2012 - what a year!

We've been spending some quiet time with the family the last few days—so nice!—and I won't be back until after the new year.

I can't let the end of year come to an end without my annual end of year mosaic, so here it is. If you click on the mosaic you'll be taken to Flickr and all the links to the individual photos are there.

Last year I saw more white. This year I'm seeing a lot of color and a floral theme. This was definitely a year to stretch out my 3D muscles a bit too—I loved that part. A trio of off-beat photos are: my trip to teach a class at the Alt Summit, the series of 20 doodles that I did for a few weeks and of course my skydive jump—they may not involve paper but in their own way they did affect my regular work.

Previous year end mosaics are here: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

I also loved that this year I met so many more of you! Social media and licensing my work to other sites had a lot to do with that. I finally got my Facebook page really going (kicking and screaming I may add—still not terribly fond of the messy site) but it has given me a new path to reach out to many of you—but I freely admit that Twitter is still my favorite water cooler place. I can't leave this blog unmentioned—hard to believe that I'm half way through the 7th year—how crazy is that?—and so many of you still visit—thank you, thank you!

So... 2013. What new adventures does it have in store for all of us?
I'm feeling quite excited about it (hello Surtex!). It's going to be good—I feel it. I hope I'm right and that it affords everyone wonderful experiences.

Here's to an awesome 2013!
Cheers!

2012 - what a year!

We've been spending some quiet time with the family the last few days—so nice!—and I won't be back until after the new year.

I can't let the end of year come to an end without my annual end of year mosaic, so here it is. If you click on the mosaic you'll be taken to Flickr and all the links to the individual photos are there.

Last year I saw more white. This year I'm seeing a lot of color and a floral theme. This was definitely a year to stretch out my 3D muscles a bit too—I loved that part. A trio of off-beat photos are: my trip to teach a class at the Alt Summit, the series of 20 doodles that I did for a few weeks and of course my skydive jump—they may not involve paper but in their own way they did affect my regular work.

Previous year end mosaics are here: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

I also loved that this year I met so many more of you! Social media and licensing my work to other sites had a lot to do with that. I finally got my Facebook page really going (kicking and screaming I may add—still not terribly fond of the messy site) but it has given me a new path to reach out to many of you—but I freely admit that Twitter is still my favorite water cooler place. I can't leave this blog unmentioned—hard to believe that I'm half way through the 7th year—how crazy is that?—and so many of you still visit—thank you, thank you!

So... 2013. What new adventures does it have in store for all of us?
I'm feeling quite excited about it (hello Surtex!). It's going to be good—I feel it. I hope I'm right and that it affords everyone wonderful experiences.

Here's to an awesome 2013!
Cheers!

happy new year!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Our was great until we came home to no electricity and 40 degrees inside the house—brrrr! Fortunately we only had one night of that. On the flip side, when would it ever occur to us to play Chutes & Ladders by candle light with some yummy hot chocolate and tea (thank you gas stove)?

We didn't have internet or cable for a few days too, which has given us extra Legos, new dolls playing, and reading time. Not a bad thing at all.

• • •

I have a couple of goodies for you!
I was finally able to upload a couple of new sets—Happy New Year 2013 and Graduation Set 2013. I'm going to need the former for a couple of get-togethers that we'll be heading out to over the weekend.

Now off to go ice skating or we'll never hear the end of it from our sweet girl.
A promise is a promise!

Ta-ta!

merry christmas!

I wish you and all your loved ones a wonderful Christmas!

how to make a teardrop ornament

This is a project where you can make use of your scraps stash and make something for the holidays. There's still time to make a brighter, more colorful version for yourself. It's really easy to make too!

For those of you keeping track—yes, this was another project that would've been in book #2 but in this case I don't have the step-by-step photos. However, I think it's fairly easy to follow. I just wish I would've posted it sooner!

Materials
- A letter-sized sheet of office paper or similar
- Scraps (all one color or multi-color - you decide!)
- Stapler
- Twine
- Scissors
- Glue
- Styrofoam ball (at least 3" or 8cm wide)

Steps
1. Print out the template found here. Cut out the shape and roll it until it forms a cone shape. Open or tighten the bottom opening until half of the styrofoam ball fits snugly inside. Staple the edges of the cone shut.

2. Thread a piece of twine through the top of the cone (if you forget this step you can always glue it to the side of the cone and cover it with all the scraps as you add them to the cone).

