Look what I have been up to...

I started creating again - yeah! I have been working like a mad woman lately creating cards for a craft and vendor fair we are holding at my kids school tomorrow night. Not only will I be selling my cards and other wares, but....I am organizing the event also and I had another one last night as well. Needless to say everything else in my life has suffered, but after this weekend the pace should slow down - just in time for the holiday season to kick in. I am, however, making a pledge to myself (and my family) right now to slow down and enjoy December and focus on the true meaning of the holiday season. Since I have been promising something crafty - here are a few cards I made this week.

This first card uses the great little elf from Close To My Heart's Merry Pursuits stamp set. He seems to get himself into a few predicaments.

Recipe: All products CTMH; Merry Pursuits Stamp Set, Creative Basics Holiday Collection, Designer Ribbon Rounds Holiday Collection, Cranberry CS, Ponderosa Pine CS, White Daisy CS; Markers~ Cranberry, Olive, Black; Red Sparkles (retired)

The second card I lifted and unfortuneatly when I went to give credited to the creator, I noticed all I had was first name and last initial - no blog name for you to go check out the rest of her work. So, Jess B gets the credited for the original concept, it was so cute I couldn't resist. I changed it up just a bit by using the cocoa ribbon and stamping the sentiment at the bottom (the inside says... A Merry Little Christmas).

Recipe: All Products CTMH; Creative Basics Holiday Collection; Cocoa Ribbon; Red Sparkle (retired); Chocolate Ink; Journaling Pens; White Daisy CS, Ponderosa Pine CS, Cranberry CS; Sentiment Stamp - unkn. this was an old CTMH wood mounted set that is long retired.

Check out this great Blog Candy....

Ok, so I was checking out the posts on Paper Popsicles and Marcee told us all about some Blog Candy over on Alecia's blog. First, check out her blog, she does beautiful work, but then you need to check out the blog candy she is giving away. Here is a pic of it....

All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog to be entered. So since I have nothing else here today...go check out Alecia now!

I am still here...

Just a short post to let you all know I am still here. Life has, as usual, been super busy and I have had no time to post let alone create. The next few days are set aside for just that and I hope to have some stuff posted soon. I need to back off from the craziness that my life has become and focus more on me, my family and being creative for the fun of it, not because I have to. With that being said, I need to go find my mojo and bring it back home with me...stay tuned, more to come soon.

Welcome Home SSGT Ellis!

Woohoo! Just wanted to make a quick entry to say:

WELCOME HOME

SSGT DAMION ELLIS, USMC

Damion, thank you so much for your service. I am so glad you are safely home with Sarah and the boys.

Fall is in the air

Today truely felt like the first day of Fall. This is my favorite time of year. I love the crispness in the air, the change in weather, the crunch of the leaves, the beauty of the trees. This is nature at its best. It was quite chilly walking to the bus stop this morning, but I relished every moment, it is so peaceful. I love just admiring the beauty of the season, clutching a cup of hot tea in my favorite mug, wrapped in a soft cozy sweater.

I also love this time of year because the pictures I take scream for Autumn colors. I am so drawn to the Autumn pallete and tend to use it often in my albums. I held a workshop on Friday night for a group of wonderful women. They wanted to learn more about the My Acrylix Stamps. We did this great layout (inspired by a layout in an old CTMH Idea Book) using CTMH stamps in different ways, showing how versatile they really are. I love how this came out and am happy to say that I can add a layout from 2007 to my album. All supplies are CTMH and I will post the products at the end of this entry.

One thing you will notice if you know my scrapbooking style at all is that I hand wrote the journaling. I NEVER do that. I always journal on the computer and add it to my pages. I have heard so many times from so many people that you should include your handwriting, but I just don't like how it looks. Why then, did I do it now? Well glad you asked. Kelsey has been telling me for a couple weeks now of and on how much she loves my handwriting (not sure why, but...) so I figured I should start including it. I am not too sure I like what I journaled, but I can always change it later I guess. So I ask, how do you journal, handwritten or computer? Long narratives or short blurbs? Let me know. Since this picture (and the ones on the right hand side of the layout) really tell the story, I think I might replace the journaling with a poem about leaves....any suggestions?

Products used (all products CTMH): Stripe B&T from Abundance Level 2 Paper Pack, Bamboo CS, Bamboo Ink, Autumn Terracota CS, Autumn Terracota Ink, Cocoa CS, Garden Green CS, Natural Hemp, Autumn Terracota Brad, Nature's Vein Stamp Set, Goldrush Ink, Barn Red Ink, Cranberry Ink, Playful Caps and Playful Lowercase stamp sets (alphas), Fall Leaves (Retired)

So behind but starting to catch up....

I am so far behind on my scrapbooking that it is not funny anymore. I just sat down last week to scrap these great pictures of my kids playing on the toys at my sister's house, but can you believe they are from 2004? Ugh! I am currently working on my daughter's first haircut (um...she is 8!). I do have more current things done, but I am ALL OVER the place and have 10 uncompleted albums going. Oh to be organized in this aspect of my life too.....

Anyway, thought I would share my recent projects. I love how these came out. The paper brought out the color in the pics perfectly. I wanted to keep it on the simple side because I had so many pics on the left hand page. All products are CTMH with the exception of the title letters, I printed those out on black cardstock and hand cut them (yep, I don't have any fancy machines....yet!) and the black leather frame.



I love how the distressing came out on this page, as I am a huge fan of it lately, especially with warmer colors. This also shows how cool the white core of the paper looks when you score it and then rough up the raised edges with sandpaper. The Cranberry CS is roughed up with the edge distresser and then inked with Chocolate ink - and how cute is that little photo hanger? The faux stitching is done using the Simple Stitches stamp set.


Products used (All products CTMH unless noted): Stamps ~ Simple Stitches; Ink ~ Chocolate, Black; CS ~ Chocolate, Black, Cranberry; Embellishments ~ Photo hangers (pewter), Hinges (pewter), brads (pewter), black ribbon, Leather Photo Frame (Making Memories), Edge Distresser, Scoring Tool.