Valentines Decor

Wowzers!  I'm never gonna be on top of my posting like I'd planned.  Life just gets too crazy busy.  I've got several things to post all at once, so here we go.

I made these adorable valentine's cards for one of my card swaps.

Aren't these the cutest?!  I found the tutorial on You tube.  You can find it here.  I love, love, love Dawn!  She does a fabulous job with her tutorials and makes it so easy to follow her.  

Next, I finally made it to the Wood Connection.  It's been too long since I've been, so I was like an addict in the candy store.  I finished one of my projects, but still have another one I am working on.  

 I've just noticed that jar on the left is empty.  It did have Valentines M&M's in it, but obviously the kiddo's have raided the stash.

I love how the glittery heart turned out.  This entire project was so simple.  I used some of my Stampin Up! stash.  I loved, loved, loved, this paper when I first bought it.  I loved it so much I haven't wanted to use it for anything.  (Heaven forbid I run out of it.)   This project was perfect for it.  I can display it year after year, and see my paper.  :) 

Next, I made these super simple candles.  I should say heated these candles.  I love the simplicity of this project so much that I am planning on having candles to trade out for each holiday.  I had Halloween ones that I'm pretty sure I posted on here, and somehow didn't get around to making Christmas ones.  What do you think?  Cute right.

If your interested in this project let me know.  Or you can google the technique I'm sure.  Have a great Valentine's Day!  

Time is going by too fast...

Wow, the day's are just flying by.  I made a goal to stay up to date with my blog and already I'm failing miserably!

Let's see, I've opened up my own Etsy store.  You can find me at at taking a break, just click on the highlighted link.  I love creating and have so many things I would like to post, with life being so crazy for every one I thought it would be easier to have my own Etsy store, though we've still got www.Avaravendesigns.etsy.com.  So stop on by either store and see what we've got going on.  The taking a break store I plan on adding a lot more paper crafts, so if there's some thing you've seen on my blog, odds are I'll have it at my Etsy store.  Next, I've got several post to catch up on, so I'll start catching up on that now.

First, in December I helped in my son's 4th grade classroom Christmas party.  My job was to come up with a craft, and bring all of the supplies and do a craft with them.  I was a little overwhelmed trying to brain storm ideas that would be simple enough for 30 + 9 year old's to do, but fun too.  I thought about making min marshmallow snowflakes, and my son thought that would be a blast.  Then a friend of mine showed me these crazy cute snowman she had made, and whalla.  We had a craft.  They were so simple to make and all of the kids loved making them.  It was definitely a hit at my son's party.

Aren't those the cutest snowman you've ever seen?!  Here's how you make them, super simple.  You'll need socks, ( I bought men's large socks.)  rice, fabric for the scarf, tooth picks for the nose, rubber bands,(3 per snowman) and any other accessories you would like to add.  (buttons, eyes, gems, ribbon, etc.) On one I added googly eyes, and the others I used a permanent black marker to add eyes, and mouth.

Take a sock, and fill the bottom 1/3 with rice.  Then you tie it off with a rubber band, and do the next level the same way, tie it off, and then the 3rd level.  Leave a little bit of sock so that when you tie the rubber band, you can fold some of the sock over and make a hat.  You can tie a ribbon around the top of the hat to decorate it a bit more.  Now, it's time to decorate your snowman.  Simple, simple simple.  One thing I did do was hot glue my hat down, and added a dab of hot glue in between each layer to keep it from wobbling.  Add some hot glue to the end of a tooth pick, (break it in half) and hot glue it right where the nose should go.  Seriously, a simple, fun, cute, project.  Anyone can do it.

These made really cute Christmas decorations.  Next year we plan on making a ton to share with our family.  These also would make really cute neighbor gifts, (we did get one as a gift.), and a fun project to do with your kids, grand-kids, or at a school party.  Really cute and simple!

Exciting news!!

A friend and I have recently opened up our own Etsy Shop!  You can find us at avaravendesigns.etsy.com

We have hand made cards to sell, and can customize cards too!  We also have hand made headbands for

sale, (over 25 colors, their not all displayed here.  Need a color, we do custom orders too, just leave a

message. ) felt hair bows, Christmas tags, and we are currently working every day to add new

and fun things to our Etsy shop!  We are working on making gift card holders, and other great

surprises for the upcoming holidays. (Christmas is on the brain.)

Come on by and take a look, and please let us know if theirs something you're not seeing, and we'll

gladly see what we can do for you!!

If you are in Utah County, and can pick up please contact us personally to avoid the shipping charge.

Halloween Decor

I've never been one to say that I just LOVE Halloween, or any holiday for that matter.  I am saying it this

year.  I LOVE Halloween and everything that comes with it.  I'm sure I'll be saying that about every holiday.

 Why?  Cause I'm loving making my own crafts for home.  I've made a garland, some spooky candles, and

a few cards.  I've got so many more things I'd like to make and hope I can get done before Halloween

arrives.  Here's some of what I've made so far.

This one I love how the back ground turned out.  I embossed the back with my embossing folder and the big shot and added versa mark onto the embossing folder.  Then while it was still wet I added black embossing powder and then heat set it.  I really think it added to this card.  Of course the googly eyes on the card don't look bad either.

This card I saw on Pinterest, and had to make my own.  I loved it.  You can see hers here.

This card my friend Brittany did.  I love the back ground on it!  My favorite by far is the candles!!  I did those using the tissue paper technique.  It's really easy once you get the hang of it.

Apothecary jars finally finished!!

I am so excited yet again with how my Pinterest project has turned out.  Here's what I found on Pinterest.

 (Actually a friend of mine in my craft group found it, thanks Tara!)

 And here's how mine turned out.  

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how mine look.  I've filled the middle one with ping pong balls, and as soon as I

find my googly eyes I intend on turning those balls into eye balls.  I love these too because they are so

versatile.  I plan on changing them for every holiday and just leave them out year round.  What do you think?

You can find the supply list here.  The only thing that I added was an extra base to each of my jars.  So the

candle stick is sitting on a base and then I glued one on the top of the candle stick so that there was more

room for my jars to sit.  I like the look better, but you can definatly leave it out and as you can see on the

other blog, (and her picture above,) they look dang cute that way too.

Here's where I've put them, and how it looks all together.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!

I'd love to know what you think.  Thanks as always for stopping by.

Jack Pot!!

I LOVE Stampin Up!  I miss being a demonstrator, teaching new techniques and miss buying all of the new

products.  With that being

said, I feel like I hit the jack pot!!  A friend of mine told me that Stampin up! was holding it's first ever

warehouse sale.  I was able to go and walked away with a box full of stuff for just under $100 dollars.

 Seriously!  4 different punches, 7 packs of paper, 3 12x12 DSP, 1 scrapbooking kit, 4 clear stamp sets, 3

wood stamps sets, 2 ink pads, 2 embossing powders, markers, and spools and spools of ribbon, and some

other embellishments.  I LOVE their product and am thrilled with the deal of a life time!!  I can't wait to start

playing with all of my new goodies.  So excited, I just had to share.  

So, anyone wanna play??

I bought this lamp some time ago at the DI with the intention of re-doing it.  I've finally done it!  I made matching couch cushions too.  I LOVE how it all turned out!!

The lamp shade I used the same fabric that I used to make my pillows.  It was so hard to get the shape of my lamp just right, so I added some of my Stampin Up! ribbon to the seams and I think it turned out just perfect!  I love how this project turned out.