Magnolia

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm suppose to be cleaning for an open house I'm hosting tomorrow (I just signed up for Scentsy...wooohooo) but I am just not in the cleaning mood so instead I'm doing some blogging and other computer stuff...I'm still "working" just from the computer and not from my feet...LOL!
I got this Magnolia image a long time back in a swap and I finally pulled it out and colored it. I really love coloring Magnolias....they are sooo much easier for me unlike whiff Of Joy that I've already said are really hard for me!
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving...we got to go home to Pa. and visit with family and eat some amazing food! We will be staying put here in NC for Christmas which is fine by me...I'm excited to have Christmas in our new house!

Products used:
Image~Magnolia
CS~SU!
Sentiment~SU!
Copics
Stickles
Die cut~free SVG file
half pearls

Challenges entered:
2 Sisters Challenge Blog~#68 Punches or Die Cuts
Fab N Funky Challenges~#101 anything goes
Stampin for the Weekend~#21 Friends
PaperCrafting Journey~Anything goes

Before I forget...because I normally do....The Stamping Boutique is having a blog hop Dec. 9th to Dec. 11th....it's a thrifty holiday handmade gift hop...sounds fun and hard to say right!!!! So be sure to join us and hop for your chance to win some fab images!!!

Grumpy Elf~Creative Craft Challenge Post

Okay...I think I have officially lost my mind! I totally forgot today was Tuesday AGAIN!!! I still need to get The Stamping Boutique challenge up on the challenge blog and I was suppose to have this post up earlier....grrrr. I thought I was having memory issues while I was pregnant....this is getting ridiculous!

So we are heading up to Pa. tomorrow after my wonderful DH get's out of his EMT class and will be spending the holiday with family!!! I am so excited...not so much looking forward to the 9-10 hour drive but it's worth it! We'll be heading back down here to NC on Sunday so my DH and DS can get some sleep for school Monday morning. So it will be a quick...fully filled weekend!!!

Today a new challenge has started over at Creative Craft Challenges and it's a free for all challenge!! How fun and easy is that?! Be sure to head over to the challenge blog and see all the wonderful projects the girls came up with and of course join in the challenge as well..it runs for 2 weeks so lots of time to get a project in and of course you will need some crafty time after you are all nice and full from that wonderful Thanksgiving feast!!!

Products Used:

Image~MelJens

CS~SU!

Ribbon~SU!

Copics

Stickles

Sentiment~SU!

Brads~SU!

Challenges Entered:

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog~#94 baby it's cold outside

Papertake Weekly~Christmas Crackers

Pollycraft Monday Challenges~#120 Christmas Fun

Pile it On~#47 anything with a P in it (pouty)

2 Sisters Challenges~#66 Let it Sparkle

The Stamping Boutique Blog Hop

Welcome, welcome, welcome to my blog as part of The Stamping Boutique blog hop! I am really excited to be a part of this...it's been a long time since I have been able to join in with a blog hop!
First things first....you "should" have come here from Melissa's Blog, Smudges in Time if you didn't...start back at the beginning at Christys blog Christy's Zaney Creations and work your way through! I promise it will be worth it! I mean did you see that EACH stop along the way gives you a chance to win a free digi AND if you hop all the way through, leave your comments on each blog and a comment at the end on the challenge blog you could possibly win the ENTIRE Smoochie line of digis.

Materials used:
Image~Candle The Stamping Boutique
SU! border punch
Copics
Rhinestones
SU! CS
Stickles

Enjoy the rest of the hop...you have until Sunday to complete it! So from here you need to head over to Julia's blog Paper and Scraps Creations by Julia she's got something cute cute  cute for you!!!

Breast Cancer Ribbon

Good morning everyone! I hope you all remembered to turn your clocks back an hour! My kids were up at 6:20 this morning....ugh! I hope this means I won't have an issue getting them up tomorrow for school!!!
I hope you are enjoying your Sunday....my DH is laying on the couch snoring away (no...I don't enjoy it) so I'm doing a post then making my way upstairs to do some crafting!!
I have the most beautiful glittery paper EVER and if you know anything about me...you know I love anything that sparkles so this is a blinged out card don't you think? This is a very CAS card for me but it doesn't feel it...I guess because of that fab paper!!!

I almost forgot...I used an image from The Stamping Boutique today and I wanted to let you all know that we are having a blog hop this month and would LOVE to have you join us!!!

Materials used:

SU! CS

Glitter CS

SU! punches

SU! Rhinestones

Image~The Stamping Boutique

Sentiment~SU!

Copics

Challenges Entered:
Paper Sundaes~#94 rectangles
Craft Your Passion~#82 Bingo I used punches, bling, and sentiment
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge~#107 anything goes
Creative Inspirations~#136 lashings of sparkle
Papertake Weekly Challenges~anything goes and a bit of sparkle

Happy Fall

Good morning everyone! It's the 1st of Nov. in case you didn't already realize that....I remember being in my teens and being soooo impatient for time to go by and now I sit here and think it's going by wayyyy too fast!
I hope everyone had a great Halloween. It rained here in NC so the kids didn't get to go trick-or-treating. My son was disappointed (until I let him play Wii ;-) ). I'm really glad we went to the Fall Fest his school was having or those costumes would have been a total waste of money!

Well, I have a card to share today (not just my rambling). I've had it done for a bit now and figured I'd better put it up before fall is totally over!!! This card was hard for me because I'm not used to my cards being so CAS but it's okay I guess! I feel like I'm not doing Meljen's image much justice!

Materials Used:

Image~Meljen's Designs

DP

CS~SU!

Martha Stewart circle cutter

Rhinestones

Copics

Stickles

Embossing folder

Challenges Entered:

Papertake Weekly Challenge~Anything Goes (and a little bling if you want)

Pollycraft Monday Challenges~#117~anything goes

C.R.A.F.T Challenge~##126~colour savannah

Cupcake Inspirations~#134

Paper Crafting Journey~#22~use a digi

Whiff Of Joy~Fancy Edges Challenge

 Good morning everyone! I hope that everyone is enjoying fall. The temps. have certainly started to drop around here. Tonight we did our pumpkins...I'll post some pictures of them later. Leila did Minnie Mouse and Jodus did some for walker thing from Star Wars and my pumpkin isn't done yet...lol...it took quite a bit of time to get the kids done. Rodney worked pretty darn hard on cutting and did a great job! Thank goodness because I can't cut to save my life.

Today over at Creative Craft Challenges there is a new challenge. The challenge is fancy edges. I hope you will all come over and join in and take a look at the fantastic work of the DT. The challenge runs for two weeks so you have plenty of time to play along!
I am actually pretty happy with this. Even though....I have the hardest time coloring my Whiff of Joy images. I love them soooo much but get so frustrated when I'm coloring them. Maybe it's just my coloring skills and I just need to keep practicing!! I am going to toot my own horn here for a second or should I say toot a horn for Martha Stewart....I just LOVE her punches/border punches....I have a ton of them and I have not been able to find any other border punches that punch as easily or cleanly (is that a word..LOL). Look how wonderful that border is and I used the same punch (the corner one) to make the little "thing" under the sentiment. So in case you didn't realize....I LOVE MARTHA STEWART BORDER PUNCHES!!

Materials Used:
Image~Whiff of Joy
CS~SU!
DP~My Mind's Eye
Rhinestones
Copics
Stickles
Sentiment~SU!
Circle punch SU!
Martha Stewart border punch

Challenges entered:
Totally Paper Crafts Friday Challenges~#89 layer upon layer
Christmas Inspirations~#35 die cuts or punches
Crafting When We Can~ almost christmas

A very Special Card

I have a very special person in my life and I recently made this card for her, for her birthday, as a way of saying "I love you", and to say thanks! Her and her husband opened their home to us several months ago when we came home from Germany. We were only suppose to be home for about 2 weeks and it ended up turning into 6 weeks (long story) but none-the-less she let us basically live with them. It's a lot to take in a family of 4 and to make us feel soooo at home. She had a room done up for the kids, a room for Rodney and I and basically said "what's mine is yours". She is family Rod's cousin but she's soooo much more then that and I love her with all my heart and I am sooooooo glad that we grew so close and became the best of friends!

Materials used:

Image~Stamping Bella Lulu collection (some of my fav. images)

Martha Stewart flowers

SU! punch

copics

rhinestones

Sentiment~Stamping Bella

SU! CS

DP~DCWV

Challenges Entered:

Pollycraft Monday Challenge~#115 Girls, girls, girls

Stamptacular Sunday Challenges~#134 you choose

Sweet Stamps~#37 lots of layers

Top Tip Tuesday~#56 layer it up

Craft your Passion~#80 double up with pink

For my Mom!!

My mom who is a breast cancer survivor has been asking me for a journal. I was really excited about putting this together for her. I am very proud of my mom for going through all she did to beat this horrible thing called cancer. So of course it makes me happy any time I can make something from the heart for her.
Don't you just LOVE Princess Jennifer Latte Breast Cancer image???!!! This is one of my favorite images...I say one of my favorite because if you've ever been over to The Stamping Boutique and looked at Tracey's images you'd know that all of her images are just fantastic!!!! All the links are on my sidebar if you want to have a peek!!!
BTW: my mom has received this and loves it and even took it to work to show off her the people she works with!!!

Products used:
Image~TSB
Cricut
Martha Stewart border punch
copics
stickles
ribbon
brad
adhesive spray
composition book

Challenges Entered:
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge~#134 you choose
C.R.A.F.T Challenge~#124 recipe
Pile It On~#41 just because
Stamp Insanity~SISC#77 anything but a card

Whiff Of Joy

My aunt asked me to make her a few thank you cards and since it's fall (already) I thought my Wiff Of Joy Fall Willow Catching Leaves would be perfect! I tried doing blonde hair but I don't think I quite have down the technique yet.....I'm a work in progress, especially with copics since there is so much that goes into shading.

Products Used:
Image~Whiff of Joy
Sentiment~SU!
Ribbon~SU!
CS~SU!
DP~DCWV
Copics
Ink~SU! and memento black
Dots from Stamping Bella

Challenges Entered:
Fab n Funky Challenges~#94 Crazy for Color
Kaboodles Doodles Challenges~#88 Let's see those leaves
One Stop Craft Challenges~#152 Anything Goes
Stamping for the Weekend~#18 colors of autumn
ABC Challenges~A Anything Goes

Creative Craft Challenge Week

 Okay....so I have been having this horrible cold and Wed. will be 2 stinkin' weeks of coughing myself silly, feeling totally drained....ALL the time and just feeling like crud in general! Yes..yes...yes...I know....go to the doctor...blah blah blah. I hate the doctors. I avoid them at all costs! So instead I'm gonna complain  to all of you!!! LOL!

This week over at Creative craft Challenges the theme is Congratulations! Our sponsor is MelJens...if you haven't been to Meljens before....you MUST take a look at her stuff....it's fantastic...I love and have quite a few of her images and the one I used today is also from her.
I decided to dedicate and donate my card to the hospital that Splitcoaststampers is sponsoring the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness month. They are having a new challenge every day, have a long list of prizes to give out and all your cards go to this wonderful hospital in Texas for breast cancer patients.

Materials Used:

Image~Meljens

Dots from Stamping Bella

Copics

CS~SU!

spica pens

Stickles

Sentiment~Hanna Stamps

Punches SU!

Charm

Challenges Entered:

One Stop Craft Challenge~#152 anything goes

Totally Paper Crafts~#87 animals

Pile It On~#41 Just because

Lexi's Creations~#50 pink is for boobies

Creative Craft Challenges

I am very happy to finally be able to tell all of you that I have made a spot on the Creative Craft Challenge blog!!! I am super excited to be part of this team! There are 3 new girls (one being me) so go over and check out the new girls along with the wonderful ladies that are already established over there!

For this challenge...it's a sketch! I love sketch challenges but I have to admit that I am terrible at making triangles...ugh...it took me a million cuts to finally get it right! The sponsor for this challenge is Robyn's Fetish and I have used one of her digi images; paul penguin sledding.
So...I took the pictures of the card, loaded them on the computer and then picked it up to move it AND.....dropped it face down on the floor....UGH...the stickles weren't dry yet!!! So I am really glad I had already taken the pictures but after a little damage control it actually was okay!! But I guess I need to learn to have patience and just let it set to dry before messing with it!!


Products used:
Image~Robyn's Fetish
Sentiment~SU!
Ribbon~SU!
DP~DCWV
Stickles
Martha Stewart dots (love these)
Cardstock~SU!
Copics

Challenges Enterd:
Paper Makeup Stamps~#4 Size matters
Paper Sundaes~#88 Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly~Creature Comforts
Bows and Berries~#10 Glitter
Christmas Cards All Year Round~September: use your stash

Altered Notebook

 I decided to try my hand at some altered composition books. What an easy project. I mean really really easy project. I loved taking those bland black and white books and turning them into this!!!!
I'm still working on my coloring skills. I asked my son how this imaged looked when it was all done (he's 6) and he say's "it's nice but I don't like the gray hair"....UGH....BTW...it's not suppose to be gray...it's suppose to be shades of black. I've been watching tutorials on the coloring but I guess I haven't quite gotten it yet!



Here is a close-up of the image which is from the greeting farms. I love having digis from them...I own a lot of the rubber but having the digi and being able to make it such a big size is great!

















And side view! I popped up the letters with some dimentionals from SU! See...from this view the hair kind of looks more black right?! LOL!

Products used:
~composition notebook
~cricut (letters)
~Image: the greeting farms
~bling
~Martha Stewart border punch
~prima flowers
~copics
~stickles
~DP: DCWV

Challenges Entered:
~Stampin' for the Weekend**#17 What a cutie
~Digital Tuesday Challenge**#129 people images
~Crafts and Me**#53 Stripes
~Simon Says Stamp**dies and/or punches

You take the cake!!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend. Yesterday we spent a great day with our wonderful friends! We had lunch and then played lot's of Wii! I have to say....I really enjoyed playing the guitar in band hero. We may need to get the kids those for Christmas ( ;-) ) This is Jodus' last week in school before his 3 week break. I have no idea what I'm going to do with him for those 3 weeks. It seems like him and Leila do nothing but fight on the weekends so all day every day....ugh! I spent the morning upstairs cleaning the playroom AGAIN....I swear those kids drive me nuts with that space up there. But it's not totally cleaned up, dusted and vacuumed. Let's see how long it stays that way!!!

The Stamping Boutique is having a month long birthday celebration and EACH day this month they are having a new challenge and a winner....so that gives you a TON of chances to win a TSB image this month! Plus...today (Monday) is a freebie day on the challenge blog as well so go grab your free image before it's gone tomorrow! And tomorrow, Tuesday, a new bi-weekly challenge begins so come join me for that!

I really really love this card. I love The Greeting Farm images and I am sooo happy they have some digi's available. I did some paper piecing to this image. I love paper piecing when it comes out right! I got the sketch over at Splitcoast!

Materials used:
Copics
Image: The Greeting Farm Freaky Flutter digi
Sentiment: SU!
Rhinestones
CS: SU!

Challenges Entered:
One Stop Craft Challenge~#148 Food and Drink
Stampin' for the Weekend~#16 Tickled Pink
Pile It On~#37 Layer It
The Crazy Challenge~#84 Birthday

Anya...never more than a thought away

Happy Friday everyone! I hope that all of you have a good weekend....and yippee if you get a 3-day weekend for the holiday on Monday. We won't be doing anything, I might just work on Jodus' party stuff. His birthday isn't until 4 Oct. BUT....he has realized when his birthday is and each day has been doing a countdown...OMG he's gonna kill me before the day gets here. So I decided we might as well work on stuff for a small party...you know I'd like to do as much handmade as I can. We are going to make it Star Wars themed since he's totally into that right now. And he really wants to help (he's a creative little thing) so I'm trying hard to relinquish my need for it all to be perfect and let him help me out.
I didn't get a position for Paper Makeup DT team, I'm a bit sad and disappointed but it's okay....I'll just keep on keepin' on! Honestly, it just feels good to be able to craft again, to actually have the desire to craft really. Even once we got settled and I got my room organized I was still having problems finding the desire to go up there and make something but once I finally started it all came back to me and the desire was there again.


This is Miss Anya Dressy...I love The Greeting Farms images and this set is among my favorites.
The inside of the card reads: Your never more than a thought away!




Here she is in a close up. I feel like my coloring is getting better. Although I have to say I am having major trouble with the pinks. It's so frustrating but I love the blended look of the purples.

Products used:
Image: TGF
DP: SU!
Cardstock: SU!
Ribbon: SU!
Martha Stewart border punch
Copics
Rhinestones
Sentiment: SU!
~SU! was my theme for this card I guess...it all starts with the DP for me and I work my way around that and it just turns out that SU! "stuff" was working for this!~

Challenges Entered:
Papertake Weekly Challenge~Sketch
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge~#126 Diva-tacular
Pile It On~#35 Girls just wanna have fun
Charisma Cardz Challenge~#35 Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday~#180 A pinch and a punch

PMS DT Call

Good morning everyone! I have had 2 k-cups this morning and I'm feeling pretty energetic!!! So while I have this little perk I'm going to do my post and apply for this fabulous DT team!!!


Paper Makeup Stamps is having a DT call for it's new digi line. I'm really excited about these fab images! This was a freebie on the challenge blog that we needed to use to submit a project to be entered for the call.
PMS wanted to know why I love working with digis.....well....that's easy enough, there are several reasons; 1. they are inexpensive 2. you can size them any way you want 3. digi images are the big thing right now; lots of companies that do mostly rubber or clear are now incorporating digis in their stores as well.

Products used:
Image: PMS
Ribbon: SU!
rhinestones
DP: Penny Lane
Stickles
copics


Challenges entered:
PMS~DT call
The Sweet Stop~Sketch SSS123

Wall Hangings

UGH.....today and yesterday actually have been rough days. It's hard learning new things about yourself that aren't so great. It's even harder to figure out why you are that way and how you can change it. I know life isn't suppose to be easy but man....some days it's just soooo hard. I could really use some words of wisdom if anyone has some to offer!

I have some things for you that I recently made. These were sooo super easy and if I do say so myself...they are kinda cute!!!
If you are interested in these or anything else I make....you can find me on FB....Pretty Little Things
I do special orders, any idea you have I can come up with something for it...just let me know!

So how did I make these goodies:

Ikea picture frames

cricut

cricut vinyl

pretty DP

SU! buttons

SU! rhinestones

twine (for the first one)

sizzix sizzlet (cancer ribbon)

ribbon

I am in LOVE with the cricut vinyl....if I had anything to say about it....my whole house would be vinyled by now...lol!!!

Rag Balls

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm quite bored today...so bored I've been playing bingo on FB and ran out of coins so I figured I'd do a blog post. The kids are sitting here watching Inspector Gadget...the first time today they have been quiet. Goodness they have been at each other today. Rodney is working 24 hours of overtime so we won't be seeing him till Monday. Of course it's good for the money but not so good to not see my husband for 3 days and the kids not see their daddy for 3 days.

