12 Kits of Occasions: September 2017

Did I love this kit? YES! I LOVE fall. I love the colors, I love the weather, I love these adorable images. And there were more, too! I'm hoarding them because they are all just too cute. This scarecrow is over the top...I may just have to get him! Marybeth did such a great job with this kit, and I can't wait to see what the other ladies created with their kits. Hop on over to the 12 Kits blog to see for yourself as well!

MFT Sketch Challenge #301

I got Harvest Mouse last year when everyone was making the most adorable cards with it, but I got it too late to make fall cards...so I was dying to pull it out this year to make some :) Here is my first card with this adorable set! I used it to play along with this week's sketch challenge:

I'm always in need of thank you notes (that's a good thing!). This time for Sonny's 3rd birthday which just passed this past Sunday, there are so many people that were so thoughtful and I want to make sure they know they are appreciated :) 

Sentiment is from Avery Elle, Harvest Mouse & die are from MFT

Cardstock is PTI and patterned paper is Lawn Fawn

The 12 Kits of Occasions October 2013

Time for another installment of the 12 Kits of Occasions! This month Kara sent us the most gorgeous fall kit. I drooled over the fabulous colors, and I truly enjoyed getting to play with all the elements she sent us. Most of you know that October 2nd was a special day for me, the birth of my son! So I didn't actually start putting together any cards until yesterday (this has never happened with one of my 12 kits!) but let me tell you, I could have made so many more beautiful cards. I have part of another made, but I was just too tired to finish knowing that I also needed to do my blog post. I'm also too tired to figure out why my pictures aren't the same color when I edit them, but I figured you'd all understand! Oh but here is a funny little tidbit. When I got the kit I looked at everything right away. I also noticed that Kara sent candy in the kit. I thought oh what a great idea! So I ate the candy quite awhile ago (when I was still pregnant). It wasn't until later that I found out we were supposed to USE the candy in the kit...whoops!!

 

I just love those word dies (can you tell since I used one on every card? ;) I think the second is my favorite. Now I'm off to look at what all my other talented friends created, you should join, too :)

Renee {It's a Patchwork Life}

Amy {Stamp-n-Paradise}
Kelly {Gingham Girl}

Joyce {Cards-by-the-Sea}

Kim {Cupcakes Cards and Kim}

Kara {KandRDesigns}

Sharron {On Papillon Wings}

Marybeth {Marybeth's Time for Paper}

Jeanne {A Kept Life}

Jessica {The Paper Parade}-Me!
Tracey {In My Creative Opinion}

Christina {Sea Glass & Sentiments}

Lawnscaping Challenge #44

This week's challenge at the Lawnscaping blog was to try a new technique. Well, this one is not 100% new to me, but I pulled out my brayer and spectrum ink pad that have only been used once or twice YEARS ago, so its almost new ;) That is how I created that fun colorful background, with the brayer. I felt like they were warm fall colors, so I wanted to use my new "Cozy Christmas" Lawn Fawn set. I also used my Tim Holtz brick die that I bought the last time I was at Absolutely Everything for the top of the card, pretty cool, huh? This is more of a fall card than a Christmas one, so I made up my own little sentiment to work for it. There's still time to play along if you want to link up, I love playing along at Lawnscaping!

Lawnscaping Challenge #43: Texture

I decided to play along with the Lawnscaping challenge again this week, and I made a birthday card for my niece, Autumn, who is turning 1 this week!

This week's challenge was to use texture on your card. So I used my new SU houndstooth embossing folder on one of the strips, and then used some burlap from 7Gypsys. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches, the cute fall paper is from October Afternoon. The leaves are from Paper Smooches "Autumn Grooves." The double ended banner die and the cardstock is from PTI, and the ribbon is from SU. I think this card turned out really sweet :) Speaking of my niece, she's coming up here with my sister for a visit next week and I can't wait!

Paper Smooches Sparks Trend Watch: Oct. 2012

Last post tonight, I promise! This card is for this week's Sparks challenge. The theme was woodland creatures and this neat inspiration photo:

So obviously I kinda liked the tree and wanted to recreate it ;) I used "Autumn Grooves" for the base of the tree and "Reflections for all the neat flourishes and leaves. The sentiment is also from "Autumn Grooves" and the little fox (my woodland creature) is from "Smoocheroos." I really think that the tree turned out pretty neat! The ribbon is from SU and Michaels. 

Okay, its been a long weekend, now I'm really going to bed ;)

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Sept. 2012

I can't believe I almost forgot about the blog hop! Thank goodness I saw Joyce post about it and I had enough time to play along tonight. So this month's theme was packaging. I had some apple butter I made after our apple picking trip a couple of weekends back, so I decided to dress up the jar for my packaging project. The fabric I had stashed away, then I tied the Canyon Clay ribbon knowing I wanted to go for a fall look. I used my Trendy Tree Tops for the first time! (Jen, I know you'll be proud!) and my Houndstooth, which I contemplated selling, but am not glad I didn't! The sentiment is from one of PTI's tiny tags sets. The tag die is PTI and the felt in the rolled flower is, too. The patterned paper is My Mind's Eye, and the ink is from SU. The felt flower itself is from the set of flowers that Gerry made me for my birthday :) Now off to check out what everyone else made for the blog hop!

Lawnscaping Challenge #42: Getting Texty

I pulled out one of my two Lawn Fawn sets to play along with this week's challenge, using text on your card. So I used text in the patterned paper (the newsprint, and even in the dots there is text!) and then with the PTI letter dies to make "meow." Because of the colors in the My Mind's Eye paper, I decided to make my tree a fall one...we are starting to see real fall foliage up here and I love it!

So as I said above the stamps are from Lawn Fawn, papers from My Mind's Eye, cardstock from PTI, and dies, and the twine is from the Twinery. The pearls are from Q & Co. Hopefully your week has been off to a great start so far!

Waltzingmouse Blog Party Sept. 2012- "I'm Falling For You"

I finally own my very own Waltzingmouse stamp set, so I'm playing along with this month's Waltzingmouse Blog Party with a theme of "I'm falling for you." Since I only have one set to choose from, I made my little guy drive a fallish colored car in front of fall foliage!

How exciting, my first ever blog party! And I'm sure it will not be my last, but bear with me for using the same stamps again next month, hehehe. So the polaroid die, the cardstock, patterned paper, in the meadow die, and banner die are all from PTI. The twine is from the Twinery. The green pearls are from Q&Co. Happy Monday!

Retro Sketches #26

I finally own my very own wplus9 set! I just couldn't resist this scarecrow set when it came out :) So now I won't have to borrow Suzanne's stamps all the time for the wplus9 blog hop! Here the card I created for this week's Retro Sketches challenge:

Here is the sketch I used:

So I flipped the sketch on the side. That cool denim ribbon is from SU, the yellow is from Amuse. The frame around the sentiment is from My Favorite Things. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye. Did you guys know Michaels carries some of their paper now?! I'm super excited about that :)

This scarecrow is the star of the show! I just love him :) And see those bright vivid inks?? My new SU inks that I got for my birthday from Phillip. I LOVE them! If you haven't tried the new formula, you should. 1000x better than the old. Such a crisp, clear image in one light tap. I never used to get this look with the old pads. I'm going to be in a yard sale one of our local stamp stores is having and I'm going to sell all my old inks for $1 or $2 each (what do you think? they are all still really great, juicy, etc.) so hopefully I can replace all of them with the new ones :)

This card comes with a gift! A bottle of wine from my favorite winery up here. So I had to make a tag to go on the bottle.

Using the same elements from the card, of course.

I think they turned out quite cute and country :)

And now an update on my little Garrett. Garrett had surgery last week. He had been peeing a ton, but when he started going on the rugs in the bathroom and then on Phillip's clothes, we knew something was going on. (We clean his litter box twice a day, too!). His pee also had a red tint to it. Well, they found something called a bladder stone. His actual bladder is the size of a pea, and this stone was the size of a golf ball!! Poor little guy :( So he had the surgery and came home in one of these cones:

These pics were right before we took him camping with us. Which was crazy, I do not recommend having a cat with you when you camp. All he did was spew litter everywhere, and walk around on top of us all night "shoveling" our faces with is cone. Well on Tuesday we woke up and his wound was open and bloody. So we took him back to the vet. First they gave him a bigger cone (he had found a way to lick his wound even with the cone on!) and said he HAD to stay still. Well, he won't stay still at all. So the only solution we could come up with is that he is now living in the dog crate :( It is a large one that can hold his water, litter box, and room for him to lay down, but the poor guy. I hope he recovers soon so he can get out of "captivity!"

