Wishing Wellness, Cheer and a Fresh Start in the New Year

It's been a busy holiday season as we approach the new year.  My sister-in-law had surgery that then had complications and another hospital visit.  I made this card to help cheer her up upon her return home.  Thank goodness my mom was able to be there to help out with my lovely nieces and just the general upkeep of running a home...I know my brother and his wife were so appreciative.

 

Supplies used: Brad - My Mind's Eye; Die cuts - Silhouette Cameo; Patterned paper - My Mind's Eye and October Afternoon; Pen - Bic Mark It

 

One of my Christmas gifts was the My Mind's Eye All is Bright collection pack.  I had actually used some of the washi tape on our family Christmas cards this year and just fell in love with the whole collection.  Naturally, I had to carve out a little time to use my new supplies.  This is what I came up with.

 

Supplies used: Cardstock - Bazzill; Die cuts - Silhouette Cameo SVG Cuts and Making Memories; Patterned paper - Echo Park Paper Co. and My Mind's Eye; Stickers - Echo Park Paper Co., Jillibean Soup and My Mind's Eye; Tiny Attacher by Tim Holtz; Washi tape - My Mind's Eye



I love how well the Echo Park Paper Co. mixed with the My Mind's Eye.  The holly flourish die cut was a freebie from SVGCuts and I loved pulling it all together even though it is labor intensive to cut out and then assemble it all...it's so worth it!

 

Lastly I finally got up the courage to do a vinyl wall sticker for our son's room.  I saw this quote on a plaque while shopping one day and loved it.  It took me a bit to get it cut out and up on his wall - not a hard process, just a little time consuming (but then again, that may be because I'm a total perfectionist).

The football and baseball player are actually metal sculptures from Hobby Lobby.  I stumbled across those on accident and our son loves them.

 

As we head into 2013, I wish the best for you and yours.  May you be blessed!

From Our House to Yours...

May you be blessed as you celebrate our Saviors birth.

 

Hopping Holidays

I've been hopping through the holiday preparations around here.  The house is mostly decorated and the tree is partially up (I started to put it up today but the lights didn't all come on so that's a huge process of going through each bulb and trying to figure out what's going on).  I'm tempted to cut off all the lights and buy some new LED lights to re-string the tree.  Our Christmas cards are made, the annual letter is written and they are all in the mail on their way to our dear family and friends.  Here's how they turned out.

 

 

I must say I love my Silhouette Cameo for big projects like this...it made the creation of 80+ cards so much easier.

 

I was also recruited to make the place cards for the husband's office holiday party.  Here's a sampling of how those turned out.

 

Simple and easy - but just enough holiday pizazz to get you in a festive mood.

 

 

Lastly, here's a sweet card for my sister-in-law who just celebrated her birthday.

 

I wish I had some layouts to share but that hasn't been happening lately.  I miss it and really want to get back to it.  I have to carve out some time and make it happen!  I hope all of your holiday preparations aren't wearing you out.

All Things Crafty

Things sure are bustling around our household.  I've been busy doing crafty things but not necessarily paper crafting.  I've been turning these lovely tomatillos from our garden into salsa and just canning them as is for future chicken tomatillo stew in the cold winter months.

 

 

 

 

I've been busy at my sewing machine making costumes for my two ninjas.

 

I also made a super cute skirt that I plan to wear out Friday night with my new boots.

 

 

And then I enlisted my amazingly handy husband to finish off the wood floors in our foyer.  I was able to help tear our the old flooring but the new floor had some pretty crazy angles for him to deal with so I was better off staying out of the way.

 

 

He does amazing work!

 

On top of that I'm working on our Christmas cards already (all 120 of them).  Oh my!  I'll share those once they get sent out.

 

So yep...plenty of crafty-ness happening around here and I am so thankful that I am able and can do what I do.

 

Time Slips Away Again

I certainly let time slip away from me since my last post.  It's been birthday central around here again...although it always seems like there is someone special to celebrate.  I love being able to put a special card together that fits the personality of the recipient.  That would explain why I haven't bought a card from the store in years!

 

Here's a card for one of my brothers' birthdays.

 

I bought the floral pattern Graphic 45 paper fully intending to use the yellow with black polka dot "B' side in a layout but the deep, rich colors of the floral pattern was calling to me so I dug through my scraps to find little chunks of tone on tone papers that would match for the patchwork strip at the bottom of the card.  I love how rich it turned out...that floral really is gorgeous!

 

This one was for son #3's girlfriend who happens to share a birthday with the above brother.

I wanted to keep it fairly simply and not to frilly.  She loves the ocean and all things associated with it so I thought the cool marine green and muted purple were a lovely fit and the little label sticker with the green and yellow really helped to pull the yellow into the card.

 

Lastly, I took a dear friend out for a birthday lunch recently and this card was for her.



I loved being able to add layers and textures and not having to worry about how I'd mail it since I was hand delivering it along with her gift.  the card started with the Webster's Pages journaling square and I pulled some of the stickers from the sticker sheet from the same collection.  The rest was just mixing and matching to get it just right. 

 

I love being able to celebrate those that are special to me...what would I do without them?

Keeping Memories

Keeping memories is what it is all about.  Writing down the little things, photographing the big moments but also the small, everyday moments that will quickly be forgotten in the busy-ness that is life. 

I have been missing my scrapbooking but due to the increase in activities (and work) now that school has started, it has gone by the wayside.  ...but it was calling to me so I grabbed a couple photos from my very large stack of printed photos and pulled papers and embellies and piled them all up on my craft table determined that the next paper crafting project would be a layout.  It took me a few days to get around to working with all the goodies I pulled out but I did manage to carve out some time and pull together a layout.



This layout scanned a little wonky in that top left corner - the title really is straight on the actual layout I just didn't have the energy to fight with the scanner anymore!

 

I love these pictures of our youngest taken almost 2 years ago. It had been a busy day and it was close to his bedtime so his bath was done and he had his jammies on and he curled up on the couch with his Woobie bear and that thumb of his and completely crashed. He quit sucking his thumb over the course of this past summer and we couldn't be more proud of him...he found the motivation and a method (a band aid worn on the thumb in question for 2 weeks until he was sure he was done) and did it with very little reminding from his dad or I. We're proud for sure but a little sad too. You see it means he's growing up bit by bit and seeing as he's our last "baby" it's bittersweet seeing those tender little boy times fade into bigger boy things.

 

 



Another Celebration

Boy #1 is officially an adult!  Wow...that happened fast (or so it seems in retrospect).  Needless to say we had to celebrate the man he has become.  It was a quick celebration as he seems to be rather busy with college, work and his new puppy.  None the less, we celebrated.

 

 

I used the Echo Park Note to Self collection to put together his cards.  The tag was a Kerry Bradford design cut out on my Silhouette and a bit of twine from Martha Stewart. 

We are so proud of the man he has become and even through all the ups and downs of raising him...we couldn't be more pleased with the results.   He is truly a blessing to our entire family and those around him. 

Have Your Kleenex Ready

Here's a short video clip of the Daddy-Princess Ball from our church.  You can get a good look at the glittery crown die cuts I talked about.  More importantly, you can see how God is using us to change the lives of our children.  Have your tissues ready!

 

Daddy-Princess Ball

Oh Baby!

There is currently a baby boom happening around me (better around me than to me).  There have been several baby showers at my husband's office as well as friends and some of my own co-workers.  Needless to say, my sewing machine has been getting quite the workout making baby blankets for all the sweet babies to be.  Of course, there are cards to go along with all the cuddly baby gifts.

 

I used all papers from the Cosmo Cricket Material Girl 6x6 pad.  The brads are all from My Mind's Eye and the doilie sticker if from My Mind's Eye as well.  The banner shapes are all from the Silhouette store.

 Here's a boy version of the same card.  I lieu of the doilie sticker, I used my Silhouette to die cut a doilie shape from 2 different patterned papers. 

For this card, I combined papers from the Cosmo Cricket Material Girl 6x6 paper pad and the October Afternoon Seaside 8x8 paper pad.  The brads are from My Mind's Eye and the "baby" alphabet stickers are from Doodlebug.

 I tried to keep this one neutral since the couple hadn't yet found out if the baby on the way was a boy or a girl.  The blanket I made had ducks and a lime green and yellow so the card matched really well.

 

This last card really mixed up a lot of older supplies and utilized stitching to added more layers.

 

 

Babies are such a lovely way to start people!



Daddy-Princess Ball

Even though I don't have a princess of my own here at home, I am so blessed by the darling girls that attend our church.  Working in Children's Ministry has allowed me to mentor beautiful young girls even though I have a house full of testosterone!

 

That being said, it also provides me with an opportunity to craft all things girly when the need arises for special events like the upcoming Daddy-Princess Ball.  Needless to say crafting take home goodies for 250 attendees can take a lot of time and give my Silhouette Cameo quite the workout.

 

Here's what each attendee will take home.

 

and a close up...

I cut out all the pieces on my Cameo...the label is from a Kerry Bradford collection, the banner piece on the bottom is from the Silhouette store.  I die cut the tags, ran them through my laser printer to print the verse, inked the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen, and then attached the black/grey piece up at the top.  The purple banner background piece was cut from a shimmery, lavendar textured cardstock and the top piece of the banner was cut from K & Company KP Halloween Harlequin paper.  I inked the edges of the top piece of the banner to give it more dimension then attached the whole thing to the bottom of the tag.  The finishing touches are the flower (which I added a bit of Stickles to to glam them up) and the ribbon at the top.  

 

Each of the girls will also receive a charm wrapped in a pretty white chiffon bag with purple crinkle paper inside.  On the outside will be one of these...

 

But they aren't black and white.  I found this beautiful American Crafts Pow glitter paper in a silver tone on tone wide stripe.  The web picture does not do it justice...it is simply gorgeous and cuts like a dream in the Cameo.  I already sent the finished product over to church prior to taking pictures but they are so sparkly and beautiful.  Hopefully I'll have a chance to photograph the finished product for you before the event.



What's been keeping me away...

Hello all my friends in bloggy land.  So sorry to have been away for so long but I've been immensely busy around here.  What have I been up to you ask?  Well, August is birthday month as well as the start of school for us.  That meant 3 birthdays (including my own), moving our oldest into his apartment so he could settle in before starting his freshman year of COLLEGE (really? how do we have a college student already?), and getting the oodles and oodles of school supplies needed for our younger two to start back at the elementary school.  Phew...

 

Here are a few bits and pieces from our birthday celebrations...

 

Cards I made for our boy #3's birthday...I used my Cameo and the Lime Twist collection from My Mind's Eye.

We went camping the weekend of boy #3's birthday so we took a "brownie cake" to help us celebrate!

 

Boy #2 and I share a birthday so we always celebrate together.

Cards for boy #2's celebration using the Simple Stories Awesome collection and a smidge of Echo Park's Times & Seasons collection

At least that means I always have help blowing out the candles!

 

My fun new beach cruiser bicycle.  I love it!

 

There's a little peek into all our celebrating!  I've also been very busy working on some special goodies for the Daddy-Princess Ball that is coming up at our church.  I'll share those very soon as well.

 

 



Celebrating my Mother-in-Law

My mother-in-law just celebrated her birthday and I've been hanging onto this cute Mason jar die cut that I bought in the Silhouette store just waiting for an opportunity to use it. 

I remembered this cute Finally Friday card by L Craigie over at Two Peas in a bucket

and I used that as my inspiration.  The cute little brad/ribbon is from My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline collection.  I love all the decorative brads that are coming onto the market these days...so cute!

Happy birthday Mom!



Anniversary Wishes

A recent anniversary prompted this card...

I've been hanging on to that heart playing card die cut from Glitz Designs forever thinking I'd use it on a layout of my hubby and me but it never worked when I'd sit down to make a layout.  So...I grabbed it as my starting point for this anniversary card.  The clock face background is another "recycled" item from my supplies.  It was actually the chipboard background from some metal embellishments I bought years ago.  I trimmed it down, inked the edges and there it was...the perfect background for my card. 

