Chalkboard Art

OOOh, how cute is this!  

I found this idea and tutorial here.

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!

I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

A gift or shipping box tree

Here's the tutorial

Happy holidays!!

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!

I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

Colouring STAMPS with Copic Markers

This is one of my quick and dirty cardmaking techniques.  Enjoy the tutorial.

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!

I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

Decking the halls

This was wayyy too cute not to share :)

Thanks imgfave!

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!

I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

Wacky Wrap

Oh, perfect for the holidays, and cuuuute! Thanks BHG!

Gift Wrap Ideas

How cool are these gift wrap ideas 

from apartment therapy!!

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!

I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

DIY Gift Bags

This is an awesome tutorial on how to make gift bags, so perfect for the holiday season :). 

Thanks to Hello Sandwich for this handy dandy tutorial :)

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!

I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

Tissue Paper Flowers

How cute is this!  

These are way cuter than store bought bows for gifts :)

Thanks for this Tutorial Alissa :)

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!

I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

Paper Ornaments - classic honeycomb

Click here for my BLOG CANDY post!!

This beautiful ornament tutorial from SCS is demonstrated using a die cut but with a hand made template and a little extra cutting time, you could have a totally colour coordinated tree!!

Click the pic or here for the Split Coast Stampers tutorial.

Stunning Stars

My 3 year old helped make these gorgeous stars at Sunday School!  They are stunning!

Here's a tutorial.

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer

Shabby Vanity

to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!


I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post


2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar


3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by

Mo Manning

(or any image of your choice from her store).


Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on

Valentines Day

morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)


Good Luck :)

~ NikkiNix

Pretty paper freebies!!

Click here for my BLOG CANDY!!
http://prettylittlepaperthings.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-candy.html
Yippie!!

This collection of wonderful freebies can be found at Paper Crave. Link to this awesome post by clicking on the picture below.

Using left over gift wrap to make cards & tags - simply ingenious GinaK! Click on the pic for her tutorial :)

Ornaments

Just use a white gel pen!  

Beautiful - thanks Better Homes & Gardens mag :)

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!

I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

Something for the kiddos... And you!

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love.  I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you TWO of you!!


I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post


2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky on your blog post or sidebar


3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering TWO MORE BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by

Mo Manning

(or any image of your choice from her store).


Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on

Valentines Day

morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good luck!!

In the meantime... Those kiddos are all sugared up and enjoying Christmas Day!!

... And you need them to *DO* something, right ;)

Have no fear, those aged 8 and up will have fun making these paper stars by Linn in Norway :)

BLOG CANDY!!

That's right - FREEBIES!!!

OOOhhh I am sooo excited to share my new blog makeover with you that I had to share the love with BLOG CANDY!!  I love freebies too so I've partnered with my blog designer Shabby Vanity to offer you a free blinky!!  But not just one of you... TWO of you!!  I'm so excited, and it's as easy as 1,2,3... here's your end of the deal...

On the same date:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Post about my blog makeover on your blog and use my cute blinky (look on the right sidebar) on your own blog post or blog sidebar
3. Become a friend of this new blog!

But wait!  You can repeat #1 and #2 once per day and then your chances of the random generator choosing you will increase - woot woot!!  And it gets even better... I'm also offering two more BBFFs a chance to win Bunches by Mo Manning (or use the gift cert. for any image of your choice from her store).

Ahhh, what a sweet day it will be on Valentines Day morning when I choose YOU to win one of these FOUR prizes :)

Good Luck :)
~ NikkiNix

Vintage Upcycled Ornaments

How darned cute are these ornaments?!

Baby Hand Ornament

My sis-in-law fell in love with this idea that I found on Pinterest, so we made our own custom ornament with my nephew's one year old handprint on a clear plastic ornament using metallic acrylic craft paint.  We also found some silver metallic Sharpie markers and wrote his name and the year on the back.  Too cute!!

Something's happeningggg....

.... changes are comingggggg!!

Ink Up: Joy!

Ink Up -- Joy!: has created a beautiful card! I cannot waiiitttttt to create!!!

My bedroom closet vision... I just had to share it!!

