Snow day...!

Hello there! How are you today?! We are STIIIIIIIILLLLLLL snowed in! LOL I got up this morning and walked 2 miles (in the snow!), did 2 loads of laundry, did the dishes and paid some bills....then I dove into my craft to do list! I got a swap started, finished and mailed! (I piled on the postage stamps and walked the mile down our driveway to put it in the mail box though because our driveway is not drivable yet!) Then I did 9 (woo hoo!!!) scrapbook pages! They were all 6 x 6 and are going into a gift album for my step-dad! I got the album all finished up! I will post those layouts tomorrow! :)

The swap I worked on was a Valentine card swap! The particulars were:

1) It must have red somewhere on it!
2) It must have ribbon on it!
3) It must have a heart somewhere on it!
4) It must be accompanied by chocolate!

Here is my card:





I used my SU! scallop punch and heart border punch. I used a sliver of K and Co DP and embossed the card with a SP! embossing folder. I added the heart on pop dots and the little tag is from SP!'s Tiny Tags. The card is 5.5 x 5.5 square!

I forgot to take a picture of my accompanying chocolate, but it was a Hershey bar wrapped in matching DP with a matching heart! <3 This was a wonderful challenge full of love! :) It was hosted by my very sweet friend and adopted Aunt Cindy! :)

Also, (insert drum role pleeease!!) I am soooooo excited to say that I turned my blog from a 2 column blog to a 3 column blog all by my onesie!! I even changed the size of the margins all by myself!! I know that is not a difficult thing, but you must understand that I do NOT speak computer...at all! LOL It is a miracle in itself that I am able to keep this blog going! I was super proud of myself and felt like if only for a moment that I spoke geek! Go me!! *Doing a little dance...all around the room!!!* LOL

Ok, I am off to work on a few cards as long as I am in craft stealth mode!!

Have a wonderful night! I will be back soonest! :) I have lots to share!

VSD #2 Challenge #4

What a fun day I had today! I am back with the last challenge of the day! This was hosted by Kelly! It was the perfect way to end the day! Kelly's challenge was just plain fun! Thank you, Kelly!! The challenge was to use a layout that she designed. Here is my card:



Today was a blast! I really enjoyed all of the challenges and hanging out with such a great group of ladies! I will be looking forward to next time! :) Time to make some dinner and then back to the craft table to work on some swaps! Hope that you have had as nice of a day as I have!

I will be back soonest! :) Night!

VSD#2 Challenge #2

Challenge #2 was hosted by Melina! Another great challenge!! This one left me feeling all nostalgic! I went and dug out a picture of hubby and I from about 100 years ago to complete the challenge! Here are the particulars:

My challenge to you is make any project: card, scrapbook page, 3D item, etc. but follow these 4 steps:

Use Something...

Old ~ We all have those embellishments that we're hoarding or that paper we've put back that we never get out because it's so special. Pull out those older items to create something wonderful.

New ~ I know you have something you purchased recently that you can't wait to try. Incorporate it into your project.

Borrowed ~ I know what you're thinking. How can I use something borrowed on my project? My idea behind this is using something you were given by a fellow crafter. It just needs to be something you DID NOT purchase yourself.

Blue ~ Incorporate something blue on your creation! Easy enough right?

Here is my challenge project:



I made a scrap book page for my challenge! My something old was the background paper. I have been saving this for something special and this was it! My something new was my new scallop punch. My something borrowed was the flower trio and the big white button that I got from Jenny in my SS package.

Really enjoyed this challenge, Melina!! Thank you for hosting! Oh and Happy Anniversary!! :)

VSD#2 Challenge #3

Time for challenge #3...hosted my...me! My challenge is to make a 2,4,6,8 (actual measurements are 2.5", 5", 7.5" and 10") box using an 8.5" X 11" piece of paper. The only requirements are that you use a punch and some ribbon somewhere on your box! Theme is your call! Sky is the limit...! Here are some pictures of my box:









I will be back soonest with the last challenge of the day! :0

VSD#2 Challenge #1

Wowee-wow-wow!! Colleen hosted our first challenge today! She meant it when she said challenge!! Thank you for hosting Colleen! It was an awesome challenge! This one took some real trial and error (more error on my part than trial I am afraid!) LOL Here were the particulars:

Time to break out the ink! The challenge is to make a card with no layers, but having the illusion of layers. You may use ONE piece of cardstock (any color) and any embellishments. For a little twist, let's make it a spring theme. I think we could use a little thaw out, at least here in Ohio! Here' s the tutorial on SCS. There are also some great examples for inspiration in the gallery.

Here is my challenge card:



I will be back soonest with challenge #2!

CCC# 18 Pre VSD challenge card!!

Happy Sunday! :) Today is the Crafty Critter blog group Virtual Stamp Day! I am so excited!! We will be meeting in a few hours to chitter chat and participate in a few challenges and hang out! This is such a wonderful group of girls and is going to be a blast!! I will be hosting challenge #3 today! Be sure to check back for lots of eye candy today!

In the meantime though, the lovely Lesley *hiya Lesley!!* hosted our pre VSD challenge! Here are the particulars:

1. It can be any kind of boy card...in honor of those boys who are playing football on Sunday.
2. Plus you have to incorporate at least two other challenges from other blogs of your choice.
3. Don't use any bling on your card...boys don't like sparkly things...unless of course your a vampire:)

This challenge was a true challenge! The two challenges that I went and found were here at MoJo Monday and here at SplitCoastStampers! One was a challenge sketch and the other was a color scheme! I used a boy image, which happens to be an actual boy from SU! He is a 2 step stamp and I masked him on top of his skate board! :) I added a star shaped brad becasue I am an embellishment junkie and just couldn't help myself! It did not sparkle though, so it was aloud! :) Here is my card incorporating all three challenges:



I will be back later with the projects from our VSD!!

Birthday hello!

Hello! Happy snow day! Hope you are having a nice weekend! We are snowed in once again! We wound up with about 9.5" of snow! We had so much fun playing in it this morning though! We built snow people and made snow angels and made snow cream...yum! Then I came in and spent most of the afternoon working on all things crafty! It has been a very nice day! :)

One of the cards I made this afternoon was a birthday card for a sweet friend! I used some of my new Stampin'Up! goodies! It is always fun playing with new stuff! Here is my card:



I used my new scallop border for the edges and my new tiny tag punch and tag stamp set! Talk about little bitty stamps, but what fun!!

I will be participating in a Virtual Scrap Day tomorrow with my online blogging group and I am super jazzed about it! It should be lots of fun and will mean I should have several fun things to show you tomorrow!

Back to the craft table! :) Be back sonnest!

A hug to go!

Hey there! Super quick post today! We are headed out the door in two shakes to go see our oldest son!!! He lives about 4 1/2 hours away and we are meeting him half way for his birthday dinner tonight! I am looking so forward to seeing him!! He turned 20 a couple of days ago and it broke my heart that we were not able to be with him on his birthday. This was the first time we were not together ever.

I wanted to stop by real quick though and share a little box that I made this morning for a friend! She is having kind of a tough time and I wanted to let her know she has support! I gave the box to her absolutely empty! LOL I told her it was full of love and support and that I had managed to squeeze 4 giant hugs into that box! I gave her strict instructions to take out the box whenever she needed some support or a a hug!

Here is her box of love and hugs:





Ok, off to have dinner with my family! :) Have a wonderful night! Be back soonest!

Another scrap book page!

Hello! I had such a productive day today that it was almost scary! LOL I woke up early, walked, ran my errands, went to my home school meeting, took my kiddos to gymnastics, came home and made dinner, got all of my Stampin Up! orders separated and ready to deliver tomorrow first thing and made a scrap book page to go into my gift album!

I kept the page very simple! I used a piece of background paper from my new K & Company giant paper pack! I LOVE this paper!! It is so beautiful. I mounted it on shades of blue that match the DSP and added a little heart title. The picture is of hubby and I taken at the park! We took the kids, a frisbee and a couple of soccer balls to a big open field at the park and had a fun play day!

The gift album is getting close to being finished! :) Here is the latest page:



Long day! Heading to bed! Be back soonest! :)

Happy birthday!

Hello there! How are you? Today is a very bittersweet day for me. My oldest son turned 20 years old! I just cannot believe that he is 20! Time sure does fly! Seems like just yesterday that he was toddling around and now he lives out on his own! He is such a great kid! I am so proud of him that I can hardly stand it! I miss him lots though! We are going to head up to see him in a couple of days and have a birthday dinner, so I made this card to take to him:



I received this image in a SS card kit swap and thought it would be perfect for this card! It is so cute and funny! How can you go wrong with silly monkeys?! Hope he likes it!

Tons to do tonight! I will be back soonest! :)

Hello! Happy Monday! Hope that you had a great weekend! I finally got a chance to sit down and do some scrapping! It felt great to put together some layouts! It has been a long time! I am working on two albums for gifts and am using 8x8's. I really like this size. It is big enough for a picture or two and some goodies, but not so giant that I feel like I have to fill up all the available space! It is a fun size! I made four pages and duplicated them making one set for each book! I used background papers from the same pack so keep the 'feel' of the book the same throughout. I am really excited now to get these together and move on to another album or four! I am hoping to make an album for each of my kids and one to keep for us! Ah...let the madness begin! I have noticed though that I seem to either have enough time to lug all of my stuff out and then put it away OR to scrap! That would explain why it is so tough to get anything accomplished! LOL Here are the pages I worked on this weekend! I kept them simple and let the photos take front and center! I am happy with the way they turned out!






I took these photos inside and so there are some shadows in the pictures. They are not on the actual pages though! These are some of my very favorite pictures of my kids! :)

Ok, I am off! We are headed to town for gymnastics! I hope you have a super night! I will be back soonest!

Flowers, flowers everywhere plus a little chocolate!

Hiya! Hope that you are having a nice weekend! We have a giant family dinner planned tonight and since our family is our closest set of neighbors the snow won't get in the way! We have all decided to get together once a month and all bring a few things! There will be between 13 and 17 us! Should be fun! We will be bringing chicken casserole, broccoli, cheese and rice casserole and flourless chocolate cake! Yummmm-o!

My SIL's bday was yesterday and I wanted to make her a little something. She is crafty so I threw together a few little craft odds and ends and made a basket to hold them all! I added some of her favorite chocolates! I used my SU! eyelet border punch for the basket edges and the handle. I used my Cricut to cut out flower pieces and layered them and added a button and some leaves. I stamped flowers all over the basket! It turned out pretty cute! I mean how can you go wrong when the gift you are giving is overflowing with chocolate?! LOL Here is the basket:


Flower front and center:


Basket filled with goodies:


I made the accompanying birthday card from a card kit I got back in a swap! I fell in love with this image! How cute is she?!



I just love the colors of the paper. I tried to pull them in when I was coloring the image.

Ok, time to get cleaned up and ready for dinner! Have a wonderful weekend! I will be back soonest! :)

A basket of love and a little bit of culture!

Hello! Is everything snow covered where you live?! We woke up this morning to lots of snow! They were predicting 15", but we only wound up with about 9". It snowed off and on most of the day and was absolutely beautiful! Falling snow just makes the world feel so peaceful and serene to me! It is quiet and still and everything looks so clean! LOVE it!

Thought I would stop by and share a project we made at my Stamp Club with you! We used Stampin Ups! scallop envelope die to make this cute little basket! It takes four to make it! Simply glue all of the envelope tabs together and you have a cute basket! I reinforced the bottom with an extra stamped square that matches each of the stamped side panels. This one happens to be love themed, but you could change that for any occasion! The best thing about this basket is that it will hold a ton of chocolate which is appropriate for just about every occasion! I used the new heart embosslit die for the border of the heart and then the SU! punch for the center and then added a button and some ribbon! Easy peasy! Here it is:

Front:


Side:


Focal Point:


On a more educational note! This week in our home school group we had an International Day! Each family chose a country and did a project to represent that country. The only requirement was that each family bring a food from their chosen country...otherwise every thing else was no holds barred! We had some really amazing projects and some super yummy food! Thought I would share some of the projects with you!

Cypress:


France:


Haiti:


China/Germany:


Ireland:


Egypt:


Jamaica and the Netherlands:


Philippines:


Greece:

This was my youngest daughter's project! She made the Trojan Horse out of card board boxes, cooked the Baklava by herself and dressed her teddy bear in a toga with an olive branch head dress (the leaves were cut using my Cuttlebug and a Sizzex die!)

Italy:



This was my older son and daughter's project! They made mini pizzas and erupted Mt. Vesuvius (both of which were a big hit with the kids!!)

Aren't you just dripping with culture now?! :) If you made it all the way to the bottom thanks for hanging in there! Have a great night! I will be back soonest with more crafty goodness to share! :)

Crafty Critters Challenge #17

Hello! It is time for another Crafty Critter Blog Challenge! This time around it was a scrap book page challenge hosted by Moira! *Hiya Moira!* This was an excellent challenge! It has been a really long time since I have scrapped anything and although I had a really hard time making this page come together I enjoyed doing it very much! I used to scrap all the time but have fallen away from it. I am feeling inspired to get back to it and this may have been the little kick in the tushie I needed! Since I have four kids I went round and around about who to use as my subject and then decided to compromise! The subject of my page is one of our furry children as a baby! Here are the challenge particulars:

1. Use the following sketch
2. Use only from your stash - no buying allowed!!
3. Use at least two different patterned papers.

You can make this one page - or two pages, but please use the sketch for at least one of the pages.

Layouts are to be posted on your blog sometime between January 23-27, 2010

Here is my scrap book page:



My page is 8x8. I followed the sketch loosely, but kept it as my guideline. I used different patterned papers though and only used stuff from my stash! This was really a fun challenge! :) I am looking forward to scrapping more!

Hope that you have great night! I will be back soonest! :)

It's love and I ain't 'lion!'

Hello! Happy Monday! :) I am so excited to say that I had my very first Stamp Club get together Friday night and we had a wonderful time! It is a fun bunch of ladies and there was a ton of junk food and laughter and of course crafty goodness! I wanted to share one of the cards we made here with you! I found this adorable lion here on Angie's Chic n Scratch blog! I fell in love with this little guy! I thought it would make the cutest valentine's day card so this is what I came up with:



I used SU!'s top note die in red and white and trimmed the white to mat it against the red. I added the two punch art lions and gave the girlie one a pretty red bow! I added a heart on a pop dot in the center to show that they were in love! They make such a sweet couple, don't they?! :)

Today when I was taking the pictures one of our lions tried to get in on the act and steal the show! Here is a picture of our kitty (named Rooster!) posing with the lions on the card! :)



I will be back soonest with another project from my first Stamp Camp get together! I had such a good time with this that I am considering trying to get a second club together! Let the crafting begin! :)

Have a wonderful night!

A little inspiration and a birthday wish!

Hello! Happy Saturday! :) I have a couple of things to share with you today! The first one is a swap I participated in recently! It is a four month swap with three of my very dear friends. We each agreed to host for one month. When it os our turn to host we set all of the guidelines and then we each follow them and send one of our creations to each participating members. I was the January hostess and my challenge was:

1) Create something inspirational that can be framed!
2) It should fit into a 4x6 OR 5x7 frame
3) Use supplies that you already own...NO shopping!
4) Use a button somewhere on the project!
5) Do not send them framed! We can all choose our own frames that way!

This was my swap! I made one for each of us and plan to hang everyone's up together in my craft space!



A close up of the flower:



I chose a fairy as my focal point because to me they are full of inspiration! Always flittering about causing mischief and usually up to no good! LOL They are fun and sweet and cute and always happy! I stamped her in SU! Brilliant Blue and then added Stickles to make her trail sparkly! I used letters from my SU! die to cut out the message "Dream Big!" I added double layers of DSP and vellum punched butterflies and stamped and layered flowers with leaves underneath. I mounted it on SU! Pretty in Pink and then on Old Olive to match the colors of the fairies dress. The whole things sparkles in person! :) It just oozes with inspiration!

This next project is a card I made for a sweet and wonderful scrapping friend! She is a photographer and loves wildlife so I thought the little birds and flowers would make her happy! Hope she likes it!



Ok, I am off to attempt to scrap book! It has been a long time since I have scrapped! Hope I remember how! Wish me luck! LOL Have a great day!

Hi there! Happy Wednesday! It was so dreary and yucky here today that it was almost depressing! I usually don't mind days like that but today was kind of a downer. Hoping for some sunshine real soon! Coooome on Vitamin D! :)

I have a couple of projects to share with you today! The first one is of a sign I made for hubby's aunt and uncle. They are some of the most wonderful people on earth and they have been like surrogate grandparents to my kids! I just love them! We always celebrate Christmas with them post Christmas and due to illness this year we celebrated late (Sunday!). They are both very crafty and appreciate handmade things so I wanted their gift to be handmade (which to me also = heartmade!) It was a hit! I used my Cricut to cut the letters of their name and added some flowers and leaves cut with my SU! die. I popped the whole thing in a frame and it was ready to go!



The next thing is a card that I made for my daughter's boyfriend. He had a birthday recently and we threw him a little party complete with dinner, fun gifts and his favorite cake! He likes dragons so I dug out my only dragon stamp for his card! Now this card came out really cute in person, but try and try as I might I just could not get it to photograph well! I was so frustrated that I almost did not share it! I drew the little gravel road and sponged it with SU! Going Gray. Then I stamped the castle and water colored it. I sponged SU! Tempting Turquoise for the sky and then water colored and added the dragon on pop dots. I cut into the image at the wings so they folded out! Cool boy thing! I am telling you though...totally cute in person, but only mediocre in the picture! Grrrr! He really liked it though! Here it is:



Hope that you had a good day! I will be back soonest with more fun stuff to share! :) Nighty night!

Crafty Critters Challenge #16

Hi there! Quick post tonight. I participated in the CCC#16 hosted by wonderful Tracey. (Hiya Tracey!) Here are the particulars:

Here is my challenge........create a card for your Valentine using Pink, Red, White
and Black (as an accent only) color combo.
There are no vendor requirements.
Post your submission to your blog between January 13 - 18, 2010.
Thanks for playing along and happy crafting!
Tracey (traceyc0103)

Here is my card:



I will be back soonest with a longer post. :)

Hello! I had a jam packed day and evening and am dragging behind tonight, but wanted to pop in for a minute! I made a simple thank you card today and tried my hand at water coloring for the very first time! I finally broke down and bought one of those crazy pen/brushes that you fill with water. I LOVE it! It is so much fun! I used it to pick up color from various stamp pads and went to work! There were lots of tiny little details in this image, but it was easy peasy to color! I am really pleased with the way it turned out! What do you think?!



I am heading to bed! Hope that you had a wonderful day! I will be back soonest!

More shoebox swaps!

Hello! Happy Tuesday! I have been an absolute slug today! I mean it...I have not gotten one darn thing accomplished (well I walked 3 miles and picked up the front of the house and did some planning for my home school meetings and did money and made muffins and answered some e mails and...) Huh, maybe I wasn't a total slug! LOL

Thought I would stop by and show you the rest of the projects from my shoebox swap this weekend! I really had a great time! It is always so much fun to stamps with friends! :) Here they are:

This first one is a cookie and hot chocolate holder! Isn't that paper dreamy? Love it! I haven't bought any, but now I am really jonesin' for some! LOL



Open view:


A box with a beautiful flower from one of the Big Shot dies!



Close up of the flower!



I am off to try to get something done! Have a wonderful day! I will be back soonest! :)

Shoebox swaps!

Hello! Hope that you had a pleasant Monday! :) We had a family birthday party for my youngest daughter tonight and it was a big smash! We had an ocean/beach theme complete with music and bright flowers and ocean animals hanging from the ceiling! We had a half sand half ocean cupcake cake and lots of fishy themed food! It was fun! Now my youngest baby is officially 11 years old...sigh!

I wanted to try to squeeze in a quick post tonight before I headed off to bed! I wanted to share some of the projects from my shoebox swap with you! Here are a couple:

This was my first easel card! It has been on my to do list to try one of these! Now that I have I just love it! :)



Side view:


Open:


A simple card for Valentine's Day:


Thinking of You card!


Pretty Post It Note Holder:


These were all so much fun to make! I will be back tomorrow to share the rest of the projects with you! Have a great day!

Scallop Envelope Basket

Hi there! How was your weekend?! It is cold where you are? It is freezing here! I am such a wimp! LOL 60 degrees is cold to me! It really is freezing though! I went through town on my way to my demo meeting today and the giant thermostat in the sky said 22...brrrrrrrr! Now that is cold!

My meeting today was fun and wonderful! We had a shoebox swap! If you are unfamiliar with what that is allow me to explain! We all showed up with a finished project and enough kits for everyone in the group to make one just like it! There were some really fun projects! I will share those with you tomorrow, but will share mine now! I ordered the SU! Scallop Envelope die on a whim because that tiny little envelope was too cute! Then blog surfing one day I saw a basket made from 6 of the die cuts and thought that 4 would make an adorable option as well! After I made this one I went investigating and found a few other made with 4! They go together very quickly and are as cute as can be! Change your colors and you have a perfect basket for any occasion! I kept mine neutral and added a flower from the new SU! set called Vintage Vogue. I am in LOVE with this set! It is just beautiful! I bent the petals on and layered two flowers. I added some ribbon and gold cording to the center. Then I adhered some leaves and pop-dotted it to the front and there you have it! This was really a lot of fun to make!


Front view!


Side view!


Close up view of the flower!

I am very excited to say that I have broken down and ordered a light/tent kit! I am hoping to improve the quality of the photos on my blog. I sent the link to my mom (who is the WORLD'S BEST PHOTOGRAPHER!!!!) to get her opinion and she liked it so much she ordered one too! :)

Ok, I am off to try to get some stuff done before I call it a night! Have a super evening! I will be back soonest! :)

A couple of Cards!

Hello! I have been very productive craft wise today! Woo Hoo! Go me! :) I finished a giant card kit swap (hosted by my very sweet friend Colleen...*waves!! Hi Colleen!!). I assembled 24 card kits! I also finished putting together all my stamped images for the Crafty Critter image exchange hosted by another wonderful friend! *Hiya Melina!!* I am the January hostess so I am supposed to send images to all 10 girls participating...check! They will go out tomorrow so watch your mail boxes Crafty Critters! :) I also got a few bday gifts stamped and put together and worked on another swap! Finally, I made a few miscellaneous cards and those were the only things I managed to get pictures of today! Here they are:


This is a fun birthday card I made for one of my dear friends! The present on the front is raised up on pop dots and when you open it the presents inside 'sproing' out at you! :)


The inside!


Side view of the 'sproingy' presents!


This is a sympathy card I made for another of my very sweet friends. She lost her Grandpa recently so I wanted to send her some hugs in the mail.


This is the inside. I used my new watercolor brush to soften these images.

I took the photos later in the day and the lighting was not very good! I planned to take them early, but the day flies when you are buried up to your eyelashes in craft supplies! :)

I am worn out and heading to bed! I hope that you had a wonderful day and I will be back to visit soonest! :)

Receipts Part 2

Hello! Can you believe that it is Thursday already!? Sheesh! Where in the world has this week gone to?! I have a super quick post for you tonight! Just wanted to stop by before this day got away from me too to spend a few minutes with you and to share part 2 of my Receipt book pages with you! I have been working on craft commitments ALL day long and it has been wonderful! I have made the BIGGEST mess ever, but I don't care! I have had the best day working on all this stuff! I am trying to catch up on some swaps that are due and get ahead with some of my cards and get caught up with a few other projects! I was very productive on the craft front! :) My sink is full of dishes though and not a thread of laundry got done, but I am a happy girl tonight! I hope to finish up my craft to do list tomorrow! The dishes and laundry will just have to wait! I made three more pages for my receipt book today and here they are:


April!


May!


June!

I will be back soonest to share the rest of the months with you! Have a wonderful night!

A fishy party!

Hello and happy Wednesday! :) I have had such a full and nutty day! I ran all day long and then rushed home to work on my daughter's birthday invitations. We are going to have a small family birthday party for her! She is in love with all things ocean and she decided that would be a perfect theme so I went with it! We picked up some beach-y looking decorations and plan to play beach games! There will be beach music and ocean themed goody bags! She is so excited! :) So, of course the invitations needed to have an ocean feel! I wanted them to be cute but simple so this is what I came up with! I used my Cricut (so in love with it!!) to cut the waves and the sea horses! I tore tan looking card stock to make the sand and added some dazzling diamonds to make the sand sparkle. I sponged blue for the sky and masked a bright summer sun! I cased the punched mermaid beauty from this site and drew her little face on! All the party details will be on the back! I made an extra for a scrap book page! Here is a picture of the invites:



I will be back soonest with some more pages from my receipt book! Have a wonderful night! :)