Crafting

I’m O-Fish-Ally Hooked on You Daddy!

/ Jodi / 33 Comments

I am O-Fish-Ally Hooked on You Daddy!

If you are looking for a cute and easy, creative Father’s Day Card to make from a child or grandchild to his daddy or grandpap, how about this cute little hand print fishy?  (Especially if Daddy or Pap enjoys fishing!)

My little granddaughter and I made this for her Daddy for his first Father’s Day.  On the inside, we wrote:  “You are the best daddy in the whole sea!”

A great little gift idea to go with the “theme” that we did was a gift bag full of fish:  Swedish Red Fish and Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers, which come in at least a dozen different flavors ranging from Vanilla Cupcake, S’mores, and Fudge Brownie to Pizza, Chedder, Pretzel, and Honey Mustard and Pretzel Blends.

Hope all the Daddys and Grandpaps out there are o-fish-ally recognized and surrounded with love on their special upcoming day.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Idea inspired by:  gluetomycraftsblog

A DIY Rainbow Clock

/ Jodi / 35 Comments

A DIY Rainbow Clock.

My BFF Jill is an “all the colors of the rainbow” kinda gal.

She loves color – bright, bold colors.

So when I came across this idea on Pinterest for a colorful clock made out of a wooden plant stand, I knew this was the gift for her birthday this year.

I found this approximately 12″ diameter circular plant stand on line at Ikea for under $10!  It came with wheels that could be attached so that you can use outdoors and move your plants around I suppose, but I just tucked the wheels away to save for some other use some day.

I simply divided the circle into 10 pie shapes from the center with a pencil and ruler and painted them with bright beautiful colors of indoor/outdoor grade acrylic paint I found at Walmart (Waverly Super-Premium Plaid).

I hit the whole thing with a spray of Krylon UV Resistant Clear Spray after the several layers of paint dried.

Then hubby came to the rescue to cut out a piece in the back and drill a hole in the center to add the battery-operated clock works.

And Voila!  A fun rainbow bright colorful indoor-outdoor clock!  It’s TIME to celebrate YOU Jill!  Where has the TIME gone?  I love our TIME together!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

 

 

 

A Sweet Baby Baptism Card

/ Jodi / 38 Comments
Baby Girl Baptism Card

Baby Girl Baptism Card

A Sweet Baby Baptism Card.

It has been a while since I’ve played with card stock and embossing folders and the Cuttlebug, but I wanted to make a sweet and dainty and special card for a very special baby who is being baptized today.

As she is surrounded by family and friends who love her dearly today, my hope is that she grows up feeling completely loved and blessed by these people and others who are in her life and as she grows.  I hope the love she feels today is something that stays with her through good and bad times, ups and downs, ins and outs, and all arounds.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

An Upcycled Bookstore Bookshelf

/ Jodi / 40 Comments

An Upcycled Bookstore Bookshelf.

Upcycle… DIY… Recycle… Repurpose – whatever you call it – I am thrilled with the job Hubby did (with a teensy bit of help from me in the painting department) taking this used bookstore bookshelf and converting it into a beautiful matting and gift wrapping station for my art studio.

This old bookshelf is one of the few items I received of my brothers after his passing recently.  It was from his bookstore, and his life’s passion was books.

This is what it looked like when we got it.

Hubby sanded it down and patched it up.  He added wheels to the bottom so it could easily be turned around since it was a double bookshelf on both sides, and he made a beautiful top for it.  I painted it with red chalk paint to fit into my art studio.

I put my mat cutter on top and boxes of matting board on one of the shelves.  It makes a great spot to cut and frame art work or photos.

I filled a bin with ribbons and bows and buckets with gift tags, tape, and scissors.


When turned around, I loaded the shelves with a variety of gift bags – plain, all occasion, birthday, wine, and holiday.  An old canning pot sits beside the bookshelf filled with rolls of kraft and wrapping paper as well as old maps (which make great wrapping paper too.)

I’ve long been wanting a special place to store supplies and have for wrapping gifts, and I am thrilled with how this turned out.  It is a great addition to my Creation Station/Art Studio not only for its purpose but for the memories and special meaning this piece has.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there today!  Enjoy your day – doing the things you love – with the ones you love – at life in between.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Thankful – Grateful – Blessed

/ Jodi / 26 Comments

thankful-grateful-blessed-thanksgiving-card-stampinup

Thankful thoughts,
Grateful glow,
Blessed beyond belief.

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

*Thanks Stacey Ailes of Studio Designers for hosting the StampinUp card-making class where I made this Thanksgiving card.  It was so fun to create this and a few other fun projects a couple of weeks ago with friends and my daughter-in-law.  And hopefully this card made it to its intended recipients today in time to show my thankfulness, gratitude, and blessings.

