Saturday, April 23, 2011

Toadally Frogs Blog Hop (Day 2)

Ribbett!! Ribbett!! "Welcome back to Day 2 of the Toadally Frogs Blog Hop! We have Toadally amazing crafters hopping along...and we hope to give the Easter Bunny a leap for his money! You should have come from Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My!'s blog http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/--- wasn't that a fun place to visit? If you just happened to find us, and want to join in the fun, hop on back to Karelj's Blog at http://karelj.blogspot.com/ to start at the beginning."

Today’s project is these fun Boy’s Coveralls cards. I used a template that I found online to cut out the coveralls. I added a pocket and belt (they weren’t included on the template). The frog is the small frog from Magnolia. I cut off his crown & part of his body to fit him in the pocket. I think that the frog adds that little something to this cute little template.

Next, I took the same frog from the Magnolia stamps and used him on this binder clip stand. I used my Martha Stewart Fringe Scissors to cut the grass. The sign is a digital stamp that I found on line.

Thanks for stopping back. I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s projects and that somehow I’ve inspired you to create something fun. Ribbett!! Ribbett!!

"Now that you've seen my blog, you should jump on over to Krista and Kori at 2 Crafty Chicks's blog, (http://2craftychics.blogspot.com/)and see if they have posted something new for Day 2."


1. Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com

2. Celeste at Touched By a Butterfly www.touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com

3. Michelle Petrovich at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com

4. Belinda Kersey at Queen Bee’s Musings at http://www.queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com/

5. Cali Romero at Calie’s Creative Corner at www.Caliescreativecorner.blogspot.com

6. Nicolette Simpson at Beyond Scrapping www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com

7. Bonnie Cantu at A Scrap Above at http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com/

8. Lisa Gorlewski at Lisa’s Paper Butterflies at http://lisaspaperbutterflies.blogspot.com

9. Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/

10. Diane at Crafting This Moment at http://craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/ *YOU ARE HERE!!

11. Krista at scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com

12. Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/

13. Stephenie at SS Crafter at http://www.sscrafter.blogspot.com/

14. Rebecca Maddux at Creations With Becka at www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com

15. Kathryn at Creations By Kathryn at http://wamfamily.blogspot.com

16. Summer and Jennifer at The Cricut Diaries at www.cricutdiaries.blogspot.com

17. Mistyrose at Sweet Magnolia Rose at http://sweetmagnoliarose.blogspot.com/

18. Melissa Allore at Disney Dreamer Designs at www.disneydreamerdesigns.blogspot.com

19. Patti Hurlburt at Short ‘N Scrappy at www.shortnscrappy.com

20. Colleen McCauley at Col’s Creative Corner at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/

21. Janice Anello at Cricut Confessions at www.cricutconfessions.com

22. Leah Pagliaroli at Leah’s Card Designs at http://leahscarddesigns.blogspot.com

23. Audrey Roseman at Life Is Beautiful at http://audreyscardsbydesign.blogspot.com

24. Ellen Jarvis at Card Monkey at www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com

25. Mallika Kejriwal at Miss Not So Good With Words at www.missnotsogoodwithwords.blogspot.com

26. Inga Klaus at Momma Hobbit Creations at http://mommahobbit.blogspot.com

27. Brynn Thornburgh at Flair and Frills Creativity http://www.flairandfrillscreativity.blogspot.com/

28. Kristal Andrews at Getting at http://www.gettingcricky.com

Friday, April 22, 2011

Toadally Frogs Blog Hop (Day 1)

Ribbett!! Ribbett!! "Welcome to the Toadally Frogs Blog Hop! We have Toadally amazing crafters hopping along...and we hope to give the Easter Bunny a leap for his money! You should have come from Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My!'s blog at http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/ wasn't that a fun place to visit? If you just happened to find us, and want to join in the fun, hop on back to Karelj's Blog at http://karelj.blogspot.com to start at the beginning."

I'm a couple hours early with my post but lately I've had a problem with blogger not publishing my posts when I set them up to post automatically. Since I'm usually up by 3 am, I don't very often stay up until midnight which is why I'm posting early. So please do come back at 12:01 EST to see the start of the Karel's Toadily Frogs Blop Hop.

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to own a pet of my own. My father wasn't too thrilled with having house pets so when he was alive we didn't have them. (Well, we weren't supposed to. lol) Somehow we always managed to have pets of some sort, from a raccoon, a huge painted turtle we rescued from the road, a series of outdoor cats as well as whatever else followed us home.

I remember one summer in particular, it was all about frogs and toads. My friend Elizabeth who lived across the road from me and I spent most of the late spring and early summer trying to find frogs and toads to bring home. We had found 2 toads and we had them in a huge wooden box that we kept outside covered up so that they wouldn't escape. Well, one day on our way home from school we spotted a huge fat toad that we knew we had to have for our pet. Since we didn't have anything to carry him in, we emptied out Elizabeth's lunch box & put him in there. We had given all our toad's names and we kept them as pets for several weeks. Eventually I guess we realized that they weren't happy in their new homes and returned them to the wild. Even today I have a soft spot for frogs and toads.

For today’s project I stumbled across a cute idea online on how to make a Frog Bank. I saved the template for the frog & later made some alterations to it in order for it to fit on my container. I used an empty yogurt container for the frog’s body. I covered it with green cardstock that was run through my Cuttlebug using the Mesh Embossing folder. After embossing the cardstock, I wrapped it around the container. I then cut out the shapes for the head and body and also ran that through the Cuttlebug. I punched out circles for the eyes. Cut a hole in the lid of the container to make a slot to put your money in. The tongue was then cut out & attached so that it can lift up to hide the money slot. This is a fun easy project that can be done with your children & that I’m sure they’d enjoy. How fun to have this frog sit on your desk to help you save your money.

