Week 23: Made It Myself Monday & There's No Place...

....Like a NEW CRAFT ROOM! 

~Hi FRIENDS~

I hope all of you had a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!

I finally began to feel better, so my hubby, my son and I were able to travel up to Utah to enjoy some HAPPY FAMILY TIME with the rest of my kids and grandkids! It was great!

Upon my return, I discovered that my new CRAFT SPACE...I'm calling it the... " You Had Me At Craft Head Quarters"... or for short the "YHMAC HQ"... needed only a few tweaks before it was CRAFT READY...
!!!TADA...HERE IS MY NEW CRAFT/SEWING SPACE!!!

I LOVE IT! It's taken a while...but I am SO EXCITED to have it COMPLETED!!!

NOW unto TODAY's LINKING PARTY! 

I will be joining you soon and posting the fruits of my latest creative juices...as well as sharing some decor items I've been working on as I continue to make this new house a HOME! 

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY !!!! and CRAFT ON !!!!

Never partied here before? Check out the deets below...

1. Link any crafty project NEW or OLD.

2. Link UP to 3 projects.

3. Place the party BUTTON on your post.


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4. Visit and Comment on at least 2 Other Blogs

5. Lastly, leave a comment HERE!

Sick Day

~ Hi Friends ~

YUK! I have no choice but to "call in" and take a "sick day" from today's normally scheduled "Made It Myself Linking Party". I know, such a bummer :( 
Anyways,  I've been struggling with ... " let's call it...a woman's issue, discretion ap-pro-po here :).... for the better part of two weeks and last night and today, I'm just feeling really, really bad. Normally, when I'm feeling sick, I just press on and try my best to keep on going. But today, it's a "no go" !
I have no choice but to get into see a doctor. Mind you, I just moved to a new city, so I don't have a doc here yet. But a nice friend from church recommended someone, so I've spent the morning filling out "new patient forms". Luckily they had an afternoon appointment that are squeezing me into :)
Needless, to say this has slowed the progress of the craft room set up, but I figure if I get patched up in the next couple of days, I'll be up and running at normal speeds pretty soon :)
I have sooo many fun ideas running thru this crafty brain of mine, that I can't wait to create and share with you!
So just give me a bit of time to heal up and I'll be posting new projects from my new "You Had Me At Craft Head Quarters"  very soon!

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

Week 22: Made It Myself Monday

Oops friends! I almost forgot to post todays 

LINKING PARTY, YIKES! 

 So sorry! I had family in town, and there's still SO MUCH BUSY WORK going on here!

But ANYWAYS, please enjoy the PARTY and LINK UP your lasted crafty creations!  

I hope you ENJOYED all the GUEST DESIGNER'S that have graced my humble blog the last few weeks! I SOOO APPRECIATE them taking the time to share their talents with you during my hiatus!

The new craft room is coming along nicely, yet I still have a few loose ends to organize before I can BREAK OUT my next CRAFT...but I do have some fun IDEAS up my sleeve!

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY !!!! and CRAFT ON !!!!

Never partied here before? Check out the deets below...

1. Link any crafty project NEW or OLD.

2. Link UP to 3 projects.

3. Place the party BUTTON on your post.
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4. Visit and Comment on at least 2 Other Blogs

5. Lastly, leave a comment HERE!

Guest Designer Lala Palooza with Holly's Hobbie

Hi! It's Holly from Holly's Hobbie  and I am so excited and honored to be a guest designer today! Thank you so much Alex for choosing me!

At first when I was chosen I was so excited but then I realized that I had to make something fantastic so I got a little worried! Now that I am done, I am just excited to share my project with you!  I have been crafting for a little over a year with my Cricut and I love to make cards.  Today I decided to make something else just to mix it up a bit.

I recently got the card Flower Shoppe and I love it but I had yet to open it up so I thought I would use it for my guest designer day!

For this project I had been looking everywhere for the green foam circle wreath that they sell in all the craft stores but I couldnt find any. I was discussing it with my friend Brittany and she came up with the idea to use packing paper!

