OLW February

Let's take a look at what I did this past month for my OLW. This year's focus is HOME.

My monthly intentions:

1. Arthur's room and play area -- Finally they are finished! I added a reading corner complete with Ikea spice racks for shelves. They are the perfect design for Arthur it get the books in and out himself. I hung the nice navy blue blackout curtains. I put up his new solar system decals and the rest of the framed pictures. Part of his birthday banner went over his book shelves along with his finger painted A. The closet is organized at least for now. Finally I hung some of his preschool artwork above the bookshelf. I plan on changing them out as he makes new projects.

As for his playroom, I mainly wanted containers for the toys. I bought one of the toys organization systems from Ikea to hold the bulk of the toys. Arthur can actually take them in and out by himself. This left room for the tent and tunnel to be permanently set up. I went with back ivory curtain panels to add some privacy. Nothing fancy, but they help the room look finished. The only thing not done is to hang something about the alphabet decals. We will probably just hang something that we already have.

2. Co-op home inspection -- Nope. Didn't get to it. February was so busy with activities and things like the retreat that this just never happened. I'm hoping to get this checked out during our hosting of preschool next week.

3. Alameda parent's group -- After looking at my parent group options up here in East Bay, I've decided to start my own. Most charge ~$20 a year for membership for not much benefit. Others just don't do anything. I want my South Bay group in East Bay!

4. Email clean out -- Success! I got my emails under control. Deleted a ton of emails, archived some others, unsubscribed from a ton of newsletters and coupons. Next step is to officially close my Hotmail account.

Extras:

-- I didn't do much else for my word this month.

My OLW Pages:

This month's prompt was to create a vision board. Initially I was very hesitant to the idea. Vision boards just aren't my thing... But after some thought I decided to attempt it. I went into Target, grabbed three magazines, and started cutting them up. I had a few 8x10 canvases left over from preschool. This seemed the perfect size for me to try.

And this is my completed project. I think it turned out well. I decided to use patterns and colors for my base layer. I stayed away from any recognizable image. On top, I added words and phrases that spoke to me. Most of my words relate directly to my word: Home. I've propped this up in my craft area to kept me focused.

30 Days of Lists - Day 1-5

I'm participating once again in 30 Days of Lists. Here are my lists for days 1 through 5:

5 on 5

Different 5 on 5 for this week. It's my birthday this week, so here's round up of pictures of my presents...

1. My bridesmaid shoes for a friend's wedding April came this week. Cute, comfortable, and not too tall.

2. The mom who went on the retreat got me this great gift basket for organizing everything.

3. Presents from the in-laws. I always love what they get me. Amazon wish lists are amazing. I'm already using the backpack as our current diaper bag.

4. Pretty pretty flowers from my mom.

5. And the best present of all... a non-napping child. Okay not really a great present, but he didn't suffer much from not napping, so

Fun n' Crafty Blog Hop March 2015

Welcome to the Fun n’ Crafty Blog Hop for March. This month we are all about birthdays. I love designed birthday cards as you can be as crazy or as subdued as you want to be! My card is very simple (just three layers), but packs a large color punch. I've been enjoying coloring lately and had to showcase the technique.

I started with a simple yet bold sentiment in the middle of my white piece. From there I stamped the birthday cake in random spots. I then filled in the empty spaces with the star stamp (from Perfect Pennants). I adhered the stamped piece to a layer of Back to Black DSP. Then came the fun part -- coloring! I picked a few bright markers from my stash and went to town coloring different bits of the birthday cake. After finishing, I realized that while the small hexagon pattern on the DSP was fun, it was too boring in black and white. I colored that as well in a rainbow pattern. Now the card is complete! With all the bright colors and bold images this card would be perfect for a teen birthday.

Do you want the birthday cake stamp? Well it's a part of the Big Day stamp set that's only available as a SAB reward. Through March 31st, spend $50 from any catalog and you get to pick on SAB item for free! It's Stampin' Up's best deal of the year. To make it easy, here's a package of products to order to be able to get that great stamp set!

• Perfect Pennants Stamp Set (Clear) $21.95 133230
• Brights Collection Markers $28.95 131259
• Total $50.90
• Free: Choose Big Day Clear 139112 or Wood 139109

Full product list:

• Stamps: Perfect Pennants; Big Day (SAB)
• Inks: Staz-on Black; Daffodil Delight; Rich Razzleberry; Gumball Green (retired); Summer Sun (retired); Pink Passion (retired); Tempting Turquoise; Tangelo Twist; Elegant Eggplant
• Cardstock: Strawberry Slush; Whisper White; Back to Black DSP
• Accessories:
• Tools:

Fun & Crafty Blog Hop

• Stacey L. of A Work of Carte
• Pam W. of Stinky Tofu
• Tobe B. of The Craft Sea <--- You are here
• Jennifer B. of Northwest Stamper
• Susan S. of Stampin' By The San Francisco Bay

Floral Cards #2

The second half of my All About Florals class focused on simple yet beautiful cards.

Card #1

I saw a great card on Pinterest using hexagons to make flowers. I definitely needed to try this idea. This is a great card design to play with patterns and colors. I pulled a few patterns from the All Abloom DSP stack that spoke to me and played with the combinations until I settled on these. I love how the patterns don't match but do coordinate. For something extra I embossed the white piece and DSP with my Decorative Dots Embossing folder. Just a little bit to make the card more special.

