Lack of Posting

Good Morning all - I'm writing this to let you know I will probably not be posting now until after the first of the year. We'll be gone this weekend, have to get ready for that, finish Christmas preparations, my daughter Sara and her family will be coming home with us on Sunday and will be here for the week - I'm so happy and looking forward to having them. When they leave for home, my step-daughter and her boyfriend will be here until the following Tuesday, then we're having a small gathering for New Year's Eve. I'm also in the process of setting up my Etsy shop and preparing to load up our Holiday shop here in town. Add all of that to the bookeeping, etc. I do for our family business and my part-time work for the Orthopedic clinic in town and I'm beginning to not enjoy the season. I love this season and want to be present in it and truly enjoy all it offers along with my family, so I'm simplifying. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season. Darlene, I'm thinking of you and keep you in my prayers - Please take care, I'll see you all again after the first of the year.

Two Hearts - One Love

Happy Friday everyone!! I want you to know this card is nothing like what I had in mind - I'm not even crazy about the finished product - but I'm posting it anyway because I many not have the opportunity to attempt it again. This card is for our SCS Blog Challenge #3 (I think - grin) I missed the last one so it's even more important I get this one posted. I had something elegant and beautiful in mind and it just did not come together for me. Enough whining - the challenge is "Black and White" I stamped the backgound with VersaMark in a flourish design (I'm sorry I've already cleaned up and I do not remember which one)and embossed it. The sentiment is from Deja Views "Fresh Verse" Wedding Vellum. It has several romantic quotes on it. The pearls are from Ellen Hutson, LLC - if you haven't checked out her store please do so - she has so much great stuff. The ribbon is from Michael's.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend, and take care

Happy Tuesday

Just a short post today. While I was blogging this morning, I ran into a couple of new to me blogs - like I need anymore, but Michelle from Thoughts from a Cardmaking Scrapbooker Chelemom does vintage as well as other types I'm sure - and I do love vintage - she has some wonderful things on her blog. She also had a link to another wonderful blog Mary Ann's - AveryMaryDesign She does vintage work as well as finds fabulous vintage items to pass on and she has an Etsy shop. She's having a contest right now - and if you love vintage - you are definitely going to want to check this out. It will only take a moment and you will be glad you took the time.

That's it for now - take care, have a great day, and spend at least some time doing what you love.

House Mouse Blog Challenge

Well, better late than not at all - I did not even get to participate last week, so at least I was able to do so this week. If you haven't played in the House Mouse Monday Blog Challenge please stop by and take a look - the images are adorable of course, and the talent of the ladies hosting this blog is inspiring. The challenge this week was glitz and glimmer - I probably do not have the name exactly correct, but I'm sure you get my meaning - Use a lot of glitz and bling. This is also for the Sketch Challenge 205 on Splitcoast Stampers (see link is sidebar)

My image comes from a dear blogging friend Jennifer from Just Coffee Please and I used the same paper - FaLaLa from Making Memories - I've been using for a few weeks now - I'm basically not a whimsical person, but I love this cute paper and it seems perfect for the mice - I now have 3 Christmas cards ready to go. My glitz is red Stickles from Ranger, Liquid Pearls from Ranger, a red rhinestone from Me and My Big Ideas, and a red sheer ribbon with gold trim from Michael's. Hope you like it - Let me know what you think - I really enjoy hearing from you.

Take Care

Thomas Kinkade Christmas

Happy Saturday everyone!! I thought I would post this card today - I love Thomas Kinkade, and these papers from Cornish Heritage Farms are so beautiful they hardly need anything at all to make them special. I used only some Stardust Stickles by Ranger and some pretty white sheer ribbon striped with silver. The silver paper I created myself by simply painting cs with silver metallic paint and then while wet sprinkling it with super fine silver glitter - I love the way it looks. Hope you enjoy the card and don't forget to check out Cornish Heritage Farms for these beautiful papers.

Have a great weekend - please spend some time doing something you love.

