Just had to share a few things I have been up to lately, especially since Valentine’s day is right around the corner! First, are 2 cute books my Mom gave me, Memories Sew Sweet by Sandy Berry and Somerset in Love 2009. I love all of the pink used in both of these books as well as the mixed media. One of Sandy Berry’s quilts from this book is actually featured on pg 136 of Sew Somerset 2007. My quilt is on pg 134! So cool to see her in there with me. I also adore chapter 5 of Somerset in Love, lots of pink and green in Kimberly’s book. The cards I’ve been making lately are from a Martha Stewart Glittered Botanical card kit, so easy and pretty, I changed them up with stamped images on the cards. I also got to go to a Stampin Up card class offered by Kerrie Lightfoot. My daughter and I loved making these together. The blue card was my fav and I changed up the design from her original card to suit my own style. I hope you are inspired to make some sweet stuff of your own!

Our big blue recycling bin was overflowing and we were stuck inside for a rainy day, what better thing to do than open a Martha Stewart Kids magazine and get to crafting! I adored the Papier mache article in the Kids summer 2005 issue, and my kids adored the cars and rocket ship. For the Car I used a big sturdy box and for the rocket we used a Capri sun box, it’s also really sturdy. This craft seems to be a Big process as it takes a few days to dry, so it lost my 4 year olds attention after we taped the box! It’s probably better to pick 1 or 2 things to make as a whole family or 1 for older kids to make by themselves. Cover the area you will be crafting on well with plastic or a paper.

Fo Supplies You will need:

Scissors

Painters tape or packing tape

Boxes and left over cardboard

a Newspaper torn into 1" to 2" wide strips

a Big Bowl with 1 cup Flour to 1.5 cups water stirred

some of the supplies

Newspaper Strips

Big Bowl of Flour Paste

STEP 1: Tape together Boxes and Cardboard to make your Car or Rocket

STEP 2: Place one strip at a time over the shape

80% covered & Starting to see the rocket

Stay tuned for Part TWO

Wanting to have a fun and affordable Hello Kitty Hawaiian party for my daughter’s birthday I scoured the web for some ideas and found some great sites that offer free coloring pages, bookmarks and more. The sites I loved were Family Shopping Bag, coloring pages at Hello Kitty Fun Stuff, along with a Hello kitty mermaid I used for my invites.

We made the bookmarks as favors as well as made cupcakes and bought a pinata ( the pinata would not break!) to round out the kitty theme.

The centerpiece is a Barbie mermaidia set with a little hello kitty we already had. For the Craft we beaded pink, yellow and blue flip-flops with plastic beads and 24 gauge wire that I have had for years! I’m so glad we got to use them and have fun.

I was inspired to make a pink and green themed card for Helga’s blog contest, you can see her blog MY Artistic Life, using an arch window card and some wire to make a clothes line. The fabulous little lacey things are just snips of lace in the shape of a dress, a towel and a swimsuit. The green background is from the Sweet Spring collage sheet, the Queen me stamps are from Technique Tuesday I love these, and the bird scrap is German.

I also was also inspired after rescuing this dainty chair from the curb to reclaim it and paint it with a sweet pink dry brush technique. I hope you are also inspired to get out there and PINK!

Recently, after receiving my umpteenth piece of junk mail I decided to upcycle them into Artist trading cards. The cards and postcards were the perfect size for me to cut out several ATCs from. I just added an image to the new card and a little watercolor around the edges and voila! Cute, easy, fun and a lot less landfill!