following linky parties. Please take a few minutes to visit their amazing sites & see what other fun projects are featured there.

Happy Crafting,

the wheels are turning

2010-08-24T23:03:00.008-07:00

Here's one of the cards from my Stamp club party that met last week.

Linking up to the following Link Parties:

a delightful birthday

2010-08-21T09:00:00.006-07:00

This is card #5 from last week's card class.

Card #1
Card #2
Card #3
Card #4

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Curly Cute
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Basick Black and Daffodil Delight cardstock. Sunny Garden DSP
Accessories: Big Shot die cut machine, Flower Fusion die cut, pearl, glue dots, scallop trim border, Pear Pizzazz 1/2" stitched-poly ribbon

I hope you enjoyed the cards from my card class. Come back soon to see the ones we made for my Stamp Club last night!

Linking up to:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac133/cerise422/sewcandoPARTYbuttonworking.jpg"/>

you're a great friend...

2010-08-20T09:00:00.004-07:00

Here is card #4 from my card class last week.

Card #1
Card #2
Card #3
Card #5

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Great Friend
Ink: Poppy Parade
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pear Pizzaz, Daffodil Delight, Sunny Garden DSP
Accessories: 1-1/4" square punch, scallop trim border punch, stampin' dimensionals

Make sure to check back tomorrow to see card #5!

Linking up to:

an "owlie" birthday

2010-08-19T10:00:00.007-07:00

Here's card #3 from my card class.

Click here to see card #1.
Card #2
Card #4
Card #5

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Birthday Wish
Ink: Tempting Turquoise
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pacific Point, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black
Accessories: Ex-lg. Owl punch, Real Red grosgrain ribbon, brights designer buttons, linen thread, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals, wiggly eyes

Come back tomorrow for card #4

beautiful birthday

2010-08-18T10:00:00.007-07:00

Here's card #2 from last week's card class. Click here to see the first card.

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Flower Fancy & Curly Cute

Ink: Marina Mist, Basic Black & Always Artichoke

Cardstock: Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

Accessories: vanilla taffeta ribbon, pearl, stampin' dimensionals, glue dots, aqua painter

Come back tomorrow to see the next card!
Card #3
Card #4
Card #5

shabby {for you}

2010-08-17T11:33:00.012-07:00

Here's one card from my card class I had last weekend. I had a great turn out & had a lot of fun with some great ladies. I'll be posting a new card for the next 4 days as well, so come back to see the other fun cards we made.

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Great Friend
Ink: Poppy Parade
Paper: naturals white, daffodil delight & kraft cardstock, sunny garden dsp
Accessories: 1-3/8" circle punch, white 3/8" taffeta ribbon, glue dots

Card #2
Card #3
Card #4
Card #5

Linking up to:

Razzled Beauty

2010-08-17T10:00:00.002-07:00

Supplies:
Stamp set: Of the Earth (retired hostess set)
Ink: Versamark
paper: Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Cottage Wall DSP
Accessories: Razzleberry polka dot grosgrain ribbon, chalks

July Stamp Club cards

2010-08-06T00:23:00.006-07:00

Here are my cards from my club that just met last week! I love this new owl punch...isn't he so cute!

For this card I used:

* Curly Cute clear stamp set
* Pear Pizzaz cardstock
* Sunny Garden Designer Series Paper
* Poppy Parade stamp pad
* Two-step Owl Punch
* Two-step Bird Punch
* Pear Pizza 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon
* Early Espresso, Whisper White & Kraft cardstock
*Stampin' Dimensionals

This technique is called Burnishing. My dear, sweet friend, Melissa just taught me how to do this technique last week so I wanted to try it out! I tried to find a tutorial on Splitcoast to link to, but I didn't see one. Basically, you stamp the images & then use sponge daubers to rub the ink where you want it. I think it makes it look similar to fabric or a chalk effect.

For this card I used:
* the Flower Fancy stamp set
* Elegant Eggplant & Whisper White cardstock
* Elegant Eggplant, Regal Rose, So Saffron & Wild Wasabi stamp pads
* Black satin ribbon
* Sponge Daubers

homemade fabric bolts

2010-08-05T22:36:00.010-07:00

This is the most amazing idea I have seen in awhile. I found the idea at The Little Green Bean blog! I have been trying to find a solution to my fabric storage needs for some time now.

