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.