Friends

I made this card for the sketch challenge at Split Coast Stampers. I really liked the sketch a lot. So I wanted to make a bright and cheery card for my friend. Her husband is going for his military training next week, and she and their kids will be staying behind. Which I'm sure will be hard for her, but we'll get to see them for a while longer. Then when he's done with his training, they'll all be leaving, and I was so sad thinking about it, and that's why I decided I needed to do a bright, cheery card. I used my scribble flower die for my cuttlebug. My friend was the one who showed me some cards made with it, and I loved the look. I used my bloom dots embossing folder for the bottom of the card. And then I added some orange and pink ribbon to finish it off. The ribbon is not crooked like it looks in the picture. That's driving me crazy! A little glitter in the middle of the flowers, and I'm calling it good.

Box Tops 4 Education

We try to do our part for our school and trim out all the box tops coupons that come on various products. The problem is that sometimes after we trim them out, the coupons don't all make it to the school. I realize this is crazy, because it's a great way to earn money for the school. So today, I took an empty parmesan cheese container and covered it in some school themed paper. I like the parmesan container because the lid can open wide, so if the kiddos are helping to put the coupons on, it won't be a challenge. But the lid stays on, so that when it falls off my kitchen counter numerous times a day, the coupons won't fall out everytime.

Cuttlebug Challenge #5

The challenge this week at The Cuttlebug Spot is to use your favorite embossing folder for a card. My favorite embossing folder by far is the stylized flowers folder. Back before Mother's Day, I didn't even realize what a cuttlebug was. Then I started seeing cards at Split Coast Stampers with the most beautifully embossed backgrounds. That was my introduction to the cuttlebug. This embossing folder in particular always caught my eye! Thank goodness for a wonderful holiday like Mother's Day and a wonderful husband who bought me my cuttlebug to help me celebrate Mother's Day!

Happy Holidays

I like this stamp set I got last year from Hero Arts. I think the snow family is so cute! For a quick holiday card I added a layer that I ran through my cuttlebug snowflake folder. Then I added a little glitter, and I have a quick card done!

Halloween Party!

Today was our Halloween party! We had so much fun getting ready for it. My husband and I were up waaaay too late. He was decorating the garage for our Haunted House, and I was cleaning the kitchen and mass producing cupcakes. I tried making Laurie's cool and yet creepy finger cookies, but didn't have all the ingredients for the finishing touches. I didn't have almonds to do the fingernails, so I left that and the blood off, but next year I'm going to be prepared to do them right. When I showed my husband the recipe on her blog, he said, "Those look creepy." And they do!!! She did a fabulous job with them. So, all in all, it was a really fun day. The kids had lots of sugar, we played some fun games, and they got to swing at a pinata for even more candy! And now I get to take a little nap!

Chimichanga Recipe

Tomorrow is our kids' Halloween party. Which means today is full of rushing around getting ready. But first I had to complete a recipe card for one of my swaps that must be mailed out today. The swap is for simple, easy, or make ahead type recipes for a new mom. I signed up because I thought it would be fun to get some easy recipes that maybe my kids will eat. Who knows? Anyway, I found this Basic Grey paper shortly after signing up for this swap, and it really caught my eye. I liked the colors of it a lot. I used my Stampin' Up Wash Day Jumbo roller across the top, and then put some ribbon across the middle. It was a simple recipe card to do, but I really like the way it looks. I originally found some blue, red, and yellow mini safety pins that I was going to use as an embellishment in addition to the ribbon, but I like the card just the way it was, and decided to leave the safety pins off.

Cuttlebug Challenge #4 (take 2)

Here is the card I originally started on Monday. But I just couldn't make it work! At first there were no stars, and then I added stars. But they were yellow. My husband didn't like the yellow stars, since the stars on the flag are white. And considering how often I get real input from him on my crafts, I decided to listen! So I tore the card apart. I added the white stars, and restamped the sentiment. It had been all one color, and I like the addition of red and blue. I also colored the soldier, and I need a lot of practice. My boy sometimes colors it for me...he seems to know how to get the camo just right! Anyway, I had to tweak this card and finish it because it was driving me crazy that I couldn't make it work. I do like it now, and now I can move on to another project!!! Go check out all of the other great cards submitted for the challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot!

Happy Halloween!

I've decided that I like to emboss stuff. A LOT!!! I wanted to get some goody bags ready for Halloween. I found these two stamps in the 99 cent section at a scrapbook store. Then, I saw the sign saying they were 40% off. So I could not pass these stamps up. I also got a spider on a spider web, that scares me just a little bit, and a cute little haunted house. I think the stamp with the candy is just so cute. And I like that you could definitely use it for occasions other than Halloween. I love Halloween, and preparing for it is almost as fun as the day itself!

Halloween Invitations

The kids are so excited for Halloween and for their Halloween party. I kept the invitations really simple so I could get them done quickly. I was going to layer and add some colors and ribbon. But then I reminded myself that I just needed to get them done. Today. I used a scrapbooking program from my computer to do most of the work, and then just stamped each child's name and embossed them. I like they way they turned out.

