Homecoming means mum making time.

It was that time of year again HOMECOMING. Miranda and her friend decided that they wanted to make their own mums this year so us moms pulled out our glue guns and staplers and we all got busy. We hit the craft stores and bought tons of ribbons, trinkets, bells, flowers, stuff panthers (the mascot) and threw in some feather boas. The girls wanted big this year so away they went putting all the ribbons on at one point I had to tell Miranda that there was no way anymore ribbon would go on it LOL. She wanted big this year and that is what she got. It took the four of us two days to get them done but the girls were so thrilled with them and wore them proudly all day on Friday.


xoxo
Margo

Copic Love

I started my copic collection about three years ago, I have many but not as many as I want LOL. There are still tons of colors out there waiting for me to find them and grab them up. I am really enjoying the fact that crafters are finding and falling in love with these amazing marker again. I know that they are a bit pricey, no scratch that they are a lot pricey but let me tell you they are so worth it. They last for ever and the coloring ad shading that can be done with them is just astounding. Here is an example of a card that I have colored with them, yep that's my Edward stamp on the birthday card I made for one of bffs.

XOXO
Margo

Flowers Flowers and More Flowers

I have been working on my crocheted flowers for several days now. I haven't made these in years and decided it was time to make some more. There are several colors and I will be listing them on my etsy soon. I just love crocheting things while watching a movie or something on tv I find it very relaxing. I try to make the kids a blanket every couple of years and have been reminded by both that its time again LOL. I still have the one my grandma made me when I was a little girl, it holds wonderful memories for me. I was very young when my grandmother showed me how to crochet and then when I was a teenager my mom helped me long more. It use to be a thing that was passed down through the generations but now a days less people know how or even want to learn sadly even my own daughter shows no interest in learning how. I encourage everyone to give it a try there are so many resources out there to help you learn if you don't have someone to teach you. The Internet and YouTube are full of instruction.

xoxo
Margo

Card Challenge

Hello everyone, I came across this blog the other day. Christmas Stampin' All Year Long and just love the idea of having a challenge once a week to do a Christmas card so that I will have them all done and ready to go when Christmas sneaks up on me. So this was my first week to play, I was inspired to use the spinning card that the wonder Momo did a video on and got right to it this morning.

Here it is, I used bazzil card stock and the Hero Arts stamp set Owl Christmas. I used the copic colors E 31 33 G 2 R 29 Y 4 YG 3 YR 65 to color the owls in. I hope you all check out the blog and momo's channel for their great ideas.

xoxo
Margo

Cork Board Necklace Holder

Miranda has so many necklaces now that it is getting really hard to store them she is wanting one of those large stand up jewelry boxes like I have but right now that isn't possible, plus she likes to be able to see them out so that she can choose what she wants quickly. So this is what I came up with for her.

What I uses is two packages of 4 pieces of 6x6 cork board, they are kind of thin so I glued two pieces together so that the push pins didn't stick out to much in the back, which made me end up with 4 boards, a package of fun colored super large push pins, and four bright paint colors. I painted each one a different fun color and then added the push pins in two staggered rows that way the necklaces don't hang on top of each other, the push pins stick out just a bit in the back but this is nice because they stick a just a little into the wall for some extra hold. It really helped when we were trying to figure out the placement they just stayed where we put them, then we used foam tape to put them up on her wall to make sure that they could handle the weight of all her stuff. We are loving the way they came out so much that I think I am going to make one for my bathroom for the necklaces that I tend to wear more often.

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.

xoxo
Margo

Gel Medium Photo Transfer On Canvas

Hi everyone I wanted to share the project that I made for my mom and mother-in-law this year for Mother's Day. I had seen this technique a couple of times and decided to give it a try myself, and I have to say I am in love it with and will be making tons more. So what you need for this project is: a canvas your chose in size, a toner based photo copy of the picture you want to transfer (this is the really important part, it must be a toner based copy ink jet will not work. Any copy place can do it for you) some medium gel medium (there is soft gel medium but the medium one works better also you can get it in matte glossy and semi glossy, this is up to you on which one you want I went with matte) a foam brush and something like a gift card or credit card to smooth with.

Step one: cover the canvas with the gel medium, taking care to get everywhere because if there isn't any medium in a spot it will not transfer the ink there. Also be careful not to put to much gel medium on it either because this will cause ridges and bumps that you can't get out and it will transfer those also. Yep I know this form experience :)

Step two: center your photo copy onto the canvas and starting from the center out smooth the paper down making sure to get all air bubbles and ridges out.

Step three: let dry for at least 10 hours. This part is really important you need to let if fully dry so that the ink completely transfers.

Step four: using a spray bottle with water in it, wet down the paper and start to rub it off. Now this is going to take you some time to rub all the paper off and when you think you have gotten it all off you will find when it dries that there is more. Just have some patience with it because it is totally worth it.

Step five: if you would like you can add a coat of the gel medium on top of the canvas after you are done to seal it but it is not necessary.

I hope you all give it a try, these make wonderful gifts and I am going to be putting them all over my house now in lots of different sizes LOL.

Margo

Postcards

I am in a collage melange postcard swap over at the paper pantry and this is what I came up with. The theme for this month was cooking/food/kitchen so of course I had to go for my favorite Tuscan style of these. I used several different things on them, there is a napkin, a couple of images form the Internet, image for wrapping paper, and some fun silver ware and plate from the doll house section at Hobby Lobby.

First I covered the card in the napkin then added all the different images on top of it. I also printed out a quote on card stock to add too. I colored the grapes image with some copic markers and then covered it with glossy accents. I used some rub and buff in gold leave to make the plate and sliver ware look aged, then glued them on with glossy accents.

For the back I just used a flourish stamp to divide the card stock in half like a postcard and found a stamp that looks like it has been through the mail. Then I wrote a little message for each of the ladies that would be receiving the the cards.

I really enjoyed making these and plan to join again next month. I will post a pic of the cards that I receive from the others in the swap when I get them.

Easter Projects: Late

Well I wasn't able to get these up before Easter this year. One I did them like the week before Easter and two well I have been horrible with my blog LOL. I wanted to go ahead and post them thought because on of the banners you can make for anything really it was easy and fun to make.

So the first one is my Happy Easter banner. This was done with the banner die on the Tie the Knot cricut cartridge. First the banner was cut in the yellow card stock then the patterned paper was cut out. I made the flower part with card stock and then the letters are chipboard letters that I painted then flocked with Martha Stewart flock. I used the fun paper Easter grass behind each of the flower letters. I used my hot glue gun for the whole project including gluing the banners to ribbons to hang.

The second banner is my peeps banner and I so love how it turned out it looks just like peeps doesn't it. I got the idea for this one form a blog which you can check out here at V and Co
I printed out her template for the peep and then cut them out of felt then sew two together. I didn't sew mine on ribbon like she did, I found this great rope and just hot glued them right on. The eyes and nose is done with a pencil eraser and brown fabric paint. This one took no time at all to do and I plan on make several more next year to give away to friends and family.

Thanks for stopping by and I will have more projects up in the next couple of days.

Margo

Such A Bad Bloger And A New Sketch

When I found out that a friend's birthday is Sunday I had to get the canvas out and start sketching. She loves quotes so I put one of my favorite Picasso ones on it. I am so loving how it turned out that I am going to have to make one for myself LOL. In fact I think I might make myself a little mini series of them to hang in my area. I so love the way the quote looks on it. I have to say since getting to know her I have started really paying attention to all the awesome quotes out there.

I am so sorry I have not been blogging you guys. My hubby's had to have his 3rd surgery on his knee and things have just been crazy around here. Well I also have to admit that I have been a little lazy too LOL. I promise that I will be updated at least twice a week until I get back into full swing. I have so many projects that I need to take pictures of and show you guys.

Thanks to my followers and I will keep them coming.

Margo

xoxo

Knitting anyone?

Growing up my mom was always knitting us these amazing sweaters and I never really gave anything thought into learning how. My grandmother had taught me how to crochet and I have loved that for years. So I have decided it is time to learn how to knit, I have gotten several needles and some really cool yarn. I have to say it was slow going at first and I had to start over several times but I have finally got the basic stitch down. Scarfs are all I have made so far and my daughter and I are loving them so much that I have completed a several now and have plans for several more. I have to say that with my mom not living close to me to be able to teach me, I found some great videos on utube that were a very big help. There are tons on there that show just about everything you need and want to know about knitting. One I have really enjoyed and learned form is Knitting Tips By Judy check her out. I hope to one day to get good enough to make the awesome sweaters that I see patterns for but for now I am content with making the scarfs LOL.

xoxo

Margo

New Blog and Art Work

Hi everyone not sure why but I felt like starting up a new blog. Really I guess I did it in hopes that it would get me motivated to get back into my blogging.

So to start off, I was asked to draw and paint some artwork for a friends daughter for Christmas. I had so much fun doing this one. I used water colors with this one. I just love doing multimedia artwork, there are so many different things out there to play with. I used a sharpie for the lettering and scrapbook paper for her dress. Then I used diamond dust on the wings to give them that sparkle. To top it all off I used music note brads scatter around. Tara loved the painting and said I made it fit her personality perfectly so I was thrilled. I have a couple of ideas floating around in my head for couple more paintings so let the sketching begin.

XOXO

Margo