Boys in Costume!

As promised, here are my boys in their costumes...well, most of the way anyways.
First up is Alexander in his Darth Vader costume. He didn't like the mask because it was too big and he couldn't see out of it very well, so he went without.

Robert was Batman, and had the same issues with his mask as his brother did...he just plain didn't like it over his eyes where it was supposed to be!

Our little Buzz Lightyear, Markus, was the only one to stay in his complete costume the whole night!


Hopefully I'll be posting some more projects soon...Takes me a while to take pictures and get them just the way I want!

Later days!!

Halloween pics!

As promised, here are our pumpkin carving pictures. This first one is a picture of all 3 of the boys during the pumpkin carving process...I think I ended up with more pumpkin guts on me than on the floor! We covered the floor with a few layers of newsprint paper first, then let the boys go nuts! From the left is Markus, the youngest at 3 years old, then Robert, almost 5 years old, is sitting with his back to the camera, and Alexander, the toothless 6 year old!

Here is Alexander (AJ for short) showing off his newly toothless grin. He only lost that tooth about an hour before we started carving...his first lost tooth!!! He was having trouble at the dinner table, eating his noodles with his kind of loose tooth...I jokingly told him that if he's having so much trouble eating, he should just pull it out. Well, he couldn't get a good grip on it, so my husband asked if AJ wanted him to pull it...AJ just sat there and let him pull it!! Said it didn't hurt!

Drum roll please.....Here are the finished products!!! From the left, AJ's pumpkin, Markus's, Robbie's and Daddy's kitty. AJ did his entire pumpkin by himself, and he loves the huge nose he put on it. Markus drew his on with a crayon then I cut it out for him. Robert drew on the mouth for me to cut out, then he did the nose and mouth pretty much by himself, with just a little help. Daddy made his with a template from one of those carving kit books you can buy...he loves cats! I didn't get a pumpkin of my own, I just helped with the boys' pumpkins and then cooked all the seeds...We love pumpkin seeds!!!




I'll post again sometime soon with pic of the boys in their costumes...
Have a happy day!!!

Paper!!!

It's been while since I posted!!! I've been busy with way too many things to do and not nearly enough time to do them all in. I'm going to keep this as quick as I can, since it's almost time to go pick up my oldest boy from school. I have been making things with DP lately...I love nugget boxes, and other things that hold candy. I'm getting ready for a craft fair at the end of November, and I'm thinking that the goodies will sell better than cards did last year (I didn't sell much at all). So here are my first 2 projects. This first one is nugget box, using SU's Dashing paper...I've been using this paper for a while, and I'm almost out! Gotta get another order in. Well, for the boxes, I used the same paper for the box and just covered the nuggets in the opposite side. The photo tags are from Joanns, and I got the eyelets a long time ago and don't remember where they came from. The words say "Happy" and "Holidays", and I punched them out with the word window punch...This picture is only 1 of the 12 I made. Every one of the 12 are different.


I also copied a cute little idea from Cambria for little paper baskets with mints inside. These boxes are simple and fast, just score, cut and tape. I added DP "ribbon" to the top and attached it to the box with star shaped brads. Inside are peppermint patties, with a piece of Real Red cardstock punched out with the scallop punch, then a piece of Dashing DP punched out, then stamped with a stamp from SU's Riveting set in Real Red and I think I used Green Galore, but I'm not sure anymore. Put them all together, place 3 in each little baskets, and you've got a cute little treat! I also made 12 of these for the craft sale, again with all 12 different.

This last project is for a swap I did with my fellow SU demo's. It's pretty simple, and since the only rule for the swap was to use layers, I tried to use lots. I also like really busy cards when all the paper matches like this one did. All the patterns are from a DCWV paper stack I picked up at Joanns last weekend during their big sale...180 sheets of beautiful 12x12 paper for only $9.99!!! I'm having a blast with all of them. I used SU's Season's of Joy stamp, and only added one small brad.


I hope to have a few Halloween pics up soon...the boys all carved pumpkins and had a blast...to make our pumpkin carving even more fun, my oldest son lost his first tooth right before we started!!! More about that later...Have a great day!!!

A few thank you cards

I was recently asked to make a few thank you cards for Pastor Appreciation day this month. The idea is to have some cards out for people who have forgotten to bring one, so they can sign it and show their appreciation for our Pastoral staff at church. Well, a few of the board members are friends of mine and they thought it might be nice to have hand made cards out. Long story short, I just can't say no when it comes to making cards for people! The first 3 cards are put on precut and scored cardstock from Fred Meyer...they sell these great packs of about 500 or so precut and scored cards, in a huge pack, for only $9.99!!! And if you get them on one of the great buy 2 get one free sales or their great 20% off sales, it's really cheap!!! So here they are, plus one I'm not willing to give away.

This first was a simple card using patterned paper I bought a long time ago, and a piece of yellowish paper I stamped a 2 step stamping image from Stampin Up. Then I just put in 2 eyelets, and ran a piece of hemp twine between them and tied a bow! On the inside it says "Heartfelt Thanks" sentiment from Stampin Up.

