Happy Halloween!

Normally, I keep most of the personal stuff on our family blog, but I couldn't resist sharing this fun picture! :)

This is Jake and I at our Halloween party we hosted last night. (I made these invites.) He was a mafia gangster and I was his flapper girl!

Happy Halloween everyone! Stay safe and have fun!

Snow!

We had our first snowfall of the season two days ago. It had been snowing in the mountains for awhile now, but it finally snowed in the valley. So here was the scene Tuesday morning at my house.

Jake (at 6:30am): You're not going to like it outside.

Me (fearing the worst): Whhhhyyyyyy?

Jake: There's snow on the ground.

*sigh* I hate snow. Which really sucks because I live in Utah..."The Greatest Snow on Earth". *sigh* There are only two good reasons for snow.... 1) to watch it gently falling making a gorgeous white landscape when you are at home curled up in a fleece blanket with a book and hot cocoa (or a White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks!) in hand and 2) only for the purpose of a White Christmas and then it can go away, thanks. *sigh* I'm perfectly fine if it stays up in the mountains and all the snowboarders/skiiers can enjoy it up there! Just not 3+ feet of it in my driveway, thanks!

Ok well, I guess I don't hate it that bad, but only in crafty terms mind you! I mean I love my snowflake and snowmen stamps and embellies, and all those fun wintery cards and scrapbook layouts. But the actual white stuff...ugh...its cold and wet. Two of the things I like least in this world, hehe!

Anyway, point of my rambling is this card! Although I despise the snow with every fiber of my being, I at least can appreciate the beauty of it, and have fun with my "wintery" craft supplies! ;)

I used the SPCC Christmas Combo #7 for this card. Still don't have any of the new "In Colors" so I substitued Taken with Teal ink for the Bermuda Bay color. Of course stamped on the Brocade Blue it doesn't show up as bright, but its there!

EDIT:

Thanks Paige and the Cards Peeps for the feature of this card for the stitching challenge!

I used my Bazzil template for the swirls as I was going for a "snowfall" look. Gently falling, swirling flakes! Also, after I tied on the button to the bow, I added a felt snowflake and tied a bow on top of that with DMC floss. Super cute up close and in person I assure you! ;)

Supplies
CS: Brocade Blue, Brocade Blue DSP Prints Pack II
Ink: Taken with Teal (Bermuda substitue)
Stamp: Warmest Regards
Misc: grosgrain ribbon, felt snowflakes, Bazzil template, DMC floss, white brads, button

Happy Wednesday!

Yay the week is almost over! ;) I don't know about you all, but my kiddos are so excited for Halloween and their excitement is bubbling over! Can't wait for the weekend!

Here is another card with the wood sheets from Stampin' Up!. I was so glad to find out these could be colored on! I stamped in regular chocolate ink, and then colored in the image with SU's color pencils and a blender pen. I am in love with this soft look! It really looks so aged and fun! A little patterned paper, some buttons, ribbon and hemp. Love all these things! :) This is a 5x5 card, such a unique size that was perfect to center this image and make it front and center!

Supplies
CS: Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Real Red DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamp: For Father
Misc: hemp, chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, corduroy brad, designer buttons, colored pencils, wood sheets, MS Cornice border punch

Just Buggin Challenge

I love my little Cricut and was thinking the other day that I don't use it enough on my cards. Enter a new challenge, haha! I love challenges that make you think outside the box, or challenges that get you to use your supplies. So my Cricut that is mainly utilized for scrapbooking is going to get used a lot more I think! ;) The Just Buggin Challenges are perfect to get you thinking of different ways to use your cartridges or get more mileage out of any you have. At least that's what I'm guessing it will do for me!