Take Care

Vintage Santa

First off - If I've left you a message that I have something for you on my blog, please go to the next post for Dec. 2nd - thanks.

In case I haven't said it before - I LOVE anything and everything vintage. I have been collecting since I was a little girl, and now - well - I have a lot, and I STILL keep on collecting. More is more is more in my book. In the past few years I have collected quite a few vintage images and post cards.

Today's cards use vintage images, were made for the shop in town and again are very easy. I cut a standard A2 size top folded card, and rounded the bottom corners. I gold embossed pine boughs from Impression Obsession on the front and some inside to finish it off (I also gold embossed "Merry Christmas" from Stampendous in the inside) The vintage image is mounted on paper I made by painting CS with gold metallic paint, and while still wet sprinkled on super fine gold glitter (LOVE this look)and then glued to the front of the card - done! Quick and easy - the only time is spent waiting for the paint to dry.

Have a great day - and try to spend at least some time today doing what you love.

Take Care,

Another Beautiful Award!

Thanks so much to Sara (my daughter)from Luminous in my Chaotic Dreams (life) for this beautiful award. I am truly honored and love being able to pass it on to 10 other beautiful blogs. For those of you interested I'm so sorry I have not been posting - between submission deadlines, the shop in town I design for and company, there has not been much time for creating - and I long to get back to it.

The rules for this award are:
1. Pick 10 people and pass the award to them
2. Contact them and let them know you have chosen them and their blog for the award
3. Link back to the person who gave you the award

The 10 blogs below are the ones I have chosen for this award - please check them out - they are all amazing as well as the women who post them.

Jennifer from Just Coffee Please
Michelle from Update for Freedom in Creating
Gina from Gina's Makings and Musings
Tiffany from My Crafty World
Anne from Power Stampin
Carmen from Queen Tomas
Susan from Stampin Daly
Sue from Sue's Sentiments
Paula from Crop Notes and
Crafts
Melyssa from Fantastink

Just a reminder - be sure to take the award pic with you!!

Thanks again Sara and take care everyone.

Another Award!

Thank you so much to Gina from Gina's Makings and Musings for this unexpected but greatly appreciate award. Now picking 5 to pass it on to - that was/is the hard part as there are so many blogs I love - but 5 it is so here they are:

Sherrie from Card Creme
Sherry from Walkin on the Bad Side
Sharon from No Time to Stamp
Vicki from This Art That Makes Me Happy
Julia from Belle Papier

Again, it is not JUST their blogs - and they are wonderful - but it is the women themselves. Please visit their blogs and get to know them through those blogs and you'll know what I mean.

*You may put the logo on your blog
*Put a link to the person who sent you the award
*Nominate 5 blogs
*Put links to their blogs
*Leave a message for your nominees

That's all for today - my husband and I are headed out of town to pick up another classic car - our collection is getting a little out of hand - and to meet up with my step-daughter and her boyfriend to get her a laptop for college. Then we are going to have dinner at our most favorite Mexican restaurant ever Xochimilcho - I hope I spelled that right - can't wait - we really have not found what we consider to be a great Mexican restaurant in our area, so this is a treat anytime we're in that area.

Have a great weekend, and please take time out to do something you love.

Take Care

House Mouse Monday Blog Challenge

Happy Wednesday - WOW - the middle of the week already. Time just goes by way to fast doesn't it?? Anyway, this ia a 2 in 1 challenge post. For the House Mouse Monday Blog Challenge we were to make a Christmas card. My image is "In Perfect Harmony" given to me by a dear friend Jennifer at Just Coffee Please. If you'd like to play, follow the link and please check out Jennifer's blog as well. This is great stuff and a lot of fun.

This card is also for the Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers (see sidebar for link) If you can't tell, I'm absolutely stuck on this paper from Making Memories. It's called FaLaLa and I just can't get enough of it. It seems I'm also stuck on snowflakes this year - use them on EVERYTHING!! I'm not sure you can see it, but the berries are accented in Stickles and the snow was done with a glue pen and then sprinkled with DecoArt Glamour Dust.

