11/29/2010

Birthday Card

My brother celebrated his birthday last Friday.  I made this card for him:



Lift of Mary Kay Seckinger's Happy Birthday, Emily! card on Two Peas.

Supplies:  kraft cardstock; American Crafts lace paper; Basic Grey chipboard star; StazOn ink; Making Memories letter sticker.

11/25/2010

Turkeys

I was inspired earlier this week to scrap photos of Dylan and his friend working on their Turkey plaques:


Supplies: Tiffany Tillman's Simple 'n Straight template and papers by Jen Allyson & Karen Funk from Design House Digital Fall Blog Hop kit; labels (recolored) from Michelle Underwood's Bright Smiles kit; fonts.

After the boys had completed their handprint on the plaques, Stacey and I helped them make an extra print on a piece of white cardstock.  We added beaks, wattles and legs to them with markers.  Then scanned the turkeys for Thanksgiving cards: 


On the inside of Dylan's cards, I printed the same poem that's on the back of the plaques (returning to the original wording of "it comes with...").  I helped him write "Love, Dylan" with crayon and then he added his own personal touch, coloring each one:


Happy Thanksgiving!

11/24/2010

{Made by Me} Wednesday

A festive card from Cameron Crazy to get us in the mood for Thanksgiving tomorrow:


Love the warm colors and how she cut out the stamped images.  Whether you've been working on something that is holiday related or not, share it in this week's {Made by Me} Wednesday fun by linking your creative project below (linky tool is open until Tuesday, November 30th).  Share anything (cards, decor, scrapbooking, sewing, etc) even if it was made last year.  So long as it's new to the party and made by you, it qualifies.  Looking forward to seeing what you've made!

11/22/2010

Altered Jar: Beach Memories

A few of the treasures I returned with from our beach trip were lots and lots of seashells plus a bag of sand. I decided to use some of the sand and a few of my favorite small shells to create an altered jar.


This was so easy and fun, I'm thinking I might do one for future beach trips too changing the style & size of the jar. 

Supplies: jar (from Michaels - $1!); sand & shells from the beach; white cardstock; Making Memories tag rim & eyelet; Brush Script Std font; Blue Moon Beads sandfish charm; hemp cord.

11/19/2010

Boo Hoo Owls

Last week a couple of my mommy friends and I got together to let our boys play while we crafted.  Allison had found a cute post on another blog about making Boo Hoo owls so she, Stacey & I decided to give them a try.  Basically, they are small fabric owls with rice filler that you can warm or chill them to help ease your little one's boo boo.

As with all projects that sound simple, this one ate up a little more time than we expected (of course, there was the bit of distraction of having 3 toddlers in the room, lots of toys, Cheerios everywhere and curiosity about what the mommies were up to).  We had all raided our bins of fabric scraps to share.  I sketched a quick pattern.  We each picked a few fabrics, cut out pieces and time was up.  Here's where we left off when all 3 owls were momentarily together (mine is the far right - yes, as you can see, I totally do this in my own special way LOL):


Before I had a chance to get any more progress made, I saw Allison's blog post [which, the above photo was totally stolen from ;)  ] and realized that I had some seriously big crafty shoes to fill.  My ego swelled to say the least.  And thus, nervously, I ventured onward alone to finish up my little owl (taking to heart Allison's final comments on putting these together - thanks for the tips!).

I started by attaching the belly fabric with a zig zag stitch around the edges.  Next I opted to skip the fabric centers for the eyes and instead used buttons.  I hand sewed the buttons and felt circles in place:


I thought about hand stitching the beak, but quickly changed my mind.  I followed the general outline of the triangle, guiding it under the machine foot just inside the edges.  I didn't like the look after once around so I stitched it a second time intentionally staying close the first set of stitches, but not following them perfectly.  I wanted a bit of a rough look and it worked well as the edges gently frayed a bit during the "laps" under the machine foot.

With the front features sewn on, I pinned my two fabrics together with the printed sides facing in.  I machine stitched almost all the way around leaving a small hole to flip it right side out and add the rice.


I used my pinking scissors to trim the fabric close to the stitching.  Flipped it right side out.  Filled about half way with rice and then hand stitched the opening to close it up. After it was done, I gave it over to Dylan for an inspection:


He seemed to approve and has toted it around a bit.  Thankfully, we haven't needed it for it's official "boo boo" duties yet.

