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.

Halloween Ornament

Happy Thursday everyone!! Today's post is for the Craft Secrets Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, hosted by Lori. Because I have been making Halloween items for a shop in town - this fit right in. The challenge was to use chipboard along with Crafty Secrets images or paper. I used my own chipboard - something that came in a package to support the paper I had ordered - I save all that stuff just for things like this. I cut a length of ready made bead fringe and glued it to the chipboard, then covered the back and front of theCB panel in black cardstock, cut out strips of halloween paper from my LSS, scalloped it with a corner rounder, glued them to the top and bottom of the ornament, then trimmed the scallops in silver stickles. The image is cut from "Halloween Time" Vintage Cuts from Crafty Secrets, glued to black CS trimmed with a deckle edge, then glued to orange CS, then to the black bacground, edged the image in silver stickles and let it dry, then added a black bat from a yard of trim I got at my LSS, punched a hole in the top and tied ribbon through. All done - it really doesn't take long at all. I usually do about a dozen at a time so I do each step to each ornament them move on to the next step. They look good on a Halloween tree, or hanging from a doorknob. Hope you like them, and please join our challenge on Splitcoast - it's great fun. Both links are in the sidebar.

Have a great day, and spend part of it doing what you love.