School is starting!

Hello! It was a yucky rainy Monday here today! The sky was gray all day and the rain was cold...just one of those days perfect for crafting! Unfortunately, I was only able to squeeze in a little bit of crafting time though. I made another back pack today, but this one is for one of my most very favorite people in the whole wide world! I made this one for my hubby! He is going back to school starting tomorrow and I just wanted him to know how excited and proud I am of him! I chose muted colors because those are his favorites and gold embossed little hearts on the main piece of the back pack. I used chocolate chip ribbons and gold eyelets for the holes. I had to laugh to myself today! My Crop-a-dile wouldn't quite reach in far enough for some of the eyelets and so I used a hammer to flatten them out. I was in my little craft cave just banging away and no one even batted an eyelash! LOL Guess my family has gotten completely used to my strange quirks! Anyhow, here is hubby's backpack! ((I know you will do great things!))






Sorry about the stinky lighting! I took these outside in between the raindrops! (You can see little raindrops in the picture!) I kept waiting for a break in the clouds and the sun to peek through, but it just didn't happen today!

Have a great night! I will be back soonest! :)

Snow people are so cool! :)

Hi there! How was your day?! :) I had a really nice day today! It was an absolutely beautiful day here! Warm and sunny! I went and visited with one of my most very special friends. We haven't gotten to visit in several months so it was really nice to just sit and chitter chat. Then when I got home my kids and hubby and I took out our cookie press and made a ton of butter cookies in oodles of shapes! It was so nice to just play with them uninterrupted without anywhere to rush off to! It is the simple things that make life feel so full! :)

I worked an another card from my card kit pile today! I just love this paper and the Cuttlebugged snowflake background! I added the snowflakes and bling! I colored just a few things on the image to break up all of the blue and am thinking now I should have added some glitter to the snow under the snowman! I just love snow people! They always seem so happy! Here is another card for the Christmas card pile:



Hope that you had a wonderful day too! :) I will be back soonest!

My kids!

Hello! How is your weekend going?! I had a wonderful quiet day today! I didn't leave the house even once! It was a really nice break. I did some crafting and some reading and some lounging around and some dishes and some light cooking and that was about it! We had a quiet dinner and watched a movie and had homemade mixed berry cobbler for dessert...yummmm-o!

I finished up the scrapbook page that I made a couple of weeks ago and thought I would share the end result with you guys. You can see the first half of the page here. I did the first half before the photo was even taken! The picture was taken almost immediately after the kids got out of the pool so they all still have wet hair, but I thought the photo itself came out pretty cute! I actually have several 'posed' pictures of the four of my kiddos like this and I think I am going to compile them into one album. A project for another day! In the mean time though here is the most recent picture of my kids all scrap booked:




I am crazy about these guys! :) Every time I look at this picture it makes me smile!

Have a great night! Be back soonest!

Thankful Thoughts!

Hello! Well we had our fourth Thanksgiving celebration tonight! It was very nice and quite yummy! :) It is late and we just rolled in the door, but I wanted to share a thank you card I made for a friend! Since the card is to say thank you for hosting Thanksgiving I wanted it to feel Fall-ish! I used the fall leaves from a retired SU! set and went with all Fall colors. I stamped the leaves in Dusty Durango, More Mustard and Certainly Celery. The sentiment stamp is from Thoughroughly Thankful and is stamped in Chocolate Chip.




Ok, the turkey has made me ready for a nice long sleep so I am headed to bed! Hope that you had a lovely Friday! Be back soonest! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We have had a wonderful day and I hope that you have too! Quick post tonight! I just wanted to share the little hostess gift that I made! We spent the day with relatives and I always like to bring a little something to say thank you to our wonderful host! I made this gable box and filled it with chocolate! Yummmmm! I gold embossed the Tango Tangerine paper and used the stamp set Pocket Silhouettes. I used markers to add color to the main image rather than a stamp pad. I added some sparkly bling in fall colors! Punched wide oval handles and tied it all up with Chocolate Chip ribbon!






