Merry Christmas - Christmas Tree Chipboard Book

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I am on the road for Christmas... visiting family in Iowa. We got my parents here safely after a long two days of driving across Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska and half of Iowa. I'm a little late posting this fun project because I've been so busy getting ready for Christmas ( and playing with the neice and nephews), but I've been dying to share it with you all.

This project was something I was dreaming up after I made my Mummy Book for Halloween. I wanted to make something fun and fabulously Christmasy... and I had this fun idea, but wasn't sure if it would work (see last Thursday's TFT) and out of the ordinary.. at least *I* think it's out of the ordinary.. It's definitely out of my box and a little wonky and I love it! (Thank you Alisha Trussell for the idea to string the beads on wire!!)

Merry Christmas friends! I wish each of you a very merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous new year!

Love ( & Inky Smiles),

Erin

(EDITED 12/26/07: OOPS! Looks like Google gobbled up the first pic soemwhere... I'd saved this post in edit mode before I left Utah and I don't have the original digi pics with me. I will have to repost a full pic of the book when we get back to UT.)

Supplies:

Stamps (Delightful Alphabet & Playful Flourishes)/Paper/Glitter/Ink/Beads/Photo Hanger - CTMH, Chipboard letters - We R Memory Keepers, Brads - Making Memories, Misc Embossing Glitter, Misc Beads & Wire - Michael's Craft, Ribbons - American Crafts, Perfect Pearls - Ranger Ink, UTEE, Gold Pigment Ink & Red Pigment Ink - Colorbok (I think...those little cats eye shaped ink thingies), Chipboard - Graphix, Bind It All Machine & Red Owires - Zutter (purchased from myself... hehe - and I have lots more available!)

Thoughts for Thursday - Merry & Bright

Last night, as I was laying in bed after a LOOOOOOOONG day of work (I have to go back today to finish up some accounting) and a super long evening of Christmas shopping with my sweetheart, I was thinking, "What on earth am I going to talk about for a TFT tomorrow???" Then this am I woke up and checked my email and the Foundation for a Better Life (FBL) saved my tired bum again! YAY! This cool little quote was waiting for my in my inbox and it's perfect for a piece of art I've been working on and can't wait to show you all!

“ Trust that still, small voice that says,
'This might work and I'll try it.' ”

- Diane Mariechild, author, speaker

Sometimes I think that we doubt that little creative voice within us. Initially we have this GREAT idea... but then we think, "nah... no way.. I can't do that" or " it's not gonna work" and we don't keep trudging through the creative process. I know that quite often I get frustrated and annoyed if something isn't working how I think it should and just pack it up and quit working on the idea. This time I kept on trudging.... and although I didn't reinvent the wheel or anything like that, I'm excited about it, another fun and out of my box project. I used some elements of a really fun Bind It All project that I will show you later this week.


I think I mentioned previously that I have discovered Perfect Pearls and I am very much in loooove with them! I made this card for a friend last night. I wanted something merry and bright and cheery. I think I accomplished merry and bright.. Tee hee!

Perfect Pearls are sooo awesome! You can mix them with a tiny bit of water and use as a "water paint" (which I did over the Liquid Glass on the r, i, h, t) or brush on to wet ink (which I did on the MERRY) and then spritz with a tiny bit of water which will "set" the pearls. I also "water painted" the edges of the Honey (CTMH) card stock that the BRIGHT letters are mounted on. I love how the Perfect Pearls transform the card stock to a metallic card stock.

I strung plastic and glass beads (CTMH - red, white, green; generic - yellow) and 32 gauge gold wire and "hung" the strands from a brad.

Supplies:
Cardstocks, Inks, Liquid Glass, Beads - CTMH
Delightful Alphabet & Rustic Alphabet Stamp sets - CTMH
ATG adhesive - Scotch 3M
Perfect Pearls - Ranger Ink
Glass micro beads & glass beads - misc. vendors.
Scalloped scissors and hole punch - Fiskars
Handwritten Font - Yours truly

WINNNER ANNOUNCED: Viewers Choice: Sketch Challenge {007}

It's taken a little longer than I planned on to count the votes for this contest. I've counted them up and the winner is:

#4 - Laura Casey

Please send me your address and I will get your prize sent out to you.

Thank you everyone for playing along!

Erin

Bling RAK Winner & Sausage Cheese Balls - MmM MmM Good!

We've drawn a random name for our Bling RAK......

Amy said...

Shopping for toys with money raised from our toy drive at work. I love this part of Christmas...giving to those in need. Specially children!

December 8, 2007 12:31 PM

Congratulations Amy!
Please email your address to me at inkysmiles @ gmail.com

And.... as requested by Tilda.... here's my recipe:

The most fabulous Sausage Cheese Balls
(A former family Christmas Tradition - before Mom quit cooking)
This recipe is on the package of Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage... we've modified it for a smaller batch, added extra onions & celery, and increased the Bisquick amount so that the balls are not so greasy.


1 Pkgs (16 oz) Breakfast Sausage
1 Cup Bisquick
2 Cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 Cup finely chopped onion
1/2 Cup finely chopped celery
½ Tsp black pepper


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl & stir well.
2. Form into 1" balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet.
3. Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Remove from oven; cool 5 minutes before removing from pan and set on paper towels to absorb any grease.

Bling RAK - Bling... kisses from papercrafting angels...

Like I said, I'm wrapping presents today and am in the gift giving mood!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making Sausage Cheese Balls for Christmas morning breakfast! Brent and I will get up and pop them in the oven and then go sit on the couch to read the Christmas story from the Bible (Luke 2) and open presents together. I love Christmas morning with Brent. It's laid back and peaceful.

Here's your chance to win some fun BLING (paper flowers from Heidi Grace, Rhinestone flowers from CTMH, Paper Bliss 3-d embellishments and stickers from Cloud 9) for your paper crafts.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me one of your favorite Christmas traditions and I will draw a random name on Sunday afternoon to win some fun Bling.

Random Subscriber RAK: RAK RAK RAK!

I am wrapping presents today and want to give something away on the blog today! I am in the mood for Blog Candy! I have some fun candy for your scrapbook pages, cards and other projects to give away.

My dad drew a couple of names from my subscriber list and today's winners are:

thefast6@********
krissygirl375@*******

Please email me with the email address you subscribed with and let me know your mailing addresses so I can pop these in the mail for you!

Erin's card for the Sketch Challenge {007}

Here's the card that I drew up Sketch Challenge {007} for. I first sketched the idea and then went a little crazy with the design elements. This card was made for that swap from AAAGES ago... this card is made with random stamped paper by Susan Hankins. Click on the pictures for a larger view.


I loved it so much that I recreated Susan's RS paper and made a card for myself! Yes, that is real stitching. :)

Techniques:
Machine Stitching, Tone on Tone stamping, Dry Embossing, Beading

Supplies:
Cardstocks - Close To My Heart, Chipboard E & S - Basic Grey, Cuttlebug Machine - Provo Craft, Textile Embossing Folder - Provo Craft, Ribbon - Offray, Inks - Close To My Heart, Stamp Set - Playful FLourishes - Close To My Heart, Liquid Glass - Close To My Heart, Tiny Glass Marbles - Michael's Craft, Brads - Making Memories, Crop O Dile - We R Memory Keepers, Foam Adhesive - American Crafts

Viewers Choice: Sketch Challenge {007} Voting Open

Whew! It's been a loooong day. I hadn't planned on working today, but I was needed, so I went in and spent several hours at work today. It was a good thing and this means next week won't be so crazy!

Anyway... on to the VOTING!!!

Here are the entries for Viewer's Choice: Sketch Challenge {007}

Rules:
1.) Each entry has a # on it.
2.) Please leave a comment on THIS post with the # of the entry you are voting for.
3.) Voting closes on Sunday, Dec 9th at midnight.

Good luck to the contestants and HAVE FUN!

Sketch Challenge {007} & Viewer's Choice

*EDITED* - Slight change - Voting will open on THURSDAY morning. I need to wait to post the entries until Wednesday afternoon. E.

So it's been a while since I gave away some treats.... I thought I would give an opportunity for you to win a treat! Yesterday I posted about "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" and this morning the sun is shining on the snow that fell yesterday and last night. It's sparkly and BEAUTIFUL! I just looooove bright cheery days when the ground is covered with fresh snow.

Here's the sketch I drew up (actually, I drew it up on paper and then re-created it in PSE today for the blog) to create a really fun card which I will show you Wednesday :)


1.) Use this sketch, create a fun, "wintery" (does not have to be Christmas) card
2.) Send UNMARKED photo to me via email.
3.) Voting opens on Wednesday, Dec 5th and you will have until Sunday, Dec 9th to round up your friends to vote for your card. Post your votes ONLY to the post of artwork.

Twist - this time I am not putting names on the photos... I will number each photo and voters will cast their votes not knowing who's card it is. Once a winner is chosen, I will post the creator's names with their artwork.

The prize will be some American Crafts ribbon (mini spools) and a package of Double Churned Scrapboard Alphabets (Vanilla Bean/naked - 209 pieces of alphas, numbers, and punctuation, retail $12.99) by We R Memory Keepers.

Good luck and happy creating!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

OOOOH Friends! Nina Perrin of Purple Faerie Paper Crafts invited me to be a Featured Artist on her blog and newsletter... HOW COOL IS THAT??? Here's the article I wrote for her. What an honor!! Thank you Nina!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

My fall decor has returned to its storage boxes. We've put the lights on the outside of the house, Christmas tunes ring out of the stereo, we've pulled the garlands and nativities from their boxes under the stairs, and we started putting the tree up this week. So far we have 8' of artificial evergreen glory with about a zillion lights that Brent neatly wound through the branches. With any luck we will have the ornaments and ribbon on it tomorrow night and can finish up the Christmas decorating. My parents are visiting with us for the month of December. This year we will introduce them to one of our favorite family traditions: Santa Cookies. The making of Santa Cookies is quite the production, but the end result is FABULOUS! But, before we get on to making Santa Cookies for our friends and neighbors, I must tackle my messy studio in preparation of "The Great Card Making Adventure".

There's something extra special about giving handmade gifts and cards for Christmas. I mean, it's fun and all to pick out a box of pre-printed generic cards at the local stationery store, but there's something extra special about a card or a gift when it comes from your hands and heart. This year there are a few things I will be making to give to close friends and family. I will be making a fun desk top flip calendar using a digital design from www.jessicasprague.com. I will digitally add the photos and create the calendars, then print them out and will add traditional elements like brads, flowers and ribbons to the printed project. For the "art part" of each month, I will put a photo of myself, Brent or Sadie or combination of us with other family members. Each page will be adhered to chipboard and spiral bound for easy flipping. I think that this will be a hit with the grandparents and great grandparents.

This year I will be making a couple of different cards to send. (Variety is nice when making a large quantity of cards.) One of them will be a revamp of a card I made using the "Tons of Tree's stamp set from Skipping Stones Design this summer and posted on my blog. I drooled over the Tons of Trees stamp set since I first saw it and decided I had to use it. I used a "new to me technique" - mixed media...I used FELT on a card...way out of my crafting box. LOL! I'm adding a little ribbon to the eyelets and a little more texture on the Kraft brown areas. I will send this card with our family Christmas letter, which I also needed to tackle this weekend.

Christmas is fast approaching. It's time to pull out our paper crafting supplies and get cracking on our gifts and cards. I hope you have much fun this year crafting marvelous holiday paper crafts! Here's to a blessed and joyous Christmas and a prosperous New Year! Inky Smiles!

Merry (early) Christmas!!!!

Thoughts for Thursday: Artwork & Fun Photos

I can't write a huge honkin post like that and not include some artwork!

I thought I would share this fun card that I made for Alisha Trussell from that swap I talk about all the time... lol! Click for a larger view.


I used the Cracked Glass technique and sprinkled in some gold glitter just before heating the UTEE powder in the center of Alisha's random stamped paper circle. I've never had good success with cracked glass until this card. I left the embossed piece in the freezer for a good 3 minutes to get good and cold, then pulled it out and cracked it quickly. Make sure to wear gloves so that you don't leave fingerprints on the "glass".

I cut flowers off of a sprig of silk flowers from Michaels used Liquid Glass (CTMH) to attach the small yellow glass beads to the flowers and adhere them to the edge of the random stamped circle.

Papers, inks, ribbons, and stamp set are from CTMH. Metals are CTMH and Making Memories. The flower petals and beads are from Michaels. Oval shapes cut with Coluzzle by Provo Craft.



Oh my gosh! I also have to share these crazy fun photos. (Ducking so Alisha won't hit me!) Alisha and her family came to Utah to visit her dh's family in Salt Lake and Alisha came down last Tuesday to have some girlfriend hang out time. We had SUCH a blast!!!! Stamping Royalty in MY STUDIO!!! WOO HOO!! (Yes, Alisha is a member of PapWe worked on a project together (I will show u when it's finished, promise!) and talked and laughed our butts off.... Thank you to my wonderful mama, Karen, for taking photos for us!!!!


Sometime during the evening, Terri Howard called on the house phone... We just couldn't resist putting the hot lips on the phone so Terri could "hang with the girls" and of course, you can't forget her spunky glasses. (For those of you who don't know, Terri is the eyeglass queen!)

And then just a few minutes later, Susan Hankins called the house phone and we couldn't get 3 way calling to work, so thankfully she also called my cell phone!



What's good for the goose, is good for the gander, I mean, other goose in this case, and of course Susan needed her own hot lips, too! YOu can kind of see the Susan phone on the InkStak in the picture on the right.... It was so much fun having the 4 of us hanging out together and chatting in the same room! :) I can't wait to someday get us all together to hang out in person!!!!

Thoughts For Thursday: Chaa chaaaa chaaa chaaaanges!

I know I've made mention of a big change coming in my life over this past summer. Well, it's finally happened and I have weird mixed feelings about it. I've talked a lot in TFT's about Faith and such... When I would read other blogs and musings and receive my "inspirational emails" from various subscription sources, I would receive a lot of messages regarding faith and believing and trusting in the Lord. There was a reason for those messages to show up in my life and they came when I needed them most.

I've worked for the same company (landscaping) doing their accounting and office managing for the past 7 years. For the past several years, I've wanted to quit working full time.... There are a lot of reasons... gotta get my health better, lower my stress levels and increase my physical activity levels (sitting at a desk for 7 hrs a day was only making my secretary butt grow and other fun things) and take care of my small family better, and then this year, grow our home business and several other reasons. I just never got around to doing it.

I finally made the decision to quit and then I spent a lot of time praying that the Lord would confirm my decision to quit my full time employment with my company. I prayed especially hard the night before I turned in my resignation and the next morning I woke up with such a warm and comforting feeling that "all would be ok". I had a nice, long talk with Bossman and it went a LOT better than I thought it would.

The day after I gave my resignation letter, my boss asked me to consider staying on for $X for 1 day per week. (A little background... Brent asked me what I would do if Bossman asked me to stay on... I told Brent "$X for 1 day per week."... ) The Lord does answer prayers, sometimes it takes longer than we want, but He really does answer our prayers. If you're wondering, yes, I accepted his offer and now work part time, 1 day per week (Wednesdays) and still do the accounting and office manager work for them. I think it's a win-win situation. It allows us a little extra income and allows me a chance to get out of the house and still keep my accounting skills up (besides with our business). It also helps Bossman to not have to train someone new to do their finances.

I do have mixed feelings.... it's a difficult adjustment going from 17 years of working to being home and not "working". Working our business is a lot different than working for someone else in someone else's office. I keep busy, but I still have a lot more time on my hands. I am sure that it will take some adjustment in the process of becoming a WAHM. My quitting full time employment is a huge cut in income, too... that's going to take some major getting used to. All in all it is a good change. I have some goals that I have been putting off for years and now is the time for me to pursue them and try out some new things.

Thankfully, my parents are here visiting from Iowa. They came on November 19th and will be here until we all 4 drive home on December 20th for Christmas. I am loving having Mom and Dad here to fill the time and Mom is helping me get a lot of projects done around the house that I have put off for years and years. Dad is spending time with Brent in the woodshop.... building InkStaks and Christmas presents for family. Mom and I are planning on making some cards in the next week and I hope to have a couple of fun projects finished to show you all.

It's been a very stressful time as I have prepared to leave my job and make sure that things were in order at work before I left. (I've also had a lot of responsibilities related to my job in the women's organization in our church that needed to be taken care of. ) I realize that I've not been as artsy as I should be lately, but with these new changes have come some new stresses and things that needed to be taken care of before I could really sit down and relax and try to crank out some fun paper crafts.

I just thought you all should know :) Thank you for being my blog readers and enjoying life with me.

Inky Smiles!
Erin

Elf Yourself

Hey friends!

I am sorry I've been absent lately. There's a lot going on at my home right now... lots of chaaaachaaaachaaaaaanges... about which I will post later today when I get home from work. Don't worry, it's all good :)

In the meantime.... have a little fun with this video from our family to yours, and hey, do a little "Elfamorphasis" on yours as well. (BTW, I can't remember when my body last moved like that without any "holiday jiggling".. rofl!)

Elf Yourself

Happy early start on the Holidays!

E.

Enabler Alert - Bind It All Supplies are Here!

Hey friends!

I have a big old honkin stash of Bind It All products in my inventory that are now available, including covers and red OWires. I am still working on our store revamp, but thought I would offer these products to you now.

Orders over $100 ship FREE (free shipping within the US) until December 15 th, 2007. Hurry and take advantage of this great deal!

Click the image to view the prices. Contact me at inkysmiles @ gmail.com

Enabler Alert - Scrap Girls Dessert Sale!

Scrap Girls is at it again! I love their sales!!! Click on the Scrap Girls banner on the left of this blog or check out Scrap Girls now to start shopping. MMMMM Dessert is always AWESOME! :)

"Life is short and it should be sweet. Eat dessert first! And what could be sweeter than having fun while digital scrapbooking your memories? Saving money!

Until Midnight, MST Sunday November 25th, you can save 21.7% on almost all of your favorite Scrap Girls digital scrapbooking treats.

But you better hurry... Just like any dessert, this deal won't last long."

23K RAK WINNER...

I'm a little late getting home tonight... went to Salt Lake with Brent to hit a cool sale at a scrapbook place and get the fan-blower-thingy in the Tahoe fixed.

I've chosen a random winner.....

Natalie said...

HOW FUN! Congratulations on the hits! That's amazing!

My favorite color: pink
My Something: hmmm. I've had plastic surgery. :D

November 13, 2007 4:42 PM

ANNNNNNNNDDDDDD.............. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the responses.... I really got a good chuckle out of some of them... especially one....

I've also chosen a SECOND winner .... "Stefany who smacked Barney" - all because you SMACKED BARNEY!!!! LOL! YOU ROCK!!!! (Barney drives me NUTS!) Kind of ironic considering that your favorite color is purple! LOL!!!

Nicole - send me your address so I can put this stamp set in the mail...
Stefany - send me your address and I will send you a couple of mini rolls of WONDERFUL American Crafts ribbon.

If you're dying for this stamp set ... don't die just yet... I have a couple more of this set (both new) in my stash to give out over the next few months :)

Thank you ALL for your support of my blog! I truly appreciate it!

Keep smiling & get inky!

Erin

TWENTY THREE THOUSAND hits .... and a BIG FAT RAK!

Holy cow!!!! Brent pointed out to me this evening that I have had
over 23,000 hits on my blog!!!

Holy Cow & WOWZA!!!!! That is very, very cool!
I think I need to say THANK YOU with a BIG FAT RAK!

On Friday will randomly draw a name to receive this BRAND NEW, never used, no longer available, former Stamp of the Month (March 2007) from Close To My Heart - Rustic Flowers. To give you some perspective on size, that big honkin cool distressed square measures 2.75" square and the big honkin cool distressed flower measures 3" in diameter.

It's a D size stamp set (retails at $22.95), but it can be yours FREE when you comment on THIS POST with the following:

* tell me your favorite color.
* tell me something about yourself that most people wouldn't know about you. Good luck !!!

****Edited**** I am sooo enjoying reading your comments! It's fun to learn more about my readers and see the things we have in common! Keep the comments coming... this is gonna be a fun RAK.... I might have to add a little bonus to the RAK, too... hrrrrmmmmmmm!

Another {REVEAL} card from my swap group...

Ok, Terri!!! This one's for you darlin!!!!

There's nothing like playing with someone's original creation and letting your imagination run wild! Terri made this random stamped paper for our original swap and my job was to make it into my own card design. Click on the photo to view larger.


This card was soooo super fun to make! This color combo was a challenge for me because it's totally out of my normal "crafting box". The butterfly was my starting point. I had been playing with that stamp set (Spring Possibilities - CTMH) trying to make some "card candy" when the card candy thing exploded... anyway... I made the butterfly by inking up the large butterfly in Crystal Blue ink (CTMH) and stamped it on white CS. I let it dry for a good while and them went back with Liquid Glass and glued all the tiny glass seed beads in place. It needed more "umpfh" so I followed up with more LG (which btw, is my all time fav embellishment, followed closely by GLITTER) and filled in the spaces, and then added Prisma Glitter (CTMH). I let the LG dry over night and trimmed it out the next day and then popped it in the freezer for 2 mins, quickly pulled it out and snapped the LG to make cracked glass. I attached antennae with gold wire and added little gold seed beads on the ends. I LOVE how it turned out!

Other supplies:
Fiskars craft scissors (scalloped)
Ribbon - Offray
Papers, Inks - CTMH
Pearlescent Chalks - Pebbles, Inc.
Spring Possibilities Stamp Set - CTMH
Celebrate BOoking Stamp Set - CTMH
Sandpaper

TFT Rak Winner!!

I loved reading what makes everyone happy. Hope you had fun finding the answers to my trivia questions! :)

I've chosen a random winner.....

Linda SS said...

What a gorgeous shaker card!

1. Dog is Sadie
2. Moab rafting down Colorado River.

3. Talking about my love for Jesus and what He has done in my life makes me happy - I hope that sharing my testimony makes others happy as well. My family is my joy - those grandkids keep me young, they are so full of fun and constantly make me laugh:)

Linda - if you will please email me at inkysmiles @ gmail.com and let me know your mailing address I will pop this in the mail tomorrow :)

Thanks for playing, friends!!!

Thoughts for Thursday, Swap Reveal & RAK Opportunity.

“ We all live with the objective of being happy;
our lives are all different and yet the same. ”

- Helen Keller (1880-1968) author, lecturer, activist

Helen Keller was a remarkable woman. She overcame great odds and despite her physical issues made a happy life for herself. Our lives really are all different, but we all want to be happy.

This {REVEAL} card makes me happy. (Click on photo for a larger view.) It's Pam Klassen's card for our two part swap. She made the random stamped paper and I created the card around it. I piled up loads of glass beads on globs of Liquid Glass (CTMH). I hand scored the grid lines in the Blush CS and sanded to reveal the white core. I used the Coluzzle oval template to cut the oval sentiment piece and mat. All papers, inks, ribbons and metals are CTMH. Stamp set is Love Quotes from CTMH.

RAK Opportunity:

Post to THIS POST only and tell me (answers found on my blog):

- what my dog's name is
- where I went for Mother's Day weekend this year (made me sooooo happy)
- AND something that makes YOU happy or something you've done to make someone else happy. Heck, make a layout about it if you want, too!

On Sunday I will draw a random winner (you gotta answer all three questions) who will receive a really cool retired (but NEW) CTMH booking stamp set which includes 4 small individual stamps, no block.

Inky Smiles!
Erin

Sketch Challenge {006}

Gosh! It's been a while since we've had a sketch challenge. Here's #006 just for you! I picked up this design from Becky @ PageMaps. Her sketches are free to the public and are absolutely fabulous! She's also having a card contest... jump on over and check it out!

Don't forget to leave a comment and show us what you've done with this sketch!

Happy creating!

Erin

Stamper Storage: First Ever InkStak Sale!

It's our first ever SALE on InkStaks! WOO HOO! LIMITED TIME: From now until November 30th, 2007 you can get 10% off of any of our InkStaks! Hurry now and whisper in Santa's ear so he can get your order in for Christmas!



Visit Stamper Storage to place your order. For Christmas delivery, orders must be placed and paid for by December 10th.

What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the Hula?

A long time ago, in a craft studio far, far away, I participated in a swap..... Remember this swap I mentioned WAAAAY back when and posted some sneak peeks along the way ?? Well, I finished my cards for Part 2 waaaay back in Sept and sent them to our hostess.... Here's one of the cards that I made using Tiffany Cheney's random stamped paper.

Click the photo for a larger view.

All papers, stamps & inks are CTMH. I used my scalloped scissors (remember those deco scissors from the 90's? I found mine in the Great Dejunking) to cut a decorative edge around the green mat, pierced the edge with my paper piercer and then pounced some pearlescent chalks from Pebbles, Inc around the edges. Ribbons are from SU! and Offray. Liquid Glass from CTMH. Paper flowers from Prima. Yes, that is real stitching. Love my machine for paper stitching and not real sewing! LOL!

Stay tuned for more reveals...

Belated Thoughts for Thursday, Perfect Pearls, Cuttle Bug

“ Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient. ”

- Eugene S. Wilson (1900–1981)
Dean of Admissions at Amherst College

I love this quote! There is something special about the journey when trying something new. Tonight I went on my own "quest" and learned something new... sorta. I PLAYED with something new!!!! So I am a Technique Junkie and I am always oogling over their techniques and have had fun playing with the ideas.

Tonight I made my own version of the "Cuttle Bug Smoosh" and played around with Perfect Pearls. I painted PP powder into the recessed side of the Cuttle Bug embossing folder and ran the kraft colored paper through the CB . I also stamped the Bethlehem and sentiments with Perfect Medium and dusted with the PP powders. I spritzed the paper flower with a mixture of Cranberry reinker and water and rubbing alcohol and let it dry. I brushed some PP on the petals while they were still wet. I am diggin how the PP look when you wet the powder. Then I loaded up some gold glass beads on some Liquid Glass. O Holy Night is embossed on a chocolatey brown paper.

The card still needs something, but I am not quite sure... it feels unfinished to me. Not mentioning that it's just a card front at this point.. but the design needs something... any ideas?

Glass beads - Halcraft
Papers - Archiver's
Perfect Pearls - Ranger
Perfect Medium - Ranger
Inks - CTMH
Embossing Powder - CTMH
Paper flower - CTMH
Organdy Ribbon - CTMH
Cuttle Bug machine
Cuttle Bug Textile Embossing Folder
ATG Gun & Adhesive

Happy Halloween, Mr Mummy!

I am generallly soooo not into Halloween (this year I'm ok with the cutsie, silly stuff), but I saw this idea on a Bind It All group I belong to and had to copy it... she copied it from a post she saw on twopeasinabucket.com, too. LOL! Anyway... I finally sat down and decompressed a little bit with some crafting tonight before a meeting I had at my house for church stuff. (Big huge change coming in my life... details a little later, maybe tomorrow.)

This cute little guy is a 4x4" chipboard and cardstock book. I handcut 4" chipboard covers (my Bind It All covers are not here yet) and painted them with black paint, then covered with black cs (inside of covers) and white textured cs, torn and inked in black for the outside covers.



The eyes are just circles punched from cs. The "boo!" letters on the front are the coolest new thing... VELVET Thickers from American Crafts... I just picked them up on Friday from the American Crafts warehouse... SWEET STUFF!




The inside base pages are cardstock that I cut 3 7/8" square and then created pages on them with various cardstocks and embellishments. Mini books are so much fun and relatively fast to make once you decide on the paper combos.









Materials used:
Bind It All Machine - Zutter
5/8" Black Owire - Zutter
Chipboard - Graphix
White textured CS - Archiver's brand
Green, Purple & Black CS - CTMH
Misc patterned papers - CTMH "Happy Halloween" (retired) & American Crafts
Misc ribbons -American Crafts, CTMH, generic brand

White Galaxy Marker, Black Marker - American Crafts
Misc embellishments - CTMH
Click on photos for larger view.

Happy Monday!

Love this cartoon! It came to me today from a friend... totally made me laugh! I have not felt like or had energy to scrapbook... perhaps I need to visit Dr. J!!! LOL!

I need to apologize for not posting for a while. I've been out of the loop for the past week. We had some major issues with our ISP having a DNS server completely crash and fry out the in house servers (when they rebooted) in several homes in our area. We' were without tv, phone, and internet for most of last week. We spent over 7.5 hours on hold with the ISP company on our cell phones and finished burning up this month's allotment of minutes in a matter of a couple of days.

I had something going on EVERY night last week and finally crashed on Friday and went to a Witch's Night Out at a girlfriend's house. Ok so I am sooo not a Halloween girl.... BUT this was sooooo much fun! Ginny had us all come dressed in our "Witch's Best" (For me it was a borrowed hat with purple hair.. lol!) and she had yummy chili and breadbowls and salsa with chips all ready for us when we arrived. She also had Witch's Brew (rootbeer) ice cold in the bottle. She read a cute little story had a little "ceremony" (promise not to be a lame girl friend and wear a little finger puppet instead of gross fingernails - see photo to the left) to initiate us as "witches"... totally silly and fun. She gave us fun and silly little gift bags, too. I won the contest for the "best cackle".... LOL!

We just had a fun and relaxing girl's night out. I can't wait to see what she has in store for next year!!

I need to get the pics of me from Ginny's camera... but here are a couple of photos from the evening....

Yummy Cupcakes!!!

She made the CUTEST cupcakes... I had to take pics of them to share... so stinkin cute! She broke the PepperidgeFarms cookies in half and wrote BOO and RIP on them and crammed them in the choc cupcakes to make headstones... sooo fun!


A few of the other girls had matching metallic eyelashes! These were sooo cool! I've been trying to find a pair to wear on Halloween night when the kids come for treats.