Serenity

Anyone remember this gorgeous pp? It's Pink Paislee Vintage Moon - it's so pretty that I've been hoarding it LOL

The pearl swirl is ZVA and the pretty black flowers and opal brads are brand new Creative Charms.

The journaling is a poem by John Burroughs titled "Waiting" - I managed to fit most of it in, but did cut out one stanza:
SERENE, I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, or tide, or sea;
I rave no more ’gainst time or fate,
For, lo! my own shall come to me.

I stay my haste, I make delays,
For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,
The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change the tide of destiny.

What matter if I stand alone?
I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it has sown,
And garner up its fruit of tears.

The waters know their own and draw
The brook that springs in yonder height;
So flows the good with equal law
Unto the soul of pure delight.

The stars come nightly to the sky;
The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me.

Pumpkin Patch Mini

Hi, I wanted to share a mini I made about our recent trip to the Pumpkin Patch at Linvilla Orchards. The album is a Punky Sprouts Mini and I had a lot of fun distressing this one. I used lots of crackle paint, burlap, lace, hand stitching, gimmer glam, crackle and glossy accents, inks, etc. I also used a bunch of Creative Charms stuff throughout. I think I'll post a few pics here, and you can see the rest in my GALLERY ...sorry, otherwise it would take forever!! The paper I used here is Bella Blvd "One Fall Day". It was so perfect for this mini :)

Cricut update and life happenings :)

So, I got my Cricut Expression in the mail today. It's still in the box - I haven't had time to get to it yet, but I did peek inside and I'm kind of surprised by how BIG it is! I knew it took 12x12 papers, but I guess I still didn't picture it right. So now I have to scramble and make some space in my room for it! And I can't play around with it yet because it didn't come with any cartridges. When I get another DT box from 3Birds, I will also be getting both of those cartridges, but I wasn't sure when that would happen. So I went ahead and ordered a cartridge from Ebay. I got the Nursery Rhymes one for $15. I thought it was a good deal and it looks like it has some cute stuff on it. I didn't want to pay too much since I'll be getting two 3Birds ones soon, and I'm thinking of getting SCAL or MTC or something along those lines. But I did want to get one cartridge really quick just so I can CUT something! LOL My machine came in a bundle with 12x12 mats, 12x24 mats, and a whole bunch of other stuff, like vinyl, glass etching solution, spatula, some sort of cd's....I feel like it might be a bit of a time investment to figure it all out!

In other news, DH and I just watched "Get Him To The Greek". It was actually pretty funny! Isn't it the best when you go into a movie with extremely low expectations and then it surprises you and is actually somewhat good? I mean, how often does that happen.

On the movie front, we also finally saw Paranormal Activity, and then went to the movies this past weekend to see Paranormal Activity 2. Both were kind of fun :)

And tomorrow is DH's birthday!! Poor DH has to work and he has to go in early, and isn't sure if he can get out very early. I hope he's out early enough for us to at least get some take out to help us celebrate.


Don't forget - October is almost over, so there are only a few more days left to take advantage of the Creative Charms Deal of the Month. There are two available:

Fall Harvest – 145 Pieces


Early Christmas – 145 Pieces


Also last chance for the "Kit of the Month". This month it's Vintage Halloween.

OMG, I just won a Cricut Expression!

I never had a Cricut before. I won one on Ebay! Any of you have it?? You guys like it??

Feeling better :)

Thank you so much for all your well wishes!! You guys are absolutely the best. I'm feeling better. I did end up throwing up a few times yesterday and that wasn't fun. Last time I threw up was more than 10 years ago when I used to drink. I didn't even throw up when I was pregnant. So that was a fun day yesterday, but thankfully it's a one day thing. Now DH has it - he threw up a few times and is home sick today.

I also wanted to share my 3Birds post from today:
I hope you all had a chance to grab the All Dressed Up Again kit. It has some amazingly gorgeous die-cut papers in there, and there's so much variety, it pretty much fits any topic or occasion. I was soooo in love with it when I opened it up and the intricate die-cutting on the smaller circular paper made me think of a photo of DH and DD in Disney World, with pretty iron-work in the background.

I used Glimmer Mist to create this layout. Here are some steps to make it easy: first, choose the die-cut paper you want to use - for this type of LO, choose a smaller size. Place the paper and your photo on the cardstock to decide where you want everything to be. Turn the die-cut paper over and mist. For extra interest, add the die-cut paper to the misted LO. I also used magic mesh. If you like to slowly dig into some older supplies to minimize your stash, it's a good idea to pair older stuff with new stuff to make the older stuff still relevant and fresh and original. So remember that your All Dressed Up Again package can be used in many ways, and each of those sheets can become a stencil or a mask! There are 2 sheets of each pattern, so you could save one of each pair for misting.

