Halloween Peek-a-BOOOOOOO!

Hello! Happy Saturday! We had to cancel 11 soccer games today due to lots and lots of rain!
: ( Although I appreciated the break, it is going to be a logistical nightmare trying to reschedule all those games! I decided though that since I had a few hours of 'free time' (It wasn't really free-I should have been doing some much needed laundry and house cleaning! LOL) that I was going to stamp! I had no real plan other than stamping and playing with 'my' toys! First, I took out my Cuttlebug and nesties...I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I cannot seem to get a nice sharp cut with them. I have done tons of reading and am using the added tan pad. I have tried all different kinds of layers and have even tried substituting the C plate with 2 pieces of chip board! If I use the C plate I get lots of cracking and scary noises! The rectangles seem to work better than the scalloped rectangles or the circles, but still not smooth?! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I wound up getting frustrated with those and moved on! I took out about 13 different sets and lots of fun paper and ribbons and embellishments...then I just sat and stared! There was NO creative juice flowing! I mean NONE!! I took out more stamps and some punches...still I just sat! I looked through my card sketch books and project pattern books...still nothing. I ate some (quite a lot, actually!) chocolate and even that didn't help! I started feeling pretty bummed because now in addition to having no creativity popping, no chocolate left and not one project to show I had created the world biggest mess! There is stuff everywhere! LOL I am a super messy crafter anyhow, but somehow this seemed extreme! So, I finally just started stamping and cutting and adhering and this is what came of it! Mildly cute, fun colors, but not a wow-y. wow, wow kind of project if you know what I mean! I guess some days you've got it and some days you just don't! LOL Today felt very much like a YOU DON'T day! : ) Think I am feeling a little blue cause hubby is headed out again tomorrow on another business trip. Found out recently that his travel schedule is going to be pretty heavy for quite a while. Sigh!

I used mostly odds and ends and scraps for this card, so I won't go into recipe details, but would be happy to answer any questions! : ) I used a lot of generic paper and stamps! I did use SU! Booglie Eyes for the sentiment! Coloring this cute little guy in gave me a twinge of excitement for Halloween! I love Halloween!

I hope that you are having a great weekend! : )

A wonderful cause...!

Recently, while blog surfing, I came across a post that truly wow-ed me! Cammie of "My Blog/Cammie" is offering a ginormous lot of blog candy called Heart to Heart Blog Candy. She is honoring her Grandma, who she lost to Alzheimer's Disease and all of the kind, selfless people who give so much of themselves to take care of folks with this debilitating disease. My hubby's granny was married to a man with Alzheimer's and it takes a toll on not only the one suffering, but the people that love them. Cammie wants to get as many thank you cards sent out to folks that spend their time being caretakers as possible to say thank you! She has collected a prize package that currently is valued at over $1000.00 due to all of the generous companies that have donated to this cause! If you haven't checked it out...go now!!! Even if you do not know someone personally, there is an address included in her post that you can send a card to! This is a cause definitely worth your while! Bring a smile to the face of someone that offers so much of themselves to others!

This is the card I will be sending to the staff Cammie provided the address for.

Have a wonderful day! : )

Fall Party!

Hello! Happy Fall! : )

I LOVE Fall! I love to watch the leaves change and feel that crispness in the air! So on Wednesday my Home School group had a Welcome Fall party! We had a ton of fun! We played games and had wheel barrow and three legged races! We had a Pumpkin Seed spitting contest, bobbed for apples, made crafts and had a ton of fall food (including candy apples and apple cider!). I asked each family to bring a Fall contribution and everyone did a great job! I made 25 little baskets and filled them with candy! I also made cupcakes and added these cute Fall cupcake toppers! Hope that each of you is enjoying the beginning of the Fall season! : )

Recipe:
Paper: Fall pack of generic paper and matching DSP
Ink: SU! Cranberry Crisp, More Mustard and Only Orange
Extras: Round Scallop punch, Circle Punch, Pop dots and Scalloped Edge Punch

A fun ATC Swap!

