Left over Valentine's!

Hi there! Hope that you are having a nice weekend! I have a demonstrator's meeting today so I need to keep this brief, but I wanted to share the Valentine's Day baskets I made this year! I kept them simple and traditional...red and white! I stamped hearts all over the white paper and made a plain 2-4-6-8 box with a scalloped edge. I added an embossed heart with a little button doo dad to the front! I filled these with chocolate and gave them to some of my Valentine's! :) Here is my basket:





Ok, I am off to my meeting! We always have lots of fun projects so I will post some eye candy tomorrow from the meeting! Have a wonderful day!

Rolling Marbles!

Hello! Happy Saturday! I have the neatest technique to share with you today! It is called the Rolling Marble Background and it is so much fun! Here is a link to the tutorial on SplitCoast:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/rollingmarblebackground/

I used the same layout on this card as yesterday's because I really liked it! I made these cards for my technique swap for my demonstrator's meeting! I plan to do this again though because it really makes a neat background! Here us the card I made:



Sorry to be so brief, but I have oodles to do before bed! Have a wonderful night!

Perfect 10 Challenge!

Hello and happy Friday! :) I wanted to stop by and share my latest challenge card with you! The particulars of the challenge were to make a card using pastel colors and ribbon. It was a welcome challenge because I am soooo ready for spring and pastel colors just scream spring! :) I used a new back ground stamp that I just got from my sweet friend Colleen (hiya Colleen :)!!) and some of my new SU! goodies! The butterfly is cut from the new embosslit and the background is dry embossed using a SU! folder! My colors are Pale Plum, Blush Blossom, Sage Shadow and Whisper White. I used Almost Amethyst ink for the stamp. Stamp set is Of the Earth. Here is my challenge card:





Feels like Spring! :)

I will be back soonest wth more to share! Have a great night!

Cards for Grandma!

Hello again! This is my second post for today! Can you believe it?! LOL Recently I promised my Grandma I would make her a pile of cards to keep on hand to send out to her friends! She has always been big on card sending...must be where my desire to make cards comes from! I am not so great at the actual sending them out once they are made though part! So this way I can make them and she can send them! These are two of the cards I made for her:





It is so neat to me that they can be the same basic design but look so different because of the colors used! I will be sending her several of each of these with different sentiments! This will be the second batch of cards that I sent to her. I had to laugh because she sent me a thank you note for her Christmas goodies and when I opened the card it was one that I had made! She is silly like that!

Ok, time to call it a night! Thanks for stopping by! I will be back soonest! :)

CCC # 19

Hello there! Happy Monday! It is time for another Crafty Critter Challenge! This one is being hosted by the lovely Kelly! Hey there girl friend! :) Here are the particulars:

My challenge to you is to create a card:

- using NO traditional Valentine's Day red and pink ... you may use other shades of it ... just not the regular shades ...
- at LEAST 2 different embellishments ...
- LAYER it up ... at LEAST 2 layers ...

Really fun challenge, Kelly! Thank you for hosting! :) Here is my card:



I used Stampin' Ups! Loads of Love and water colored it using my fun new aqua pen! Love that thing! None of my colors are too traditionally red or pink (only a little!)! I am thinking that I could have used a few more layers to really "Kelly it up" though!

Have a super day! I will be back soonest!

Mini Scrapbook album! :)

Hello! I have to keep this brief tonight in case the power goes out again! We were without power for most of the day and it got COOOOOLD in the house!! The wind has been blowing something fierce all day long too. This has been some winter so far!

I wanted to share my album with you guys! I have been working on a mini scrapbook album for my step dad and finally got it all finished!! It is a 6X6-er. Here is the album with some of it's pages:

This is the album closed with plastic page covers! I know Grandpa is spelled funny, but that is how we have always spelled it! :)


Side view:


My youngest:


My youngest three goofing around!


My Grandma with my kids: (She is my hero!!)


My oldest son and daughter to be:


My son:


My daughter:


My oldest son:


My babies:


My babies after a swim in the pool:


The back cover of the album: (they live in Alaska so I thought the bears would be fitting!) I made the snow by tearing a sheet of Whisper White card stock and adding the vellum sticker bears.



I am so proud of my children! I have enjoyed watching them grow into the amazing people that they have become and feel grateful every single day for them. :)

Ok, I am off before the power give out again! Have a wonderful night and stay warm! I will be back soonest with more to share!

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! :)