Purse Class

Tonight I am hosting a Purse Class at my home with just a few guests. I finished the sample and instructions late last night and thought I would share it with you because it is such a fun project to do!
Check it out...

The tutorial for the purse can be found on Becky Roberts' blog for purchase and it is well worth the price if you ask me. The wallet is of my own creation and I may put together a tutorial on it soon. All supples are Stampin' Up except for the three flowers on the front of the wallet and purse, the die used to make the buckles, and the embossing folder used for the texture on the wallet. The color combination used here is Thoroughly Modern DSP, Bermuda Bay, and Soft Suede.

This is such a wonderful gift box. The first one I made for my upline Eddie. I filled it with hershey's kisses and in the wallet I put the payment for my last order under her. I think I will also make one to put a stamp and ink pad in for the hostess gift of my very first workshop that will be taking place next week. I'll post the photos of those cards next week sometime.

I just love how this turned out and I can't wait to see what my guests come up with!

Thanks for looking!

Blog Candy!!!!

Check out the awesome blog candy that Debbie is giving away at her Passion For Crafts blog!

Girl Fun with Paper

Last weekend my neice Gabrielle stayed the night with us. I promised her that we would be crafty and make a couple of cards. I pulled up my favorites list and let her choose two cards to case. Of course I told her that they wouldn't be exactly like the cards she found, but similar. The first one she picked can be found here. Here is my version:

I really like the different layers of white with different textures and the pop of pink in the center. The card base is Whisper White card stock. I embossed the lines at 1/2" from the top and bottom with my scorepal, then centered the embossing folder between my lines. The two ovals in the center were cut and embossed with Nestabilites ovals.

I stamped the flowers and stems from Fifth Avenue Floral in Black Stazon. Then I colored in the flowers with Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, and Rose Red. The centers were colored with Blush Blossom and Summer Sun. The stem was colored with Garden Green and Handsome Hunter. The ribbon was from my stash. To finish it off I stamped "Wonderful" from Warm Words in Rose Red ink at the bottom.

The second card that Gabrielle chose to recreate can be found here. Here is my version:

I really love fall and all of the brown, yellow, gold, and red colors. This card really fits all of those colors into it. The card base is Very Vanilla with a Chocolate Chip mat under some misc photo paper with leaves on it. The next layer is Chocolate Chip and some Halloween Large Stripe (non SU) paper. The third layer, which is popped out, is from Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, and Very Vanilla.

The small rectangle of Very Vanilla had the leaves from Lovely As A Tree stamped in Black Stazon and colored in with Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, and Chocoltae Chip markers. I sponged So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, and Tangerine Tango on the corners of this piece. I added some brown with white polka dot ribbon from my stash, stamped "Cherish" from Baroque Motifs in Chocolate Chip, and added five dots of Copper Stickles to the corner of the Creamy Caramel card stock. I absolutely love this one! I would like to apologize for the dark photos. By the time I got around to taking pictures of the cards I made it was late and dark outside.

Dark Blue Swarovski Pearl and Crystal Necklace

I made this necklace and earrings set specifically to wear with my formal dress on our vacation. It is the same design I used for my mother's set, but with a different color of pearls and a different pendant. The 8mm dark blue pearls were individually strung on eye pins and joined to make a chain. For the pendant and earrings I used a baroque teardop of AB clear crystal. All of the beads and findings were from Fire Mountain Gems. Below you can see different views of the necklace and earrings. This set went perfectly with my formal dress and crochet shawl as you can see in the last picture of my previous post.

I think I will be making one in the same design with different colors to put in my etsy store. I've had the store set up for a while, but now I think I'll actually have to list something on it. Humm...maybe after christmas presents are done.

Broomstick Lace Crochet Shawl - Finished!!!

A project finished and checked of the In-Process Project List! Yay! I found this fabulous pattern for a shawl in the Summer 2009 issue of Interweave Crochet. I got the yarn, beads, and a very large knitting needle that the instructions listed.

The yarn is from WEBS and the color is called Whipple Blue. One cone was more than enough for my fabulous shawl.

Then the beads were from Fire Mountain Gems. It was interesting getting used to crocheting around the very large knitting needle, not to mention holding the knitting needle while using the crochet hook. But it was well worth it. After finishing the edging and blocking it this is what I came up with and I absolutely love it! In the pictures below you can see different views of the completed shawl. At the end you can see a picture of my and my husband from the formal night of our cruise. I am wearing both this shawl and the jewelry that I will post about later. I am so pleased with how this project turned out!

A Magical Vacation

We returned Saturday night September 19th from our absolutely fantastic Disney Cruise Line vacation. We had such a wonderful time being spoiled rotten all week with wonderful food, good fruity drinks, entertainment, and relaxation. The three course dinners were amazing and had a large variety at the three restaurants on board. The broadway style plays were spectacular with lighting and fireworks special effects. I would recommend anyone who wants to experience a truly magical vacation to look into the Disney Cruise Line vacations. Beleive it or not there were more families or couples without children then there were families with children. Even though you see the characters wandering around we never felt like this cruise was just for kids. We had so much fun that before we left the ship we booked another cruise for next year in October, which is why you see that the counter has been restarted.

The photo above is of the Disney Magic which is the ship we were on for the week. There are endless activities and places to just relax. The ports we stopped at are Tortola, St. Thomas, and Disney's private island Castaway Cay. In Tortola we went on a scenic bus tour where I was able to get some beautiful photos of the islands. In St. Thomas we enjoyed snorkeling with wild sea turtles and schools of tropical fish. In Castaway Cay we enjoyed snorkeling again. The first photo you see is me with the statue of Mickey Mouse, and the second is with my husband posing with Minnie Mouse.