Snowman basket!

Hello! How is your weekend? Mine has been really nice! We had a wonderful day visiting our son yesterday! :) I miss him already though. :(

I spent most of today working on my swap for tomorrow's demonstrator meeting! The theme is "Use your Big Shot/Cuttlebug" somehow on your project! Project is anything goes! I decided that I would make something super simple and as usual my idea turned into a lengthy involved project! I used the Tope Note die and the fingers of the snowflake die to make the arms of my snowman! I made a little insert to turn the top notes into a basket and added a handle. I stamped snowflakes on the front, back and sides and added Dazzling Diamonds to the centers. I used the new snowman background stamp from the holiday mini, but cut out his middle! I used brads as button! You could stuff lots of tiny little things into this basket, but my choice would be something chocolate-y! :) Here is my Cuttlebugged snowman project:







Thanks for stopping by! I will be back soonest! :)

A blank slate and some reflection!

Morning! I am posting early today because I anticipate having another full day and I wanted to make sure I squooze this in! :) There is a small disclaimer that goes along with this simple post so consider yourself warned! If you are not one for mush you may want to scroll on down to the picture and check back in tomorrow! :)

Today's picture is a very simple one! I made a semi-blank scrapbook page! It is 6X6 in size, but it is giant in my head and heart! I made it small and kept it plain intentionally! I made this yesterday with a specific picture to fill it up in mind. The only thing is that I have not taken the picture yet! I knew when I was assembling it though exactly what picture would need to go there! Last night hubby and I packed up the kids and we drove almost 5 hours to see our oldest son! He moved out about 8 months ago and we do not get to visit with him very much anymore. I miss him so much that I cannot even put it into words. He is such a great kid and he works all the time and it is tough for him to get home because of his work schedule. We only get to spend the day because we have other commitments that we have to get home for, but it is sooooo nice to see him! We went to dinner last night and will be spending the day with him today! It is so wonderful to be together as a family again! One of the hardest parts of being a parent is letting go, but it is part of the deal. We have let go, but I don't love it! LOL He is only 5 hours away but some days that feels like such a long distance. He is smart and funny and responsible and just all around wonderful! When we showed up he made certain to take an active interest in each of his siblings asking how they were and what was going on with them! He played with them and it was so wonderful to see them all together and laughing! As a parent, I question myself often! Always hoping that I am doing everything right and giving enough and setting all of the right examples. When you see your kids liking one another and getting along and sincerely concerned about one another it makes you feel like maybe you are on the right track! Our oldest son will be 20 next month (Gosh! Where does the time go!!) and I am really proud of him! I am really proud of all of my kids and made this page with a picture of them together in mind! Once I get home and get the page put together I will share it with you! :)

Here is the page waiting for a story to be told:



I am off to spend the day with my family! Hope that you have a wonderful day...I plan to! :) Be back soonest!

Yummy card candy!

Hello! Happy Thursday! I have a quick post for you today! My day has been jammed packed and time has gotten away from me, but I wanted to stop by and share a little something with you! I received one of my swaps back recently and wanted to show you some of the goodies I got back! The swap was hosted by one of my super sweet friends Melissa! *waving big!!* It was called Card Candy and was a lot of fun! You were supposed to make 3-5 pieces of candy for each theme you signed up for. They can be used as scrap book or card embellishments...fun stuff! Here are the candies that I made and here are some of the candies I received:



Winter!


Winter!


Winter!


Beach!


Beach!

Thanks for looking! Have a great night! Be back soonest!

Pickles and a friendly hello!

Hey there! Can you believe it is already the middle of the week? Sheesh! Where has this week gone...heck...where has this year gone?! Time is just flying by!

Have you ever had someone do something really nice for you out of the blue? It is such a wonderful thing to know that there are people out there that think enough of you to do a little something special for you! I had kind of a stinky day today...it has been raining for what feels like days! Several things have 'come undone' today and I have big stuff on my mind. Just one of those kinds of days and then a little something unexpected happened to brighten my whole day! I friend brought me a jar of pickles! What is so special about pickles you ask?! I am allergic to vinegar. It is in everything so I have to be very mindful of what I eat. My wonderful, sweet friend brought me pickles made with lemon juice instead of vinegar today!! Just because she knows I cannot have regular pickles! I happen to LOVE pickles and have really missed them! Who would have known that a pickle (well 2 actually!) could make a girl so happy! Big pickled grin! :) Thank you, Bridget!!

I have a quick and simple card to share with you today! I made this as a reveal card for one of the many Secret Sister swaps I am in! I just love this little ladybug paper! This card is quite simple and pretty self explanatory so I will let the picture do the talking! Here is my reveal card:



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

Pumpkin Basket!

Hello! How are you? It is cold and rainy here today...a perfect day for holing up and crafting the hours away! Unfortunately my day was full of doctor's visits and errand running. I do have something to share with you though! I saw this on Becky's Robert's blog and thought it was the most adorable thing ever!! I couldn't wait to make one and was so excited with how it came out! You can find the original here. She is wonderfully talented! I think this is so cute because it is so tiny! I just love little bitty things! This is only big enough to hold a couple of mini candy bars or a couple of kisses! I thought these would make the cutest little Thanksgiving table place decorations! Maybe add a name to each or add a note expressing why I was thankful for each person! Lots of ideas! :) This was made using SU!s Wide Oval punch. I sponged the edges of each one and layered them. I added a couple of stamped leaves, a stem made from half of the word window punch and curled a thin strip of green. Did I mention how crazy about these I am! I plan to make oodles of them! :) Here it is:





Sorry about the stinky lighting! I took this in the rain today! Ok, I am off to do the dishes and figure out dinner! Thanks for stopping by! Will be back soonest!

Crafty Critters Challenge #11

Hello! How are you today? I am doing well! I have had a very full, busy day! I broke my day into 30 minute increments and went back and fourth between craft projects and house projects! I was surprisingly productive! I got two swaps finished up and two other packages ready to mail! I got a third swap designed and started and managed to get the fridge, freezer, pantry and microwave all cleaned out and scrubbed shiny! :) We stay so busy with all of our running any more that these chores wind up getting put on a back burner. I was happy to get them caught up! :)

I also managed to get my latest Crafty Critter Challenge card finished! I must say I LOVED THIS CHALLENGE!!!! Tracey hosted (Hiya Tracey!!). This was an awesome challenge!! Here are the details:

Use SCS Card Sketch 240
No Red or Green
Use Stickles and Ribbon
Use Any Christmas Image

I was going to go with a baby blue right up until the last minute and then this silver and pink combo screamed out at me! I used SU! Pink Pirouette as my base. I stamped the flower from Delightful Decorations in Pretty in Pink and added Stickles to the center of each. I used Whisper White punched with my eyelet border punch as my panel #2. I used one of the ornaments from Delightful Decorations as piece #3 and 'hung' it with ribbon. I made panel #4 using the deer from SU! Winter Post. I sponged blue on top and sponged a moon using the masking technique. I lined the edge of the white with Dazzling Diamonds to create a glistening snow-y effect. I mounted it on pink and white and outlined all of the edges using a silver marker. Here is my challenge card:




I want to make all of my Christmas cards in pink now! I just love the way the pink and silver look together! :)

Ok, lots to do tonight and an early day tomorrow! Hope that you have a wonderful night! I will be back soonest!

Welcome babies!

Hello! How are you today? I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend! We went to a baby shower today! My hubby has an uncle who has 4 boys (his cousins) and the last few years have been very eventful for them! So far we have celebrated 4 graduations, 4 wedding showers, 4 weddings, 3 baby showers and there are 2 babies on the way! Very busy time for hubby's uncle and aunt! :)

I wanted to share 2 of the baby cards that I made with you! I used stamps from a set called Zoo-licious and used my Cricut to cut the onesies out. I stamped different images on the onsies and added brads for the snaps. I made my own background paper by stamping a soft looking rose from SU!s Watercolor Mini's onto Whisper White card stock. I used my Eyelet border punch to decorate the binder edge and mounted the whole thing on a mint green color and then on to a Pretty In Pink base. I tied a Whisper White bow across the onsie to break up the pink. I thought they came out pretty cute! :)

The shower was very nice and it seemed like everyone there brought a baby! There were babies all over the place! It made me a little sad that my kids are all growing so fast. I am so proud of them though! They are all growing into such nice people! Anyhow, here are my Zoo-licious cards:





Ok, well I am off to get some things done! Tomorrow starts another busy week! I will be back soonest! Have a great night! :)

Birthday Wishes!

Hello there! Hope that you have had a full and happy day! Our day started with an early morning soccer game and then errands and then ended with a birthday party! My son's team won their game and I had just enough time to run home and make a bday card and get the kids to the party!

It is always such a challenge to me to try to make a masculine card! The only thing harder than making a masculine card is making one for a 17 year old teenager! LOL I went with blues and browns but couldn't resist using a yummy cupcake image with some sparkle! The teenager in question is a really great kid would appreciate anything we did for him so I wasn't too worried about the sparkle! I stuffed a gift certificate into the card, because those are one size fits all! I used the sets Crazy for Cupcakes and Sincere Salutations, both from Stampin Up! I added some chocolate chip ribbon to make the card feel balanced and then some sparkle gems! The designer paper behind the cupcake image and the card base are both from a card kit I received recently. Here is the finished card:



I am embarrassed to admit that I was able to make this card without getting up from my chair even once! LOL I had all of the needed supplies piled (very high!) on my desk! I guess I will be spending some time tomorrow cleaning up my space! :) Ok, long day so I am off in search of some zzzzz's! Hope that you have a good night! I will be back soonest! :)

Let it snow and lazy day! :)

Hello! Happy Friday! I had such a nice day today! For the first day in almost 2 months I spent the whole day at home! Soccer practice was canceled and we had no other obligations so I just bummed around the house all day long! It was wonderful!! I was able to get two of my swaps done start to finish! Woo Hoo! Progress! I am starting to think about the holidays and all of the busy that they bring with them, so I am feeling the need to get my swaps all caught up and under control!

One of the swaps I finished was my 6 month card swap! We are on month 5 and I finished all of my cards to mail out and since I am the hostess for the next month I got all of those kits ready to be sent out too! This is a great swap...each month the hostess sends kits out to all 5 girls in the group and we each make 5 cards and send them to everyone in the group! I kept my card simple this month! I used the snowman image and grid paper that came in the kit and added the giant snowflake and small snowflakes with a little bling! I ran the grid paper through my Cuttlebug to get the polka dots. I left the card without any sentiment so it can be used for any winter occasion. Here is my card: (Isn't that snow-guy just the cutest!?)



Tomorrow we are back to our usual running! We have an early morning soccer game and an evening bday party! I hope to pop in here between the two! Have a wonderful night! Be back soonest! :)

Recipe card!

Hello! I have a quickie post to share tonight! My little one is not feeling well so I only have a few minutes.

I finished up one of my swaps this afternoon and wanted to share it with you! The swap was for a low carb low fat recipe card exchange for my sweet friend Wendy! (Hiya Wendy!)

The card is 6 X 6 (love this size!) and for a side dish! I used my Cricut to cut out all of the little accessories. I stamped the background with a leaf shape that I thought slightly resembled and a bean and used my SU! scalloped border to edge the recipe. I added a few blue circles for a splash of color and used gold brads as the required embellishment and I used SU! Going Gray and a blender pen to create a shadow under the pot and spoon.

Here is my card:



Hope that you have a good night! I am off to baby my baby! Be back soonest!

Missing you!

Hello! Wowee-wow-wow what a very long week it has been and it is only Wednesday! We have a very full schedule and run somewhere every day of the week lately! Between gymnastics, soccer, home school functions and college classes we seem to always be on the go! We live in the middle of nowhere so getting to all of those places requires quite a lot of driving! I don't really mind though because your kids are only young once and boy oh boy do they ever grow fast...waaaaay too fast actually!

We had a home school meeting today and one of our mom's brought her new grandbaby and she was so tiny and adorable! Another mom who had her hands full with two of her little one's needed a third set of hands to hold her 12 week old baby so I jumped at that chance! It got me to reminiscing in my own head about how little my kids were and how quickly they have grown! It also got me to thinking about my mom who I miss lots! She was here recently for a visit and I hated to see her go. So, my project today is for my mom! It is simple but practical! She reads all the time so I made her a little book mark! Just a little something to let her know I am missing her. The words are hard to make out, but they say "Even though we're far apart you're always in my heart!". Sorry about the stinky picture. The lighting was terrible and due to my running today I missed the chance to take it outside!

I just got this new stamp today and thought she was too cute! I can see lots of possibilities for her! The stripety socks remind me of both of my daughters! :)

Here is my little creation:








Loooong day and I am heading to grab some zzzzzzzzz's! Hope that you have a wonderful night! I will be back soonest! :)

The best coffee is coffee with a friend!

Hello! Happy Tuesday! How are you today! Doing wonderful, I hope!

Are you a coffee drinker? I am...well kind of! Drinking coffee makes me feel like a grown up! (nevermind the mortgage payment, mini van or dozens of other responsibilities!) I LOVE to make coffee and smell it brewing and fix it all up for drinking, but I usually only make it through 3 or 4 sips and then am done! Hubby teases me that is isn't real coffee anyhow, that it is coffee flavored hot chocolate! What can I say...I like a lot of cream and sugar in my 3 or 4 sips!

My favorite though is to have coffee with a friend! I usually make it mostly through my cup when I am chatting and visiting! I have a friend that I have coffee with occasionally and I always look forward to that visit! Life gets super busy and we don't get to visit as often as I would like but when we do it is always really nice and the coffee always tastes better! I made this card today with my special friend in mind! I received a card kit recently from my very generous and wonderful SS in a fun card kit swap! She put together a wonderful kit and the theme was coffee and the colors were a lovely turquoise and chocolate combo! I used all of the pieces in the kit to make this card! The ribbon was a gorgeous satin-y chocolate color and the brads matched perfectly! The adorable image is a favorite of mine! He is a Riley stamp! Thank you SS for the fantastic card kit and thank you to my special friend for being you!

Here is my card:



I hope that you had a 2 cup of coffee kind of day and that you were able to sip it with a wonderful friend too! Have a good one! I will be back soonest! :)

Friends and chocolate!

Hello! How are you today! Anyone else in a sugar coma?! I have had a ton of chocolate! Big grin! :) Isn't Halloween grand?!

I am amazed that it is November already!! We are just a few weeks away from Thanksgiving (my very favorite holiday!!) and then before we know it Christmas will be here! Yikes!!! I just am not ready to go there yet! I think I will have some more chocolate instead! :)

I wanted to share a gable box that I made with you! I made this for one of my very sweet, wonderful friends recently. She is always doing really nice things for folks and I wanted to do a little something for her. She is one of the nicest, most generous people I know! (Hiya Kelley!!) I filled this little guy up with Hershey's kisses (the melt-away kind....yummm-o!) and added a rose cut from my Cricut to the front with some flutter-y butterflies! Tacked on a little matching tag and Viola'! It was a really fun little project! I hope she likes it as much as I liked making it for her! :)



Ok, lots left to do today! I will be back soonest! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Halloween!

Hello, hello, hello! :) How are you? Hope that you had a very happy (and safe!) Halloween! I sure did! I just LOVE Halloween! It is such a fun holiday! We had a very full weekend, but it was a lot of fun! The good news is that there was a lot of chocolate to be had...the bad news is that I am pretty certain that I have eaten my weight in chocolate this weekend! LOL Good thing Halloween only comes once a year! I wanted to share some pictures with you guys! My Home school group had a party and I made some little treats for everyone. I made 70 of these little Smarties packets! They were super easy! I got the idea from a wonderful fellow demonstrator (Hiya Carolyn!!) and changed it up a bit! She put pixie sticks in hers. I shrunk mine down and used Smarties! I also made several of the bigger ones and stuffed them with Hershey's bars...Yummmm-o! I crimped my paper and used brads to hold the pocket in place. I added a little stamped goody (I used Stampin Up!s Batty for You) to each one and tied it with a contrasting ribbon. These went together very quick and are just so adorable :) I think these would make cute Christmas gifts too with a change of color in paper and image of course! I am also including some pictures from our weekend!











My hubby the Nerd! He was too cute! You couldn't see it in the picture, but he had a tiny little Alphafa sprout on the top of his head! :)



Daniel as an Oval Referee!



Hannah as a Goth Warrior!



Tyler as a cowgirl with her trusty Chihuahua sidekick Bear!



Kids and I! Notice my black eye...you should have seen the other guy! Giggles! :)

Thanks for stopping by! I will be back soonest with more fun stuff to share! Have a wonderful night! :)

Wonderful weekend!

Hello! Happy Thursday! My post today is more of a personal post than a crafty post! I wanted to share some photos from our weekend trip! It was a total spur of the moment, impromptu thing! We drove 5.5 hours to the beach so our youngest kiddo could stick her toes in the ocean! As I mentioned in the last post she has developed a fascination with the ocean and we want to gently encourage that! (insert marine biologist here!) We had an absolutely wonderful time! We were only there for one night and two half days, but we managed to squeeze a ton of stuff into the weekend! After we left the beach we headed to the Living Museum! It was awesome! Learned a ton of new things and spent some real quality time with the kids! The only thing that would have made it more perfect was if our oldest son could have come with! Despite my very best efforts these loaded backwards! Anyhow here are some photos from the trip:


Cory and Tyler are petting a screech owl at the Living Museum! He was adorable!! He turned his head almost completely around!


An opossum! She was actually very cute!


We got to touch lots of sea creatures here! My favorite was the decorating crab! The tour guide girlie said they call them that because they look for to stuff to attach to their shells to decorate them! Thought that was too funny!


Kids and I at an outside exhibit at the museum!


Daniel in the pool!


Hannah in the pool!


Cory and I watching the kids in the pool! LOL Notice the Stampin Up! catalog in my lap! :)


Silly kids!


The sky at the beach!


Sandy toes at the beach!


Daniel chasing Tyler!


Hannah...the reason we went to the beach!


Here are Tyler and Hannah at Daniel's soccer game the morning we left! They are good buddies (except when they are fighting like sisters of course!) I am glad they have each other!

I have a bazillion more photos but did not want to bore you! Those were just some of my favorites! If you made it all the way to the end...thanks for hanging in there! :) LOL I will be back soonest with some crafty eye candy! In the meantime, have a wonderful day!