Hearts...

They aren't just for Valentine's Day! I made this card as a "thinking of you" that I sent to someone recently.

 

The little tag on the front says, "I wish I were there to give you a hug."

I used a heart die cut and ran it though my Cuttlebug to emboss it and attached it on the inside. I wrote my note on the right hand flap. I hope it cheered my friend up. What's better to use than a heart when you're thinking of someone and letting them know you care?

So, before you go storing all your cute heart stamps that you used for Valentine's Day, make a few "thinking of you," "hello," or "thank you" cards!

Yummy Treat Recipe!



If you are dieting or on a health food kick, LOOK AWAY! This is a delicious treat that's quite addictive. My husband ate at least 1/2 of it and he doesn't even like cranberries. Yeah, it's that good. The other 1/2 was protected to give as gifts. OK, now that you've been warned...

 

White Chocolate Holiday Crunch

("Holiday" because you just change the colored M&M's on top for the appropriate season!)

 

This yummy stuff is Rice Krispies, white chocolate bark, toasted almonds, dried cranberries, seasonal M&M's and semi-sweet chocolate drizzled on top. It's not healthy. If you want the recipe, you can find it HERE. I found it on Pinterest and tried it- it tastes fantastic, it's easy, and makes a great gift for friends, neighbors and teachers.

I packaged mine in cute, hot pink chevron bags and sealed with a "hug & kiss" sticker. Once it was gone, my husband started begging for more. Sorry, babe, gave up sweets for Lent. ;)

Do you have any yummy recipes to share? I'm always on the hunt for good ones- as long as they are easy! I have tried some crock pot recipes (found on Pinterest) that are really good and my kids will eat them! I'll post those another day. ;) Enjoy!

Happy {Heart} Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! My Valentine's this year also included a picture of the kids, and Walter dog. Look at Walter's face... he's so ticked off that I made him get in the group photo. He wanted a solo shot. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of my homemade Valentine, but I did remember to photograph the gift I made.

 

I made some really cute lavender filled sachets for gifts.  

 

Each muslin bag was stamped with hearts on the front and back. Then, I filled the bags with dried lavender. I used a tapestry needle to attach the felted balls to the strings of the bags. They turned out really cute and smelled heavenly!

 

Then, I wrapped them up in a pillow box, tied with satin ribbon and attached my own personalized sticker. 

 

I think the gifts were a hit! I love to make stuff, and I think it's even more fun to give the gift when a friend isn't expecting one. How did you spread the love this Valentines Day?

Mr. and Mrs.

Hey there! I made this card last summer and I am just now posting it. That's how busy things have been. This was a simple card I made with leftover scraps of vellum, white, ivory and kraft papers. I punched the edges and adhered them and just stamped "Mr. & Mrs." in chocolate ink.

 

I hope to have my Valentine projects up soon! I have a few! ;) Enjoy your night!

Quick Cards

Good morning! I have been trying to send cards more often... for birthdays, to cheer someone up, sympathy, new house, births, etc. but, with little time, creating something to send can sometimes be daunting, not to mention intimidating. So, I have been trying to send a more simple, streamlined greeting. Here are a couple I just recently made and sent...

 

"Feel Better" was sent to little Miss H who has not only had surgery, but has been sick on top of it. I tucked a fun package of stickers inside in hopes to cheer her up a bit.

Supplies: patterned paper, bright pink envelope, $1 feel better stamp from Michaels, heart stamp from Paper Smooches (colored, cut, applied Glossy Accents).

 

"Congratulations" was sent to a friend that just moved into a new house. This card was so easy to make- a scrap of paper, stamp and a clay house attached that I found on Etsy. 

Supplies: 4bar card and blue envelope, scrap strip of paper, Congratulations stamp (ancient from an Anna Griffin set) and clay house from KittyRobot on Etsy.

 

At this rate and level of ease, maybe I can start sending more cards! Enjoy your day!

Happy Everything!

OK, epic fail on keeping the blog posts going... life has just been busy. End of story. And... I spend a lot of time on Pinterest. So, before the crafty posts begin, I wanted to share a few pictures...

These three cuties are my kiddos. This is the picture I used for my Christmas card.

*Note to self: always take photos at the end of October when the weather is nice, the leaves are gorgeous. Then, bribe kids with candy or ice cream... or in my case, both. Picture gets done, photo card gets picked out and it's ready before December gets here. Genius!

