Aluminum Flashing + Die = COOL!

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I was trying to go sleep last night and had one of those suddenlies! (sp?)  "I wonder it this will work??"

Several years ago Making Memories sold these:

  LOVE!

I loved them so much that I didn't want to use them...so, I still have 20 or more of each letter!  Nuts right?  But I just didn't want to not have them.  And, MM no longer sells them, so seeeee, I can't get them anymore!

  Anyway, I wondered if I could recreate it... by using my die cut machine, some aluminum flashing and my vinyl cutter... So, I had to get up right then and give it a try!


Close enough!  Because if you didn't see the original it would work.  I'm pretty sure I have a closer font so I'll have to look for that....and, I'm going to hammer the hole back further into the die so that it doesn't cut, because it is too low

Then of course the wheels started turning...what else could I cut???


... but first, I took pictures to show that I really did use my die cutter:

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Using Tim Holtz Die  

Some of the dies I had already that I could use:

Sooooo... what to do with the different shapes??? 

• You could make anything for outside because it is rust free.. (letters for a garden sign, or numbers for your house or mailbox)
• What about organizing your garage with style?

(I spray painted the cut shape then added a piece of black vinyl... you don't need expensive "made for chalk" vinyl or paint if you are going to use these FANTASTIC liquid chalk markers:

The screws are an optical illusion...they are really brads from Making Memories...and I stuck it to the can with the super sticky Wonder tape (I had a sheet of it so it doesn't look exactly the same)

Of course, I have ZERO intention of organizing my garage so I changed it to say "Markers" instead!  So, it can look like this: 


















Or, it could look like this :-) :
You decide....

And, because I never put things away... I had everything required for this on my dining room table!!!












Final note...sure, you could easily do the same things with cardstock, but I LOVE the stainless steel look so I will be putting labels on everything in my kitchen soon!

How to Make 1700 Glittered Butterflies (sorta fast)

I actually wrote this a while back when I was working on conference stuff, I just never published it until today...
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OK, so I was told that I could put a business card or flyer in 1700 conference bags!  YAY! Right? Welllllll.... not the way I do things!  I'm thinking I need to make something that shows what I "do" so I came up with this idea:

BAD IDEA!  I have spent the last 2.5 days and I've only done about 500!  CAN'T do that!  So back to the drawing board so that I can let the printer do most of the work...and this is what I came up with:

But, back to the point, I took the pictures so I might as well share...

How to make 1700 Glittered Butterflies

1. Using a ruler to keep the line straight, run a line of glue onto patterned card-stock,...  (I couldn't find my phone book but that's the best thing to use for something like this because you can keep turning the page so you don't get glue on the backs of your card-stock when you start a new page.)

2. Repeat all the way across the page about 1" apart

3. Apply glitter to whole sheet... over a pre-folded (then opened back) piece of paper for easy pouring later.

You actually want 2 pre-folded pieces of paper so there is always a sheet under the glitter container...one for pouring and the other to catch the overflow.

4. Set aside to dry

5. Start to punch with the glittered line in the middle for the body of the butterfly.

For the business card I then glued the butter fly down onto a sheet of printed "conference logo" butterflies

An Idea to Honor Fallen US Soldiers

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I have been thinking about a way to honor fallen US soldiers and their families for a while now but I wasn't sure how exactly to do that.  Today I had an idea to create a blog for them.  

I would like to honor our fallen war heroes in two ways.  I would like to include a small write-up with a photo on my new blog "In Loving Memory" and I want send a free vinyl "In Loving Memory Of" sticker to the family.  But I need your help.  I don't know where to find the necessary information ... do you know someone that lost their lives defending our country?  If you do, could you please ask the family to check out the site so they can see what I'm trying to do?  

I am including the questions here but they are also on the actual blog I will be using.

What I need from you to do this:

   

1. First and Last name of the fallen

2. The year they were born and died (if you want that included)

3. Branch of service (optional)

4. A small write-up (optional... If you would rather just provide a link to a site that you have already I can just put that if you like.)

5. A photo (optional)

6. An address I can send the sticker to (optional)

Thanks so much,

Nancy

God PLEASE Bless America ... and you.

Another Blog

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I mentioned earlier that since I tend to be doodling a lot more these days I would come up with a way to blog my doodles without YOU having to see them.  BUT, if you do want to see them I have added the link to the right of this screen. The new blog is called "Polly-Wolly Doodle".  You should be able to see the latest thing added but for some reason that isn't working???  HUMMMM?  Hopefully it'll start with a new post ???