I have A LOT more fabric than this, but these are the ones that I wanted out so I could see them all the time.

Eventually I will get another Ikea bookcase a little smaller than the one I have these on so I can have the rest of my fabric stash out in the open.

Before I had them just folded & stacked on top of each other, but this way I can see every fabric.

So the idea here is to take foam board (20x30) and cut them down to 10"x 7.5". Because it's foam board the pins can stick right into the board if need be. Check out The Little Green Bean's Blog to see the tutorial.

Linking to:

This post was featured at:

Silhouette Craft Cutter giveaway

2010-08-05T13:52:00.007-07:00

This is the Silhouette Craft Cutter!

This

This is an amazing giveaway for one of these cutters & it is going on at several great blogs. Visit: U Create, Tidy Mom , Dollar Store Crafts, Sugar Doodles, V and Co., Shabby Chic Cottage, The Idea Room, Craft Gossip, Homemade by Jill, Censational Girl, Cupcake Project, Infrarrantly Creative, Skip to My Lou, A Soft Place & Mom Advice to get the details about how you can get this amazing cutting system!

You can cut out vinyl!

Make all kinds of paper crafts for scrapbooking, card making, party decorations, etc.

An awesome giveaway!

2010-07-26T00:23:00.003-07:00

Head on over to...

for a great giveaway from...

...she has some beautiful items that she makes!

recovering...

2010-07-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

We just got home last night from my Pulsipher Family Reunion up in the White Mountains! We had so much fun & almost didn't want to leave! We got to see & visit with so many of my cousins that I haven't seen in a very long time. We have this reunion every summer, but some of my cousin's have moved out of state so they don't get to come as often.

This is a little tree frog that my nephew, Corbin found! Isn't he adorable?

And here's just a taste of how dirty all the boys got! This is my oldest boy, S-man! He is 8 & definately all boy! The boys (especially this one) were just in heaven being able to play outside all day & not sweat to death! S-man loves to play outside & still does even in our 110 degree heat so being up in the mountains where it was so much cooler was really nice!

{Kirstin} Bag

2010-07-02T18:24:00.006-07:00

I named this bag the Kirsten Bag after on of my dear friends that I have known for 18 years.

I'm linking up to these parties:

My Craft Space {July 1, 2010}

2010-07-01T12:33:00.009-07:00

In My Craft Space today I am sewing.

I just finished this bag, commissioned by a friend of mine. It is almost just like my Heather's Bloom Bag, but she wanted it a bit bigger & she wanted a cross-over strap.

I am linking to the following link parties: Kootoyoo

Go take a look at what others are making this week!

Happy Crafting,

Cheesecake

2010-06-20T22:58:00.002-07:00

We've decided to make it a tradition to make cheesecake for Father's Day, because it is one of my husband's favorite desserts. It also happens to be my brother-in-law, Darin's, favorite too. I'm not sure that this one is their favorite, but it was still a hit. I don't think it was as good as the one we made last year, but I couldn't find the recipe I used last year either, so we made due. My 12 yr. old daughter did most of the work with a lot of "Mom" supervision.

Anyway, here's the recipe we used:

Plain Cheesecake Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9 inch spring form pan by wrapping the bottom with two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Spray the pan with non-stick spray. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, two tablespoons of sugar, and the cooled butter and press firmly into the bottom and halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Place the prepared spring form pan into an oven-proof pan that it can fit into and is deep enough to use as a water bath. Set aside.

I didn't make my crusts, I just purchased pre-made ones. Honestly I think the homemade ones are better!

Plain Cheesecake Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened (we used light cream cheese)
3 eggs at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (we used "Real Lemon", not fresh squeezed)

Our eggs & heavy cream were not at room temperature, we just put them in because we were in a hurry. This is probably why the cake didn't turn out as fluffy & thick. Oh well, it was still good!

