Wedding Advice Card Dove Designs

I just got a new stamp set and have been working on these advice card designs. I love the elegance of these dove and olive branch advice cards. The olive green ink and ivory card stock is so pretty.

I also picked up this woodland stamp, another Studio G find, and made these woodland wishes or welcome little one advice cards. I used cocoa ink and colored the leaves and trees with a green colored pencil.

I'm working on some new covers and book designs for putting together the advice cards when the event is done. I've seen boxes for the cards, but I'm thinking a front and back cover with either book rings or pre punched and tied inside as a book will look nice, too.

What do you think?

Valentine Card from Scraps

The kiddos wanted to make cards over the weekend so we pulled out a lot of Mom's pink, red, and white scraps from the scrap bin.

The inside is blank, still thinking of what to write inside it.

Any ideas?

Plastic Canvas Glitter Holder

I've been looking for a new way to keep all my glitter organized and up off my craft bench. So, I came up this this hanging shelf using plastic canvas. The entire thing is one sheet of 7-count plastic canvas. It holds 16 of the little glitter bottles.

The nice thing about it, it took about 30 minutes to whip it up and it is sturdy enough to hang on the wall.

If you'd like the pattern on how I made it let me know.



 

Hearts Place Cards

Our church is getting ready to host their second annual couples Valentine dinner. It made me think of place cards and hearts. This are simple two layer place cards that I hand stamped with a heart stamp I got from Studio G.

These are available in the shop now along with some other new designs I'll be sharing later this month.

I've been trying to add some new designs and ideas, so please feel free to share. I love hearing from you all.

Have you made your dinner reservations yet for the big V-Day? 

DIY Toilet Paper Tower Recycle Paper Home Decor Project

You got to love Pinterest. I saw this recycled oatmeal canister idea a few days ago and thought, wow, we've got those!
Mr. Chad T. goes through a canister of Oatmeal frequently, it's a breakfast basic in our house. And, Bell is after my always to recycle more. This project took one piece of 12x12 designer paper, a roll of 3/4" wire ribbon and 1 sheet of black card stock 8.5" x 11" paper.

I found the quote on Pinterest, too. With kids in the house, I couldn't think of a more perfect quote. My friend the trailer trash to treasure diva loves quotes. I printed this one out using Microsoft Word and voila! A perfect toilet paper holder for in the bathroom.

This toilet paper tower holds two rolls of toilet paper. It's a quick and fun project to add a little humor and something practical to any bathroom in your house.

I gave this one as a gift to my friend, but the next one is totally mine.

Have fun!

Spinach Rolls Dish

 

We've found a new family favorite recently. If you ask my kids they'll tell you I'm not much of a cook. Mr. ChadT is more into mixing and measuring then I am. But these, I have to say came out better than I thought. Even the kiddos really liked them.

 I made these over New Years while we were visiting my family. It's a great dish for a dinner party or large family gathering.

I got this recipe from emeals. (yes, they do all my meal planning and I love it!)

 Spinach Rolls 

9 lasagna noodles
10 oz pkg of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
24 oz jar spaghetti sauce, divided
1  cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions: drain and lay out on wax paper. Pat dry with paper towels. Squeeze excess moisture from spinach. Combine spinach, ricotta, egg, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and Italian seasonings in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour 1 cup spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 11 inch baking dish. Spread ricotta mixture over lasagna noodles and roll them up.

Place, seam down, in the baking dish. Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella.

Cover dish with foil and bake 40 minutes.

Click here to print this recipe!


Add a salad and some garlic bread, and you've got yourself a great family meal!

This serves 4 - 6 people.
You can easily double or triple the recipe for a larger group.

Bon Appetit!

Easel Guest Book Sign

Last year I added guest books signs as my gift in with most all of my guest book order from my Etsy shop. The year before, I included a sample thank you card. This year... well that is a surprise.

I've been browsing Pintrest in between working on my latest book project and trying to find some new ideas for using up my scrap papers and adding new products to the shop that you all may like.

If you'd like to see new things in the shop, please feel free to post below in the comments section or over on my facebook page. I love hearing from you all, and I love creating new things.

We've been on the double hearts theme this week with the feature of the double hearts and double bound guest book I posted about earlier and then the card I created to match it.

Here is the guest book sign that I made using a tutorial from Split Coast Stampers for creating an easel card.  I'm working on creating some different designs of theses and adding them to the shop this month.

They're definately a step up from the card style ones I created last year and I like how they stand and allow for more of a 3-D look when setting on a table.

Plus, I can customize them to match any event theme and colors.

Well, I'm off to create!
Have an awesome Friday!




 

Double Hearts Wedding Card

 

I'm determined this year to get my scrap pile of papers down to one basket or less. As you saw the double heart wedding guest book from Monday's post, I thought I'd share how I made this double heart wedding card. 

It's so sweet you can change the color scheme and create if for Valentine's day, too!

What you'll need to create this card:

Artphilosphy Cricut Cartridge (CTMH)

Celebration Stamp Set from CTMH)

Then you'll need three layers of card stock

a piece of 1/2 ribbon

border punch - EK Success

The card is 5.5 x 8.5 piece of gray flannel card stock

The first layer (purple and gray) is 3 3/4 x 3 inches

1.5 x 3" black piece of card stock

3 x 4 inch piece of white or white designer paper (I used a piece from a black and white scrap pack I got from Oriental trading)

Foam Dimensional

You'll also need a few scrap pieces of gray wool, gray flannel, and moonstruck (dk purple or your choice of color)

I cut out three hearts: 2 1/2  inches, 1 3/4 inches, and 1 inch 

I used the celebrations stamp and black ink and stamped the banner stamp and "Celebrate" onto a piece of gray flannel card stock then cut out around it. 

You'll want to score your 5.5 x 8.5" piece of gray flannel card stock in half (4 1/4) and fold to make the card. 

Layer the 3 3/4 x 3 inch piece on the far side first. 

Then take your black 1.5 x 3 piece of card stock and punch using a border punch. 

Attach it to the 4" side of your 3 x 4 white design card stock

wrap a piece of 1/2 inch ribbon around it by the border end and secure in the back with adhesive

Next you'll want to position and attach the 3 x 4 piece on the card. 

Place your largest heart down first. Then your smaller two hearts. I used foam dimensionals on the back of the two smaller hearts to make them stand out. 

Then add your Celebrate banner!

All done!

If you make one, I'd love to see your creation! 

Come share with me on Facebook. 

Double Heart Wedding Guest Book

 I design a book like this a few years ago, you can see the design layout here.

This is custom order that I just loved creating this book. It really inspired me to get my creativity kicked back in gear again. I got some new papers designs from Jo Ann's over the holidays and was excited to pull out this dark purple and gray/ black paper design and create something so beautiful for this double hearts themed wedding.

I even took the scrap papers and created this card for the mother to put on her present to her daughter at the bridal shower and included a new tent style guest book sign to tie in with the brides' colors.

 

This is what it looks like laying out with the date and the couples names printed on the hearts. 

 

I stood it up so you could see it a little better, I'm sorry my photos are really great this time around. I'm working on getting my photo box set back up and my camera readjusted for cleaner shots. 

 This is a wire bound book, so I tied gray, purple, and black ribbon down the sides.

 This is what it looks like laying open for the guest to sign. One side is for the groom's side and one is for the bride's side, but it contains questions for the guest to answer on the pages like: I met Katie through James, I still laugh when I remember when Katie..., My best memory of James is...

Can you guess some of the other questions that went into this book?

Create A Craft Binder or Planner for this year

If your like me, you either create your own patterns and keep lists of ideas or you find lots of free printable tutorials and other goodies on line and don't know what to do with them all.

My craft studio is getting a little cluttered with all my craft supplies, notes, and sketches for patterns and printed tutorials. So, I grabbed a 2" view binder from Wal-Mart yesterday and decided to try and get everything organized this year.

