Someone New In My Craft Room

I had the pleasure of hanging out with my 10 year old nephew, Jackson during my long Thanksgiving weekend.  It was a long time coming.  As these kids get older, they get busy!  Between boys scouts, sports and jobs, it's hard to pin down dates.

I made my nephew watch one of my favorite movies of all time, "Little Shop of Horrors".  I knew he would love it because I made his cousin Blake and his big sister Chandler watch it when they were younger and they both loved it.  I'm the aunt that makes her nephews and nieces watch movies from the 80's, you know, back when movies were good.   :)    

I even took Jackson Black Friday shopping at midnight with my friend Jennifer.  I filled him with powdered doughnuts and Mt Dew (Lisa, don't read this!).  He was really psyched about going...and then 10:30 rolled around and he passed out on my chaise lounge!  Thankfully, I was able to wake him up and we were on our way.

Jennifer and Jackson, waiting outside of Ulta, ready to get their makeup shopping on!  Doesn't Jack look so excited!  

There was quite the crowd at Ulta.  I don't think Jackson was quite ready for the frenzy because one moment he was right beside us and the next moment...gone!  Luckily, we knew something like that might happen so Jennifer told him to look for her since she's tall and wearing a white coat.  I found him wandering in the skin care section a few minutes later.  I asked him where he ended up.  He said he was over on the other side in the drugstore brand.  Oh, Jackson, you'll learn.  Aunt Julie likes the high end section on Black Friday!

Here's my haul!  

Too Faced "The Triple Threat"  $18

• Deluxe Primed & Poreless Skin Smoothing Face Primer 
• Glamour Gloss Volumizing Lip Gloss  
• Deluxe Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer

I've used the bronzer before. It's been in a couple of Too Faced sets I've bought before.  I like it although I have to watch it since I'm so pale.  It smells delicious!  I've never used their face primer before.  I highly recommend this primer.  It's so smooth!  And I've been enjoying the lip gloss.  Not too sticky, smells good, and makes my lips look nice and full.  

tarte "Balanced & Beautiful Amazonian Clay Essentials Kit"  $22

• Full size Amazonian clay 12 hour blush in flush
• Full size Amazonian clay waterproof cream eyeshadow in slate 
• Full size bamboo cream eyeshadow brush

Tarte is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands.  Their blushes are amazing!  I like their natural formulas (it's called high-performance naturals) and that they use recycled and recyclable materials for the packaging.  The blush that came in this set is normally $25 alone.  The cream shadow retails for $19.  The cream shadow will work great alone or as a base.  I've tried it both ways and it's good quality.  The blush is really bright so I try not to be so heavy handed with it.  I'm part albino though.  

Laura Geller  "Baked Eye Dreams Duo with Brushes"  $20

• shadow quad in "Pink Sunset"
• shadow quad in "Sandbar"
• 2 eyeshadow brushes

Laura Geller is new to me.  I've heard some of my favorite gurus rave about it.  This is why I love the holiday sales.  You get the opportunity to try great high end products at an affordable price.  I've only tried this dry but you can apply these baked shadows wet.  I love the nice subtle shimmer Sandbar gives.  Pink Sunset reminds me of Neopolitan ice cream.  It also looked very nice when I applied it.  I'm a fan of baked shadows.  If you get a chance, try out some Laura Geller shadows.  According to the website, these retail at $30 each.  It does look like the packaging is a bit different than what I got but the shadow is the same and the same size.  

Bedhead shampoo and conditioner 

I haven't tried this yet but it was on sale for $6.99 each so I'll givet it a try soon.  These retail for $15.99 each.

The rest of the stuff was not on sale but I did get to use my $3.50 Ulta coupon!  Woo hoo!  

I was so happy with my Tarte purchase, I ended up ordering the Sephora exclusive "Carried Away" set.  I can't wait to try it out.  I should be getting it soon.  I hope to be able to play around with it over the weekend.  Might even blog about it.  

Jackson and I made birthday cards for my step mom, Mary.  

This is his card!  

