Friday, September 30, 2011

Taking a day off.

Morning friends!  Just popping in to say have a fab weekend.  Are you doing anything fun for World Card Making Day tomorrow?  We have some plans so I'm not sure if I'll get to play along or not.  I hope I do though.  Sunday Mike is going to try his hand at making sausage.  We bought the sausage attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer for his birthday and he is trying it out for the first time :)  I don't have a crafty post for you today, but I hope you have a wonderful Friday!  See you soon!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Freshly Made Sketches #4

Good morning and a wonderfully happy Thursday to you!  Today I am playing along with FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES for their fourth sketch and it's an awesome one!  Check out the sketch...


Now I started out following the sketch almost exactly, except instead of a tag I was using one of my most favorite mini paper bags.  Only problem was, it didn't quite fit on the card.  So I flipped the sketch.  I hope that's allowed...



I first heard about Freshly Made Sketches from Arlene over at WATERDOTS.  She played along a couple of weeks ago and it just looked like so much fun!  I have never played along with a sketch challenge before so a big thanks to Arlene!!

I hope you have a beautiful day today.  Thank you so much for your fabulous comments yesterday about our home and fall decorations.  They all made me smile so much!  Thanks for popping in today and I'll see you again tomorrow!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

A bit of fall decorating.

Happy Wednesday!  Today is a great day :)  I don't have to go in to the office, I have my last annual training for the year and this one is outside.  The weatherman is calling for 80 degrees today and I can't imagine a more perfect day to be outside! 

 At the beginning of September I put out a few fallish decorations around the house.  Just some things here and there that I've collected over the years.  I thought I would share them with you today.


This first picture is of our kitchen island.  This collection of red items came about over the last several months and I've grown rather fond of it.  The only thing missing is something with some height.  I'm on the lookout for something tall and red.  The fall decorating came in with that plaid napkin that I just folded and placed under all the red pieces.


This pic is of our kitchen table.  I changed out our table runner and moved some items around on my two tiered tray.  Then I placed some candy corn in that glass jar and added a giant candle with a beaded wreath.  I've had that candle for probably ten years!


This shot is of our mantle.  All I did here was add one of those strings of garland from Hobby Lobby.  Last year I took a second strand of the same garland and hot glued it to a grape vine wreath and I had an instant front door wreath!


Here I just placed some fake mums in a tin can and put them on the hearth.  Now I am not a fan of fake flowers, but these really look good.  I know it's hard to tell from my awesome photography skillz :)  This tin has been moved all over the house and this is it's first year in the living room.


Now this picture has nothing to do with fall.  I just wanted to show you guys my new lamp shades!  Good grief, lamp shades are freaking expensive!  The old ones were white and UGLY.  I've been looking for a long time and ran across these the other day...


at Walmart!  They were only $9.97 each!  I couldn't believe it!  They are fabric and I heart them :)

Thanks for hanging out in my house today and checking out my fall decor.  Have you put up any fall decorations yet?  Won't be long and we'll be putting out the pumpkins!  Thanks for coming by and I'll see you tomorrow.  Have an awesome day today.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Coloring with my Bics.

Happy Tuesday!!!!  Oh how happy I am to see this day!  Yesterday was a doozy, to say the least.  It was one of those days where one thing after another kept happening, you know the kind where if you wore pantyhose you would have stuck your toe through the end.  I just had to laugh because after a certain point there's not much else you can do, right?  I knew this was going to be a crazy week but seriously!  :)

Sunday night, after my extremely non-productive day, I colored a bit with my Bic Mark Its.  I have yet to take the Copic plunge, for several reasons.  1)  I have a compulsive personality and I know that I will HAVE to own ALL of them.  It will bug me until I OWN THEM ALL.  I can't explain this to you unless you have a compulsive personality as well :)  2)  I don't color enough images to justify the purchase of ALL the Copics.  3)  I have so much other stuff I want to buy right now, I just don't feel like I can do it...yet.  So, for me, at least for now, Bic Mark It's fit the bill.  I have read a bunch about them and watched a great video on You Tube about how to color with them and the best thing I learned was to color in circles.  I color primarily on the card stock from Walmart or on Papertrey Inks card stock.

 With these images, I stamped with Momento Tuxedo Black ink and after the ink dried, I was able to color without the black smearing.  Another tip I picked up was to stamp with black ink and emboss with clear powder to keep from smears.




Now, I'm cool with the color choices that Bic offers and since I don't really color that often, I'm not really looking to blend my colors either.  If this is you too, you might give Bics a try.  I've been very happy with them.  However, if you want more color options and are wanting to blend and step your coloring up a notch, maybe you better go for the Copics my friend.  :)

These images are my new Recollections stamps from Michaels.  I've never bought this brand before but these little monsters were too cute to pass up!  (what do you think Katie?)  I was pretty pleased with the stamps.  The images turned out very nice.  I'm thinking of doing something with them for Landry's class for Halloween...  The wheels are definitely turning.

That's it for me on this fabulous Tuesday!  I hope you have a fantastic day and I thank you for coming by.  See you all tomorrow!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Procrastination.

Hello and happy Monday!  Did you have a good weekend?  We had a very busy Saturday, we were gone from about 9AM until 9PM.  As a result, on Sunday I was completely unmotivated...to do anything :)  Does this ever happen to you?  I did get laundry done, but as far as my grand crafting plans that didn't happen.  It was 5:00 before I even set foot in the basement.  All I accomplished was assembling a card that I started last week and stamping some images I wanted to color.  I wasn't feeling very inspired, that was part of my problem too.  There's just not much out there that's inspiring me right now.

So, the card I started last week began with a 50% off stamp from Michaels.  The hydrangea Hero Arts stamp.  Do you know it?  :)  I love that stamp, but not $14.99 love.  Only problem is, it's the end of September and hydrangeas are a spring/summer bush/flower.  I thought I'd try my hand stamping the image with fall colors. 


Sorry about the crooked photo here :) I decided to make this into more of a note card.  I love the way this turned out on the book print with the muted ink colors (I used Cats Eyes chalk ink).  I used my Nestibilities to cut around the image.


Here's a close up of the image.  I think I might make some more of these note cards but without the twine and button.  Might have to play around with the placement a bit.


Here's one more shot, this one shows the image really well.  I just love how it looks on the text!

Well, I have a bit of crazy week again so I'm already looking forward to the weekend :)  I hope you have a calm week ahead of you.  Enjoy your Monday and I'll chat with you again tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Friday, September 23, 2011

A mini Halloween card and an embellishment.

I am thrilled that it's Friday!  How about you?  Fall is definitely in the air here with cool nights and 70 degree days.  The weather couldn't be more perfect! 

On Tuesday night, when I was playing around with my Halloween stuff, I made a couple of embellishments out of the Martha Stewart tags that I told you about yesterday.  One of them looked kind of plain by itself, but still cute (weird, I know) so I turned it into a mini card.


Here's the mini card.  I punched out a circle of patterned paper and then stamped a black cat from my Hero Arts Halloween stamp set in the middle.  Then I just centered the whole piece on a 3x3 white card base.  See what I mean by being plain, but still cute?  I think it turned out great as a mini card!


Here's the little embellishment I made.  This one just has a couple of layered strips, one with the sentiment and then I stamped my image on patterned paper and popped it up with some pop dots.


Here's the money shot, as Tracy would say :)

Do you have a fun weekend planned or are you relaxing?  Mike and I are going on a Poker Run tomorrow.  We'll be on the motorcycle all day and I'm super excited about it!!!!  Mom is going to watch the girls for us :) :) :) then that night we have a barbecue at the neighbors.  Sunday we're going to relax a bit, laundry and football. 

I hope you have a GREAT Friday and a fabulous weekend!!!!  Thanks for coming by today!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Still feeling like Halloween...

Good morning!  You know how I told you I had a few Halloweeny things to share with you the next couple of days?  Well today I have another tag.


This one I used more of last years Halloween paper.  All I bought was one paper pack, you know the ones with like six sheets of paper, some stickers and a page of punch out borders?  I still have TONS of paper left over.  I always love the Halloween stuff, but never seem to use any of it.  Maybe that's why this year I'm feeling in the Halloween mood...guilt!  Haha!  Anyway, the other cool thing I used was that Martha Stewart spiderweb tag.  I picked mine up at Two Peas, but I saw Tracy bought some on her US-shop-stravaganza at Joann's ;)  They are super, SUPER cute! 

Quicky post today, sorry about that.  Thanks for coming by on this BEAUTIFUL Thursday my friends and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Feeling the Halloween spirit!

I'm so thrilled it's Wednesday, we've made it halfway through the week and I had one productive day yesterday!  Always feels good to have one of those, right? 

Last night, after dinner, I was able to get downstairs and get a few things done.  I had Halloween on the brain...again.  So, for the next few days it will be Halloween here on the bloggy!  Today I have a fun little tag.


This was a plain manila tag that I stamped with a Hero Arts spiderweb for a fun background.  Then I added a strip of last years Halloween paper and finished it off with a white garage sale tag (picked up a package of these at Walmart for, I think $1.99) and stamped my sentiment on it.  Now this tag is ready for a layout, a card, a gift bag or a mini book.

That's it for today :)  Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Mini Halloween notebook.

Good Tuesday morning!  How are you today?  We're in for a warm day today.  It was pretty cool several days last week so it will be nice to have a warm day today.

Last week when I showed you the thank you cards I made for my cousin, I thought I would make something for her daughter too.  She's in first grade this year and I know how my daughters love little notebooks and notepads so I whipped up a little Halloween themed one just for her!


This is a mini composition notebook I picked up at Walmart for $.77 in the office aisle.  I covered both sides with Halloween paper and distressed the edges.  After adding a bit of  ribbon, I embossed a pumpkin with some orange embossing powder and matted it on black paper.  Just a fun place for her to keep little notes this fall!

So, for dinner last night we had spaghetti squash.  Have you guys had this?  My neighbor Leah LOVES it, my friend Joy LOVES it and various other people have raved about it lately.  Last night was the night and I have to say, it was a big hit at our house!  We will definitely be having it again!  So yummy and SO filling!

Have a fantastic Tuesday and I'll see you back here tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping in today and sharing a few minutes with me.  :)

Monday, September 19, 2011

New hair accessories!

Hello there and happy Monday morning to you all!  Do you like Mondays or are you not a fan?  I enjoy my weekends so much that I would love to have Monday be an extension of the weekend, but I like to look at Monday as a fresh start for the week.  Monday is a choice.  A choice to start your week out on a good foot!

Today's project started a couple of weeks ago when the girls an I were at Michaels.  You know how they have those pre-made Recollections flowers?  Well, I let each of the girls pick out a two pack and I turned them into hair clips.





Excuse the window screens in the background :)

I picked up some hair clips at Sally Beauty Supply (a package of 80 cost $5.49) and covered them in white 1/4" grosgrain ribbon using hot glue.  Then I peeled the protective covering off the sticky back on the flower and hot glued the flower to the hair clip.  The sticky back seemed like it was secured really well to the flower so I didn't worry about taking it off.  We'll see how well they hold up.  My girls are pretty rough on their hair accessories!  The best thing about these was how fast they came together!  All four only took me a total of about five minutes!

I hope you had a great weekend!  We ran around all day Saturday, running errands.  Sunday we spent at home, cleaning closets and doing laundry.  I'm looking forward to a nice normal week this week after such a crazy one last week!  Have a fabulous Monday and I'll see you back here tomorrow!  Thanks for coming by today. 

Friday, September 16, 2011

Using old and new!