If you read my blog you know I am a sucker for ATC's! I love to make them and swapping them is a lot of fun! : ) I recently joined an ATC swap in honor of my oldest son and his sweetie! The theme of the swap is Tasteful Nudes! I just couldn't resist! There is a cute story that explains my madness! You see...my son's sweetie is a cross country runner and before she left for college she talked my kid into running in a 5K with her! The catch though was that it was a naked run! Yup! naked as the day they were born! LOL Now I couldn't possibly imagine running in a 5K, let alone running it in the buff! They are young though and both a little bit goofy and in great shape so why not?! My immediate reaction was to veto the whole deal-y-o, but then I decided life was too short and so I told them to go for it! She came in First Place!!! My son said it turned out to be a great experience! They ran it with 400 other naked runners and will remember their experince for a long time to come! I was pretty proud! : )

Anyhow, this swap screamed out to me and this is what I came up with! I think they came out pretty! I stamped the focal image and then used masking to stamp the background around her. I heat embossed her wings and added some ribbon, a flower and some bling as my required embellishment. They came together very quickly and I cannot wait to get them in the mail and get some of the other great swaps in return!

Have a great day! : )

Recipe:
Paper: SU! Pacific Blue, Basic Black and Whisper White
Ink: SU! Ballet Blue and Cranberry Crisp
Stamps: Image from Meer Images and SU! Crackled Background
Extras: Ribbon, Iridescent Embossing Powder, a flower and sparkle gem from Mike's

Happy Birthday to meeeee!

Friday was my birthday and my very super, sweet, wonderful friend brought me a ginormous container full to the very top with PINK M& M'S!!!!! Pink is my very favorite color and chocolate is one of my favorite things! There must be about 1,000,000 m&m's in there! I am so excited!! Thank you, Cindy! You are the absolute greatest! : )

Fall is in the air...!

Hello! Hope that everyone is having a bright and sunny day! : )

Soooooo, I belong to the Paper Pretties Stamp of the Month Club and fell head over heels in love with this month's stamp!! She reminds me so much of my youngest daughter! How cute is she?!! I wasn't sure what I was going to do first with her, but knew right away that I couldn't wait to ink her up! I played around with several possibilities this morning and came up with this card! I used a ton of miscellaneous products on it! My first thought was to make a 3d pile of punched out leaves, but no matter how hard I tried to arrange them they were just a little too big and just were not working! So I scrapped the leaves and dug out the other punches and tools! I also used my new Nestabilities for the very first time! I have to say I am not really all that impressed with them. I hope that the more I play with them and use them the more I will like them, but so far I just am not in love. I have the Cuttlebug and broke my B plate trying to make it all work out. That was a big bummer! I added a faux cross stitch pattern to the outside edge of my image and some stripes of color behind it. I used some clear half bead embellishments that my sweet SBS2 sister (Hi Karyn!!!) sent me and a little snippet of ribbon that arrived the other day with my new stamps from Sweet N Sassy! I just kept adding and adding to this card until it finally felt done! : ) I also stamped this little cutie twice and layed her for a more 3d look!

My home school group is having a Fall Party next week and I am going to try to come up with some sort of cutsie patootsie treat basket with this stamp!

Hubby is home safe and sound and I am so happy about that! Looks like he actually may get to stay in town for a while this time! Big grin! : )

Hope that you have a wonderful day!! Be back soon!

Missing you card!

My hubby is coming home today after being out of town for 10 days! I am bouncing!! I wanted to make him a little card and just got a fun new stamp set from Sweet N Sassy that was perfect! I used 3d crystal lacquer on that cute dragon but was not really happy with how it came out. I took a paintbrush and swirled in some 'scales' (which you cannot see from the picture!) and was happier with that look but still not 100% pleased. I guess that some days you have it and some days, you just don't! LOL Thought that the sentiment was too cute! I used my gold marker paint thingie pen to add a golden edge to the card. I also used a stripe of paper from a ginourmous pack of scrapbook paper I bought at the CK scrapbook convention! I just opened that pack this morning and am in love!! So much pretty goodness in one package!! I am kicking myself a little bit for not buying three more packs!! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!! : )

Recipe:
Paper: SU! Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink and DSP
Stamps: Princess set by Sweet N Sassy
Ink: SU! Old Olive and Handsome Hunter
Extras: Green Ribbon, Green and Gold Brads, Gold paint marker pen and 3d Crystal lacquer

A Fall Card!

One last post today! We made these Fall cards at my demonstrator meeting this weekend! I started mine at the meeting but wound up bringing it home and putting a different spin on it! I added the extra leaves and brads and ribbons! I used the SU! set With Gratitude for this card and the ink colors are More Mustard, Cranberry Crisp and Old Olive! I LOVE Fall!

I will be back tomorrow with lots more to show you guys! Hope that you all have a very wonderful day!!

Recipe card!

This was the second of my two swap commitments this weekend! My demonstrator group has been doing a themed recipe card swap every month for the last year! We are building quite a nice little cook book! This month's theme was crock pot/slow cooker recipes! Perfect since I am on the soccer field til late almost every night of the week now! I am always on the lookout for new slow cooker recipes!

I kept mine simple this month! The nip of Fall is in the air and so I was feeling Fall inspired! I used Certainly Celery as my base and tore DP in half to add color! I stamped the bottom layer with a leaf from SU!'s With Gratitude in More Mustard. It made a really pretty back ground. I printed the recipe on Whisper White and matted it against Handsome Hunter. Added some ribbon and a gold brad and the whole thing pulled together nicely! The recipe is a real winner in my house too! Yum! If you give it a try let me know what you think of it! : ) Be warned though...it is not very diet friendly!

I have one more post to make later, but wanted to get this one up!

I will skip the recipe since I included details in the body of the post! : )

Thank you to you and you and you!!

Hello! Thank you so much to all of you that pop in here to check things out so often! I have been feeling so bad about not making posts lately and when I stopped by to make a new post this morning I got all warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside to see that I have had so many faithful visitors! You guys are the very best!!! : )

My life has been a total whirlwind lately! Hubby and I run soccer for our county and this year right about the time we decided we were going to go for it one more year he found out he was going to have to start traveling for work. Ugh!!! He has been in and out and gone for most of the entire season so far (weeks!). We already had a small soccer board and one of our other key people had to step down this year as well, so that basically leaves me and one other member of the board to run the show! 320 kids, 29 teams, 59 coaches, 84 games and 5 referee's and off we go! It has been stealing most of my time lately, but it is a short season and since we have decided this will be our last time in charge I am trying to make it a good one! : )

Anyhow...I have a few things to share with you today!

I had 2 swaps due this past weekend and although it took being awake into the very wee hours of the night to get them completed, I made the deadline! : ) The first one was a new In Color swap. The project could be anything as long as it used the new In Colors from Stampin Up!
I used three of the six new colors and made this tiny little book! I am such a sucker for mini albums so this was super fun to make! I used an envelope to make the base of the album and added card stock to the front, back and middle after sealing and folding it in half. I adhered one layer of card stock on the inside and then folded a second piece and ran the 'spine' of that piece through a bead of glue and bound the book that way. I used Dreams du Jour from SU! for the stamped images and added a butterfly to the top corner for eye candy! I only glued down his center so I could lift the wings and make him look 'in flight'! That butterfly is soooo pretty! I love winged things!

I will be back in a little bit to share the other swap project and more! : )


Recipe:
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette and Very Vanilla
Ink: Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze
Extras: Very Vanilla ribbon and envelopes

Paper Bag Graduate!

It is about time!! I have been remiss in making one of my graduation gifts! I have just been soooooo busy! I decided today was the day though and I finally sat down and made the time to get it done! I documented the whole graduation in the pages of this paper bag album! Our home school group graduated four kids this year and my oldest son was one of them! This album is for the other young man that graduated with him.

I used SU! Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock throughout the album. I used Red, Black and Very Vanilla ribbon and lots of little scraps! I also used a few brads and an eyelet here or there! I used my fancy, schmancy gold marker pen to outline the edges of several pages and a ton of mono adhesive! : )

Really fun project! : )

Have a peachy day!

P.S. My son is the handsome one in the green tassle! : )

...and the rest!

Funky Scrapbook Layout!

Here is another project from the Scrapbook Convention I went to! I wasn't crazy about this spread when I was working on it, but once I got it home and took it out I decided I did like it after all! The colors are all peachy and pinky! I think it will be even cuter once I dress it up with pictures! The cute little zipper thingie on the side really makes it!

Hope everyone is having a good week! Mine has been crazy, busy!! Until next time!! : )

A convention project!

I had such good intentions! I took several pictures of my convention projects so that while my hubby and boys were away for the weekend (with my camera!!) I could still keep up with my blog posts! Then it occurred to me about 2 hours after they left that I never uploaded the photos! Duh! So much for that plan!

Anyhow my sons are home safe and sound and they had a wonderful time, but hubby had to leave again this morning for more work travel...sigh! I have my camera back though so I thought I would stop in and make a post! : )

This was the very first project I did at the Scrapbook Convention I went to! It was a simple, quick, sit down and do make and take project! I loved it! The colors are so quirky and fun! It was a kit and all of the pieces came from The Paper Loft! They had such fun things in their booth! This was the very first place we stopped and the very last! : )

The first photo is of the finished project! The second one is of the empty holder and the others are of the front and back of the insides! I haven't had time to get any pictures in it yet, but isn't it soooo cute!