With an electric mixer on medium (we used my Bosch mixer on speed 2), beat the cream cheese for several minutes and then add the cup of sugar and continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and creamy. Make sure all of the cream cheese is well beaten. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. (My daughter accidently put all 3 eggs in at the same time, I'm not really sure what difference it makes, but it still worked).

Stir the lemon juice and vanilla into the heavy cream until well blended. (may be a little lumpy).
Add the cream mixture to the cream cheese mixture and mix well at medium speed. Scrape down the sides and beaters periodically so that the mixture is smooth.

We didn't do the following the way the recipe called. I don't have a springform pan, so we put ours in the pie pans that the crust came in & then placed them on a cookie sheet. It worked great. I baked them for 45 min. on 375 degrees (I increased the degrees because of the way my oven bakes).

This is what the recipe said to do:
Place the spring form pan inside the other pan and fill the outer pan with enough hot water to put it halfway up the sides of the spring form pan. (make sure the foil is securely around the pan so it doesn't allow water to get into the cheesecake). Place the two (2) pans into the oven on the middle rack.
Bake about 45 minutes or until it is golden brown and the edges are firm to about 1 inch in on the pan.
Turn off the oven and open the door slightly but leave the cheesecake in the two pans inside the oven until they are cool enough to touch. After cooling to this point, it should be firmer and no longer jiggle when moved.
Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack after running a sharp knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake (but do not remove the rim yet). After cool, chill in the refrigerator at least four hours. Remove rim of the pan before serving.

Because we were in a hurry we let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes & then put them in the freezer for awhile to cool quickly. Then we added fresh strawberries & "light" whip cream! Yum!

Crocheted Headband or Ball Giveaway

2010-06-18T11:54:00.002-07:00

There is a fun giveaway over at:

Head on over there & see the cute crocheted items that she is giving away & join in the fun!

3d Flower Birthday Card Tutorial

2010-06-17T22:24:00.012-07:00

In this tutorial I will show you how to make a fun 3d flower & a button out of cardstock!

Step 1: Stamp a definition stamp 3 times on white cardstock (close enough together that there won't be spaces in between). Another option is to use a printed paper with text or script all over it. I used Stampin' Up!'s Define Your Life stamp set!

Step 2: Turn the scallop circle punch upside down so you can place the text inside the scallop just where you want it to punch. I used Stampin' Up!'s 1-3/4" scallop circle punch! This can also work with other flower shaped punches like this one or this one.

Step 3: Repeat step 1 & 2 to have enough for 3 flowers.

Step 4: Turn the flowers over & spray lightly with water, making sure to get the whole flower sprayed. Make sure to spray on the backside of your cardstock so the ink doesn't run. I used a trial sized spray bottle that I bought at Walmart & just filled it with water.

Step 5: Using a Bone Folder , roll the paper around to break down the fibers & distress the edges! For those that haven't used a bone folder, this is a great tool to have. It can be used to score a card, get a very nice crease in your card when you fold it, and to distress the edges of many projects, such as this one.

Step 6: At this point you can just leave the edges turned up or crinkle the paper like I did for a more distressed look. Then adhere the 3 flowers on top of each other with Glue Dots!

Steps 7-11 makes the button. This is a fun technique that surprisingly looks like a real button.

Step 7: Punch four 3/4" circles out of black cardstock.

Step 8: Glue all four punched circles together, layering them on top of one another. I used Crystal Effects, but you can use any strong adhesive that isn't going to come apart easily.

Step 9: Using a Crop-a-dile to punch 2 small holes (with the smaller hole punch) trying your best to get them even. Yes, my crop-a-dile is not Stampin' Up!'s, but I purchased mine at a local scrapbook store before Stampin' Up! started selling them.

Step 10: Using embroidery floss feed the thread through one hole & then through the other. Then tie a knot in the thread.

Step 11: Trim the thread so the ends won't show under the button. Or you can leave the ends a little longer than I did if you want them to show.

That's it for the button, pretty simple huh? Now you can make a button from any color of cardstock that you want!

Step 12: Make your stem by cutting a very thin strip of your choice of green Cardstock (I used Mellow Moss, but it is retiring & no longer available to purchase). Then tie some Artichoke Grosgrain Ribbon around for the leaves.