Happy Friday!  I am so happy it's the end of the week, how about you?  The other day I won a giveaway over at SCRAPBOOK TREEHOUSE.  If you haven't checked out Mary Jo's blog yet, you should.  She has some great layouts and posted a super cute mini the other day too.  One thing I love about blogging is connecting with people from around the world.  Funny thing about Mary Jo is that we live just across the state from each other :)  Two people who otherwise would have never met, right? 

Anyway, the giveaway was some awesome cardstock Thickers and some Studio Calico stamps.  When my package arrived, Mary Jo had thrown in an extra, a little package of Prima canvas tags!  Wasn't that nice?  I have to say I was really excited about the Thickers, you know I just purchased my first set about a month ago so to have a different font and type was really cool.  I didn't know what to expect with the Studio Calico stamps, I've heard good things about their products, but have never tried any for myself.  Let me tell you, these stamps are great!  Really thick, strong acrylic and the image comes out super clear.  I'll try and get something made soon and post it for you :)

On to my project.  Back in JULY I posted a few different ways I have to break myself out of my funk and the embellishment on this card was one of them.


I pulled the embellishment out of my scrap tray and simply added the Thickers from Mary Jo for my sentiment.


To mimic the stitching on the Thickers, I used my white gel pen and made dashes all around the black cardstock base.



Then I adhered the whole embellishment piece to the card.  So easy!  Thanks Mary Jo :)

Do you have anything fun going on this weekend?  This is our first weekend in over a month that we don't have any plans!  Yeah!!!!!  I know we'll end up doing something, but it will be on our own schedule and that's my FAVORITE kind of weekend :)  I hope you all have a fabulous day and an even more wonderful weekend.  Thanks for coming by today and I'll see later.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Easy thanks.

Good morning friends!  I have a quick post today.  For those of you that have been reading for awhile, you know that my cousin has breast cancer.  I thought I might whip up some thank you cards for her should the need arise.  You never know when you might need a thank you, right?  :)


 (sorry about the bad pics, not sure what was going on here...)

I made my favorite thank yous for Jessica with three different background colors and three different sentiments.  Then I added the ribbon on each one.  I found that punch at Michaels and it's so cool because it embosses it too, so it looks like the ribbon is actually folded.  So cool :)



I packaged them up in a clear box from Papertrey Ink and am going to send these in the mail to her over the weekend.  She just lives about 15 minutes from me, but who doesn't love a little surprise package in the mail?

I'm back in training today.  I'll sure be glad to be back in the office and back to my regular routine on Friday :)  Have a wonderful day today and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

WOYWW

Happy Wednesday!  I'm playing along today with What's on your workdesk Wednesday!  It's been months since I've played along and I'm super excited that I get to today!

So, check out my desk!


Any guesses as to what I'm working on?  :)

For more fabulous workdesks, stop by Julia's blog (the link is at the top of this post).  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll be back tomorrow!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Clothes Pins

Wow, after the awesome weekend had I sure had a crazy Monday!  So glad it's Tuesday :)  I've been extremely busy at work lately and this week I'm in annual training on Wednesday and Thursday so I've got to try and fit most of my work in to just two days this week.  It is really making me grateful for my evenings, that's for sure!

Last week I saw the cutest post over on the October Afternoon blog.  Clothes pins.  The poster was a teacher and she uses clothes pins to transport loose papers back and forth from home to school.  Well, I didn't have anything I needed clothes pins for, but I sure thought they were cute!  :)



I just painted my clothes pins with acrylic paint and then trimmed my Boarding Pass paper to fit.  Done.  Not much easier than that, right?  I'm going to have to hunt around for some loose papers now.  These are way too cute to just sit around.  Any suggestions on what I could use them for?

No plans for my Tuesday afternoon, except to buy stamps and maybe finish up some cards I started over the weekend.  What about you?  I hope you have a terrific Tuesday.  Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you tomorrow!

Monday, September 12, 2011

A twist on the traditional birthday card.

