I was dreaming when I wrote this...

Makeup Station Makeover

2014-03-31T20:31:00.002-07:00

I love makeup! I love makeup of ALL kinds. I am not a makeup snob, I have equal amounts of high end and drugstore brands. I love trying new products, whether a friend suggested something to me, or Ulta has a mega sale on a certain item or if Ipsy sends me something new in my glam bag.

About 6 months ago, I had to move my makeup to one of my spare bedrooms because my collection was overpowering my tiny bathroom. One of my storage units literally tipped over from the weight of my collection.. When I moved it in there, this is what it looked like.

Although it served it's purpose, look how messy it is. And every time I tried to open the top drawers on the left, the whole cart would start rolling towards me. Plus, I had to stand to apply my makeup and I'm extremely lazy.

For months and months, I had my eye on a desk that was at my mom's house. In my eyes, it was perfect for a makeup station. The only problem was getting it to my house. You see, this desk is quite heavy. Like dead hooker heavy. My nickname is not Muscles and I wasn't sure who would be able to help me drag it into my house and up the stairs of my 2 story home. But the stars aligned and baby Jesus smiled upon me and all that good crap. The desk has arrived!

Behold! All my makeup is in or on this desk. Look how clean, look how organized! I momentarily struggled with how I was going to organize the drawers and I think I came up with a system that works for me.

The top drawer on the right had all of my face products (foundations, face primers, setting powders, highlighters and bronzers). I use these on the daily. I needed easy access to them.

The next drawer down is where I keep my blushes and my face wipes.

The last drawer on the right is actually a deep double drawer and this is where I keep all of my cosmetic bags. I actually have a shit ton of them.

The middle drawer is for all of my eye liners, eye primers, mascaras and brow powder. I got the divider trays from the Principal Financial Group when it went out of business. Office inserts organize makeup wonderfully. On a side note, I've had that lit makeup mirror for about 15 years now.

The drawer on the top left is for my cream based shadows, pigments, some single shadows, NYX jumbo pencils and my neutral shadow palettes. I use the neutral palettes on the regular so they were a top drawer item for me.

The next drawer needs a little help. It's all eye shadows. It includes small palettes and quads. I will be getting some sort of dividers for these to better organize them.

The next drawer is for most of my other palettes. These palettes are more on the travel sized. I only use these on a semi regular basis so they are fine closer to the floor. The last drawer at this point is empty. I'm sure I'll find something to put in there.

The lip products are what I struggled with the most. You see, I consider lips to be top drawer too however with my face and eye being towards the top, the only space I had was the bottom drawer and that wasn't going to work for me. So I opted to keep one of my smaller plastic storage units on top of the desk. It had 3 drawers allowing me to separate by gloss, pencils and sticks.

And I kept another even smaller plastic storage unit which includes tinted moisturizers, extra foundations and other tools such as scissors and tweezers.

I keep my false lashes in there.

And these are great for all those samples of perfume you get.

CRAFTY TIME! I made these brush holders out of Campbell soup cans and scrapbook paper! Just cut the paper to the height of the can, wrap it around the can and then glue it.

I have built in shelves in the spare bedroom. I use this for my perfumes and my big makeup palettes. P.S. I AM a perfume snob.

And lastly, just for shits and giggles, this is the nail polish slash body spray/lotion slash wig part of the spare bedroom.

So, I love my makeup station. I love that I haven't had to invest any money in it. I used stuff that I had or was given to me, including the chair I sit on. And I can take my old storage unit to the craft room. I'm excited to be updating my hair station soon.

I hope you enjoyed my makeup station makeover and I hope my storage solutions were helpful.

Thanks,

Jules

Girly Bubble Gum Birthday Card

2013-08-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hi, everybody! I'm back with another birthday card. I enjoyed making the bubble gum birthday card for my dad's birthday so much that I decided it was time to finally use the Bubble Gum machine Doodle-Pop sticker for my friend Josi, who turned 12 last month.

This was a 4 x 5 3/4 card.

The polka dot paper is by Pebbles "Hip Hip Hooray" Party Time and it is cut to approximately 2 1/2 x 5 3/4.

I have the solid yellow card stock (which I believe was textured) cut to 1 1/2 x 5 3/4.

The polka dot ribbon is5 3/4 inches.

Then I cut textured light blue paper into a square 2 1/4 x 2 3/4.

Next I cut a solid flat lavender paper into a smaller square 2 x 2 1/2.

I adhered it left center of the card, overlapping both papers and the ribbon.

The cute bubble gum machine, as a I mentioned before, is Doodlebug Designs Doodle-Pop in "Gumball".

I believe the Happy Birthday banner is from K&Company.

Happy Birthday, Josi! I hope you had a great day and enjoyed this card.

Love,

Poison Ivy aka Julie

Daddio

2013-07-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

I made 2 cards in the month of June, both for my dad. 1 for Father's Day and the other for his birthday on the 22nd. I'm going to start with the Father's Day card.

