2920 Days...

Okay, this card may seem a little funny at first glance because of the "random" number on the front. No, I do not mistakenly think that we are approaching the year 2920. Hee hee! Mine and Drew's anniversary is on Tuesday, and we'll be celebrating 8 years of marriage. I decided to do something a little different and put the number of days we've been married on the front of the card, instead of just "happy anniversary" or even the number of years. So, 365 x 8 = 2920. :)

It's so funny to think about the years sometimes... It often seems that it was "just yesterday" that we were getting married, but then at other times, it seems like it has been WAY longer than 8 years! So much has happened and changed in that amount of time. Having that rear view, I wonder how much more will change in the NEXT 8 years, etc. Ya know? Well, we aren't promised time, riches, or easy circumstances, but I'm thankful that the time God has planned for me on this earth can be spent with Drew. We still have a great time just being together, and we have two super kids (and one on the way, who I'm sure will be just as wonderful as the other two). I wonder if they will ever understand just how much they are loved?? ;)

This card was inspired by this week's Card Patterns sketch. I just love this layout, and it helped me organize the idea I had in my head for this card.


Paper: Webster's Pages Waiting for Santa and Sweet Season, Baja Breeze (SU). Ink: Shimmerz Spritz - Tuscan Sun. Accessories: Doily (white, sprayed with the Spritz), Pink Paislee Licorice Glitter Chip Alphas, Black Buttons.

One Year Better

I am really enjoying the Card Positioning Systems challenge this week... It requires that you choose ANY of their 2010 sketches, so it's been very fun looking back through all of the fabulous sketches! For this birthday card, I chose to use sketch 164.

I really love this Banner Builder stamp set from PTI. I think it's really easy to make a fun and colorful card with it, and it is amazing how the colors really just take center stage. I think that everything on this card, except for the Black Rhinestones and touches of StarDust Stickles, is actually from PTI.

We are still doing the post-Christmas clean-up thing here, unfortunately! At least the pace has been slower, so there has been more time to stamp and relax. ;) Hope you are having a wonderful day! Leave me a comment and let me know what you are up to!

Stamps: Banner Builder (PTI). Paper: Pure Poppy, Bitty Dots, White. Ink: True Black, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse, Lemon Tart, Hawaiian Shores. Accessories: Hawaiian Shores Button, Pure Poppy Satin Ribbon, StarDust Stickles, Black Kaisercraft Rhinestones.

Sparkly Love

Hi, everyone! I hope you are having a fabulous week, wherever you are! Our Christmas night ended with SNOW, and we've played in it for the past couple of days. It has finally mostly melted now, and the kids were sad to see it go.

I made this card for my parents' anniversary next week. Aren't I on top of things? (Let's not think about the fact that my dad's birthday is Monday and MY anniversary is Tuesday...both before the occasion THIS card is for. And neither of the other two cards are made.) ;)


I drew inspiration from two places for this card. First, the CPS sketch for this week, which says to take any of the sketches from 2010 and make a card! I knew that sketch 153 would be perfect for an anniversary card, with the heart right in the middle! This would make a great valentine, too.


I also used the Tuesday Trigger, stripes, from Moxie Fab World. I love using stripes, and my card uses a sweet (although more subtle) arrangement of a striped pattern. I just love the Sugar Rush collection from Basic Grey!!

Paper: Pink Pirouette (SU), Going Grey, Basic Grey Sugar Rush. Accessories: Lace Ribbon, Heart Doily (Target Dollar Spot!!), Heart Punch, Pink Stampendous Glitter, Pop Dots, Scallop Border Punch (SU), Cardboard (I used an empty cereal box; for punching the heart). Finished card size: 5.5"square.

As I have been lately, I'm gonna leave you with a couple of pictures of the kids! In these two pictures, they are making snowballs. They have LOVED having snowball fights this weekend!! :)

Sketch 63 WINNER!!

Happy Monday, everyone!! Thanks to all who joined us on this busy Christmas weekend for the sketch challenge! I enjoyed seeing everyone's creations, and I hope you enjoyed the inspiration!!

Our winner of the Shimmerz prize pack is AMY TSURUTA! Amy, I think I have your address, but send it to me JUST in case! :) Here's Amy's gorgeous card, which I just fell in love with!