Jack picked out the polka dot paper himself.  You can't tell from the picture but the polka dots are risen so there's a nice texture.  I showed him how to cut the paper with my Fiskars paper trimmer.  He loved doing that!  

The embossed green dots cardstock is from DCWV and it's called "Nana's Kids Print".  

The hamster "Got Cake?" clear stamp is from Inkadinkado "Humorous Birthday".

The inside birthday cake and "happy birthday" stamp is from Fiskars "Birthday Party".  

I think Jack liked crafting although he did start to get a little crazy with the Stickles.  I think he liked the cutting and the taping part the most.  He lacked focus, just like any other 10 year old boy!  

Here's mine!  

The "Birthday Girl" paper is from Reminisce in the Princess collection.  I cut it to 5x7. 

The purple embellishments is Doodlebug Designs "Paper Frills".  These come 12 inches long so I cut it so I had one 5 inch and one 7 inch.  Perfect!  

The flowers are 3 petals from Recollections Floral Embellishments.  

I found a pretty brad to stick in the middle of the petals.  

The lady on the pony is a clear stamp from Inkadinkado "Humorous Birthday".  Mary likes Maxine and this felt kind of Maxinish.  

Happy Birthday, Mary!  I hope you liked your cards!  

I'm just a mean, green mother from outer space and I'm bad,

Jules

  

Hello Kitty Birthday Card

Happy Sunday, everybody!  I'm enjoying my gloomy, peaceful day here in Iowa.

My niece Chandler will turn 16 years old on November 14th.  We celebrated her birthday over the weekend.  This is the card I made her.

I knew that I wanted to use the pink animal print paper and the zebra print stickers but I wasn't quite sure what was going to be my focal point.  Then Hello Kitty's Facebook page happened to post this cute Hello Kitty zebra print picture yesterday.  I copied it and printed it on cardstock.  

The pink zebra print paper is from Recollections "All Girl" paper pad.  The zebra print stickers (including the black and rhinestone stickers) came from Momenta.  The Hello Kitty picture was already colored in.  All I did was add Stickles to her bow.  Wavy scissors and the scalloped corner cutter from Creative Memories was used for the black and hot pink cardstock.  

She told me she was going to keep it forever.

Chandler and I met Hello Kitty at a mall in Chicago back in '10.  Jealous?  

~Jules

Pleasant Nightmares!

I miss my blog.  I haven't had a lot of time to be crafty because I'm working so much overtime at my job and any free time I do have I'm too exhausted.  But now that the holidays are upon us, I AM going to make time for this blog, no matter what.  

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday!  I love dressing up; it's the one time of year where you're allowed to be someone else.

My friends and I throw a Halloween bash every year.  It's called the Worst Witch party.  It all stemmed from my friend Jennifer and my love for the classic 80's movie The Worst Witch starring a young Fairuza Balk, Tim Curry and Mrs Garrett from the Facts of Life.  What started as an innocent introduction of the movie to her then 3 year old has snow balled into this awesome get together that we now know as "Worst Witch".

I made up some invites for this shindig.

I got the adorable witch hats from The Cutting Cafe.  And I used Copic markers and Stickles.

What you will need:

• Black cardstock base, folded at 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches
• 3 different colors of cardstock cut to 6 x 3 1/2 inches.  I used purple, orange and lime green.  
• Same 3 colors of cardstock cut to 5 1/2 x 3 inches.  
• Same 3 colors of cardstock cut to 3 1/4 x 3/4 inches.  This will be the "tag" your sentiment goes on.  I printed the words "Mirror, mirror on the wall.  Who's the worst witch of them all?" for my sentiment.  It is a line from the title song of the Worst Witch movie.  
• Halloween themed ribbon cut to 5 1/2 inches.    
• Distressing ink, any color you like. 
• markers
• Halloween stamps

    
Here are all the supplies cut.

And here are my sentiment tags.  I only used 2 colors and I wish I would have made up some purple tags too.  

You just layer all of the cardstock, glue the ribbon on the bottom of your top cardstock, glue your witch hats to the top cardstock and put your party information on the inside of the card.  I had printed up my party info and used the cut little digi stamps from the above link.  I forgot to take a picture of the inside, unfortunately.  They were really cute though.  

