Preppy Inspired Card #3 - 10 cards in 10 weeks

My friend and co-worker is leaving for medical school in a few weeks. On her blog, Completely Preppy, she is doing a challenge in which she can't wear the same outfit twice until she moves. Click HERE to read more about it. I am challenging myself to make 10 cards in 10 weeks. Elle will pick out an item from the world of fashion to be my inspiration. This week she gave me this fab picture!


Elle could absolutely pull off this look! Martini glass and all...
Check out this blog post for proof!

Here is the card it inspired:



See this card and others at our Etsy shop MD Cards & Gifts.
Thanks for stopping by! Come back next saturday to see the next card in my "Preppy inspired" card challenge.

The Birth of a Sock Creature

I am donating 3 wanted creatures to my son's school for a silent auction they are having. Since all the boys my son's age really like the sock creatures, I thought they might be a good fit. I also thought it might be fun to take you through the process of creating a sock creature. (mind you, the sock does most of the hard work). This particular guy I sewed by hand. So here we go....

Step 1: Inspiration! (sometimes mine comes from my son's drawings, it is amazing what the 9 year old mind comes up with) This time he came up with a whole page full of choices for me.What to choose....what to choose. Okay after much debate we decided this guy would be good. I have been wanting to do a set of fangs.

Step 2: Pick out the socks that will work. I decided to use a glove for the spikes on the head and a black sock for the body. The sock has a gray heel so that will be his lips. I get a scrap from a gray sock to be the arms and a scrap of white sock for the teeth. Then I cut everything out.









Step 3: sew, sew, sew all the pieces. This gives you the final skin. I usually attach my arms after I stuff him. At this point it is a mystery if he will be cute or not. I am leaning toward cute, in a creepy way. But you never know until you stuff it.



Step 4: Stuff him! Oh crud, he isn't looking so cute now! His head is twice as big as his legs and he looks like he is stuffed with pork sausage! My husband and son make fun of him for about 10 minutes with phrases like "hmmm...it's different" and "are people supposed to buy that?" and "the charity might pay you not to donate him". Then I pout for about 24 hours.

Step 5: I carry on because sometimes they get better right? Okay so I decide the glove head is looking weird so I make pigtail looking ears. I sew half the mouth, hey wait, wasn't he supposed to have fangs? Okay so I can add one fang to other half... turns into fang/tongue. Add the arms and button eyes and he isn't looking so bad now!













Step 6: Name, Praise and Delivery!
Name = "Snaggle"
Praise = "That came out great honey, I was wrong to doubt your talents" (I embellished the quote a little).
Delivery =

Thanks for stopping by! Please visit my Etsy shop Wanted Creatures.

Random Softies

I am just learning to sew (well by "just" I mean that I have been sewing for a year and still stink). I make sock creatures because the socks are very forgiving with bad sewing. They take on a life of their own and don't need much help from me.

On Etsy there are so many fantastic shops that share my love of all softies. Great artists that know how to sew. One shop I enjoy very much is called Plush Team. I am saving up to buy their annual that has tons of softies from incredible artists.

Well... imagine my delight when I found out they have a blog! I subscribed right away. One shop they are featuring is called Fur Will Fly. Super cute stuff. I love this guy.


They are also having a giveaway so if you stop by you might win winged Walter (the red guy, you know, with wings)!


Please check out my Etsy shop Wanted Creatures to see my sock creatures!

My new Treasury on Etsy

I don't know what it is about the Treasury feature of Etsy. It is addictive! You only have a small window of time when you can get one and you have to be online at just the right time. So my Treasury today is called "Mapped!". It only stays up for about 2 days then it expires.

I absolutely love globes, maps and atlases. The sellers in this treasury have done some amazing work re-purposing old maps or sell great vintage and home decor pieces. I have gone to all the shops of the sellers below and there are some amazing things there! So click on the shop names below and check them out!