I do this when I'm writing books, so why not for crafts, too. The view binders range from about $3 to $5 depending on the size and color. The black ones are cheaper than the white, go figure.

However, I encourage you to do the same.
As the year goes on, and you've probably already noticed, I'll be sharing recipes and tutorials that you can print out. So why not create your own binder to keep them all in?

 For the cover, I cut a piece of 9 1/2 x 11 1/4 inch scrapbook paper, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2  inch card stock, and layered them.

For the center, I printed out what I wanted my book cover to say "MrsChadT's Book of Crafts" on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of copy paper. I then trimmed it down to 6 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches.

I used an EK Success border punch and punched around the edges of the card stock before I layered it all together using a glue stick to keep them all adhered.  Then I added some die cut flowers I had and secured them with a few brads.

Can you tell purple is my favorite color?

I also used 8.5 x 11 piece of card stock for the dividers and a 2" scallop punch. You can score the scallops and fold them in half then staple to the card stock for tabs.

Then you can write on the tabs or decorate and print the section titles on the card stock before you put them into your binder.

I have a section for many of the crafts I enjoy such as: Book Binding, Paper Tutorials, Crochet, Plastic Canvas, and Sewing Projects.

This is also a great idea for creating your own Wedding Planner, Shower Planner, Daily Planner, or other type of party planner organizer.

Looking forward to being a little more organized here in 2014, how about you?

Superbowl Appetizers Pizza Rolls.

If your hubby is like mine or you've got friends coming over to watch the super bowl this month, then everyone will love these pepperoni Roll appetizers. They'll grab them by the hand full and snack away as they watch the game!

Pepperoni Rolls

What you will need:

8 oz block Colby-Jack cheese
3 cans buttermilk biscuits
4 oz pkg pepperoni slices
1 large egg, beaten
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp garlic powder
24 oz jar pasta sauce

 Let's make it:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut block of cheese into 30 mini squares. Flatten biscuits and stack each with 1 pepperoni slice, 1 cube of cheese, and then 1  more pepperoni slice. Gather the edges of each biscuit to form a roll. Place on a greased baking sheet. Brush each roll with egg; sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Bake as per biscuit directions.

Heat pasta sauce in a sauce pan until thoroughly warmed and serve alongside for dipping.

**The original directions said to bake them for 18-20 min and they got a little too brown, if you bake them per the biscuit directions they come out just perfect! **

Print recipe here






recipe compliments of emeals.com

Martini Gift Set

  
 I picked up this martini glass at my local dollar tree and a pack of these martini samplers while I was out grocery shopping. You have to add the alcohol to them, so the grocery store carries them.

My sister-in-law just celebrated her birthday near Christmas. She loves...loves... the color pink. So I put together this cute little martini gift purse for her.

 I used some pink paper out of the passion pack from DCWV 8.5" x 11" paper packs and some floral paper out of a stack pack also by DCWV.

I used a pink pearl brad for the bottom part of the closure and a piece of string to keep the top closed.

I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. If anyone wants the tutorial on how I made it, please let me know and I'll see if I can recreate it. I wrote down the dimensions of the paper as I cut, scored, and folded it together. Now, I just got to find that paper... :)

The Best of 2013

Happy New Year!

2013 has been a year of learning new things for the Lower family. 

 We learned new hair styles for the girls. 

Designed and made our own hair barrettes. 

Made our own Valentines using Bell's Violin, a paper heart, and Moxley (Bell's pet lizard) as our props.

 Boy and I attempted to make our own version of lego cookies for his class on his birthday. 

Taught Boy to crochet dish cloths.

Celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary

Had fun doing a DIY Journaling workshop with a great bunch of ladies

 Spent time with family and splashed in a relative's pool

Bell went to art camp and helped paint this mural in the front of local church.

Dug for fossils 

Learned how to make jelly.

And... we made snow angels. 

2014 Here we come!!