Sensational Saturday at Sugar Creek Hollow

This week at Sugar Creek Hollow, we are sponsored by Robyn's Fetish. And the Sugar Creek Hollow Sensational Saturday challenge is to create something primitive, shabby chic or vintage with layers! Lots of layers. 

I admit it.. I love packaging whether I start from scratch or alter something existing. So I had to use this Robyn's Fetish image "Angie Angel" for the front of my gift package.

The base of my package was a very small kraft shopping bag. I pulled out the rolled paper handles and trimmed the top of the bag to create a smooth edge. The rest is pretty much self-explanatory, I think.

It's a perfect little bag for candy, a small bottle of perfume, or a pair of hand-knitted socks....like these...

Trust me on this.. there is nothing in the world as warm as hand-knit wool socks for cold tootsies!  I'll be making more packaging like this for my sock gift-giving.

The lucky (random) winner of our challenge this week will receive their choice of 5 digis from Robyn's Fetish. But the design team also picks their favorite entry of the week and then their favorite of the month, so please do join us.

I'm also entering this in these challenges today....

Crafting for all Seasons - Green and yellow

Crafts and Me - circles

Digistamps 4 Joy - green

Divas by Design - citrus colors

Simon Says Stamp - Green

Whimsical Wednesdays - green

Catered Crop - Quick Fire

Sometimes I have to step away from card-making to work on a 3-D project.. gotta get my fix. This week for our challenge at Catered Crop we were treated to a selection of ribbon from Corinna McGregor, owner of Ribbon Carousel. She has a Ribbon Club Kit each month and I just know that I'll be weakening and sign up.... Her selection of ribbons for the kits is delish! You can check out the entire package of all of the lovely green ribbon I received here.

I took a simple white box that had a tent top fold and an acetate oval window in front. Sorry, but I failed to take a picture of the box before I started attacking my project. I cut the oval on the main piece of the designer paper using a Nesties and allowed for the white border to offset the black papers.

The sunflower stamp is one I had to have now that I live in the Sunflower State of Kansas.. it's from Rubber Stampede... and I use it often. I stamped and colored the flower several times and popped up the pieces with dimensionals for a 3-D effect. My papers were all picked from my scrap pile and the ribbon, of course, is from Ribbon Carousel. And to make it even more fun, it's filled with Ghirardelli Dark & Mint chocolates. Viola.. it's now ready for gift-giving.

I hope you will check our Quick Fire challenge at Catered Crop... the chefs are always cooking up something fun. If you need a bit more inspiration, here's the board that Linda McClain, our fearless Top Chef, put together for us.

Thanks so much for stopping by my little spot in blogland. Have a fantastic day.

I'm also entering this in these challenges today....

Bloggers - Something 3D

Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge - Special Mom 

Crafty Ann's - Anything But A Card

Crafty Catz - For a Special Lady

Fairy Tale - Paper Piecing

Hotshot Crafts – Ribbon

Poodles Parlour - Birthday

Raise The Bar – Go Green

Stempelsonnen Challenge - Easter

Totally Papercrafts – Favorite Things

Wags 'n Whiskers - Spring Break

CCEE Stampers - Flowers, flowers, flowers

Crafty Ribbons - Celebrate Mom

Crop Stop - Use at least 4 different colors

Delightful Challenges - St. Patrick's Day

Do You Stack Up? - Go green

DRS Designs - Green, yellow & black

Paper Crafting Journey - Anything made with paper goes

Pixie Dust Studio - Show us your Irish

Sugar Creek Hollow - Trash to Treasure

This week's challenge st Sugar Creek Hollow is to rescue something that was headed to the trash bin and then use in your project to create a treasure that is vintage, shabby chic, or primitive in keeping with our challenge style.  Our designers have gone all out and made some fabulous projects to inspire you - just click on their names at our challenge blog.

This week, one random winner will receive a digi of our choice and a winner's badge to display.  The Design Team will choose one project as Card of the Week and the creator will receive a badge and will be in the running for a Guest Designer spot.

Perhaps I'm not alone on this.. but I do love little boxes made out of just about any material...paper, wood, cardboard... you name it.  'Not sure how I developed this love, but it's really hard for me to part with some of the boxes that I happen upon or receive that held a cute little gift.. Maybe I was a package designer in a previous life?  Not sure.. I'll have to ask Shirley MacLaine next time I see her. LOL


Just a very simple box, but I do like the outcome. This little box has been in my 'gotta do something with this' pile for quite some time. It housed the cutest heart-shaped bar of rose-scented soap and the box still smells like heaven.


Here's the 'before' to give you an idea of what I worked with. The box is 2.25" x 2.0" and opens up to become an explosion box.

I selected a designer paper that was vintage looking and covered the panels leaving the gold trim on the box exposed as a contrast. Here's a look at the covered panels viewed from the bottom of the box.  

The pieces of wool and cashmere felt are the same that I used to create these roses... You might remember some of my more recent projects using the same green leaves that I used here. That green cashmere was the most gorgeous cashmere sweater.. one of my all time favs. It's also the one that my darling husband shrunk when doing laundry... when he got through with it, it would have fit a teddy bear. It does make the best leaves for all kinds of knitted and paper projects but I sure miss that beautiful sweater. 

Using pieces from the cashmere sweater, I just run it through a Sizzix die cut to make leaves.

The flowers were the easiest things to make.. really, I promise you!  I also created this second bouquet all within an hour or so. I've got plans for this orange bouquet that involves knitting and I'll share that with you in the near future once it's done.

If you would like to know how to make these felt roses, check out Pinterest and do a quick search. If you aren't a member of Pinterest yet, I think it's grown so much and so quickly that new peeps need an invitation.. I'd be happy to send you one if you let me know your email address when you comment. Once at the Pinterest site, you will be amazed at everything you can find with a few keystrokes. 

Fair warning:  Pinterest is extremely habit-forming, causes users to get big circles under their eyes, stay up much too late,  miss dental appointments, spend more on craft materials and could lead to grounds for divorce!!  HA.

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends.. have a fantastic weekend. I hope to see you at our challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow.

It's Apple Season

Fall is often equated with apples... rosey red, crisp, delicious apples. For me, apples conjure up memories of ventures we had as kids. Each year, without fail, my parents piled all of us into the station wagon and we headed north to apple country in upstate New York for a day of meeting up with aunts, uncles, and cousins for lots of serious apple picking and a cookout. Yes, we typically grilled a great lunch at the orchard. Great memories...great laughs.

For Mo's challenge this week, DT member, Paola, challenged us to alter something. I decided to make a gift bag for some delicious homemade applesauce for a friend I'll be visiting.  Meet Mo's digital stamp Sadie with Apples. She was the perfect inspiration for my project.

I used beautiful coordinated fabrics from a local quilt shop for the bag and bows that I created. Sadie was enlarged to fit the kraft shopping bag perfectly and she was colored with Copics.

I'll have a really cool trick for having apples on hand for holiday pies on my food blog shortly. If you love apple pie, you might want to check it out.

This very homey bail-type jar of applesauce was made using local Kansas apples. It's a combination of Jonathan's as well as red and golden Delicious apples and cinnamon. It's like eating a fresh apple in every bite.

With a recessionary economy, there's quite a resurgence of home canning that's going on. What a great thing for me to pass on and show my friends. For a NYC kid, I'm pretty proud of the canning projects I've accomplished over the years. Perhaps you will give this wonderful form of culinary art a try?

I'm hoping that you are enjoying Fall as much as I am.  Take care, friends and thanks so much for stopping by. Be safe in all you do.

Sending hugs,

Christmas Stampin's 3-D Challenge

Happy Friday everyone. The joke at our house each Friday as the week comes to an end is that we are another week closer to retirement...Scary thought.. right?  But we don't laugh about it anymore like we did years ago.

Friday is challenge time at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, (CSAYL) but the first Friday of each month is when the design team concentrates on little paper goodies that make the most adorable packages for holiday gift-giving. Our design team, Maria, is a super whiz creating special boxes, and she did another fantastic job with this template, that I'm sharing with you.

This little keepsake box is perfect for candies, chocolates, jewelry, gift tags, etc.

