So many decisions...................

This morning I walked into my 5 year old daughter's bedroom to find her sitting on the floor talking with her stuffed friend Farfee. I'm not really sure how you spell that but that is what she has named her friend. Not even sure if it is a boy or girl. Either way, she was asking Farfee to make a choice about what kind of collar he wanted and in front of her were several different bracelets laid out in front of the poor stuffed toy. How was Farfee to decide? Well Farfee could not as Meliah talked in a high squeeky voice for the little stuffed animal.

So I intervened in her fun play and offered to sew Farfee the collar of his/her choice when she got home from school this afternoon. So the above photos are the end result. She wanted a rainbow and this is what she chose from my ribbon case. (I only let her select from the older ribbons that I could part with) LOL

So I took the ribbon and added a couple of rings, sewed the ends shut and then let my daughter place some jewels along the collar. From the looks of the even spacing she is just a anal as her mommy...........although I would have established a pattern.

So share a story you have about intervening in a child's play and then moving on from that to a crafting project if you have one! Or anything else related!

Li'l Man

Here is a frame I created that is perfect for a little boy's photo! I used the brand new CHA 09 Winter release by Cosmo Cricket to create this frame.

http://www.qbaroo.com/cosmocricket/main.cfm?categoryoid=1&productoid=46

The wooden frame and wooden train are both from Michael's. If you want to make one the tricky part is the train as you have to first create a pattern by placing tracing paper on top of each wooden piece you will need to cut. Then when cutting it out I cut slightly inside the drawn line in order to leave a little of the border showing, making the patterned papers pop!

The frame itself is several squares of pattern paper piece together to fit the frame. Each piece is individually sewn before being place on the frame.

Have you ever made your own frame? They really are fun and you can get very creative with them!

Ready to garden?

Here is a little project I have up at Fiskars Crafts to help you start your garden growing indoors! A little something I designed to do with your children to get them involved in the process!

http://fiskarscrafts.com/projects/t_greenhouse.aspx

Something new....really new!

Anyone who knows me will tell you that my entire life I have had either a black or brown purse. No other color. Very basic, very boring. Well I really didn't think it was boring until recently.

Lately I've been thinking of breaking out of my hum drum purse routine. Spotted this one today and it was perfect for this spring and summer. Fabric instead of leather, light and fun, and all around big change for me. Well, except the size as I like small purses better than large ones so I stuck with a smaller sized bag.

So leave a comment and let me know........

1. What is your purse style?

2. What do you think of my new purse?

Easter Crafting

Crafting with children can be so much fun! The excitement, the learning, the pride is all there in the experience!

With easter around the corner, now is the time to pull out your supplies and have your child create their very own basket. This can be left for the easter bunny to fill and then hide. What fun if the easter bunny were to leave a special note in the filled basket telling your child how cute their creation is and how much the loved it!

Head over to Fiskars Crafts and find out how to make your own easter basket!

http://fiskarscrafts.com/projects/t_eastbasket.aspx

Sewing and gardening!

You can see by the picture above that I am itching to get outside and begin the gardening process. I want to rake, dig, fertilize, and just get started. Well in Wisconsin you know that it isn't quite time yet. So in order to pass the time I decided to create a garden ensemble including an apron with lots of pockets for my tools, a visor, and a knee mat cover. For more details of how I created this set head over to Fiskar Crafts!

http://fiskarscrafts.com/articles/t_sewngarden.aspx

Coaster Set

Ok, one of my favorite new releases from Fiskars is the Heidi Grace Sweetest Bug. You will see how I used some of the items from the collection in the photo above. Head on over to Fiskars Crafts to see how to create your own coaster set!

http://fiskarscrafts.com/projects/t_coasterscute.aspx

After you head over to the site come back to comment and let me know how you would go about creating your own set!

Favorite giveaway.....

As you know from time to time I do giveaways on my blog. I think it is great fun and a way to inspire others to craft. I have done a variety of things from new product, projects I've created, punches, etc.

So out of all the contests you have seen on my blog, which one have you liked the most? Which one did you see that you could not wait to enter?

Leave me a comment and let me know! Based on the feedback that will be what I try to do the most often!

New Project

Ok, I have a project up on the Project of the Day calendar over on Fiskars Crafts! They released a new stamp set at CHA winter that I love and I used it in this project. Right now Roosters are all the rage and this stamp set has kind of a French Country feel with a splash of rooster thrown in!