So besides cards and papercrafts I have also been making a few primitive things! These are rag balls and super easy to make. They are just a bit time consuming. I love rag balls...don't know why...but they just look really great in a nice primitive or antique bowl.
I am selling these...and have them in other colors as well. I have a FB page
Pretty Little Things (my profile picture is the one with the old frame upcycled)

Jumbo Clothespins

Hello everyone....it's FRIDAY!!! Thank goodness...I wasn't sure I'd get through another early morning. It's been like 3 weeks and I'm still not used to getting up early in the morning to get Jodus ready to go to school. Today was a rough day to say the least. But it would have helped if I hadn't stayed up till 11pm watching Jersey Shore! No hating please!!! I don't have many outlets and watching mindless TV show's sometimes is one of those outlets....the other outlet.....CRAFTING of course!!!

Today I have 3 jumbo clothespins to show you. Can you believe they have already sold? I decided to start a FaceBook page for my craft stuff. My lovely husband booted my idea to open a booth to sell my stuff so I'm going to try this route instead!
You can check me out and even "like" me if you want......
Pretty Little Things

So here are my lovely clothespins. These are really super simple to make. Spray paint, pretty pretty paper, embellishments and I used my cricut for the letters!

Have a good weekend everyone. I don't think we have any plans even though I wouldn't mind going down to Carolina Country Peddlers Mall (CCPM) tomorrow!!! Otherwise I will be crafting away!

Cupcake Lovers!

Good afternoon everyone! Today so far has been a bit of a blah day. Not much going on....Leila plays soooo well by herself and Jodus is at school. I guess I could be cleaning up the kitchen but I am still having the worst time getting up in the morning and not being totally tired all through the day. It seems to only make me better when I have some coffee. I was really trying to not be dependant on having it every day but if it keeps me up and going........
I was going to start a seperate page for a more personal blogging area (you know....more about my life then crafting) but I decided why make it a seperate page??? I will just kind of include it right here on my craft page. I mean crafting is part of my personal life too!!! So some posts may contain only personal day kind of stuff and others will be crafty kinds of stuff! I think you all can handle that!! I promise not to bore you!
Okay....I do have a card today! This is another one that goes to a set of 5.

Products used:
SU!~Cardstock
Copics
SU!~Rhinestones
Cuttlebug embossing folder
Image~C.C. Designs
Stickles

Challenges Entered:
Papertake Weekly~anything goes
Totally Paper Crafts~Bling it up #77
Sew Many Challenges~Anything goes

I'm baaaaacccckkkkkk!

No, your eye's are not deceiving you! I have a post for you today! I feel like I am finally back in the swing of things. It's been a very very long 6 months, from leaving Germany, finding a job for Rodney, finding a house, getting settled in, and FINALLY feeling like stamping again!
BUT....everything is going pretty good. Rodney had no problem finding a job; it helps to be well liked, a hard worker, and have contacts all over the country! We are living in North Carolina now and will be here for the next several years.
Jodus started school two weeks ago. He is going to year round school and he loves it. I thought it was going to be really hard to see him go (don't get me wrong, I did shed some tears) but he was soooo ready and seemed to feel so comfortable in his classroom that I left feeling really good. He loves school and has this huge heart and wants lots of girlfriends....I feel bad for the girls because I know at that age girls think boys are "icky".

Soooooo....I'm crafting again and I actually have a few posts lined up already!! Nice huh?! Did you all miss me? I'm still trying to find my confidence and mojo but it's slowly coming back to me!
My first card is of course a Bella card! Stamping Bella being my first non-SU! stamp ever!!! I actually made this a set of 5 and am going to try selling them. I'm opening up a little booth at a antique mall in Lumberton and I'm hoping it does well....I guess we shall see soon enough!
If you live in this area you really should check it out...it has EVERYTHING and ANYTHING I promise you!
Carolina Country Peddlers Mall

Image~Stamping Bella
Ribbon
Copics
Cardstock~SU!
Stickles
DP
Prima Flowers