Barb's Flower Coaster Challenge

I've been dying to get started on Barb's Challenge and today was finally the day! These felt flower coasters she found are so cute, and they just scream, LILLY ANNA! So fun!

I was also tickled to try out by Big Bite! It does all the great things we love about the Crop-A-Dile, but it reaches 6 inches into your projects and sits on the table. It cuts metal, wood, leather, fabric, etc. and sets the popular sizes of all your eyelets, snaps, gromlets and more! The Big Bite does the punching and setting in the same area, so it takes a little getting used to its use. You slide the indicator on top to one of three positions for setting, small holes and large holes. Then you line up your project under the appropriate tool. I made a small mark on my flower and watched that dot while I punched holes in the coasters. Then I set snaps into the ribbon and flower to make a little "hanger" for my little wall hangings.

These are my girls, Katelyn and Liliana. Most days they are this sweet to eachother and I made them each a wall hanging to remind them of fun times together. Kate is done with school, so we have lots of time to play together! If you'd like to see some of the other things we're up to, check us out here.

TAC Supplies: Lilly Anna Paper, Lilly Anna Ribbon & Hardware, Designer Dries Clear Glue, This Girl stamp set, punches and/or die cuts.







Lots of people have commented on my Bella Flor desk cubes and have been making their own versions too, like Chelsea. She did hers in Mia's Cottage. So cute! People have also asked me questions about the project by posting a comment below my entry. You can follow the conversation by going to the original post, viewing the comments, or even subscribe to the comments that are posted for a given topic. I love to compare notes, so if you like a project, try it out and post a link or a question today!

Bella Flor Desk Cube

I had fun making my teacher gifts this year.

I used yellow ribbon to lace up coasters into a cube shape and used hot glue to adhere the bottom coaster. Isn't that fun? We had done a similar pencil cup at the Mile High Angel Gathering, but it was my friend Barb who gave me the idea to take these a step further to become a handy and so pretty desk caddy. I also made some thank you and notecards for the teachers that were personalized with their names. I just love giving cards because you know they have a ton of thank you's to write at this time of year.

The four different sides of the cube all have different functions. I printed off two years of calendar pages. Two sides of the cube have a layer of acetate/transparency over the top of the paper. One is for writing notes with a write on/wipe off marker and the other is to slide a photo under. The last side has sticky notes (which I personally cannot live without.) I can't wait to see what the teachers think of this goody. Now I'm wishing I had made one for myself!

Kamalaht Wine Label Coaster Book

I love carrying around my latest mini books and sharing them with friends. I made three copies of this one so that I could literally share this book and I picture it sitting on my friends' coffee tables as a reminder of the fun times we shared bottling our own wine together. See more of my coaster book here.

I got the idea to use mismatched coasters (you can pick them up at restaurants or order them plain) from my friend Lori, who made me this beautiful book. She has awesome ideas for coasters!

My coaster book uses The Angel Company's Kamalaht paper collection as well as the February vintage stamp of the month and the Wine Labels set that has been retired for a while, but is still in my collection of TAC classic stamps. I used hardware from the Amelia collection and ribbon from a couple of different collections. (Check out TAC's ribbon compatibility chart!)

Another recent project I did was posted on TAC's new Savvy Projects Blog. It's a basket, embellished with Sands of Time paper and filled with little chocolate rocks treats. Go check it out, as well as a ton of other inspiring ideas for spring.

I'm loving my studio, ever since I started my makeover project. It's still in the works, so I'll wait to post full photos, but I just thought I would show you one of my favorite parts: DRAWERS! They are so handy. I can find things fast (and hopefully put them away even faster) and there is a secret spot just above the drawers and under my work surface to store large, flat items like a cutter, Scor Pal and extra work pads. Goodness knows, we need as much surface space as we can find!


PS-Have you checked out Heather's blog? She's giving CANDY!