To coordinate with the poinsettia designer paper, I colored the poinsettia and leaf images with Copics and used embossing powder before cutting them out to embellish the top flap. This cute little box is very versatile, and, of course, the template could be used for any occasion.

Here's the directions to Maria's Keepsake Box. Hope you will join us in our challenge this week. This was a fun and very easy project to put together. I hope you will give it a go.

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends.. I'm wishing you a terrific day and a fantastic weekend.

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge

Hi friends... it's Tuesday and that means it's challenge day at Sassy Cheryl's! Our hostess this week is Cathy (with a "C") - my buddy...

Cathy challenged us to make an altered notebook using a Sassy Cheryl image. Personally, I'm a list/goal-oriented person, so I love books like this. But I'm sending it to my adopted soldier.. my newest friend, so she can use it to journal, or whatever. She hasn't found my blog as yet, so it's still a surprise.

I don't have a pic of the 'before' of my notebook..(DUH... tough week here at the Wired Angel's Craft Grotto)  but trust me on this one, friends, it was simple and BORING!!

With a bit of designer paper, 4,320 pieces of ribbon (just joshing!) and this darling freebie image from Sassy Cheryl's (was available at PCP, not sure if it's still there) I was able to alter this book to create this little darling. What you don't see is that it has an elastic band on the right side that holds the book closed. I bought these at my local dollar store about a year ago.. major score, folks!

Join us at Sassy Cheryl's challenges... her images are so whimsical and fun...and there's new images all the time. The DT has a blast creating all kinds of stuff.  Hope to see you there!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

Happy Friday everyone... It's time for the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge. The first Friday of the month is when the Design Team creates 3-D paper projects instead of Christmas cards.. it's a nice change of pace.

This accordian card holder tutorial was created by our team leader, Maria Bell. I felt a bit daunted when I first saw the project, but I have to tell you... it's VERY easy to put together and takes less than 30 minutes to make. So don't let the picture fool you. You have to try this. It makes the most adorable gift.

This can hold 6-8 cards and envelopes and would be a great gift at Christmas (or any time of the year) for a special friend. I plan to fill it up with handmade birthday, anniversary and friendship cards before giving. Check out the tutorial and play along with us! Just upload your project at our challenge blog.

Thanks so much for coming by.. I appreciate your comments and read each and everyone. Have a great day and be safe in all you do!

Sweet Treats & Easter Projects

Hi everyone.. I'm just trying to catch up on some posting... these are things left over from Easter and the last few weeks that I didn't get to post. 

These little darling chocolate bars were a result of inspiration from my friend Judy (Jaydekay on PCP).. she made something similar for a Sassy Cheryl's challenge. I quickly remembered the chocolate I bought for Easter that I hid so my family wouldn't help themselves before Easter.. problem was that I hid them so well even I couldn't find them! Using inspiration from Judy, I CASEd it up a bit.

This cute little bunny image is a digital image from Isabella's Sketchbook.

Here's just a few more of my last minute Easter cards and paper projects that I haven't had the chance to get posted.

Some House Mouse images for Easter baskets for the dinner table...(sans the chocolate)

A darling Easter card that never got mailed.. .(yikes!!)

Another Easter card (image from Sassy Cheryl's) that never got mailed... (super yikes!)

Made 25 of these little purses for a wedding shower for a friend...

and my Sis and I decoupaged eggs for the mantel...

Whew... 'glad that's finally done.

AND... if you need something to celebrate, tomorrow is Blame Someone Else Day... you know I'm not making this up. You can read all about it at the link. So, if you are into finger-pointing you have a great excuse!

Thanks so much for stopping by.. 'til next time, happy coloring and be safe in all you do.

Christmas Stamping All Year Long

It's Good Friday.. and I'm posting a Christmas item.. go figure!!

But Fridays are our weekly challenge at Christmas Stamping All Year Long and we didn't take the day off. And the first Friday of each month is our 3-D challenge. This week Maria, our Design Team hostess, provided the DT with a template for a box that comes in three different sizes. I chose to make the largest of the boxes which is perfect for a huge stack of homemade shortbread cookies. Yum-O!

