Poker Face

Tomorrow, I have a bridal shower to go to (it's not for my friend who is getting married on Saturday, it's for someone else.) Anywho, Carson has decided that since I will be gone, he wants to host a poker night...no biggie. Except, even though I know that the guys won't notice and much less care if the house is spic-n-span, I can't help but clean.

Which brought me to thinking, I am working out of the home half as much as I used to, but why does it seem I just can't get it all done?

The dust bunnies are rolling like tumbleweeds, the laundry is in mountain-esque piles, and there are various other chores that are being neglected.

So, away I went scrubbing and endusting...and then I got to the bathrooms...which brings me to my next question. (And, I know you will all relate if you are a woman and you've ever cleaned a bathroom.) Why can't guys seem to get the pee IN THE TOILET? Now, I can't say that if I had to pee standing up, I would have perfect aim. But, I think I do pretty darn good in public restrooms and although I'm not fully standing, I am hovering.

Oh well. I hope I haven't offended any of you with my bathroom humor...

Have a great Friday. I'll see you all next week!

p.s. - Just a side note, I keep a very CLEAN house, even if it's a bit cluttered at times, and should have bought stock in Clorox Wipes.

Double Take

First, I have to say that The Rocky Horror Glee Show totally ROCKED! There were a couple of things in last night's show that I thought were bordering on crossing the line...but I loved the musical numbers. "Touch Me" between Emma and Mr. Schue was a little unbelieveable. Not that I minded seeing Matthew Morrison with his shirt off - I'm just sayin'. It was my favorite episode by far and casting of the Glee kids for the characters of TRHPS was spot on. I wasn't sure how I would like Mercedes as Dr. Frankenfurter, but it was good.

Now to some card talk - When I'm feeling like I have a creative block, sometimes I come up with a design and change the papers, but keep the elements the same. Then, I don't have to come up with new ideas - I can just substitute.

For this birthday greeting, I used patterned paper from Pink Paislee and K & Co embellishments for the place I stamped my sentiment.

I may be away for a couple of days. I am working for my friend at the Pottery Shop and Tea Room so that she can have some bridal relaxation time. The wedding is this Saturday and then we are taking a trip to Costa Rica!

Hope you are all enjoying your week!

Fit For A Queen

Today is my day "off" - at least from ECP. Yesterday, we had 112 lunch guests. It was a little brisk in the morning, but by early afternoon, people we enjoying their hot apple cider from the rocking chairs that line the front porch. Ladies that visited yesterday came from as far as Hinsdale and Lombard. It was great to chat with them.

I will be spending some time in the studio today making a few custom ordered lapel pins and working on programs for the wedding.

Crowns are a trend that has been hot for a while. I'm calling this "A Birthday Greeting Fit For A Queen." I used some patterned paper from K & Co and some coordinating embellies. The stamps are from PaperTrey Ink and the seam binding I bought on Etsy.

Hang in there - the weekend's almost here!

Have a nice day.

Let's Do The Time Warp (again!)

Time is definitely running out. My friend is getting married on October 30th and she is feeling the bridal stress - to say the least. Not only does she have the pressure of upcoming wedding, but she's trying to run a business that is becoming WILDLY popular. Since this article appeared in the Chicago Tribune on September 26th, the Tea Room has become one of the best destinations for lunch around. We have lunch guests from far and wide - some driving more than an hour to come and savor the goodies we have to offer.

It's wonderful and hopefully it will continue the rest of the season and lead to a very successful season next year.

Because the Tea Room has been so busy, I have been there everyday. I help where I am needed and it's a great way to spend the middle six hours of the day. Plus, I get to make a little money and that helps with any "fun" stuff that Carson and I want to do.

But, I've still got time to create (of course!)

This card was made with papers from a Lily Bee Design collection. I used a nestie to cut the scalloped circle and embellished with K & Co lady bugs and some red and white twine from The Twinery.

Now to bring the title of my post back full circle...time is tight on the wedding planning, but I cannot wait until next Tuesday when Glee is all about The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I love when shows do a special halloween-themed episode. It's the best and it's perfectly genius to take on the collection from TRHPS.

Have a great day!

How To - Block Style Sentiment

I've got a quick Thank You card for you today. I used paper from GCD Studios' Ella Blue collection and a K & Co. butterfly embellie.