Step 13: Stamp the background with any large design & Versamark ink (this is probably my favorite ink of all time) to your choice in colors of cardstock for the background (I used Almost Amethyst, which is retiring & is no longer available). I used the large background stamp from the Baroque Motifs set. Adhere the stem & flower to the card & then adhere the button to the center of the flower using glue dots!

Step 14: Punch along a thin piece of your color choice of cardstock with the Scallop Edge Punch (I used Barely Banana, which is retiring & already out of stock). Then adhere this piece to the inside of the card just showing the edging of the scallop.

You can add a sentiment if you'd like, or just leave it blank! I used the "Happy Birthday" stamp from the Happy Moments Sale-a-bration stamp set (which is no longer available).

If you'd like your ribbon stem to stay in a specific spot just add a mini-glue dot to the back and place it where you want it to stay.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial & I would love to see your creations using these techniques! Just leave a comment with the link to your project!

I'm linking up to:

Thanks,

My Craft Space {June 24, 2010}

2010-06-17T15:48:00.006-07:00

Today in my craft space I'm reorganizing just a little. Most of you who follow my blog here know that I am a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, what you may not know is that I am addicted to ribbon. I LOVE Ribbon! This being June, Stampin' Up! is retiring A LOT of products. Well, I usually sell most of my retiring products, but I usually keep all of my ribbons (with a few exceptions).

I keep all of my current Stampin' Up! ribbon in these SU! ribbon holders, which you can see is getting pretty depleted ;(. I have already cleaned out the ribbons that SU is retiring, so that's why they are so empty.

My non-SU! ribbons, or those that have been retired, I put on the ribbon holders below. I got this fun ribbon holder at Michaels. It is normally only $19.99, but of course, I used a 40% off coupon & got it for about $13. Awesome deal! The organizer below the ribbon holder is from Ikea!

Well, I had a bit of a problem when I needed to add my SU! ribbons to the ribbon bars, because the whole in the center of the ribbon spool isn't quite big enough for the bar to go through. So...

I took my handy craft scissors & cut the whole a little bigger! It doesn't look pretty, but...

Once they are on the rods you can't even tell. I love how full these rods are getting.

Now it's time to fill up my SU! holders with all of the awesome, new ribbons they are coming out with!

I'm linking up to the following:

Kootoyoo &

{Stamp Fest Cards}

2010-06-16T22:13:00.003-07:00

These were some of the cards that I made for 2 events that I had and then I made up the rest for swaps at my manager's downline meeting that I went to last night!

This was the original one I made with the Rich Razzleberry cardstock, but decided I didn't like how it turned out so I changed it to look like the ones above!

There will be another card that I made for my events coming soon, with a tutorial to show you some fun techniques!

{Bags, Bags & more Bags}

2010-05-16T00:10:00.005-07:00

Here are some sneak peeks of my bags that I'm selling on Etsy.

This first one is the Kristi bag! This one is named after my good friend Kristi, who now lives across the street from me {Yay!}, and it is also named for my SIL, Kristi {my only brother's wife}! This is a medium sized bag.

This one is the Ila Bag {medium sized}, named after my dear Grandma Pulsipher. She is my grandma on my mom's side of the family and she passed away back in December 2003, just 6 weeks before I had my last baby. It was a tough time for me and I wasn't able to go up North for her funeral, because I had just gotten out of the hospital with pneumonia and was still recovering and one of my girls had it as well, so we thought it was best not to go up to the snow and chance either of us getting sick again. I miss her so much and can't wait until I can see her again someday.

This is the Becky tote, named after one of my cousins-in-law. This one is a large tote style bag.

This is the Mary Blossom Bag {medium sized}, named after my SIL on my husband's side of the family!

This is my Heather's Bloom Bag {medium sized}, named after my baby sister!

This is one of my newest bags that I just finished recently. It is not up on Etsy just yet, but will be in the next day or two {along with another new one I just finished a few days ago}. This one is my Ashlee Bag, named after one of my many awesome niece's. This bag is pretty small.