Here's a fabulous card created by Crafty Math Chick. I love the buttons EVERYWHERE! :)


And this beautiful card was created by Janice. I love that she took the opportunity to start cranking out some thank you cards!


I should be back shortly with a card to share! Congrats to all who are featured!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you've had a beautiful day full of family, friends, fun, relaxation, and perhaps some reflection! (Oh, and some fun presents, too!) My family was truly blessed today. We started this holiday with a Christmas Eve service at church last night. To me, that ALWAYS is what gets me "feeling" Christmas.

I thought I'd first share one more Christmas gift project with you. I packaged some chamomile tea bags and sweet sticks (candy sticks from Trader Joe's) for gifts to hand out today. I used a brown paper sack and embellished with Basic Grey Jovial paper and a doily. I tied some Cappuccino Twine from The Twinery around the package and stamped a simple sentiment from PTI's Poinsettia stamp set on a tag. Super easy and quick, and still impressive and appreciated!

I thought I'd also share some photos from my family's Christmas day, in case you're interested. :) Sometimes it's fun to get a look inside of a fellow crafter's (and blogging friend's!) everyday "real" life!

This is a cute picture of Cameron and Katy surrounded by presents at Nana and Grandpa's house.

Here is my husband, Drew, relaxing after the gifts had been opened at our house this morning.

And Cameron, playing with his new Kidizoom camera! We both got new cameras for Christmas (my husband got me a really nice new camera....he's the BEST!).

Here is my dad... We were happy to have them join us for Christmas morning! Here is a picture of him holding up his Food Face Plate we got him! Remember these magnetic faces that you can add beards, hair, etc. to? You can add your food to make funny faces on this plate!! :)

Here is a picture of me sitting with my sister-in-law and our second cousin. I was debating sharing any pictures of me! LOL! I feel like a whale, and I'm only 24 weeks pregnant. How am I gonna get BIGGER than this for 16 more weeks?!? ;)

This has been one of my favorite ornaments for years! I bought it at the Southern Christmas Show, and it's a cotton angel made from natural cotton and its husk (husk??).

I love this picture I got of Katy and her grandfather (my dad again, minus the Food Face!). Isn't it sweet? They just look so happy.

Just a little glimpse into our day. :) What were some highlights of your Christmas? Did you receive (or give) any really special gifts? I'd love to hear about it!

OH, and don't forget to make a card for our current sketch challenge, featuring BUTTONS!

SKETCH 63: BUTTONS!!

Ah, today's sketch challenge focuses on one of my personal favorite things to use on a card... BUTTONS!! I just love how they can be rustic or elegant. Cute or stylish. So much fun! And we all have buttons lying around, right? If not, they can easily be made by punching a circle out of cardstock or cardboard. Simply punch a couple of small holes in the center and VOILA!

My card features some soft and muted colors that really pop when you put them together! I really had Spring Moss in my mind for this card, and I paired it with one of the Waiting for Santa & Sweet Season papers from Webster's Pages. The buttons at the top are Cream and Spring Moss. Love the mix of colors. The sentiment is a silver rub on from SU's (retired??) Merry and Bright rub-on set. It's attached onto Vintage Cream cardstock and mounted on black felt. The dies are all PTI. The Soft Pink Rhinestone berries were used because I was out of red, but it seems that they make a nice addition to the softer feel of this card anyway.

THE DETAILS:

**Use the sketch provided and try to incorporate BUTTONS! Get anything crafty for Christmas? Use that in your creation, too! :)
**Key word for SCS upload is LLPC063.
**Post a comment with a link to your card on right here on this post by Sunday, December 26, at midnight (or before winner is drawn Monday a.m.).
**PRIZE ~ a Shimmerz Prize Package! Winner is chosen randomly from all participants.