Cuttlebug Challenge #4

This is for Challenge #4 at The Cuttlebug Spot. Today's challenge was to use 2 different embossing folders together on the same card. I actually did this last week for a card for my niece. And I loved the way it turned out. Today, I just couldn't get a card to work out the way I wanted. First I had one all complete, and it just didn't look right. I decided to tweak it, and then when I asked my husband his opinion, he didn't think it looked right after I changed it. I don't know what was going on, but nothing was working. Well, I do know what was going on. I'm pre-occupied with my kids' Halloween invitations that were supposed to be done, oh, yesterday, and instead of working on them, I'm working on challenges. So I gave up and got out my favorite little girl to stamp. From Stampin' Up's Summer by the Sea. I always like this stamp, and decided to make something work. So this is the card I came up with. If I can go back to my other card, and fix it to work somehow, I'll post it later.

Card Tin

I enjoy making cards, and I do give some to people. But my mom loves to give cards to people. So a lot of the cards I make I give to her to use. I decided it would be really fun to make her a tin to put cards in. She loves butterflies, and the color lavender, so when I found this paper one day I knew it would be perfect. The picture doesn't show how much lavender was in the paper. The other side had even more, but my picture on that side was really fuzzy. I loved making this for her. It's actually what I gave to her for Mother's Day, along with some cards, but I hadn't added a picture of it anywhere yet. Now I'm trying to make cards to get it full for her for Christmas. She knows I am planning on doing this, so I don't have to keep it a secret. Thank goodness!!!

Inspiration Challenge

Today I wanted to drive up the canyon and look at the beautiful fall colors. My children weren't too excited, but when we got to the waterfall, they finally perked up a little. It was a beautiful day, and I was glad that we went. Then I got home to see what the challenge was on Split Coast Stampers today. Their Saturday challenge was to seek inspiration from an artist Joom. She has some beautiful pillows, and after looking at some of them, this was the card I came up with. I like pink and black together, and so that's what I went with on this card. The swirls are from Autumn Leaves, and the sentiment is a Heidi Grace stamp. Thank you for looking, and I hope everyone had as wonderful of a Saturday as I did!

Kindness

I made this card to go along with the limited supplies challenge over at Split Coast Stampers. The allowed items were: stamps, cardstock, one sheet of designer paper, eyelets, one ribbon, and you were to incorporate the color blue. So you weren't allowed to use any cuttlebug items, punches, or any embellishments other than the ones listed. I bought this paper from Doodlebug Design, inc. thinking it would look so great with the Little Pieces stamp set. And it will, but today I opted to use Heard From The Heart. I find myself reaching for that set over and over. I love the font that the cursive is in! I think it fits my tastes perfectly. I added eyelets and a ribbon, since they were allowed, and I think it made a pretty cute card I can use for a thank you.

Let it Snow!!!

Today I had a friend coming over to stamp and scrapbook with me. I was really excited, because it's been a while since I've had a friend over to craft. So I decided to see what the challenge was on Split Coast. But before I went there, I was looking at the Verve Stamps blog and found that their challenge was to use embossing, so I knew that I'd want to use embossing today. And then I headed over to Split Coast and saw that their challenge was to use plaid (or flannel, as I told my friend on the phone...haha!). So I decided to combine the two. I pulled out my Bundle Up set, that I had to have because, well, it is so cute! The Let it Snow stamp is from a cute little Queen and company stamp set I got. And the snowflake is from Hero Arts. So, I had my stamp set picked out that I wanted to use, and then I found this paper that I bought quite some time ago on ebay. I loved all the browns and pinks. So I got busy, and this is what I came up with. I love the way it turned out. And then, even though the card is "Let it Snow," it is such a gorgeous fall day today, that I went out in our yard on the rocks to take pictures. I had a fun day, and it was nice to have some company today!

Turkey Pot Pie

I've been signed up for recipe swaps since July of this year, so for the past few months I've been crafting away. Some of the swaps have finally ended, so I've started getting packages back in the mail. And it has been so fun! I loved making all the recipe cards, and now that I am getting so many back, I know I am really hooked on these swaps. I love seeing what other people create, both for a recipe, and for a card to share that recipe. This card is for the swap I'm in called "Gobble, gobble, left over turkey recipes." I was so excited when I was in Robert's one day, and saw this Thanksgiving set by Hero Arts. I knew that turkey would be perfect! So I snagged it while I could. The paper is from Chatterbox, inc. and is called Sky Rodeo Paisley. I got a new idea for ribbon in a swap I received yesterday, and was really excited to try it. And of course that's the one thing that doesn't show up very well in the picture. After taking about 25 pictures to try to show the ribbon, I decided this one would have to do. Anyway, the lady in the other swap had tied brown ribbon around the recipe card and then tied blue ribbon around the brown. I loved the way it looked, and did that on this card. I love all the inspiration I receive from so many talented crafters! And thank you to my sister-in-law for sharing her yummy recipe with our family.
Well, today is our day for flu shots, so we have to put the stamps and glue away for now, but we'll see how everyone is feeling later today!