Unfortunately, I don't know the brand of any of the supplies for this one although I know I got the letters from Tuesday Morning.

I put some junk food in a mason jar for presentation. Presentation is half of the gift.

My dad with his card.

And on to the birthday card. I also do not have the brand of any of these supplies. I went with a gumball theme even though I'm pretty sure my dad doesn't chew bubble gum. The only other theme that would have gone with the "Blowing birthday wishes your way" stamp wouldn't have been appropriate for this blog.

There he is again!

Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish. How many pieces do you wish?

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. I plan on spending time with my family. I will take a stab at that firework cake that has been floating around Pinterest. I also will be making my highly requested tortilla roll-ups and some brownies.

Stay safe and don't blow off your hand,

Jules

May Cards

2013-06-30T12:32:00.002-07:00

Long time, no blog. I wish I could say I've been living it up and have been too busy but sadly, I've just been too lazy.

My first card was made for my friend, Jennifer's birthday. Here are the supplies:

Paper from The Paper Studio "Tie Dye Lime"
Flowers from Dahlia Layered Burlap Flowers "Little Yellow Bicycle"
1 paper lunch sack
I got the free printable maze from here: The Joy of Stamping.

I bought the paper months before making the card. I immediately thought of Jennifer when I saw this tie-dyed cloth paper. I struggled with what I was going to use to decorate it with but decided "natural" was the theme I was going to go with. Jennifer once showed me her Smash journal and inside I noticed a finger labyrinth. So I was lucky enough to stumble upon the website with a free printable maze. It also had the cute phrase "you're a-maze-ing". I printed it on the lunch sack to keep with the natural theme.

Jennifer and her nature card

Next up, Mother's Day!

1 fuchsia colored sold paper.
1 turquoise colored solid paper
The Paper Studio "Poteeka Butterflies"
Turquoise & White Silk Flowers by The Paper Studio "Spare Parts"
Monogram 3-D Sticker Embellishment Letters (in M & O) from The Paper Studio "La Petites"

My mom and her Mother's Day card

And a birthday card for my friend, Wendy!

1 piece of black solid paper
Bright Pink & Black Silk Flowers by the Paper Studio "Spare Parts"
Glittery leopard print paper from the Recollections "All Girl" paper pad
Solid pink paper for birthday sentiment
Stickles
"Happy Birthday" stamp

I outlined the glittery paper in Stickles

Wendy and Rhoda with the card.

I made Wendy some Scotcheroos and monster cookies!

And here's a graduation card for my friend, Stacy's daughter Justice

The blue paper is by Bazzill "Mediterranean"
The red paper is by Bazzill "Ruby Slipper"
Graduation gown and stars by Jolee's Boutique "Kindergarten Grad" (even though my grad was a high schooler!)
The "Congrats" sticker was by Soft Spoken

And last but not least, an artist themed birthday card for Miss Miranda!

Paper is "Recollections "Multi Paint Splatter"
Smock and paint stickers from Jolee's Boutique "Artist"
Jolee's Boutique Stickers "Bright Colored Pencils"
Solid paper in orange
Solid paper in white
"Happy Birthday" stamp

7 year old Miranda holding up her card!

I hope you enjoyed all of my cards! See ya soon!

Love,

Miss Jules

The soundtrack to most of this card making:

A Mermaid Card

2013-04-21T11:54:00.002-07:00

Good afternoon! I'm busy working away in my craft room today. I can't tell you the last time my craft room has been cleaned top to bottom. I can't even tell you the last time my craft table top has been spotless. I've added so many fun craft paper and tools to my stash in the past year, I haven't had a chance to put it all away. I actually plan on doing a craft room show and tell in the near future here in this blog so look out for that.

Let's get down to business! I have another birthday card today. This one is for my dearest friend Stacy. She turned 35 years old last week and we celebrated over the weekend. She wanted to be treated to dinner and a movie for her birthday so we ended up seeing Evil Dead. What did I think of the movie? I was entertained but it was more gruesome than scary. That's pretty much how I feel about a lot of horror films of this generation. I'm glad I saw it and will continue to see today's horror films hoping one of them will terrify me. I hear they're remaking Poltergeist. I'm kind of excited about that because the first one scared me. Then again I was about the same age as Carol Anne when I saw it, had the same console television as her and was convinced I would get sucked into the damn thing.

Here's the fabulous birthday card I made for Miss Stacy! I'm still learning how to color hair. Unfortunately, I didn't have all the Copic markers to make the dark blonde that I wanted to. Michael's had a limited selection and didn't have any in the E50's. So I will be ordering some online soon along with a the colors for redheads and brunetttes.

The stamp came from Simply Betty Stamps. It's a digital stamp from their Merkids line and it's on sale right now for $2, along with the rest of the Merkids. I got the Christmas and Halloween stamps too.

The sandy colored paper was from Core'dinations. I couldn't find the actual name of it. What I can tell you is I bought it from Joann's, it's kind of a sand color and it's glitzy.