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop August 2012

This month's challenge was Autumn textiles, which I loved! Using different patterns and textures with an Autumn flair. This is what I came up with using a lot of my new goodies:

Here are the inspiration photos:

So I went after the colors with the grey, orange, and blue. Then for my texture, I used a SU Sizzix impression plate on kraft at the bottom, houndstooth from a My Mind's Eye paper pack, and PTI felt for the sentiment and the flower.

That beautiful rolled flower? Made for me by my good friend Gerry who made me a bunch of them in PTI felt and packaged them up all cute for part of my birthday gift :)

The Polaroid frame die is from PTI. I didn't order it last month and boy did I regret it! So I'm really glad it was available this month when I ordered :)

I like how this turned out, bold, and definitely with a fall feel. Make sure to head on over to Nichole's blog to see what everyone created with this challenge! I hope you're all having a fun weekend. We are camping in Salisbury Beach, MA. It is different this time because we had to bring our cat with us too! He had surgery this week, and he requires a lot of medication, so we had to bring him along. We woke up in the middle of the night and the inside of our camper smelled like a sewer because of his litter, and having a nocturnal cat in a small camper with two humans and two dogs...let me just say it has been a unique experience!

Paper Smooches Sparks Cool Shades: August 2012

Here's another card made with some of my birthday goodies :)

I used this week's Paper Smooches Sparks Cool Shades challenge. Here are the colors:

This is the brand new "Autumn Grooves" set. Wonder where that "moon" came from? Well, I used the pumpkin from the "Spookalicious" set and just cut off the stem! Everything else is from the "Autumn Grooves" set.

All the cardstock is from PTI, so is the button. The ribbon is from Amuse.

I love autumn, and I can't wait for it to get here. I love the cool air, the pumpkin flavored everything, and the colors! I never got to see fall growing up in FL, so I really cherish it now :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just had to share a picture that I woke up to this morning of my niece, Autumn :) Look at her cute little "first Thanksgiving" shirt! I will miss the usual family traditions, but I have pumpkin bread in the oven now, and will make a smaller scale meal for me and Phillip this afternoon. Then on Saturday we were invited to a coworker's house to celebrate Thanksgiving there. Both years we have been here in MA for Thanksgiving, new friends have invited us to share it with them, to which I am ever so grateful.

And I can't post with out cards! This is the first Thanksgiving card I created with PTI's Gobble Gobble set, but it was too complex to make for everyone, so only one of these was made.

The tags are the two SU tag punches. The circle was cut with Nestabilities. The patterned paper is from two PTI fall packs, and the cardstock is all PTI. The large button and ribbon are SU.

I just LOVE this turkey and matching dies. Thanks so much, mom for surprising me with them!! :)

And here is the simpler card that I made to send to my family for Thanksgiving:

Even though its simple, I think it turned out nicely. I had grand plans to make about 25, but I ended at 10. After I did all those tags and pumpkin breads the other day, I was sorta "Thanksgiving-ed Out."

I hope that you all have special plans for today. I hope you are with family and/or friends, and I hope you are all able to reflect on the many things we have to be thankful for. I am so thankful for the new additions to my family this year, for reliable jobs, for new hobbies (knitting and canning), for the chance to be on a Design Team, for new friends, for our new camper, for my furry "children," for celebrating my 8th year of marriage to Phillip, for our wonderful home, for parents that I am truly close to even though we live so far apart, for weekly stamping nights with Suzanne, and for this blog (Suzanne, I'm so glad you convinced me to start it!). Because of blogging I have met so many awesome people who share my passion. I have even been fortunate to meet several of them in person, and I look forward to meeting even more in the future. Thank you all for viewing my projects and offering words of encouragement and support throughout the year. I love doing this and hope to continue for many years in the future. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!