Industrial Bar Cart I Valentine's Day

I'm popping in today to quickly share our bar cart all decked out for Valentine's Day! After seeing cute little carts all over the web I was eager to get one. After looking at prices, that enthusiasm quickly became disappointment. Some carts can be down right pricey! As you can see that didn't stop this lover of DIY! After some searches I came across this DIY version using a cart intended for the garage and tools. It came from Harbor Freight and started out red! I gave it several coats of spray paint and we added a wood base to cover the nuts and bolts. I just love how industrial it turned out!  

I love decorating it for birthdays and different holidays. I think it adds an element of fun, excitement and makes any occasion seem even more special! Let's back up to last night though. I was kicking myself when I realized I didn't decorate the cart. After about 20 minutes in my craft room I came up with these quick and easy banners, grabbed some paper flowers that were on my craft desk and added the goodies I had already made for my family to the cart. My husband had picked up the cookies on his way home from work. Who doesn't love heart shaped cookies loaded with red sprinkles?

Making a day even more special doesn't have to be time consuming or even expensive. These few little touches were all our cart needed and you should have seen the smile and excitement on our kids faces when they saw it this morning. Well worth the 20 minutes and hey, I got to craft a little before bed!

One last look at our sweet industrial bar cart before I go! Happy Valentine's Day! Now go eat some chocolate! Oh, and I apologize for the blurry photos. On top of taking them on my somewhat old phone, I was had a baby on my hip as well! That's life!

Hello Love I A Valentine's Card

Every year I love making Valentine's cards for my kids and husband. I always look forward to Stampin' Up!'s latest Valentine's themed designer series paper. They truly have the best. When I pick out new stamp sets and dies I like to make sure I can see myself using them well past the intended occasion. With that said, I usually don't buy season specific stamps such as Valentine's or Halloween. Christmas is my exception although I try to stretch my creativity and reuse past stamps to come up with something fresh and new without buying something new. When I first saw this set I thought it was just so cute and so me! I didn't purchase it right away but it didn't take me long to realized how much I loved it and all of the different occasion that I can use it for. I love how so many of the stamps can be used on the envelope, too, for nearly any occasion.

 

This card as well as the other 8 that I made all use little bits of this and that, scraps of paper and odds and ends embellishments. What they all have in common is that I started off with a whisper white card base and used scraps from the Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack and Pool Party card stock as an accent color. 

Similar Top, Nail Polish, Card Supplies

I finished off the inside of the card with this cute "kiss" stamp. I just love how adorable it is!

I have one more project that I'm working on and really hope to have time to get it up on the blog before the 14th. Fingers crossed. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Valentine's Treat Bag

One of my favorite things to make are little treat bags and boxes. Who doesn't love pretty gift wrap? Our kids get so excited when I surprise them with something like this and I find it so relaxing to sit down for a bit and create something so special. All of the products used are from Stampin' Up!. 

After assembling the baggies, I die cut and stamped a bunch of little embellishments to decorate the front of the bags. As I was putting the first one together I didn't really know where I was going with this so just kept rearranging until I liked it...then made 8 more!

I made this little drawing to help you make your own bags, if you'd like!

1. Cut two pieces of paper to make a 6x6 inch square. 

2. Score one side (on each sheet of paper) at 1-1/2".

3. Score two opposite sides at 3/4" and then 1-1/2". The 3/4" score line helps the bag fold in on the sides.

4. Cut little slits up to the bottom 1-1/2" score line.

5. Fold the two little "tabs" you cut at the bottom of your paper in and glue to the bottom of your paper (the part labeled 1-1/2" on my drawing). Once you do that you will see it already start to form a half of a bag. Glue the other piece of paper to this "half a bag" to form the complete bag!

This is a little hard to explain considering it is so easy to make. I think once you start folding your paper and watching it transform into a bag it will become more clear if it wasn't already. 

I finished off my bags by punching a hole in the top and tying a bow with ribbon....after filling it with candy, of course!

Valentine's Day is just 9 days away and I have a few more projects and cards left to share. Until then have a wonderful week!

A Simple Valentine's Sideboard

Hello! It's been so long since I blogged and I'm so excited to be back doing this post. After Christmas decorations come down things always seem very bare. In in some ways that is nice. We are back to ordinary times after all. In our house we love celebrating Valentine's day with a few simple decorations to remind us of the coming day as well as a special dinner on Valentine's Day. We aren't really "gift givers" although I do try to make the day special for our kids. One year it was happy meals and new pj's. Another year a pretty decorated table and yummy pizza take-out. I think for us it's more about being together making the day special as a family.  

For as long as I can remember I have always enjoyed home decor and decorating. Even as a kid! The contents on my dresser were always changing and I even had a corkboard that would get seasonally decorated, too. I love seeing our oldest following in my childhood foot steps. It makes me smile. 