Or if you’re like me….you’ll use it to store all those left over punched out spare pieces. I usually store up all my left over punchies and give them to my niece who run’s a Day Care out of her home. She always takes the time to do craft projects with her day care kids. Her kid’s always love to create things with all the left over punchies. I also have a new scrapping friend who also happens to be a long lost cousin that I met through Ancestry.ca(we have the same great grandmother), that I send the leftover punchies to. I have so many punches that it’s nice to be able to share these leftover pieces with someone. It’s also a great way to use up all my scraps.

Here’s a picture of my Frog (Punchie) Bank:

I hope that you’ll stop by tomorrow to see more of my Toadilly Frogs projects. Ribbett!! Ribbett!!

"Now that you've seen my blog, you should jump on over to Krista http://www.scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com/. Her project is so toadally fun---I know you're going to love it!"

If you get lost along the way, here's the list of the blogs and their order. Have fun hopping!! Ribbet!!

1. Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com

2. Celeste at Touched By a Butterfly www.touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com

3. Michelle Petrovich at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com

4. Belinda Kersey at Queen Bee’s Musings at http://www.queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com/

5. Cali Romero at Calie’s Creative Corner at www.Caliescreativecorner.blogspot.com

6. Nicolette Simpson at Beyond Scrapping www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com

7. Bonnie Cantu at A Scrap Above at http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com/

8. Lisa Gorlewski at Lisa’s Paper Butterflies at http://lisaspaperbutterflies.blogspot.com

9. Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/

10. Diane Davison at Crafting This Moment at http://craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/ *YOU ARE HERE!!

11. Krista at http://www.scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com/NEXT STOP ON THE LIST!!
12. Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/

13. Stephenie at SS Crafter at http://www.sscrafter.blogspot.com/

14. Rebecca Maddux at Creations With Becka at www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com

15. Kathryn at Creations By Kathryn at http://wamfamily.blogspot.com

16. Summer and Jennifer at The Cricut Diaries at www.cricutdiaries.blogspot.com

17. Mistyrose at Sweet Magnolia Rose at http://sweetmagnoliarose.blogspot.com/

18. Melissa Allore at Disney Dreamer Designs at www.disneydreamerdesigns.blogspot.com

19. Patti Hurlburt at Short ‘N Scrappy at www.shortnscrappy.com

20. Colleen McCauley at Col’s Creative Corner at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/

21. Janice Anello at Cricut Confessions at www.cricutconfessions.com

22. Leah Pagliaroli at Leah’s Card Designs at http://leahscarddesigns.blogspot.com

23. Audrey Roseman at Life Is Beautiful at http://audreyscardsbydesign.blogspot.com

24. Ellen Jarvis at Card Monkey at www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com

25. Mallika Kejriwal at Miss Not So Good With Words at www.missnotsogoodwithwords.blogspot.com

26. Inga Klaus at Momma Hobbit Creations at http://mommahobbit.blogspot.com

27. Brynn Thornburgh at Flair and Frills Creativity http://www.flairandfrillscreativity.blogspot.com/

28. Kristal Andrews at Getting at http://www.gettingcricky.com

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Where Have I Been?

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 3 weeks since I’ve last posted to my blog. Where has the time gone? This month has been pretty hectic. I’ve been working on my projects for this weekends “Toadilly Frogs Blog Hop” as well as trying to catch up on other things around the house.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of reading. April hasn’t been the greatest month weather wise & I’ve been suffering a lot with knee pain because of it. I don’t care what some of the doctor’s say, when you have arthritis, the weather plays a huge part of how you feel. At least it does for me. We haven’t had a lot of nice sunny days this month & for the most part, April has been rainy, cold, damp, etc. This week we’ve had snow (fortunately it hasn’t stayed on the ground), rain, hail, sleet, etc. On the day’s that my pain levels are really bad, I spend a good part of my day sleeping or reading. (It doesn’t help that I get up at 3 am most days).

Fortunately, I’ve found a new author to keep me occupied. I’ve been reading Joanne Fluke’s “Hannah Swensen’s Mystery novels” and what can I say….I’m hooked. There are 14 books plus 4 shorter novels in this series. I wish that I could have read them in order but unfortunately I haven’t been able to locate all of the books to do it that way. So far I’ve read 5 of these books and am currently reading one of the shorter novels “Candy Cane Murder” that’s at the back of “The Chocolate Chip Murder” book.

Hannah Swensen runs The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden’s most popular bakery in Minnesota. Along with baking cookies, she helps solve murders. Each of the books have recipes for the mouthwatering cookies, etc that she bakes for her bakery/coffee shop. What I love about these recipes is that for the most part they sound pretty easy to make plus the ingredients are all things that I have in my cupboards. I do plan on attempting to make some of these delicious sounding cookies. When I do, I’ll be sure to take a picture & post them on my blog.

If you are looking for a good, lighthearted read, be sure to check out Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series. If you enjoy Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series, I think you’ll like these books as they are along the same line. Even thought they are murder mysteries, they don’t go into a lot of details about the murder victim or the actual crime so the books are not what I call full of blood, guts & gore…nor are they scary. Just a fun, lighthearted, enjoyable read. Definitely addictive!!