*joy*

Better late than never, right? ;) This card was actually made using CPS's last sketch, which I just loved! It was so easy to work with. I used a Vintage Cream base and layered on a piece of Fine Linen cardstock, which I stamped in Tea Dye ink with Winter Swirls (PTI). The swirls were highlighted with some Aqua Glue (the fine tip side) and some iridescent glitter. The 'Tis the Season sentiment, stamped in green, is from the same stamp set. The big corrugated flower is from Jillibean Soup. I inked it up with some white ink and added on a green button and some lovely burlap string (we have a remnant roll of purple burlap string left... only $3 for approximately 220 yards!!). Now that gorgeous lace was a gift from my friend Nina in Croatia! I have a bag of that lace that I have been hoarding, but I'm trying to use it! I can spare a little, right? ;)

I want to also share a couple of gift tags I made. The kids and I have been busy making cute simple tags to go on the last few gifts. All of my gifts are wrapped, but some are missing tags!! I am thankful for the time I have had with Cameron and Katy helping me out!

Speaking of C and K, and the fact that it wouldn't be Christmastime around our house without a birthday celebration, here's a picture of the two kids on Katy's birthday Monday. Katy had just opened the Ariel Bath Castle Cameron gave her. :) Cameron was just being goofy with the pink princess candy cane he had attached to her gift.

Please don't forget to come back here tomorrow for a sketch and product challenge! There's a prize to win as always!

Christmas Wreath Tags

Well, hi! I'm finally on Christmas break after my first three weeks of teaching middle schoolers! It's going great and we're having lots of fun. I am, however, tired! I've been spending the majority of my time preparing for school and shipping orders (but please keep placing them!) I do, however, have lots of projects I've created, and I'll be blogging hopefully everyday for a while. I will start with all of my Christmas projects (while we are still on this side of Christmas!), and we'll go from there.

Very quick today... It's my sweet daughter Katy's 3rd birthday, so we are celebrating!! Above is a picture from her birthday party Friday night. Here are some tags I've been creating and using on gifts. I used the PTI set Wreath for All Seasons, some iridescent glitter, and some Cappuccino twine from The Twinery. I am LOVING this twine!!

And here is a simple wrapping for a gift using that tag!

Happy Monday! Remember the reason for this (crazy) season... God loved us enough to send JESUS as a baby as a gift for us. Yep, you are loved. :)

SKETCH 62 WINNER!

Sorry to be a day late on announcing a winner! Monday just got away from me. Actually, the week in general is running away from me! I digress.... I'm sure some of you can relate. ;)

Congrats to Linda, who wins the Ornament Album! Linda, email me your address, and it'll go right out to you! Here's Linda's fabulously adorable card!! :)

And here are a few of my picks for the week....

Sherry Ann:

Savannah:

Piali:

Great job with the sketch, everyone! I hope to be back in a bit... I have made lots of things to share; I just need a little time to sit down and blog them. ;)

DISCOUNTED Suzi Blu Stamp!

Happy Sunday! I have a Suzi Blu Love of My Life stamp that has a damaged (bent up) box. The stamp is curved a little from the bent box, but it is in otherwise perfect stamping condition. I'd like to offer this stamp at a discount, since it isn't in perfect selling condition.

The cost is $7, including shipping!!! Let me know if you'd like for me to send this stamp your way!

On another note, order your Suzi Blu stamps TODAY from Limelight! They are only $8.25 each, and I'll be sending back what we have left tomorrow!!

SKETCH 62: SPARKLE!!

Happy Thursday, everyone! It's time for another Limelight Sketch and Product Challenge! We're focusing on SPARKLING up our cards, and there is a super-duper prize at stake! :)

For my card, I did one of my favorite things. I die cut a shape, in this case my scalloped circle, from a piece of an empty cereal box to make a thin glittered chipboard accent! The dove (hmm...a pattern on sketch days? I suppose so...) is cut from white/cream felt, then glittered as well. The lace was a gift from my sweet friend Nina.

Paper: Vintage Cream cardstock, Jillibean Soup Chopped Tomatoes. Accessories: Red button, Red Glitter, Iridescent Glitter, Felt, Lace Ribbon, Roasted Red Alpha Stickers.

THE DETAILS:

**Use the sketch provided and try to incorporate SPARKLE! Glitter, Shimmerz, Sparkle Fibers, or WHATEVER you'd like!

**Key word for SCS upload is LLPC062.

**Post a comment with a link to your card on right here on this post by Sunday, December 12, at midnight (or before winner is drawn Monday a.m.).

**PRIZE ~ a Kaisercraft Bauble (Ornament) Album! Winner is chosen randomly from all participants.