I bought the DCWV Linen Closet matstack cardstock pack that come in size 4.5 x 6.5 inches. The pack comes with 72 pieces, some matte with texture, some shiny and some glittery. For this card, I chose a matte blue with texture to place over the top of the sandy cardstock. Then I chose a lighter blue glittery piece from the same pack and cut it into an oval shape with my Creative Memories oval cutter.

Next I placed my Copic colored mermaid in the oval. I adhered her with 3D stamps.

I made the Happy Birthday tag with all three of the same paper, layered. I used the boxy crazy scissors for the outside of the tag in hopes it would resemble a sand castle. Nailed it!

I found the My Mind's Eye "The Sweetest Thing" enamel dots at Michaels. I placed them around the mermaid's head to look like bubbles.

I used some seashells for the bottom. You can get these at most craft stores. I just used regular Scotch glue.

And to add some elegance, I adhered the Recollections Adhesive Faux pearls.

Warning: Do not attempt to send this card in the mail!

The sentiment comes from Fiskars "Make a Wish" quotes.

Stacy, the mermaid come to life!

Thanks for stopping by! I loved making this card and I love the person I made it for!

Whozits and whatzits galore,

Jules

Creating a Shadow Box Garden

2013-04-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Happy lazy Sunday to everybody! I hope you're all enjoying your day. It's a beautiful day here in Iowa. The sun is showing its face here and there and the furnace hasn't kicked on too much today. And for me, it's the best Sunday ever...a Sunday with no plans!

Last August two of my favorite squirrelfriends, Jennifer and her daughter Miranda, went to the Brucemore's Arts and Garden show. Brucemore is a a mansion in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Every year they host an event where artists and garden vendors set up to sell their products. We met a vendor called In the Country Garden and Gifts where I found a beautiful flapjack plant.

I fell in love with it, and the cost for the arrangement wasn't too terrible, so I purchased it. We noticed they had a sign up page for classes on succulents in the Spring of 2013 so we signed up.

I was so excited when I finally got the email with all the Spring classes. I thought the shadow box gardens looked like the most fun.

Jennifer, Miranda and I visited the country yesterday for the shadow box class. And even though our allergies were kicking our asses, we had so much fun. I highly recommend taking a succulent class of some sort.

We got to choose from different size boxes (I chose the biggest, of course) and we also got to choose as many plants as we wanted to put in the shadow box.

They had different sized drift wood, rocks and plant pots. We were instructed to arrange our wood and plant pots first. Here we are starting out!

After you've arranged the wood and pots, then you add your plants. In my shadow box, I used some pots to hold the plants. I also placed a piece of drift wood across the box, creating a bed to put my plant in.

Once your plants are placed, you can then add accessories such as pea gravel, mushrooms, moss, etc. The shop had cute little ladybugs, flowers and butterflies for us to choose.

Helping Miranda hot glue a butterfly accessory.

Miranda & I helping each other with the pea gravel. Or P Rock as we called it.

Miranda and her finished products. She ended up making another small garden.

Jennifer's finished product.

My finished product, minus a butterfly that I added on last minute.

It was great to see everyone's shadow boxes. I think all of us in the class were being inspired by one another. Once you start, it's hard to stop. You just want to keep adding more.

My shadow box will be hanging on my dining room wall, arranged with some family photos. And it will look fabulous!

See ya in the garden,

Jules

Birthday Cake

2013-04-11T19:37:00.001-07:00

Happy Thursday, all! We're almost there! I don't know about you but I'm ready for this long, trying week to be over. Bring on the weekend!

My next card was one I sent to my friend Judy for her birthday.

The green "Happy Birthday" paper is from DCWV in "Birthday Green". It was originally a 12 x 12 in. sheet of paper that I cut down to 5 x 7 in. And I used scraps for the rest of it. The cake stamp is Fiskars clear stamps in "Birthday Party". I used Copics to color however I didn't do much shading. I did add some Stickles to the frosting on the cake for funsies. And I used little lavender brads to adhere my "Happy Birthday" stamp which was also from the Fiskars "Birthday Party" set.

Someone left the cake out in the rain

I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again

Thanks for stopping by,

Miss Jules

You're So Glam, You Sweat Glitter!

2013-04-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

Hola! Man, it's chilly out there. I can't wait to crawl into my warm bed.

I have quite the shiny jewel for you all! I made a glittery card for my friend Sara's birthday on April Fool's Day.

I got the green glitter paper from a Recollections 12 x 12 paper pad called "All Girl". I also used the pink version to go under the "Happy Birthday" sign.

All the little butterflies came on a roll from Recollections "Glitter on a Roll". The big butterfly was borrowed from my mom and it also came from Recollections "Glitter Stickers".

Very bright and Springy!

Happy Birthday, Sara! I hope you had a wonderful day! I saw this picture the other day and thought of you, only because I know how much you love camping and you know how much I don't.

Love,

Jules

He's a Lego Maniac

2013-04-09T19:41:00.001-07:00

Hello! I hope all is going well with you. All is well for me in Iowa. The weather is changing and it's getting me excited to have the first pedicure of the season. And open toed shoes. And cute dresses. And hikes/walks with friends.