Have a great day and please take a little time out to do something you love.

Take Care,

Vintage Christmas

Happy Tuesday!! Today I am posting another very simple Vintage Christmas card I put together for the shop in town. The image is from a CD I bought from Ebay, and just simply mounted it on a piece of dark sage CS - I've had it for a long time so I could not begin to tell you where I got it, then mounted it on tan CS. The background stamp is an older one from Hero Arts and I used Ranger Antique Linen ink. I then went over the lettering with a Stardust Gelly Roll pen for a slight bit of sparkle. That's it. Hope you enjoy it.

Another Post for Today

Hello again. I usually am not able to do a post every day of the week, and then - I am able to post twice in one day - go figure!! Anyway, I had to get this posted for the House Mouse Monday Blog Challenge . Today is the last day and I just finished. Not sure I really like it, but here it is anyway.

The challenge this week was to use "junk" in your project. You know what they say, "One man's junk is another man's(or woman's)treasure". That is so true in this case. This is one of my husband's cast offs - an empty cigar container destined to the garbage - but not anymore. I rescued it and made it into a gift container. Actually I started scavenging these a few years ago and I have a ton of them. I gave my daughter a whole bagful last year and I'm still overflowing - you just never know when you're going to need one - right?? Anyway - what to put into this tiny container - you could punch out all kinds of images - birds, bats, trees, reindeer, leaves, etc. etc. Another idea would be to make some of the paper clip bookmarks. Stick pin findings would be wonderful, and would allow your recipient to make their own decorative stick pins. You could punch out a ton of inchies for them to decorate or use as mats. Brads and eyelets would fit, and I'm sure you could come up with many more ideas as well.

Shortly I will have more House Mouse images and you will not be seeing the same image over and over and over again - lol!!

Take time today to tell someone how much you love them. Take care.

Kreativ Blog Award

I am in awe!! I can't believe it - I have received my first ever blog award. I honestly don't feel like I deserve it, but I am so grateful. It comes from Jennifer at Just Coffee Please. Thank you Jen. I hope I do it justice.

These are the blogs that I am passing on the award to:

Joanne of Ambrosia and Iron
Darlene of Dar's Crafty Creations
Sara of Luminous in My Chaotic Dreams
Leslie of Running With Scissors
Anna of Sweet Miss Daisy

This is what you need to do
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award
3. Choose 5 blogs to send the award
4. Put links to their blogs
5. Leave a message for each one of them that they have been awarded

There are so many deserving this award, choosing only 5 was hard. I chose these 5 not only for their beautiful and inspirational blogs, but because these women themselves are an inspiration to me. Please visit their blogs, get to know them, take part in some if not all the challenges they are apart of - and you will see what I mean.

Thank you again Jen - so so much.

Take care, everyone have a wonderful rest of the weekend, and as always - try to spend at least some time today doing what you love.

I'm Published!

Happy Saturday everyone, and yes, that is correct - I finally did it! I've actually known for quite awhile now, I'm just a little uncomfortable tooting my own horn - but I am excited, and it is one step further into the world I'm working to be a part of. The magazine is CardMaker March/April 2009. I'm honored and in awe and hoping there will be more - I do not want to be "one hit wonder" - lol! Anyway, that's my news and I do have something else exciting to announce - see that Kreativ Blog Award button - that has been awarded to me and I'm such a dork, I haven't figured out how to get everything posted on here correctly and am awaiting - I hope some instructions so that I can finish it. Sorry - it might take me a day or two

That's it for today - take time to spend with someone or something you love.

Take Care,

Another Triple Challenge in 1

Good Morning and Happy Friday!! To those of you who asked - thank you my cold is much better. I take so many vitamins and then Cold Ease as soon as symptoms appear I don't usually get really down, just kind of slow and edgy. Anyway, enough of that. Once again (due to time of course) I have attempted to do 3 challenges in one card. This card is for our SCS Blog Challenge #2 hosted by Tiffany. She asked us to use 4 different patterned papers - now this is a challenge for me - I always have such a hard time putting together patterns that I like. However this time, I used FA La La by Making Memories - they are double sided and of course coordinated, so it was a no-brainer. I almost feel like I'm cheating - LOL.

I used the layout from the Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge 202 - It seemed perfect for using 4 patterns of paper.

For the Crafty Secrets Challenge from Forums on Splitcoast, Darlene said to use punches. I used Martha Stewart's doily punch and the snowflake punch from EK Success. The image is also Crafty Secrets from the Vintage Christmas set. This is a great group and if you haven't tried this challenge yet, please give it a try - it's a lot of fun

Put it all together and that's 3 challenges in one - I love it when it all works out like that.

Supplies:
CS - Cream for card base by American Paper Co.
DP - All (including the back green panel) are from FaLaLa by Making Memories
Ink - Coffee Bean Brilliance by Tsukineko, and Cocoa by Colorbox
Accents - Jewels by Me and My Big Ideas, Ribbon from Michael's,
Tools etc. - Snowflake punch from EK Success, Doily punch by Martha Stewart from Michael's, dimensionals

That's it for today - I'm trying to work on the House Mouse challenge and hope to get it posted later today or tomorrow.

Have a great day and try to spend at least some time doing what you love. Take Care.

A Christmas Card

Happy Thursday! My week has just been packed and now my husband and I are fighting a cold - so this is just a quick post as I am working on several things at the moment and hope to post those between now and the end of the weekend. Anyway, this is another card design - extremely easy and fast - for the shop here in town. She has a vintage look to her shop and since vintage is my #1 favorite - it works. Again, very simple (I like simple) and clean lines - no ribbon or real embellishments unless you count the Stardust Gelly Roll pen used to go over the lettering for just a slight bit of glimmer. I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture or not. These images are from a CD I bought off of e-bay, and the background is stamped from an older Hero Arts stamp I have called Pine Bough. Hope you enjoy it.

Have a great day and please try to spend some time today doing something you love.

Take Care

Another Fall Card

Good Morning! This is another card created for the shop in town. I absolutely love the Designer Paper from K & Co. on this one and so I wanted to see as much of it as possible. The image is again from Inka "Bats and Cats" and was colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with baby oil. Gold Stickles from Ranger was used to accent. The corners were punched with a Fiskars decorative corner punch and I love this sheer bronze ribbon from Michael's. It is then mounted on a standard A2 size top folded card base of deep rust cardstock by Bazzil. This is really a very simple and straightforward card. Hope you like it.

Take care and try to spend at least some time today doing what you love.

Happy Fall

Happy Friday - where did the week go?? This is one of the cards I have made for the shop in town that sells my cards, tags, etc. I love Fall and all the colors and crispness in the air, so this card I made to reflect those colors. It' a very easy process. The card base is actually a bright gold from one of Michael's paper packs, I then sponged Butterscotch and Rust Adirondack inks over the entire surface along with a little lt. brown. I then inked up a leaf stamp from Impression Obsession with the same three colors but a little heavier with the rust and stamped several images on the background - I also stamped a few on the inside of the card just to finish it off. The image is from Inkadinkado "Cats and Bats", which I colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with baby oil, and accented with Stardust Stickles from Ranger. The off-white space was sponged with the same three colors of ink. The leaf is a punch from EK Success which I outlined and accented veins with a Stardust Gelly Roll pen from Sakura. The one with more green on the pumpkins was done generally the same - the only difference is the coloring style of the pumpkins and I used only the Stardust Gelly Roll pen to do all the accenting.

I like a more simple look and so I really like these. I hope you do also. Thanks for visiting, please come again, and have a great weekend. Spend at least a little time doing what you love.

Take Care

Triple Challenge

Good Thursday Morning to all. This post is for 3 challenges all in one. My time is so limited I thought I would try this and I think it came out o.k. The first challenge is for our SCS Blogger Group Challenge #1 hosted by Sara. She wanted us to use polka dots and ribbon. I just bought this pretty polka dot DP and was happy to have an opportunity to use it right away. Check out the "My Talented SCS Blog Group" on the left in the sidebar to see what they have put together.

The 2nd challenge is for the House Mouse Blog Monday Challenge (link is in sidebar). We were suppose to follow a recipe of ribbon, 2 buttons, felt, and a scalloped edge -I have it all. To get the 2 buttons on I stacked them and tied them with the ribbon. My felt is the flower (it's not really felt, but it was all I had without driving 40 minutes, so it will have to do - I'm not going to bore you with how I tried to make the flower out of a piece of felt - lol).

The third challenge is for SplitCoast Stampers Sketch Challenge 201. Have you taken part in any of these? They're great fun. That link is also in the side bar. Please try it out.

Supplies:
CS - Pink and Cream from Michael's paper pack, Brown is from Bazzil
DP - Neopolitan Confetti by K & Co
Stamps - Birthday Cupcake by House Mouse
Ink - Grey by Marvy Matchables
Accents - Pink Stickles by Ranger,ribbon by Martha Stewart from Michael's, Flower is Bling Blossom by Imagenisce, buttons are from my stash, I chalked the flower with I Kan Dee by Pebbles, Inc., Prismacolor pencils, baby oil to blend, and a brown Sharpie for the icing.

Hope you like it, have a great day, and try to spend at least some time today doing what you love and that makes you happy.

Take Care

Good Morning All! A few days ago I said I would have some more bear pics for you. However, my computer has been in the shop, so here they are - finally. He's done napping now and wants to come down the tree and go home to Mom. We were gone the weekend to the Nascar Rookie Race in Rosevill - that was a blast. While we were gone our new neighbors called to tell us there were bears in our backyard. This is not something new, but our neighbors are new to the area so it was quite a treat for them.

Short post - I have so much to catch up on. For those of you in my SCS blogger group - I apologize for not getting to you - I promise I will get to all of you this week, and I'm going to be putting you all in a separate blog list so you're easy to spot. Thanks for your patience, thanks for visiting, and please come again - I love hearing from you

House Mouse Monday Challenge

Happy Friday everyone. It's windy and rainy here is South Lake Tahoe and we are expecting approximately 6" of snow by tomorrow evening. Our first real snow of the season if in fact it happens. The mountains, as I'm sure many of you know, have their own mind and do as they please when they please. I love hearing the wind blow and seeing the movement of the trees. My aspen which was full of all of its leaves yesterday - is now bare - but in my mind that also has a beauty of its own.

Anyway, my post today is for the [url=http://housemouse-challenge.blogspot.com/]House Mouse Blog Monday Challenge[/url]again. Please check it out, there is so much talent on this blog and the stamps of course are just adorable. This week the challenge was "Au Naturale". I have only 3 house mouse stamps currently. I have ordered some more but it will be awhile since they are on back order, and I have also joined a couple of swaps on Splitcoast Stampers to get more, but that also will be awhile. In the meantime I have to work with what I've got, so I am somewhat limited and therefore not totally inspired. This is a very simple look - I'm thinking it could have had a little more pizazz, but in the end - I actually like simple.

I stamped House Mouse "Candy Cane Dreams" onto Kraft CS (very natural looking)from PaperTrey, and used a red Sharpie marker to color the candy canes. I used Prismacolor pencils for the mouse, then adhered the image to red CS from a Michael's paper pack, and trimmed closely all around. My base is the same red CS in a top fold standard A2 size. I cut a Kraft CS mat 1/8" less all around, punched a decorative corner with Fiskers "Heritage" corner punch, attached red brads in each top corner. I hand wrote the sentiment in my red Sharpie and went over it with a glitter Gelly Roll pen from Sakura (I love those pens - they add just the right amount of glitter), and adhered to my card, then adhered the image panel to the card.

I then used a paper piercing tool from Ellen Hutson LLC (see link in sidebar) and pierced 3 holes on each side and threaded hemp cording through, taping the ends to the inside of the care. I covered the ends by using another piece of CS.

