So Blessed

I love November. Thanksgiving is such a great time of year. It is a perfect time to remember how blessed we all are, and how thankful we should all be. So today I decided to make a Thanksgiving card, and stop to take a moment and count all of the blessings I have. It's been a while since I distressed the edges of my card, and after looking at Laurie's card here, I decided I wanted to distress the edges of my main image. Then on the section that I ran through the cuttlebug I sanded some of the embossed image. I can't decide if I should add a fifth brad at the bottom, or leave the card as it is. I don't know if it looks off balance to anyone else. Now I'm off to hide from the thunderstorms we are having. Because they petrify me!

Cleaning Up

After a long week of continuous projects, my scrapping area is a disaster! If I was really courageous I'd take a "before" picture. But it's too embarrassing for that. So now that we are done running errands for the day, my self-inflicted torture is to get this scrapping area cleaned up. Because only then can I play and be productive.

Mummy Time

I love the idea of using little packs of gum for mummies! I saw this basic idea on Split Coast Stampers. Laurie also has some really cool looking mummies and frankenstein creatures on her blog. I thought this would be really fun for my son to include in goody bags for his bus driver and teacher. I used small gum packs, since that was what I had, cut some thin strips of paper, inked the edges, and wrapped the little mummies up! Now we're off to carve pumpkins!

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!