I'm Back, Baby

So, I'm back after my surprise eye surgery...turns out when you are reeeallly nearsighted and get old, you can stretch your retina too far and it decides to rip. Luckily, I had doctors on top of it and they took care of it in a matter of two days. Now I have some recovery ahead. I'm on week three and things are progressing just right and I'm allowed to read/text/use the computer for ten minutes per hour. You cannot imagine how long seven days seem when you are face down doing nothing. Luckily, I had my handy husband who cooked for me, rigged up a mirror for tv viewing and who brought me treats and texted for me. If you don't have a handy helper like him, I suggest you find one in the event of a surprise surgery...or I could rent mine! :) just kidding, honey.

Today I'm sharing my post up at a2z Scrapbooking using one of the Ornaments Infinity Dies as lightbulbs and the digital cut files A Natural Christmas (that I just printed out since I don't have a Silhouette machine).

Now enjoy a little AC/DC Back In Black to celebrate me being back to my blog and crafting and y'know seeing! See you back here on Monday!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Hero Arts Boo Stamp & Cut Gift Bag

I'm up on the a2z Scrapbooking blog today with a peek at a little treat bag for Halloween using the Hero Arts Boo Stamp & Cut. I love this little stamp and die set and if you want one too, you still have time before Halloween and it's only $10.20 in the store right now! See those cute little ghost faces?

Hope you'll stop by a2z and enter our Hero Arts monthly challenge, Layer It, to try to win $25 to the store! If you need Hero Arts stamps, you can always order the digis, which are immediate downloads so there's no waiting, just start creating!

Happy Monday!

Chark

If you're looking for the Hop to Stop, click here.

Can I Get You a Cuppa?

I'm a big tea lover and today is National Tea Day! Celebrating with the folks at The Coffee Loving Blog Hop today with these projects. 

The first project uses Prima's Coffee Break paper and a little tea cup from Lawn Fawn's breakfast set, along with a brown paper bag and doily.

This one uses the digi Coffee Stamps from Hero Arts and a2z Scrapbooking. The tea bag is a little sentiment cut from the Coffee Break Prima 6x6 pad.

And this one uses a little robot stamp from Hero Arts and Kelly Purkey and the same digi Coffee stamps I got my big cup from. I love that you can size these any way you want. This little bag is just big enough for a gift card.
 

If you comment here or on my flickr stream on any of these three, I'll enter you in a drawing to win these outline coffee stickers and some fun bling, I'll announce the winner after the hop closes.

And if you want some great deals, hop over to a2z Scrapbooking Supplies and check out all the new things in the sale section AND you can use the code Chark15 to get 15% off your cart of $25 or more! That's double the savings!! or something, I'm not a math teacher, people. I know a good deal when I see one, though! :)

Happy Tea Day!
Chark

Mini Treat Bags Are Big Fun

If you have a big party coming up, family dinner or maybe even a graduation or wedding, you can make cute and inexpensive personalized treat bags pretty quickly. You can start with any envelope, seal the all your flap with adhesive, stamp, crease the long edges and one short edge. Trim open the last edge and fold. Turns into a little gift bag cute enough for any occasion.

I used Hero Arts Leafy Vine stamp, silver Staz-On ink and lavender envelopes. Then I stapled silver cardstock and glitter cardstock flags to the top. Easy! I use an envelope board for creasing and a little adhesive on the folded flaps on the bottom.

You can add phrases or initials or whatever you like to personalize each one. These would make place settings at the holidays with holiday colors.

Here's a how-to video (not mine) if you need clarification on how to do this. These are small because I used a smaller envelope, but just think—you could make a large one from a 9x12 manila envelope. That'd be fun for a gift!

Happy Friday! Wednesday! Friday!  whatever day it is...I swear I typed Friday and thought 'wishful thinking, it's wed' and posted it and then had to literally check the calendar...ok, it is Friday and I'm delirious...could not need a nap more.
Chark

The Weekend Approaches

Am I wrong or did this week fly by? I'm glad to see the weekend of course, I just wonder what happened to the rest of the days. I've been making a lot of crafty things, hoping to get some published, so maybe I was just caught in a creative vortex. Now it's time to get that table cleared off, so people can eat at it! Ha!

Here's one project I made recently for a2z Scrapbooking Supplies. The step-by-step project is on yesterday's blog here if you're interested. I turned a gift bag into a shaker bag in a few easy steps.

I showed you a peek at the crepe paper rosettes I made the other day and here's another peek at the project—it's a Valentine project. Here's where I used the rosette.

Hope you have a great weekend and that you join me in some challenges, including the Stamplorations September challenge here (I'm still working on my entry) and A Blog Named Hero here and, of course, the monthly challenge at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies.

Happy Friday!
Chark

Last Weekend Before School

Panic! Everyone try to get some fun in! BBQ? Pool? Late-night Movie? We'll be headed to the the beach, enjoying the sun. 

In the meantime, here's a little cooling action for you. I'm still testing out my Sizzix snowflakes and this time, I did an impression with one on gold paper, instead of cutting through it. If you have an embossing pad you can use that or you can make your plate a little shorter so there's less pressure and the die won't cut.

I layered it with a wooden heart and a doily. It goes on a kraft gift bag, because I love kraft and gold and white together.

Here's a close-up so you can see the shine a bit on the snowflake.

This was so fast to make and might be nice for a little holiday gift card for a teacher or friend...just to dress it up a bit. 