If you would like to see more information about these bags please visit {Rachelle's Place}~My Etsy Shop.

{Anne Bag}

2010-05-15T23:10:00.005-07:00

This is my Anne Bag, named for a dear sweet friend from church, who holds a special place in my heart. Anne is a very busy person, but still found the time to help me overcome a great fear of mine. She is an absolutely amazing person and a wonderful friend and I wanted to make a very beautiful bag designed with her in mind. So here it is.... By the way, I did end up keeping this one, partly because I fell in love with it & partly because I wanted to redesign the next one to have the opening be a little bigger, the pockets a little smaller & a few other improvements. Yes, I admit it, I am a perfectionist. But if it's not good enough for my taste then I know it's not good enough to sell.

In choosing the names of my bags I have tried to remember all of the friends that I've had with these names and another good friend from my high school days came to mind...Anne Booth! Anne & I were in the same Stake growing up {I was her JC~Junior Counselor, at girls camp one year}, and we worked at the AMC Fiesta 6 Movie theater in Mesa, together for a little while. I've tried to find Anne on facebook a few times and haven't been able to so far. I don't know what her married name is, so that has made it difficult. Regardless, Anne was a good friend and was always so cheerful. I don't think she had a single enemy. She was a great example to me!

You can see by these pictures that the pockets do need to be a tad smaller.

As always, I added a keyfob!

happy creating,

{Cammi Bag}

2010-05-15T22:44:00.004-07:00

This is the "Cammi Bag", named after one of my girls! I actually made this bag about 4 months ago. I made a few mistakes in designing the pattern (it was a very tough pattern to figure out) & the instructions. Anyway, I designed this pattern to fit my "pattern" book that I carry with me everywhere. It's my inspiration book that I have all of my pattern designs in and I keep swatches of fabrics that I want to use with it. This bag fits everything that I normally carry with me on a regular basis.

This is the back of the bag, showing the outside pocket. I keep my cell phone, pen, pencil & sunglasses in here for easy reach. This was one of the first bags I made, so I hadn't thought of the cell phone pocket yet. But I will certainly add that in with the next one! It also has a cross the body strap, which I love!

An up close shot of the ruffles {which I love}.

The inside, showing the one pocket! This is a fairly compact purse so there's not much room for lots of pockets. I designed it more as a simple bag.
I'm hoping {with all of my extra time this summer-lol} to perfect this pattern and have some in my Etsy shop {where you can see the bags I have for sale} soon.

National Scrapbook Day

2010-04-29T10:03:00.003-07:00

For those that don't know this Saturday, May 1st, 2010 is National Scrapbook Day. This happens every year on the first Saturday of May. No as you can see from my blog I haven't done much scrapbooking lately. As a matter of fact I really haven't done any since I started school almost 2 years ago. But that will change this weekend. I am bound & determined to get some scrapbooking done. I am going to an all day crop at the Scrapbook Barn here in Gilbert. I'm also hoping to participate a little in this...

I've taken a few classes drom Jessica Sprague & they were awesome! I would highly recommend checking out her website & join in on the festivities this weekend if you'd like.

If you get any pages done this weekend please share you site in my comments section. I would love to check them out!

Announcing the opening of {Rachelle's Place}

2010-04-11T23:26:00.004-07:00

Hello, I finally got my Etsy shop set up & have a few bags on there that I've finished recently. Please go visit my new shop & help me spread the word. I would greatly appreciate it if you would add my link to your blog, facebook, other social networking sites or just simply tell your friends about my shop.

I hope to be able to get more items on there really soon. I have several flower & ribbon hair clips & some more bags that I'm working, on so make sure to come back often to see new items.

I do accept custom orders so please "convo" me to have me write up a customer order specifically for you. If you live locally you're welcome to email me with a custom order as well.

Check out my shop at {Rachelle's Place}!

to link to my site use this url: http://www.etsy.com/shop/rachellesplace

Julieana Tote

2010-03-21T20:51:00.003-07:00

I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I've been so busy with school & life & making lots of new bags. I've got my Etsy shop set up and am in the process of getting my new bags on there. I'll post something here with the link to my Etsy page as soon as I get them on there.