My nephew Zach celebrated his 11th birthday last week. Since he's into Legos, I knew I had to make him a Lego card.

I got the cute red Lego paper from Joann's. It's 12 x 12 Lego Classic Collection by Creative Imaginations cut to 5 x 7 inches. And it's textured! I've had the Lego stickers since the beginning of time so I'm not sure where they came from.

If you're a child of the 80's or raised a child in the 80's you may remember this Lego commercial.

Zach, the real Lego maniac

This was one of my favorite kid cards that I've made. And you can step on this Lego card and not hurt your foot!

Have a good one,

Jules

Let's Hear It For the Boys

2013-04-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

My brother Bubba and my nephew Blake celebrated birthdays last month. I ended up making them both a card from the same 12 x 12 inch sheet of paper.

The paper is Moxie's "Surprise Party".

In the first card, I basically cut the paper down to 5 x 7 inches. The paper had small dots and big circles with pictures or expressions so I cut out some of bigger circles and arranged them on the 5 x 7 inch card. I stamped the "have a great day" on some lime green card stock, cut it to 5 inches wide and used a paper ripper to make the jagged edges.

For the second card, I cut some orange card stock to 5 x 7 inches. I used my Martha Stewart circle cutter to make the 4 inch circle in blue. I cut out the smaller circles on the paper and adhered it to the card base.

My nephew Blake

My brother Bubba

Happy birthday, boys! I hope you had a super day!

~Jules

Embossed Birthday Card

2013-04-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday, all. I took a break from blogging but am returning with full force! March, April and May are busy card months for me. And with the winter over, I'm itching to get out and about with other activities that I can possibly share.

The first birthday card in this Spring series was made for my sister in law, Jill. Jill turned 41 but according to her, she's 42. Quite possibly the only woman to make herself a year older. :)

What I used:

black card stock
piece of paper from the My Mind's Eye "The Station" paper pad
clear stamps from Tim Holtz visual artistry Stampers Anonymous Collection
Happy Birthday die cut from the K&Company 76 piece Beyond Post Marks Flora Die Cuts
heating tool
embossing ink
embossing powder in ruby red
scalloped corner cutter
round corner cutter

The black card stock is cut down to 5 x 7 inch. I adhered it to a 5 x 7 inch card and cut the right corners with a round corner cutter.

I really liked the old look of the printed paper. And I loved the bird cage. I cut that paper down smaller than the black card stock and used the scalloped corner cutter on all 4 of its corners. I centered it in the black card stock and adhered.

I found the cool Tim Holtz clear stamps at Michaels. I chose the flowers and bird stamps. I thought the flowers looked antique, almost like a pressed flower saved in a bible or a class year book. I dipped it in the embossing ink and stamped it on the printed paper. I wanted it to overlap the printed paper and black card stock. Then I sprinkled the red embossing powder over the top of the stamped ink. Next I shook the powder off, making sure the stamped ink was perfectly covered with the powder. Then I used the heating tool over the powdered ink until it became shiny. Since I was using a powder that had glitter in it, I had to be careful because it burns easily. In fact, I did end up burning it so part of the flowers looked sparkly and part looked kind of like burnt sienna. It actually ended up working well for the flowers, adding to that dried pressed flower look. I did the same thing with the clear bird stamp.

And lastly, I adhered the red "Happy Birthday" die cut at the bottom of the card, slightly over the flower stem.

Happy Birthday, Jill!

That was my card. I hope you liked it. I can't wait to do some more embossing in the future.

Coming up:

several birthday cards
shadow box garden workshop
outdoor stepping stones

You've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real,

Miss Jules <3

Another Hello Kitty Birthday Card

2013-02-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Hola!

I'm just dropping in quickly to share the Hello Kitty birthday card I made for my 4 year old niece, Gracie. I made one for her 16 year old sister last November (Click here to see it!) and Gracie tried to steal it from her. So she got her own card at her very own Hello Kitty birthday party.

I've had the Hello Kitty clear sticker set for awhile now. I placed the clear sticker on white cardstock, then cut around it and finally placed some 3D pads under it. I found a 12z12 Hello Kitty paper at Michaels and cut the parts of the paper with her face into squares. And the dots are Stickles.

The bows were a part of the clear Hello Kitty sticker set.

Gracie

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Kitty kisses,

Jules

Scraps Card

2013-02-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

I save almost all of my leftover scrapbook paper. Sometimes you find a piece that's just so awesome that you have to use up every inch of it. And sometimes going through the old scrap bucket can give you inspiration. This is what I came up with after going through my scrap bucket.

I added my beloved butterfly Doodle-pop.

I gave this card to my friend Bev. Here she is on her birthday, February 1st!.

Keepin' it short and sweet just like me,

Jules

Sassy Skull and XBones Card

2013-01-27T09:50:00.001-08:00

My oldest brother celebrated his 42nd birthday last week. I made him this simple card at my last "Craft Day" gathering.

