Coloring between the lines...

I bought my first stamp!! I ordered a unmounted rubber stamp from Saturated Canary to make Valentine's day cards. She is so cute and I love her! I bought 4 sets of Spectrum Noir markers (more than I have spent on shoes this month!$$) After watching the Crafter Companion's youtube tutorial on how to color I got to work.  First I tested my stamp on plain white paper...umm not a success. :( I had no idea what unmounted ment and it didn't turn out so well. Still not thrilled with how light the print is coming out but at least they aren't totally smudged so I move on to my card stock. 2 out of 4 turned out ok so I used the 2 messed up ones to practice my coloring! I'm actually proud of how she turned out! Things I have learned, it is probably worth the time and money to buy a better printer and just buy digi print stamps from now on or it's time to take an actual stamp class. lol

The Organized Me!

Since I had a couple of days off recently, I decided to get to work organizing all my crafty stuff.  Not that I have a whole lot, but I wanted to be able to see what I have and what I probably need to get.  I put Jerry to work with all the nifty tools I got him for Christmas and had him hang a couple of shelves I got from Michael's and a picture of me from my ASU graduation. I know its not an especially artistic picture, but it is motivation to complete projects.  I went through all the random boxes and bags of stuff I've gotten for various projects. I specifically made a space just for being crafty and I feel so inspired now! I know a lot of people don't have the space for a whole craft room (even though I would love one someday). I think it is important to try and set aside 1 space in your house for just you.  Trust me, I will never find Jerry using this desk for anything! lol It's amazing what you will find when you just get a little organized! Apparently I am a glue gun hoarder! Who knew?!  Well I'm off to work on my valentine's day gifts and who knows what else?!

Knitting scarves!

I'm almost finished with my 3rd scarf , a pretty purple one for my Momma. This has only taken me a year since I'm so busy and I keep forgetting about it!  Now for those of you who haven't heard the story of how I learned how to knit it's pretty funny...A couple years ago I got it in my head that I wanted to learn how to know a baby blanket, (I prefer to jump ahead a few beginner steps in my head) so I bought a couple knitting needles and a ball of blue yarn and went to the only person I knew that knew how to knit! Which just happend to be my honorary grandma "Nana".  We won't say how old she is but she has been knitting since she could pretty much walk so she is what I would call an expert in this field. Why not learn from the best?! So I showed her my needles and yarn and told her my ambitious plan to knit a blanket.  And after almost having to call an ambulance to help her after she almost fell out of her chair from laughing so hard she was literally crying Nana proceeded to show me how to knit a scarf. lol  The problem then was she was sooooo freaking fast I couldn't catch on, even though she slowed down to slightly less than warp speed to show me what to do. She almost finished half the scarf before I left! Anyways, after watching countless youtube videos on how to knit with lots of pausing and rewinding I am still on the basic scarf pattern and nowhere near my blanket making goal, but I have provided Nana years worth of laughter everytime someone reminds her of my knitting project.

Mixed Media Mason Jar

Ok, so here was my first attempt at copying an idea from a youtube video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYuXgTcuBik&list=UUt4zycubX8BJZ8pZhZ4w8ow&index=3
I though Mark Montano's mixed media desk set would be a cool make up brush holder for my vanity. 
Supplies:
1 12x12 vintage looking scrapbook paper cut into 4 strips size depends on how big your jar/can
1 mason jar or soup can
a couple of flower sticky backed things
1 scraps of lace
1 ribbon (cream colored lace) (this was all I had at home)
1 flat backed key
glitter tape
spray on glue
hot glue gun and ROUND glue sticks
spray paint

Mark has a few great tips on his video, like cutting the bottom of the papers and folding them under helped keep my jar from being unbalanced. He also recommeded the E6000 spray adhesive, this was not available when I did this project but I tried it out after and it is AWSOME! I strayed alittle from what he recommended, to kind of make it my own. I tried to spray paint the interior of my jar with cream spray paint. Did not turn out! I had paint streaks and I probably should have just left it clear.  I found some cool looking glitter tape for the top of the jar.  Don't recommend it for this project at all! It doesn't bend very well and you could see the white side of it when I over lapped it. Next time I'll use real gltter. Also I found out that there is more than one shape of Glue stick...who knew?! I accidently bought oval shaped instead of round...fyi there is a difference! I ended up getting hot glue all over my hand. Not fun! But while looking up how to deal with a hot glue burn I found this nifty little thing! Hot Glue finger caps! Seriously!
http://www.michaels.com/Mod-Podge%C2%AE-Hot-Glue-Finger-Caps/gc2257,default,pd.html

So all in all, not a bad job I must say! My cousin has already requested one so hopefully I'll get a little better and learn from my mistakes!! Stay tuned for the next project!!!

First Timer

Well here is my very first post!  Yaaaaa!!! 
This blog is going to track my attempts at being crafty!  Each week I'm am going to attempt a craft either from a class, youtube video or any other type of inspiration. I'll include pictures (even if they are bad), where/who I got the idea from and what I used.  I'm trying to bring beauty (hopefully) and creativity into my life by expanding my lack of artistic talent into some sort of craftiness!  Now I mean it when I say I'm a Virgin Crafter, I've only taken 2 scrapbooking classes os far and own 1 pair of scissors!  I don't know how to use any of the tools, gagets or whatnot that is for sale at Michaels! I had my eyes opened and jaw dropped last weekend when I volunteered with my cousin Karen for an awsome organization called Charitywings at CHA Winter 2012. For those of you who don't know CHA trade show is a HUGE event full of everything from paint and stamps to any kind of craft gaget imaginable (some I couldn't even imagine till I saw them!) I'm pretty sure I made a fool of myself, since I was probably the only person there who had no idea who Jo Pearson (very nice lady) and Tim Holtz (the guy has groupies!) was.  I have now been educated! lol So hopefully you'll stick with me on my journey and try not to judge too harshly! This is all about trying new things and seeing how they turn out!