This second card is a quick Thank You, punched out with my Stampin Up tag punch...I trimmed the stamped one down about 1/8 inch on all sides and mounted it on a piece of punched patterned paper. The tag was then stuck onto a piece from a Mat Stack from Fred Meyer...a while back I got quite a few of those neat little mat stacks on clearance for about $1 each, and they come in handy when making lots of cards fast. I left the inside of these cards blank for people to write on.

This third card is my favorite of the three so far...The image is Stampin Up, then I punched small holes for all the flowers and put in flower brads that I have had for a long time but don't remember where they came from. I mounted the small white stamped piece onto the larger orange, then onto a pretty patterned paper out of one of those huge stacks of paper, then onto the precut and scored yellow paper from Fred Meyer once again. I had a ton of little pieces of ribbon, so i tied them in a knot and stuck one each to the cards with a glue dot. I think these turned out so great...I absolutely LOVE them!

This last card is not for the Pastor Appreciation day, but I wanted to share it with you anyways. I made a bunch of these up at a ladies retreat I went to, and had fun doing this. I love to sit down with a Stampin Up Scrappin Pack and just play with the cardstock and patterned paper. This is a small 3x3 card, so easy to make! This Scrappin Pack is called Party Pieces. The cardstock I think is Tempting Turquoise, but I'm not too sure. I stamped the main card with my canvas background stamp, in tempting turquoise, so you can barely see it. I then cut a small piece of one of the patterned paper from the scrappin pack, inked the edges just a little with orange ink. The stamps on the front are a new set from Stampin Up that I've been dying to try out, called Just Like You. Well, one reason I love this set is because when you buy this set from a Stampin Up Demonstrator, $2 of the sale goes directly to the Ronald McDonald House Charities...it does help that the set is absolutely adorable! Back to the card...I used a swirly stamp from the set to make my own background on the top of the card, then used the butterfly stamp a few times. I inked the edges of the top layer with tempting turquoise to make it stand out a little more. 2 eyelets and a little hemp finished off the front. The inside is stamped with "it's just like you to be so nice!" also from the Just Like You set.

Hopefully I'll get some more cards done soon...almost have my stamping room reorganized so I'll have more room to move in there! Hope you have a great day!

WCMD Halloween cards

I've been working on halloween cards lately...got a pack of SU's Creepy Crawly and can't stop using it! So here are my favs...
This first one was very simple, sadly, in the picture you can't tell that the black background is the spider web paper out of the Creepy Crawly set. It is a very simple card, and says "Trick or Treat" on the indside.

I was going for a spider web look with the Black hemp twine from SU...kinda worked. Again, using the Creepy Crawly paper from SU, and a bunch of eyelet, running the twine through them and around the card. The spider is from SU's Trick or Treat set.

This last one is my favorite. Have you ever had a few smallish pieces of great paper, but couldn't figure out how to use them very well? Well, that's what I did...I had a few pieces of the double sided Creepy Crawly left over, so I cut them into 1-inch lengths and put them all together, back and forth for a background. Every other piece is actually the same paper, just the opposite side. I then put 4 eyelet in the corners, and ran black hemp twine through them, offsetting the middle by twisting it together. The Pumpkin is from SU's Trick or Treat again.

Hopefully I'll get some more done today...I LOVE this Creepy Crawly paper...it's been one of my favorites these last few weeks!
Have a great day!!!

For the girls

Ok, this is very rare indeed, that I post 2 times in a single day, but having this challenge to make a card for the two little girls, I just had to get stamping. I broke out a few new items for this...my chipboard pick a petal set and the polka dots and paisley paper. I also actually used some of my HodgePodge Hardware, never used before today! I'll show you the picture of this card, which I am very very proud of, then I'll try to remember exactly what went into it!!!

OK, the cardstock I used is from the bold brights, I think it's the pixie pink. The patterned paper is from the polka dots and paisley one, the one that came with the stamps a while back. The chipboard came was painted with white acrylic paint before stamping, with the Pick a Petal stamp set. For the petals I used Pixie pink, stamped off once so it would be lighter and the biggest of the petal stamps that stamps the whole things (no pattern) because i wanted it pink but didn't want to paint it pink. The outer part of the petals are done with the outline style stamp in Pixie Pink, but not stamped off at all. The middle part of the flower is stamped in Gable Green and Green Galore. The ribbon on the side was given to me, so I don't know any color names or anything. I ran it through a piece from the HodgePodge hardware set and then tied the knot with a lighter piece of ribbon along with the darker. 3 brads from the hardware kit are on the other side of the card. On the inside I stamped a saying from Friend to Friend, "Hope is the thing with feathers-That perches in the soul-And sings the tune without the words-And never stops-at all." -Emily Dickinson. Stamped in Not Quite Navy.
This card was fairly simple, and I always love a reason to stamp in pinks, since i have all boys. I'll be posting some Halloween cards in the next few days...have the cards made and the pictures taken, just takes forever to download on my computer. I also have a bunch of thank you's and a Christmas card or two to show!
Have a great day!!!

