Happy Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is Wednesday, but tonight we celebrated Chinese New Year with a family dinner (my husband side).  One of the traditions of Chinese New Year is to pass out red envelopes to the unmarried children, to wish them good luck in the new year.  The envelopes are usually filled with some crisp new bills.  This is the first year I said to myself, "I should probably make these envelopes", since I have an entire room of crafts supplies.

I used one of the mini envelope templates from JudiKins.

Red is a symbol of good luck - so I used red card stock.

This happens to be the year of the rabbit, so I searched for rabbit images on the internet and cut them out and glued them on the envelops.  These are the ones I passed out at dinner tonight.

Now, that's much better than buying them.

Small Vintage Girl Cards

Michael's provided another great deal.  For just $1 you can have a pack of 8 gift cards/envelopes in a shabby chic motif, I couldn't wait to embellish them.

The cards provide a great background.  The images of the girls come from this web site that provides free images. http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/.  Add some fun embellishements and ta-da, you've got cute little cards to give away.

My Little Number Girl

I love my new stamps from Paperbag Studios (http://www.paperbagstudios.com/). I purchased the Chere, 995 and the Looking rubber stamps. I couldn't wait to try them out.  Here's some quick tags I made with them.

With some of my finds from the Addison sale this weekend (vintage tags), my washi stripe tape, a bit of cheese cloth, and a girl stamp from Catherine Moore's Inner Child collection, I created this little number girl paper doll.  I trimmed the tag to be a little dress, sewed some cheese cloth to the bottom, put a little washi tape on her leg and bodice, and added a tiny tag to her head - that was stamped with the Chere stamp.

I put her in my kraft journal - good background for her. She measures about 5" tall and 2" wide. I'd love an outfit just like hers.

Exciting News!

I'm published in two more Stampington magazines, to be released Feb. 1st!  I have two aprons in apronology and a couple purses in Greencraft.  Here's a preview.

Ingrid & I are sharing this article on "Shabby Chic" aprons

I made this apron from a child's dress I bought at a consignment store

I made this apron from some vintage sheets, muslin, lace & flowers

I made this ruffle purse from the Sunday comics

I made this small purse from the crossword page

I hope this inspires you to create something and submit your work too.

Addison End Paper Sale Today

I love when the Addison's have their special sales.  It's fun to go through the bins looking for little treasures.

And what a nice surprise running into Lisa Super there too!  Best of all, she let me have this thimble cup - so adorable, I love it!  Next door to Addison End Papers is Mixed Pickles and Total Estate Liquidation.  Three stores in a row full of vintage items - oh joy.  Of course, I was able to find something at each one.  Here's everything I got.

Playing with Tissue Tape & Friday Artful Play

I've been exploring more with my Japanese washi tape, it's been so much fun to use.  I took some of my glassine bags and stamped them and added my washi tape.  A quick fun project.

Not related to tape, but I also sewed up these little paper bag pockets with lace and fabric.  An idea I got from Roben-Marie Smith.  Just little gifts for the girls coming over today: my sisters Lana & Maryl and my art sister CGS.

After eating and shopping we headed to Lana's house to look around at her latest findings and also to do some creating.

Maryl's Creations - Nice work!

My Tags (with Washi tape)

Lana's Project - peek a boo

CGS's Project - Lovely!

Love My New Washi Tape Organizer

I love decorative tape.  Long ago, I collected a bunch of 7 Gypsies Graffer tape.  Now, I've been into this Japanese Washi tape.  It's paper thin and fun to use.  This etsy vendor sells lots of washi tape: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PrettyTape?ga_search_query=washi%2Btape&ga_search_type=handmade. Tim Holtz & 7 Gypsies is also selling this paper tape.  I used to just store them in a box, but that was no fun.  As the saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind".  So when I found this ribbon organizer from Oriental Trading Co., I thought this would be perfect to organize all the tapes I've collected.  My favorite part is that it's a lazy susan.
Here's how mine looks all loaded up. 

Unfortunately, it's not big enough, so I'm going to have my husband add 3 more polls.  There's plenty of room for it, so why not.
Here's where you can buy your tape organizer too.
http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/search/processRequest.do?Ntt=ribbon+organizer&requestURI=searchMain&Ntk=all&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&N=0