Can't spell, but I can write!

I am a bad speller. I use grammar wrong constantly. I have no idea what a preposition (Yes, I just googled the word 'preposition' to make sure it was indeed the thing I have no idea what it is) is still to this day. I have to think really hard when I play Mad Libs to and they ask for a particular part of the English language. To put it very bluntly, I am bad at English. HOWEVER, I love to write!!! No, no, no...not write books or poems or short stories or anything along those lines. I like (let's be honest, LOVE) to write letters. It brings me great joy to think that in a few short days someone will be sorting through a stack of bills or junk mail...and then, suddenly, they spot something written by an actual human. They see this envelop and they think....hmmm, maybe someone is getting married or graduated. Then, they open up the envelop and see that it is just a good old fashion letter from me!

When I have a lot to 'say,' I use notebook paper (college-ruled of course). When I just would like to say a quick 'hello and I love you,' I use a homemade card. When I want to wow their socks off, I use some of my homemade stationary! (I just learned how to make this INCREDIBLE stationary last week, so people who get regular letters from me, please prepare yourselves for your socks to be wowed soon).

Okay, while I will someday highlight cards and this to-die-for-stationary, the subject of this particular post is about the envelope. In my humble opinion...wait a minute....I take that back. My opinion in this matter is not humble. I keep the post office in business with my constant stamp-buying (these stamps are going up at ridiculous rates)...Therefore, in my non-humble opinion, I think the envelope is one of the most under-valued objects of American culture. There is not the proper respect given to the envelope as it deserves.

The envelope is to the letter as your makeup and outfit is to you: VERY IMPORTANT! While I hope you understand the importance of what I am saying here, please notice with equal awe of the simile (a comparison using like or as) I just used! Anyway....This is the first thing people see and it sets the whole mood of the letter. I may have some serious issues here, but come on people, give the envelope some respect. One might be thinking, how many ways could there possibly be to address an envelope? OH....let me show you! Some ideas below of some fun and creative ways you can make your envelope as special as the letter you are about to send. And....please if you aren't a "letter-writer," try it...you'll be shocked how much joy your insides will feel.

Write the person(s) name larger and in a pretty font. I covered up their address, to protect their privacy...and I already had this envelope ready to mail!

You can make the address into a simple shape, such as this butterfly!

Sometimes it is just fun to write in a bright color and make it very over sized, almost taking up the entire front of the envelope...I'm sure the mailman appreciates my extra large writing on this style!

It always adds such a special touch to make one letter extra big, more detailed and different than the rest!

One of my favorite ways to address letters...it is completely unique! The person's name goes on top and bottom, with the address in the middle in between two thick lines (use a ruler if you need).

If you are curious by now, Omega is my grandma and she gets letters weekly! A fun way to address the envelope is use different colors, curve the name, off-center the address and use different styles of hand-writing!

If you are going to just address the envelope like normal, you can always add a little flair on each letter
with hash-marks and indent each line.

You can put the name sideways in a different color for an added pop!

My favorite paper store of all time. Every color, every size, every weight of paper and envelopes you can imagine. It's literally like envelope-heaven on earth. I am sad to say that they used to know me by name in this store. If you live by an Xpedx, visit this store!!



There are so many ways someone can spice up an envelope, so be creative! I hope these gave you a few ideas. I will be back to sharing the creativity of my parent's home later this week...prepare yourselves to continue to be awed!

Cooking? Only if it's out of a scrapbook!

Cooking is almost like crafting. ALMOST. You work with your hands, create lovely things and get to enjoy the finished product after you are done. However, cooking has some pitfalls that crafting does not....which is why at the end of the day, I choose crafting! When you are finished doing a scrapbook page or painting a frame, you can just throw away your scraps, drop cloth and be done with it. BUT, cooking....ahhhh! You cook for a bit and you have to clean a hundred little tiny things when you are done. You have to make sure you don't leave any extra food out, because if you do, you will smell something rotten in a couple days. Even if you cook something AMAZING, you only get to enjoy it a few times. You spend all that time cooking and then 'poof,' your husband gets home and the food is gone. You spend time crafting, and you get to enjoy it FOREVER!

I realize that my logic might possibly be a little skewed, but nonetheless, it is where my opinion stays: crafting will always trump cooking. However, since cooking is a must for this stay-at-home-part-of-the-time-wife, I have turned my cookbook into something worthwhile! A cookbook scrapbook. 

This idea is NOT my own, but I love it! My aunts (years ago) put all our family recipes into a 5x7 cookbook and decorated each page. I, of course, had to be part of this project! As time has gone on and many more recipes have made it into my arsenal of cooking, I have added on to this cookbook. Last night in fact, I could not sleep, so got out some new recipes of mine, typed them into the computer, printed them out, cut them to a 5x7 size, decorated each little 'page' and then found them a special spot in my cookbook.

How to do it: type up your recipe (set the page margins what your cookbook scrapbook will be), print it out in easily readable but CUTE font...colors are good too, cut the page to size, add simple border to the page (You will be SHOCKED how many random boarder stickers you might have!), then add some fun stickers or embellishments to the page. WaaLaa, done!
If you are not a scrapbooker, or just learning how to scrapbook, this is the PERFECT project, because it is very quick and you can make it as complex or as simple as you would like. And, then, when you finally do decide to cook, it will just warm your heart that at least something in your kitchen will last forever....well, at least longer than your food!





