December Card Kit

Hi Everyone!! Like everyone else i'm sure, December has been busy! I haven't had time to blog or create much. This month it was my turn to send a card kit to everyone and I made sure to squeeze in some time to create a few cards. Here is the kit:

There is a ton of Momenta product in this kit along with some doilies, flowers, twine, and labels I cut on my Cricut. I know, it's not holiday themed in the least. But I thought it would be a nice change from holiday product and I was thinking the girls could make some great thank you cards if they wanted to!

Here is my first card. It's based on a sketch in the latest Paper Craft magazine. I loved the slanted design!

And I needed to use up the other half of that doily, so I made this card.

And Paper Crafts had another sketch in their latest edition, so I used that one as well. This gave me a chance to use those fun metal keys.

Here are the blogs of the other girls in the card kit...please check out what they created!

Joni

Diane

Beth

Terri

Mary

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are almost all ready for the holiday!!

Cranberry Crunch Bark

Hi Everyone! Once again, it's been too long since I posted. Life keeps getting in the way! And this little guy keeps getting in the way...

Please meet Chico. We got him from a local animal shelter and he has been keeping me busy around here. He's very loveable and cuddly but also pretty crazy and wild. We now have him crate trained at night but we are still dealing with other issues. He definitely keeps us on our toes!

I did have a chance to make a new holiday recipe. It is very easy and you don't even need to turn on the oven. If you can use a microwave, you can make this Cranberry Crunch Bark.

White chocolate, pretzels, and dried cranberries are a great salty and sweet combination in this treat! It felt good to be back in the kitchen. It's been far too long since I've baked any goodies.

This is not really a 'recipe', but here is what you need to make it.

2 bags white chocolate chips
thin pretzel sticks
dried cranberries

-Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
-Break up the pretzel sticks into small pieces. I used about 1 1/2 cups of pretzels.
-Melt the 2 bags of white chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring frequently.
-When the chocolate is melted, stir in the pretzel sticks.
-Pour the melted chocolate/pretzel combo on the cookie sheet.
-Press in cranberries. I used an entire bag (from Target). Let cool.
-Break into chunks

This would made a great addition to a cookie platter this holiday season. It comes together quickly and you don't have to turn on the oven. It's a great recipe when you don't have much time to spend in the kitchen. Or if you are running to keep your dog from digging through the trash.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

A Life Update!

Hi Everyone! Wow, I didn't expect to be away from blogging for that long. My family took a week long Mexican Riveria cruise over Thanksgiving week and had a fabulous time. We stopped in Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallarta. We are lucky to have simply amazing weather and I took a ton of photos. Do you want to see?

The Famous Cabo Arches:

The beautiful beaches of Puerta Vallarta:

The totally fun slide on our cruise ship:

The Pirate Ship we sailed on:

My beautiful kiddos:

The dolphin that kissed me:

My crazy family:

We had such a great time and it's been TOUGH getting back to reality. I hope to get back to crafting this week, I need to check out some challenges. AND i've been thinking about holiday crafting and I have some projects that I hope to tackle. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving week. I need to do some blog catching up as well!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Card Kit Club

Today is our card kit reveal day!!! I have a few scrappy friends who i've met on message boards throughout the years and we take turns sending card kits to each other. It's such a great way to stay in touch with friends and be creative, too! Terri sent the kit this month and it's a beauty!!

I love it because it's very different from my usual style and it was great fun to step out of my comfort zone. Here is my first card.

The big piano stamp is just so detailed! I fussy cut it and layered it with the corrugated cardboard, mesh, and patterned paper.

My second card uses the great hot air balloon stamp Terri sent, I couldn't pass that up.

I thought it would be different to tie the twine bow behind the button, since the button is transparent.

The clouds are the perfect compliment!!

THANK YOU Terri for such a great kit! It was really fun to work with. Please check out the other girls and what they did with their kits this month!

Terri

Joni

Beth

Mary

Diane

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Happy Friday!

Hi Everyone! Happy Friday! Are you ready for Thanksgiving next week? I am taking an extending vacation with the family and we can't wait to get away for a little bit and relax and have some fun. And speaking of Thanksgiving, I have a thank you card to share today.

I used my Jillibean Soup Card Kitchen kit for this card. It's pretty simple, I added some layers, a diecut journaling spot, diecut butterfly, wood tree and fun tied bow. I love this krinkly ribbon but it's so hard to tie into a nice pretty bow! It has a mind of its own and doesn't like to sit down where I want it to.

I do love these wood trees in the kit from Kaiser Craft!

This card is for all you who visit my blog on a regular basis, I appreciate you all and love reading your comments. So thank you for sharing in my little corner of the blog world!

My blogging will be sparse around here for the next week, but come back on the 20th to see what we all created with our monthly card kit! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, friends!

CAS(E) This Sketch #5

I am really loving this new challenge sketch blog CAS(E) That Sketch. The sketches seem to call to me every week and i'm having a great time participating. Here is sketch #5...

At first this sketch stumped me a little bit. Since I had my Jillbean Soup kit on my desk from my last card, I dug around the kit to see what I could find.

I turned the 3 scallops into trees and flipped the sketch over. I have a feeling you will be seeing many cards using this great kit!

Thanks for stopping by today!

CASE Study #116

Happy Weekend everyone!! Per usual, it's been a busy weekend filled with soccer, parties, and craziness. I ran a local 5K this morning with my girlfriends. It's the first run I've done since I had ankle surgery to fix a running injury I sustained nearly 2 years ago. It's been a long road but I finally feel like i'm getting my fitness back together. It was a great feeling to run this morning. I have missed it SO much!

Enough chit chat...here is the inspiration for CASE Study #116...

And here is my card!