Okay, let's get started on this side board now! First of all, we hacked this from the Ikea Kallax. I stained some pine boards and attached them to all sides with liquid nails and a few finishing nails. The legs are pipe parts from Home Depot, spray painted black to give it a nice industral/mid-century modern look that I had in mind. This side board weights a TON so it is always anchored to the wall to keep the kiddos safe. My husband hung the window...in the window above it. Because of the layout and windows in our dining room this was the best place for a sideboard and after a lot of searching I came up with this idea to hang an old flea market window in the window, without losing the view out the window. I also made the lamps out of apple juice jugs and just love how they turned out. They are currently dressed in their plaid for Christmas/Winter. I just love the red and it works for Valentine's Day, too. 

Using Stampin' Up! products along with red pom poms (found on Amazon) I put together this cute garland to hang across the window behind our sideboard. I saw the idea on Instragram from Mindy Backes @badabingpapercrafting. The stamps and dies are from the Sealed With Love Photopolymer Bundle. I've been using Stampin' Up! products for 9 years now and they just seem to get better every year! When I saw the die that cut out these tiny little envelopes I was sold on the set! 

To complete the simple decor on the sideboard I added some orchids that I picked up from Ikea. I just love orchids and think they are so beautiful and exotic looking! These cuties got repotted in some fresh orchid mix this past Saturday so hopefully much happier than what they came in!

And one last picture with the lamps on at night. This little corner makes me so happy!

I hope to be back soon with a few more ideas! Until then, have a happy week!

Christina

Fall Entryway

I love decoration for each season and one easy place to do so is in the entryway.

I'm here today to share a few pictures of out Fall entryway.

I clipped some low tree branches from a tree in our yard, stripped the leaves to make our cute little fall tree! The lunch box holds tons of die cut leaves, glue dots and a marker so we can write down what we are thankful for each day!

 Brownie Points!

 This picture frame is from April 2014 My Paper Pumpkin, a monthly club by Stampin' Up. 

I have so far changed out the original project (think Spring!) to Summer and now Fall. 

Can't wait to see what I come up with for Christmas/Winter. It's sat in the same spot since April and I can't get enough of it!

 The feather banner is from the Feather die set by Stampin' Up. I "dipped" the tips in gold glitter.

 Happy Stamping and Happy Cozying up the house for Fall!

I lOVE sharing what I make with you! If you would like to use any of my pictures on your own blog, please directly link back to me and give Christina Thurlow credit!

Thanks!!!

Scattered Thanks and CCC14

Fall is officially here and I find myself drawn to earthy colors this time of the year!l

Today's card for the Creative Challenge Club # 14 is a color challenge and pretty open ended if you ask me!

Pick from a list of colors, use any combo you want or all!

I managed to slip ALL of the colors in my card!

I started off with a base of Kraft Card stock cut at 8.5" by 5.5" and scored at 4.25".

I layered Cajan Craze (bottom layer) with Old Olive on top and then Whisper White as my very top layer. I stamped the "thanks" thank from Seasonally Scattered by Stampin' Up! (LOVE IT!) twice. The first stamp is on the base layer of Whisper White and then on scrap paper I stamped it again and cropped around just the "thanks". Flagged each end in Old Olive and popped it all up on Stampin' Dimensionals.  I added an Antique Brad accent to the bottom left. Behind all of that I wrapped Old Olive Bakers Twine 3 times before popping it all up on Stampin' Dimensionals.

And now for the inside of my card!

I stamped one of the feathers from Four Feathers in Early Expresso and then embossed the greeting in Crushed Curry. (I know, I know! Hello Honey is the yellow in the challenge but I decided to break the rules since it doesn't come in embossing powder and my card just. really. needed. it.) (smile)

I even fit the pool party into the design of the card!

Where you ask?

On the back! But yes, I forgot to take a picture.

So Sorry!

The back of the card says "made with love" from Kind and Cozy set. Perfect for a back of a card!

Here's this weeks banner:

And one last close up of my card:

Don't forget to link up and play along. If they have 15 link-ups they draw a name for $10 in Stampin' Up! product.  And the most awesome part? My card last week won me the $10! So link up and play along!!!

The card that won me $$.

Happy Stamping!

I lOVE sharing what I make with you! If you would like to use any of my pictures on your own blog, please directly link back to me and give Christina Thurlow credit!

Thanks!!!

Gift Box Punch Board

Hello!

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE my new Gift Box Punch Board!

I created this fun box for a set of crouched dish clothes for a friend!

The angle of the picture makes the dish cloths look HUGE compared to the box but I promise the fit!

I stamped, embossed and die cut some various flowers (all Stampin' Up!) to layer on top of a belly band made from Stampin' Up!'s burlap ribbon, crochet trim and lots of bakers twine twirled on top of the box.

 This sweet little tag completes the gift!

I think she will love it!

Happy Friday and Happy Stamping!

I lOVE sharing what I make with you! If you would like to use any of my pictures on your own blog, please directly link back to me and give Christina Thurlow credit!

Thanks!!!