OMG this is the closest thing to my closet/bedroom vision LOL, for those of you who thought I was nutzo... here it is :)  Imagination and VISION is the key ;)  Let's see how I adapt this now...

I discovered it at: http://www.spazziusa.com/Ingles/  then to CLOSETS then arrow forward to the VESTIDOR design... with a solid wall and no side tables in my space, but WOW!

-:¦:- Pinterest is just sooo cool -:¦:-

Ever since I got my invitation to join Pinterest I have been addicted! I love spending time on there when I have a spare minute.  I've organized my ‘pins’ into boards; one of my favourite ones is my Inspirational Quotes Board… Just like the awesomely cool Inspiration Boards that Oprah always has on her show, these virtual boards I can go to look at each day or whenever I’m feeling the need for some personal, crafty or teacherly inspiration.

What I love about Pinterest is the ability to be able to ‘pin’ pictures to your boards without having to save the websites they are from or saving the pictures to your computer (keeping your Hard Drive free of clutter!). So when I’m looking for something that I’ve found, I don’t have to go saving the website link cause if your like me, whenever I save the link I either:

1. Never return to it, cause there are so many I’ve bookmarked!
2. When I go to look for the page, I cant find it!!

I’ve been using Pinterest for planning my classroom, getting ideas for everything from decorations to party games and food! I’ll be blogging about some of these treasures and sharing what I’ve found.

Look me up,let's get PINning!!! 

Have a wonnnnderful day!

· ´¨¨)) -:¦:- -:¦:-

¸.·´ .·´¨¨)) Live with integrity.... -:¦:-

((¸¸.·´ ..·´ Create with passion!

-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* -:¦:- NikkiNix

It's a wrap!

Howwww cute! Great idea Paper Crave!  

This can be done sooo easily using the Silhouette :)  

WOW, stunning!

Sparkles?

Oh, how lovely it is to witness a three year old's mind at work:

M: Mummy don't doo dat.
Me: Don't do what sweetie?
M: I don't like (angry face) dose (those) stop that!
Me: What do you want me to stop?
M: I don't want to see the *sparkles* put your arm down!

(Ya!! Hadn't shaved in 2 days and my *sparkles* or stubble... was offending her innocent eyes. I obliged her of course but really got a good chuckle)

My happy little dustball home ;)

Isn't it lovely when renos continue for 3 months? Yeesh!!

Making pre-cut mats for your stamped images using the Silhouette

Omg! This is life altering for me, check this out! Christina is my Guru! I'm so jealous that my stamps and copics are buried in boxes, and my Silhouelle packed away nestled until all my Reno-drama is over ;)

Creations with Christina: CWC (8/31/11) How to Silhouette (working with scanned images)

How fun!!

WHEW! We're moved!

We've had two dinner parties, I've worked every single day since we moved in, and spent our first weekend out of town!

We've got a new garage door (still have to paint trim)...

 We've demolished an entire wall in the kitchen and moved the fridge into the former pantry, and also created a window into the family room. 

 I love the fact that we've made this house the home we've dreamed of with only a few changes!! 

So this open concept kitchen will have a half wall to the left over there, the plumbing was redirected to accommodate it.  where the back of that cabinet is, all of that will become a peninsula/island type thing, I am just considering ideas for how to design that space.  On the inside of this room, where the hardwood is will be a very small 2 love seat and a TV tea for two type space + breakfast bar + homework  counter + baking cookies + crafty kids on bar stools counter space + ... you get the picture!!

Here's the other side of the kitchen peninsula/island.  

Because we lived in a bedroom for a month, (not easy!) I had packed and purged to the basic necessities... and now, we're still living off of those necessities.  The only thing I've unpacked are toys and all her books (for my 3 year old), the TV cable boxes, phones, and the computer.  I don't really plan on unpacking any more until our changes/demolition and rebuilding and painting are done so I can put them straight from the box into their new clean home.  

Now tell me... the box with neon pink duct tape around it... where is it?  It's got my paper trimmer, ATG gun, and fave croppin clippers in there - go figure, I can find the antique clock I got as a birthday gift from an old aunty who was re-gifting her belongings, and the little picture hanging hooks, but not the only box with pink neon duct tape around it!!!