And here is my completed little owl:

11/17/2010

{Made by Me} Wednesday

The unique ideas from my crafty readers never cease to amaze me.  Loving this one shared in last week's {Made by Me} Wednesday from Diamonds, Fur and Laundry:


What a clever way to reuse a favorite bit of a ruined shirt and add a bit of pizazz to a sweater!  What crafty ideas do you have?  Share in this week's {Made by Me} Wednesday fun by linking your creative project below (linky tool is open until Tuesday, November 23rd).  Share anything (cards, decor, scrapbooking, sewing, etc) even if it was made last year.  So long as it's new to the party and made by you, it qualifies.  Looking forward to seeing what you've made!

CSN Stores Winner!

The winner of the CSN Stores $75 gift certificate is ...


Comment #64 was posted by tyson2468:


Hope your little guy enjoys the new workshop!  :)  Congrats! 

Thanks to all who entered!

11/15/2010

Handprint Turkey

Since our ghost footprint plaque was so much fun to make but had to be packed up until next fall, Dylan & I got together with some friends, and pulled out the paints again to make a new plaque to hang in it's place.  Ready to give the house a festive look for Thanksgiving is our Handprint Turkey:


Isn't he adorable? My favorite part is how excited Dylan gets about it.  If you ask him where his turkey handprint is, he'll point directly at it and babble excitedly. Sometimes a few claps are thrown in too.  :)  Adorable.

On the back, is a cute little poem we found on the internet (not exactly sure where credit is due since I found it in multiple searches)


We altered it slightly (changing "It comes with" to "It's made with"), printed it onto cardstock, handwrote each boy's name, date & age and adhered using mod podge.

Supplies: wooden plaque (6-3/4" diameter); acrylic paints; paint brushes; coordinating ribbon; staple gun; white cardstock; Mod Podge.

11/12/2010

NC Zoo

Last weekend, we took Dylan to the NC Zoo for the first time.  He had a wonderful time and (not too surprising), I took a LOT of photos.  I quickly set my mind on a 2 page spread for his album and skimmed online galleries for ideas.  A design by donnaz at Two Peas about another zoo grabbed my eye as it neatly included 12 photos.  I lifted the overall layout with a few tweaks.  (Click image to view larger.)


Supplies: Kate Teague's November Fall Freebie kit; Deena Rutter's Maybe v6 paper pack; Carina Gardner's Baby Mine kit; Tiffany Tillman's Tears Set 1; 2paws Designs's Scalloped Edge Strips; Rhonna Farrer's Celebration kit; Pupcat, 2ps Crate & Arial fonts.

11/10/2010

{Made by Me} Wednesday

I have so many fabric remnants from various projects - I really need to try this great tutorial from Handmade By Annabelle to make a rag basket:


What have you been working on?  Share in this week's {Made by Me} Wednesday fun by linking your creative project below (linky tool is open until Tuesday, November 16th).  Share anything (cards, decor, scrapbooking, sewing, etc) even if it was made last year.  So long as it's new to the party and made by you, it qualifies.  Looking forward to seeing what you've made!



This linky list is now closed.

11/08/2010

Lucky 7

Trent and I celebrate our 7th anniversary today.  The post title "Lucky 7" came from my friend, Laura.  It sounds much nicer than the "7 year itch" and fits us better.  We're very lucky indeed.

Here's the front of the card I made for him:


Supplies: Stampin' Up (navy) and miscellaneous (white) cardstock; Making Memories patterned paper, chipboard heart, letter stickers and edge scraper.

11/06/2010

Digital Scrapbooking Day Freebie

Typically my freebies fall on the last Friday of the month (yes, there is a method to my madness around here).  But seeing as today is Digital Scrapbooking Day, I felt like it was a great day to give away another template.

This one is a recreation of an 8.5 x 11 traditional page I made a few years ago about a trip to the Grand Canyon.  I used my Bamboo tablet (something I really need to use more often!) to doodle leaves similar to the foam stamps I used on the original.  All in all, the template contains 9 layers including the leaves and the definition style title.

Click here to down the 12x12 Adventure template

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

11/05/2010

Floral Card

I made this card a few weeks ago for our friends' wedding:


Supplies: Stampin' Up Fast & Fabulous stamp set, inks: Marina Mist, Night of Navy & Old Olive, cardstock: Night of Navy & Kiwi Kiss; miscellaneous white cardstock; EK Success border punch.

