When I Count My Blessings

Today's post is my take on the Challenge for Papertrey's September Blog Hop starting at 8 p.m. EST. The challenge was to reuse & recycle portions of our newly arrived Papertrey order in an earth-friendly way. Wow - what timing! I had just saved the clear plastic boxes from my most recent order and already had in mind what I wanted to use them for and then they released the challenge.

I am also using this for the most current Basic Grey Challenge to use embossing and a Basic Grey product.

I wrapped my Papertrey box in Bazzil Basics CS, made a panel out of Basic Grey Indian Summer, dry embossed a panel with the CB Leafy Branch embossing folder, tied it all up with button twine from Paprtrey along with a sentiment from their new Fall Elegance set and a little leaf charm from my stash, then randomly stamped small leaves from the same Papertrey Fall Elegance set. Inside are 2 6x6 Basic Grey paper pads - they fit perfectly and will make a great gift!

This was great fun. If you are not already following the Blog Hop, you can go HERE and see some wonderful creations!

Take Care

Sweet New Baby....

My card today was made for the Basic Grey Challenge. I love Basic Grey and have several paper packs and individual pieces and a few more on order, so I figured it was crazy for me not to participate in their challenges. The challenge was to use pink, brown, and yellow with cream or white. The CS is Bazzil, the yellow panel and the scalloped doily panel DPs are Basic Grey, the flourish stamp on the pink panel is also from Basic Grey, the ribbon is from Michael's or Wal-Mart or Joann's - sorry, I can't remember, but I know it's one of those and it's wired - love that! The button is from my stash, the sentiment is from the new set by Flourishes "Baby Love", the sticker is by Melissa Frances from Emma's Paperie, button twine is from PaperTrey, and then I sprayed a little Glimmer Mist over the top - I'm not sure I did such a great job with the Glimmer mist, but here it is anyway. I hope you like it.

I apologize for not being around more lately. The last two weekends we've spent traveling - one for necessity shopping and one for the memorial for my daughter Sara's MIL. We'll also be gone next weekend as my husband has his school and test to renew his licenses for our shop, and I will be traveling for the next 2-3 weeks conducting privacy training for our 3 orthopedic clinics. So, we have been extremely busy, but I will really try to get more posted. I have another Halloween banner - different from all the others that I will be posting this week - I think you will like it!

Have a great weekend and holiday. Take care, and try to spend at least a little time doing what YOU love.

I love the quiet of the mornings....

I know I've said that before, but I really do. It's almost 6 a.m. and I'm the only one up. All the kitties, the pup and my husband are still sleeping and all I can hear is an occasional blue jay - seems they're always up and more than ready to talk - but I love them and their sassiness. They are use to me now and come up on the deck when I'm sitting out there, perch on the chair back and just watch what I'm doing, take a little bath in the bird bath and just generally hang out. My bears have not made their appearance this year - not here, not in my neighbors tree sleeping, or in my other neighbors yard playing in their pond - I worry about them and wonder where they are and what are they doing. If you are fairly new to my blog you can see them in my tree and on my roof playing last year here. And now that I see the date on that post - maybe I'm expecting them too early - well, I'll be waiting. They are so darn cute and sweet, and mommy lies under the tree in the backyard napping while the babes play - can't wait, they are one of the highlights of summer.





I'm posting today one of the items recently made for the shop I supply here in town. Basically I'm not a bright colors person, but I loved the juiciness of this Lime Ricky paper from Basic Grey and it just shouted out a summer banner. The CS is all bazzil, the rhinestones are from Doodlebug, and the chipboard alpha is Thickers. I just did not feel like messing with glue and glitter, so I used Stickles on the letters and really like the effect. Kari, the shop owner was thrilled, so I guess it looks o.k.





I really should take some time to improve my photo skills, maybe one of these days. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Try to take at least a little time out to create - it feeds the soul.

Take Care