 I made one of my friends an Iowa Hawkeye version of the card.

I also made some cute eating utensil holders.   It's as easy as it looks.  You just wrap Halloween themed scrapbook paper around your napkin and plastic utensils. This can be done for any holiday or event.

Here are some of the decorations I put up this year.  

I got this cute bat copper sculpture from AJ's Copper Garden.  The only bat I like.  

My cute dining room.

The spider house!  

I made the witch legs out off pool noodles, slapped some tights on them and put some funky platform shoes on.  I got the idea from Pinterest, of course.

I made caramel apples.  I dipped them in nuts, Reese's Pieces and chopped up Butterfingers.  I mother said hers was delicious!

And then I wrapped them.  

I made up some swag buckets complete with a box of Boogers!  

There were lots of yummy dishes at the party but one of my favorites was this Snake Calzone from Kraft.  

Costumes are optional at Worst Witch.  I always opt for costume!

I went as a pink haired living dead girl. I jokingly said I was Jem, 30 years later.  One day I will dress up as Jem but only when I'm able to do it right. 

My niece Chandler.  Also, please note the cute little witch shoe candle holder.  

Aniyah (the mummy) and Stacy (the witch) or as I like to say, Goldie Hawn at the end of Death Becomes Her.

My mom

Miranda came as Sally

The evening consisted of yummy, ghoulish foods, games, dancing and a viewing of the Worst Witch.  I think everyone had a good time.  I can't wait to plan for next year!  

And lastly, I made this wonderful Halloween cake to take to work on Halloween.  

Look how beautiful the inside of it is!  

I took this to work and all but one little slice was gone.  The cake was so moist and sweet.  I'm definitely making it again.  I'll probably make a Christmas version.  

Here's where I got the recipe---> Cooking With Sugar

I can't believe it's all over! 

Thanks for reading!  I'll be blogging again soon.  Christmas is coming which means Christmas card making time!  

Anything can happen on Halloween, 
Jules

Hi-ya, Corn Poppy

It's getting to be that time of year again.  The temps are dropping, the fireplaces are coming on and my skin is begging for a regular moisturizing regimen.   The leaves changing, the pumpkin patches, Halloween decorating and celebrating, a sweater collection that would make Bill Cosby hard...I love the Fall!  

I'm going to try some new Halloween recipes and hope to do a blog series similar to my "12 Days Of Christmas" posts.  And another one of my goals is to compile some of my favorite soup recipes and put them in a scrap/cookbook.  Those are just a few things to look forward to in the next couple of months. 

But before we can get to the Fall, we must finish Summer.  And have I got a summery card for you all.  

This card went to my friend, Courtney.  It was a little late...oops!  It was a busy month for me.  But she is very understanding.  Courtney is another friend that I've had since 3rd grade and for anyone keeping count, that's 26 years!  It seems impossible that much time has passed.  

Okay, before you bust my chops, the sun is horrible!  I cut that out myself and it shows.  I may have to invest in a sun stamp.  

The cloud paper was a 12x12 double sided paper from Best Creation Inc in "California".  They have a bigger set of clouds with a bluer sky on the other side.  The sunglasses are a sticker from Echo Park Paper Co. in "Element Stickers".  The rainbow is another Doodlebug Design's Doodle-pop in "Rainbow".  The star was something a friend had left behind on our last craft day.  I used a no name ribbon with little suns on it. 

 I'm not sure if you can tell, but the Happy Birthday sentiment is fringed.  It's really easy.  You just stamp any print words on paper and cut slits in between each letter.  Then you feather the letters out.  

And I did use Stickles in "Frosted Lace' all over the clouds.  

I hope my card brought some sunshine to your day!

Sometimes the rainbow, baby, is better than the pot of gold, 

Jules

Another Boy Card...How About Monsters?

My youngest nephew, Max, has turned 8 years old!  These damn kids are growing up too fast!  

I've said it before, I'll say it again.  I struggle with boy cards so I follow one rule.  Keep it simple.  Straight lines and primary colors work for me.  8 years old is an age that I can still get away with cutesy but boyish designs.  