Where my recipe book sits open in my kitchen next to all my other "regular" cookbooks.

Bingo? Yes...and the dauber too!

Am I fan of BINGO?! More than my husband would like the world to know (Natasha, if you EVER read this, know that you rekindled my BINGO love in Colorado Springs). My favorite thing about this game of chance? The daubers!!! I get more than slightly amused by the dauber-dispensers that the fancy BINGO halls have. Ah, a whole vending-like-machine full of daubers. Any color you can imagine! Ah, it's glorious!!

Anyway, contrary to what it may seem, what I want to share with the world today is NOT my love for the BINGO dauber...But, in fact, a different type of dauber. A scrapbooking dauber! I am taking a break from discussing the creativity of my parent's home today and taking a little look inside the creative world of the "dauber." This dauber completely changed my world when I was first introduced to it a few short years ago. Ahhh!

Please take a moment to 'ooooh' and 'aaaaah' over the dauber (picture below).

Yes, they are little. Yes, they are sort of like a plastic thimble with a sponge on top. Yes, they are the most amazing thing that any card-maker, scrapbooker or crafter will ever lay their hands on.

What do you do with a dauber? You place them on your finger (I prefer my right index finger), daub (is that a word?) them in your desired ink/stamp pad, then go to town daubing the edges of anything and everything! I might have lost you there in that description, therefore I thought it best to show you some examples of what the dauber can do. Please, prepare to bow to the mighty dauber at the end of this!

This is how you add a little distressed look or some color to anything with the dauber.

Adding a dark edge to some captions with the dauber.

You can double-up the colors with the dauber. I used pink ink first and then followed it up with a black.

You can see how the dauber makes any captions/titles much improved!

Ah, clearly, I use the dauber too much on all my titles, but I LOVE IT!

You can use the dauber with colored ink too! Here it is in RED!

Now, you may have noticed that most of my pictures are just on white paper using ink to distress the edges of them. There are many other uses for the dauber! Below is a picture of the dauber adding a little dimension to a card. I have seen people use the dauber on nearly anything, even pictures themselves. If you have never tried the dauber, I hope you do sometime soon.

IGNORE the background in this picture. I was eating breakfast in my living room, while probably painting my toe-nails. PLEASE just focus on the amazing use of the dauber on this card, ha! :)

I will continue highlighting the amazing creativity of my parent's home in the next entries! But until then, please respect the dauber!!

The Art of Quilling

Many people scrapbook (which don't get me wrong, I LOVE) and compromise paper in all sorts of interesting ways. They tear it, fold it, cut it, stain it...but my most favorite thing to do with paper is BEND IT! I love to quill! Not a typo here...not quilt, but quill.

I discovered the art of quilling when I was going through old things of my mom's. She had her old marriage announcement framed with these beautiful flowers (made of bended/folded paper) around it. It was breath-taking. I knew I HAD to learn how to do that! I found out who made this for her and called this amazing woman up. I took quilling 'lessons' from this lady and I learned how to do this amazing paper-bending-technique.

If you are not familiar with quilling, it is the art of taking tall, skinny (about 1/8 in. wide by 11 in. tall) lengths of paper, wrapping them around a needle and then bending them in the desired shapes you want. It's a long process, but the look is positively unique and something worth the time.

This is the slotted needle which you wrap paper around to create beautiful creations.





When making our wedding reception invitations, I decided to quill little flowers on all of them. About 100 invitations in, I realized there might have been an easier idea.

I am a complete ammature when it comes to quilling. An older lady (who taught me this art) makes the most AMAZING quilling creations I have ever seen. She is truly incredible. If you've never tried to quill and have extra time on your hands, you should try this very adorable and affordable hobby!!


Tightly quilled oranges made by a friend of mine. AH-AMAZING!

A little quilled flower in the corner of our reception invitation.

The top of our invitations...just a row of quilled flowers.

 


 





Little beads make beautiful things!!!

Years ago, I was watching a girlie movie and I saw the most beautiful detailed flower in a woman's hair. I paused the movie and carefully inspected this hair-piece and discovered it was a flower made out of itty-bitty beads put together some how and made into flower. OH MY!! I was going to have to learn how to do this!! I researched as much as I could about the elusive beaded flower. Very few resources could be found. I finally found this bead-shop in the middle of South Florida that carried one book about French beaded-flowers. I bought it, bought every color seed bead and more wire than you can imagine.

It's really a lost art...or rather, it's an art that was never really found, due to the amount of time and detail that each little beaded-flower requires. I have been making these flowers for years now and nothing is more fun than putting together one bead on a piece of wire at a time, creating a single petal and then eventually putting them all together for a beaded-flower-masterpiece.

The flowers in my hair on my wedding day were not real, but instead I made them out of unique crystal beads. The napkin-rings around my table at the holidays are beaded flowers made into a tiger-lilly and a poinsettia. The arrangements of flowers I put around my house from time to time will never wilt, because they are made out of beads.

Besides the amount of time these take to make, the only other real negative is the mess they leave behind! My husband will find these little beads everywhere after I have been working on flowers. I am constantly struggling to find more time to work on beaded flowers, because they are simply beautiful! Here are some I have created. I will make a picture tutorial sometime in the future for all these beauts!

Just a bundle of random beaded flowers I've made.

As well as flowers, bees and butterflies can be made as well!