I haven't done THIS in a loooong time!

I stamped my first card since 2004! (That was just before the 3rd kid arrived.) Thanks to my friend Tessa becoming a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I was inspired to start being crafty again. Also, thanks to her recommendation, I am totally addicted to Stickles!!! I have always loved glitter and these little babies make it so easy to add a little bling to projects! I only bought 5 to get me started and see if I even liked them. What was I thinking?!! I should have bought every color they had available! (BTW, to see Tessa's blog with some of her projects, click on "Crafty Girl Designs" in my favorite craft blogs section to the right.)

So, my great niece is turning 12 this weekend and I want to send her some jewelry as a gift with a handmade card, so I thought my new SU! "Perfect Princess" set would go along appropriately with it. I think it turned out just OK. I'm a bit rusty and I'm still trying to find all my supplies...

Anyway, here are the supplies I used:

The stamps are all SU!; "Perfect Princess," "For a Friend," and "So Swirly" jumbo wheel.

The inks are Ancient Page "Coal" and SU! "Almost Amethyst." For the envelope, I used "Lavender Lace."

The paper is something I got from Paper Zone awhile back. It has a shimmery, pearl finish. I used pink, lavender, and some off-white thing. I will probably not be using this type of paper again. The ink doesn't seem to stay on it very well. It kept coming off on my fingers and smudging. It doesn't print that well either. But it makes a very pretty plain background paper!

The accessories were We R Memory Keepers eyelets (they came with the Crop o' Dile set I got at Costco), and Stickles in Diamond, Waterfall, Silver, and Cotton Candy.

This is the first time I used my Crop o' Dile and I am hooked! I will be using that thing a lot I am sure! I am also loving my SU! Anywhere Glue stick; it's rectangle shaped so you can get it into the corners of your papers. It rocks!

Also, here's a tip on how to be thrifty: Save your excess foam when you cut out your SU! stamps! I was out (couldn't find anyway) of any of my dimensional adhesives dots, squares, or tape. Luckily, I hadn't taken out the trash yet from my recent stamp assemblage, so I pulled out all my scraps of foam and I cut a few squares. The rubber takes a little bit of tugging to get it off the foam, but it's worth it! I'll be saving all these little scraps from now on!

I sewed my first dress!

And it didn't fit, so I gave it to my sister. Yes, the expert seamstress sister who can sew anything with her eyes closed. Having spring fever, I decided to tackle the project of making a dress for myself to wear for Easter. Of course, I didn't even start it until after Easter! I bought a bunch of patterns when they went on sale at Joann's, but the first one I chose to try was McCall's #5094 style B. This picture doesn't do the fabric justice at all! It's a really beautiful light blue with a cute flower pattern embroidered throughout in a slightly-darker-than-the-fabric blue. I have sewed quite a few things before. Quilts, curtains, purses (things with straight lines) and a few Halloween costumes; all things that didn't really matter how well they looked. I apparently made the dress a size to small, but with all the mistakes I made, it ended up being probably 2 sizes to small! I learned a lot from my mistakes, so I'm going to tackle it again because it's really cute! I'm also going to try another pattern too and learn from more mistakes I'm sure! Despite the mistakes, it's still really pretty. I'm horrified and embarrassed that my sister would wear something that poorly sewn, and yet at the same time I'm proud that she would actually want to wear it! I hope no one looks too closely while she's wearing it and thinks, "I thought this girl could sew?" At least I know if anyone can fix my mistakes, it's her. She'll make it all better! And, yes, that is my sister Julie modeling her new dress! I figure after all the beautiful and fun things she has sewn for me over the years, maybe it's time I return the favor?