3. Glue the styrofoam ball inside the bottom of the cone. Half of the ball should be outside of the cone.

4. Cut a bunch of triangles out of the scraps of paper—eeach approximately 1" (2.5cm) tall and 0.5" (13mm) wide.

5. Start gluing the scraps on the base of the ball. Work in layered circles until the entire ornament is covered. The last layer of paper scraps at the top of the ornament needs to be more oval in shape (narrow on both ends) so that they cover the top neatly.

Done!

More ideas to use your scraps? Look in my tutorials section.
Have a great day!

freebies + inspiration

Only fun things and freebies for today. I'm off to do some shopping today—I've never been this far behind in my Christmas shopping and I'm entering a total panic mode. Ack!! 

Today's weekly freebie is up! The texture I added to the red paper is a Stampin' Up Square Lattice embossing folder.

Friday Tidbits (haven't done them in so long!)

- Gift card holder freebie - Here's a downloadable freebie that I designed exclusively for FedEx. The printing and thick paper made it feel like something I'd bought at the store. Loved the richness of color (fyi - they paid me for the project—not for saying this).

- A cheery Santa download - Download this cheery Santa for your desktop, iPad or whatever! It's illustrated by a friend and very talented designer Von Glitschka.
- Paper lamps - Gorgeous lamps and video about the artists. I posted this on Twitter I believe but I have to repost it here just in case you missed it. Well worth the watch.
- How to score lines with the Silhouette - a an easy to follow tutorial of how to score lines in your paper cut projects. Thanks for the great tips and mention Linda! 

BTW - thank you so much for all your comments this past week on my Facebook page. I read every single one and they all make me smile. You're all awesome!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 

wreath gift set

Well! I didn't plan on being away so long but when you have unexpected water damage found behind your dishwasher the days go by really quickly. It's been crazy around here. The kind of crazy that includes huge blowers that made our house sound like an airplane for 24/7 during 5 days. Those of you that have had this kind of experience know what I'm talking about. So fun.

My intention was to show you this Wreath Gift Set last week but I got a bit sidetracked as you can imagine. Remember the wreath on the box  I showed you here? For those of you that have asked, that is one of the pieces of the new set.



The wreath + bow piece is also going to be part of my 3D paper Christmas wall that I'll hopefully show you next week—almost done. Maybe in time for Christmas? Ha!

The Wreath Gift Set is in the shop here.

Oh psst! In all the craziness of the last few days I never announced my weekly freebie. It's been on the site since Friday so don't forget to download it!

Hope you're all having a great week!

review: amy chomas adjustable pen holder

When Amy Chomas was kind enough to send me her Adjustable Pen Holder my first thought was that I was going to work with an intricate pattern that would really put it to the test. So, I thought of my Just Leaves Lattice and it worked out perfectly.

To be honest using the holder was much easier than I thought. I don't know why I had imagined something more complicated or that it wouldn't give the results that it did.



The set up was extremely easy—just as easy as setting up a new blade—it just with a minor extra step that involves using a popsicle stick (for measuring the distance between the pen and the mat).

I used a Signo Uniball white gel pen and kraft colored paper. I made the pattern about 8" wide and let the machine do the rest of the work. I thought I'd have to babysit the machine (in case the pen got stuck or something like that) but after waiting for a few seconds I realized that it was going smoothly and left it going on its own (to go do some exciting dish washing—no joke). Within a few minutes I had a pair of lovely pages covered in a design that I used for a birthday card, several gift tags and a gift box.



Using an adjustable pen holder like this gives you more use of your files and even though I just used white think of all the colored inks you can use—a lot of fun possibilities. I can see this as a great tool for repetitive projects like Christmas cards or party invitations.



Amy has generously offered a coupon for those of you interested in getting a holder for yourselves or give it to a crafty friend as a fun stocking stuffer! Just use the code below.

Code: littlehut10
Discount: 10%
Date: Through the end of December

Visit Amy's site for more tutorials and inspiration (engraving and embossing too!).

simple monday: a remake

I posted a simple round ornament for Friday's freebie thinking that it would be a good base for you to take it and make it your own. But over the weekend I couldn't leave well enough alone and I added a little extra something to it (would work with some ribbon too!).
You can download the new version here.

Have fun and Happy Monday!

[I made the branch using a the Martha Stewart Crafts Pine Needle Edge Punch. I had to cut out the branch tip because it really is a punch that keeps on going with the same width and pattern]