New index card and DIY washi style tape!

I love this ICAD2 project I'm participating in! Here's #9:

A little collage action!

I also discovered some fantastic links for making your own washi tape and decided to make some of my own using paper bits I had lying around. Check it out:

I didn't have double-sided tape with a backing on it so I stuck these strips
on a sheet of sticker paper that was empty which I had lying around. It works
like a charm! ☺

ICAD2 Update: Days 5-8

Just wanted to share with you my last 4 index cards that I've done lately:

Day #5: Blue Hue

Day #6: Yellow

Day #7: Pen Test

Day #8: Celebrating YOU

What do you all think? What ideas do you have for me to do more?

Cheers!

Fantastic Fridays: A little bit of fun in the mail!

Ahhh, Friday!

I hope you've all had a Fantastic Friday! I know I've been having one. Not only did I stop at Barnes and Noble to pick up the latest issue of Molly Makes they had there but I also received some great things in the mail! My brand spanking new personalized Starbucks gold card and some really pretty lovelies from Inspire Lovely. 

I love the label that Debee used on the envelope she sent my little purchase in! Her blog is a HUGE source of inspiration to me so I was super excited to receive the goodies contained in this little package! I really squealed with delight when I opened it! 

Look how cute her business card is and how beautifully wrapped the package was! I kept all of the packaging for later re-use! Love the sequined touch along with the baker's twine. Very cute and thoughtful.

All the lovely goodies! Two packs of 4 postcards of original images by Debee and a little paper crafting kit hand-picked lovelies by Debee as well! She sure has a knack for picking such gorgeous little things! Check out my post at This Is My Letter to You for a more detailed look at the postcards I bought! I can't wait to share them with my pen pals!


Cheers!

Tuesday Tutorials: Tag Regeneration, turning price tags into gift tags

I love to reuse things that most people would just toss out with the day's garbage and while it may seem odd it gives me great satisfaction to be able to make something out of nothing. A little creativity really does go a long way and there are endless things one can do with what one has lying around. 

Inspired by the latest challenge I've been participating in, the ICAD2, I kept my paints, stamps and deco tapes out in hopes of getting inspired to make these little gift tags from clothing price tags that I've been saving. I used many random materials and so can you!

I started out with a variety of tags in various shapes and sizes (my favorites
are the aerie ones from American Eagle). Altering tags to create gift tags was
how I envisioned reusing these and I am so glad I did! 

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 I used craft acrylic paint in two different whites to prep my tags for stamping
and to cover up prices, logos, etc. I applied as many coats as it took and  let
dry between each application.

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Adding color and embellishment to tags is fairly easy. I used scrap booking
paint for one and watercolor for the other tag pictured in these four detailed
views. I used a .01 micron pen to write the "to" and "from" on each tag and
used some stamps and ink pads I have to decorate the tags along with some
deco tape as well. 

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Lastly, get creative! Let your imagination take flight and make things that
you enjoy looking at. The recipient of your gifts will no doubt appreciate
the fact that you made the gift tag yourself and lovingly added the perfect
touches. Above are just 4 of my tags. More to follow soon! Let's see yours!

Such a fun project can also be adapted to make with children. Use finger paints to give tags an interesting effect or have children paste strips of tissue paper on either side of the tags, using collage techniques, etc. Letting your creativity flow is the key!

Cheers!

Monday Musings: ICAD2 Update and a photographic moment.

ICAD2 has been evolving quite nicely! Seeing everyone's posts on the flickr group page is both fun and inspiring and I am having a blast letting my creative juices flow! Here are my cards so far:

Day #1

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Day #2

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Day #3

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Day #4

Today's (#4) was fun because I used one of the prompts from Daisy Yellow's prompts list. It is encouraging to have people comment on your work on flickr and show each other mutual support for the endeavor we've undertaken. I hope that many of you will consider joining, you can jump in at any time and that you will use these cards as am inspiration for future art projects whether it be art journaling, card-making or just doodling for fun. 

Before I go I'd like to share with you a snapshot of a little feathered friend, a dove, who is nesting right outside our door:

Miss Bella, the nesting dove.

Isn't she a beauty? Just thought I'd share her with you since she makes me smile every day! Happy crafting and creating!

Cheers!

ICAD2 and what I've been doing lately...