Head on over and check it out!

http://fiskarscrafts.com/projects/t_hookrooster.aspx

Just looking..........

Do you ever get something for your paper crafting and you just keep looking at it? Well I do it all the time. My recent staring at obsession is Snorkel by Cosmo Cricket. It is sitting in my crafting room on display.........I am in love with the bright fun colors and designs. Do I have a million things I can do with this right now? You bet..............but just a few more days before I will be done admiring it in the packaging!

Just look at that full 12x12 sheet of chipboard shapes? Aren't they yummy? Did you know they are self adhesive? Talk about easy!

Anyway, I just thought I'd share the opportunity to stare!

Cards

Lately it seems I have been really into making cards! I seem to go in spurts with everything!

Anyway, I went to a retreat last weekend and they gave us these supplies and told us to create some cards with them. So here are a couple of the cards that I made.

These cards are made using the Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste line. If you happen to love this particular Cosmo Cricket line I found quite a few things at a steal of a deal on this website-

http://www.misspaperjane.com/

So if you want a huge deal........head over there now!

Winner of the punched shapes is.....

Gayles 1

Congratulations Gayles 1 and I will begin punching out the shapes to send off to you! Please e-mail me at lfalduto@charter.net with your mailing address so I can get these out to you this week!

Stay tuned to the blog for more paper inspiration and fun soon!

Yummy spring punches!

Take a look at these beauties! These are the 4 new Limited Edition spring punches just released at Winter CHA by Fiskars Crafts. Aren't they cute? Can you imagine all the possibilities?

You have until Tuesday to leave a comment on this post. On Tuesday I will randomly draw one winner to receive some plain cardstock punches I've made using these in the mail! You will get an assortment of punched shapes to use on your projects.

I will send at least 10 of each shape to the winner and if we make it to 50 posts between now and then I will increase that number to 15 of each shape! So send everyone you know to my blog to post a comment!

Tona's Custom Design!

Well, I have not heard from Tona yet! Won't she be surprised when she sees that she won the custom journal? I had some time today so I decided to create it and hopefully get it up here before she even found out that she had won!

So here is your favorite color green, mixed with some purple for fun!

Winner of the Personalized Journal

The winner of the personalized journal is Tona! Congratuations and send me your mailing address! lfalduto@charter.net

I will begin creating a journal for you and get it out as soon as I am done. In the mean time if you want to see what I create for Tona make sure to post here and encourage me to share!

Another Cosmo project!!!!

Ok, I am loving Girl Friday totally! I love the very bright and fun colors and it is so girly. I am a girly girl!

So I wanted something fun and bright to display a photo of my daughter in my scrapbook room which is also fun and bright. So using Girl Friday papers, chips, ribbon, and rubs as well as my Fiskars Ultra Shapexpress and decorative edge scissors, I bring you the bright and fun Meliah cube! I've added glitter here and there and if you look closely you will see a chipboard butterfly hanging from a beaded earring hoop!

If you want to check out the Girl Friday line close up head to:

http://www.cosmocricket.com/

If you want to check out the Fiskars tools I used head to:

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/

I hope you had some time to craft this weekend! Ok, off to work on some more fun things!

Crop and class!

Ok I am hosting a local crop for Paper crafters! As many of you know I love to teach and I love to crop and I want to spend the day doing both with people who also love paper crafting! Above is a sneak peek from the class project we will be creating during the crop! (thanks to Fiskars for being the class sponsor)

Here are the details:

What: Fiskateer Crop
Where: Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Plover, WI
When: Saturday April 18, 2009
Etc: $10.00 registration fee which includes:
Lunch, door prizes, space rental, goodie bags and
more! (fee non-refundable after 3/13/09)

Also bring 2 non-perishable food items to donate to the
local food bank. (I will be contributing more than two items
to this worthy cause)

If you are intersted in signing up send me an e-mail at lfalduto@charter.net

Please include the following information

Name, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, and Fiskateer number (if you are a Fiskateer)

Payment is due no later than March 13. I will give you my mailing address once you have sent me the above information via e-mail.

I've already gotten committment from several sponsors including Fiskars, Cosmo Cricket, Wausau Papers, and Glue Dots. I've contacted so many more and am waiting to hear back from them!

In addition if you are reading this blog post and your company is interested in being a crop sponsor, please contact me at the e-mail address above. We would love to add you to the list to contribute to goodie bags and/or door prizes!