The striped skull & cross bones paper is Creative Imaginations Signature Collection "Caution Boy" The polka dotted paper is from Rusty Pickle Panama Jack.

The sentiment was from Inkadinkado "Humorous Birthday".

Short and sweet,

Jules

Christmas Cards Aplenty!

2012-12-27T17:19:00.003-08:00

I hope you all had a happy holiday. Mine was good although it seemed to go by fast. I intended to post some of my Christmas cards in the days leading up to Christmas but better late than never!

Embossing

Doodlepop elf! Also, this one is a pop up of sorts with the xmas present trim that I folded up. The card does open up with a xmas message on the inside.

Doodlepop reindeer!

I, unfortunately, did not send cards to everyone on my list. I ran out of time and energy. It happens. I hope I have more time next year to get things under control.

I hope Santa brought you everything on your list. I, for one, am one happy camper with my xmas gifts. I think my favorite is the cupcake shaped Scentsy pot.

"Who you callin' a ho?"

~Jules

Birthday Present Birthday Card

2012-12-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

I got to enjoy a rare day off this week. And that day happened to be my mom's birthday! We decided to spend the day finishing up the last of our Christmas shopping. It's days like these that I wish I had an unlimited amount of money and I could just shop all the live long day. I got so many good deals.

And I made Mom a birthday card, of course.

The glittery paper is from Recollections. The color reminded me of the Tiffany box. So pretty! Then I found some gift ribbon and made up a tag. Simple!

My mom, with the birthday card

Thanks for stopping! I hope you're getting all of your holiday stuff done. I just got back from the store where I bought a bunch of stuff to make Christmas treats.

Much love,

Pumpkin Cupcake

Mario & Luigi Birthday Card

2012-12-20T17:16:00.000-08:00

Hi, guys! I hope your day is going well. We are in the middle of a "blizzard" here in Iowa. I wish I could say that I got to stay home and craft all day but sadly, I had to be to work by 7am. :( But I did get to leave at 2:30 which allowed me to finish up the last of my Christmas cards. Yes, I'm really late on sending them. I just mailed the first round today so hopefully people will get them on time. I will be posting some of them on here soon.

Okay, so on to the card I made. My nephew Jackson turned 11 years old on the 16th. I was fortunate enough to find some Super Mario Bros. images online. Jackson and his brother are playing Mario Kart just about every time I go to their house.

The picture of Mario & Luigi is actually supposed to be a coloring book page but I resized it.

The first thing Jack asked me when I arrived to his birthday dinner at Red Robin was "Did you make me a homemade card?"

Happy Birthday, Jackson! I hope you liked your card!

The soundtrack to making this card.

Red Robin...yuuuuummmmm!

~Jules

A Skate Card

2012-12-16T14:15:00.001-08:00

My friend Aniyah turned 8 years old the other day. I've been going skating with Aniyah every month for the past year and a half. We have so much fun! We have formed a skate crew with a couple of other friends. We each have roller derby names. Aniyah's derby name is "The Aniyahlator". We call our skate crew "Team Aniyahlation".

Another friend of mine brought this skating digi stamp to my attention earlier this year and I'd been waiting to use it on Aniyah's card for so long. The stamp came from Some Odd Girl. She is "Roller Mae".

This card did not turn out quite like I wanted it to. I was attempting to make the color above Mae look like the lights in the skating rink, shining down on her face. I'm a little bummed about that but I think it still turned out okay. And I think Aniyah liked it.

The star paper is from Moxie "Showstopper".

The skating rink we go to gives you a ticket stub when you pay to get in. I was able to find this ticket stub here wickdyscreations.blogspot. I personalized it with her derby name.

I found this roller skate at Clear Dollar Stamps. The quote, which I love, is from Fiskars"Make A Wish" Quotes.

Here's the Aniyahlator with her card!

The Aniyahlator in action.

The Aniyahlator playing Limbo. She is getting better every time she goes skating.

The moment she lost Limbo. Her face cracks me up!

I will probably incorporate this "Roller Mae" into one of my scrapbooks. She was so adorable!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sorry for party rockin',

Family Jules

Someone New In My Craft Room

2012-11-27T18:12:00.001-08:00

I had the pleasure of hanging out with my 10 year old nephew, Jackson during my long Thanksgiving weekend. It was a long time coming. As these kids get older, they get busy! Between boys scouts, sports and jobs, it's hard to pin down dates.

I made my nephew watch one of my favorite movies of all time, "Little Shop of Horrors". I knew he would love it because I made his cousin Blake and his big sister Chandler watch it when they were younger and they both loved it. I'm the aunt that makes her nephews and nieces watch movies from the 80's, you know, back when movies were good. :)

I even took Jackson Black Friday shopping at midnight with my friend Jennifer. I filled him with powdered doughnuts and Mt Dew (Lisa, don't read this!). He was really psyched about going...and then 10:30 rolled around and he passed out on my chaise lounge! Thankfully, I was able to wake him up and we were on our way.

Jennifer and Jackson, waiting outside of Ulta, ready to get their makeup shopping on! Doesn't Jack look so excited!

There was quite the crowd at Ulta. I don't think Jackson was quite ready for the frenzy because one moment he was right beside us and the next moment...gone! Luckily, we knew something like that might happen so Jennifer told him to look for her since she's tall and wearing a white coat. I found him wandering in the skin care section a few minutes later. I asked him where he ended up. He said he was over on the other side in the drugstore brand. Oh, Jackson, you'll learn. Aunt Julie likes the high end section on Black Friday!

Here's my haul!

Too Faced "The Triple Threat" $18

Deluxe Primed & Poreless Skin Smoothing Face Primer
Glamour Gloss Volumizing Lip Gloss
Deluxe Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer

I've used the bronzer before. It's been in a couple of Too Faced sets I've bought before. I like it although I have to watch it since I'm so pale. It smells delicious! I've never used their face primer before. I highly recommend this primer. It's so smooth! And I've been enjoying the lip gloss. Not too sticky, smells good, and makes my lips look nice and full.

tarte "Balanced & Beautiful Amazonian Clay Essentials Kit" $22

Full size Amazonian clay 12 hour blush in flush
Full size Amazonian clay waterproof cream eyeshadow in slate
Full size bamboo cream eyeshadow brush

Tarte is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands. Their blushes are amazing! I like their natural formulas (it's called high-performance naturals) and that they use recycled and recyclable materials for the packaging. The blush that came in this set is normally $25 alone. The cream shadow retails for $19. The cream shadow will work great alone or as a base. I've tried it both ways and it's good quality. The blush is really bright so I try not to be so heavy handed with it. I'm part albino though.

Laura Geller "Baked Eye Dreams Duo with Brushes" $20

shadow quad in "Pink Sunset"
shadow quad in "Sandbar"
2 eyeshadow brushes

Laura Geller is new to me. I've heard some of my favorite gurus rave about it. This is why I love the holiday sales. You get the opportunity to try great high end products at an affordable price. I've only tried this dry but you can apply these baked shadows wet. I love the nice subtle shimmer Sandbar gives. Pink Sunset reminds me of Neopolitan ice cream. It also looked very nice when I applied it. I'm a fan of baked shadows. If you get a chance, try out some Laura Geller shadows. According to the website, these retail at $30 each. It does look like the packaging is a bit different than what I got but the shadow is the same and the same size.

Bedhead shampoo and conditioner

I haven't tried this yet but it was on sale for $6.99 each so I'll givet it a try soon. These retail for $15.99 each.

The rest of the stuff was not on sale but I did get to use my $3.50 Ulta coupon! Woo hoo!

I was so happy with my Tarte purchase, I ended up ordering the Sephora exclusive "Carried Away" set. I can't wait to try it out. I should be getting it soon. I hope to be able to play around with it over the weekend. Might even blog about it.

Jackson and I made birthday cards for my step mom, Mary.

This is his card!

Jack picked out the polka dot paper himself. You can't tell from the picture but the polka dots are risen so there's a nice texture. I showed him how to cut the paper with my Fiskars paper trimmer. He loved doing that!

The embossed green dots cardstock is from DCWV and it's called "Nana's Kids Print".

The hamster "Got Cake?" clear stamp is from Inkadinkado "Humorous Birthday".

The inside birthday cake and "happy birthday" stamp is from Fiskars "Birthday Party".

I think Jack liked crafting although he did start to get a little crazy with the Stickles. I think he liked the cutting and the taping part the most. He lacked focus, just like any other 10 year old boy!

Here's mine!

The "Birthday Girl" paper is from Reminisce in the Princess collection. I cut it to 5x7.

The purple embellishments is Doodlebug Designs "Paper Frills". These come 12 inches long so I cut it so I had one 5 inch and one 7 inch. Perfect!

The flowers are 3 petals from Recollections Floral Embellishments.

I found a pretty brad to stick in the middle of the petals.

The lady on the pony is a clear stamp from Inkadinkado "Humorous Birthday". Mary likes Maxine and this felt kind of Maxinish.

Happy Birthday, Mary! I hope you liked your cards!

I'm just a mean, green mother from outer space and I'm bad,

Jules

Hello Kitty Birthday Card

2012-11-11T13:20:00.001-08:00

Happy Sunday, everybody! I'm enjoying my gloomy, peaceful day here in Iowa.

My niece Chandler will turn 16 years old on November 14th. We celebrated her birthday over the weekend. This is the card I made her.

I knew that I wanted to use the pink animal print paper and the zebra print stickers but I wasn't quite sure what was going to be my focal point. Then Hello Kitty's Facebook page happened to post this cute Hello Kitty zebra print picture yesterday. I copied it and printed it on cardstock.

The pink zebra print paper is from Recollections "All Girl" paper pad. The zebra print stickers (including the black and rhinestone stickers) came from Momenta. The Hello Kitty picture was already colored in. All I did was add Stickles to her bow. Wavy scissors and the scalloped corner cutter from Creative Memories was used for the black and hot pink cardstock.

She told me she was going to keep it forever.

Chandler and I met Hello Kitty at a mall in Chicago back in '10. Jealous?

~Jules

Pleasant Nightmares!

2012-11-03T08:16:00.001-07:00

I miss my blog. I haven't had a lot of time to be crafty because I'm working so much overtime at my job and any free time I do have I'm too exhausted. But now that the holidays are upon us, I AM going to make time for this blog, no matter what.

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday! I love dressing up; it's the one time of year where you're allowed to be someone else.

My friends and I throw a Halloween bash every year. It's called the Worst Witch party. It all stemmed from my friend Jennifer and my love for the classic 80's movie The Worst Witch starring a young Fairuza Balk, Tim Curry and Mrs Garrett from the Facts of Life. What started as an innocent introduction of the movie to her then 3 year old has snow balled into this awesome get together that we now know as "Worst Witch".

I made up some invites for this shindig.

I got the adorable witch hats from The Cutting Cafe. And I used Copic markers and Stickles.

What you will need:

Black cardstock base, folded at 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches
3 different colors of cardstock cut to 6 x 3 1/2 inches. I used purple, orange and lime green.
Same 3 colors of cardstock cut to 5 1/2 x 3 inches.
Same 3 colors of cardstock cut to 3 1/4 x 3/4 inches. This will be the "tag" your sentiment goes on. I printed the words "Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the worst witch of them all?" for my sentiment. It is a line from the title song of the Worst Witch movie.
Halloween themed ribbon cut to 5 1/2 inches.
Distressing ink, any color you like.
markers
Halloween stamps

Here are all the supplies cut.

And here are my sentiment tags. I only used 2 colors and I wish I would have made up some purple tags too.

You just layer all of the cardstock, glue the ribbon on the bottom of your top cardstock, glue your witch hats to the top cardstock and put your party information on the inside of the card. I had printed up my party info and used the cut little digi stamps from the above link. I forgot to take a picture of the inside, unfortunately. They were really cute though.

I made one of my friends an Iowa Hawkeye version of the card.

I also made some cute eating utensil holders. It's as easy as it looks. You just wrap Halloween themed scrapbook paper around your napkin and plastic utensils. This can be done for any holiday or event.

Here are some of the decorations I put up this year.

I got this cute bat copper sculpture from AJ's Copper Garden. The only bat I like.

My cute dining room.

The spider house!

I made the witch legs out off pool noodles, slapped some tights on them and put some funky platform shoes on. I got the idea from Pinterest, of course.

I made caramel apples. I dipped them in nuts, Reese's Pieces and chopped up Butterfingers. I mother said hers was delicious!

And then I wrapped them.

I made up some swag buckets complete with a box of Boogers!

There were lots of yummy dishes at the party but one of my favorites was this Snake Calzone from Kraft.

Costumes are optional at Worst Witch. I always opt for costume!

I went as a pink haired living dead girl. I jokingly said I was Jem, 30 years later. One day I will dress up as Jem but only when I'm able to do it right.

My niece Chandler. Also, please note the cute little witch shoe candle holder.

Aniyah (the mummy) and Stacy (the witch) or as I like to say, Goldie Hawn at the end of Death Becomes Her.

My mom

Miranda came as Sally

The evening consisted of yummy, ghoulish foods, games, dancing and a viewing of the Worst Witch. I think everyone had a good time. I can't wait to plan for next year!

And lastly, I made this wonderful Halloween cake to take to work on Halloween.

Look how beautiful the inside of it is!

I took this to work and all but one little slice was gone. The cake was so moist and sweet. I'm definitely making it again. I'll probably make a Christmas version.

Here's where I got the recipe---> Cooking With Sugar

I can't believe it's all over!

Thanks for reading! I'll be blogging again soon. Christmas is coming which means Christmas card making time!

Anything can happen on Halloween,
Jules

Hi-ya, Corn Poppy

2012-09-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's getting to be that time of year again. The temps are dropping, the fireplaces are coming on and my skin is begging for a regular moisturizing regimen. The leaves changing, the pumpkin patches, Halloween decorating and celebrating, a sweater collection that would make Bill Cosby hard...I love the Fall!

I'm going to try some new Halloween recipes and hope to do a blog series similar to my "12 Days Of Christmas" posts. And another one of my goals is to compile some of my favorite soup recipes and put them in a scrap/cookbook. Those are just a few things to look forward to in the next couple of months.

But before we can get to the Fall, we must finish Summer. And have I got a summery card for you all.

This card went to my friend, Courtney. It was a little late...oops! It was a busy month for me. But she is very understanding. Courtney is another friend that I've had since 3rd grade and for anyone keeping count, that's 26 years! It seems impossible that much time has passed.

Okay, before you bust my chops, the sun is horrible! I cut that out myself and it shows. I may have to invest in a sun stamp.