I have also included some of the things I "drew" last year that I showed on my "2010 Blog" ... but they were done with a mouse directly into the PC!!!  Yes I was impressed with myself because I have ZERO room on for my mouse on my desk!  I usually move it around on my leg!



That's all I'll say about it today... I have yet another blog in mind that I'll describe separately because it is more important to me and deserves more attention.

The Voice

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I don't have regular tv anymore so I just started watching "The Voice" on Hulu this week. It is all there so you can watch every show from the beginning. I love it WAY better than American Idol! Don't love everything about it (the judges get a little tacky at times) but it is so much fun to watch some of the kids sing. My absolute favorite is this painfully shy, little 16 year old girl. I LOVE HER VOICE!!! So different. (sorry about the commercials..its the price of admissions with Hulu)

The audition:



Her first "live" song...wow the change in looks: (WARNING, this song will play in your head all day long!)



Anybody else loving that show? favorites?
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Well heck, since Christina Aguilera one of the judges I might as well include this...one of my favorites from Burlesque. I love her big voice.

My New Favorite Site

I have had this link on my "To Do" list from the beginning and I finally got around to using it. It is for the PocketMod.  I know you have seen them around... the little booklet made with one sheet of paper.  

Yes, you can make them without help but this guy has taken it to a new level!  He has created different templates (calendars, lists, grids, blank pages for you to add text)  that you can just drag and drop into the order that you want them then he turns them in the direction they need to go in...All you need to do, after deciding what goes where, is print that baby!  Well, ok, you then have to fold it...he has instructions for that.


I have to make 48 little somethings for a women's retreat so this was PERFECT.  I made mine using mostly the address template and one page with the weekend theme and scripture.  (It is printed on parchment because that's all I had in my office at the time)


After I cut and folded the sheet I added a little twist to it by stitching it down onto a piece of cardstock.

I did  what I usually do and didn't measure the card stock first, I just laid the folded booklet down so that it was about 1/8" from the edges then cut all the way cross the width of a regular sheet of card stock....so the resulting piece of card stock was 4.5"x8.5". I then opened the "booklet" up to the center and stitched it down the middle so that there would be 1/8" all around three edges and a large amount to the right because I wanted it to overlap when folded: 

Next I made a slip on sleeve out of a contrasting card stock, embellished and slipped it on.  






Last week I had started making little puffed hearts and decided it was gonna take too long to make as many as I needed so I used the already cut felt to embellish the booklets.

Here is another one:

For this one I printed red on red to get the stripes then printed two copies of a gate from Graphic Fairy.  I then cut a strip through the middle of one of the copies to use as the slip-on sleeve.  I glued brass flowers for the handles.

The bag I used to prop the little booklets up for the pictures is the "gift wrap" for the Yarn Stash book I'm giving my friend for her BD...we are having lunch today (only three weeks late) so I grabbed bits and pieces around the room and this is it.  (this is one reason why I don't clean up! the bag, hearts and ribbon were all in different places in my living room and I just decided I liked the combo... it seems I've got a theme going :-).  

Today's Doodling

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OK, I'm having too much fun "doodling" now, you guys are gonna get sick of seeing it!  I may just create a "page" and load them there instead of posting about them, that way you don't have to put up with it...but I'll still have a record of it.  But, until I do that, here's today's....

Now that its "finished" I hate that the colors don't look good together!  Every bit of it was testing the color more than the design....all the beads are new markers I have and I wanted to see what they looked like in the book.  And the "JUNE" is colored with PrismaColor Nupastels...I got those because I learned this week that you can add water and blend colors!  And it worked!  Loving that!  Now that I look at it though, I covered the blended colors with the black...hummmm...oh well, I saw that it worked.  

Actually here was the original test:

 great coverage and good blending!  YAY!!!

OH!  Did you notice what I am doing with one of my $1 books... WAY cheaper than other paper to practice/test/doodle on!!

Need I Say More

Pin It

FREE Computer Generated Library Card

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I found a new website today that generates these old library cards using the text you give it.  LOVE! LOVE!  Perfect for all those "grunge" journals out there now.  I know this one is going in mine.  

Click on the picture to take you to the website.

FUN!

Two New Toys

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I got two new toys!


Number one: 
My niece, Mattie, put this on her "WANT IT" board on Pinterest so I thought I would try and get it for her.  


Weeeeel.... I couldn't find it!...on the link that it came from, or from the company on the handle!!!  I called them directly and they said they DON'T MAKE IT!!!  Huh?

So, you can imagine my delight when I found this one today at Joanne's!  AND, I got it 40% using a Michael's coupon since Joanne's will take anybody's coupon.... I think it ended up being around $13.  Not horrible.  The only down side is that it has fewer letters across so you would need to stamp more than once if your phase/name was more than eight characters.