Happy Last Weekend Before (our) School,
Chark

Summer Coffee Lovers Hop

I love this group of people who love coffee and crafts...now, granted I'm not a coffee drinker, so you might wonder why I'm part of the group. Because they don't discriminate and tea and cocoa drinkers are welcome too! I couldn't get by without my tea. Gotta have a cup in the morning to get started and then during lunch and then one at night (decaf of course) to finish out the day.

So, here's my entry using free digis from Useless Trinkets here. Jessa Feig provides both images and sayings to go with them and I heart them so much! This unicorn comes with a coffee cup, a donut and a couple of other little things.

I colored him and fussy cut him out and then adhered him to a little bag. I think it'd be a great way to give a coffee gift card. I used my Prismacolor pencils to make the scene for him. Here's a close up to see the Stickles on his horn and mane.

BLOG CANDY ALERT!! Leave me a comment and you can be entered to win this very cool coffee cup stencil from Stamplorations...and maybe something else fun! Open to everyone! Winner chosen after
Friday, June 12th @ 11:59 pm pacific.

And, for another chance to win a different stencil (of your choice from a2z Scrapbooking Supplies), see this post.

Happy Hopping!
Chark

Rainy Days And Mondays

Yep, it's raining and it's Monday. I'm not really down like the song says, but I am dying for a nap and I've only been up for two hours. I blame the gloomy day outside...snuggling in bed seems like a great idea. But first, I'll share a gift bag I made for my niece's bridal shower.

I started with a huge white bag from Hobby Lobby, then added a piece of 12x12 Mr. & Mrs. scrapbook paper from there and added paper roses I made with burgundy cardstock. The bunting I made from really old paper I won—I just freehand cut the shape, hole punched and threaded ribbon through. Easy to make, although it took forever to glue the roses. Making them takes a minute or two, but then I fussed with the shape and width and then finally used some liquid glue to secure them, which takes awhile to dry.

Here's a close-up of the paper roses. I used two sheets of 12x12 cardstock. The biggest rose is one sheet by itself. Here's a tutorial on felt roses that I applied to paper roses. Works just the same. Start with a basic circle and then spiral cut and roll. You can ink the edges of the paper after assembling the roses if you want more depth.

 

Happy Monday! Off to napzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Chark

It's A Lotta Fun Or Should I Say It's Gelato Fun?

It's a bonus post today—it's not my regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday post—but that's because I wanted to join in Take the Challenge with Mou over at Faber-Castell's blog. Each month, the very talented Mou issues a challenge and provides inspiration. This month, she gave us this Day of the Dead skull.

Love it! So I tried my best with some gelatos from Faber-Castell...love their smoothness and spreadability (that's a word, right?!). Plus they react with water (see Mou's project above).

Here's my take on the challenge...I used the cutest die cut from Imaginisce and my gelatos in tropical colors.

I used white chipboard from Tim Holtz that had embossed images on the front (that I messed up). I flipped it over and started fresh and just scribbled some color blocks and then added bits around the edges. Then I used my Faber-Castell Stamper's pen in this olive color to color the edges and corners.

Then I made a little candy or gift bag with the piece. The ribbon is just a bunch of bits from years ago (I think the Jack-o-Lantern came from Jo-Ann's $1 ribbon area). The little skull ribbon is soooo old, but adorable, right?

Over at Simon Says Stamp, the weekly challenge is to let "O" inspire you. I used October for mine...I tried to think of something unique, but other than Oprah, I got nothing. So I'm going with October and entering at the Simon Says Monday Challenge!
 

14 days til Halloween! Buy your candy and get your costume ready!
Chark

What Time Is It? It's Challenge Time!

I'm entering this little gift bag I made with my Paper Smooches stamps over at...get this...the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge here. If you're super fast, you can join me—the deadline is tonight! Here's the sketch I used for the panel before I attached it to my gift bag. I used both the Spookalicious and the Halloweenies sets. So fun!

And this bag is one I made using the Hero Arts Happy Birthday Grid Stamp. If you love Hero Arts too and want to join in the monthly challenge over at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies, you could win a $25 gift certificate! I stamped on white tissue paper with distress inks. The ribbon comes pleated like this and I love it. I love it so much, it's about gone and I have no idea where I got it. sigh. At least it looks good here!

Happy Weekend!
Chark

It's A Pooh Bear Post

********If you're looking for the Hero Arts/a2z Scrapbooking Blog Hop and a chance to win prizes, click on this post!***********

Seriously loved Winnie-the-Pooh tv specials when I was a kid...totally loved them. Now they are "movies" and we have them on DVD and my kids watched them too. I never saw the classic Pooh illustrations until I had kids and I love those too. When I found the die cut pack of them at Jo Ann's, I bought them. For no real reason or plan, but they make me happy. I made a tag with them for a Papercrafts Magazine submission call and although it didn't get picked for publication, I did get two things picked up for February's issue, so I can't complain.

Here it is, using a Prima tag, Lawn Fawn papers from a win from Heather Ruwe (thanks, Heather!), and a little cellophane bag and filler. 

The ribbon is glittery eyelash yarn and I have no idea where I got it, but Martha Stewart makes some. With her own two hands, probably, she might even card the yarn herself from the sheep she keeps. That woman makes her own marshmallows for cocoa...or her assistants do...but someone does and that is kinda weirdly impressive. I shall continue to purchase my marshmallows and yarn already made, however.

The word stickers are Tiny Text by Cosmo Cricket, also from Jo Ann Fabrics, and they are awesome as well.

Hope you have a great weekend and get a chance to enjoy Monday off if you're from the states. Yay for Labor Day!
Chark