Stay tuned as I eventually get to show you my new craft cockpit!  I've got more than 15 boxes that I've counted so far, plus shelves, my table, air compressor etc etc...  I'll be honest, my old table looks really tiny resting in my new space!!  I need to frame in the basement in that section to get stuff up on the walls - but I'm suuuper excited about that winter project :)

Stay tuned...

Scrabble tile pendants and doo dahs - how fun!

I can't take credit, here's where I got the idea: http://charitywingsnews.blogspot.com/2011/05/scrabble-tile-pendant-and-giveaway.html

Movin on in!!

By the end of this month we'll be in our new home, we've found and purchased a beautiful (bigger than expected) new (well, older) home that I am really excited to move into!!!!  YAY!

First thing on the agenda, a new front door and garage door!!

Any colour suggestions?  I was thinking a dark pewter or ash grey??

Miss y'all!!

P.S. The wedding invitations are coming along nicely, I'll ask for a pic to post in the next few weeks.

Movin on up!

I can't believe it! Our home sold in an hour! 

 Well, technically it took two days of paperwork and counter-offers but one hour into the first day of our first open house - we got an offer above what we were asking and ultimately sold to them!! Whew! I'm not going to pretend it wasn't a mountain of work, butit obviously paid off! Now I've got until the end of this month to get out of here and we haven't begun looking for where we're going to move yet!

I've started a new job, am taking a course online which is more work than I'd thought and have no house, no new house, and my baby turned THREE!  Okay, needless to say my Craft Cockpit was packed and purged and whittled town to the absolute bare essentials.  My dear friend is getting married in August so I'll be focusing my creative energies on getting her ready for her big day so unfortunately, until we're in our new home, you may not hear too much from me  on the crafty side of things :(

So sad, I miss you guys!!  But needless to say, I still have my computer so I'll be browsing and learning in the meantime so I'll have lots of great things to try when I am back in business!

Sincerely,
NikkiNix

Diva's heart-cookie treat purses ...and Moving, Celebrating, Career-changing and Reuniting with old friends!

So much going on! My subject line says it all!! I'll be delinquent a little longer until that for sale sign goes up!! Half my house is moving into storage on Monday, my bedroom is being painted on Tuesday and I have a crazy-life-alteringly important interview on Wednesday!!  Plus Valentines Day with a two year old, Hubby's bday next week, Mom's bday last week and ... well, I'm tired and my craft-cockpit is now surrounded by construction - arrrgh!!!!

In the meantime, my two bestest friends in the world (since grade 2) are both having huge celebrations today - one beating disease and the other re-patriating to Canada after almost 15 years, getting married in August and today is her birthday!!!!  Both such fantastic celebration!  I cannot wait to have all those heart to hearts and wedding planning conversations with her and catching up after all these years without long distance charges or the confines of email!  And I am so thrilled to have my other bestest buddy healthier than she has been in the last three years!!

Here are some heart-cookie treat boxes 

I made up for our Diva Brunch - celebrating her healthfulness and LOVE!

I basically got these delectable cookies for $4.99 a box. I then put two cookies in a zip lock baggie and kept cutting down my template until it could fold up as a box, snugly against the cookies but not too tight. Then I evened out the measurements for cutting and scoring.  Once complete, I added ribbon handles, paper accents, used my ATG gun for strong adhesion and added my little pretty things and ta daa... aren't these little boxes/purses cute - all made from scrap paper, ribbon and embellies - priceless!!!

I made about 20 of then in about 3 hours.

Have an awesome, love-filled, friendship-embraced, blissful day!
Nikki

Whimspirations

... how awesome is this?  Thanks so much InkyHeart!!

Shading with Copic Markers - new book!

Marianne Walker is the Product Specialist who trains the Certification Instructors for Copic Markers.  Her blog is: http://ilikemarkers.blogspot.com/ and if you go down a bit on the right and start in her 2008 archives there is a LOT of valuable tutorials in there!!   


There's also some exciting new things coming out at CHA this month including this much anticipated book on Shading! Notice the blog post title says part 2, there are other updates to check out as well ;)


Enjoy!
Nikki 

Ooooh it's so exciting!!

My dah'ling Diva of a best friend is home from hospital and I'm sooo happy!!

Welcome home!!