This is the "wreath" that I made with packing paper and packing tape.

I then wrapped it in green tulle and Voila! I had a wreath.  Then I cut about a million (this is an approximate number) flowers out from Flower Shoppe and hot glued them to the wreath.  At this point I am not sure if the wreath got more glue or my hands.  I got glue everywhere!

This is the end product!

This is my wreath hanging on the wall.

Because I used different sized flowers, the circle doesnt look circular but it is.

Close up of one flower.

To get more details about the products that I used, please visit my blog at http://hollys-hobbie.blogspot.com/ ! Because I am so excited about being a guest designer, I will be having a giveaway on my blog!

I really hope that you enjoyed my project! I am just still over the moon about being a guest designer for Alex! She was one of the first blogs that I ever visited and I have been hooked ever since! She is one talented lady!

Thank you so much Alex for letting me be a part of your Lala Palooza! I hope that you are settled in your new home and are back to your fantastic creations soon!

Happy Halloween! A Special Guest! and Week 21: Made It Myself Monday!

Hello Everyone!


This is Robyn from My Pink Stamper and I am so thrilled that Alex asked me to be her guest designer on Halloween!  I absolutely LOVE making goodie bags for this time of the year.  I have been busy this weekend making over 90 goodie bags for my children's classes.  I am a mom of 5 awesome kids so I have the fun job of making them goodie bags for almost every occasion!  

I used Spook-alicious from My Pink Stamper Stamps for this EASY goodie bag!  

Hope you enjoy it!  Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win ANY stamp set from My Pink Stamper.  Click HERE to view them all!

Thank you so much Alex for letting me guest design today!  You ROCK!!
Thanks a Robyn! You ROCK TOO! Thanks for being a Special Guest on
My Blog Today!

I hope everyone has a FUN and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

NOW IT'S TIME FOR A "SPECIAL HALLOWEEN" LINKING PARTY!

Never partied here before? Check out the deets below...

1. Link any crafty project NEW or OLD.

2. Link UP to 3 projects.

3. Place the party BUTTON on your post.



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4. Visit and Comment on at least 2 Other Blogs

5. Lastly, leave a comment HERE!

Guest Designer Lala Palooza - Crocheting

Happy Friday Crafty Friends!

This is Kathy from Kathy and Kids.

I'm so excited to be a Lala Palooza Guest Designer today! Thank you Alex for inviting me to share on your blog!

Today I'd like to share a non-paper craft project with you. I love my paper, stamps, and Cricut, but before I started paper crafting I learned how to sew and crochet.

I came across a really cute shop on etsy and through Facebook that sells crocheted beanie, headbands, and hat patterns. Her site is snappy-tots.com, and her page is Snappy Tots on Facebook.

Here is some of the projects that I've been making.

Fingerless Mittens

Mouse Beanie Bands
Flower Head Bands

Boarder Beanies

Aren't these the cutest?! My kids have all gotten beanies and I've been working on Christmas gifts as well.

If you crochet, you should stop by Snappy Tots on Facebook and check out all her cute patterns. Be sure to say Hi and tell her I sent you!

If anyone is interested in placing an order with me, head on over to my blog and leave me a message and I'll cotact you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Guest Designer Lala-palooza with My Quilling Nest

Hello there my name is Linda and my Blog is "My Quilling Nest".  I am so honored to be one of Alex's Lala-palooza's Guest Designer today.  I met Alex over a year ago through a post on FB, I don't know if she remembers this but I was her follower # 4...lol  She returned the favor by following my blog as well. I am so happy to see that now she has a thousand + followers...way to go Alex!!!!  Ok so for those of you who don't know me let me tell you that Quilling is my thing!  And for those who have never heard of Quilling, well Quilling is the art of rolling thin strips of paper and forming them into fun shapes.  For today I have a video to show you how you can make a simple quilled flower.  Check it out

Ok so I hope you enjoyed the mini tutorial  you can leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts on Quilling.  I hope you give it a try, you are always welcome to visit my blog for more inspiration and turorials.  This was my small contribution to Alex's Guest Designer Lalapalooza, Gracias Amiga and many blessings in your new home!

Quilled Hugs,

Linda K.

Guest Designer Lala-Palooza : Havana Nights Party Centerpiece

Hi friends!  My name is Dorcas and am from Crafty Card Angel.  I am thrilled and honored to be a Guest Designer for Alex today at You Had Me @ Craft.  Let me tell you that from the day I found Alex, I have been hooked.  I read her blog often and check it several times a week.  She is such an inspiration to me.  The best part is she's Cuban just like me!!!!  I love my heritage and my Latin flavor and am thrilled to share it with someone as special as Alex is.

My project is a centerpiece for a Havana Nights Surprise birthday party for my cousin who turned 40 last month.  This was a fun and easy centerpiece to make and I am blessed to have a secret weapon - my BFF, Marisol!  She is the Martha Stewart in my life and she makes all things possible with a little glue. :)

Materials:

• straw hats (I purchased them on ebay for next to nothing)
• Plant of choice - we used Lavender Flower Spikes because the leaves look like areca palms...and they were only $2 at Lowe's.  
• Linen paper for the guayabera shirts (I'll show you how to fold them)
• Cuttlebug embossing folders (small strip sized ones)
• Bamboo skewers
• burlap bags - we had them ordered at a Cuban store here in Miami.  They were even personalized.  We paid $6 for a package of 12.  One package says Sugar and the other says Coffee. 
• Cigar boxes - we went to a local cigar shop and had them donate them.  We don't smoke, but it was a good theme. We will also put Dominoes down on the tables for interest and will be wrapping small espresso cups and saucers with coffee candy inside them in cellophane paper as favors.  Fun!
• Paper bags (lunch size 5 3/8" x 3 1/8")
• jute twine
• Ziploc Bags 
• Glue Gun

Step one was to make sure that the pots were placed into Ziploc bags so the moisture wouldn't destroy the paper bag.

Place the plant inside the paper bag and wrap a piece of jute twine around it .

Hot glue different memorabilia or decorative elements to the cigar box.
This is a "Sugar bag".  It says Circa 1971.  Magdiel (my cousin) and Las Villas (a province).  Made in Cuba.  SO CUTE! (it's actually filled with rice...another great idea that we can make ourselves next time)

This guayabera is made from an 81/2 x 11 sheet of linen paper.  It is super simple.  Click HERE for my original post on how to make these shirts (on a smaller scale).

The finished product.  Aren't they cute?  

The circle is a coaster we bought.  The Cuban currency is a replica we purchased online. 

We ran out of the cigar boxes that would fit the plant inside, so we made these three to stand alone.
It makes a pretty centerpiece even without the cigar box.   

I sure hope Max loves his party.  We put a lot of love into this event!

NOW IT'S TIME TO PARTY!!!!

Never partied here before? Check out the deets below...

1. Link any crafty project NEW or OLD.

2. Link UP to 3 projects.

3. Place the party BUTTON on your post.



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4. Visit and Comment on at least 2 Other Blogs

5. Lastly, leave a comment HERE!

Guest Designer Lala-Palooza with REBECCA

 ~Hi everyone ~

My name is Rebecca and I am the Crafting Mamma.  I am so excited to be with you as a guest designer for Alex.  I really hope her move is going well and all of you are enjoying her guest designer posts, I know I am!!!  I also really appreciate the opportunity as this is my first guest design post. 

And now on to my project.  I am primarily a card and scrapbooker, but occasionally I dabble in fabric. The one thing that stays consistent is that I always use my Cricut.   Today I have done some T-shirts for you all.  They are Halloween T-shirts to go with the upcoming holiday and so that I could have something to wear when I take my girls trick-or-treating this year.

This first T-shirt is a scary one.  The images are cut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  I used neon orange fabric spray paint for the scary pumpkin.  The cool thing about this shirt is that for the face and word I used glow-in-the-dark fabric spray paint.  In the dark, you can really only see the face and word.  One thing I did learn is that I don't like the spray fabric paint.  It is hard to control where it goes and rather drippy.  Lessons learned!!!

This next shirt is an homage to my love of wine!!  The wine glass was cut from the Simply Charmed cartridge and the text was from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  I used regular green fabric paint for the wine glass.  Another cool feature is that the wine and the text were done with glow-in-the-dark purple fabric paint.  It really glows well, although I couldn't get a good picture to show you.

This last shirt was done using some cool iridescent orange paint and standard black paint.  Both images are again from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. 

Hope you have enjoyed the shirts and inspired you to go beyond paper.  If you want step-by-step instructions please drop by my blog at http://rebeccascrafts.blogspot.com/ .  Thanks again to Alex for this wonderful opportunity.  Happy Crafting Everyone -- Rebecca 

Guest Designer Lala-Palooza with JANNIE

I'm so happy to be a Guest Designer here on "You Had Me At Craft"!

A few weeks ago Alex asked if someone would like to be a guest designer and if so, then they could apply, I did and she picked me!! Can you believe it??

Thank you so much Alex!!

My name is Jannie van Beelen and I live in the Netherlands, I have a blog as well. If you would like to see it, you can click here.

Crafting is a big part of my life and am crafting mostly every day.

So for this day I decided to make the following!

Being so close to Halloween, a Holiday we don't have or celebrate in the Netherlands, I thought I would do my version of this Holiday.

I shop a lot in a store where they sell anything from Household stuff to Paper crafting and it is really cheap. So I found these Iron-on Patches in the shape of Owls and I love Owls!!! And when I was thinking about making something different for Halloween I instantly thought of these cut Owls!

Because I like to play with words, I thought of Owl and Halloween...if you prenounce it the right way it almosts sounds like Happy Owlween..doesn't it?? Maybe it is a Dutch thing, LOL.

So I made three different cards!

The first one I got a piece of chocolatebrown CS and cut it into 4"x 4", then I ran a piece of brown 3,75" x 3x75" through my Cuttlebug with the Leaf Branch folder to create a scenery for the Owl to sit in. I then used my favorite letters to create "Happy" the Owl speaks for itself (isn't he adorable??) and then I created the word "Ween" I tried to use all the colors of the owl to blend in together. I also put on some little hearts (from the Owl punch from Stampin Up isn't that funny)

The second one I made a more traditional scenery for the Owl, the paper I used is actually a piece of wallpaper, I got it at a DIY store! It is a sample which are free so I took some....it is a perfect size to use on cards so! I then cut a hole for the Owl to sit in and then the same phrase again! Used it as a theme! And the hearts are also done in the same colors as the little Owl.

The third and final one is a girlie one! I also used a piece of wallpaper again, from the same store, gave the Owl a Halloweenhat and create the text again.

I hope this idea has given you inspiration to new ideas as well!

Thank you so much again dear Alex, for the opportunity and I hope to see you all on my blog as well www.knutselfrutselen.blogspot.com

Week 19: Made It Myself Mondays & Guest Designer Lala-Palooza with LISA

Hello Everyone!!


I'm Lisa from My Pulelehua Inspirations and I am so excited to be a Guest Designer on Alex's Blog, You Had Me At Craft! Thank you so much Alex for this awesome opportunity!


My love of jewelry making came about 5 years ago. I bought a new outfit, but couldn't find the right accessories. That day I went with whatever I had in my jewelry box, not very happy either. Then the search on how to make jewelry began. Let's just say that now no matter what outfit I choose to wear, I ALWAYS have the perfect accessory! Lately, I've been into the vintage look and here's what I've created to share with you.

I've used antiqued metal chains, jump rings, head pins, necklace findings, earring findings and charms from Blue Moon Beads. The paper used for the charms are from Graphic45-Curtain Call to which I applied Glossy Accents over to create a shiny protective seal. The flowers are from I Am Roses and I also used Glossy Accents to adhere it to a 'doughnut' piece attatched to the chain. I added a ribbon from Offray in Oatmeal just to give it a little something extra. The beads were from a mixed bag I got years ago. And to finish it off, I added a butterfly charm to the necklace finding I got from a friend. Why a butterfly? Well, Pulelehua is how you'd say butterfly in Hawaiian and it's part of my blog :)


I want to thank you for taking the time to read my post! If you'd like to see more of what I do, please visit my blog! http://mypulelehuainspirations.blogspot.com 

Have a blessed day!!
Lisa

NOW IT'S TIME TO PARTY!!!!

