New Logo!

I finally sat down and really focused on a design for my logo. I want to get going designing the packaging for the jewelry I want to make, and tags and things. First thing I needed was a logo I could commit to and love forever and always.

I think I created it.

 

I luff it. LUUUUUUF it. :)

Flowers & Ribbons & FUN!

This has to be one of my most favorite frames that I've put together.

It was super easy too! Here's what you need:
• Frame (Mine is 11"x14", but you could adapt this to any size)
• Pre Cut Mat - You'll want a small opening, compared to the frame. The opening in my frame is
  a 5"x7". The frame I used, found at Roberts Crafts, came with the mat.
• Scrapbook Flowers
• Ribbon
• Lace Cardstock
• Paint & Foam Brushes
• Coordinating Scrapbook Papers
• Mod Podge®
• Rhinestone Swirl (We've got a fantastic new selection of these in at Roberts!)
• Glue Gun & Hot Glue

Basically, all you do is apply a thin layer of Mod Podge® to the mat. (Take it out of the frame first, of course.) Lay the lace cardstock down, smoothing out the bubbles and wrinkles. Once it dries, paint over it with acrylic paint. Let that dry. Tear the scrapbook papers diagonally, making it look like hills in the horizon. Or something like that. ;) Line with ribbon, or ink the torn edges. Hot glue ribbon around the opening in the mat. Mod Podge® the paper to the mat. Cut lengths of ribbon to be the length you want the "stems" of your flowers. Hot glue those down. Tie a shorter length of green ribbon in a bow or knot, and hot glue to your stem. Those will be the leaves. Hot glue the flowers to the tops of the stems. Apply the rhinestone swirl to the top. I thought it looked like clouds. :)

Done and done!

Go. Run. COMMENT!

This is a giveaway you'll seriously want to be a part of! Even if you don't want to enter (are you crazy?!) check out all the vendors participating. I love blogs like this, that introduce me to companies I would never come across otherwise!

Photo Holders

Ok, here is what I've been working on for some Christmas presents. :) I came across this idea from the amazing Lori Allred's blog, who found it on the Shanty2Chic blog. (Both amazing blogs! I love them!!) I did my own little spin on them, as I always do. Well, basically I had to improvise since I was doing my shopping LAST MINUTE and the stores didn't have the exact products to make them how Shanty2Chic did. But I love how they turned out! I'm currently carless, so my poor family had to drive me all over looking for the wood elements. Thanks for lunch, Dad! It's always entertaining watching my mom shooting straw wrappers at everyone and seeing her crack herself up. LOL!

 My original plan was to spray paint them all black. But it was just way too cold to go outside and spray paint. That and my dad, the master of all things, informed me that below 70º and the paint would not stick. Even though I didn't quite believe him, I wasn't going to chance ruining them all. So I dug into my acrylic paint collection and found a few colors I thought would be fun to paint them. I didn't have enough black to do them ALL black.

 I think the blue and the black turned out to be my favorites. I'm so glad I was "forced" to use color!

 I couldn't find the finials at Lowe's anywhere, and since I'm not the type to ask for help, I figured out a way to make them myself. :) I was at a craft store that shall remain nameless (let's just say it's not the one I am employed by) and found the top part of the finial. It was way too small in proportion to the rest of the holder, so I found the round base part at Roberts. A little e6000 and you have yourself a finial!

The nameless store I went to did not have enough of one type of decorative wood element, so I got a few different kinds. I really like the end result of each of them, and the added touch they each brought to the finished look. I had fun making a mess with the sandpaper and paint, and I have now convinced myself I need to invest in a sander!

I did, however, get a fun new toy for Christmas, and I can't wait to start using it! I got a soldering iron for making jewelry with. I have SO many ideas I want to get started on, I can't even begin to say how excited I am!

Whew!

Been super busy making all kinds of projects and I'm loving it! I can't post pictures yet, because they're all gifts for people. Once I make some late Christmas deliveries, I'll add pictures of them. :)

The kids are cracking me up lately, as I've been crafting more. Especially my little Hunter. He keeps trying to sneak my scrapbook paper, or giving me his best puppy dog eyes in attempts to get me to give him some. Well, I have to admit it has worked. It's been fun watching all of them making snowflakes and inventing their own little projects! I found a great easel and art set for Hunter for a Christmas present, that has a roll of paper that attaches to it. They've all had fun playing artist! :)

I hope everyone has had an amazing holiday season!! I'm excited for New Year's and all the possibilities of the coming year!

Unique Chandelier

If you missed it before, here is a link to the Halloween Chandelier I did as a guest post for The Crafting Chicks blog back in September. (Has it really been that long since I did that?! Good grief, where has time gone?) Click HERE to view it.

The think I like about this project a lot, is you just need to mix up the colors a bit and boom! You could make one of these for ANY season or holiday. Or just make one to match the décor in your home. :) And it's so easy!

Planning Stages!

I'm working on putting together a product list of all I want to be able to offer through my boutique I want to start. GAH! A lot of it is wish list, things to work towards being able to add. I think I might actually do it now. With everything going on, and all I've learned over the last few years, it seems like now is the perfect time to start planning and executing. WOO HOO!!!!

Never give up on dreams, never stop dreaming. And NEVER stop BELIEVING!!!!

Giveaway fun!

Check out this blog Soulographer. I've been wanting to get this workbook for a long time. There are also tons of other vendors giving amazing prizes away, so if you are a photog, a photog wannabe or a mommarazzi, this is totally the blog for you! Go. Run! You'll love it. :)

SO Excited!

Brett Lund, our amazing media team guy at Roberts, made a beautiful wreath using Cosmo Crickets "Mitten Weather" collection. The photos of it were used on Cosmo Crickets blog! I love it! That was really exciting to see my photos being used by someone. Photography has definitely been a love of mine, but not one I've focused on at all. :)

See the pics below, and check out the original Cosmo Cricket Post here. You can also enter the Freebie Friday giveaway featuring Cosmo Cricket's products on the Roberts blog here.

Lights, Camera. . . . ACTION!

I had the best time today, filming a youtube clip with Kristine McKay for Northridge Publishing. She is such I doll, I just love her! I can't wait to do that again. :) Alisha, the creative editor of Cards magazine was there, as well as Tatia from Bead Trend magazine. It was so fun to meet all of them. The cinemetographer dropped my project and broke it a bit. Good thing I brought two of them! LOL That worked out really well. Kristine and I talked a bit after about ideas for Roberts that we could do and have a lot of fun with. I'm excited about all the possibilities!

Hopefully I'll have a link to the video soon to post. :)

Feelin' Happy!

Lori Allred, from Imaginisce, put a call out for donations of scrapbook supplies for Mothers of Angels. I've been thinking about going through all my stuff for a long time and this was the PERFECT opportunity to get it done. Once my kids saw me packing up a bunch of stuff, they were worried. Then I explained what it was going for and then I had to stop them from throwing ALL my supplies into the box! My kids rock!

Today was a good day. . .

We hit over 1900 comments on the Roberts blog! On our DCWV giveaway. That has been our biggest giveaway yet. WOW! That was so much fun to see the numbers climbing on our blog, our comments and on our facebook page. We also sponsored a mega giveaway on the Single Dad Laughing blog. So much giveaway love!

The Roberts website was also mentioned in the January issue of Martha Stewart Living. Can we say feelin' like rockstars?! Oh yeah. We totally can.

All things creative. . .

First blog entry! Woot!

I'm super fantastically amazingly excited to work with Bentley Murdock to write a song for my kids. I'm finally doing it! I could not sleep at all last night, and started brainstorming and writing all my crazy ideas down and emailed it all to him at 2am. And, big surprise, he actually liked it! hahaha. Sometimes what I write in the middle of the night sounds brilliant until I read it after I've had some sleep and then I have to wonder what I'd been smoking. ;)

I'll post updates on that as we get it closer to completion.

In other awesome fun news, next Wednesday I get to be on set with Kristine McKay as a guest designer for the Northridge Publishing series of YouTube videos. I can not wait! It will be so much fun! I started one project, but since the shoot was postponed, I will do something different to be current with what they are doing in their December issues.

I began designing some scrapbook materials. Who knows if I'll do anything with that, but it's fun to work on and think about! Last week, I applied to be a member of the Imaginisce design team, which would just be the most fun thing ever! Fingers crossed!

I've been constantly brainstorming ideas for the boutique I want to start, and thinking about the jewelry I want to make. There is just so much going on, I love it! We'll see how it all ends up tying together.