• Stamps: Simply Wonderful
• Inks: Strawberry Slush
• Cardstock: Blushing Bride; All Abloom DSP; Whisper White
• Accessories: Dots Embossing Folder
• Tools: Hexagon Punch

Card #2

My last card also had an inspiration from Pinterest. I love using washi tape and this design is the perfect excuse to use a ton! I pulled similarly colored washi tape (from two different SU collections) and created a pattern of colors as a background. For the stamp, I masked out the "hey there" greeting and just stamped the flower. I love how easy it is to masked out parts of stamps that you don't want! I do not have the Crisp Cantaloupe marker otherwise coloring the stamp would have been just as easy. I added a different greeting layered over the flower. The white piece was feeling very plain so I mounted it to a piece of Basic Gray to give some dimensional. Finally I threw on some silver sequins to liven up the card a bit.

• Stamps: Hey There Buds; Simple Wonderful
• Inks: Crisp Cantaloupe; Basic Gray
• Cardstock: Basic Gray; Smoky Slate; Whisper White
• Accessories: Silver Sequins; Sweet Sadie washi tape; Sweet Dreams washi tape
• Tools:

Currently...

Watching: Arthur and I have been watching Rehab Addict after he wakes up from his nap.

Reading: Finally getting around to reading Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Listening: Right now it is quiet in the house. I am loving it.

Making: I need to start making Sarah's Bridal Shower invitations. I've got a few ideas, but I need to play around to determine which one I like the most.

Feeling: I had a horrendous migraine for about four days last week. It seems to be gone thankfully.

Planning: Always planning out our weekly dinners. It's a never-ending process.

Loving: I don't know why but I am constantly turning to iced tea as my drink of choice.

March 2015 Crafting Goals

A recap of last month’s goals:

• January PL pages — Success! I finished both the family album and Arthur's album. That puts me ahead in my book. Now to move to February's pages.
• Get new Meetup group up and running —Success! I started my group when I returned from Indiana in January. I got it moving in February. I've met some wonderful new crafting friends and even made a few sales. I hope to continue the momentum throughout the rest of spring.
• Finish retreat crafts — Success! I got all these done with about a week to spare. So excited!
• Start Sarah’s wedding crafts – Fail.... We (Sarah and her bridesmaids) need to do a Skype date and discuss all of this stuff. I leave for Indiana on March 17th, so I need to have a plan in place the first week in March.
• Prep examples for March and April classes — 50% Success. I've gotten one class prepped, I need to finish the other.

This month’s goals:

• February PL Pages -- Next month on my list. I've got a ton of supplies pulled for it (pink, red, and brown), but now I need to actually do it. And I want to get it done before I leave for Indiana.
• Preschool crafts for March 12th -- We are hosting that day and the theme is colors and shapes. I'm thinking of doing a punched shapes rainbow...
• Prep Sarah's wedding crafts before March 17th -- Need to get this done!
• Have a clean craft area before I leave -- I love coming home to a nice and clean craft area. I need to make sure it's clean when I leave. Right now it's horrendously messy...

Floral Cards #1

For one of my March-April classes, I knew that I wanted to focus on flowers. Spring is perfect for flowers, and the Occasions catalog and Sale-a-Bration brochure have some great flowers.

Card #1

I reluctantly got the Lotus Blossom from the SAB brochure a few weeks back. I say reluctantly, because I wasn't initially in love with the stamp set. I thought the triple stamping would be complicated and annoying. To my surprise, it was very simple. I found a great pic from Pinterest that details some great color combinations. Taking that as a starting point, I played around with the colors that I have and came up with three great blossoms.  In the end, I'm really enjoying this stamp set. I need to play around with color combinations a bit more.

• Stamps: Lotus Blossom
• Inks: Basic Gray; Wild Wasabi; Blackberry Bliss; Rich Razzleberry; Melon Mambo; Strawberry Slush; Hello Honey; Daffodil Delight
• Cardstock: Crisp Cantaloupe; Whisper White; Painted Blooms DSP
• Accessories: Crisp Cantaloupe Trim
• Tools

Card #2

My second card today is all about coloring. I received a ton of Blendabilities as SAB rewards and this is the perfect card to play with them. I colored each vase using the Blendabilities. Then I colored the DSP using one shade of each Blendabilities set. I love how colorful this card turned out to be. I realized that even though I used Daffodil Delight and Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities, Crushed Curry and Perfect Plum cardstock looked better as bases. I hope my class participants like coloring this card as much as I did.

• Stamps: Vivid Vases
• Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy, and Old Olive Blendabilities
• Cardstock: Perfect Plum; Crushed Curry; Whisper White; Back to Black DSP
• Accessories:
• Tools:

Pic of the Week #4

A week later and I'm still dreaming of our mom's retreat. We stopped off at the coast on our way back down. The beautiful Pacific ocean and Russian River at Jenner.

Desktop Thursday #3

The state of my craft area today... Working on examples for my March and April classes. Plus that mess on the left is my meet and greet card for Saturday's open house.