Never partied here before? Check out the deets below...

1. Link any crafty project NEW or OLD.

2. Link UP to 3 projects.

3. Place the party BUTTON on your post.


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4. Visit and Comment on at least 2 Other Blogs

5. Lastly, leave a comment HERE!

Guest Desginer Lala-Palooza with TARA

Hello Everyone,

I am so excited to be part of Alex's Guest Designer Lala-Palooza. Thanks Alex for this fabulous opportunity!My name is Tara and my blog is Homemade Happiness. Today I have a thankful mini album I recently made to show you. I have seen these on other blogs and decided this year I was going to try my hand at it. I made it for the month of October because that is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving here in Canada. I made it so that it would be very easy to keep updated with a template that I only had to write one word in each day if that is all I felt I had time for. I have very limited time to craft during the week and I wanted something that I wouldn't fall off the wagon trying to keep up with. So far so good! I have already discovered that some days will be insightful and meaningful where as other days will be silly and just for pure fun. But hey no one but I can say what I am thankful for right?! lol

To create this book I made a rectangle in Design Studio to the rough size I wanted the book to be and then just sized shapes and tags from various cartridges to be about the same size to keep my pages somewhat consistent. All the pages are made from Plantin Schoolbook, Accent Essentials and Once Upon a Princess. I cut all the pages out of Recollections kraft cardstock first then created the same image again in a smaller size to cut my patterned paper so each page was left with a border of the kraft cardstock. I used my Big Bite to punch holes for my binder rings.

The thankful journaling spots were created by printing off the saying on my computer and then using my paper trimmer and/or punches to cut them into different shapes. I inked all the journaling spots with Martha Stewart brown chalk ink before adhering them down.

Here are all the other details:
Numbers inside - Plantin Schoolbook 1.5"
Letters and Numbers on cover - Plantin Schoolbook 3/4" and 1"
Flowers on front - Accent Essentials 3/4", 1", 1 1/4"
Pink Gems - Dollarama
Mini Brads - from my stash
Eyelets - We R Memory Keepers (cool metal)
Glossy Accents (you can't see really well in the photo but the title on the cover is all done in Glossy Accents)
Hinged Binder Rings- Staples

Thanks again Alex for having me as a Guest Designer and thanks to everyone for stopping by today. If you would like to see the rest of the pages from my book I will post them on my blog.

Happy Crafting!!!

Tara

Guest Designer Lala Palooza with BARBARA

Hello and Welcome
I am Barbara from Craft Me This 

I am so happy and excited today to be the Guest Designer for
Alex.  This is my very first time for me being a Guest Designer.

When the call went out, it was about 6AM and I was on my Lap Top in bed like I do every morning going through all my blogs that I follow.

Well I could not believe my eyes when I read Alex’s post looking for Guest Designers.  So I went into action and emailed her and here I am. (Exciting)  Thanks Alex.

For my project today I am making a Pen and Pencil Holder, etc.  It is made from the Toilet Paper Roll!!  So I went to all my neighbors and requested all their T.P. Rolls.  I can’t get them fast enough.  Once you start making these you want to make more.

                You start with a T.P. roll.

                Cut your card stock or your choice at 4”x6.5”

                Cut another piece of the same or contrasting color for the top at 2”x5 ¾”

                And score or fold the length so you have an overhang of about ½”

                Cut Slits along the length so it is easy to fit into the T.P.  roll

                The Base is wood and cut on a Drill Press by my husband Tommy. 

                 The size is 3” in Diameter and 1/2" high.                

                 The inside hole fits the T.P. roll at 1 ½”

Assemble the above and decorate.

Thanks for stopping and sharing my day as the Guest Designer for Alex.

You can visit me at my blog
http://letsgocrafting.blogspot.com/