I am truly thankful for my wonderful family and my dearest friends! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! See you soonest!

Thinking of you!

Hello! Happy almost Thanksgiving! Are you ready for the big day? I sure am! My oldest son is traveling home as I type and we will be spending the day with hubby's wonderful family tomorrow! I am really excited! Something just feels so happy to me about Thanksgiving. LOVE it!

Today I sat down to create something and was at a loss! I didn't have any swaps due or projects that I was just itching to try so I grabbed one of my card kits (Thank you again, Nancy! :)) and went to work! I am slowly trying to compile a box of cards to keep on hand for birthdays and gifts and little hello's! I made this card with my Grandma in mind! Thought it looked like a perfect 'Just Thinking of You!' (in January!) kind of card! I have been trying to get in the habit of sending more cards out and am hoping this will help! I used several of the goodies from the kit! Nancy did a beautiful job coordinating everything! The background is Cuttledbug embossed and I edged everything with my silver marker pen. I added Stickles to aa of the edges and used some leftover snowflakes from my rub ons from yesterday's project!

Here is a card for my box of cards:



Off to eat dinner and wait for my kiddo to arrive! Have a wonderful night! I will be back soonest! :)

Some days it just doesn't work out...!

Ok, so I was so excited to try this project! I ran out and got the adorable snowman rub ons and the pretty clear gold ornaments with the gold toppers! I figured how hard can this be, right?! Just rub the rub on onto the glass ornament (say that three times fast!) and fill them with a little snow glitter and there you have it! I was going to make oodles and give them out as gifts! I was going to hang them everywhere! It was going to be my mass produced give one to everyone gift...but nope!! This turned out to be a big ole' flop! LOL The rub on kit came with the three most adorable snow people ever! I started with my favorite and it ripped in half!! Yikes! So then I moved on to the next one and had to really work with it. It refused to lay flat on the ornament so it has creases. Not the quality project I was hoping for! LOL Some days it just doesn't work out! I filled this one with snow and will write it off as a dud. I kept one snow person and plan to find a flat surface to apply him to! I will keep you posted to his future! :) In the mean time here is my ornament:



I think this would actually work really well with tiny little rub ons like snowflakes! Maybe one day I will give it another try, but for today my glass ornament/rub on production line has come to a screeching halt! LOL

Have a super day! Be back soonest! :)

Crafty Critters Challenge #12

Hello and happy Monday! :) It is time for another fun CC Challenge! The challenge this time was to make a backpack! It was truly a challenge! This cute little guy required a lot of effort! I was pretty pleased with the result though! I made this for one of my niece's and will have to make a duplicate for my other little niece! These were supposed to be filled with goodies so it will wind up holding Reece's Peanut Butter cups! I didn't use any kid images, but made it very flower-y and princess like! I silver embossed the flowers onto the Rich Razzleberry and just love the contrast! I used lots of eyelets and Whisper White Ribbon for the handle and straps! This was a really fun project! The rules were:


This is technique TLC232 and you can find tons of samples.

Steps to this challenge:
1. make a backpack box
2. it must be a childrens theme.....superheros, animals, princess, prince....you name it you can do it....but it MUST be a childs theme.
3. fill it with goodies as a gift to a special child in your life
4. post your creations on your blog between Nov. 16th and 23rd. As you post I will link your name to your blog post!









Hope you are having a great Monday! I will be back soonest! :)

Fa, la, la, la, la...!

Hello! I have a few Christmas cards to share with you today! I made both of these from a card kit that I received recently from Nancy! She was a wonderful SS and spoiled me with several really nice kits! These cards practically put themselves together! :) Can you believe that Christmas is right around the corner?! Not me! I just cannot get over how fast this year has flown by! I really wish I could figure out how to slow down the time!

Here are my Christmas cards:






Hope that you had a great weekend! I will be back soonest! :)

Silver Snowflakes!

