Happy Halloween!

Okay, so the only thing I have to share with you Halloween today is my little cutie in her "cuck" (duck) outfit! Is she not the cutest little Daisy Duck you ever did see? We think so too!


Although it is still Fall, i will tell you, I am getting into the Christmas spirit. If it weren't for the lack of time, I would put all of my Christmas decorations up this weekend! Why, I have already pulled out the Smokey Mountain Christmas CD and have it playing as we speak! The tags I am showing you today are what I am making to go on all of my packages this year. Have you looked at the prices Wal-Mart has on the ones that are anything more than the standard to/from? They are getting outragoues along with everything else! The majority of these tags will be shipped out tomorrow for a tag swap that I joined. There is non traditional Christmas colors, Winter Colors, and Traditional Christmas colors. oops, just sitting here I realized that I have failed to remember to stamp the to and from on the back...must do that before mailing! If you were a part of this swap, I truly do hop that you enjoy these tags as this will be the last swap I will be participating in at that particular site for a while unless something changes. I am in school and working on some other projects at the moment...
The next thing I have to share is a little Home Sweet Home card I made! I loved putting this together, because it was all scraps! The little white circle at top is to add a monogramed initial of the recipient!
This little snowflake card didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it too, but I added it just to show that we all make flubs! I do love the snowflake, but the trimming around it aggervates me! I also think I went overboard with the bling! Oopsie!

The monogram card is one of those that really is prettier in person than I could capture on photo! The background is embossed with the new argyle folder from Cuttlebug and the stamp of the monogram is from Autumn Leaves and colored in with a copic marker!


We are treating tonight again! Happy Treating to all!

FRIEND Chipboard Album

Good morning! We received our first snowfall last night here in our little corner of Eastern Ky. Although just a scant (about as much as I can tolerate), I love it this way! It is nice and crisp outside and I am inside stamping and scrapping! Well, not as much of the stamping and scrapping part as I wished! I am trying to kick out some cards for a swap that I signed up for and think I came up with the two most tedious layouts possible! They are kicking my butt right now and I need to have them sent out by Friday! Plus, I am in another swap that I haven't started on! EEK!

Today I want to share with you something that I made for a dear friend for Christmas. She is my cheerleader when it comes to my creations and always brags on them so much. Although I didn't know which colors she likes best, these were all from a K & Co coordinating travel paper pack and since she loves to travel and they are pretty neutral, I figured I couldn't go wrong... I hope she likes it!

(Friend chipboard album by BoBunnyPress, Travel

Papers from K &Co., Various Ribbons from

American Crafts, Prima Flowers, Misc.

Brads)

Sketch Challenge Fulfillment

First off, today I went to a Diabetes Symposiam where I work and I loved it! I have always had a dream of working with diabetics since my mom and dad both suffer from the disease. It was a great day of learning for me!

Anyways, this is my card for the sketch challenge from 2 Sketches for You. I ended up doing the bonus challenge instead of the acutal challenge for the week! I hope that's okay!

Photobucket has been a real pain to me tonight or I would have much more to share!

(Misc Black Cardstock, vellum, swiss dots

cuttlebug folder, TreeHouse Stamps

pumpkin stamp, Copic Markers,

Ribbon from American Crafts,

Making Memories Spellbound Paper,

Prima Flower, Sugar Coated Brads)

Cozy Tennessee Morning!

Abby is still asleep, but I wanted to get up and blog real quick like before we have to get up and start getting ready to leave. We are going to spend the day in DollyWood today!!

I forgot to mention that last night we stopped by the Scrapbook Superstore!! I loaded up on some new Copics. All of the copics I already own have been the sketch - now the scrapbook superstore only carries the ciao. I bought some to try anyways. Other than that, only bought 2 sheets of paper and a small paper of bling for a card I am planning to make tomorrow! I was really hoping they would have had Christmas as the big display, but they didn't.

When I was trying to figure out what to share with you today since I am not home to make something new, I stumbled across this. It's the birthday card I ended up making for my dad. I cut the circles on the card out with my coluzzlue, all except the scalloped one. I made the scalloped circle on the cricut and used it as a template to cut the card! The inner circle of Velum is also embossed. I am super tickled with it mostly because I was thinking that I would never get his card made, but also because I have been wanting to make a circle card for so long and had never gotten around to it!

(Misc. brown and blue cardstock, stamped image from

My Punny Valentine Set - PTI (http://www.papertreyink.com/),

Ribbon from Wal-Mart, Vellum, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots

folder, CTMH ink pad)

Mini Vacation!

Happy Blogging from the Great Smokey Mountains! We are having a blast, but missing Gary dearly (he had to stay home and work). Abby has had a ball in the jacuzzi that's in the room and the fire place is so peaceful! I worked at the hospital today until a little after 3 and I am ready to fall over now...

However, here is a little something I had taken a picture of a while back but not shared. Last month was Gary's boss' birthday and the office purchased her a gift card. My contribution...gift card tin! I am really tickled with how it turned out! The cupcake is colored with copics and then I went over the frosting with stickles! How yummy!

