More Hershey Tins

I really love how quick and easy these are - not to mention yummy!
I made a few more, but I didn't take pictures of them all - since they basically look the same.

I really liked the candy cane tin and wish I had picked up more of these. I didn't really have any stamps small enough to use. So I found a candy cane graphic and printed it on the labels. I like the way they came out.


Then I had a very special one to make. I have a dear sweet cousin who ADORES Elvis. I mean, he's been singing Elvis songs for as long as I can remember. (He and I are the same age.) So I made a special Elvis tin for him, using some photos I found online.
I was telling my Mom about this and she informed me that he was diabetic, so I needed a new plan. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any sugar-free candy in the right shape to hold the labels nicely. So I just did the best I could and wrapped the chocolates I found with the labels. It may not look quite as nice as the nuggets, but I'm sure he will like it.


I've been so busy making things that I haven't had much time for blogging. But once Christmas is over, I'll be sharing more of the things I made.

I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Cards

This year I sent out a photo Christmas card to family and friends. But for hubby's buddies at the station I needed some "regular cards". So I made six of these:



I kept them very simple, as I needed to do them quickly. The image and sentiment are both $1 stamps from Michael's. And I finally got a scallop punch which I obviously used here. (I can't wait to get these in the other sizes!)

I also needed a couple more cards to go with some gifts, and so came these:


That's more $1 stamps - love those things! And I kept them quick and simple too. Gotta love simple!

A Couple of Holders

Here's a couple of holder-type things I made. The first is a chap stick/lip balm holder. I saw these on SCS and thought they were so cute. And the ladies there are so wonderful at posting directions and template for so many different projects. I am very thankful for that!

I made these for a couple of the teenage girls in the family in which I needed just a little gift. I may be making a few more of these.

This shows the inside and the outside.


And then I found the M&M Christmas Story on SCS as well. I really liked it and since I had a couple bags of Christmas M&M's I decided to do something with them. I needed a little treat to send with CJ for his Friday Science class. I used small bags to put the M&M's in, so making a topper with this poem was a bit too big.
So I printed it out, scored it in a couple places and make a little tent to hold the M&M's. I had seen things like this done all over the place and it was easy enough to adapt to be the right size.

These two go along with the chap sticks above. I made more for CJ's class, but they were in green. I didn't think to take a picture of them, but other than the color, they were exactly like these.


I'm trying to take pictures of everything I'm making as I go along. I'm just slow getting them posted because I've been so busy! And some of them I won't be able to post until after Christmas anyway.

I'll be so glad when I'm all done! But I'm having fun!

My First Nugget Tin!

I've been seeing these for a while now and have been wanting to make one. I saw a cute one on Wanda's blog where she used a gift card tin from Michaels. I had been looking in all the wrong places for one. Then she posted a message and told where to find them. Right up at the registers! They had been right in my face the whole time!

She used an adorable snowman tin, I really wanted one like that, so I searched every register. But to no avail. So I picked up this one and a candy cane one. The picture of the candy cane one is still on my camera. I will post it later.

Using these tins couldn't be easier, because you really don't need to do anything to them! And with using labels to go on the Hershey's Nuggets is so easy - and fun!

So here's my first one.

Then I just made a band using cardstock, to go around it and hold it together. It slides right off.

I see many more of these in my future, as they can be used for any occasion! And these Christmas tins? I plan to check Michaels right after Christmas and hope to find them marked down so I can stock up for next year!

A Couple Quick Gifts

I was trying to come up with a gift for my Granddad. He doesn't need anything, doesn't really use most of the stuff he gets, and is just generally a tougher one to get something for.

So this is what I came up with - simple, funtional, and with the pic of two of his great-grandkids, it's cute too!


I used a 5x7 acrylic frame. And I found the calendar at Split Coast Stampers. I think he will really like this.

My husband really liked it and had a great idea. He suggested I make one for his Dad to go in his truck. He drives a big lumber truck all day, and he keeps a calendar up on his dash. So hubby suggested I just add a velcro strip to the bottom, so he could put this there. What a smart man I married!

I made this one in the 4x6 size so it would sit on his dash better. I know without a doubt he's going to like this!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow - it's been a LONG time since I posted anything! Well, I've been quite busy preparing for the holidays and haven't had a lot of time for blogging.

I've been making quite a few things, but most of them I can't show yet, as they are Christmas gifts. So I'll be sharing those later.

I joined a calendar swap at Paper Petal Memories. Each of 12 ladies picks a month and creates a 6x6 calendar page for that month. I chose May.

Honestly, I was feeling very uninspired and I'm not totally pleased with my outcome. I just wish I had done something a little more. Because there are some AMAZING pages some of the other ladies created, and I feel bad that mine aren't of the same caliber. I really waited until the last minute to get them done, as I was hoping to be hit with a big dose of inspiration. But that never happened. So I had to do the first thing that came to me, and to me, they just lack something.

And there are 12 of these. They only vary slightly due to where the paper was cut, so the buttons and gems fall in slightly different places. And I used Crystal Stickles to outline the large flowers.

Maybe not terribly inspired, but they are done. Hopefully I'll have something better to contribute next year!

Sweet Birthday Wishes

I really like pink - can you tell? LOL! I hope the young recipient of this card likes pink too.

This it the first time I've used the lollipop stamp from the Very Punny set. I added stickles to make it shine. And I put them on pretty thick, to get a slightly raised look. However, when it dried, it warped the paper and the matting, pulling it from the card a little. Guess next time, I should let that dry before I mat and attach it. Oh well, live and learn!

Other than that, I think it's kind of cute!

Simple Birthdays

I'm still tying to get my creative juices flowing full force, but I'm majorly stuck in simple mode. I guess that's better than not doing anything at all!

And when it comes to teenage boys, I imagine simple is really best. No ribbons or flowers or anything like that. That's what these two cards are for.

Two brothers with birthdays a day apart. Cousins in our family. I think keeping these cards super simple is the right choice for them.

So that's what I did.

(I also realized after taking the photos that some of my corners were lifted slightly - I'm fixing that, but not taking the pictures again.)




I used misc. papers (from my scrap stash! trying to use some of that up!) and Studio G stamps.

Thanks, Coach

CJ played for Upward Basketball at our church again this year. Tonight is the awards ceremony. (We play our season early so the school can have the gym during actual basketball season.)

I've been trying to come up with something to make as a thank you gift. I made this today. (Did I mention the ceremony is tonight? Nothing like waiting until the last minute!)

I was having trouble because I wanted something fitting for a male coach. And then today, when I was looking at the team picture I realized I needed to make it for the coach and his wife! I have NO IDEA why I had not even considered that before - duh!

Anyway, I still didn't want any thing froo-froo, so this is what I came up with.


I scanned the team photo and reduced it to fit on the post-it-note holder. (Yes, they were a VERY small team - we didn't have many middle-schoolers playing this year.)

For the pen, I was going to just do the one where you slide the paper down into the barrel of the pen - I but I didn't have any of the right pens on hand. And since the gift was now for both of them, I decided the beaded pen would work just fine.

I have a bunch of these little tins left over from Christmas last year and haven't done anything with them. This one will be filled with candy - probably Hersey's Miniatures - which I will be picking up on the way to the ceremony tonight!

And the card - super quick and easy. I really didn't want white lettering, but had limited options since I couldn't find any lighter coordinating cardstock that would match. I guess it turned out ok though.

Anyway, I hope they like it!

Princess Ruthi

I'm trying to decorate my daughter's room on a limited budget. I want it to be cute but without spending a ton of money.

She has a princess theme in her room and I've been trying to come up with some cute things to do in there.

I picked up these cute wood letters as WalMart a while back. They were less than $2 each.

I painted the edges pink and then picked 5 different patterned papers to add to the fronts.

I adhered the papers with mod podge. When the top layer was still wet, I sprinkled on some glitter for a little extra sparkle.

I tied on some ribbons and added a few embellishments. I decided to keep them pretty simple.

I added the ribbon for hanging. I put them on her wall using pushpins and added the bows and the princess piece to the tops of the pins.

