Onto A New Adventure

I woke up to seeing my breath this morning.  It was that chilly, but they expect we'll see 90 degrees tomorrow.  Maine weather is extremely temperamental!  These cool mornings remind me of the start of school and my favorite season...fall.  Of course, it also means that summer is closing up shop and the girls won't be home during the days to keep me company on our many adventures.  I love spending time with them and I'll miss their giggles and smiles, but just like anything else, it must come to an end so that another adventure can begin.  

But before I ceded to summer completely, I took the girls on one last adventure.  We rode our bikes down to the river and enjoyed climbing the rocks and exploring this past weekend.

 The girls ended up taking a dip and had to ride back in wet clothes, but they had a blast!

It was a nice end to our summer activities, and it made the first day of school yesterday a little easier to handle.

My daughters, Madison (4th gr.), Mackenzie (1st gr.), and my nephew, Kolby (4th gr.) 

My oldest, Molly, is going into 7th grade and refused to let me take her picture as did my nephew, Kade, who is entering 6th.  Tweens!

Although I'll miss them and our lives will again become about routine and schedules, I'm looking forward to some time to myself creating in my studio.  I do have a few items to share already, but I'll save that for next time.  

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by,

M.

Coming or Going?

What a hectic few days, and it's only Tuesday!  

I don't know about you, but the summer season is slow for Reverie Creations in the way of sales, so I try to spend my time promoting the store and looking for ways to expand my customer base.  I've recently signed up for a Twitter account with the help of a dear friend, and I can be found under @PaperGodess (please follow me!).  It's a little overwhelming to learn another social networking platform, but I do think it'll help the store, so I'm diving in feet first...

That's trepidation you're witnessing!

I've also decided to 'open' another store at eCrater.  It's a free online site builder, so I really don't have anything to lose other than my time (can we please add another 4 hours to the day!).  You can check it out here: Reverie Creations.  eCrater is associated with Google so they do a lot of promoting for you with their searches...again it's free...and free is good!

I hope you find some time to craft today.  Me?  I'm going to tweak and Tweet.

M.

Summertime

Just wanted to stop in and share a few photos of our summer ...

My youngest, Mackenzie, on the 'chopper' bike.  She has finally mastered riding this bike after hours of practice.

My oldest, Molly, at Roller World.  We all love to skate!

Madison and Mackenzie at Funtown.  The lines were long and the weather hot, but we had a blast that day!!

Here is my Peanut, Madison, relaxing after a busy summer day with our dog, Scooter.

It wouldn't be summer without visits to the coast!

The kids love to explore the rocks and all the little tidal pools...

and catch a few waves.  I think going to the beach is one of our favorite summer activities, and since we live only a half hour drive from the coast, it's a weekly adventure.

We've done so much this summer and created lots of wonderful memories without venturing too far from home.  What have you done this summer?

Take some time for family,

M.

Living Well...

The girls and I have been spending a lot of time at the ocean these past few weeks.  It's been extremely hot and humid, and having acclimated to Maine weather, we don't handle it well.

Here is my oldest, Molly, as a mermaid!

Living well at the beach!

When we weren't at the beach, we were trying to stay cool inside.  I managed to take part in a challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room.  We were asked to create a project using the colors in the photo below as well as buttons, twine/ribbon and stitching.

This is what I came up with:

I have to admit that I had this vision in my head of what I wanted to do, but the end result turned out completely different; although I am happy with it!

Each little frame is cut from the Bo Bunny Country Garden collection, and I added little bits of old screen to the backs of a few of them for added texture and interest.  They're all settled onto a piece of stained muslin.  Flowers are from Prima and Maya Road, and the butterfly from Prima. 

The tag reads:  Live well, love much, laugh often

Something I try to do each and every day!

Thanks for spending some time with me, and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Happy crafting!

M.

A Gift For You...

Lately, I've been creating items for gift giving...bags, tags, gift card holders and money cards.  Summertime brings a lot of  birthdays in my family, so I was looking to get a head start on items that I might need.

These were so easy to make using up all those left-over lunch bags from school.  I stenciled them with acrylic paint and layered vintage sheet music, lace and buttons with a sheer ribbon bow.  The flowers are die cuts with a floral pin center.

Here are a few small gift tags that would look perfect on top of a wrapped gift.

I cut the tops off the envelopes and punched the half circles so you could access the inside card using the mini clothes pin.  

More gift tags...

A money card...

that can double as a gift card holder.

Simple.

Presentation is just as important as the gift, and I honestly think that handmade packaging (albeit simple) can add a certain charm to even cash.  

You can find more unique gift presentation items at my shop, Reverie Creations.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

M.

Soft and Sweet

I participated in a challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room this week.  It's been such a long time since I've taken some 'fun time' for myself, and I thought I deserved it.