11/04/2010

CSN $75 Giveaway

The holidays are fast approaching which means gifts and parties.  To help get your shopping started, CSN Stores is offering one of my readers a $75 gift certificate!  What would you do with $75 in free money?  Buy a gift for yourself or someone else?  Perhaps you need a new bar stool or a new diaper bag.  Whatever it is, with over 200 stores, CSN most likely has what you are looking for.

How do you enter? Simple - leave a comment on this post and tell me what you would buy with your gift certificate. You can use the gift certificate at any of the CSN stores so the options are limitless.

Want to gain additional entries? Here are a few ways:
  1. follow this blog
  2. follow me on Twitter - @2pawsdesigns
  3. follow CSN Stores on Twitter - @csnstores
  4. tweet about this giveaway using "I want to #win the CSN Stores #giveaway from @csnstores & @2pawsdesigns! #contest http://bit.ly/cuTYyn Please RT" (valid for extra entry once per day)
  5. blog about this giveaway
  6. "like" 2paws Designs on Facebook
  7. "like" CSN Stores on Facebook
  8. Share a project on {Made by Me} Wednesday - worth 5 entries!  (note: valid for 5 entries each week during the two weeks of the giveaway ... totally a possible 10 extra entries maximum.  You must leave a new comment for each of these entries.  Just note "{MBM}Wed #1" etc.)
For each additional entry, please post a new comment. Ie, if you tweeted or blogged about the giveaway, come back and post a link. Thanks and good luck!!

Giveaway is open to all US and Canadian residents 18 years or older. Ends Tuesday, November 16th at 9:00pm Eastern time. Winner will be picked by random.org and announced on Wednesday, November 17th. Winner must provide an email address so CSN Stores can contact them with the gift certificate code.

Note: CSN Stores contacted me with this promotional opportunity. I received no compensation.

11/03/2010

{Made by Me} Wednesday

One of many things I love about {Made by Me} Wednesday is seeing the variety of projects that get shared.  This digital layout by Cameron Crazy is too sweet:


Now it's your turn to join in this week's {Made by Me} Wednesday fun!  Add a link to your creative project below (linky tool is open until Tuesday, November 9th).  Share anything (cards, decor, scrapbooking, sewing, etc) even if it was made last year.  So long as it's new to the party and made by you, it qualifies.  Looking forward to seeing what you've made!



This linky list is now closed.

11/01/2010

Hybrid Airplane Birthday Card

Dylan and my dad both share a love of planes.  Thus, an airplane card seemed perfect for my dad's birthday last month.  I had fun mixing my digital and traditional supplies (even digging through my scraps) to put together this cute hybrid card:


I started with a plain white card (I have a whole pack of these I bought at a craft store - so easy to decorate for any occasion).  I measured it and created a new page in Photoshop to match the size - 5.5 inches wide by 8 inches tall.  I added a guide to mark the horizontal center (ie, the fold) and then filled the area beneath it in white to create a mask for the front of the card design.  Next I added the digital cloud page onto a new layer.  I used the transform tools to rescale it and then clicked Ctrl-G to create a clipping mask.  I also changed the opacity to 80% to lighten the image a bit.  Then I printed it out on the card.


My original intent was to have the cloud paper print full bleed to the sides and end.  Unfortunately, it came out with white borders.  I decided to continue ahead with the borders but you could easily play with your printer settings to correct that and even print the image to the entire outside of the card (front & back) if you want.

The next step was preparing the stamped image.  I used black ink to stamp the plane onto three scraps of paper - white, red and yellow.  I cut out the various plane parts from the red and yellow papers then glued them to the white.  After all the pieces were in place, I trimmed the white cardstock flush to the colored pieces.


Using the remaining white cardstock, I sketched out my design for a wavy banner and added the message with small rub-on letters.  It didn't quite fill the space so I adjusted my banner length and then outlined it with a fine tipped black marker.


I cut out the banner with my x-acto knife cutting just beyond the black lines. Using a straight needle, I punched two small holes in the corners on the straight end.  I threaded a single piece of black thread through them.  It spans the two holes in the back.  I pulled it outward and tied a knot.  Then glued the knotted end behind the airplane. Finally I used adhesive backed foam squares to add the plane and banner to the card.  On the inside I finished the sentiment off by stamping "happy birthday."

Supplies: white card; Kitty Designs Cherish kit; miscellaneous white and yellow cardstock; We R Memory Keepers patterned paper (red); Imaginisce stamp; StazOn black ink; Doodlebug Designs rub-on letters; Micron black pen; black thread; adhesive backed foam squares.