Here's my family on Christmas Eve. My kids are getting so big and time is going so fast that I might throw up. Somehow, I still manage to stay in my twenties. Weird, I know.

 

This was the best "surprised" photo I got on Christmas morning. We all had a fantastic Christmas spent with family, but this picture is a prize! Mac got his favorite soccer player, Renaldo's jersey. He was more that a little thrilled!

So, now that you've been filled in from last post to now, I can start posting some crafty goodness, and maybe a few bad boy Walter stories here and there- that dog is a mess! Enjoy your Sunday...

Here I Am!

I know... It's been a while. A looooong while! Things have been busy and they are just about to get even busier. But, before they do, I wanted to fill you in on what's going on. Get a snack and a cup of coffee or tea... this one is lengthy.

First off, after our beloved yellow lab, Wrigley passed away, I found myself lost without a dog. It was awful. I wondered the house trying to figure out what I was suppose to be doing. Our home just wasn't the same without a dog. So, we got another yellow lab and named him Walter. He was 8 weeks old when we got him and he is 6 months old now.

Walter is the worlds worst dog. Think Marley, but worse. Somehow, he won our hearts over with his funny personality and warm eyes. He has tons of energy and is generally a bad dog. Thank goodness he's so cute. He's growing by leaps and bounds, and quickly! If it's possible, he's even a bigger mama's boy than Wrigley was.

The kids started school in August. Mac is in 4th grade, Anna is in 2nd and Elan started kindergarten. For the most part, they all like school. Elan tried to find excuses to stay home with me for the first month- my tummy hurts, my eye hurts, I'm too tired, we don't learn anything at school, etc. He went anyway...

This past October, I finished my second full marathon. I ran in Columbus, OH and finished 43 minutes faster than last year! I was so excited that I finished in under 4:30 (4:27:45). Two of my brothers surprised me on the course at mile 17. I was so surprised and excited. It definitely gave me the energy to finish the race strong.

 

My sweet Anna made her First Communion a couple of weeks ago. She looked like an angel and we were so proud of her. She has had a rough start to the school year with some emotional ups and downs, but she is getting better and on this special day, she was floating!

Stephen shot his first buck this year with a bow and arrow. We were all so proud of him! The kids were ecstatic! This week, over the Thanksgiving holiday, he took each child out individually to hunt. No one brought home any meat, but they saw plenty of wildlife and had a great time. 

I have been crafting plenty... sorry... no pictures. I will take some soon though. I'm making Christmas gifts this year, so I will share what I can! ;) I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for so much, but mostly for my family, my strong faith and my health. Life is so good.

We say goodbye...

Wrigley

4-26-02 to 7-7-12

Yesterday, we said goodbye to our beloved yellow lab, Wrigley. Wrigley was 10 years old and our first "child." My three brothers gave him to Stephen and I for our wedding gift. He turned out to be the best gift we could have ever hoped for. Wrigley was sweet, gentle, funny, friendly, neurotic, so toerrant, and made our family so happy.

Elan and Wrigley watching a show together.

The big Wrig put up with so much: kids laying on him, dressing him up, poking out his eyes, examining every orifice, fingers in his mouth and ears, the list goes on... and he never minded one second of it if his kids were happy.

Anna snuggling with Wrigley.

Wrigley had many blankies and toys. However he didn't care much for "dog" toys. He loved the homemade blankets and stuffed animals that his kids shared with him. He would carry his current favorites all over the house and even into the back yard.

Mac and Wrigley on the beach.

We took Wrigley for his first and last beach trip last year. He loved it! I loved how he always stayed with one or all three of the kids, almost as a protector. He was always guarding the kids when they were little: next to the crib when they were babies, alongside the stroller and bikes when they got bigger. He loved the kids, everyone was his friend and he never harmed a fly... he may have even been afraid of them!

I'm going to miss my shadow... he was a member of the family and a best friend. He was always something good to come home to, a soft thing to pet, love and cuddle. He always understood when something was wrong or if someone was sick because you would get extra love at those times. I hope he knows how much we loved him and how much he is missed already.

I love you, buddy.

Mini Album/Art Journal Kit

Good morning! I just put together a mini album for myself to create a "pieces of me" book. I choose papers and embellishments that I love that are bright, cheerful and fun. The papers are trendy and full of texture and even a couple flocked transparencies.
Anyway, as I was putting together my mini album, I realized I had enough stuff to do a few more. So, I have 3 kits up for sale in my Etsy shop. The kits are $20 each and come neatly packaged full of papercrafting happiness. This would make a great gift for a papercrafter too!

