French boarding again... ;-)

All this talk about french boards reminded me that I had been wanting to make one for my baby's room for about 2 years now and that all the supplies were just sitting in my closet.... :-S Well my "baby" is almost 3 now... so I decided there was no time like the present, even though I was already crunched for time... (yes, that's how we ADHD people function.... it's called impulse... ;-))

I took a picture of the supplies but of course I managed to delete it by mistake... LOL ;-) So you'll just have to imagine:

* a canvas
* nails and a hammer, thumbtacks
* fabric (the one I used has some batting already quilted on the back)
* ribbons
* brads

First you cut the fabric to the right size...

Then you attach the fabric to the canvas' frame with nails. I don't know how to make fancy little arrows on my pic, but the nails are put in horizontally, this way no risk of poking through the front of the project... ;-)

Then you attach a length of ribbon diagonally with thumbtacks.

After that you just keep going alternating colors if you'd like.

 I like to weave my ribbons, alternating over and under the previous one...

Then all that's left is poking little holes through the ribbon, fabric, canvas and secure a little brad at the intersections. (You can also glue all the layers together with a hot glue gun, and finish it off with a button like I did here).

All together it took me an hour. The cost is minimal compared to what you can find in stores and the options are endless... :-) Once you start making one you'll make more... ;-)

And voila!...  :-) (awaiting family pictures.... ;-))

Trendy Twine Tuesday: Fall mini french board

It doesn't feel much like fall here in Florida! The temperatures are still in the high 80ies!... >.< I cannot wait for it to cool down... But I am ready for Fall colors as you can see...

For my Trendy Twine Tuesday today I made a mini french board, using Orange/Truffle twine.
I punched little holes at the top and bottom of my strip of cardstock and threaded my twine in a criss-cross pattern, and added some brads.
As you can see from my little felt sign, I am not exactly a born embroiderer... ;-)

I couldn't resist adding some twine to my leaves as usual... ;-)

And here it is above my desk, put to good use as a reminder for all the little projects I would otherwise forget... :-)

My Thoughts Exactly Thursday: Cherry mouse

It's DT Thursday for My Thoughts Exactly, and today is the "Bee's posting day"... ;-) Don't forget to check out the other Bee's (aka Belinda) project here. :-D

Not quite sure what to tell you about my card for today. I think I was trying to have fun and make something a little different today, and I probably succeeded! LOL ;-)

I used the Sweet Thoughts stamps set, I really wanted to go with a cherry theme, I LOVE everything cherry, it is my favorite fruit and flavor for everything you can think of... ;-) This cute little mouse was feeling lonely in my drawer after I cut her out from A Cricut cartridge (Create a Critter) eons ago... ;-)  And I thought it would be unexpected to perch a tiny cherry on the top of her head... And it looks like she is wearing a little french beret... LOL ;-)

The Tag and the Trendy Twine  are of course from Annie's Paper Boutique... :-) The tag was just sitting on my desk, and when I picked this yellow striped paper it called out my name!... ;-)

Halloween Blog Hop winner

I swear this is not the same pic from the last giveaway!! LOL just the same random number! How weird is that? I guess that's as random as can be... :-)

My winner is Brigit from Brigit's Scraps. Congratulations and thank you to everyone for leaving such sweet comments. I am glad you had fun with the hop and enjoyed all the projects you saw. :-D

This Thursday is my My Thoughts Exactly posting day so there will be another card... and next Tuesday is my Trendy Twine posting day, so another project to come... :-)

Have a great week everyone! :-D

A blinkie!!