Hi there! How is your weekend?! Mine has been very nice so far! We started our day with an early morning soccer game and my kiddo scored the last goal of the game and of the season!! You talk about a proud mom! He was awesome! Go Daniel! :) Then we spent the evening visiting with some of hubby's relatives! They are my absolute favorites!! They dropped by and gave my kids quilts that they made for them! They are my kid's surrogate grandparents and we are really lucky to have them! They said "These are not occasion gifts, they are just I love you gifts!" Awwwwwwww!! Makes me all misty eyed! :)

I have a simple project to share with you tonight! I have been trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Christmas is just a mere 4.5 weeks away! YIKES!!! I need to get some gifts made and stock piled away! It is tough to think about Christmas tough when it is warm enough outside for sort sleeves! LOL

I threw this little guy together in about 20 minutes! It only took that long because I heat embossed silver snowflakes on it! It is a simple 2-4-6-8 box with a few minor changes! I scored my 8.5 x 11 paper at 2.5", 5", 7.5", and 10" and then turned it and scored the 11" side at 2.5". I added the snowflakes and then folded it all up adhering it with sticky strip. I love the way the silver looks against the baby blue card stock! I added a bow and a cute snowman tag and viola'! This will hold a bag of chocolate nicely! :) Here is my little box:


Front view!


Back view!


Side view!

Hope you like it! :) Have a wonderful night! I will be back soonest! :)

Thanksgiving cards!

Hey there! My family celebrated Thanksgiving today and it was wonderful! My youngest helped me with all of the cooking and we made enough of everything to have leftovers again tomorrow night for dinner! :)I just love this holiday! We still have 2 more celebrations to have and I cannot wait!

I decided today to make a few cards to send out to some folks that I wish could be here with us. I used a retired SU! set (the name completely escapes me right now!) to make the border of leaves around the main image. I used Dusty Durango, Certainly Celery and More Mustard for the leaves. I really like the way it came out! I added a pumpkin on a pop dot to half of the cards and a turkey on a pop dot to the others! I used Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip for the card base. I rounded the corners of the white and orange for a softer look. The pumpkin was from Becky Robert's blog and the Turkey is from Flowerbug's Ink Spot! They are both such talented stampers!

Here are my cards:





Have a super night! Be back soonest! :)

You sit here and I will sit there!

Hi there! I am soooo excited! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving at my house! We always go to hubby's Aunt's house for the actual day and I really miss cooking (and the left overs!). Big grin! So, I decided this year we would have our own Thanksgiving at home! We are going all out and having a full menu! Turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, mac and cheese (son's request!), rolls and pumpkin pie! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I have to say though that this year I am feeling a little sad. Our oldest son will be driving down the day of Thanksgiving, but will have to drive back home that night. He also won't be able to make our dinner tomorrow because of his work schedule. I really miss him and it makes him feel really far away at times like this.

I wanted to do a little something special to sit at each plate! I just wanted my people to know how much I love them and that they are all very special to me! So, I made these little name tags to sit at each of their places. I kept them all simple and wrote little notes on the inside of each one. I was tempted to add some bling and flooooofy embellishments, but decided simple was the way to go! I used a retired SU! set called Kids at Play to make 3 of these and used Bear Necessities to make hubby's! I used my Just Rite Stampers to stamp the names. These were a lot of fun to color! I plan to leave a little chocolate bar along side each of these! :)









My day will start in the morning with making pumpkin pies!! Did I mention how excited I was?!!! I cannot wait! I hope that you have a wonderful night! I will be back soonest! :)

Turkey, Turkey everywhere!

Hey there! Happy hump day! How was your middle of the week day? We celebrated Thanksgiving today at my home school meeting! Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday! I am thrilled to be celebrating it 4 times this year! Today was the first of four and it was really very nice! We had a good turn out and there was lots of yummy food!