Summer is pretty much in full swing here in Florida hot weather, rain and all. In just three days June will be upon us and with it comes one of my favorite blog's super awesome events, Daisy Yellow's Index Card A Day Challenge or ICAD2 for June and July. I am excited that this time I am going to participate and can't wait to go get some index cards tomorrow for the 61 day project. I'll be documenting my progress on this blog as well as on Flickr and my Facebook page. So, be on the look out!

As for what I have actually been up to...well, that can be summed up in one word: WORK. It has consumed most of my time but I have had the great opportunity of acquiring some new supplies because of work. Let me share what I've acquired and been doing.

New supplies for paper crafting plus a few freebies from Molly Makes...

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Row 1: New ink pads and deco tape; clothing tags to use in a future project;
freebies from Mollie Makes magazine--key ring kit, crochet flower kit & ribbon.
Row 2: Paper flower pack and varied Spring themed clear acrylic stamps; card
kits; first photograph taken with new Nikon D3100.
Row 3: Fist shots with new camera- Sunset over Whitney Beach, seashells,
and close-up of matryoshka dolls.

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Part of my latest art project, doodle flowers...

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The piece I am working on currently...

So, there you have it! Tune in to see how the ICAD2 project is coming and I hope you will join in too!

Cheers!

Nadia Marie ♥

Recent lovelies...♥

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What have you been creating?

Pinteresting, isn't it?

Those of you who know me well know how much I love Pinterest. I've already made a few things inspired by what I've found there (mostly recipes) and so I want to share with you today what I happened to make on Tuesday following the example from a post I found on Pinterest early on in my perusal of this application. If you click here, you can see the original pin on Pinterest which inspired me to make my own lovely version of this craft, which is a decorated clipboard by the way.

Here is my own clipboard while I was working on it:

Gluing on my tea bag faces.

And here are the photos of the finished clipboard:

See why I love Pinterest so much?

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Pretty, right?

Hope you get inspired to do something similar! I'd love to see what you all come up with! 

Keep smiling!

Flowers and Stamping!

I went to Michael's today and got some really cute things all for $3 and under! I love shopping the sale bins there for little supplies and today I got a really nice stamping kit with little Christmas stamps from Recollections for just $2.99! A real bargain. I also got some paper flower packets for $1 each and a couple of ink pads. Check them out:

Holiday Stamp set from Recollections;
includes 16 stamps, 2 ink pads in red &
green and 2 small glitter pens in same colors.

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Paper flowers in orange, red, purple and sky blue
from Studio G. 

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2 lovely sets of note cards (8 in each packet)
and 2 ink pads in brick red and olive green.

On a side note... I doodled a little on some scrap pieces of paper I had lying around. I haven't decided how to use them yet but I shall soon. Here's a small preview:

Flowers, butterflies and glass beads and baubles...

Enjoy!

Monday Musings: First Freebie EVER!!!

OK, so leading up to and even right after Christmas I'd been re-organizing all my paper crafting goods and realized that I have a lack of scrap-booking/card making papers in Spanish. In fact, I have none. Everything I have bought and seen is always in English and then it occurred to me that I can make my own. This is a first try, mind you, and not at ALL professional but if you are wanting some word embellishments to print out and use I am more than happy to share my little creation. It is a friendship sheet of words, meant to be printed out as an 8 x 8 (could be as small as 4 x 4 but I think the bigger size is better). So, without further ado, here it is:

If you want to print the page, just right click the image and print or save it to your
computer for later use. Enjoy and please remember to link back to this blog if you
decide to share this on your blog. It is FREE for PERSONAL USE ONLY.
Please respect my copyright and do not sell my work. Thanks and ENJOY! 

I hope you enjoy this little tid-bit! If you can't download the original size then click here. I hope that if you do use this you will post a link in the comments so we can all go and see what you've done with it! 

Cheers!

What I'd like for Christmas...

1. Bone folder from Paper Source, 2. Awl from Paper Source, 3. Christmas Tape
from Paper Source, 4. Envelope Templates from Paper Source, 5. Paper Flowers
from Michaels, 6. Martha Stewart Butterfly Paper Punch from Michaels, and
7. Pia Jane Bijkerk's My Heart Wanders. 

What would you like for Christmas? Sending you warm and fond Christmas greetings from me to you!

Cheers!

Little details...