A big Thank You to Brian from My Thoughts Exactly (you know he's Alyssa's husband, the tech guy behind the curtains!... ;-)) for making this lovely blinkie for my blog. Isn't it the cutest?!... :-)
Feel free to grab it. :-D

Fang-tastic Halloween Blog Hop

Welcome to the Fang-tastic Blog Hop! If you arrived from Becki's blog, The Happy Card Encouragement Factory, you are on the right track! :-D

Here is our line up:

1. Alyssa (our Blog Hop Hostess) at My Thoughts Exactly
2. Becki at The Happy Card Encouragement Factory      
3. Bee at Dare to Bee Creative  (<- you're here! :-))
4. Bee(Linda) at Bee's Hive O' Drama
5. Cher at Cher's Studio
6. Jennifer at Our Change Of Art
7. Jessica at Crafty Rocket Science
8. Kim at Kimberly's Crafty spot
9. Lenae at Sugar Gem
10. Thienly at Mod Paperie

For this blog hop we have been lucky to have wonderful sponsors help us out for give-away etc... I won't list all of them here (they are on the hop picture above) but I will mention the ones I used products from:

Trendy Twine for the beautiful twines, The Digi Bistro and SVGs by Bee for their adorable svg files.
And all the stamps I used are from My Thoughts Exactly.

Now onto my project... I made some cards for this hop. I had something different in mind but my baby was coughing his lungs out this whole week, and I had to move to plan B... ;-)

But I got a little carried away and ended up actually making 4 cards because I wanted to use everybody's files... ;-)

I am posting all of them today, even though the hop will be going on for the whole week-end. Tomorrow is Yom Kippur and I will not be blogging... ;-)

Because of the amount of pics, I will spare you details pics, you can click on pictures for a bigger version if you'd like.

Isn't that little witch wickedly cute? :-) It's a file from SVGs by Bee. I gave her a petticoat, added some Stickles to her shoes, some glass pearls and twine to her hat, drew some freckles on her face and even gave her bangs... The sentiment is heat embossed with white powder.

This is the inside of the card... :-)

For this one, I just couldn't resist making a little twine broom to go with the sentiments... ;-D I simply made a little tassel out of twine and glued it on my card, the handle is on pop dots...
I used Nestabilities to cut out a window on 2 pieces of paper and swapped the middles. I like the sort of puzzle effect it gives... ;-)

This is the inside of the broom card... ;-)

Don't you just love those little Jack-O-Lanterns? They're the work of The Digi Bistro. :-) I used the same technique as the broom card for the background but this time I popped the frame part with foam tape, which gives a tiny bit of a shadow box effect... :-)

Here's the inside... My Thoughts Exactly Halloween stamps are really perfect for all kind of combinations!... :-)

And this last one is for a little surprise, a Halloween card without Halloween colors or scenery... ;-)
The files are from The Digi Bistro, I have been dying to use this little bat since I 1st saw him... <3

And this is the inside...

Now if you have been very patient with me and read all the way till the end of this post, you'll be happy to know that SVGs by Bee is my sponsor for this hop and that one lucky commenter will receive a $10 gift certificate for her online SVGs store. Since I am not the one giving this away I will ask that you either follow her blog or like her business Facebook Page, in order to be entered in the drawing. It's only fair since you'll want to be kept in the loop to learn about new files and freebies... ;-)

Well, that's it for this LONG post, thanks for visiting and bearing with me! :-)

Your next stop is none other than Bee(Linda) at Bee's Hive O' Drama.
I hope you'll enjoy all the projects of this hop, and remember that each blog will enter you for a different giveaway! :-D

Have a great week-end! :-)

MTE Gift certificate winner

And the winner of the $5 My Thoughts Exactly gift certificate is Melanie from In Love with a Bug.

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments! (And thanks Tammy for pointing out that fabric softener tip... ;-)) :-)

Don't forget this Week-end (starting Friday) we have our Halloween Blog-Hop going on, and there will be lots of fun Halloween projects and giveaways. :-)

Trendy Twine Tuesday

It's Trendy Twine Tuesday and here is my latest project with the new fall color Orange-Truffle from Trendy Twine. this color is perfect for everything fall so I decided to make a card for the Jewish New Year which was a few days ago. (Jews use a lunar calendar for their Holidays so it doesn't always fall at the same time.)

I really liked those autumn colors so I decided to make 2 different cards with the same layout and papers but swap them. I am actually not sure which one I like best!... ;-)

Apples and honey are images associated with the Jewish New Year (for a sweet year ahead) so the Autumn Flourish svg collection from Lettering Delights was perfect for my project.
I used the flourish under the apple as a base to glue my twine on. (I colored it brown first so that it would blend together better).

The flowers were made old fashion style... stamped and hand cut! (I can hear Bee(linda) gasps, as she's reading this... LOL ;-)) For the centers I punched a hole in the middle and twirled my twine around and made another hole at the end to tuck my twine in, this gives a neater result than trying to hide and glue the ends. :-)

Then I added a little sewing detail on the leaf (again punched tiny holes in the felt and used a tapestry needle) and tied my little tag with more twine... :-)

I wish I could tell you that no twine was hurt in the making of this project, but you know that I cannot lie... >.< So yes, I have to admit that there was a little bit of cursing involved... ;-) That's what happens when you have big clumsy fingers like me... ;-D
I recommend using a fast drying (and clear drying) glue for this type of project, and the use of tweezers to help hold things down as you go, and you should be just fine! :-)

And here they are, all together... :-)

This month, the twine on sale is Grape Fizz.
 
And don't forget to visit the Trendy Twine Blog for this month challenge! This time around you have to make a project using a pumpkin or Jack-O-Lantern and some twine... The winner gets a spool of Orange-Truffle, and one random winner will get 30 yards of Orange-Truffle. :-)

My Thoughts Exactly October release: Surprise Pumpkin

It's October 1st, which means it's time for another My Thoughts Exactly Stamps release, and this month 2 stamps sets are released just in time for your Halloween projects! :-)
I took a lot of pics and you'll be here for a while so settle down comfortably... ;-)

For my card today I used svg files from  SVGs by Bee. This cute little pumpkin-cat combo is called Pumpkin has a surprise...

And here is the surprise! The card contains a little cat slider...

Here he is if you take him completely out... :-)

The card opens like a regular shaped card...

Now for the stamps, there are 2 sets released this month and I used both on my project. You won't believe the number of sayings those sets contain. They are perfect for scrapbook pages, cards, and all those little treat bags projects!... :-)

 The sign on the front of my card comes from the Fright Night Phrases set.

This cute little tag attached to the cat's neck comes from the Ghostly Greetings set.

The inside sentiment comes from the Ghostly Greetings set also.  And let's not forget the cute little bat smiley that comes from the Fright Night Phrases set.

I hand cut the little leaf out of felt and used some twisted Lime Trendy Twine to add some details and make little tendrils.
(To make the tendrils, simply wrap some wax paper around a pencil, drench some twine in glue and curl it around the pencil, let it dry, then fight with it to remove it from the damn wax paper, and voila!!  :-D)

Each stamps set is $15 (shipping included) but if you buy both sets together as the Halloween Bundle, it's only $25! :-)

And to reward you for reading all the way till the bottom of this long post... My Thoughts Exactly is giving away a $5 gift certificate to one lucky commenter on this post! (that's like 33% off any one stamp set...). This time I ask that you either become a follower of my blog here, or that you follow me on Facebook. If you do both, post a 2nd comment for an extra chance to win... I usually don't ask for anything from you but I thought it would be nice for once to acknowledge the people that have been kindly following me! :-) (thanks for your support!)

Don't forget to visit the other DT members' blogs for some awesome projects highlighting those incredibly versatile stamps!:

Alyssa at My Thoughts Exactly
Bee at Bee's Hive O' Drama
Jessica at Crafty Rocket Science
Jennifer at Our change of Art
Lenae at Sugar Gem
Thienly at Mod Paperie

And last but not least, let me take this opportunity to announce the Fang-tastic Halloween blog-hop that will take place next Friday (till Sunday), come back for more Halloween projects and giveaways! :-D