A happy Monday morning to you all!  Did you have a fabulous weekend?  I have to say that my Sunday went just as I planned.  After handling all my morning business; laundry, dishes, Michael's etc. I headed down to the basement.  I had been planning this all week, if you remember.  I couldn't believe that I was actually down there, before 4:00 PM!  Haha.  I cleaned and organized for about two hours and it felt so good.  I got new stamps indexed in my ROLODEX, I rearranged my desk and got the girls area cleaned up too!  Then I got to create!

This year, instead of making Mike a traditional birthday card, I made him a grateful for you card.  I listed on the front of the card just a few of the reasons why I'm grateful for him and then on the inside a wrote a bunch of mushy stuff, which I'll spare you all from reading ;)



I had this card pictured in my head for quite awhile so it came together really quickly for me.  Love when that happens :)

Did you get to craft this weekend?  Do you find that you have more time to craft in the fall/winter or is it the opposite for you?  I seem to get more done in the cooler weather months because we spend more time inside.  I'm happy and sad about this :) :(  Haha.

Abie starts tennis back up again tonight.  She is thrilled that the doctor gave her the okay last week.  Her bone is completely back to normal now.  It's also Papa John's night for the school so mom is thrilled about that, I don't have to cook!  I hope you have a magnificent Monday my friends!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Time needed!

Good grief, where has this week gone?  I have been trying to keep my head above water all week long, at work and at home and it just hasn't been happening :)  Unfortunately my crafty time is what has been suffering. 

I was able to get downstairs last night and make a get well card for a family member.  It felt SO good to be crafty!  But it was somewhat bittersweet.  I looked around my crafty area and saw so much stuff that needed to be cleaned and organized and more stuff that needed to be used!  Haha!

My get well card is for a manly family member :)  I hope it cheers him up!


This Boarding Pass paper was perfect because he use to work for the railroad!  I was so excited :)  I embossed my sentiment so it would really show up on the patterned paper.  The circle embellishment came from a railroaders time keeping book I picked up at an antique  store several months ago.

What are your plans this weekend?  Mike's birthday is Saturday so we're heading up to the Harley plant for their open house.  Sunday is football, football, football :) for him which means crafting, crafting, crafting for me :)  Maybe I'll be able to catch up!  Have a fantastic Friday and a beautiful weekend!  Thanks for coming by today!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

A blog award!

Gotta love a short week, right?  Thursday already my friends!  I can't believe how busy we've been this week, I have so many things I want to get started on, crafty wise, and I just can't seem to get my time management in check.  Ha!

Yesterday I got a blog award from my friend TRACY.  If you haven't been to her blog before, GO NOW!  She is so creative :)  She's been on a Copic kick lately and her coloring is amazing!  Then, there's her mini albums...to...die...for.  The detail she puts into them blows me away!  Oh, and you can't talk about Tracy and not mention her family, she LUUUUUUVS her girls and her hubby more than anything :)  Oh yeah, and she's the funniest little thing ever!  :)  Thanks so much for the award Tracy!  You're the best!


Now along with this award, I have to answer some questions.  Here we go!

Q1)  Name your favorite color

Pink

Q2)  Name your favorite song

Right now...Party Rock Anthem or Pumped up Kicks

Q3)  Name your favorite dessert

Chocolate cake with chocolate icing

Q4)  What wizzes you off at the moment

Seriously, how can anything make you mad when you read the word wizzes?  :)  There's really not a whole lot that makes me mad.  At least not anything I can think of right at the moment.

Q5)  Your favorite pet

That would have to be Murray, our half lab half St. Bernard :)

Q6)  Black or White

Black, it's more sophisticated.  Ha!

Q7)  Your biggest fear

Something happening to Mike

Q8)  Best feature

My winning personality :)

Q9)  Everyday attitude

Have you ever read The Secret?  :)

Q10)  What is perfection

This last weekend was perfection

Q11)  Guilty pleasure

TWO cups of coffee in one day!

Q12)  When you're upset you

Call Mike, or my mom, or my sister

Okay, now I have to pass this along to some crafty friends!  Check out these blogs if you get a chance, these are some amazing and talented ladies!!