As you can see, there is a lot of stuff in this kit! There are over 20 pages of decorative paper, pockets, envelopes, transparencies, and cute papers! Vintage buttons, colored twine, felt embellies and more!

Visit my Etsy shop, Crafty Paper Girl for a full description and more photos.

Long Time...

No see! Holy smokes... I've been away waaay too long! Sorry 'bout that! Not that I haven't been crafting, I have, just haven't had any spare moments to post any creations! It's the end of the school year and we have been busy: soccer ended and swim team began, school ends for the year Thursday and summer begins! Yippee! I love summer... no schedules, grilling out, lazy days by the pool, sleeping in past 6:30, and... Marathon training begins.
Before you sign off from pure boredom in my everyday life, I have a couple thank you cards to share:

Love how this one looks so rustic. I used a chipboard "marquis" and punched the PTI sentiment with my large circle punch. Added a little ink, some buttons and twine.

Easy peasy... love this flower stamp from Paper Source! I've used it a ton- very versatile. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches and I used a Copic to color in the loops. Added some blue pearls and voile!

This card literally took me a few minutes. Layer some pretty paper, add a sticker, cut a scrap piece of paper into a flag and stamp it. Sentiment is from a Hero Arts set. Added a pearl and some Lime Twist twine and BAM! Done.

So, I hope you feel inspired! Whip up something crafty today! Enjoy...

Balloons!

I made this birthday card for a friend. I didn't forget her birthday, but I did forget to put the card in the mail. I hat it when that happens! Anyway, I love how it turned out and got to color with my Copic markers! The balloon stamps are from Papertrey Ink and I just cut them out and mounted them on some cute, cloud vellum paper (American Crafts), then embellished with cloud chipboard from Studio Calico.

Enjoy your day, hope it's sunny where you are!

Happy Easter

From our family to yours,

many blessings for a happy Easter!

Happy Birthday...

To me! It's my birthday today! Thought I would share a card I made over a month ago and never posted. I love the felt embellishments from Sassafrass on this one:

Short and sweet! Now I'm off to have my birthday!

March in a Nutshell...

The month of March seemed to fly by for me. It was busy to say the least. So, here we are on the first day of the new month... a few things to share before we head full steam into April:

Our beloved yellow lab, Wrigley had to have some surgery to remove a tumor. Sadly, he has cancer and we found out that the tumor will grow back quickly. He has nerve cancer and it's apparently a fast growing type. He is doing well now and isn't in any pain, so needless to say, this is going to be his best summer ever! I love that big, furry Mama's boy!

I am continuing with my running. Yesterday was the last leg of the Louisville Triple Crown with the Papa John's 10 miler. It was a tough race through a very hilly Iroquois Park, but I finished strong and my brother, Adam kept me going. I beat last years time by almost 20 minutes- that's HUGE!

April 28 will be the Derby Festival Marathon and miniMarathon. I'm ready... running has become a part of my life and a part of my schedule. In March alone, I have run over 68 miles! I will be training all summer long with super long miles on the weekends to prepare for the Columbus, OH Marathon in October. Here I am in my first Marathon in Chicago, an experience I will never forget. 

Mac participated in the St. Baldrick's head shaving/fund raiser again this year at his school. He raised $525 and went over his goal to fund research for childhood cancers. We are so proud of him and his tender heart makes all of us smile! Here's a before and after picture... no teeth and now, no hair!

Lastly, I got a part-time job. I was offered a position at Paper Source. I'm only working 1-2 days a week and I took the job because I felt like I needed to be around creative people. I gain inspiration and gather ideas every time I work! Not to mention a really great discount! ;)

So, it's been busy. My stationery business has also taken off quickly in 2012. Lots of new designs and I plan to have a 20% off discount code as soon as the Facebook fan page reaches 200. If you're on Facebook, click like on the Paper Doll Stationery page!

A Birthday Card

Lately, I have been making lots of birthday cards. I have been stock piling them for when I need a special card for a special someone! I have been using SRM birthday stickers to make my job a tad easier and Papertrey Ink dies to stick them on.

