Creativity is flowing.....

I started this week struggling to come up with an idea for a Facebook group challenge and now my creativity has taken over!! I have created 6 cards, and 1 (technically 3) wood projects for the wood challenge. I still have so many more ideas to work with now!  I had a death in the family about a week ago, so I have been busy trying to put together something to give to my Aunt for when I go to the viewing on Monday (the 17th). It was her husband that passed away sort of unexpectedly. We were not close at all. I have seen him ... maybe a small handful of times in the last 10 years. To be honest, I think all but one of those times were at funerals. I am not close with my Dad's side of the family, but I feel like I need to go for my Aunt (my Dad's older sister). My mom has agreed to watch the little boys for me so that I can go pay my respects. It was really just the timing - she is getting back from her trip visiting my sister in TX the day before the funeral. Otherwise, I would not even be able to go. (I do not feel that a funeral or viewing is any place for a one and three year old.) I had to take Big K and Little K to the Dr on Monday the 10th. Big K definitely had Strep throat and Little K was showing a few signs, but the Dr didn't see any problems like Big K. He thought Little K might be a few days behind. Both were started on medicine. Between being sick and daylight savings, our sleep schedules are all messed up!   I am still working on refinishing my bathroom cabinet, and I definitely welcome the break from sanding the fine details of this thing. It has been extremely time consuming and I can see the end.. but not sure how soon I will get there. I have 1 drawer and 3 cabinet doors to finish sanding before I can work on staining it and replacing the counter top. That will be a post for a different time, though! Remodeling the bathroom (more or less) myself will definitely be post worthy!  In the mean time, here are some of the things I have been working on this week:

  Above:  The cards that I have created this week. 5 out of the 6 are in some way related to wood, and the last one is not. I actually used nail polish to create the fun dots. All of the sayings are embossed on using my embossing powder and my craft heater. I forgot just how much I love this technique!! 

Below: A few of the steps in my wood project. I tried it with a black and white photo (not shown) and didn't like the way it looked. When I tried it the next two times, I used color photos, but I am not sure how much I like them either. I completely forgot to flip the images, so they are backwards and it kinda bothers me. The family picture turned out the nicest, but the other two didn't look all that bad. It is a learning process. I am not sure that anyone can get it completely right the first time. I tried all 3 on the same piece of wood. I think I finally have my technique down, and will pick out a piece of wood to do a single picture on. 

The process for my photo transfer to wood is a pretty simple one. You need only a few materials and a lot of time and patience! If you are interested in the steps to make this project, please visit my post on my NEW blog that was created just for my creations:  Created By Momma.   Have you ever tried to make one of these before? How did it turn out?

Mamatography - February Recap

 Here are my pictures from February. It was a very, VERY busy month here. I have spent almost every nap time working on hand sanding a cabinet in our bathroom. As it turns out, it is a beautiful cabinet underneath the horrible paint job! I will post before and after pictures when I am finished. The doors and drawers have a very small detailed trim on it that is making it next to impossible for me to use tools on it. So, I have to hand sand it. That means, it is very slow going. My mom had come up to watch the boys for me one day so that I could use our electrical hand sander. It made a HUGE mess! There is such a thick layer of paint on the cabinet that it took me about an hour to the side of the cabinet! 

Here are the Valentine's / Anniversary cards that I made for my husband. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary this year.

This is the anniversary card that I made for my younger sister and her husband. Their anniversary is in just a few days! :)

A birthday card that I made for a friend's brother. He is a Colonel in the USAF and just celebrated his 50th birthday. She asked her friends to send him a birthday card to make his birthday a little more special. 

Slime Lime Green Card - What?

Next week, my sister and her husband celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary. I was the Matron of Honor and also the photographer for their wedding. My amazing husband did most of the photography during the ceremony, but I got in a few good shots, too! It was definitely a day that I will not forget! In honor of their anniversary, I made them this cute card. I used colors from their wedding and Minnie and Mickey Mouse that I cut out with my Cricut. 

The base of the card could not have been more perfect for this card!! I often purchase the "scrap packs" that are sold at my local AC Moore. In the THREE packs, I found a handful or so of theses 5 x 7  papers in lime green. The are already scored to be a card. As soon as I saw them, I thought of my brother-in-law and the "slime lime"  from their wedding. We had such a hard time matching that shade of green. 

I submitted this for a challenge over at Jennuine Challenges - a Facebook group ran by Jennifer from Just Dahling (YouTube) and Jennuine Crafts (blog). This week's challenge was a "scrap challenge"- where you use your scraps to make things. I used scraps to make just about every part of this adorable card.  In case my sister is reading this - I love you guys!! I hate that we live so far apart and that we never get to see each other anymore! I hope you have a FANTASTIC anniversary!!! <3

A Crafty Post - Minnie Happy Birthday Card

My Dad recently asked if I could make a special handmade birthday card for his girlfriend. He told me that her favorite Disney character is Minnie Mouse and her favorite color is blue. So, armed with those two things, I came up with this really neat birthday card! This design took me days to come up with, and then another couple of days to figure out how to execute, but I think it turned out fantastic! What do you guys think??

I love receiving cards from my family and friends. I love knowing that they took the time to go to the store and pick out a card just for me! Then, I ALWAYS feel guilty when I want to throw the card away. I mean, I can't possibly save every card that everyone gives me, right?? So, when I make a card (or gift) for someone, I always try to be that one thing that they WANT to keep and display or put in their scrapbook or memories box. For this card, I took it one step further.... I made a card that can be displayed as it is or it can be separated into a card and a magnet. That is right... the Minnie Mouse is a magnet, that can actually be removed from the card! I love this card so much! 

I have a punch (by EK Success) that I used for the "balloons". I punched them in different colors and layered them. Some have pop-dots (or some form of pop-dots) to give it some dimension. 

The "Happy Birthday" is from the Cricut cartridge Create A Critter. It is the phrase for the cat. I painted it with nail polish, and then went back over it with a glitter nail polish. It is also raised with two layers of my pop dots.

Minnie is from the Cricut cartridge Mickey and Friends. 

I would love to hear what you all think about this card. I am open to any and all feedback. If anyone would like a more detailed explanation or a walk through of  how I made this card, please feel free to let me know.