STEPH
KATIE
SUE
CHRISTINA
MARY PAT
TAMMY
TABITHA

Well, that's it for me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by today and I'll see you back here tomorrow!  Have a GREAT day today!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Cork

Good morning!  I have a simple card to share today that has a fun little embellishment, cork!  Several months ago I bought some cork sheets from Michelle Wooderson's Etsy shop.  I looked everywhere to try and find them locally, but had no luck.  I have only used the cork sheets once, horrible I know, since I bought them from Michelle.  I'm afraid to use them all up ;) since I can't just run right out and buy some more.

Imagine my excitement when I was at Michael's Sunday and I ran across the cork sheets...ON CLEARANCE!!!!  Now I feel like I can use cork until my heart is content!



This cork slides right through my Cuttlebug with my dies like butter.  Love it!  In fact, I was so excited about the cork, I didn't realize how plain the base of my card looked until I uploaded my pics.  Ha!  We'll just focus on the embellishment for today, okay?  :)

That's it for me on this lovely Wednesday.  We had a busy night last night so I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing evening tonight.  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you tomorrow!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

From Summer to Fall.

Hello there! I hope you all enjoyed your three day weekend, here in the U.S.  We had, literally, the BEST weekend EVER.  It was the perfect amount of relaxing, extended family time, outings, friends, barbecuing, sleeping in, weather, just everything.  Believe it or not, I did not craft once  :)  I thought about it and even shopped a bit for it, of course, but didn't make it to the basement at all, except to get the fall decorations out.

I have a couple of photos I want to share with you today.  Just to let you know how funny the weather is here.  On Thursday we were at the pool, with 100+ degree heat...



Friday was more of the same heat.  Then Saturday we had a big cold front move through and now we have the most beautiful fall weather ever!  This was a picture of the girls at breakfast yesterday morning...

Haha!  Abie cracks me up with her hat on!

We are supposed to have beautiful weather all week, lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s!  We have the windows open and it couldn't be more  perfect!  I'm hoping to get a bit of crafting in this week, with the cooler nights we'll be having.  I want to make a fall banner and I have a cute picture frame I saw online I want to re-create.  Do you have any fun fall projects planned?

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a beautiful day today!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Pink and Black!

Yea Friday!!!!!  I'm so excited it's the weekend, but first I have a quick pink and black tag I want to share with you that I made for my cousin.



I LOVE the way this turned out :)  I used my new Papertrey tag die and Gratitude Journal stamp set.  This came together so quick, I might have to do something similar to this for Christmas tags this year!!

Do you have big plans this weekend?  It's a three day weekend here, Labor Day.  We are going to a sort of festival tonight.  Then tomorrow night I'm going to a little party for my cousin and on Sunday we're having some friends over for a barbecue!  Should be a fun weekend!

Thank you so much for coming by my blog.  It really means so much to me to hear from you guys.  Your comments really do keep me going!  Have a fabulous weekend!!!!  :) 


Thursday, September 1, 2011

A tiny birthday card but a BIG sentiment!

Morning!  Today I want to share a tiny birthday card with you.  I whipped this up real quick like, my favorite kind of card/craft.  Quick, ya know :)


I trimmed a piece of October Afternoon Boarding Pass to 2 1/4 x 6" (I think it was 6", I would have to re-measure to be sure)  Then I added a piece of my dyed twill!!!!!  Now this twill was from OA's 5 and Dime collection, but check out how closely it matches Boarding Pass!  Not too shabby right?


I finished the card off with a bright red embossed GIGANTIC sentiment from Papertrey and a big Boarding Pass button!  Aaahhh, love :) 

I took the girls to the doctor yesterday for their well checks.  They are well :)  Landry got her shots for Kindergarten next year.  After, we went to the store and bought all the stuff to make ice cream sundaes for dessert.  It was a good night!  I hope you do something fun today or at least laugh A LOT!  Laughing is really, really good, don't you think?  Enjoy your Thursday friends.  Thanks for popping in today!