Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone takes time this year to enjoy their time with family and friend's! 

- Katie

Paint Chips

 

A regular trip to Wal-Mart for me always consist of taking some paint chips. I'm always scared to do this and while I do I always try and pretend like I am looking for colors for actually painting. I take my time and look like I am comparing colors  for a room and thinking about what looks good together and what doesn't. Is it considered stealing if I'm not using them for their real purpose...I'm not sure but I sure feel like I am!

Lately

Etsy

Well, I've been putting this off for awhile but I think I will finally just take a chance and start. I'm going to start selling some cards on Etsy.com. I have not posted anything yet because I am still trying to figure out how it works, how much to price things and how to send it. If anyone has any tips or advice on how to use Etsy.com for me it would be much appreciated and welcomed!

 Here is a sample of what I am going to sell at first. I made these blank cards and will sell them as a stationary. I made the cards in a small square shape with the cute multicolored birds on them. I also handmade the envelope's. They are not perfect yet, But with practice they will get better.  So keep an eye out if you are interested. I will post my etsy on here when it is ready!

Weddings, weddings and more weddings

 

I literally threw this card together in 4 minutes with leftover scraps( that's why I do not throw anything away). We were almost late for a wedding and then I remembered we had no card. I had made the dress earlier with a tutorial on youtube and it was the most difficult thing I have ever done. It took me around an hour to make that stupid thing. Oh and after I rushed to make the card I forget the card and gift at home...of course I did. 

 

Another example of how I don't throw anything away. That little gift bag was a party favor at my friend Samantha's Wedding ( from a few years ago. I just spruced it up a little with some ribbon and added tissue paper. Note the cut on the right side that i hate. I had messed up on that side and decided to just give it a little cute wave. haha I regret that. 

Crazy is the way to be

Life has been pretty nuts lately. We had a family wedding and had TONS Of people around, it was great! I got to see friends and family. I was most excited to see my niece Amalya and even though she is only 8, one of my best friends Nina. It was a great/crazy week. Full of laughter and fun, that is ALWAYS how it is when we all get together. 

Appreciation

Cards are my way to show people how much they mean to me. I absolutely LOVE getting to sit down and spend time making someone something unique to them. That's how I show people how much I appreciate them. For me, I honestly believe it is the thought that counts. I also just love the idea of a card, getting to write something special for someone and trying to encourage or just make them feel good about themselves.

Ephisians 4:29

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Now, my words are not ALWAYS encouraging but that's why I love to write cards. Because then I can sit down  and think about what these people really do mean to me and what I love about them.

This was a fun card to make. Once again the finished product is ABSOLUTELY not what I was imagining but it came out better than I was thinking in the begginging. For the pinwheel, ummm, stick? Haha, I just used a twist tie and wrapped some twine around it. I like how that turned out alot.

Flowers.

I've taken a short month break from cards. I created  about 7 different cards in 2 days and was a little tired. BUT NOW I'M BACK!

I did not come up with the template for this card on my own. I saw a card like this in a magazine and just used a paper flower instead of a fabric one like they did and changed the colors of everything.  I'm pretty happy with it minus the handwriting and sewing, I need more practice!

Fun Flower

I like it, I like it, I like it! Earlier this week I found a little picture tutorial for this flower and I like it, A LOT! It was a little tricky to figure out how to do because the directions were in some sort of foreign language but I think I kind of got it.  Although today I figure out a better way to do the fold in the middle so it looks nicer. I was folding them over and you need to just fold under! The reason I added the glitter in the center was to hide the ugly uneven lines. Now I wont need that! 

I'm excited to try and make some of these and hang them on my wall. I got the idea from this blogger, My Bohemian Summer. She is amazing, all her stuff is great. She is actually the person who inspired me to make paper flowers for my wedding and now for everything else. 

- Katie

Cassie

This is a card I made for my sister, Cassie. She is so crazy. Most of the time 

she just stares at you with her eyes of judgement but when she lets loose she 

is a pretty funny individual. I don't even know how to explain her personality, 

she is just a serious person AND like me, she is a "topper". We are brats

and always need to be the best. I am working on that trait though!!

Here are two examples from the road trip we took to Wisconsin Dells of 

her "topping" trait.

1.)Me: "LOOK, I FOUND THE BIGGEST CHIP EVER!"

Cassie: *looks at the chip with her Cassie look* and says,"I've seen bigger."

2.)Timmy: Good job Katie, you did a harmony!"

Cassie:"I bet she didn't even do it on purpose."

If you know cassie, these little stories will crack you up! 

My sister told me this after she received the card. I thought it was pretty funny so I wanted to share it! 

"This homemade card came in the mail from Katie Nelson today. 

Funny thing is I picked a bunch of lettuce and spinach from our garden today 

(it's growing like crazy!) and I was thinking how great it is to have my salad

spinner. Inside the card she wrote, "I can't believe it was already two years

ago that I gave you that salad spinner! And you said, "blah, blah, it's too big! HA!" hahaha Two years later I thank you for it!"