This is my first card using my Card Kitchen kit from Jillibean Soup. I was lucky enough to win a 6 month subscription to the kit during Jillibean Soup's birthday festivites last month. I'm so excited to get soup in the mail every month now! I really loved this subway art inspired die cut, so it was the first thing I used from the kit.

I don't even know how much it resembles the inspiration card. I was helping my daughter with her own mixed media project at the same time and was getting distracted. But I like how it turned out. I do love the fall colors and the wood tree is a great embellie.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend...thanks for stopping by!!

Moxie Fab Challenge: Canvas, Cork, & Burlap

I'm here with another challenge project! Over at the Moxie Fab blog, there is a Canvas, Cork, & Burlap challenge going on. I just bought some burlap from the fabric store to make a table runner and I have a ton of leftovers. So I decided to participate in this challenge. Here is the card I created.

I hand cut a square of burlap (not really caring if it was straight or not) and used it as a layer on my card. I also dug out some cork sheets and used my punches to create a cork flower. I inked the edges with distress ink and added a wood butterfly to the middle.

I also decided to make a burlap gift card holder!

I cut the burlap a little bit wider than the gift card and about twice as long (plus some). I then folded the burlap to create a pocket with a nice sized flap on the top. I used my hot glue gun to secure the sides (you can also stitch it, but I don't have a sewing machine!). I tied the top with baker's twine to finish it off!

Here are the two projects together.

I am loving the burlap lately. I recently made a table runner that I love, it's perfect for fall decorating.  I think I'll be spending some time on Pinterest tonight searching for burlap projects!!

Thanks for stopping by today, Friends...

CASE study #115

Happy Monday!! We had a beautiful weekend but now it's back to work and school. I hope you are not tired of seeing challenge cards that i've completed, because I have another challenge card to share today. This one is for the CASE study challenge #115. Here is the inspiration card by Angline Yong:

I loved the color blocking and the negative die cuts, so much fun! Here is my card:

I used the Alora papers by Bo Bunny and my favorite stamp from Avocado Arts. Isn't that retro chickie cute??!

I have really been digging the challenges lately. You know, I probably said that last week, too. Ha! When my kids finally are in bed, I try to find just a little time for crafting. Card challenges are a great way to be inspired and actually get something accomplished. What are some of your favorite challenge blogs?

Thanks for stopping by today!

CAS(E) this sketch #4

Happy Saturday!! Guess what we are doing today? If you guessed soccer, you are right. My daughter had a 8am game this morning and now i'm waiting for my son's 12:30 game this afternoon. It's a beautiful day for soccer!

I am participating again with CAS(E) this Sketch this week...here is sketch #4:

I've had my washi tape on my desk all week, so I grabbed a few different patterns and made this card.

I love all the blues and greens! I added a sentiment from Unity and some Basic Grey bling.

I am loving my washi tape!!! I hope you are having a great Saturday so far...i'm off to another soccer game. Have a good one!

CASE Study #114

I am sneaking this challenge right under the wire tonight! I was inspired by this card over at CASE Study blog...

And here is my card!



I thought these cute monsters were appropriate given that tomorrow is Halloween. Anybody else's kids going absolutely crazy tonight with anticipation? These are from the Monster Stew line by Jillibean Soup. I added a Unity sentiment and some stitched purple ribbon.

I hope you all have a great Halloween tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by today...

CAS(E) this Sketch #3

Happy Monday! I recently discovered a new challenge blog called CAS(E) this Sketch. I decided to play along this week...here is sketch #3.

Isn't that a fun sketch? This is what I came up with.

I love this elephant stamp from Unity and pulled it out of hiding to make this card. I used the Doodle Floral papers by Momenta, the stamp and sentiment are from Unity and the baker's twine is from The Twinery. And the pearl is from the stack of stuff on my desk I haven't put away yet. I stamped the elephant directly on patterned paper and fussy cut him out. He's such a cutie!

I hope all you East Coasters are staying safe in that crazy storm.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello Friend

Hi Friends, Happy Saturday! It's been super windy and hot here today. I was happy my kids had 8am soccer games because i'm sure the 12:30 games were miserable in this weather. I have one card to share today and I made it using the scraps from my Card Kit Club kit. You can see the other 3 cards I made HERE. Beth sent out a fantastic kit filled with My Mind's Eye papers plus tons of great embellies.

I just love the colors of these papers! The yellow is so pretty, I can't stop using it. I also discovered that my washi tape matches perfectly and I'm having fun playing with that new product. I need to remember to dig that tape out more often.

I added a big brown flower with a tied baker's twine bow to finish the card off!

I hope you are having a fabulous Saturday, thanks for stopping by!

Candy Corn Gift box

Who loves candy corn...raise their hand! As you can clearly see, mine is not in the air. I'm not a big fan of candy corn but I have a friend who loves it. So I decided to make her this candy corn gift she can keep on her desk at work. So she always has candy corn at her fingertips!

I learned how to make this box from my friend Beth. I took an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of black cardstock and scored it at 2 3/4 inches on all sides. I cut the end score lines and folded it up into this box. So easy!

The box is big enough to hold 2 small mason jars. They don't really slide around or anything, it's a nice snug fit.

I created the candy corn on the front by cutting a big triangle on my Cricut. I then layered the orange and yellow cardstock on the front and trimmed up the sides with scissors. Instant candy corn!

I will give you one guess what I put in the mason jars...

I cut a square of fabric to cover the top of the jar and then placed it on top. I screwed the lid down tight and added a baker's twine bow.

And no gift would be complete without a matching card! More candy corn!!

I had so much fun putting this together! I dug deep into my paper stash to find that houndstooth paper. I have no idea who makes it but it was perfect for this project.

Now I want to know...do YOU like candy corn???

Thanks for stopping by today!