One trick I like to do to use white space is to create a "block-style" sentiment. The "thank you" stamp is from PaperTrey Ink and I inked it up and then stamped it twice before inking it again. It results in a really interesting variation in the stamped words. I just stamped it one after another (even running off the card) so that it would filll the space that wasn't covered by patterned paper.

See? Super easy.

That's all for today.

Have a great afternoon!

Natalie

Fall Fest - A Success!

Well, I did it. I had a booth at my very first art/craft market. How did it go? Pretty well. I covered my expenses and made a little profit. But, that wasn't the rewarding part. I met a lot of really nice people and got to spend time with my mom. I also heard many nice comments from complete strangers on projects I had slaved over. That was the rewarding part.

We had great weather - mid 80's and sunny. Here are some pics of my booth:

The spooky tree was a big hit. It was a birch branch that I got from my front yard and painted black. How funny.

The crows also got a lot of comments...

And, of course, my $5 typewriter's keys were pressed more than once or twice. The older generations liked it because it reminded them of times gone by; the younger generations liked it because, well, it was fun to press the keys.

This was my hot product - the lapel/bag/hat/scarf pins. People LOVED them. I think I had a really good product for the demographic of shoppers. And, Ms. Brown, my dress form, was the perfect place for display. I sold all but 2!

Framed, Halloween-themed, burlap transfers...

I had a great time.

Happy Wednesday!

Fall Fest This Weekend!

I'm busily prepping for the Fall Fest this weekend. Lots to do for setup, but it's going to be beautiful weather here. I hope we have a good sized crowd.

Here's a quick birthday greeting made with The Girls' Paperie papers and embellies.

Happy Friday!

Spooky and Sparkly Bottles

I recently came across the great blog - Eighteen25. They are having a Halloween Linky party.As you know, I have been working day and night on Halloween projects. So, I am participating with this post.

In my flea market travels and finds, I have collected a number of glass bottles. Some of them have embossed writing on them and some of them are plain. They are all different sizes, which makes decorating with them so much fun.

Aren't these cool? To make a set of your own, it's super easy. This is not my original idea. I've seen this technique all over the web. I am just giving you the steps incase you want to make a set.

-You can use any clear glass bottle (for the orange one, I used a wine bottle) -

-Wash the bottle out; Since they are clear, you want to remove any dirt (flea market bottle) or wine leftovers. And, you'll want to soak the label off (if there is one.)

-Let your bottle dry out throughly.

-Squirt about 1/2 cup of furniture polish into the bottle. I used the Pledge brand. It comes in a clear bottle with a blue squirt cap and is LIQUID. I couldn't find a picture of the bottle online...but I bought my bottle at Wal-Mart.

-Dump the liquid out. You will notice that it is VERY sticky. This is important.

-Now for the fun part. Pour your GLITTER into the bottle! Cover the mouth of the bottle with a paper towl and shake it (like a polaroid picture!) You can always add more. Start out slow and see how well the glitter coats the inside of the glass. The glitter will stick to the polish that has coated the bottle. For the glitter, I used Martha Stewart's Halloween collection that you can find at Michael's. For a large bottle, like the wine size, it takes about 1/2 of the glitter container to completely coat the inside. But, if you can use your 40% off coupon, the cost isn't too bad.

-Print out your spooky labels. I used my scissors to rough up the edges and then inked around them to create a "distressed" look.

- Adhere the labels to your bottle using an epoxy glue. While they were drying, I used some rubber bands around each bottle to insure a good adhesion.

Hope you like them! Now go over to Eighteen25 and see all the other great ideas!

Happy 200th Post!

Considering the length of time I have been posting, 200 isn't really that impressive. But, considering the pace at which life moves these days, I consider a 200th post something to be celebrated.

I've been working like crazy on all my goodies for the Emerson Creek Fall Fest. It's this weekend and I've set my booth space up in my basement, just for trial purposes. I can't wait to see how the first craft fair goes!

We had a really cool visitor today at ECP - His name is Bruce and he is the owner of The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, Illinois. He was a nice, nice man and his pumpkin patch is going to be featured on The Martha Stewart Show next Tuesday! How cool is that? We were trying our best to pick his brain and see how exactly they were able to score that cool spot on Martha's show.

As usual, here are a couple of cards:

A Thank You using some GCD Studios paper and K & Co. embellishment:

And a Birthday Greeting using some October Afternoon paper and featuring some brown zig-zag stitching done on my sewing machine.