The cloud paper was a 12x12 double sided paper from Best Creation Inc in "California". They have a bigger set of clouds with a bluer sky on the other side. The sunglasses are a sticker from Echo Park Paper Co. in "Element Stickers". The rainbow is another Doodlebug Design's Doodle-pop in "Rainbow". The star was something a friend had left behind on our last craft day. I used a no name ribbon with little suns on it.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but the Happy Birthday sentiment is fringed. It's really easy. You just stamp any print words on paper and cut slits in between each letter. Then you feather the letters out.

And I did use Stickles in "Frosted Lace' all over the clouds.

I hope my card brought some sunshine to your day!

Sometimes the rainbow, baby, is better than the pot of gold,

Jules

Another Boy Card...How About Monsters?

2012-09-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

My youngest nephew, Max, has turned 8 years old! These damn kids are growing up too fast!

I've said it before, I'll say it again. I struggle with boy cards so I follow one rule. Keep it simple. Straight lines and primary colors work for me. 8 years old is an age that I can still get away with cutesy but boyish designs.

I got the monster digi stamp from Doodle Dragon Studios. I can't remember where I got the word bubble (which is really a thought bubble but I didn't realize it until I printed it) from but you can find a lot of them online. I just simply wrote in the "Happy Birthday!"

And I used Copic markers to color in the monster, of course.

I got the Happy Birthday stamp from Michaels.

And here's the birthday boy!

Happy birthday, Maxwell Joe!

~Jules

With A Cherry On Top

2012-08-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

I have been having quite the love affair with the Doodlebug Design Inc's Doodle-pops lately. I just can't get enough of them. They're so freakin' adorable! And perhaps one of the cutest Doodle-pop is the one I'm about to show you.

Miss Tracy celebrated her birthday recently and I had the pleasure of making her a birthday card. The card I made was inspired by a card I saw at the Doodlebug Design's booth at last year's ScrapFest.

I call this type of card "clutch style" because it reminds me of a clutch purse. I used my Martha Stewart scoring board to make this three fold card, making sure the top fold overlaps the bottom fold.

The black paper covered in cherries is Creative Imaginations, Caution Girls Collections "Red Cherries". I've had this paper for awhile and wasn't quite sure what I would do with it. I chose it for the top fold.

I then cut down the red paper for the bottom fold. I don't know the brand. The only description I found on the paper was "Holiday Circle Red", not that it matters anyway.

I decided to use accent paper to match the cherry stems. I picked a bright green textured card stock to place in the middle of the cherry paper. I liked the stripes on the ribbon and chose to line the green strip with it. I used my EK Success Dahlia Dimensional Flower Punch for the edge of the top fold. By the way, this punch also makes excellent flowers. And then, of course, my cute little cherry doodle-pop in the center.

I used a Studio G "Happy Birthday To You" stamp for the inside. Another Michael's special. ;p

This is the inspiration for my card. Adorable!

And here's the birthday girl, looking all cute!

Happy Birthday, Tracy! I hope your birthday was superfantabulous!

Hi Ho! Cherry-O,

Jules

A Cupcake Two-fer!

2012-08-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody. Ain't got no money because I didn't get paid...

Good evening, everybody! I hope you're having a superfantabulous Saturday night. I've been really busy lately so I haven't had a chance to blog even though I've been making cards. Between working overtime, watching this season of Big Brother including episodes of the Dick at Nite recaps and my weekends being filled with fun activities, I haven't had a chance to get these cards up. So, I am offering a birthday card two-fer!

My grandma (on my dad's side) and my aunt Linda (also on my dad's side) celebrated birthdays in the month of August.

Card #1 is for my Grandma that turned 86 years old.

I like to refer to this as my ScrapFest card because most of it came from ScrapFest. The paper on top was a gift given at one of the booths. It is a sandable ColorCore cardstock from core'dinations. It had a texture and I rubbed sand paper on it to create that faded look.

The cupcake is from Doodlebug Designs doodle-pop collection. It is called "Baby cake". The "Happy Birthday" sentiment was also from a ScrapFest booth that I got YEARS ago. It was one of those rub on stickers that I decided to save. The polka dot paper is one of those no name papers from the Target dollar bin. I think the striped ribbon is as well.

Card #2 was for my aunt Linda who turned...

I liked the cupcake theme so much I chose to do it again. The cupcake cardstock is from Bella Blvd (Baby Girl/"Baby Cakes"). It is double sided with a safari them on the other side. I used my Creative Memories tearing tool for the lavender cardstock in the middle. I had the cute cupcake sticker. I think it might be from Target. And the letters to spell out "Happy Birthday" were left at my house by a friend. All so simple but cute!

And now I want to eat a cupcake really bad. If only we had cupcake ATMs like they do on the west coast. Sigh...

I hope you enjoyed my cards. I should have 2 or 3 more to post next week. I'm hoping my weekends slow down so I can actually get back to scrapBOOKING. It's been a long time and all of my back events are piling up.

Forever a back scrapper,

Jules