So for the Just Buggin #8 Challenge you are to use a cartridge that does shape cards, or use at least one die cut on your card. This card has a couple little things on it! The scallop tag was cut out at 3 inches on the Christmas Cheer cartridge, and the hearts were on the George cartridge and cut at 1.5 and 2 inches (I think anyways!). The hearts are actually the new Wood Sheets from Stampin' Up! I love these things! I just ordered them and can't wait to do more with them! The Cricut will cut it out for the most part, but I went over it with scissors after the outline was cut. I imagine with the deep cut blade they would be just fine. The wood didn't splinter at all. Man, I really need to find my deep blade now, haha! Its in my messy crafty room somewhere! Anyway, then I stamped the hearts with the woodgrain background, as well as the card base. So really the only stamping is the background, but I'm so happy with this cute little accent cut from my Cricut!

Supplies
CS: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Prints Pack II DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamp: Woodgrain background
Misc: Regal Rose grosgrain, corduroy button, linen thread, MS Cornice border punch, Christmas Cheer cartridge, George cartridge

Thankful Thoughts

What a weekend! In prepping for our Halloween party this weekend my hunky husband and I did a ton of cleaning! Whew! Its the kind of cleaning I have a love/hate relationship with. The kind of cleaning I hate to do, but I love when its done! ;) Scrubbing walls, cleaning carpets, organizing...ahhh...I do love the organizing...but yay all done for now!

We did manage to finally get to the Pumpkin Patch as well! Normally we go a lot earlier in the month, but luckily it was still fairly nice out. We take the kids to the same patch we've gone to for the last 6 or so years. Thought I would share two pics, one from 2004 and one from this year..too fun to look back! LOL they still look the same after 5 years, haha just a little bit bigger!

2004

2009

Ok so after having a blast at the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, I came up with this little card Sunday night based off the SPCC #20 color combo. It is so Fall-ish and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to pull out my old set Thankful Thoughts. Something is up with my camera so nothing looks right, even going through some of our pics at the pumpkin patch. I think its dying, but Jake has told me he can "picture" a new camera in my future...wink, wink. It will be my Christmas and B-day present (New Years Eve is my birthday!) and I'm looking forward to it! There seems to be a spot that won't pick up colors very well or something its so weird!

Anyway, here is the color combo...

And here is my card!


Supplies
CS: Really Rust, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla
Ink: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, watercoloring
Stamp: Thankful Thoughts
Misc: linen thread, Sassafras buttons

OH WOW!

OH WOW! Pop on over to the CARDS Magazine Blog for a little surprise! This TOTALLY made my day! As if my Friday could have been any better?! Had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and ate my favorite...quiche with the salad bar and a raspberry lemonade, went to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 3-D, and then came home to find this little surprise! See that card at the very bottom announcing the new challenge on the blog? That one is mine! That my friends, is actually my very first published card that is in the November CARDS Magazine!! WOW! Thank you SO, SO, SO much to Paige and the Cards Peeps!!

I keep telling myself to play along with the challenges Paige posts on Fridays, and I guess I really better now! ;) How fun!

The New Look

So I'd been wanting to change my blog around for awhile and finally did it last night. I went to a three column, and stretched everything out. Well one little problem...we have this super jumbo flat screen monitor at home (24 inches of goodness!) so I had set it all up based on what I saw on that monitor. Needless to say, on my laptop it looked totally different! You couldn't view the whole page, you had to scroll over to see the right hand column. It looks right now when I look at it, so I'm hoping it looks normal for everyone else! I need to work on the banner, but that will happen when it happens! I'm sure I'll be tweaking it here and there until I'm finally satisfied, but I'll probably want to just change it again!

Anyway, hope you like the new look! ;)

Congratulations!

Whew! What a weekend! I didn't get anytime to craft this weekend, other than the 10 minutes it took me to throw together this card. A friend of Jake's at work was having a housewarming so I wanted to make a little card to take over. I'd planned on making bread to go with the card, but because everything else was so crazy busy that didn't happen! Leaving this until the last minute was not a good idea either!

I'd wanted to play along with the SP Color Combo all week long, so I combined the need to make a quick card with this combo to make the simplest card ever! It seriously did take less than 10 minutes though. I'd been trying to think of what to do with these colors all week long actually. There have been some beautiful cards made with this combo, but I just couldn't think of anything it seemed like! I do like how this came out in the end though even if it is a very basic (but heartfelt!) card.

Also, because this was done so quickly, I ended up taking this picture (on my lap!) on our way with my phone. I love my little pink Blackberry and I was surprised that this looked halfway decent, haha!

For the house I used my Christmas Cheer cartridge. It has "snow" on the regular image so to eliminate that I used the Shadow feature before cutting. Then the heart was cut out from the George cartridge, and I free hand cut the "grass". It was so super simple to put together, but somethings are better simple, right? Ok, go with me on this one, haha! I really wanted to add more to this card (buttons, ribbons, anything!), but with no time it is what it is. Guess that will teach me about putting things off until the last minute! ;)

Supplies
CS: Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, Green Galore (might be Gable Green actually...I think I labeled them wrong in my file folder!)
Ink: Close to Cocoa
Stamp: Congrats
Misc: George cartridge, Christmas Cheer cartridge, Sassafras button

Get Well Swap Cards

Our monthly stamp group was meeting tonight and I still hadn't come up with an idea for my swap cards. Uh yep, that would be me procrastinating, or more like missing my mojo this week. Each night I would sit down at my craft table and never come up with anything. Well this morning I saw the Finally Friday Challenge at SPCC and thought I'd try to incorporate the embossing challenge with my Get Well cards. I quickly sketched it all out on a post-it at work, and crossed my fingers that the card would come out like I envisioned when I got home. I thought I might cry if it didn't, haha!

I left work a little early to get my daughter ready for a Halloween party, and then once she was all squared away I got to work on my cards. I finished 10 minutes before it was time to leave for the party!! Whew! Talk about a close finish! :) I was happy with how these turned out as they really match the idea I had sketched out on paper. Right down to the colors, the CB folder, and the ribbons, I'd planned it all out so the card came together pretty quickly! Also, I only had to make 6 this time, so that helped too! ;)

The one thing you might not be able to tell from the pictures is the extra step I did when embossing. I inked up my Cuttlebug folder in Barely Banana so that when it was embossed, around the raised up images is a soft outline of ink. It adds just enough detail to make it pop a little. I repeated that same process on the punched out flowers to dress them up a little as well. This layout was also inspired by the Clean and Simple FTL #63 . A little bit different after it was all done, but that layout was my starting point for inspiration!

Supplies
CS: Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana
Stamp: Sincere Salutations
Misc: Stylized Flowers Cuttlebug folder, Cricut George (for tags, size 2.5), 5 petal flower punch, Chocolate Chip double stitched grosgrain ribbon, DMC floss, button

Halloween Invites!

Here are the invites for our friends this year for our Rock Band Halloween party! We set up a projector on the ginormous wall in my living room and rock out to Rock Band while eating delish food (stuffed mushrooms, artichoke dip, pesto baguettes...), downing some nummy drinks (pomegranite martinis, electric lemonades, etc.), and hanging out with our awesome friends! The kids chill downstairs with movies and their own treats while the adults have a blast and make fools of ourselves on Rock Band! Its awesome! ;)

So here are the invites that went out to our friends this year! I love everything Kim Hughes does (I had the pleasure of meeting her this summer!) and her little "Witchy Footwear" card in the Sept/Oct PaperCrafts mag was exactly what I wanted for my invites this year. (Template available on the PC website.)

Instead of making cards, I opted to do a single front of the witch shoe and include the party info on the back like a little postcard. I thought this might save a little time for me, but I'm not sure if it did or not! I've been working on these at little bits during this week so I was so glad when they were finally done! YAY! I'm considering telling my friends they have to bring these back to get admittance...lol.

I'd bought both black and purple ribbons for these shoes for fun, but I think I like the black version better.

Here are 10 of them together! I love seeing projects mass produced like this, its such a fun variety in one picture!

Supplies
CS: Whisper White
DSP: DCWV
Misc: ribbon, Sassafras buttons, hole punch, DMC floss

Bragging Rights....

Alright, I have to take a minute and interrupt the card craftiness for a little brag about my amazing and talented Momma! :) My Mother is one of the strongest women I know (thank you for that valuable lesson Mom!) and I'm constantly in awe of her. My Mom has been battling Lupus and several other auto immune diseases over the last few years, but still remains positive in spite of it all. One thing that has made a huge difference in her life has been picking up a new craft - beading.

She created a blog to document her Lupus story as well as share the jewelery she has been making. Mom's blog makes me laugh, cry, and appreciate her even more!! Recently she completed a gorgeous necklace for me, and an adorable set for my Gwynie girl to match a dress she'll wear for a school program. Anyway, she has some awesome pieces, and has set up and Etsy shop. Since they live in Florida her and my Dad are avid sea shell collectors and beach combers, which she incorporates into her necklaces! So many amazing sea shell pieces, and some dazzling beads! So go check it out! :)

One of my favorite pieces (available in her Etsy):

Of the Earth

Fun with Fabric

**Excuse the horrible quality of this photo! I was having setting issues with my camera so this is what we are stuck with today!**



I grabbed some fabric to try using on my cards recently. I loved the card I did with burlap, so I thought I'd experiment with other types of fabric. It was much more difficult than I thought! I can't really sew, which would be easy to add fabric to a card, but sigh, I guess I'll have to learn!



So I cut out this little flower out from a fabric quarter I bought and kinda like how it turned out. I pierced a hole through the center to add the ribbon, and then added a jumbo grommet to the center. Just a little somethin for fun!

Supplies
CS: Regal Rose, Basic Black, Regal Rose DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Stamp: Sweet Sentiments
Misc: scallop scissors, gemstones, regal rose grosgrain ribbon, fabric, grommet

Happy Everything!

Sometimes I sit and stare at all my craft supplies and my mind is just boggled and I can't come up with anything. Take this card for example...

I just could not find the mojo. I was chatting with my friend Brooke (she's at NYU for grad school - miss you girly!) Saturday and was complaining to her that I was having problems in craft land. She asked why and I guessed it was because I hadn't been crafty at all the week before. This was due to the dreaded illness that I'm now referring to as THE PLAGUE at my house. It seriously was so awful! Anyways, I'd tried working my way back into craftiness, but for whatever the reason I wasn't happy with anything I was creating.

So, I pulled out a few things in similiar colors and let it be. Sometimes I just have to do that. I just need to have fun with it because really that's why I do this!! It's my escape and I adore the time I get to spend playing with paper and ink and stamps. Not every card has to be polished and perfect, and really I'm a far cry from that at best! I'm a simple girl and I need to remember that when I'm trying to pressure myself into something great.

Ok so without more rambling here is the card. A little simple, a little funky, but definitely makes me smile with the bright colors and super fun flowers. I was inspired by the SPCC Finally Friday challenge to use flowers on a card.

Supplies
CS: Pixie Pink
DSP: Making Memories
Ink: Pink Passion
Stamp: Happy Everything
Misc: brads, hardware, grosgrain ribbon, ZVA creative felt flowers

Giddy Up!

One other idea I had for our Girls Night Out invites. I'm so not the country type (AT ALL!) but the designer paper made me think of cowgirl stuff, and my friend Kelly rocks her belt buckle every now and then. ;) She wants to go to a place called "The Westerner" but since I'm so not into country...well we'll see! Kelly said she'd teach me some line dance steps though so that might be fun! I did drill team in high school and college afterall so how hard could it be to pick up? But then again, I'd have to actually listen to the country music while doing it...sigh.

Anyway, onto the card!

I cut those little cowboy boots out with my Paper Dolls cartridge on the Cricut and sponged a little ink on them. I printed out the little saying on the computer and used this font called "Giddy Up!" how perfect right?! Then I tied some hemp together for the little lasso. I can't tell you how excited I was when this all came together! I'd sketched it out at least 2 weeks ago! I love when the ideas in your head finally come out on paper, and come out better than you expected!

Supplies
CS: Pretty in Pink, Boho DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Misc: hemp, printed sentiment, Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge, linen thread, Sassafras pink button, pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon, scallop border punch

SPCC WCMD Combo!

After missing out on WCMD last week I tried making up for it a little bit today! I loved this combo and had to give it a try.

Funny story to explain this little card though...so my girlfriends and I keep saying we need to do another Girls Night Out. (Its been awhile!) So I joked and said I'd make invites, and Steph said she'd hold me to it now. ;)

So for fun I decided to make a little card and maybe brainstorm a little for the real thing. So fun!

I substituted some old Baja Breeze and buttons for the Bermuda Bay. The paper and buttons look better together in real life though!

Supplies
CS: Chocolate Chip, Pale Plum, Baja Breeze
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamp: Tiny Talk, Cheers to You
Misc: buttons, dmc floss, felt flower, chocolate chip double stitched grosgrain, Cricut George (tags)

And one more!

Ok, my third post for the day so scroll down for the other two! I got to craft a little after being so sick, so I'm so excited! :)

Another Christmas card using a SPCC Christmas Color combo...yay traditional colors!

I recently ordered these hardware/grommet things from Stampin Up and then went, "Oh crap! How do I use these things?!" I'll practice more, but here's a simple, no frills card with these colors and my new hardware! I'd also stamped the trees and the sentiment last year but never finished the cards. We were visiting family in Idaho over Thanksgiving and my Aunt from Colorado brought this set for me to play with. (Yep it was a happy crafty weekend!) So, I had this all ready to go to make for a quick under 2 minute card!

Supplies
CS: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Real Red
Ink: Old Olive
Stamp: Snow Swirled
Misc: Real Red polkadot grosgrain ribbon, vanilla hardware grommet

How about...

...another fun color combo?!

I'm so bad at getting all my Christmas cards made and mailed that I've been trying to get a few done at random times to make it not so hard on myself. Queue the fresh, fun and funky Christmas Color combo at SPCC! :)

I don't think I would have ever paired these colors together for Christmas, but I like this simple, sweet little mini card! See, even just small little touches of color can make a plain white card just pop!






Supplies
CS: Whisper White
Ink: Tempting Torquoise
Stamp: Sincere Salutations
Misc: gemstones, felt snowflakes, button, floss, Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon

SP Color Combo #18!

Well, after a disasterous sick week last week, I am finally feeling better! Whooo! I honestly can't remember being that sick before! I was down for the count! My awesome hubs took care of the kids and kept up with the house quite well! I have a few things around the house to tackle this weekend, but I was so excited to get back and play with some papers and stamps! So of course the housework (dusting, vacumming, etc.) got pushed aside for a day so I could indulge for a few cards. ;)

Ok, so I've been really procrastinating making a birthday card for my Uncle. I've just been having a tough time with the colors and masculine theme. I thought the color combo at SPCC this week was perfect for this type of card!

So the funny part though, I didn't have any of these colors! I don't have any of the new "In Colors", and I was at scraps on my Not Quite Navy. Time to stock up again! ;) So, I had to substitute all three colors, but I think it turned out ok. In the catalog the Suede color always looked a little similiar to Always Artichoke, so that's what I used for that color. For the Navy, I went with Night of Navy, and for the Dusty Durango, I had a button and some brads that was similiar.

I also made a little patterned type paper with this card using the sentiments and the candles. I love being able to take a stamp set and use it to the fullest! Eat Cake will always be one of my favorite birthday sets I think! :) I also took the "sparkles" stamp and did the Kissing technique on the cake. You ink up the main stamp, and then take another stamp, apply it directly to your inked up stamp and it removes your ink making a design. Then you stamp it and you get a totally different look!

Supplies
CS: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke
Ink: Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke
Stamp: Eat Cake
Misc: brads, button, linen thread, scallop border punch

WCMD

I'm so bummed right now that I can't play along this year. :(

Here's why...I went to the hospital last night! Jake dragged me kicking and screaming, well more like sobbing and begging not to go. I'm now so glad that he made me and I'm on my way to being better. If I can sit here in bed and write this from my laptop, it just shows me how far I've come!

It started on Tuesday afternoon. I got a headache around 2 and then a little after 4 I started to get the body aches. I left work at 5 and as soon as I got home went to bed for a few hours. When I got up I still felt icky so I had some soup and took some tylenol. Jake said I felt really warm and took my temperature. I was running in the 100-101 range. I went to work Wednesday for a few hours (that's my normal check run day), and then went back home to go to bed again. Temperature was still 100-101 and I was still hurting all over. My throat was starting to hurt, as well as my ear. Thursday rolls around and I am even worse. I'm now running a 101-102 fever and my tonsils have swollen a lot. It hurt to swallow so of course that made staying hydrated a huge task. So I went to InstaCare and they were able to put me in an appointment slot which saved me a little money on my co-pay. I told the nurse all my symptoms, she ran a flu test on me (which is two swabs up your nostrils that sting!!) and said the doc would be in. So I tell the doc all my symptoms and I tell her my throat is REALLY hurting. She looks, said its red and left it at that. Then I tell her my ear is hurting and she said there was some fluid so to go get some Sudafed to clear that out. So then she says my flu test is negative, but that she's going to give me a prescription to help it along. Little did Jake and I know, but this costly little prescription isn't designed to treat the flu, but to lessen how long you have it. BIG difference!

So I spend a miserable day and night Thursday, and then came Friday. Worst day ever. I cannot think of a single instance in my life where I felt as horrible as I did Friday. Child birth, appendicitis, migraines...they can't compare at all! About 3 Jake called to check on me and told me to take my temperature. I'd been trying to drink lots of water and gatorade, but with my throat so swollen and hurting it was so hard. At the time he called, my fever was the worst it had been at 102.5. Jake told me to get ready because we were going to the hospital. I sobbed and begged him to not make me go. I whined to him..."but I drank all my gatorade, I really did!" He said since I'd had such a bad fever now for 3 days I was probably dehydrating and they needed to get saline in me to cool my body down. I really didn't want to go, but I'm so glad I did.

To finish up an already long story....it wasn't the flu. Never was. That very first test proved it. If my doctor would have taken the time to listen to what I said hurt, and done an extra test, we would have found out what I really have...Strep Throat . I had all of these symptoms (except for the rash) and I told my doctor about every single one:

Difficulty swallowing
Fever that begins suddenly
General discomfort, uneasiness or ill feeling
Loss of appetite
Nausea
Rash
Red throat, sometimes with white patches
Sore throat
Tender, swollen lymph nodes in the neck

So yes a very long and wordy post from me here, but I just wanted to take a minute (or more) to say why I'm not able to play along this year. I had some really fun ideas too, but I guess I'll just save them for another time. I hope everyone else is having a fabulous WCMD!!

Happily Ever After

Alright, are you tired of this color combo yet? (Just kidding!) ;) This is the last card I made with it and I was glad that I came up with different designs, and they were all pretty unique.

Going with the Always set again (I LOVE that heart!), but I used a little wedding sentiment from Ever After. I seem to struggle with get well, sympathy and wedding cards, so this was a little tough to finish! That little touch of blue threw me off, but in the end I like that little addition. It reminds me of the wedding tradition, something old, etc. and here is my something blue! I honestly would have never put these colors together so I loved the challenge. I also loved using different hues of blue to acheive totally different looks.

Supplies
CS: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Real Red
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamp: Always, Ever After
Misc: Martha Stewart border punch, chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, real red button, twine, Fancy Pants decorative stick pins