Wicked

I will use this card as a Halloween card, but I bought the stamp because of the musical! Kip and I were in Chicago for Valentine's Day this year and he took me to see Wicked for my gift. Yes, it was cold in Chicago and yes, I know that most people do not plan vacations to Chicago in February. I love love love love musicals. Kip tolerates them and is kind enough to not only get me tickets, but he goes with me without complaint. Last year for my birthday he took me to see Mama Mia! Right now these are my two favorite soundtracks to listen to. Anyway, Jenna also loves the music from Wicked. This will be her Halloween card. I will probably give it to her early because when they have their fall break she is going to get to go and see it on stage. She is excited. I took her shopping a couple of weeks ago and she bought green nail polish to wear to see it. She is saving it too, won't use it until then.

The stamp came from the $1.00 bin at Michael's. The paper is from DCWV's fall glitter pack. I used CTMH black ink to stamp the image. The brads are from Paper Studio.

So do you send out Halloween cards? I don't send them out to everyone like I do Christmas cards, but I do give them to the girls and make sure my niece and nephews get one in the mail. Also, when it is something like Halloween, Thanksgiving or something like that, I make seasonal cards and use them throughout the month as thinking of you cards or something like that. Have a great week!

Jewelry Class Last Night

Last night was the jewelry class that I had signed up to take with some friends. I had so much fun! This was the necklace and earrings that I made. Aren't you impressed? I know I was. I thought it turned out pretty cute. I have made a couple of pieces in the past, but now I know how to put the clasps on the right way. Most of the things I have made in the past I have used the elastic beading cord, and it breaks after a while. But last night we worked with wire and since I can do the clasps, I don't have to use that anymore. The elastic is great for the girls to work with, especially since the use mostly pony beads. The class was at Jo-Ann's, and was the beginning jewelry making and all my supplies came from there.

I really needed a new craft hobby! Lets see, that list now includes: stamping, card making, scrapping, crocheting, cake decorating, photography, cross-stitching, a little painting and now jewelry. Plus I know how to quilt a little and some sewing. I want to learn to sew better though. When I go to a craft store I don't think there is a department that I can pass up. Have a great rest of the weekend. I am enjoying my visit with my parents.

Treat Box

Anyone that knows me IRL knows what a bargain shopper I am, always on the lookout for something at a great price. I bought these little boxes a couple of months ago at Wal-Mart. They had been like $19.96, marked down to $10, then to $6.00 and then the sign said 50% off sign above the clearance area. That's right, I got a box of 100 of these for only $3.00! Actually, I got the last two boxes they had. They were originally in the wedding section as they are Wilton Favor Boxes. When I saw them I was picturing Halloween and Christmas treat boxes and possibly something at Thanksgiving as well. We alternate where we spend the holidays: Thanksgiving with my family and then Christmas with Kip's family and then the next year we switch them. We are going to be here for Thanksgiving so I make make place cards or something with them.

These were super easy and quick to make. The papers are from DCWV's Fall Glitter pack and the ribbon is from Michael's Halloween section. I didn't take a picture of the sides but the ribbon runs through the bottom of the box and then up the sides, covering the middle section of the printed paper. Not sure what I am going to fill them with yet.

My parents are coming to stay with us for the weekend, but I will try and get some time in my craft room post, but if I am MIA, I am shopping with my mom!

Stamp Something Fall Challege

This is my card for this week's challenge at Stamp Something. The challenge was to make something Fall. In addition to the few challenges I have been participating in, I have also been challenging myself to use things I haven't used in a long time or those things I bought and never used (don't laugh--you know you have things like that too!!). This card I used two such things; embossing powder and chalk. It hasn't been too terribly long since I used the embossing powder but I can't remember the last time I used chalk. I think the last time was last fall at a card workshop at Julie's and that was her chalk not mine so it doesn't count. Anyway, the stamp set is from CTMH and is called Summer's Wave. I embossed the leaves with brown embossing powder and then used red, yellow and brown chalk to color the leaf. I cut the leaves out and used pop dots to adhere them to the card. The saying is stamped with CTMH Cocoa ink. Paper is from DCWV and I used Fiskars Threading Water border punch and the small scallop is a Marvy punch. Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Another Christmas Card

I am so proud of myself, I have already gotten several Christmas cards finished. Even though I plan on starting early every year, I never do. This cute little cat is from Pink Cat Studios, aren't they just the cutest? I got the idea for the layout at Card Sketch a Day. I colored the cat using Prisma markers. The gift is colored with the Spica markers. I love those things, I am so glad Kip bought them for me. They sparkle like nothing else I have ever used. I used red and white Fun Flock from Doodlebug on the hat and scarf. The metal ringed circle is from Jo-Ann's and was stamped with a Studio G stamp, using CTMH Holiday Red ink. All paper is from DCWV.

I am excited! Why, you might ask. I am taking a jewelry making class on Friday night. I was hoping I was going to be able to but wasn't sure my schedule was going to work out but it has. I need a new hobby, don't ya think?