We were asked to use the colors in this photo...

...and I came up with this CD Keeper card...a great way to save photos of the new baby.

Melissa Frances paper and lots of lace and buttons.  Isn't that vintage image just precious?

The inside has a little pocket for your CD and space enough for dates and personal messages.

Prima and Making Memories glittered roses round out the embellishments.

I had a lot of fun spending time in my studio doing something creative, and I hope to share more sometime in the next week.

Have a great day and Happy Crafting!

M.

Recycled Denim

It would seem that all I've done as of late is apologize.  I'm apologizing for missing Girl Scout meetings, for not having dinner ready on time, for my not so tidy home and for neglecting my blog.  I swear I've lost a few weeks somewhere, and I'm not sure how to recover from being so far behind other than to learn how to say 'no' every once in a while.  I always take on too much believing that I can handle it all, only to find myself in this predicament, but I am proud to say that my reason (or rather reasons) for my mismanagement of time is that I'm spending more of it with my three girls.  They're home on summer vacation, and we've been taking advantage of the perfect weather to venture out to the ocean and our state parks.  The way I see it, they're only young for a very short time, and it won't be long before they're on their own and doing their own things; therefore, when they ask to do something, I say 'yes'.  The rest of it will be there when I get back.  I do hope you understand and give me a little wiggle room in the time between postings, but always know that I will be back (with a gorgeous tan :)

With that said (and with a great weight lifted off my shoulders), I'd like to share a few new projects using recycled denim jeans.  Our family usually donates any unwanted slightly used clothing to our local Goodwill, but we had a pair of jeans that were in pretty bad shape, so I thought I'd try to salvage some of the material rather than just throwing them away. 

I cut off the back pockets and created these darling little gift bags, and the best part is there wasn't any sewing involved.

This first pocket has a flower created out of rose trim and some vintage lace...one of my favorite embellishments.  I tucked a bit of tulle on the inside (though you can't see it in this picture) to balance out the top of the pocket with a little softness.  

With the other pocket, I decided to ink it with a Tim Holtz stencil.   

Some more vintage lace, Making Memories glass pebbles and metal key with a ribbon rose and a vintage doily.

You can see the tulle here, and I really think it does soften the edges a bit.  It can also be used to wrap your gifts in...like tissue paper.

I was also able to cut out flags from the denim for a banner.

This required a little sewing around the edges and along the top to secure the loops for the jute.

Simple and sweet.  

I've got quite a few flags left for another banner, but this time I'm going to do something for the Fourth of July.

I sincerely appreciate your understanding and patience, and I hope you'll stop back by again soon.  I have so much to share, I just have to find the time to post it. ;)

I hope you have a great night, my friends.

Happy Crafting!

M.

May's Tag

I'm still playing catch-up, but I've finally finished May's tag.

I was inspired by the Bo Bunny paper I used.

I hope you'll stop by in a few days because I have some interesting projects to share using an old pair of jeans.  

Happy crafting!

M.

Birthdays and Graduations

So, it's that time of the year....graduation time.

My girls are still too young (thank goodness), but I have a couple of cousins that are graduating from High School, so I made them each a card.

Katherine's card is inspired by the quote:  "Spread your wings and fly".  Appropriate given the circumstances, I think.

I created the center flower using muslin and rose trim.  In the center is a Making Memories fabric covered button.  The resin wing is Melissa Frances and fits perfectly.

I think she'll like it.

This next card is for Zack.  I have to admit that it took a little while to find an inspiring quote that fit graduation and lent itself to a masculine feel.  "Enjoy your time" was what I eventually settled on.

I printed off a vintage time piece and added layers and layers of embossing to the clock face (then cracked it) for dimension.  The stamps are vintage and the bingo card was printed off the Internet.

All in all, I think it came together nicely.

I've also been working on a few birthday cards.  My parents have a neighbor, Mary, who is turning 80 years young.  She's a wonderful woman who still paints and gardens.  She also has chickens and always keeps us well stocked with wonderful green eggs.  I created this card for her:

Just about everything is Prima.  You can never go wrong with Prima!

My cousin, Kerry, celebrated a birthday this past weekend as well.  She's a special person in my life as she's the Godmother to my oldest daughter, Molly.  This card was for her:

Another flower created with muslin and a vintage button.  

I really love the shabby layers and the Prima glittered leaf.

And since I was feeling guilty about not creating anything for my Etsy shop...

I absolutely fell in love with this vintage birds image and thought it worked well with the sentiment from Melissa Frances:  "Celebrate.  Today we celebrate you."

I also created a tea time 'friendship' card...

Either of these cards will be listed in Reverie Creations on Etsy along with a few other little surprises, so be sure to stop on by and take a peak!

Have a wonderful day, my friends.

M.