I usually try to have a theme craft planned for the kids so this time we made turkeys! I found this adorable pattern here on Flowerbug's blog! She is a whiz with punch creations! I changed our turkeys up a little bit to make them simpler for the younger ones! I omitted the turkey feetsies and left the Hershey's nugget showing! I knew with these kids I would have to work fast or they would all eat their turkey bodies before they were complete! One of the little girls said her turkey wasn't a turkey at all...that it was a funky chicken!! Imagine that with a tiny little voice and an extreme southern drawl! Here are the turkeys we made and a photo of a few of the kids with their creations!







I plan on spending tomorrow cleaning so that we can have Thanksgiving #2 on Friday! Did I mention I just love this holiday! Have a good night! I will be back soonest!

Get well and a sweet puppy face!

Hey there! Quick post tonight! I have a wonderful friend that is going to be having surgery soon and I wanted to send her a little card to let her know I was thinking of her! This little mouse is such a cutie! I just love the way he is all cuddled up in his blanket with his tissues and soup! I stamped him twice and cut out his head and his feetsies and layered them on pop dots! I wanted the colors to be bright and cheerful so I dug through my stash of paper and then tried to match the patches on his quilt to the stripes in the paper. I cut leaves out using my SU! Big Shot Leave die and added some happy get well flowers and sparkly gems. I made a tiny white edge using my SU! Eyelet border punch and faux stitched along the white on the main image. This card was as close to a hug in an envelope as I could get! :)





This second photo is of my son's new puppy love! Her name is Ellie and she is a Jack Russell! We got to meet her on our most recent visit up there and let me tell you...she is wide open! She is a live wire! I was amazed at how much energy she had! She bounced from one thing to the next the entire time we were there! She is adorable!




Have a wonderful night! Be back soonest!

Holiday Gift Card Holder or nine!

Hello, well today was a typical Monday for sure! Had one of those days that stuff just kept going nutty! Ever have one of those days?!

I worked all day long on the project I am about to share! I made 9 gift card holders for a swap that I am in! I am very attached to the wonderful ladies in this group and so it was a labor of love! I thought these would go super quick, but of course underestimated the time thing yet again! I used one of the Timeless Templates by Lauren Meader to make these. She is really talented! I used holiday colors plus a splotch of blue! :) I cut each one out and embossed it with snowflakes from SU!'s Serene Snowflakes. I used a gold marker pen to color the edges with a gold trim and made some holly berries to go on each tag from a leaf punch and red sparkle gems. The insert slides out to reveal a gift card and there is a Christmas sentiment once the gift card is removed! I used the slit punch to make a holder for each gift card. They were fun to make!












Nice thing about gift cards is that one size fits all! :) I am really anxious to send these out and get the swaps in return! I am sure they will all be amazing! :)

Ok, I am calling it a night. I am ready to put this stinky day to bed and am hoping to wake up to a much brighter one tomorrow! :) Have a great night! I will see you soonest! :)

Ho Ho Ho!!

Hello! How are you? Where did the weekend go?! Seems like Friday just rolled in and now Sunday is about to roll out! LOL I had a very full but nice weekend! I hope that you did too! :)

I had a SU! demonstrator's meeting today! It is always so nice to get together with those ladies! They are all a lot of fun! We just laughed and laughed and ate and ate and laughed some more!

Before I scurried out the door to the meeting I worked on one of my swap cards for my 6 month card kit swap. I am the December hostess which means I send kits out along with finished cards to all 5 ladies in my group. Since December was my month the image was a no brainer! :) I went with Jolly Ole' Saint Nic and greens and reds! I used some elegant (no name) DSP and SU! Real Red, Whisper White, Glorious Green and Soft Suede for this card. I tied a Whisper White bow around the bottom and added white gel pen to the scalloped edges of the Soft Suede. I added green sparkle gems to to top to pull everything together. Don't think you can really see it, but I Dazzling Diamond-ed (That really is a verb, I swear! ;) Santa's little glasses! I just love sparkle! :) Here it is:



My youngest daughter saw me pull out this image and immediately started working on her Christmas list! Only about 6 weeks until the big day! Yikes!!! Again I ask...where in the world has time gone this year?!

I hope that you have a wonderful night! I will be back soonest! :)