The directions for assembly are easy to follow and it's quick to make...you can find the template here. It's hard to see, but this designer paper has just the slightest tint of pale blue throughout, and the blue ribbon and snowflakes accent it very well.

Stop by the challenge blog to see what the other DT members have put together as inspiration. And play along with us. One lucky person will be chosen as our guest designer next week.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit.. I appreciate your lovely comments. 'Til next time, have fun crafting and be safe in all you do.

A Sassy Cheryl Challenge

Hi everyone.. it's time for our weekly challenge at Sassy Cheryl's. Our hostess, Tracy, has an Easter project or Easter card as our theme. You should see what the team has put together this week.. what creativity!

I used this darling bunny digital image from Sassy Cheryl's to create this 3-D project using one of the nesting boxes in the set that I purchased. I was ready for a bit of a change from making cards.

The fence is created using a Cricut cartridge, and the flowers, leaves and grass are cut using Sizzix and QuikCutz dies. That little cottontail is liquid applique.

I think it's perfect for a change from a traditional Easter basket - a bit more adult perhaps? I can imagine it filled with Reese's peanut butter eggs and a few 'Peeps'. 

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your comments and love to hear from you. 'Til next time, be safe in all you do.

Christmas Stamping All Year Long

I sure love being able to work on Christmas things throughout the year. For me, having some projects and lots of cards made early really keeps the stress level down. Instead of making one card a hundred times over and over (that's no fun), I get to create a unique card (typically two) and paper gifts for each one of these challenges. And the best part? I typically have a recipient in mind while making the items... so it's almost like the projects are personalized.

This is our first 3-D challenge at Christmas Stamping All Year Long ("CSAYL"). The gals on the team decided it would be great to have the opportunity to work on some gifts items this year, along with cards, so we'll do our 3-D project challenge on the first Friday of each month. Here's a sample of our first gift set...

Team leader, Maria Bell, challenged the team to use this template from SCS and create a gift box set of cards. This is a really cute and very quick project, so I hope you will play along with us. As soon as I saw her criteria I was all over this project and couldn't wait to get started. I made this for a friend (who never looks at my blog anyway -he-he), so it's a little hostess item to bring to her when we get together around the holidays. My set includes this holder and four matching cards and envelopes.

So hopefully you'd like to play along with us...

Thanks for taking the time to visit... I love your comments and read every one of them. 'Til next time, be safe in all you do.

Details: Snowman stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamp Co., Neenah Solar White paper, grosgrain and silver ribbon from Offray, Prisma and Lyra pencils, pop dots, snowflakes and DP from my stash.

Some Valentine Projects

I've been working on a simple project that's been taking me several days to complete... go figure!  What started out as a simple repurposed Valentine wrapper for a Reese's Peanut Butter Heart is now a cute tin perfect for the candy and a gift card.

Here's my project.. I started out with a simple Altoid tin.. the type with a smooth top. I covered the outside of the lid with 1/4" gingham ribbon.. and the outside of the base with 3/8" gingham.  To cover the list of ingredients on the back side, I stamped with Black Stazon... and a quick few coats, directly applied the ink to the metal allowing some time to dry between coats. Five applications nicely covered all of the print.

The front was covered with Neenah's Red Pepper linen cardstock and I used a corner rounder to fit the shape of the tin.

Here's the insert that I made that folds into the tin... and a candy bar and gift card still can fit inside.

and this is what the final version looks like

I repurposed the tin with a few challenges in mind... at Paper Play Challenges it's about using our own handwriting... yep, the "For You" is my scribble.  At Stamp Away With Me the challenge is "One Man's Trash" and at Die Cut Dreams the theme is recycle.

Also wanted to show you a quick project that I made with gold-tone wire and beads. In a free-form style using a very fine and flexible wire, I crocheted this heart and worked the beads into the stitches throughout. I added a clasp to the back using the same wire... and viola!!  It's a pin that gets many compliments and I wear it throughout the year. Try this if you crochet.. it's fun and quite simple.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you are having a terrific Thursday! 'Til next time, be safe in all you do.