Click HERE to see my treasury and other great treasuries on ETSY

1. London Map Pillows - Vintage Jamie
2. Map Garland - Saratops
3. Vintage Globe - Bonton Vintage
4. Map wallet - My Paper Garden
5. World Map - Callaghan Art Gallery
6. Map Magnets - The Green Daisy
7. Map Envelopes - Ari and Maya Designs
8. Globe Necklace - Cuteability
9. Woven Map Cups - Sew Danish
10. Map Rose - Hope and Joy Studios
11. Framed Vintage Map - Revamp Boutique
12. South America Map - Hello Victory

Visit my Etsy Shops Wanted Creatures and MD Cards and Gifts!

Random Movie Review - Avatar

Ok I know Avatar has been out for months and months but I just saw it Saturday night. So I am sure everyone has already seen it and this review won't be very helpful. But thought I would share anyway! If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to skip this in case I spoil something.

This might be unpopular because I know a lot of people love this movie. I didn't really like this movie, it was super long and confusing. I mean I don't understand when the main guy got to sleep. Do they just not need sleep in the future? He was busy being Avatar all day then at night he would be busy having witty banter with his human companions. THEN, oh time to be an Avatar again.

Ok so PRO's:

• The ships and robots looked very cool
• The colors were vivid and beautiful
• They only made me read subtitles in parts of the movie
• I did almost cry at one part so it did get me emotionally at some point.... not sure how that happened!

Con's:

• Super Long
• Very preachy about the environment, war for commodities and terrorism. Can't I just see a movie without the hidden agenda?
• The blue people and surroundings look too much like video game animation. Don't get me wrong, I love video game animation. I think in 10 years though this might begin to look cheesy.

Similarities to Titanic:

• Avatar - girl is daughter of powerful tribe leader. Titanic - girl is daughter of powerful wealthy family.
• Avatar - boy is last minute replacement for someone that couldn't go on the mission. Titanic - boy gets last minute ticket and replaces someone on the Titanic
• Avatar - boy lacks knowledge and ways of the tribe, but is willing to learn. Titanic - boy lacks knowledge and ways of the upper class, but is willing to learn.
• Avatar - Huge tree blows up breaks in half and smashes a bunch of people on the way. Titanic - Huge ship sinks breaks in half and smashes a bunch of people on the way.
• Avatar - Two world collide, humans and aliens. Titanic - two worlds collide, poor and rich
• Avatar - characters you come to care about die horrible unnecessary deaths. Titanic - ditto

I could go on, but don't want to bore everyone. If you can think of some more please leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Etsy Inspired Challenge #87 and 10 followers

I am super excited for two reasons.

1. I have 10 followers! Thanks everyone for taking the time to stop by.
2. The Etsy inspired challenge this week was for a beautiful shop called Lindsay Brackeen

I am very thankful that I found the Etsy Inspired Challenge Blog. It combines my two favorite things: Etsy and Paper crafting! To find out more about the challenge click the link above.

This week's shop has the most beautiful prints. They really got me inspired and it was hard to choose one for inspiration. But this is the one I loved the most.

This is my card:

I couldn't get the blue just right. I absolutely love the blue in the Lindsay Brackeen print. I still love the results! I have posted this card in my Etsy shop MD Cards and Gifts.

Thanks for stopping by!

10 Cards in 10 Weeks - Week 2 - Preppy inspired cards

Week 2 of my preppy inspired challenge. Check out my friend's blog, Completely Preppy to see her "What preppy wore" challenge. She is helping me with my challenge (making one card a week for 10 weeks) by giving me an inspiration piece every Monday. This week she gave me this:



It has a lot of inspiration for me to work with! I was a little stuck on which direction to go with the card I am making. But was excited to give it a try.

For this card I wanted to capture the pink (of course), the shininess of the satin ribbon, the movement of the feathers and the accent of gold. I pulled out my embossing powder to make sure I would get a nice shiny gold. I thought I would share the heat embossing process in case anyone is curious about this technique.

First you just need your stamp, watermark ink, embossing powder and a heat gun.


Then stamp your image with the watermark ink and cover it with the embossing powder. Then you shake off the excess powder and are left with the powder that is stuck to the ink. Heat up the powder using the heat gun. The powder melts into a wonderful shiny sheen.



This is the complete card:


Thanks for stopping by! Visit MD Cards and Gifts, this card is posted there.