Rockstar

Hi Everyone.  Happy Tuesday.

I saw a fabulous sketch across at Freshly Made Sketches, but missed the deadline for submission.  Mind you, this card wasn't just for the challenge, the sketch was used because I needed to make masculine cards for the splitcoaststampers March Cards for a Cause – Coles Foundation.  You can find out more about this on my post here.

Here's the sketch

When I saw this sketch, I knew that I wanted to use one of my old stamp sets – Rock On Mini from Papertrey Ink.  It's a $5 set and I've gotten so much use out of it over the last year or so to make multiple cards for our card drives and for splitcoast's Cards for a Cause – so a well worthwhile investment!

Here's my card:

I really wanted to play on the "star" word but didn't have quite the right sentiment, so I opened up my trusty word processing software, typed it up in a cool font and then printed it onto Smoky Slate card stock.  I then ran a piece of Smoky Slate through my Big Shot with my Stampin' Up stars embossing folder.  That wasn't quite enough stars, so I used the stars die from the Stampin' Up! Mini Treat Bag.  I love the fact that the treat bag comes with additional dies and couldn't wait to use it and back the negative areas with Silver Glimmer paper.

I stamped the guitar in black StazOn and die cut it with a die made to match the stamp set.  However, it wasn't quite enough, so I took some Crystal Accents and covered the guitar with that and left it to dry.  I really love the shine that it gives to the guitar.  I mounted all of the elements onto the card base and then went to work on the inside of the card.

Here's the inside:

I used the stars from the die and adhered them to the inside of the card with Crystal Effects and then covered them with a little Wink of Stella pen to add a little more glimmer.  I used the "Happy Birthday" stamp from the Papertrey Ink set and added some glimmer to that, too.

Of course, I had to complete the envelope, too

I was so pleased with the end result and hope that it will bring a smile to the recipient's face!

On a personal note:

Lou has been away for the past two weeks and I have taken advantage of a little spare time to do some things around the house.

We moved into our new home almost 3 years ago.  I can't believe it is almost 3 years!!!  The time cannot have gone THAT quickly.  However, I know it has. 🙂

We have a spice drawer next to the stove and ever since we moved in it has drived me crazy.  Every time I open the drawer the bottles fall over.  Considering I can open it up several times a night, I cannot believe that I have left it so long to do something about it.  This week, I did!

Here's the drawer in its original state:

The bottles are all different sizes.   I have no idea what is in the bottles, so I have to pick them up to check what is on the side of the bottles … every. single. time. i. want. a. spice!!!!!  

Then, everytime I open the drawer, this happens

The bottles fall over, so I have to straighten them, close the drawer, open it up, bottles fall over and repeat!!!  

Note to self: don't let something bug you for 3 years before you do something about it!

Anyway, I decided ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH… I went looking for spice jars on Amazon and found these beauties

I swear, my heart skipped a beat.  They are a beautiful shape AND I the necks are big enough for me to take a pinch out of them and, in the case of things like cardamom seeds, I can empty them out.  These spice jars don't have the little plastic shaker top, but I never use those anyway, I much prefer to measure out the spices and herbs that I use.  You can check out these spice jars at this link – or you can click on the photo.

I love several things about them:  I can put a designer label on top; they are so stable and don't fall over every time I open my spice drawer; they look cool; the neck!

So, I'm guessing you would like to see the after photo right 🙂

Look how neat and tidy that looks.  However, they were missing something.  LABELS.  I measured the lids as soon as they arrived and realized that I could use the Avery 2" labels. 

Using the free software and templates, I created the specific labels that I needed, printed them out and tried them on the lid.  The 2" worked great, but I decided I wanted just a little area of glass around the the edge of the labels, so I used by 1 3/4" punch and punched them out.

Here are the jars with the labels:

Aren't they fabulous?   I love them and am such a happy little camper.   Everytime I open the spice drawer, I can find everything and nothing falls over!   Color me happy.. oh… and color me embarrassed that I didn't do anything about it for almost 3 years 🙂

I'll be back on Thursday with another project for you and I will have the full list of books that were recommended from many of your fellow followers of my blog during my recent blog candy offering!

In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee