floral lane and sketchbook

two of the newest additions to the ac digitals store today!!

first up:  pebbles “floral lane”.

so sweet and girly…

other goodies used:

brown bag paper:  liv.edesigns

yellow stitching (also adjusted to white for the buttons):  liv.edesigns

(with a hue/saturation adjustment to perk up the yellow a bit.)

white heart:  karla dudley

white stitching:  anna aspnes

buttons, epoxy hearts, and ric-rac:  dani mogstad

staple:  crystal wilkerson

font:  “firefly castle”

 

and here’s amy tangerine’s “sketchbook”.

I find it funny, that before I even signed on with ac digitals, I bought some of these goodies in the traditional form…  I knew I loved them before they were even digi!!

stitching:  anna aspnes

turquoise splatter brush, frame, and staple:  liv.edesigns

green misting brush:  splendid fiins

 

I have a certain 5 year old not feeling so hot today.

our day looks like laundry, some cleaning, and finishing up my new magnetic+chalk board wall.

(review on that fun to come soon.)

I am hoping to get to my craft room today, not only to craft, to clean, hopefully to start the chalkboard (notice the absence of magnet there?) and to play.  I found some heidi swapp goodies at michaels last week, I have been itching to play with them for DAYS.

my cute little trees.

for these guys, I bought styrofoam cones from the craft store (used my app for some pretty awesome coupons!!), and also purchased some sheet moss.

now let me tell you how much I love this stuff!! 

I love it!!!

it is so much fun to work with.  while it is a bit messy, it is not nearly as messy as loose moss.  not nearly I tell you!!  I have used it a few times.   Making my own moss balls, and let’s not forget my moss covered “P”.

I covered the cones with the moss, gluing with my hot glue gun, trimming as I went.

after they were all covered with the moss, I used some other items from my stash to liven them up a bit.  I used some small, “i-top” brads (LOVE my i-top!!),  papers from the “winter wonderland” paper collection by heidi swapp + jessica sprague, small silver ric-rac, some decorative upholstery nails..

and some enamel paint.

one little tree, I left the upholstery nails silver, but on my taller tree next to the canvas, and the smaller one on my computer desk, I painted the upholstery nails with the enamel paint.  I simply painted it on, and let them dry.  I didn’t bake them or anything, although that is what this paint is meant for.

and these are the little “ornaments” that were made with the “i-top”.

the best way to describe this tool is that it is like a button cover kit you would use for sewing.  same concept, you just get a brad back instead of a looped button back.

pretty easy to use, and I have used it on so many things!!

the last little tree with the small ric-rac, I used straight pins to attach the ric-rac securely to the tree.

I just gotta say, it’s a little merry around here!

dude, it’s february.

I am still wondering where in the heck january went.

don’t mistake me, I am happy it is february.  I mean, I’ve been looking forward to it and all, it’s been on my calendar and such.  I just had stuff I wanted done before february came, and well, it’s not done.  so in my mind, february can’t happen, yet.  my january to-dos aren’t done.

sheesh.

so catching up, in a frazzled-like fashion, here you go..

here’s some january layouts:

(click on the layout for credits and junk like that.)

now I have to go and catch up some more.

our countdown to christmas.

so, sure, we have many countdowns to christmas.  many.  but how can you resist making another cute one?  this one will end up in the trash in the end anyway..

we have darling countdowns that grandma pitcher made years ago, reminiscent of the ones she’d made for her own kids years ago.  they are sweet, and something I have used, but have had trouble with, with the girls at different ages.

with the ones she made for us, you tie each treat onto a long fabric strip with ribbon.  my problem usually comes in with my hands (thank you genes and arthritis..).  it’s always cold, and sometimes stormy, which is a great little story problem that equals aching hands in my situation.  the second problem is one, two, or three little girls, who like to steal treats prematurely.  then I get ornery because chances are, my hands are still hurting after the initial 75 treat tie-ons, and then there is one (most likely more), treat to tie on.

(now I shouldn’t blanket blame all three..  it’s usually a certain culprit..  ahemashleyahem..  who likes to take their sisters’ treats and say that they did it.)

(it is also partly my fault, as they inherited my sweet tooth.)

so I started thinking about this waaaay back in november, and came up with a pretty sweet solution.

(bonus: it is also up cycling!!)

so if you can’t tell, we’ve been saving toilet paper rolls like they are spare change.

it didn’t take us long..  helps to have the hotel pitching in.

I placed three treats in each empty roll cardboard core thing, wrapped it in tissue paper (okay, merrill did), and then twisted the ends, and tied them off with some string.

(okay, merrill did that part too.  my hands aren’t hurting!!  sweetheart.)

I printed off papers that are brand-spanking new from jessica sprague + heidi swapp (genius combo.  can not go wrong there.).  cut them to fit my rolls (got enough for 4 from each 8.5 x 11 sheet), and then taped them on the back side.  I finished each one off with a number to identify just how many more days until christmas, that I printed off and punched with a 1 inch circle punch and stuck that on with a glue dot.

getting them all hooked-up together wasn’t as easy as I initially thought.  I tried glue-dotting the heck out of them, but they just wouldn’t stay.  it was too heavy.  so I resorted to my trusty old glue gun.

worked awesomely.

I took a small piece of ribbon and hot-glued that to the top roll to use as a hanger.

now, all the treats are concealed, and safe, until the right day comes.

the girls tear off one side and there’s the treats!

but really, I love these papers..

love these colors!!

trying really hard not to re-do the scheme of the tree this year….

and it would totally work, I re-painted the wall in the family room as one of my “keep yourself busy because merrill ditched us for two weeks” projects.

links to jessica + heidi’s new collections here and here.

dudes…  they are totally on sale now too, along with a ton of other products!!!