Prayer Journal

I decided to pull out my Bind-It-All and take it to our craft night at church. We had a lot of fun with it. I made some of these little coaster books for several different projects. I know one is going to be a calendar, one woman is going to make a book of quotes to give as a birthday gift and this one I kept and decided to use as a prayer journal. The cover is a 4x4 coaster covered with paper from DCWV. I decided to take a glitter pen and draw in the center of each flower and to trace the swirly lines as well. I am just in love with that Gelly Roll glitter pen right now. The sentiment, I printed off on my computer and I used my Marvy punches to punch out the square and the scalloped square. I love my Nestabilities but if I need something fairly small I reach for these because it is a little quicker. Right now my Big Kick is not stored on my desk but one of my goals as I rearrange the craft space is to make room for it on the desktop so that I use it more.

Clear Dollar Stamps has these coasters. Also, this month they have introduced stamps that are sized to fit the coasters perfectly. They have a journaling line stamp, a calendar set and a couple of more. I took this picture and then realized I forgot the journaling line on the opening page! The Bible verse is also a stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps called Tiny Scriptures.

I see a lot of people getting these little books as Christmas gifts. I have come up with a couple of ideas, let me know if you have any other great projects in mind. I am planning to make calendars for family members with birthdays and other dates filled in, a scrap album or two and maybe a holiday recipe type book. My nephew is 15 months old and I may try making him a couple of books and laminating the pages. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!

Howdy

Last night was out monthly card making and scrapping night at church. We had a really good time, the "regular crew" was there as well as some new faces. I rarely get an entire card finished when I am there, but I love going anyway. I do a make it and take it project for everyone to do. I try and do something new for them each month, using either a new technique, product or stamp set. I do take my coloring things and get several images finished and get to visit with my friends so it is totally worth going. We make cards for our own projects but everyone is asked to make and donate at least one card that will be sent to either a shut in from church or a Meals on Wheels recipient.

This was the card that I did there last night. My friend Angela stamped this image for me and I cannot remember right now who makes it. I colored it with Koh-I-Nor woodless pencils. I decided the spurs needed to be shiny so I used a Gelly Roll Stardust Pen on those. I used another Gelly Roll pen to make the dots around the image. All paper is DCWV, and the letters spelling out HOWDY are from a Studio G alphabet set.

We are still in the process of getting things organized. I have spent the day in the craft room/laundry area/cat space. Here is a picture of the one area that I have finished. This is the girls craft storage for all their supplies that they can use unsupervised when they are here. There isn't much that I won't let them use, but some things do need to be supervised. We did have a shelf that we shared but I wanted to get all of that type stuff in one area. The memo board above is waiting on my husband to hang it. I stick cards on here that I have made until they are ready to be sent to someone. I pulled them all off last night to show at church. I kind of rotate them around so the newest things I have made are on the board then they get moved to my card box. TFL and have a great rest of the weekend. We are off to see the Dark Night (again) with my sister and brother in law to celebrate her birthday.

Pumpkin Patch Riley

I have been playing around with challenges on SCS and on other people's blogs for a while, but don't usually submit them! I really enjoy them so I have decided to play along more often. I like the way the challenges often get me thinking in a different direction than I would normally go. This card was made using the Sketch Challenge on SCS today. I used Riley in the Pumpkin Patch, stamped with Palette black ink and colored it in with Prisma markers. The paper is from DCWV and the brads are from Paper Studio. Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Wow!

Erica gave me this cool little award today and it really made my day. So here are the rules that go with it:

1) The winner can put the logo on their blog

2) Link the person you receive the award from

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4) Put links of those blogs on yours

5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you've nominated.

It is funny, I just discovered this world of blogging a few months ago (thanks Julie). I would check out that one blog and then started looking at some of her favorite blogs. And then I started finding blogs on my own, now I have several I check every day. Of course Erica's is one of my favorites and in no particular order these are also blogs I check out on a regular basis:

**Julie at My Little Scrap Shop

**Lisa at Mainly Stamping...Sometimes Scrappin'

**Ying at Paradise Corner

**Patter at Triple the Scraps

**Dana at Dana's Dabbling Studio

**Susan at Questioning My Intelligence

I am still working on getting all of my stamp sets moved to CD cases. Another idea that sounded so great, that is before I started doing it! I am making some progress. I love having one system that works for almost everything. My label maker is getting a workout too. Of course it is going to take much longer than I thought it would. I have typed the labels with the company name and the name of the stamp set. Here is what it is looking like:

Happy Birthday Judy

I did get some stamping time today! I needed to make a card for my friend Judy's birthday. We are having dinner tonight with her and the girls but her birthday is really tomorrow. Judy thinks my stamping and card making is an illness that she just doesn't understand.

This stamp is from CTMH and is called Butterfly Kiss. It is stamped using CTMH Petal and Black inks. For the colors here I stamped off first and then used the second stamp for my image. All paper is from DCWV, the patterned paper is from the Far East pack and the purple is from the metallic pack. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo, one of their little dollar stamp sets. I also used a some decorative accents in each corner.

We are making progress on the bedroom! The bed isn't up yet, but most everything else it. We are both worn out. Hopefully in a couple of more hours of work and we can at least get the majority of it done. I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day!