All put together on a couple layers of pretty paper! Here's a similar one with different colors:

Do you LOVE that music note paper from My Minds Eye? It's practically singing the birthday song for you! So, now I have a few birthday cards in my stash... I just hope I can remember to send them out! ;)

Papertrey Blog Hop!

Good afternoon, crafty person! Today is the Papertrey Ink blog hop! They provided us with a photo challenge, which I LOVE! One of my favorite colors is yellow, so this was a wonderful inspiration photo for me! 

Make something wonderful using that photo above?! No problem-o! It's so happy! So, this is what I made:

I used the new AC Dear Lizzy Neapolitan paper (the yellow polka dots), Maya Road ruffled ribbon, a scrap of silver glittery paper that I used a border punch on and the buttons, stamp, ink in Shadow, die cut and twine are all Papertrey Ink. The stamp was a complimentary exclusive stamp and I love it! I have used it so many times and it fits perfectly in that label die!

If you want to participate in the blog hop or just see all the creations to gain some inspiration, CLICK HERE. Have a happy Sunday, friends!

I did some scrappin'! I know you are surprised... it's been a while. This is Elan and some of his many hats. He loves hats, helmets, hoods, and plays the part when he has one on! I captured a picture or two for every season from last year and it was so fun to compare how much he has grown.

Supplies: White and Kraft cardstock, Smash polka dot tape, Studio Calico cloud chip shapes and Mister Huey in white, AC Dear Lizzy paper garland, Fiskars punch, SEI letter stickers, Chipboard letters, and

October Afternoon stickers and letters.

I hope to scrap some more very soon! I have pictures printed and everything! It's just finding a couple hours to make something wonderful! Hope you find some time this weekend to create.

Enjoy, and GO CARDS! ;)

Cards for Boys

Mornin', y'all. It's so beautiful here this morning! Spring has sprung! Just a quick share today, cards for boys! It's so easy to make pretty pink girly cards, but boy cards are a bit more challenging! Here are a couple I made fairly quickly:

I made this one for my nephew, Bo. He just started wearing big boy undies! I added treats and stickers inside the envelope for a little something extra. All kids love to get mail!

All stamps are from Papertrey Ink.

This one was for a new baby boy in the family. I just used scraps from my Echo Park kit, a few stickers and punched and inked the star before adhering with foam tape.

That's it! Get out and enjoy the weather! I'm running the St. Pat's Dash tonight and then heading over to a local Irish pub for my St. Patrick's Day "taper." He he...

Making Tile Coasters

Good morning, friends! Last week, I had a friend over and while we drank coffee, nibbled treats and chit-chatted, we made some tile coasters! It was so much fun and so easy! I made several sets at once to save for gifts. So, I'm going to show you my easy as 1-2-3 step process:

Gather your materials:

4.5 inch square tiles from Home Depot- $0.16 each!

1 jar of Mod Podge- we used the matte finish- $6.99

1 Can of Krylon Sealer to spray over the finished coasters

1 Bottle 3in1 Glue by Beacon

Sponge Brush

Pretty Scrapbook Paper

Felt (for the bottom of the coaster)

First, I decided what paper I wanted to use. Then, I got into my felt stash. I have so much felt that I was able to match my paper to the felt. I cut all my paper in 4.25 inch squares and then used my paper as a guide to cut my felt squares.

Then, I glued my felt to the bottom of each tile. Use your 3in1 craft glue for this part. 

After your felt is glued to the bottom of your tile, you're ready to adhere your pretty paper. Apply a coat of Mod Podge on top and then lay your paper on to adhere it. Smooth it out with your fingers and then add another coat of Mod Podge to the top and edges.

Once the first layer of Mod Podge is dry, add another coat and then repeat. You should do at least 3 coats of Mod Podge.

When you're finished with your last coat of Mod Podge and it's good and dry, take all your tiles outside and line them up. I put mine on our deck. I placed them very close together and then sprayed the Krylon sealer on them. I went back and forth a few times to make sure that I got them all real good. 

The spray finisher dries very quickly, about 30 minutes. Once the tiles are dry, you can stack them and package them any way you like. This is how I did mine:

Simply tied with beautiful satin ribbon in a coordinating color. This set was done with the owl paper and moss satin ribbon from Paper-Source.
This project did take some time, but I also made 7 sets of 4 coasters. So, if you plan to make a bunch as gifts, set aside a full day and do the process with a friend or while you have a bunch of laundry going! ;)
Enjoy your day!