New Family Photo

I'm back in town now, and back to publishing on my own computer - thank goodness! But I am sad to say that I have a sick two year old that I will be tending to for the next few days. We knew it would happen, because my niece and nephew have been sick, and we stayed with them over Thanksgiving. I, myself, drank about a gallon of Airborne... and the jury is still out on whether I will be spared the same fate or not. Let's hope for the best, because you all know as well as I do that it's no fun to nurse a sick child... but it's far worse when you feel like crud yourself!

So, needless to say, I don't know how much stamping I'll be able to squeeze in. In the meantime, here's a new family photo that was taken over the weekend out in the country where we spend the holiday each year. This is what we will include with our Christmas cards. As you can tell, I updated my banner with it as well.

I just love this photo... me surrounded by all my handsome boys. My older two sure do need haircuts... but they're at that age where they like it longer. Ah well, what's a mom to do? I guess their "smart sweaters" (nicknamed that by the boys themselves) make up for the shaggy do-s. Thanks, Auntie Audrey! :)

I do hope that all of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday!

Great Savings!

If I can successfully get this post published, it will be a miracle... I am in bed typing it on my iPhone at 10:54pm at night out in Mississippi where we are visiting for Thanksgiving! ...do y'all have any doubt about my level of commitment to you?!

Now let's see if I can get the link to work... Stampin' Up! has put together some really terrific bundles at great savings, and I wanted to be sure I told you about them before it is too late. They're only good thru December 1st. Click here to take a look, and then contact me to place your order!

Whew! If you had any idea how hard this post was to create, you'd at least go click on that link... The iPhone is a fantastic device, but it certainly wasn't made for publishing HTML code! I'm exhausted! (it took almost an hour to do this!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Custom Christmas Card

I mentioned in an earlier post that a friend of mine has asked me to design and make their Christmas cards. They're getting ready to move and she doesn't want the added stress of having to come up with them herself. She requested that they be affordable, and she asked if I could make 150 before the first of December. She even said it could be more of a postcard type design - one that doesn't open. That sounded like a great way to keep things quick and simple... so here's what I came up with:

She loved it immediately and hired me to get the job done! I used the Bold Snowflakes jumbo wheel as it allows the beauty of handstamping, but in a fraction of the time! It looks pretty classy when paired up with the Silver encore ink and some Silver Elastic Cord, don't you think?!

I've been working hard on these (at your expense since I can't post as often), and I'm happy to report that I only have 43 left to assemble... but I also still have to finish the wedding ensemble, so my posts will continue to be sparse for a bit. I'm actually really enjoying these custom jobs - but I'm afraid to put myself out there as I fear getting too many requests. I'm not one that says no very easily, and I could get snowed under pretty quick. Can anyone relate?!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Bold Snowflakes Jumbo Wheel
Ink: Silver Encore and computer printer
Cardstock: Night of Navy and Whisper White
Accessories: Silver Elastic Cord, Silver Brads
Tools: The Tearing Edge

On This Special Day...

Every year, on this day, I think about a very special person. My high school sweetheart, Scott, was born this day 40 years ago. We dated for 7 years, kept each other out of a lot of trouble, and were just the best of friends. Although we took different directions in our lives after I moved to Texas, he and his family have always remained in my heart. Scott and I never kept in touch much after we both married our spouses, but I have always sent a Thanksgiving card to his parents to let them know that I still think about them all.

Unfortunately, Scott lost a battle with cancer and passed away when he was only 35. It was a heart-wrenching funeral for me... and even writing this brings tears to my eyes.



So once again, I will send the card. I will let them know how much they all mean to me... I hope Scott knows too.

Card Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Autumn Harvest, Best Yet
Ink: Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip Textured, Pumpkin Pie, Watercolor Paper
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Wide Grosgrain ribbon
Tools: Large Oval punch, 1/4" Circle punch, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Aquapainter, Cutter Kit, Versamarker, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool

Rub-ons On Sale!

Just a quick note to remind you that Stampin' Up! has a great offer on Rub-ons right now! Through November 30th, you can save 20% on Rub-ons with any $20 catalog purchase! That makes them only $8.76 instead of $10.95. Click here to view the flyer!
And check out this gorgeous project I found online using the Greatest Moments Rub-ons! I just "love" how the word is flowing over the edge of that candle holder! Simply gorgeous! Click here to view the details.

...and as a PS, you all talked me out of making 150 of those cards. THANK YOU! Soon I'll show you what I will make instead. :)

Christmas Card??

Good Monday morning, everyone! I know it's been a while since I've given you a new post... but the busy holiday season is upon us! In addition to the wedding invitation job I took, I've also been hired to make the Christmas cards for a friend of mine. Needless to say, I've been busy and that doesn't even include my OWN Christmas cards!!

I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do for my own cards. I originally planned to do the one I'm going to show you here, but I think with all that I have going on, it may be too labor intensive. It is a pocket card using the beautiful new Winter Post set that is in the current Mini Catalog.

The part that slides out is the "postcard" and I would stamp a Christmas sentiment on there - or just handwrite my own message. My intention is then to attach our family photograph to the other side of it (all postcards have a nice photo on the front!).

This card was adapted from an earlier card I made, which I really liked.

Let me know what you think... and be honest - because if you all love it too much, then I'll have to find the time to make 150 of them!! So REALLY, it's okay if you don't like it just a little!! :)

Christmas Card Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Winter Post, En Francais background
Ink: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Naturals Ivory, Ski Slope DSP
Accessories: Linen Thread
Tools: Designer Label punch, 1/16" Circle punch, Stamping Sponge

More Bold & Bright

Wednesday? Is it really WEDNESDAY?! Where are these days going?! I can't keep up! I need to give you something new to look at... Those of you who follow my blog regularly - or those who have flipped back through the posts - should know that bold & bright is not my norm! But I suppose working on those wedding invitations has given me a new appreciation for it! Here's a quick card I whipped up for a birthday this weekend...

I think in hindsight, I would've preferred the textured cardstock on this one... but it was already assembled, so I'm just gonna go with it! :) This is one of the new popular silhouette sets called Pocket Silhouettes. Mine hasn't seen ink yet, but I'm sure it will see more.

Okay, back to punchin' out dots... :)

Card Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Pocket Silhouettes, Best Yet
Ink: Tempting Turquoise
Cardstock: Green Galore, Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Rainbow Sherbet DSP
Accessories: Tempting Turquoise narrow grosgrain ribbon

Custom Wedding Ensemble

I PROMISE I have not been slacking over here! I received a request earlier this week to design the wedding invitations for a friend-of-a-friend's daughter. They were wanting a contemporary look (which is not my specialty), with a polka-dot theme, and they had very specific color choices: Green Galore and Brilliant Blue, with Black as an accent. Not exactly your typical wedding colors! Well, it took me a bit (hence the lack of posts), but I came up with a sample that I was pleased enough with to present to them... and they absolutely LOVED it! I met with the bride's mother and grandmother today and I was hired! In this post, you will see basically what I came up with - there have been some tweaks here and there, but this is the basic idea...

Below is the invitation... a tri-fold, gate-type enclosure where the top flap tucks behind the embossed monogram. The monogram is held on with a brad to ensure that it doesn't pop off (can you imagine the horror?). This sample is made with Textured Green Galore cardstock, but we will have to go with non-textured as Stampin' Up! doesn't carry textured 12x12 cardstock in single colors.

The next photo shows the bottom flap on the inside. They decided not to go with the monogrammed polka-dot here (and it's a different letter here because I didn't know the groom's last name originally), so instead, it will just be a row of polka-dots.

The next two photos are of the coordinating RSVP card. The sentiment is embossed.

On the inside, I will add a layer of Green Galore behind the white.

And lastly, this is the first draft of the menu. There are several changes to this... Instead of the monogram between their names, I will use the "&" from the Lovely Letters Alphabet set. They took off the cocktail hour section which allows the text to fit much better. They also decided to go with a Green Galore background since the tablecloths will be blue, and instead of just the two colors of polka-dots, I'll use all three colors. But this is the basic look.

Now you can understand why I haven't been posting! This was a true challenge for me, and I am SO honored and flattered that they are trusting this important task to me. So... I'll be swimming in polka-dots for the next few weeks - but it will all be worth it if it means I can help make the bride's big day more special! (and besides, with all boys, wedding planning will not really be part of my future, will it?!)

Ensemble Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Lovely Letters Alphabet, Together Forever
Ink: Basic Black Craft
Cardstock: Green Galore, Brilliant Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White
Tools: Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Corner Rounder punch, and just about every size circle punch Stampin' Up! carries. :)

Love & Joy

I promise I'm not purposely avoiding you all... quite the contrary! I'm living with excessive amounts of guilt for not logging on and showing you something new! :) So I took another break from my hectic schedule and decided to finish a scrapbook layout I started back in September. You may recognize the look?

This is my middle son, Morgan, back in 2002 trying to catch snowflakes. He's not very good at it, but when you factor in that he's probably only seen snow maybe 2 times in his life, you can understand why!

If you follow my blog regularly, you'll recognize that this page gets paired up with the one of my oldest son, Mason, who was much better at catching snowflakes. You can see him at this post. Oh, alright... I'll repost the picture here:

Remember that these pages have absolutely no stamping on them! And they both use chipboard that is included in the On Board Trinkets Ornaments kit that's in the current mini catalog (page 14). You can either cover this chipboard with the die cut Designer Series Papers included in the kit, or you can coat them with Craft ink and emboss them with clear powder as I have done here. The snowflakes also come from the mini - the Little Felt Flurries set (page 18).

So now I have both Love AND Joy... my life's complete. :) ...oh, wait a minute, I still need Patience! Ah, well, I'll get to him later.

Page Recipe:
Stamp Sets: NONE!
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft, Ruby Red Stampin' Write marker
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Ski Slope DSP, Baja Breeze, Ruby Red
Accessories: On Board Trinkets Ornaments, Little Felt Flurries, Wide Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon
Tools: Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Tombow Multi-purpose Adhesive, Word Window punch

Cowboys, Aliens, and a Bumblebee

I promised to share with you our Halloween costumes, since so many of you gave me such great ideas when you commented on this post. I decided to take the easy way out, however, and went by myself to Target just a couple days before Halloween... all the costumes were 30% off - SCORE! I just chose my favorite ones, and it couldn't have turned out better! The boys were very pleased with what I chose (imagine that?!)... and here's how they looked:

Michael and I even dressed up this year... We're the "Armed Forces". Get it? I'll let that one sink in a bit. Take particular note of Michael's "intimidating" expression. *giggle*

And, to make the evening even more fun, we stationed Morgan, our resident Alien, on a bench on our front porch with a bowl of treats.

Recognize those treats? They're the ones from this post! Anyway, when Morgan would hold completely still, he looked like a prop. So when an unsuspecting Trick-or-Treater would approach, we'd say, "Just help yourself" and when they'd reach for a treat, the alien would flinch and SPOOK 'em! Oh, it was so much fun!

I hope you all had a great Halloween... and I trust that you're all eating as much chocolate as I am?

PS: ...for those of you who still didn't get it, here's a clue:

Get it now?