This is a new bag I just made. I've named it the Juliana Tote (after one of my many awesome cousins). I gave this bag to my sister tonight as an early birthday present & she was so excited. She asked me several months ago (like 6 or 7) to make a tote bag like mine (& my daughter's bags) for her to use for her church bag. So I finally got around to making one for her.

I put 2 pen/pencil pockets in this bag & an attached keyfob!

There's 2 large pockets on one side.

With the 2 pen/pencil pockets & another large pocket on the other side.

Miss C's Sewing Organizer!

2010-01-16T17:10:00.005-07:00

This is a little sewing organizer I made for Miss C for her sewing class! I thought this would help her keep her sewing tools from getting mixed up with the others in the class. For anyone who knows Miss C, you know that she's a worry wart! So I thought this would help make her life a little easier...to always know where her supplies are & that they aren't getting mixed up with everyone else's (which is something that she would worry about)!

I specifically designed each pocket to fit the tools she had to provide! There's one extra pocket there, just in case.

To see more photos of the pincushion you see, click here! I used the fabric scraps I had left over from this bag & crayon roll, and ribbon that I already had on hand, so it really didn't cost me anything to make.

I'm linking up to:

Miss C's pincushion!

2010-01-16T17:03:00.004-07:00

My 13 yr. old, Miss C, is taking clothing this semester at school & she had to purchase some supplies, one of which was a pincushion. Well, I have wanted to make another pincushion since this one I made a few months ago. So this is what I came up with!

This was some material I had left over from Bekah's purse & crayon roll! I think it turned out pretty cute! Make sure to see the sewing organizer I made for her to use as well!

Spidey & Lightning Scripture Bags

2010-01-13T12:47:00.009-07:00

This last Christmas I took the Handmade Pledge, but instead of just buying handmade, since I am a crafter at heart, I wanted to make as many gifts as possible. This was a little difficult as I was very busy with my photography business, so it left me with little time to create. But I really wanted to make some things for my kids that they really wanted or needed. I had some great ideas for my girls...2 of them had already asked for the school bags that I made them. I knew I could also make flower clips, headbands, or any type of jewelry & they would be happy. But what would I make for my boys? That task was a little harder.

My oldest boy, S-man (8 yr. old), was baptized on the 19th of December & as tradition we give our children their first "real" set of scriptures with their names engraved on them & a scripture bag, for their baptism. Well, the bag I bought S-man barely fit the scriptures & I knew it wasn't going to last long. The bags that would have fit better were more expensive than the scriptures themselves & I couldn't see how that made any sense at all...so I thought this was something that I could make for him...but what about Mr. C (my 5 yr. old)?

Well, the day after S-man's baptism when he grabbed his scripture bag (the one I bought him) as we were heading out the door for church, Mr. C insisted that he have a bag too. So he headed back to the bedroom & went in search of a bag that he could carry to church. Well, the only one he could find & was satisfied with was big sister, Missy M's, little pretty, flowery scripture bag. So he went to church with that! This was when I decided that he needed his own "church" bag as well. Both of the boys were so excited when they opened their bags on Christmas day & that really did my heart good.

You can't really see it in these photos, but I made a pocket out of the printed fabric on one side of each bag, but it was a little too short, so it doesn't really hold much in it. It's still there, but I'll be adjusting the pattern a little to make it deeper next time, so it will hold items in better.

The Spidey & Lightning fabric I used on these bags were scraps left over from these bags that I made for my sisters boys back a few months ago. It's amazing what little scraps can be used for, so don't throw those little pieces away, unless they are truly too small for any project!

Simply Crafting,

I need ideas...

2010-01-13T12:39:00.003-07:00

I'm looking for some ideas for a jewelry box for my daughter. She has two tiny little jewelry boxes & I'd like to make something for her so she could put everything together in one box. It doesn't need a spot for necklaces, just for earrings, rings & bracelets. She has a lot of each of these & most of them are pretty large.

I would like to re-purpose something, as I have been trying to be "green"! If you have any ideas or have seen something please share the link!

Any ideas????

Thanks for your help!