A good cause

I know my Blog isn't the most widely visited on the web, but thinking that even one person may just happen upon it and learn about these two beautiful babies was enough for me to post. A very wonderful lady is giving away some BLOG CANDY, but it's a special blog candy, you make a card for these babies and then you are entered to win the candy. I just couldn't NOT do this one. Here is the site for the BLOG CANDY but that is not the most important part of this. You can visit the website set up for the girls here and see these gorgeous girls for yourselves. Hopefully I'll be able to take a picture of the card I send away for the blog candy, but for me, it's more important to send the card. Hope you all decide to take part in this candy.

Happy Wedding

I made this card in a matter of minutes...I spent so much time making the thank yous that I only had a little time for this one.



The card stock is another pre-cut and scored card out of a mega pack from fred meyer, and the background paper is from the same stack from joanns. I think i bought the stickers at walmart, but i don't remember. Inside the card, i took the flower from Stampin Ups delight in life stamp set and did a light background in the apricot color (again, i can't find my inks right now so i don't know the exact color). then i stamped "Delight in Life" in Plum. I used quite a few stickers on this one, something I don't do very often, but it worked for a very fast card.

Coming soon, i'll be posting a book i put together for a friend who remade their deck, I call it my "handyman" book, and i'm going to try to post it tomorrow.

A wedding for my Best Friend

My best friend got married over labor day weekend, and when i asked her what she wanted, she asked me to "custom her up some thank you cards". well, I did just that, and gave her a large set of 50 custom cards, matched to her wedding colors, complete with envelopes which also had the stamp on it. Since i had started stamping, i just had to make her a card too, very simple but very pretty.
Here's the thank yous:


Sorry the inside image is sideways, i haven't figured out how to turn pics yet.
These thank yous were very simple to make. I used pre-cut and scored silver cards i bought in a mega pack from fred meyer, and just corner rounded the corners (only the first one i made had the top corners rounded, it was just too much cardstock for my little rounders to cut through!). the background paper on the front is from a paper stack i bought a few years ago from joann's. the stamp on the front is from Stampin Ups Heartfelt Thanks, stamped in the Lilac (don't remember exact name and can't find it right now) in the soft subtles. the first flower was stamped off on a piece of scrap paper before stamping on the card, then the outline was stamped without stamping off. I put 2 silver rivets beside the flower for a little more shine. inside the card the stamp came from Stampin Up Friend to Friend, stamped in the same lilac color. I stamped the corner of the envelope with the flower from the front of the card, so it matched very well. Funny thing though, my best friend felt funny about sending me one of my own thank you cards, so she went out and bought one for me!!! She did love them though, here is a pic of her and her new hubby, Introducing, Derek and Sherri Burns!!!

I will post the wedding card i made for her later. Have a great day!!!

Thank You Book

hiya...this is another project that kept me busy for a while. my 6 year old son and i made a book for his kindergarten teacher at the end of the year, full of pictures of him and what he did during the schoolyear. thankfully, i took pictures of it before we gave it to her so i could show it off!
this is your basic board book, the one every little kid has and lots of them get a little beat up. i bought this as an old dora the explorer colors book that was starting to fall apart and many of the pages had been drawn on. it's my own way of recycling...i just covered every page with paper, and away i went. i chose paper based on what my son likes, and kind of what would go with the pictures i had. to cover it, i generously put on double sided rolling tape (i used old dollar tree stuff since it takes so much), and lay a full sheet of printed paper on it. i used a craft knife to trim the extra off the edges. each page went the same way, with the paper not quite meeting in the middle of the book, otherwise the book won't close very well. after you get the book covered, it's time to tape on the pics!!! anywho, here's the book in it's entirety...from the cover to the back page with graduation pics.

It's Been Too Long!!!

Ok, I know it's been a while since i posted anything...well, it's been since i set up my page to begin with. here goes a try at this blog thing...this is a birthday style card i made for a little boy in my sons class. the point of it is to give the child a one dollar bill for each year of his/her age, and only one bill per part of the card. this was for a 6 year old.

this is the card, all folded up. it's a look at the front of it i guess.

and here we are, all unfolded, but without the dollar bills put on (those came later). i used a simply scrappin kit for the whole thing. each part of the card was measured so a dollar bill would fit with a little room on the edges for the extras. each part is a piece of white cardstock, with 2 pieces of colored cardstock on top (one on each side to cover the white completely). a few of the colored cardstock is stamped with the Stampin Up Canvas background stamp. to put all the parts together, i just punched two eyelet holes in the top and two in the bottom, put the eyelets in, then tied them all together with hemp.
i kinda thought this would be a funny idea for someone turning 40 or 50...give them a huge card, full of one dollar bills that hang down so far. oh well, i'll keep it to a 6 year old for now! hope you enjoy and now that i have this figured out i'll be posting more and more and more.....

My first BLOG