Supply List:
All Dressed Up Again - Glitter & Foil Layered Layouts
Must Have Cardstock - Jewels
Must Have Cardstock - Brights
Sticky Sparkly Letters & Shapes
Over Stuffed
3D Embellishment Kit

Sick and tired...literally

Ick. So It started off with DS getting the 24 hour stomach virus and throwing up about 15 times. As soon as he was feeling a little better, I came down with a cold...and DD got the virus, throwing up all night and all day. And today she's somewhat better and guess what....yes, I now have the virus too. Only I'm not throwing up. Draw your own conclusions. (Sorry for this appetizing visual on a Sunday morning ;)

October Creative Charms projects!!

Today, I posted on the Creative Charms Blog:

This month, I was lucky enough to get to design with the deal of the month!! I had the Early Christmas one, so let me show you what I did with it. First, I made a LO using Cosmo Cricket's new line, Togetherness (LOVE it!!):






Supplies:
Red polka-dot ribbon from the Deal of The Month
Brads (I took them out of the velvet flowers)
Crocheted orange flowers and Blue Gingham butterfly
Crocheted white flower (I removed it from the crocheted berries)

Since the kit was so packed of adorable goodies, I didn't stop with just the layout. I decided to make early gift-card holders for the holidays. These are super easy to make. You just need to buy the wallet-sized little envelopes - they are the exact perfect size to fit a giftcard in. This is a really cute, fun, personalized, and thoughtful way to give something like a giftcard or cash. For both I used Cosmo Circket's Jolly By Golly line from last year. I just loved the colors and the snowmen and the adorable cut-apart cards. All the embellies on both are from my Deal of the Month.

For this one, I used the clear crystal flowers and added the red gradient gems to the centers. I also used the green leafy ribbon in the kit and cut off the leaves to use as leaves here. They're really cute and have a lot of texture and add a lot to a really small project, like this.


And one more envelope:


I used one of the light green Gem Garden stars that comes in the kit to decorate the top and the gradient gem stickers like ornaments. I also used the braided daisy and put one of the tiny cute crystal flowers in the center for a little bling.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my ideas on all the wonderful things you can do with this kit!! It's such a great deal for only $6.99 since you get so much stuff. And some of it even comes in a cute clear plastic container :) Here's a reminder of the 2 that are available:

Fall Harvest – 145 Pieces

o Orange Itsy Glitzy
o 18” Yellow Fancy Polka Dot Ribbon
o Amber Pure Blossom
o Orange 3D Sparkly Brads
o Amber Gem Stickers
o Orange Fuzzy Daisy
o Orange Braided Daisy Medley

Early Christmas – 145 Pieces

o Clear Itsy Glitzy
o 18” Red Fancy Polka Dot Ribbon
o Clear Pure Blossom
o Green 3D Sparkly Brads
o Red Gem Stickers
o Red Fuzzy Daisy
o Green Braided Daisy Medley

Time flies!

I got a call today from DD's school - we forgot to pack lunch and she didn't want to buy, so I went over there. We came back and the weather is so nice. I let DS play outside a bit and I was watching him run around, and realized that DD was only a couple months older when we moved into our house. And now she's 6. It doesn't feel like that much time has passed, but I guess it does tend to go faster once you start having kids. In the moment, it feels like DS will be like this forever but in reality, he'll be 6 before I know it. And for those of you who have teenagers, you're probably thinking he'll be 16 before I know it.

Cards for troops - please help out!

Please take a look at THIS post, especially if you like to make cards (or end up making them for whatever reason, like me :) I'll definitely be sending in some cards for such a good cause and I hope some of you do as well!

Cosmo Cricket sneak peek and chance to win!!

Ok guys, Cosmo has a GORGEOUS new sneak peek out!! ***Click HERE*** All you have to do is comment and you'll be entered to win the entire line!! And if you like my scrapbooking and my blog, while you're there, please nominate me to be their GDT! They'll enter 5 people with the most nominations into a drawing and pick one to be GDT for one month!! So if you have a moment, go leave a comment for a chance to win some goodies and I would be so grateful if you'd nominate me as well!

Well this is a first!

So the Basic Grey online gallery is back and they've accepted one of my Lo's for publication in it! Yay for me :)

Scraptacular October Kit

This month I was super lucky to get to play around with Crate Paper School Spirit. Scraptacular again has two kits - Echo Park's Halloween line kit and the Crate Paper kit. I really don't have any Halloween pics (I will after the 31st though!) so I asked Beth for the school kit, and she was nice enough to oblige. I had plenty of pics from DD's first day of first grade from this past September, so those were the pics I worked on. I also managed to get a mini out of the kit (to come soon) and I still have a lot left, including several sheet - considering the price of the kit, they're super packed!

Uh-maz-ing news!!