Any who, this card is a great example of how most of my projects are created. I always sit down with one idea and I just create around it. For this project I knew I wanted to have these mini flowers and I just worked around that. 

This is what the card was SUPPOSED to look like. I was just going to 
take one  piece of paper and put these five flowers down in the corner.
 But I decided that is TOO easy. 

Then I decided to make a flower out of my flowers. but I did not like

 the black border so I took some scraps from the flowers I cut out 

and made the finished border. 

The End.

 I like this card BUT it is not my favorite. I don't really like the

 color combination but oh well, I will keep practicing!

"I can make that"

...then one night I decided to make paper and here is what happened...

To make paper you need a deckle, that is what makes the shape of the paper. And you also need some screen to strain the water from the paper paste both of which I didn't have....so I improvised.

For our wedding we registered for a three pack of strainers (that I think Danita bought for us! -not positive.) and it is just unnecessary to have three I have learned. So anyways, I choose to somehow get the wire from one of the strainers we don't use and use it for my deckle! It took me about 20 minutes to rip it from the metal border thang. I had to use a hammer to force it apart and a hair dryer to try and "melt" the glue-which i don't think even worked, it only make the metal so hot that it burned my hand when I touched it.

Then I used two pie tins for the actual deckle. BUT I could not find anything to actually cut the shape out of my pie tin so I had to use scissors. And with the scissors I I could only make a weird circle and an oddly shaped square.

Also you need to force the two tins together on both sides of the wire when you are running it through the water, so that none of the paper mash gets between the two tins. Most people use close pins, which I did not have. So i had to use bobby pins and hold it together with my hands. That did not work too well. So that is why I made dumb shapes.

After you strain all of the water out and the pan, you put the paper in-between two picecs of felt and use a rolling pin or you own strength to get the rest of the water out. Then bam, you have some paper and you now just have to wait till it is allll dry. It was pretty fun and super easy to do.

I tried to use beads to make little flowers. It was not easy,
 the paper kept ripping and well I am just not good at sewing!
 But i think for my first time it turned out pretty nice. 

Voooiilà!

Here is my Peter Pan for little Bekah who nagged me for a card even though I have made her one! Haha Just Kidding! I love you. 

This card was actually a happy accident! I was attempting to draw and cut out
a Peter Pan little guy. So I decided to do that and then about 20 minutes after I had
finished the little Peter my cousin Bekah was texting me teasing me because I didn't
make her anything for her birthday. So wham bam, this card was born. I thought Peter Pan
would be a great theme for turning 21.....and I had already cut out Petta.

 The only think I wish was different about this card is that I wanted to incorporated
some green into the card. I just didn't feel like it looked good enough with green. 

Peter Pan

Well, well, well what do we have here!

Here is a little sneaky peaky at a birthday card I made for my Awesome, Cute, Funny, Fun, Courageous, spunky, outgoing, CRAZY, long blonde haired cousin, BEKAH. She just turned 21 (a month or so ago, ooopps did I mention it is belated.) so I thought I would make it Peter Pan theme since 21 is when you "become a real adult" and who really wants to grown up? Ha. I'm Kidding, I do. I'm enjoying getting older. Even though I am no where near "old"!

oooppppss....

After posting my other cards I realized I had not finished my thank-you cards from Timmy and my wedding!

I made this card for the wedding photographer.
 I wanted to make something unique.
So I made this little camera out of my card stock paper
and folded it so i would pop out a little! I liiike it! 

Maybe I will do this?  I don't know where to start. I would love to start selling my own cards. That would be my dream, to get paid for what I really love to do. So I have decided to put my stuff out there and see if I can make something of this.

I've always loved to make things. I think I got it from my mom who always said, " oh we can make that." When growing up I would see something I would want. I'm very, very thankful for that. I love to put my personal touch on things and spending my time making things for the people I love. 

These cards I made this Mothers Day. The first three I was inspired from some cards on Pinterest. 

This card was actually my brain child! I  used paint swatches from Wal-mart and a heart punch my friend Julianna gave me to make the flowers. I love this card!  

 When I make cards I try to put the specific person's taste into the card. To make the cards more personal.
This card was make for my Uncle Alan who is a music teacher and when you think of him you think of music!  

A thank-you card I made for our wedding, ....i've been married for about 7 months and I still have some thank-you cards to write. oooppps, sorry if you are one of those people who didn't get one! You will soon! HA

I made about 4 different handmade thank-you cards and decided it would take tooooo long to make 90 of them. So only a lucky few people got a hand made card! 

This card a made for my sister Bethany. It was her LATE wedding card. I used the flowers we received from her wedding to make it. It makes the card very personal. 

My cards also almost NEVER in the end look the way i was picturing them in the beginning. This card I made for my friend Jelly. I actually started sewing the number 21 into the card and decided I stunk at doing that. So somehow i Ended up doing this. 

I love buttons!