The Creative Post

Master Bedroom Makeover

New bedding purchased through Kohl's on-line.

The chandelier that I purchased on-line through Pottery Barn.  I wanted a light that was rustic to mimic the iron work in my sleigh bed but also have a touch of elegance.  I love the crystals and iron combination.

The walls of the room went from a green and white sponged to a warm coffee color (Laura Ashley). My goal was to take this room from soft and feminine to warm and elegant.

BEFORE:

AFTER: Coffee color warms the room. A chair to be placed in the corner next to the bed for reading.

BEFORE: Green and white sponged walls that were painted many years ago when sponging was popular. I was so tired of the color and texture.

AFTER: The new Laura Ashley Coffee Val-spar paint warms the walls and makes the bedroom more elegant. The lamps were changed out from metal lamps with beige floral beaded shades to elegant lead crystal lamps with sleek white oval shades trimmed in black. The beautiful floral arrangement was made by my talented mother.

I snagged a pair of these beautiful, lead crystal lamps from Home Goods for $59 each.  They are heavy and absolutely gorgeous in person. A great find, especially when Deb and I saw crystal lamps priced at $400+ at Restoration Hardware today. My lamps are a bargain find!

Another view of the room, the swan on top of the armoire has found a new home. I forgot it was still up there when began taking the pictures.

I love the pleats and embroidered design on the comforter.

The sheets and pillow cases are creamy white accented with chocolate embroidered scroll design.

Some of my favorite trinkets placed on my dresser. I love trinkets that open up to hide or place small gifts. The bird and frog trinket boxes were found in Fredericksburg, VA.  The crystal designer tea light holders were recently bought at Home Goods.

 

 

Father's Day Card

This card was made for my father.  He is not only my Dad but my friend and hero.  In my eyes, there is no greater man on the face of this earth than my father. 

Several years ago, we almost lost him. My father fell 20 feet from a tree with a chainsaw and landed on the ground breaking his neck.  The doctors indicated that the type of injury should have either killed him or left him paralyzed.  My father through his strong faith in God made a full recovery in six months.  The doctors were amazed at his strong will, faith and perseverance. He is a walking miracle and to God we give praise and glory.

Supplies:

• Night of Navy, Creamy Caramel, Red Riding Hood and Very Vanilla Card Stock - Stampin' Up!
• Red Riding Hood and Very Vanilla Striped Ribbon (no longer available) - Stampin' Up!
• Chocolate Chip Classic Ink Pad  - Stampin' Up!
• 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" Circle Punches
• Chipboard Star
• Designer Hardware Basic Jumbo Grommets - Stampin' Up! (love these)
• Cuttlebug Spots and Dots Embossing Folder
• Pop-Up Glue Dots - Stampin' Up!
• Sandpaper - Tim Holtz
• Chipboard Star covered with strap piece of red designer series paper with Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive (Stampin' Up!); the star and Very Vanilla Circle was stamped with Weather Background Stamp in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink.
• Dad Friend Hero was typed set using the computer and printed on Very Vanilla card stock.

Simple 4 x 4 Gift Card

Just another simple 4 x 4 gift card made over the weekend using left over scraps.

Supplies:

• Oval All Stamp Set - Stampin' Up!
• Tangerine Tango and Very Vanilla Card Stock - Stampin' Up!
• A piece of scrap Designer Series Paper - Stampin' up!
• Old Olive Ribbon
• Old Olive Craft Ink - Stampin' Up!
• Clear Embossing Powder - Stampin' Up!
• Oval Punch - Stampin' Up!

Wedding Favor or Present for the Bride

 

My lovely niece, Ashley is getting married in September.  This week, the "Save The Date" arrived in the mail.  So I decide to get busy and make her an idea for a wedding favor.  If she decides not to use the idea, it will still be a nice little gift for her.  The favor is a gift bag with two mini pear candles in a cellophane (3 x 5) bag. On the front of the gift bag has "The Perfect Pair" with the name of the couple and the wedding date.  This information was typed set using the computer and printed onto Whisper White card stock.  A design was stamped at the bottom in Old Olive and a rhinestone added to the design to give it a touch of elegance.  The picture of the couple was punched from their save the date announcement. The candles tuck into the gift bag for a nice and elegant wedding favor. Best of all, it is a project that does not take a lot of time to complete. You can gather a few friends and family members to help you put the favors together.

Below is a close up of the project. Click on the image to see it better.

Here is a side view.

Supplies:

• Whisper White, Old Olive and Night of Navy Card Stock - Stampin' Up!
• Urban Garden Designer Series Paper - Stampin' Up!
• Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon 5/8" - Stampin' Up!
• Elegant Thank You Stamp Set (114484 $6.95) - Stampin' Up! (I used a Stampin' Write Marker to color the bottom design on the stamp and then stamped the card stock.)
• Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker - Stampin' Up!
• 3 x 5 Cellophane Bags - Stampin' Up!
• Window Punch - Stampin' Up!
• 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" Square Punches
• Small White Paper Bags - Micheals Craft Store
• Snail Adhesive - Stampin' Up!
• Rhinestone - Heidi Swapp
• Mini pear candles purchased online

The new job has kept me from being creative these past few months. By the time the weekend rolls around, I am trying to get caught up on laundry and house cleaning.  Like many women out there, I find myself exhausted working full-time and taking care of a family.  A recent physical reveal, my body had  deficiencies in iron and Vitamin D. No wonder there had been a lack of energy.  The issue was corrected with prescriptions and getting back to my healthy eating habits, exercise and daily multi vitamins.  It's amazing how you start feeling like your old self again.

You have to make time for yourself.  And, that's exactly what I'm doing these days.  The first thing on my list was to clean my stamp room. If I am to be creative, I need to find my "stuff".  The task was completed and the room looks great!

My card supply has run very low, especially small note cards.  I love to send note cards to friends and family to let them know someone is thinking about them.  Note cards are great to tuck into a gift bag and you don't need to put it into an envelope.  This weekend's project is to create a few note cards to have on hand.

The card above is a simple card with very little stamping.  The music paper was pulled out of a scrapbooking kit from Club Scrap. It was distresses with Tim Holtz's Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The acrylic tag is from Tim Holtz idea-ology Fragments.  To create the tag, I lightly stamped Canvas Background in Creamy Caramel ink on a small piece of Very Vanilla card stock.  Next, Just Because was stamped in Chocolate Chip  ink onto the card stock and distressed it with the Walnut Stain. The small piece of card stock was trimmed to fit the tag.  Crystal Effects was put on the back of the acrylic tag and pressed onto the small stamped piece of card stock and any excess card stock was sanded off.  The music note button loop was cut off using Tim Holtz scissors and adhered to the front of the acrylic tag with Crystal Effects.

Supplies Used:

• Red Riding Hood, Basic Black & Very Vanilla card stock from Stampin' Up!
• Music Paper from Club Scrap
• Walnut Stain Distress Ink, Tim Holtz
• Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pads from Stampin' Up!
• Acrylic Charm Tag - Tim Holtz idea-ology Fragments, charms 48 pieces
• Gold Music Note - button (cut the button loop off with Tim Holtz scissors), Michaels Craft Store
• Ribbon, Michaels Craft Store
• Sand Paper, Tim Holtz
• Stamps - "Just Because" Fancy Flexible Phrases and Canvas Background from Stampin' Up!
• Crystal Effects from Stampin' Up! to adhere "Just Because" stamped card stock to the back of acrylic charm tag.
• Stampin' Dimensionals from Stampin' Up!
• Snail Adhesive from Stampin' Up!

The Love of Scrapbooking

Sometimes it's difficult with a busy schedule getting back to something you dearly love. For me it's the hobby of scrapbooking.  With my son's recent wedding, I wanted to capture the memories from their engagement pictures through to the wedding. Since my time is very limited these days, I have realized that this scrapbook with take awhile to finish because 1) I don't want to rush through it; 2) I want to enjoy each page designed and be fully satisfied with the outcome; and 3) I want it to be elegant.


 
The above page was created using various sized B&W photos place on a 6 x 6 piece of Chocolate Chip textured card stock. Chipboard coasters were cut down to 1 1/4" squares with decorated papers glued to the top. A flower die cut from Tied The Knot Scrapbooking Kit (no longer available from Stampin' Up!) was used and a small pearl added on top. Heidi Swap rhinestones were added to give the page a touch of elegance.

For this page, the intent was to keep it simple and not take away from the beauty of the bride. The focal point here is Jen, my beautiful new daughter-in-law. By adding deep rich chocolate chip satin ribbon, it gave the page a softer feminine look.  To mimic the sparkle of Jen's earrings, I added rhinestone jewels Say it in Crystals by Prima Marketing, Inc. purchased at a local Michaels store. No journaling will be added to this page keeping the focus on Jen.

Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day yesterday.  For me the day was very nice and relaxing.  I woke up and made cards for the children and my husband.  I whipped out four cards in less than 10 minutes.  Sometimes, my card designs are just simple and easy.  These days, my time is very precious with so much going on over the weekends. Below is one of the simple designs for a Valentine's card for my husband.

To create this card, I used the following items:

• Real Red and Whisper White Card Stock for Stampin' Up!
• Heart Chip Board from Stampin' Up!
• Red Glitter from Stampin' Up!
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder A2 Heart Blocks purchased from Scrapbook Express.
• Clear Chandelier Crystals for Heidi Swapp.

It's an elegant but simple card, a Valentine's sentiment was stamped inside the card.

My husband surprised me on Valentine's with lots of goodies.  He gave me a beautiful card with a $30 Starbucks gift card. I love my Starbucks coffee!  That would have been plenty, but while I was at the salon being pampered (my treat to myself) a delivery was made at the house.  My husband forget that I had a salon appointment to have my hair done, facial and spa pedicure. Hey when the salon runs a special for a 30 minute facial for $10, I am going to jump at the chance. It was so wonderful and relaxing.

The special delivery was a baker's dozen of red roses, a teddy bear with a Mylar balloon tied to it and the teddy bear was tied to a box with hot pink organdy ribbon (ribbon will be re-purposed on gift bag and card at a later date).  Inside the box was a small chocolate cake that said "To My Sweetie".  How cute is that!  He really out did himself.  It was a very sweet Valentine's gift.  Here's a few photos:

Happy New Year's

I have no pictures to post, not even from Christmas.  Do you believe that a fellow scrapbooker would forget to charge up the battery in her beloved Canon? Well I did and have not a single shot of the children opening and Christmas gifts.  I feel like such a terrible mother (ha-ha).  At least, I feed everyone!

In my adult years, there has only been two Christmas blunders.  About five years ago, my oven was mysteriously turned off while my turkey was baking.  I went to pull it out to serve for dinner and it needed about another 2.5 hours of baking time.  I am pretty sure my husband turned it off when one of the timers went off.  He has a habit of doing this, but would never admit to it.  I felt bad because my brother had to leave before we had Christmas dinner.

Now, the first Christmas with no photos.  Oh well, I did not get too upset with myself.

Sorry, there are no projects to post.  I hope to get back to making stuff this weekend.  We have been busy doing family stuff.  Today we are heading to PA to celebrate New Year's with Jim's family.

I hope each of you have a wonderful and safe New Year's.  If you are making any New Year's Resolutions, make it something you keep.  Write down three things you want to do in 2009 that will make you happy such as learn a new language, go on a picnic with someone you love, plan a surprise weekend trip for you and your husband, take music lessons, make your Christmas cards in April (LOL), make time to volunteer (always help to give to others), etc.

Create a mini album with three of your resolutions and capture the experience.  It's a project I plan to do.  I will let you know what my three resolutions are for 2009.  The jury is still out.

BE SAFE!

Adding More Warmth

Every time I went down the stairs to the basement, the wall over the shelf looked boring with the wreath that hung there for years, it needed something to warm it up. Then I remembered the perfect thing to add more warmth to the wall.  It dawn on me that I had earned a Décor Element as a Hostess Level 2 Award from Stampin' Up!®.  For a workshop sales of $300, I got the Home is Love Décor Element. I loved it from the moment my eyes saw it in the brochure and knew it would be perfect on the wall going down my stairs.  But like most busy moms, I had been very busy and sat it aside (you know... forgetting about what you have until a light bulb in your head goes off). I was excited to find something new and FREE to put up without the need of going shopping.

If you have never put one up, it's a breeze and takes a matter of minutes. I stopped decorating for about 5 minutes to put this on the wall.  It's that simple!  My friend Cindy, added one to her wall in a matter of minutes before customers arrived to attend a workshop.  I've been told that they are easy to remove off the walls as well.

Christmas Decorating Day 2

It's day two of the Christmas decorating tour. In the living room, I put up a 7' ft. pencil tree.  The room is small 12 x 14, so this size tree works perfect.  The decorations are mainly gold, bronze, cream and crystal with other colors added from the beaded fruit.  I would have loved to purchase some gold musical instruments and musical notes to add to the tree, but it will have to wait.

Many years ago, I found this treasure in an antique store. It's an old book, Charles Dickens "Dickens' Christmas Stories". It contains "A Christmas Carole (In Prose)" and "The Cricket on the Hearth". On top of the book is a pair of antique glasses.