Ok, I have something totally awesome and unbelievable to share!! I made the Harmonie DT!! - Announcement HERE

For those of you unfamiliar with it, Harmonie is a Canadian manufacturer and they make the most gorgeous pp (totally my style!) and die-cut pp, and tons of unique and beautiful embellies and other stuff to go with it. They have crocheted flowers, pretty ribbons and lace, laser cut chipboard, wood, and acrylic, and even tiny mosaic tiles, as well as acrylic and chipboard mini albums, glitter, and embossing powders. I've totally been drooling over their catalogs, especially Summer 2010, and I really can't wait to get my DT box! Check Harmonie out! You can click on the "products" link up top to see their catalogs. I don't believe you can buy direct from them, but I know in the US, A Cherry On Top carries some of their older stuff.

I've known about this for a few days (it was so hard to keep quiet!) and I'm still in total disbelief. They took only 3 new people and I'm just so glad they wanted one of them to be me :) Thank you Harmonie and Cathia! And the funny thing is, they're totally French-speaking, so I'm using Google translator to help me out. I'm kind of hoping I pick up a few French words! I can't understand it, but it sounds pretty LOL

3Birds Cards

My post for 3Birds today:
It was card making day this past weekend, so I thought I'd use some of my super yummy 3 Birds supplies to whip up a couple cards. Recently I had caved and finally bought a die cutting machine - I bought a Sizzix Big Shot. I wanted to be able to emboss, and I wanted to be able to cut thick chipboard, cloth, etc. So I got some embossing folders and figured I could play around with them and experiment. Who knew embossing could be addicting!

For this first card, I embossed my some pretty cardstock from the Must Have Jewels pack. Then I sanded it, and then I covered it with red ink from the Inky Alphas kit. I didn't want the circles to be white after sanding. I like the effect I got - it looks red, but there's variability after the sanding. It's not all a uniform color - I think it adds a lot of interest. Then I added an embellishment from the 3D embellies kit, and the chipboard brackets are from the Opposites Attract kit. The brads are Making Memories and to complete the card, I simply outlined in silver Sharpie. Easy peasy!


I think this card makes a perfect thank you card to give in the winter time!
Supplies:
Cardstock: Muast Have Textured Cardstock - Jewels
Ink: Inky Alphas
Embellishment: 3D Embellishment Kit
Chipboard: Opposites Attract Kit

For the second card, I used the polka dot embossing folder and again, the Jewels pack of cardstock (SUCH pretty colors!!). I then sanded the top, but this time I wanted a different effect, so I didn't cover in ink. I inked the edges of the card with ink from the Inky Alphas kit. Then I used the foil cardstock as a mat for my embossed paper and distressed its edges, as well as the embossed paper edges. I used Making Memories glitter brads again and another 3D embellishment. This would be a great card to accompany a holiday gift. I'm not that into cards, but I think it really does make a difference to give a hand-made card, and it's so quick and easy, there's really no excuse not to!


Supplies:
Cardstock: Muast Have Textured Cardstock - Jewels, Must Have Foil Cardstock
Ink: Inky Alphas
Embellishment: 3D Embellishment Kit

Phindy's Place digital stamps

Believe or not, I used digital stamps!! I am soo not a computer person, but it actually wasn't difficult at all and the images were really cute. Here are the results:

Dutch Wonderland!

We'll be gone today, off to dutch wonderland :) Should be fun! DS loves to just run around and DD will love the rides. And I charged my camera and emptied out the camera card....you know what that means, right? ;)

I Love You To The Moon And Back

Anyone ever read that book? Wasn't it so sweet? Although all the one-upping was a little much :) But still, a SUPER sweet book and if you have kids, I'd definitely try to get a copy if you haven't read it before. Anyways, I have the new Cosmo Cricket "Togetherness" in my possession and of course, I had to do something about it! Here is the result:

In other news, ScrapStreet's October issue is live!! Check out my article, "Show Off Your Shape" HERE.

Also, Creative Charms Deal of the Month is available now for October. We have TWO different ones this month! Both are $6.99

Fall Harvest – 145 Pieces

o Orange Itsy Glitzy
o 18” Yellow Fancy Polka Dot Ribbon
o Amber Pure Blossom
o Orange 3D Sparkly Brads
o Amber Gem Stickers
o Orange Fuzzy Daisy
o Orange Braided Daisy Medley

Early Christmas – 145 Pieces

o Clear Itsy Glitzy
o 18” Red Fancy Polka Dot Ribbon
o Clear Pure Blossom
o Green 3D Sparkly Brads
o Red Gem Stickers
o Red Fuzzy Daisy
o Green Braided Daisy Medley

We're also launching a new "Kit of the Month", and this month it's Vintage Halloween.
This kit includes our newest and most popular items.

* Halloween Vintage Frames*
* Halloween Twinkle Stickers*
* Amber Vintage Jewels*
* Amber Vintage Brads
* Black Vintage Velvet Poppies
* Black Gem Stickers
* Black Fancy Polka Dot Ribbon
* Black Vintage Velvet Ric Rac
Yours for a special price of $ 14.99