They make it for stamping clay but it works with ink as well.






Toy number TWO
Last Friday I decided that I need a really large coil for the "My Stash" journal I'm giving my friend so I gave Bonnie a call at www.BonniesBest.com.  It is an online company but Bonnie is local so I always go see what new gadgets she has for sell.  She carries things that you can't get ANYWHERE else!    Well, this time I was shocked to find out that she actually has a REAL store, no more  going down into her basement for supplies!  CONGRATULATIONS BONNIE!!!  I'm embarrassed to say that she has been in the "new" store for FOUR YEARS!  I can't believe I have resisted shopping that long! 


Listen, if you have never been to www.BonniesBest.com you really need to check it out!  Not only does she sell things that you can only get from her... she has TONS other stuff too, like ALL of the Tim Holtz products .... 


And that brings me to my new little toy.  Tim Holtz has a little tool made for applying his tissue tape:

My first question to Bonnie was will a regular roll of tape work in it?  AND IT DOES!  YES!  TOO cute!  I am such a sucker for cute little things made like big things.... this works like a large tape thingy for boxes.  (like the above picture on the right)  Now, I'm not saying it is a practical purchase...BUT...it is so darn cute!


Listen, it is such a good thing that we spent most of the 2.5 hours "catching up" because I am looking back on her website now and seeing that I could have spent WAY WAY more than the $100+ that I did spend!  (I don't know....do they let you take out a THIRD mortgage on your house???)  OUCH!  The good news is that does include the  $0.79 coil I went after!


What is your latest new toy?  Please share...

How I Organize My Watercolor Pencils

I went to Michael's a couple weeks ago and they had some of their watercolor pencils on sale for 49 cents each!!!  Excellent deal so naturally I had to have one of every color, even though I already had PLENTY!

I took this picture to show how hard it is to tell what color some of the pencils are...unfortunately you really can tell the color because the light is good.  BUT, at night, when I am trying to find a navy pencil I can not tell which is which!! 

 SO, I came up with my own little system...  I glue a puffed star on the end that has been colored with that pencil.  Now I don't have to even hesitate when picking a pencil!  This was the beginnings of the effort.... I now have three cans full...sorted by color.  I'll get a picture of that eventually but right now they are still "bean cans" ... nothing special, just extremely functional.


I did a video but it really is pretty intuitive so you may not want to waste your time...I do tend to rattle on and on...

I FOUND IT!

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Today I went to a store called "The Book Exchange" in search of CHEAP hard back books that I could use for art journaling and I learned a couple of things.

1. PAY ATTENTION to what you are buying!  

I didn't, I found a book for $1 and bought it.  WELLLL....when I got home I looked at the title.  "Never Stand Next to a Naked Man" (or something like that.) !!!!  As it turns out it is NOT a novel, but well.... I don't even want to say!  I know right now that IF I do decide to use any part of it, it'll be for cutting and little pieces!!  EEEEWWW (sp?)

2.  God will answer even the least significant prayer!

Right next to the cheap books was some really old cookbooks.  When I saw them I instantly thought of a Chicken recipe I made at least 30 years ago and really wanted to find again.  (All my cookbooks burned in my house fire) I thought it was from a book called "Eat and Stay Slim" but I wasn't sure...when I found one with that title the recipe wasn't there... so I prayed and asked the Lord to find it for me.  AND I FOUND IT almost immediately!!!  I had been right about the title of the book, but apparently there have been more produced.  Now seriously, what are the odds that of the MILLIONS of cookbooks out in the world that the one I wanted would be in among the 50 or so in a tiny little used book store!  God gets all the credit on this one!

Here ya go....I just remember that it was really good and QUICK and EASY! 

Yummmm.... at least it was 30 years ago when I was on a diet (that may have affected my taste buds ???)

Ingredients:
1 10oz package frozen cut broccoli
2  8oz whole chicken breasts, skinned, boned and cut into 1/2" wide strips
1/4c  chopped onion
2T diet margarine
1t lemon juice
1/4t dried thyme, crushed
3 medium tomatoes, cut in wedges
Salt and Pepper

Thaw broccoli. Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Cook chicken and onion quickly in hot margarine till just done.  Stir in broccoli, lemon juice, thyme, 3/4 t salt, and 1/8 t pepper.  Cook covered 6 minutes.  Add tomatoes.  Cook covered, 3-4 minutes.  Makes 4 servings.

I will show you what I do with the hardback books (I got 2) when I do something.