Just wanted to share with you the finishing touches on my paper clip package for my pen pal. Details really do mean something when creating a gift and the presentation of these clips was something I mulled over until finally coming up with the following:

What do you all think? I hope she will like it! I can't wait to keep making more lovely little things for friends and family!

Happy Tuesday!

Monday Musings: It's been too long...

My computer died on me about a week ago and I have yet to figure out what is wrong with it. In the meantime, my wonderful parents have been so kind as to let me use their computer to check e-mail and the like. I've had a few little side-projects going on. Besides working in retail at present and learning Russian I have been trying to find ways to get creative with my gift-giving. As many of you know, I am involved in pen palling, and always look for creative little gifts to give my pals (you can check my blog about pen palling out as well if you like by clicking here).

Anyhow, back to my topic, I have a wonderful pen pal here in the US who is really into all things paper (as am I) and I'm compiling a few little trinkets for her and decided to include some paper clips for keeping little papers or scraps together. This is what I came up with:

Aren't they fantastic? I have beyond way too many paper clips which I rarely use and the gems were part of a belt I'd saved to use in some crafty idea some day so...what a better way to add bling to your paper accessories than with some flashy paper clips? I've seen them made with buttons which I also love but I thought it appropriate for this friend to fashion them with pretty girly-colored gems. Here is one more shot of them before I go!

Pretty, right? I thought so!


Cheers!

For the Do It Yourself Crowd (I'm part of you too!)...

I am in love with doing things myself. It's why I love Pinterest, why I love blogs, why I love in short looking at an object that someone else deems as trash and knowing that I can do something with it. It's what has helped me turn formula cans and vegetable cans into beautiful pen/pencil holders, what has inspired me to make bookmarks out of discarded card stock, and many other crafts. Anything do it yourself is always fine by me.

So when I discovered Mollie Makes magazine which is full of great crafts, diy's, and more I was hooked! Plus, each issue comes with a little craft kit for your enjoyment. I've only been able to get issues 1 and 5 here in the States (the magazine is from the UK) but am trying to track down 2-4 and then hoping that next week issue 6 will be in the stand at Barnes and Noble which is where I have gotten the other two issues. I am so super eager for issue 6 to be here in the US (it has already come out in the UK).

My two kits I've acquire and have yet to put together and of course, Issue 5.

I happened upon Mollie Makes on Facebook while browsing other pages. Somehow I ended up there and fell in love and while on a trip to Barnes and Noble looking for crafting magazines there it was! The first issue and I was hooked! I love it and want more of it! I think what I liked most about it is that it resembled greatly my other favorite crafting magazine Adorn (of which I was only ever able to purchase one copy) which had tons and I mean TONS of great do-it-yourself projects and showcased some awesome crafting books. Mollie Makes does all this and so much more!

Issue #1 of Mollie Makes and Adorn Magazine Issue Spring 2007.

 I miss Adorn but know that there are some copies still available online, hopefully soon I can get a few to make a complete collection. Someday...anyway I just wanted to share Mollie Makes with you all because I love it so much! Any other crafty mags you all read? I'd love to know if you can recommend any!


Cheers!

Weekend Special: Dreaming...

Sometimes I peruse Etsy and other sites and find stuff I REALLY would like to have. So, here is a picture list of things I'd love to have...

New York City Urban Pillow Style no 3 Pillow by NestaHome

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I am obsessed with all things vintage and this awesome 1970's brown rotary
phone from calloohcallay is no exception! I love it! 

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Vintage Camera Argus C3 with Flash Case by calloohcallay... as if I would
pass over this!

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I adore these vintage Pyrex bowls!

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I've always loved the little blue Corning Wear flowers... I want this pie plate.

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I've been toying with the idea  of collecting vintage books for my kids to read ,
that is for when I have children. 

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These would be good to have too!

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I kind of want this one for myself...I love Thackeray!

Can you tell I love vintage? Here come the crafting goodies!!! 

I just adore lace...

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Vintage Burgundy Red Braid Trim, 3 Plus Yards...to die for!

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Vintage Wide Red and Blue Embroidered Woven Trim...I love vintage trim!

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Unbelievably gorgeous Golden Flower Vintage Button Bracelet (I would
remove the buttons to use in other crafts---they're awesome!)....

I am in love with each of these items! Let's see how long they last in Etsy to see if I can get any! Have a fantastic start to your week everyone! 

Cheers!