I got the monster digi stamp from Doodle Dragon Studios.  I can't remember where I got the word bubble (which is really a thought bubble but I didn't realize it until I printed it) from but you can find a lot of them online.  I just simply wrote in the "Happy Birthday!"

And I used Copic markers to color in the monster, of course.  

I got the Happy Birthday stamp from Michaels.  

And here's the birthday boy!

Happy birthday, Maxwell Joe!  

~Jules

With A Cherry On Top

I have been having quite the love affair with the Doodlebug Design Inc's Doodle-pops lately.  I just can't get enough of them.  They're so freakin' adorable!  And perhaps one of the cutest Doodle-pop is the one I'm about to show you.  

Miss Tracy celebrated her birthday recently and I had the pleasure of making her a birthday card.  The card I made was inspired by a card I saw at the Doodlebug Design's booth at last year's ScrapFest.  

I call this type of card "clutch style" because it reminds me of a clutch purse.  I used my Martha Stewart scoring board to make this three fold card, making sure the top fold overlaps the bottom fold. 

The black paper covered in cherries is Creative Imaginations, Caution Girls Collections "Red Cherries".  I've had this paper for awhile and wasn't quite sure what I would do with it.  I chose it for the top fold.  

I then cut down the red paper for the bottom fold.  I don't know the brand.  The only description I found on the paper was "Holiday Circle Red", not that it matters anyway.  

I decided to use accent paper to match the cherry stems.  I picked a bright green textured card stock to place in the middle of the cherry paper.  I liked the stripes on the ribbon and chose to line the green strip with it.  I used my EK Success Dahlia Dimensional Flower Punch for the edge of the top fold.  By the way, this punch also makes excellent flowers.  And then, of course, my cute little cherry doodle-pop in the center.  

I used a Studio G "Happy Birthday To You" stamp for the inside.  Another Michael's special.  ;p  

This is the inspiration for my card.  Adorable!  

And here's the birthday girl, looking all cute!

Happy Birthday, Tracy!  I hope your birthday was superfantabulous!  

Hi Ho!  Cherry-O, 

Jules

A Cupcake Two-fer!

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody.  Ain't got no money because I didn't get paid...

Good evening, everybody!  I hope you're having a superfantabulous Saturday night.  I've been really busy lately so I haven't had a chance to blog even though I've been making cards.  Between working overtime, watching this season of Big Brother including episodes of the Dick at Nite recaps and my weekends being filled with fun activities, I haven't had a chance to get these cards up.  So, I am offering a birthday card two-fer!  

My grandma (on my dad's side) and my aunt Linda (also on my dad's side) celebrated birthdays in the month of August.  

Card #1 is for my Grandma that turned 86 years old.  

I like to refer to this as my ScrapFest card because most of it came from ScrapFest.  The paper on top was a gift given at one of the booths.  It is a sandable ColorCore cardstock from core'dinations.  It had a texture and I rubbed sand paper on it to create that faded look.  

The cupcake is from Doodlebug Designs doodle-pop collection.  It is called "Baby cake".  The "Happy Birthday" sentiment was also from a ScrapFest booth that I got YEARS ago.  It was one of those rub on stickers that I decided to save.  The polka dot paper is one of those no name papers from the Target dollar bin.  I think the striped ribbon is as well.  

Card #2 was for my aunt Linda who turned...

I liked the cupcake theme so much I chose to do it again.  The cupcake cardstock is from Bella Blvd (Baby Girl/"Baby Cakes").  It is double sided with a safari them on the other side.  I used my Creative Memories tearing tool for the lavender cardstock in the middle.  I had the cute cupcake sticker.  I think it might be from Target.  And the letters to spell out "Happy Birthday" were left at my house by a friend.  All so simple but cute!  

And now I want to eat a cupcake really bad.  If only we had cupcake ATMs like they do on the west coast.  Sigh...

I hope you enjoyed my cards.  I should have 2 or 3 more to post next week.  I'm hoping my weekends slow down so I can actually get back to scrapBOOKING.  It's been a long time and all of my back events are piling up.  

Forever a back scrapper, 

Jules