I hope you like it. I'll post again soon, I have more bear photos to share. They are so cute - they're out a lot right now preparing for winter. It won't be long before we will not see them again for several months - and then they will be bringing new babies.

I just did a preview of my post and see that the link I added into the text doesn't seem to be working right. If anyone knows what I might be doing wrong, please let me know. Anyway, the link to the House Mouse Blog is also in the sidebar.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend. I've got to get the last of my bulbs in before the snow fall.

House Mouse Blog Challenge

Happy Thursday everyone. For the first time I have been able to participate in the House Mouse Monday Challenge. I use to have this cute little blog button to click on, but somehow blogger had a problem with it - so I need to do it over - In the meantime please click on the link in the sidebar (House Mouse Monday Challenge) This is such a great challenge and the talent on this blog is incredible. Please check it out. This is Challenge #10 "Anything but a Card", and so I chose to do a Gift Card Holder - Isn't Mudpie just the cutest. Since we won't be traveling for Christmas this year I decided gift cards would be the way to go - easy to mail so this challenge was perfect.

I used double sided DP 3 1/2 x 6", scored at 2 1/4" intervals and folded into holder, then used a bowl to help me draw a line to cut the top flap into a soft shape. I sewed the two sides together leaving the top flap free. I stamped the image with Jet Black StazOn onto cream CS and colored it with Sharpie markers and prismacolor pencils - using baby oil to blend, gold embossed the ornament hanger, accented the ornament with red stickles along with the body of the Santa hat, and used liquied pearls for the fluff on the hat, used my nestabilities to cut the 2 ovals and adhered them together. I then punched a hole in the top and bottom, glued the center of the ribbon length to the center back of the card holder, brought the bottom part of the ribbon around to the front and inserted it into the bottom front hole, ran it up the back of the scalloped piece, brought it up from the back of the scallop piece through the top hold and tied it in a bow with the other end of the ribbon - I hope all that makes sense. I then adhered a gold self-adhesive flat back pearl to a clear snowflake and glued it to the image as per the photo.

Supplies:
Image - House Mouse "Having a Ball" Mudpie
Ink - Jet Black StazOn
DP - Fa La La by Making Memories
Accents - Flat back self-adhesive gold pearl from Michael's; Clear snowflake is by Jesse James Beads "Dress it Up" also from Michael's,and the gold edged red sheer ribbon is also from Michael's
Other - Sewing Machine, red thread, Prismacolor pencils, baby oil, and red Sharpie Marker, red Stickles and Liquid Pearls from Ranger, Nestabilities circle die and Cuttlebug

This project was simple and went by quickly. Mudpie made the project perfect in my opinion. Hope you enjoy it. Have a great day, and try to spend at least some time today doing something you love.

Take Care

Thomas Kinkade Christmas

Unbelievable - this is the 2nd time in a week that I have posted twice on the same day. This card is made with the Thomas Kinkade Christmas Series Paper Pack from Cornish Heritage Farms (Link is in the sidebar). It is so beautiful it doesn't really need anything else - at least in my humble opinion. I love this gorgeous paper. This is a 5 x 5" top folded card. I used white and silver CS, and ran the white panel through the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder and clipped the corners with a circle punch, then kept layering as per the photo, added pearls from Ellen Hutson, LLC (link is in sidebar)in the corners and a silver and white glittery bow, wrapping the ends around the bottom and side. I also added Stardust stickles to accent the snowy scene. Hope you like it.

Again, take care

Halloween Accordion Tag

I think I've said it before, but I love Halloween. This little accordion tag card was made for a shop here in town and I thought I would share it. I really like it and it looks really cute on a shelf or in a windowsill.

It's very simple - For this one I cut a piece of black CS 3 3/4" tall and 8 1/4" long. Score every 2 3/4" for your accordion folds. Choose your CS and DPs along with your images and refer to the photo for placements - there really is no right or wrong - it's all up to your own particular taste - that's really the fun of it. Some of the layers I used deckle edge scissors, and some just a straight edge. Each image is trimmed in silver stickles for a vintage look. On the orange panels in opposing corners I stamped the spider web from the Halloween Fun set by Crafty Secrets (link is in the sidebar) Punch holes in the top of each tag section and tie on several ribbons and fibers of your choice in each one. Adhere puffy bat - you're done. Just have fun with it. Also, the images on both ends are from Crafty Secrets and the one in the middle I'm not sure where I got that one.