I think it turned out pretty cute, and really dresses up her wall.


Here's another view - you can see the sparkle of the glitter a little better in this one.


The only thing I'm not completely happy with is the way the ribbon hangs on the 'I'. It's a more narrow letter, so I don't really know what else to do with it!

By the way - Ruthi LOVES it!!

Quick Birthday

I have no idea why I've been so uninspired lately. I'm constantly looking so many beautiful cards and creations online, so you'd think I'd be very inspired. But it seems to be working against me. When I sit down to do something, the creativity just isn't flowing. I hope I come out of this soon!

But, even uninspired, I have cards I need to send. And I already messed and missed a couple birthdays! So I'm trying to get back on track and at the very least, make and send the cards I need to.

That's why this card came about. I realized I needed a super quick card so it could get in the mail immediately, and this is what I came up with. Definitely nothing fancy, but I didn't want it too fancy anyway, since it was for an uncle.



Monday I will be posting something else I made for Ruthi. See you then!

A Little Something Different

OK, so up till now, most of the things I have created have been paper-related for the most part.

But I decided to try something new.

I wanted to make a blanket for my daughter.

I don't sew.

Well, not much anyway. I will occasionally sew a button or stitch something up that has come unstitched. But I don't really enjoy it.

Once upon a time I could use a sewing machine and do a pretty good job. I made a really pretty skirt and a petticoat to go under it. That was ages ago. But I did learn how to use a machine.

A couple years ago, I purchased (for almost nothing) an almost new sewing machine from a friend of mine who was having a yard sale.

It has been sitting in the closet since then.

I did get it out a couple months ago and tried to use it to do some sewing on some cards and layouts. But I couldn't get the darn thing to work right.

And the other day my neighbor (who sews a lot) looked at it and fiddled with it, and thought it was working ok. But alas, it's not.

So how does one make a blanket without sewing? Well, I'm sure you've seen these, but when I found this tutorial on Barb's blog, I just knew I had to try it!

I goofed up just a bit. I decided I wanted mine rectangle instead of square like Barb's. So I figured out my measurements. I did great on the length, but with the width, well...I figured out who wide I wanted it but forgot to include the measurement for the fringe. So I cut it to narrow.

That's why I wanted my machine to work. I was just going to stitch the long sides and have fringe only on the ends. But I couldn't get it to work properly.

So I just made the fringe on the sides a little shorter than on the ends.

It is more narrow than I really wanted, but in the end it all worked out fine. It fits Ruthi and her bed perfectly. So I'm happy.

When I saw this Pink Georgia Tech Fleece, I could NOT pass it up. Ruthi always cheers for the Jackets when her daddy is watching football. (Even if they are not playing) And she makes a really cute cheerleader!

Here's the blanket:


And if you will notice, there is a little pillow there too. I used a little princess pillow that Ruthi has had since birth, but was falling apart. I just cut the fleece to the right size and put the old pillow in between and tied around the sides. I didn't have a piece of the GT fleece leftover that was large enough to fit and be centered, so I used the solid pink (which is also on the back side of the blanket). Then I hand stitched that GT square on. (See, I am at least capable of sewing!) It didn't go on perfectly straight, but I will not let my OCD get he best of me!

Oh, and since I goofed an my strips were shorter on the sides, I couldn't loop them - I had to the pieces together into knots. But I'm happy with it.

And here's a picture of my little darling with her new blanket.


I'm pretty sure she likes it. She says, "Mommy, it's so pretty and sosht." (soft) Makes me smile!

New Diggs

So....watcha think about the new look? I was so bored with the old look and it has been long overdue a change. I've been thinking about it for a while but wasn't sure what I wanted to do. My fabulous new header was created by Trista at Pumkin Patch Creations.

I still may tweak a few things here or there, but for the most part I like it! I love pink and brown, so this will work until I'm lovin' another combination!

And I'll be back with a couple projects I've been working on. I haven't been as creative lately as I'd like to be, but I'm getting back into the swing of things. I know I've been saying that for a while, but hopefully this time it will stick!

Rock a bye Baby

While I was blog-hopping this morning, I came across a cute sketch and thought I'd give it a try, since I'm so far behind in my scrapbooking these days!

I saw the sketch on this blog along with her too-cute layout. The sketch actually comes from here, by Q-diggity at Scrapbook.com.

This is a picture I've wanted to scrap for a while, knowing the poem I wanted to use with it. Since this sketch was perfect for using one photo, I decided to use this one. I'm not 100% happy with the way my lettering for my title came out, but it'll do. I made this in an 8x8 size.

The poem reads:
Cleaning and scrubbing
can wait 'til tomorrow
For babies grow up
we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs
Dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby
and babies don't keep.

I used miscellaneous papers, the flower is Creative Elements (Wal-Mart) and the font for the poem is "A Little Pot" (Downloaded from internet.) My title was done by cutting letters from an old stencil I have.

It's Fall Y'all!

Finally! The weather yesterday and today has been fabulous! Quite nippy in the mornings, and nice and cool all day. I've had our windows open and enjoying the fresh air. It's actually been cool enough that the first part of these two days, I've been wearing a sweatshirt! I love it! It's really making me want to go camping!

Anyway, it's gotten me in the mood to make something with the fall theme. And now that I've "gotten my hands dirty" again, hopefully some creativity will come back to me!

First up, I made these candy corn jars just for fun. I'll end up giving them to someone, just not sure who yet. Super simple, and self explanatory I think. The stamp was from the $1 bin at Michaels, and I just inked part of it. The papers and ribbon were some I've had around for a while, but most likely came from M's as well.


And with some of the same paper, I made these cards. This is the first time I've done 3x3 cards, and I really like this size! They will perfectly accompany the jars above. Again - the stamps I used were in the $1 bin!



That's all for now. I hope to have some time this weekend to work on some more things - if I'm not outside all weekend enjoying the cooler weather!!

Struggling....

...to get my creative, um...'mojo' back! I'm not sure why. I didn't have any creativeness in me while I was sick, but was sure it would come rushing back once I was feeling better.

But is has not.

I posted a card last week - and it was a super quick and easy one. This was another super quick and easy one - nothing to get excited over for sure. But I don't have anything else to post at the moment.

I was really hoping that yesterday I would get something done. I wanted to, but it just never happened. So hopefully I'll come up with something today. I'm really behind on cards, and I need to get it in gear! Plus I really need to start working on Christmas gifts! Not to mention, my business has pretty much been put on hold. I was really making progress before I got sick - but those 4 weeks really took a lot out of me. Now, I really WANT to get back on track, but the want in my head hasn't transferred to my hands yet.

I don't like this struggling feeling, and hopefully it will pass quickly!

Anyway, here's the other super-quick card, and hopefully I'll have something better soon!

I think I'm back!

First of all, thanks to all of you who sent well wishes/prayers, either here or my other blog. It really means a lot!

I am feeling much better. I had my MRI done yesterday, and will have the results next week. I really don't expect them to find anything, though it would really be nice to know what caused all this miserable pain in my head!

I had 2-3 really good days, and it felt so good to feel a little normal again! Yesterday, my head started hurting again, and still hurts today. But my shoulders/upper back are hurting too, so I'll go and get an adjustment in the morning, and hopefully that will take care of this headache.

Anyway, I really needed to send out a couple cards this week, so I had to make some quick ones.

We have a cousin who had an anniversary, so I made a really quick card for that. I had received this cute little Mr. & Mrs. Chick stamp by Stampendous from Michele in some blog candy I won from her. I really wanted a reason to use it and thought it would work just fine on an anniversary card.

It's such a cute image. I colored in the hat, flower and beaks with sharpies. I added crystal stickles to the veil for some shimmer. And the shimmer in the ribbon worked well with it. Nothing fancy, but I thought it came out pretty cute.

Well, I need to get the little one in bed, and take care of a few things around here before I turn in. So I'll be back to post another one sometime this weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend!

I'm Still Here!

I can't believe I haven't been able to post in almost a month! But I've been sick for that long, and it hasn't been fun. If you want to know what's been going on with me, you can read here and here. I haven't made anything all month because I just haven't felt well. But I'm stating to feel better, and hopefully be back to creating in no time!

I feel like between not creating stuff and not blogging, that a big part of my life is missing - and I want it back! And my energy - I need it back! This has not been a fun month! It HAS to get better soon!

Hoping I'll be back to "normal" soon!!!!!!

A Quick Card

I received a Pocket full of Posies Matstack by DCWV a while back in some blog candy I won. I have flipped through it over and over again, admiring the papers. But for some reason, I was having a difficult time putting them together to use.

I needed a quick birthday card and was determined to use some of that paper! And I succeeded...at using it anyway. I think I like how this turned out. Maybe not my favorite card, but I'm ok with it. I hope the recipient likes it!



I had the metal flower and the jeweled brad in my stash - not sure who makes them. I swiped the ribbon off of a gift I received. Stamp is Studio G.

A Simple Birthday

This is a pretty simple birthday card. It's not quite as long as the ones I usually make like this that fit in a business envelope. The envelope this went in was a little shorter, so I made it the same length.


I used my scallop scissors for the strip in the middle - it's not perfect - I obviously need some more practice with those, or a better tool! Then I used my Signo gel pen to add the dots. The papers are Rob & Bob. The stamps are Studio G. Not sure about the ribbon - it was a piece in my stash.

I have GOT to get some more circle punches! I only have one - that's the one I used to cut out the inner circle. I then mounted that on the darker cardstock and had to hand trim around it. It's definitely not perfect, and it aggravates me! So I really need to add circle punches to the top of my list to make this quicker, easier and to get a perfect circle!!

Best Fishes

I'm slowly gaining some time to work on stuff again. The website is very close - it would be done, but I really needed to take a break from it to catch up on some other things around here! I'm hoping it will be ready by this time next week. Still working out some details!

I needed a card to send to one of the young cousins in the family and decided to use the fish from SU!'s Very Punny set. I really like this little guy - he looks like a happy fish.


I used my Cuttlebug for the background and added stickles to some of the circles for a little sparkle. It's hard to tell, but I also added them to the fish bubbles. Simple card, I hope Jackson likes it!

I have a couple more cards I need to make today, so I'll be posting them in the next day or two. And hopefully I'll be back to creating on a more regular basis soon!!

I Really Will Be Back Soon!

I know I haven't posted here much lately - but I have a good reason. I am diligently working on my website for my business. It is taking a LOT of time, because I'm very slow at this sort of thing. I'm no expert web designer or anywhere close, so it is slow going. I am making progress and it will be ready to launch soon. However, I've not had much time to create anything with paper. But I'll be back to that shortly and posting.
I did get one 8x8 LO done last week for a sketch challenge at Paper Petal Memories. Seeing how for now, I'm hosting the challenges, I figured I'd better produce a LO too! It is very simple, but one more done!!!


This little pink bear was my daughter's favorite - until we lost it. So just a quick little LO remembering the delight that bear brought her!

Misc. papers, Creative Elements flower, Spare Parts letters and Misc. letter beads.
The sketch I used was from April '07 by Becky Fleck

Birthday Soup

There were a few stamp sets I've been wanting from SU! but that are now retired. I've been able to pick a couple up from ebay - which is making me very happy. I'm desperately hoping to win the auction for "Right at Home" today.

Anyway, I got Alphabet soup a week or so ago, and this is my first card using it.

I used the Birthday embossing folder for the background. It's kind of hard to tell, but the darker cardstock is brown. The ribbon came from Wal*Mart. Simple card, but I like the way it came out.

My First Origami Shirt

For some reason, I tend to struggle with making masculine cards. My FIL's birthday is Sunday, and of course, need to make him a card. I sat down and started thinking about it. Then I remembered the flood of cards at SCS that I had seen around Father's Day of the origami shirt cards. I went to look at a few for inspiration and find the instructions. Success! And I think this turned out pretty cute. (Cute and masculine go together, right?)


I used some older pattern paper I had on hand - I think it's by Provo Craft. I started to use brads as the buttons, but decided to see if I had any real buttons small enough to work first. I really would have liked to have 4 buttons so I could have put one right under the collar, but I only had 3 to work with. Oh well, I suppose 3 are fine. The stamp is from one of the clear Studio G $1 stamp sets.

Anyway, I think he'll like it.

In Everything Give Thanks

I really like how this card came out. I love pink and brown combo! I was inspired by a card on SCS, but I don't remember which one - I'll link to it if I can find it!

I cuttlebugged the background and sponged on Colorbok Chalk Ink. This was the first time I tried sponging, and I love the soft effect it gives.
I used the Happy Harmony set from SU! Ribbon from Michaels, and Prima flowers.

Monogram Note Cards

I made a set of monogrammed note cards for a giveaway on my main blog. This was the sample. The winner will be receiving 5 cards just like these with her monogram. They went out to her in the mail today. I hope she's happy with them!

I will talk more about this later, but sets like this will soon be available for sale!!

The big 4-0

I made this card for my friend who is turning 40. For some reason, I was having a hard time coming up with a design. I tried quite a few things before anything would "click" for me. I think I'm fairly pleased with the way this came out.


I obviously used my Cuttlebug for the background. (I think most of my cards are going to be using this - at least for a while!) I ran my ink pad over the top of it. I stamped the "40", but didn't use my Staz On and it smeared, even though I heat set it. If you look closely, you can tell. So after I took the photo, I took that off and redid it. This time I added clear ep to to the numbers and embossed it. Much better! But I didn't take another photo. The ribbon is by Li'l Davis Designs. I used one of the MM magnet stamps for 'celebrate' and then used my tag punch. I'm not completely happy with the way the white ribbon is tied into the other, but I'm leaving it. Tying ribbons and bows is just not my thing!

Anniversary Card

OK, I'm back from what was probably our last mini-vacation for this year. We left on Sunday and got home late Wednesday. I was too tired yesterday to work on much, so I didn't get anything posted here. Now time to get back to regular posting again!

I needed a card for my Parents' 36th anniversary, so I sat down to work on it. I was COMPLETELY UNINSPIRED! Nothing I had in my head was working.

First I came up with this one:


Can we say "Not Happy"? Because that's how I feel about this one. I really wanted to use my new Rhonna Farrer stamps that I won from Heidi. But I'm just not liking the way this came out. I embossed them with silver ep to match the silver wording on the ribbon. Then I added a couple eyelets. I don't hate it, I'm just not thrilled with it.

So, I tried again. This time in a totally different direction, except for the B&W. And this is what I came up with:


I am much happier with this one. I used SU! Happy Harmony set and my Cuttlebug. (Have I mentioned how much I'm lovin' this thing?) I used clear ep on the image and the sentiment, and added a piece of satin ribbon.

Funny thing - my kids were sitting at the table when I was working on these. I asked CJ (13) which one he liked better, and he said, "The one on the right" (which was the second card). Then I asked Ruthi (2.5). She looked at them and said, "The yite one." (yite = white) Then later on I asked hubby which one he liked better, and he agreed - the white one! So obviously, it wasn't just me who wasn't feelin' the first one. I just thought it was interesting that my family agreed!

So obviously, the white one is they one they received!

Just playing around...

With some of the scraps left over from the invitations for my neighbor's birthday party. These are nothing special - the first one is just like the originals, I just added a different image.


The second one I changed the LO a little, added a different ribbon and larger circle for the image. I was playing with some of the clear Michaels $1 stamps, and a couple of the flowers didn't stamp clearly - I need to work on getting these things more even if I'm going to use them.


Anyway, like I said - nothing special, just playing around. Now I need to get a couple cards done that need to get in the mail soon!

Cuttlebug Baby

I've been playing around with my Cuttlebug a little bit. I've only recently starting purchasing the "cool" toys, so I still have limited tools to work with. I have a few stamp sets and some stamps I've picked up here and there - mostly the Michaels $1 ones. I have a very long list of sets I want to add to my collection, but for now, I'm working with what I have. Also, there are several of the punches I really want - like the scalloped circles and squares. I've been hunting a Giga scallop circle for some time now, with no luck. So again, I'm working with what I do have until I can build up my arsenal! ;o)

So, I made a couple of baby cards with using the swirl embossing folder, a little baby feet stamp by Stamp craft, and some misc. ribbon. They are extremely simple, but I think they turned out cute.

Belated Father's Day Card

I didn't post this around Father's Day because my Dad was out of the country and we didn't get to celebrate until July 4. And yes, I realize that is was almost 2 weeks ago that I gave it to him and I'm just now getting around to posting it! Hey - I'm trying to get back on track!


All TLC products except the brads. (I think they are MM)

I think I have my mojo back! I've been in a creative mood, so the plan is to have something new posted at LEAST 4 days a week. More if I can manage it!!!

It's like Christmas in July!!!

I've been having so much fun the past few days! I've gotten so many new "toys" it's truly like Christmas!

First, I received an awesome box from Michele. I won her blog candy!!! This came on Wednesday - right after I came home from vacation, and I had so much fun digging through it all. It had lots of great things! I only sign up for blog candy that I really want, and now I've been totally blessed winning two different ones! Awesome! Thanks Michelle!

And then there was my shopping spree. My Dad gave me a very generous birthday check, and I had SO MUCH FUN spending it!! It is always tempting to spend my money on the kids and other things, but this time, I spent EVERY PENNY on stuff for ME! And I don't even feel guilty!

I got the two top things that were on my "list". A Crop-A-Dile and a Cuttlebug!!!!! I've been drooling over the Cuttlebug ever since I first heard about it!

Here are a couple of pictures of all my goodies:



Um, can you tell I like buttons? LOL! Those were 50 cents a package, so I got quite a few!

I also got a Crop-A-Dile, but didn't take a pic of it. (I got a pink one, of course!)

I also won two auctions for SU! stamp sets. Happy Harmony came in the mail a couple days ago, and Alphabet Soup will be here Monday or Tuesday.

PLUS I won a little challenge at Paper Petal Memories, and have a prize on the way as well - can't wait to see what it is!

So yes, I'm having LOTS of fun with all my new goodies. Now hopefully, I'll have lots of time to play!

Looks Like Spring

Back in January, I ordered my very first Stampin Up! stamps, and I couldn't wait to ink them up. But I actually haven't used them as much as I thought I would have by now. Shame on me!

I pulled out the Looks Like Spring set and put it to use. I had used the big flower and one of the background stamps, but the others were feeling neglected.

So I put them to use on this birthday card I made for Kelly - my cousin-in-law!



It's hard to tell in the picture, but I stamped the large flower in brown and then in pink and cut them both out. The brown layer is behind the pink layer. Then I stamped the smaller one in brown and added it to the top with a brad.

For the three small flowers, I used the LLS punch and punched them first in solid pink cardstock, and then punched the stamped flowers and layered them with brads as well. I LOVE that punch - I wish they made one for the larger flower!

This was the first time I used two background stamps together, and I actually found it a little challenging to get them lined up just right, but I'm pleased with the final outcome.

The sentiment is from the Sincere Salutations set and the ribbon is from Michaels' $1 bin.

Back in the Saddle!

OK - I'm back from our little vacation. We were gone for 8 days, so obviously I haven't had much of a chance to work on anything! But I'm back now, and getting back into the swing of things, and it's time to get really busy creating. I have so many things I want and need to work on!

So, I'm officially back in the saddle, and I plan to be updating more regularly again!

Today I worked on invitations for my neighbor's daughter's birthday party. She is turning 13 and having a pretty large party. She had gone to a specialty type store to pick out some invitations and was a bit shocked at what they were going to cost.
So my neighbor called me and asked what it would take to make them. I told her to send Allison over and we could look at some stuff, she could decide what she wanted, and I'd be glad to help her make them.

So that's what we did. She made a choice on a style of invite yesterday. This morning I took her shopping to pick out papers and ribbon. I think she had a lot of fun picking the stuff out.

Then we came back to my house to get busy. I cut the paper for her, and showed her what to do, and she did the paper and ribbon for most of the invites herself before she had to go to another friend's party. So I finished them up for her. They are simple, but cute. And she was extremely happy with them.

What was really cool was to see how proud of them she was. Most 13 yr. old girls can't say they had a part of creating their own invites. She was talking on the phone to one of her friends and she was telling her that she was working on the invitations, and how cute they were. Yeah - she was quite proud. She even told me these were way cuter than the really expensive ones at the store!

So, here they are - she couldn't decide which paper she liked better for the top, so she decided to do half with the pink and half with the orange, and switch up the ribbon. The party stamp is from one of the $1 Studio G sets from Michaels. Then I just used a pink Zig writer to make the dots around the edge.





They turned out cute, don'tcha think? We made 30 of these in about 3 hours - not too bad!

Happy Independence Day!

Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July celebration.

We are headed to my parents' house to celebrate, and we will be having a late celebration of Father's Day and my birthday as well. It's going to be a good time!

We will be out of town for the next 8 days, so I won't be able to post anything while we are gone. I'll be back the end of next week with something new to post.

For now, in honor of the holiday, I thought I'd post a card. I actually made this one last year, but you haven't seen it, so it's new to you! :o)


Pretty simple card - torn cardstock; I printed the sentiment on vellum and attached with buttons by Dress it Up. I don't remember exactly where it came from, but it was something I had downloaded from a website.

Well, I'm outta here - "see" you all soon!

Favorite Summer Activity

I started an All About Me (AAM) book a while back. At first, I couldn't imagine why I would do this - it seemed a little vain to me. But "everyone else was doing it" and it peaked my interest. So I started trying to figure out what the big deal was.

I came to the conclusion that it wasn't vain at all. When I'm gone, my kids and grand kids and generations beyond will have my scrapbooks to look at. They will be able to tell I loved my family and I had so much fun creating pages about them.

But what will those books tell them about me - the one behind the creating?

Not Much.

And that's what I decided, at least for me, is what and AAM book is for.

At Paper Petal Memories, we have a special thread that is for these albums. Linda, (the moderator) provides prompts for pages to complete in our AAM albums. There are some that don't totally appeal to me, just not things I find that I want included in my book. But that is the beauty - it is mine, and I can decide what to include.

Well, the latest prompt was, "What is your favorite summer activity?" I liked this one and decided to work on it.

My AAM album is 8.5x11 - the first time I've worked with this size, and I've been quite happy I've chosen this size. If felt my typically 12x12 was just too large for this and the smaller 8x8 that I like to do sometimes, I felt wasn't quite large enough.

Anyway, here's the LO I came up with. And thought most of my AAM LO's are only 1 page, I turned this one into 2.



All products are Top Line Creations, except for the brads (Making Memories) and the vellum that includes my journaling.

(It looks a little dark in the photo, but it really isn't that dark.)

Baby Mine

I SCRAPBOOKED!!!!! I actually made myself sit down and play for a bit! I'm sooooo happy!

I got 2 2-page layouts done. But I thought I'd spread it out just a little, so I'm only sharing one today. I'll be back tomorrow with the other one.

These pictures are from January 2005. I've been wanting to scrap them for quite sometime, but wasn't sure what direction to go with. I finally decided to quit thinking about it so much and just do it. So here's the result.



I have no idea why each side photographed completely differently, but I just didn't feel like going back and doing it again.

I used my color wheel to help decide the colors. I knew I wanted a black background, and I knew I wanted the red. But I needed a third color, and the pale purple in her outfit just wasn't cutting it. A dark purple came up, which I had not even considered, and I really liked it. I don't know why it appears blue on my screen though - trust me, it is dark purple.

I wanted to keep it pretty simple, with minimal embellishing since I really wanted the focus to be the photos.

I printed the journaling using Blackladder font. I used a quote for the first part, that I found on the internet some time back. I don't remember where I found it. It reads:
As I gaze upon my daughter's face, I think to myself...Never have I seen an angel fly so low.
My beautiful baby girl...words will never be able to express how much I love you!

I used miscellaneous cardstock, MM brads and Heidi Swapp chipboard hearts. The title is from one of the DCWV vellum quote stack books.