Oh, and here is a picture of little miss "lovin' the life" princess from tonight!

HUGS,

Baby Shower Gift

Here is my project that has been occupying a lot of my time lately. I wish I would have taken individual pictures of each of the items, but I didn't.
Anyways, included are three onsies with an "e" stamped on each for baby Ethan, a clipboard painted blue with brown dots and brown dotted ribbon that is holding 12 6x6blank calender pages for baby Ethan's mom to write his milestones on, and a 6x6 album for the completed pages, monogramed as well.
This gift was so fun to make. I stamped on the onsies with Staz-On for permanentness.

Mytime challenge and Fresh&Fun Challenge

Good evening! I know I have been MIA for a couple of days, but here are my excuses: I worked three days in a row at the hospital and have been working on a big project that I will share with you tomorrow!!

With no further a due, here are my cards for today. The first is in response to a challenge issued by Lauren Meader aka MyTime. Lauren’s sketch can be found at http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/. I wanted to make something with colors different than your typical Christmas and Winter colors. I think the pastels worked out rather nicely. However, I wish that I would have embossed the base of the card to begin with. The stamp set used here is Snow Much Fun by SU with miscellaneous papers that I found in the scrapbook room and it is all colored in by my Copics. The bling is by Heidi Swapp and the ribbon is from Wal-Mart.

My next card is in response to Beate’s challenge. I believe most people post their cards under the Splitcoaststampers gallery, but I am unsure if I will publish mine there or not… This card is made with a brown card base, some Making Memories paper for the background, ribbon from America Crafts, and a stamp set from Gina K that although I could not do without when it was released, I just used it for the first time today! Beate’s challenge can be found at

Today is my first attempt at making cards for challenges and sharing them with everyone afterward. I really enjoyed it and look forward to more!

Finally Friday

Can you believe that it is Friday again? I spent this Friday with my dad since it has been his birthday and we had a wonderful time! However, right now I am super sleepy, because I took some sinus and allergy meds earlier and they are kicking my butt. Here is what I want to share with you today though. When I saw these at Wal-Mart, I knew they would make the cutest little luggage and purse tags! They are the badge holders in the stationary section. I think they would also make nice diaper bag tags. I have this one hanging on my big Longaberger basket now. How seasonally appropriate these can be made!

(Avery badge holder, scrap paper, American Crafts Ribbon,

Wal-Mart Ribbon, Prima Flowers, Misc. Brands, Newsprint Alpha stamp set from SU, Basic Black SU ink)

Another Christmas Gift

Just a quick post to share another Christmas gift! I know the photo glared horrible on here, but it will have to do for now... The actual album does not have the glare, just the photograph for here :)


This is a chipboard album by making memories similar to the new trend of "Piggy Tales" albums... Needless to say, after this experience, I do not plan on doing a piggy tales album soon... I will have to post pictures of the inside later to show you what I mean!!

(Making Memories Chipboard Album, K & Co glitter

chipboard alphabet and accessories, misc All American

Crafts ribbon, Large Prima flower, Flower Brad by Making

Memories, Pepers by K & Co.)

Scrapbook Spot?

Well, I guess that's what I'm going to call it for now. It's not exactly what you would call a room since it does not have a door and only has three walls. It is just a little spot off to the side of my family room the original owners were going to use as a hot tub room. At 7' by 7' - there's not a lot of space, but the worse part of it all was that I was not working with what space I had. Everything was so piled up that I did not know what I had let alone room to work with it.

We spent the entire day yesturday working in here and I am now happy to say that my desk is clear!! I have a table in the back that has misc. items and a cabinet set behind me that holds my sewing machine and other scrapbook tools. I already had two shelves and a rack for stamps and ink pads, but we added another shelf and 2 more three tier racks to the wall - what a difference it made! All of the totes that were just sitting out are now neatly housed under the table and the stuff that was just laying everywhere is becoming closer and closer to being organized. I don't think I will ever have my scrapbook Haven or Santuary so to speak while we are living in this house, but for now - this is wonderfu!

Since I was able to create, I really got all Christmas Spirited and decided to work on some Christmas Cards. Colorbok has a wonderful kit for those of you who either do not want to or have time to do all of their cards the same. The kits are wonderful, although they are probably not intended for those who are more apt to step by step instructions. Colorbok gives you the materials and the room to let your imagination and creativity run wild. This is one of my favorites I did! I will add more as Christmas comes closer!




And as an extra - my dad's birthday is this Friday. Needless to say, being totally girly and having a baby girl, I am awful at making man cards. This week I will share with you my attempts at birthday cards!! Here is the first. Although I love this card and think the cupcake looks delicious - I just don't think it screams dad :p The first pic is a piece of cardstock I cut using the cricut for a template. It is 4 and 1/4 inch if you were wondering... The next picture is of the cupcake I stamped using the Hero Arts cupcake stamp set. I played around with my copic markers around the edges to see which colors would give me the output I desired. Copics are how I color almost all of my stamping creations... The last is the finished product with the icing stickled! The yummy paper is from imaginisce.

I am so happy to have space to create! I had recently invaded the kitchen table and island (which is where my cricut is still sitting), a cabinet at the top of my stairs and a 6' table in the middle of my family room! Now I am able to display my creations on the cabinet at the top of the stairs and Abby has more room to play where the table once sat {although she would rather be in the scrapbook room :) } I think my husband is happier that I am happy, although I will admit, he was the majority of the brute labor! Thanks honey!

Christmas Presents - Part 1

I've been working on Christmas presents. Or should I say Christmas present ideas. I believe Christmas has become so over commercialized that I wanted to take a different approach. Therefore, if I can stick to it, this Christmas Abby and our parents will be about the only ones receiving store bought gifts from us...ABOUT - there will still be some exceptions since this is the first year I am trying this - I don't have enough enfidence in myself, time, or ideas this year...



On with it though...I have decided that I am going to make some mini scrapbooks or chipboard albums this year for both sets of hubby's grandparents, his mom and dad, and my mom and dad. Okay, that would be 4, but when I started making the first one, hubby decided he liked it and wanted to keep it. Therefore our deal is that I will make 5 and he can chose his favorite for us to keep at the house. I will upload them all as I make the different ones and at the end let you all vote and give some blog candy to the winner. I hope you all like it... I will take the pics around Thanksgiving so they will be recent then add them to the pages.

(Materials used: Chipboard album, Papers by My

Minds Eye, Bazzill Basics Flower, Various Brads,

Assorted Ribbons, Rub-Ons from QVC)

Sketch Challenge

Here is the scrapbook Sketch Challenge of the week!!

Add anything you wish but remember to keep the page close enough that someone would know your inspiration when paired next to the sketch challenge image.

I will post the card challenge by Friday... and you will have until next Friday to complete it!

Sweet Sunday

Again, another day that I have been happy just to have the day off of work! I am working on my cards for the October Card Swap in one of the MSN groups I belong to. Here is what I came up with! By the way, the theme is pink for October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month... I hope I have enough pink to mine! Sorry this is a short post! Later this week I will share a Christmas gift I am working on :)

Happy World Card Making Day

Happy World Card Making Day everyone!!

I am so loving this day even though I don't get to spend it at home playing all day, I am spending it with my family! It is one of my few Saturdays off from work and I am loving it! We made a trip to the LSS to retrieve the supplies to work on some of the upcoming swaps that I have joined. And if you haven't tried them yet, I sooo recommed the new scissors by Tim Holtz.... better than CutterBees! Seriously, y'all should try 'em!

First off, a while back I was asked to make a Library Card for the first time.... Say What... That's what I was thinking too!! Here is what I came up with and THANKFULLY it was correct!! I didn't think it was too bad for a first attempt! There is a tag inside the library card for journaling!!

(Materials Used: Blue and Green cardstock, American Crafts Ribbon (light blue with white stars), anmial crackers paper, and Making Memories metal embellishment)

Now, for my card for world card making day! I had wanted to finish the layout or sample card for the October Card Swap I am in, but - I goofed and ended up making this out of scraps!

Finally Friday

Well, the Dr's office never did return my call today, so I will go with the old addage that no news is good news!
I am absolutely loving this fall weather that we are enjoying here in the mountains. I think we are going to make a run to the LSS tomorrow before the gospel singing that the church is hosting. Which by the way, I made a dozen Brownie Treats with Cream Cheese frosting and a dozen white chocolate pretzel confections for! :)
Today I have a card that I made for yet another swap to share with you! This is my Fall card!

Materials Used: Brown Cardstock, rustic red Cardstock, Olive Cardstock, American Crafts Ribbon, Happy Fall Y'all Stamp Set from Tree House Stamps, Inks by Close to my Heart, Green Stickles, Copic Markers

Happy Thursday

Can you believe the weekend is almost here? I am so excited because I don't have to work this weekend!!
I hurt my back and have been trying to take it easy today. I find out the results of the x-rays tomorrow *nervous* Please pray!
On with the main event ;) Today I have a couple of things that I want to share with you...
First is a tag I made for a swap that I joined on an MSN group. It is a tags of the month swap and my month is February... Without further adue - enter February (my baby's birthday month!!)



Materials: Brown cardstock, My Minds Eye Valentine Papers, American Crafts Assorted Ribbons, Assorted Brads, Ink by CTMH @ http://www.closetomyheart.com/ , journaling stamp by basic grey, and miscellaneous heart ribbon holder.
I hope you like it!
Next up is a page that I made at crop night the last time I got to go! This page was inspired by my adorable little Abby's picture in front of the pumpkins at DollyWood! I thought I wanted to make this page out of a total different paper until I saw this one!! I wish I knew the manufacturer of the paper, but I cannot remember!




Most items used on this page were from my mind's eye, the pumpkin stickers were some in the bottom of a pile I'd had forever ;) and the PUNKIN was cut using the new Cricut Storybook cartridge.

Scrappin Challenges

Good morning! The new challenges for cards, scrapbook pages, etc. will be posted here starting next week.
Also, the post below was intended for the Picked With Love blog, but accidently got slipped in here! I guess it's the Lord's way of telling all my scrapping buddies about my love for our LORD!