Have a great day and spend some time doing what you love. Take Care

Oops!

I don't know why my post did not show my photos - it said everything was o.k. and that the photos loaded - but apparently not - I'm going to try this again and hope for the best. Thanks

Fall Decorating

Do you believe another post on the same day - but I did say I wanted to show you the centerpiece I put together for our dining room table. We went to Apple Hill Saturday and I brought home one of the beautiful "Fantasy" or "Fairy Tale" pumpkins, and wanted to display it in a way that I would see it every day. Pumpkins and anything Fall related make me very happy. All I did was wrap a ready made twig garland around the base, and then kept adding leafy garlands until I was happy with it. I does look better in real life - not quite so messy - but I love the natural feel of it. I also have included a close up of the tablecloth I beaded last year - really simple - took a little time, but well worth it in my book. If you let me know, I will do a tutorial for you. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day.

Happy Halloween

This week's challenge in the Crafty Secrets Forum on Splitcoast Stampers (see links in sidebar)was to make your own designer paper. I love making my own paper and do it quite messily and often with paints, stamps, glitter, etc. This one however is a little more calm. The flourish is from Crafty Secrets "Mini Memories" set and I use it quite often - it works for any type of card and it looked perfect for Halloween with orange rhinestones scattered over it. I then overstamped with Crafty Secrets "Halloween Fun" small bat. I used the same set for the spider webs and the sentiment. These are wonderful sets - they are so versatile. If you are not familiar with them, please check them out. The small bat was punched from glittered paper with a punch from Martha Stewart, and the large bat is from an Inkadinkado set called "Creepy Crawly" - you can get that set from Jacksonbelle Embellishments or 7 Kids College Fund (both links are in the sidebar). I stamped it on the back of the glittered paper (from my LSS) and then cut it out, and folded with batwings up for a little dimension. I stumbled onto this ribbon treatment last week making anniversary cards and looking for something a little bit more moasculine - this is what I came up - now I am in danger of using it everywhere - I like it.

I'm going to be making another post soon - I want to show you my fall centerpiece for our dining room table.

Take Care and spend some time today doing something you love.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Saturday to all of you. Wow, this is my 2nd post for the week which is good for me even though I know I should be posting more. Also I have 3 cards - which is also a first for me. I suddenly realized I had 3 anniversaries to make cards for. Unfortunately, my cards never seem to load in the correct positions so I am unsure as to what order they are going to appear. I'm hoping the first one is the Sketch Challenge for Splitcoast Stampers - it's great fun, if you haven't tried it out, please click on the link in the sidebar and check out the site and the challenges - it's a great way to expand your creativity. I made this for my daughter and son-in-law - hope they don't see it before I get it sent.

The other two are similar in that they use the same DP bought at Michaels awhile back, but since they tend to carry the same papers forever, if you like it you may still be able to find it there.

Happy Anniversary is for my in-laws. The CS is Bazzil, the ribbon is from Michaels, and the hardware is from Paper Wishes, although you may be able to find them locally. The stamp is from Treehouse Stamps "Elegant Sentiments".

Mi Amour is for my husband. We will be married 12 years tomorrow - it's been great. I wanted this to be a little more masculine, so I distressed the edges, paper pierced around the DP and then drew in the little lines between the holes. I wanted ribbon, but not a bow, so I played with it and came up with this what-I-feel is a more masculine look and I really like it. It didn't seem finished - a little too plain - so I added some gold stickles to highlight the leaves and acorns. Hope you like them.

Well, I'm off, DH and I are headed down to Apple Hill for apples, asian pears, apple cider and the best of all - apple doughnuts - YUM!!! Have a great weekend and take care.