It seems I'm trying to use up what I've got - that doesn't mean I'm not buying new stuff (believe me...all the new CHA releases have me wanting to shop till I drop) but alas, my scrapping budget doesn't allow for too much shopping and I'd rather spend it on the items from last CHA that are now on sale.  You know...more bang for my buck!  So, in the spirit of trying to stretch what I've got, I find myself reaching into my paper scrap files and scanning through my embellishments especially when I sit down to make cards.  It keeps me going and leaves more room for buying some of that cute new stuff!

A Bit of Card Recycling

My oldest niece recently celebrated her birthday. 

 I wanted her card to be full of life just like she is so I opted for a fun rainbow palette. I've seen Kristina Werner use this technique of adhering scraps of paper to a piece of printer paper and then cutting it out to give a really cool collage affect. That's what I did with all the strips of patterned paper to create the pretty diagonal base for my card. The circles are my bit of "recycling" as they were actually part of a Christmas card given to my oldest son this past year. I loved all the circles on the front of the card so rather than tossing it, I grabbed one of my circle punches and popped them off the card. The colors of the cute circles worked really well with my rainbow theme and added another layer to the card.

Including a Gift Card

My husband coached our youngest son's baseball team this year but due to our vacation, he had to miss a couple of practices and a game.  There were a couple of other dads that really stepped up to help him out and my husband wanted to let them know how much he appreciated that. 

Starbucks made it easy for him and for me.  Check out the cute thank you sentiment on this card...it's actually a Starbucks gift card tucked inside the square window of my card base.  Seriously...it doesn't get much easier than that!

A Bit of Cameo Fun...



We attended the birthday party of a friend's daughter recently.  She is one of the most adorable little girls I know and she is ALL into pirates right now.  Her gift from us was a pirate girl costume for her American Girl doll so I wanted to make sure the card stayed in that same theme.  I dug around in the Silhouette store and came up with this darling little pirate girl!  You can also make a pirate boy with the same file - just different hair (and probably not in pink).

It took me some time to piece her all together but it was worth it.  I think she turned out so cute!

Card Happy

This is going to be a very image heavy post today.  There have been so many reasons to make cards lately and I love that.  Although I'd love to have more time to put in a layout or two as well.  Oh well...it's summer vacation so why not enjoy it while I can.

Here goes....cards, cards and more cards!

A birthday card for my sister-in-law.

A birthday card for one of my nieces.

A couple thank you cards.

And a birthday card for one of my brothers.

I've been a busy little card maker but I love that my recipients thoroughly enjoy getting my handmade love in the mail!

One Down...One to Go

So one of the boys is done with his baseball season for the Summer.  I offered to make the thank you card as well as pick up the gift for his coach.  I sure am loving my Cameo (when I remember to use it).  I love how it created this perfect baseball with no problem at all!

My crafting has taken a bit of a back seat lately to this...

A trip to So. California to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary with all my siblings and their children.

and this...

Taking the family to Disneyland and California Adventure - so much fun!

and this...

Taking our two youngest boys to the beach - a first for our youngest and the first time that our middle boy will remember (he was just a baby the first go around).  They were in awe!

and this...

Sunset Cliffs and tide pool exploring!

It doesn't get much better than that...just wish our oldest didn't have to return home prior to our stay in San Diego.  We missed sharing the beach with him.  We're all home safe and sound now and wishing we were still on vacation.

Now...back to crafting!

More Cards to Share

It seems to be celebrating season around here.  Lots of birthday parties for the kids to attend and graduations to continue celebrating.  That means cards, cards and more cards.

Here's a birthday card for a birthday party one of the boys attended recently.  I used my oh-so-handy Cameo to cut out the sentiment.  Simple and boyish.

This card is for my cousin's daughter who recently graduated from college with a double major.  VERY impressive!  I used rub-ons and stamps from an older Bo Bunny collection as well as paper from My Mind's Eye and Basic Grey.  Her school colors were black and green so I tried to keep in that theme for her card.

I hope you have celebrations going on in your corner of the world today - even if it's just celebrating the day...it doesn't always have to be a special occassion.  Sometimes it's a blessing just to celebrate for no reason.