Funsy Onesies

/ Jodi / 40 Comments
grandma-onsie

Book My Reservation – I’m Going to Grandma’s Onsie

Does any baby ever have enough onesies?

And why not make them funsies?!

For a fun little shower gift, I made these two little funsy onesies
for our soon-to-arrive baby girl.

Can you tell we are very excited to be grandparents?!

pap-pap-onsie

Pap Pap’s Perfect Princess Onsie

Just a little fabric paint, time and creativity, with a heaping scoop of love.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

What’s NEW at McKinneyX2Designs?

/ Jodi / 40 Comments

I’m excited to share some of the new things Colleen and I have been creating for our new Etsy shop!  We are having so much fun with this, and we are pleased to have had over 25 sales already in our first month!Mx2 logTo show our appreciation to our friends here at LifeinBetween, we want to offer a little gift to you.  If you refer someone to our shop who makes a purchase, we would like to thank them AND YOU with a free card of their and your choice. Each of you can choose one of any of the cards offered in our ETSY shop for FREE!  (Simply have your friend let us know when they order that they came here from LifeinBetween and mention your name.)

Have fun perusing the photo gallery of our newest Spring things.

You can visit our shop here:  McKinneyx2Designs on ETSY and follow us on Facebook and Instagram too if you like.

Happy Spring Thinking!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

A Carnival Baby Shower for Jackie & Matt

/ Jodi / 48 Comments

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Oh what fun we had planning, preparing, and celebrating the soon-to-arrive Baby Ben with our McHendy daughter and son-in-law, Jackie & Matt.

I was designated the “official” photographer, so get ready for lots of photos.  I was so busy worrying about capturing it and so busy just enjoying it, that it is just now hitting me, after I shared the photos with Jackie (and she posted on her Facebook page), how close I am to being an “almost” grandma!

When Jackie shared the photos, she wrote:

Matt and I have always hoped we could welcome our baby boy into a community of people who will love, encourage, and support him. On Saturday, we were shown a million times over that we without a doubt have that for our baby boy, Ben. Thank you to everyone who braved the snowstorm and made it out to the shower. We are so blessed for all of you (and for all the people who couldn’t make it)! A special thanks to my mom,Jill Henderson, my mother-in-law, Carol Kallis, my future sister-in-law, Becca Cura, and my second mom, Jodi McKinney for throwing us one creative, awesome shower!!

So for the past half hour ( I am drafting this Sunday evening), I’ve been bawling happy tears and cherishing these very special moments.

I hope you enjoy viewing these photos as much as we had in creating and being a part of them.

(If you click on the first – or any one of the pics – you can scroll through the photos in full size.)

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Mixed Media Hug

/ Jodi / 34 Comments

PP277

Time to join The Paper Players and play along in the color challenge Claire put out this week for all our crafting, painting, stamping friends.

I couldn’t resist participating with the fun colors this super sweet lady chose: Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, and Real Red!  Oooo Laaa Laa!

I wanted to do something different and had bought some fun new stuff while shopping this past weekend with Hubby at Tuesday Morning before our movie date to see “The Revenant.”   (Did YOU see it yet?!)   I bought the corrugated papercraft cardstock paper and the Tim Holtz Alpha Parts Punch Out letters.  Combined that with some fun flowers sweet Eileen at My Creative Resolution gifted me with that just happened to exactly match “Melon Mambo,” embellished with one of my fave new dies – the pine branches from Gina Marie Designs, die cut some paper with my favorite stitched rectangle dies, added a pearl, and Voila – my Mixed Media Hug card!

It’s a bit of a quirky card, and I’m still trying to decide if I like it, but I’m guessing there will come an occasion or a person who it will end up being just right for at just the right time one of these days, so I’ll be holding onto this “hug” until then.

I sure miss being on the design team with the amazing creative Paper Players team, but it’s great to still play along!

Oh – and check out the amazing new guest designers!  WOWZA!  They have so much creativity to share!

Happy Friday!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Thank You!

/ Jodi / 60 Comments

 

watercolor thank you christmas 2015 1

Happy New Year friends, and thank you for being here with me this past year at lifeinbetween.me!

I had fun with one of my Christmas gifts from hubby – my new art easel – one day this week on my holiday break and spent a little time watercolor painting.

easel art

I thought it was a good time to design a holiday thank you note,

watercolor thank you christmas 2015 2

so I goofed around with a few loose pine tree designs that I can copy and create cards from.

watercolor thank you christmas 2015 3

Wishing you a happy new year filled with many moments to cherish!  Take the time to notice them,

to appreciate them,

to truly cherish them –

for it is these moments

that create a lifetime.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi