Less Bitchy Pill Anyone???

Not sure what they call it in your home. 

It goes by many names, but to say the very least, the characteristics are universal.

Here in our home we refer to it as 'Monster-ating.'

Sometimes projects just fall into your lap. 

Circumstances, resources, and inspiration. 

The joyous trifecta for unbridled creativity!!  

Here's mine...

The medicinal remedy for 'monsterating'..

The Less Bitchy Pill

Thank you to Ignacio at Nicecrane Designs, I now have a steady supply of sanity at the ready. 

If you feel you need to stock your home with said remedies as well, you too can find these fabulous labels, Sharing Your Recipes, here.

A little experiment with two kinds of spray paint. Frosted and Looking Glass (mirror). 

Here you'll see I have 3 glasses ready to go.

The Frosted worked incredibly!

Dry within 10 minutes. Pulling off the Frog tape and rubberbands didn't hurt the glass a bit. The Looking Glass paint however, HORRID! I was so displeased with the outcome, I threw the glass away. 

More practice with that later...

And just a couple more sedatives to stock my craftroom apothecary.

Chill Pills

 Happy Pills

On display...

There you have it!

A fun little way to keep your wits about you and all the while being creative...

Hugs n' Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx

Thank you SO very much for the sweetest comments you've all left too. I truly appreciate all your kind words. 

Have a great week!

Sailing a Whale in the Land of the Free....

A few weeks back I had a dream that woke me up laughing hysterically.  My grandmother was wearing the full gear and driving a fire truck.  She'd managed to solve a crime and come to my rescue. Apparently she was an undercover 'Jane Bond.'   But that's a dream for another post...

Yesterday morning I had another silly one that caused me to wake up DH at 2:30 a.m. with my laughing.  I've been thinking lately that shutters would look nice on our house and apparently went to bed with that thought in my head.  Suddenly I'm in a room filled with carpenters that are vying for the job. It wasn't enough that they just quote me a price and I select, no no...a talent show must ensue.  Next thing I know, DH and myself are sitting in lawn chairs ,ocean side, watching a carpenter sail past on a whale, like a cowboy on a horse; hat and all!   

Needless to say, he won! 

And that has WHAT to do with this post?  Well...keep reading.

If you're a regular follower of my blog, you'll know that I have been on a quest to create ornaments for our seasonal tree and I'm happy to say that I've just completed our 4th of July tree!

Appearing first are these precious little wagons sporting the red, white, and blue.

The file I used is Little Red Wagon Box Template.

To show scale, here are the boxes next to my mouse

Where did this wonderful file come from?  None other than...

The Cutting Cafe Shop

(If you visit the blog and leave a comment, you could win 3 FREE files from her store!)

Here are the four that I made as 

Set 1 - Little Wagons

Set 2 - Hanging Stars

I covered white cardstock with foil tape and then ran the paper through my cutting machine and had it cut out 3 various sizes of stars.

Light coatings of Gesso were then applied to the foil tape. After drying a solid covering of Black Soot Distress Paint was then given to each star. Once this dried, I then painted over each corresponding sized star with either a red, white, or blue Distress paint and then lightly sanded.

The stars were then scored to fold.

All four completed here.  I love that they really look metal!

If you're still with me. 

 Here's where you'll understand the carpenter and the whale.  I really do have an obsession with shutters currently and thought that making these precious windows would be a cute ornament. Sort of like welcoming our troops home. 

You open the window and see our heroes just outside. 

Set 3 - Welcome Home Troops

 
Is this window CUTE or what?
I fell in love with this file Window Shaped Card Set

Here are 2 of the four I made

I thought it would be fun to make tiny firecrackers as an embellishment so I used yet another file from The Cutting Cafe to make these.  

Paper Bead Set.

Just before rolling, I glued a tiny bit of wire inside.

Now how about the absolutely fabulous vintage military cuteness images? Like them too??

Well, fret no more...they're here! They're here!

True Love for Our Hero located at the ever incredible Nicecrane Designs.

Here are the set of 4 that I made.

LOVE THEM!! 

I just wonder if the amazing whale whisperer could make shutters this pretty? 

Set 4 - Hanging Flags

I designed this on my silhouette cutter and then glued it all together. The rosettes with bottle cap centers make a pretty touch. 

And lastly,

Set 5 - USA

This is USA Word Shaped Card from The Cutting Cafe also!

Here are the 5 that I made and they each also sport a sentiment from the following files:

Independence Day Sentiment Set and

We Love Our Troops

Still here??  

If you are, thank you SO MUCH for visiting and I certainly do hope you found these items fun and inspiring.

 Please feel free to visit the fabulous designs from my friends at 

The Cutting Cafe and Nicecrane Designs 

for all your creative and crafty needs.  

Hugs and Have a wonderful day,

Lisa xx

Nautical Wishes in a Box...

Father's Day is on the way, so if you're looking for a different way to create a 3D masculine card, 

The Cutting Cafe has just the perfect file.  It's called Card In a Box.

The card boxes come in small and large sizes I (an envelope for each size is included in the file too) and here is a large box I've made for my Dad. The wonderful Happy Father's Day sentiment comes with many sentiments and images in the 

Card In a Box Embellishment Set.

 Terrific how cheesecloth doubles as fishing net material.

Rainbow Trout close-up.

Regina and my teammates have been busily creating some incredible Cards In a Box for your inspiration, so for more ideas, please visit

The Cutting Cafe

Hugs and Happy  Crafting,

Lisa xx

You're Always Welcome ....

A wonderful day to you and thank you for stopping by!

It's a sad and joyful combination of feelings today as this is our last post for the 

Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats.

Sad because it will be another year before we challenge each other again, joyful because what we've challenged each other to do has been an incredible experience and I've loved every minute!

Getting my hands on anything in my craft room that wasn't nailed or glued down, here are the photos of how this challenge came together.

Criteria for this was:

1.) Altered Box or Artist Trading            Block

2.) Wings

3.) Game Pieces

4.) Seasonal Display (I                          chose Spring)

This glorious book box was sent to me some months back from Mitra and how grateful I was to have it for the last project together.

These will become the front door...

Here's the door with Welcome wreath, weathered wood, screen inserts, kick plate and door knob.

Because I needed game pieces, I cut from a Bingo card and the wings are from a recycled tea can.

         

The word BINGO was cut apart at IN and GO and then reversed to make my welcome mat.

A flourish cut for decoration on the Silhouette machine.

A vine from water spritzed and rolled Kraft cardstock woven into the flowers and book spine with coordinating enlarged flourish. The 12 and 21 are also from the BINGO board and are my house numbers.

... and that is my little box makeover!

If you've followed me through all of these challenges, I thank you so much and truly hope you found some bits of inspiration here and there.  

As for Onion (Sue) and Mitza Pitza (Mitra), I cannot thank you ladies enough for the most invigorating, challenging, euphoric, exacerbating, evolving and personally transforming experience. 

You two are truly inspiration to me!

I already look forward to next year :)

*BONUS:

I was late to adding a freebie on my last post from Ignacio, so if you missed it, here is an image from Nicecrane Designs that Ignacio would like you to have from his set Nursery Rhymes.  Thank you so much for sharing this Ignacio!

AND

Another dear friend of mine is having a HUGE blog candy for her 

50 and Fabulous Birthday Celebration and she would love to invite you!  So please stop by Lisa's blog. 

Adventures In Paperland 

to enter to win one of these...

Hugs, and I mean BIG HUGS and Happy Crafting!

Lisa xx

Nursery Rhymes at Nicecrane Designs

Well, hello there!

Just wanted to pop in and show a few of the soon to be released images from Nicecrane Designs titled, Nursery Rhymes that Ignacio will be releasing very soon.

These were such fun to color, but they would look precious printed in black and white as well. 

 

ALSO...as an added surprise, Ignacio has allowed me to share a freebie from this set just for you to try out, so here you go...enjoy!

Hugs n' Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx