{Note to self}

Don't wash your camera battery in the washing machine---especially if you don't have an extra...I hope to be back to posting when I get a new battery---which will likely be tomorrow---I'm quite dependent on my camera~~~

Have a good one---oh, and no laughing at me!

Kathleen

{A "Big" Birthday!}

I love birthdays!!! And I really love "BIG" birthdays---unless I'm having one!!! So, a friend of our's is having a "BIG" birthday, and I needed to make her a card. I used one of my favorite stamps---Leaning Tower of Stella from Stamping Bella---Emily draws the greatest characters! I LOVE this one---of course, it probably has something to do with the fact that I love cupcakes, but that's for another post!

I used Beate's sketch(WSC65) from last week. I hadn't gotten to it yet, but I really liked it. Here's the sketch: I turned it on it's side. I used the patterened paper as my inspiration---it's from the Basic Grey's Cupcake Pad. When I saw the swirls in the paper, I knew I had to use the swirl stamp in the Silent Night set by Papertrey. I love how this flourish took the embossing powder. I stamped it with a Versamark pad and then used clear embossing powder on it. The detail is so nice---I didn't know how it would actually come out, but I like it.

Anyway, I used Ripe Avocado for my background. I stamped Stella on PTI white cardstock and colored her in with my SU markers---and a little aquapainter here and there. I went a little crazy with the Dazzling Diamond's glitter! I just love that stuff---I don't use it very often, but when I do I always tell myself I should use it more. It's nice and fine and sticks well. I mounted Stella on Pure poppy cardstock. I added Crystal Effects on the cherry. I stamped and colored two more cupcakes and cut them out. I used one more for the accent on the card and one on the inside. I stamped Yummalicious on white cardstock and punched it out with the word window punch. I attached it to my card using an American Crafts brad.










I stamped the inside with one of my favorite sentiments from Stamping Bella. I made a matching bag but forgot to photograph it---I thought of it when she commented on it last night. It made me sad. Oh well, you can imagine it---

Well, I'm heading into my room to create something---I'm not sure what! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for looking~

Kathleen

Charlotte's Stella:
Stamps: Leaning Tower of Stella, Yummalicious, It's a Cupcake Thing (Stamping Bella), Silent Night (PTI)
Paper: Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Stamper's Select White (PTI) Cupcake 6x6 pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Palette Noir, Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom (SU!)
Accessories: Brocade Blue, Real Red, Summer Sun, Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Word Window Punch, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Two Way Glue, Crystal Effects, Aquapainter (SU!), Cherry Medium Brad (American Crafts)

{Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge 30}

Kristina Werner does this great color challenge every week---every week I look at it and think..."Hmmmm, I'm going to get to that this week"....and most week's I don't. This week I did. I needed a couple thank you notes FAST. So, I decided to make them using these colors---here they are---what do you think?

If you are a stamper, you should check out her challenges--she's one of my favorites!

The details are below! Have a great day!
Kathleen~

Color Inspiration Thank you's:
Stamps: Remember, First Fruits, Mixed Messages (PTI)
Paper: Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand (SU!) Stamper's Select White (PTI)
Ink: Old Olive, Certainly Celery (SU!)
Accessories: 3-D Glue Dots, Mini Glue Dots, Foof-a-la Buttons, 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in Certainly Celery, & Old Olive, (SU!) Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Cuttlebug (Provocraft)

{Advent Calendar}

I love this advent calendar idea that Beate Johns created last year and showed us on Splitcoast. You can find the tutorial here. I made one last year and wanted to make one this year as a gift. I had a terrible time photographing it---I tried it numerous times. Finally I decided that perfectionism never got anything posted, so I'd just deal with the pictures I had and post them anyway!!!

I started out with a canvas from AC Moore and painted it red. I used Ripe Avocado cardstock and Holiday Vintage Prints patterned paper from Papertrey Ink. (I had originally intended to show this for the PTI October Blog Hop, but I got messed up on the days and missed it---oh well! But, the polka dots would have been perfect!!!)
I used my square nestabilities dies and scallop squares to cut the paper uniformly. The tins are covered with a different pattern from the same paper pack....and the background piece for the words on top is yet another piece.
I stamped the wreath with Rustic Branches and added crystal effects to the berries for some texture. The brads are some medium cherry brads from American Crafts. The letters are from Tall Tales Alphabet. I stamped them in Versamark ink on Ripe Avocado cardstock and embossed them with clear embossing powder from Ranger.The numbers and border are from Just Rite stampers--again I stamped them using Versamark and then embossed them with Filigree Detail Gold Embossing Powder. I added a piece of Ripe Avocado Saddle Stitch ribbon to each side of the canvas and tied it in a ribbon at the top as a hanger.

The project is actually an easy one. I like the size of the tins because the gifts inside have to be small to fit! Last year, I typed a list of some of the items for the month--like tickets to the Nutcracker for the whole family, or Christmas Movie night to make it possible to present things that were a little bigger than the tin. It really helped my 7 year old get through some of those LONG, LONG days until Christmas. If you don't have a calendar---you should try this one--if I can do it, anyone can!

Have a great day!
Kathleen

Calendar stuff:
Stamps: Tall Tales Alphabet (SU!), Rustic Branches (PTI), Just Rite Medium/Large Number set
Paper: Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Holiday Vintage Paper (PTI)
Ink: Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy (PTI), Versamark
Tools: Cuttlebug (Provocraft), Circle, Scallop Circle, Square, Scallop Square Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders), Heat Tool (Marvy),
Accessories: Medium Cherry Brads (American Craft) Favor Tins (Wilton), Crystal Effects (SU!), Velcro Dots, Zots 3-D adhesive dots

{Making Memories}

Here are a few pictures from the last week in the Nelson family. David came home from Africa on Monday after being gone for nearly two weeks. His requests were---Mexican food, an American Coca-cola and a hot shower. He had had a cold shower 6 days straight, so he would have been happy with a luke warm one! We went to On The Border when he got in. Caitlin and "the boy" met us there---I would tell you that I would elaborate in another post about "the boy", but she'd likely kill me, so just know that there is "a boy" (and I really like him!). We love it when the whole family gets together---this doesn't happen as often as we'd like. I remember when I had toddlers and older women would tell me "enjoy this time because it will go by so fast". I would think---"yeah, you don't know what I'm going through everyday!!!"--- my life was so hard!!! ; } But, it's so true--and I know it makes me appreciate all the little things in my children/family even more now that I've had one leave for college. Life flies by and we need to LOVE the moment we are in--even if it's filled with diapers and spilled cheerios---OK---enough of that!

Here are some pumpkin carving pictures! Until I learn to digiscrap or get back into scrapbooking, you'll have to indulge me while I "scrapbook" on my posts!!!

David making the initial cut to begin the process!

I love this part of pumpkin carving! I titled this picture "Ewww!"

Hannah and Joshua beginning the "cleaning out" process! Hannah had to babysit, so she missed most of this~

Joshua enjoying the slime!

David cutting Joshua's design. He decided he wanted to carve a happy face on the front of the pumpkin and a scary/sad face on the back. We thought that was a cool idea.


Joshua with the happy face

Joshua with the mean face---the nasty part was there intentionally--"he looks scarier that way."
The name of Joshua's jack-o-lantern
Cuburbita hypocrita or "two-faced pumpkin"
We took the teachable moment to explain what this Latin term means--that Classical education at work---and what that means in our lives as Christians

Carving a pumpkin with your dad~priceless!!

Here are a few pictures of Commander Cody/Joshua for Halloween. We had a low key night---ran out of candy too fast and just enjoyed the moment. I'm not sure how much longer he'll want to do this, so I want to capture every moment in my mind!

Have a great day!

{For Nathan}

So sorry for the poor quality of this shot. I've taken it several different times in different light and this is the best I could do.

This is for my sweet nephew's birthday---I'm late, but I did get it done. This was such a quick card. I used the Unfrogettable set from SU! I was going to color it with my Prismacolor markers, but I ended up opting for my SU! markers and did it quickly. I'm just a slow stamper, so trying something that I don't do often takes me forever. I started out using my aquapainter, but I'm just awful with it, so I just colored (and not too well, either, so don't look too close!) I added the crowns at the last minute because it just seemed so plain. I used my Deco-Color Gold Extra Fine Paint pen to color the crowns---my son thought that was soooo cool. He wanted to do his homework with the pen, but I decided that his teacher might not appreciate it! To give a little something to this card I added the google eyes---everything is more fun with google eyes! I scalloped some paper from the Summer Picnic designer paper from SU! and called it done!

For the gift, I got a Target giftcard---he lives out of town and this is something I know he'll like.
Again, I used the Kristina Werner giftcard holder, which by now you have seen no less than 5 times, but for the amount of time I have, I just can't beat it. It's simple and versatile! I used more paper from Summer picnic and used my nestabilities dies to cut the oval and scalloped oval.
So, there it is, a quick post and a fast gift (we won't mention the late part again)---I already have enough guilt! ; }


Have a great day~

Unfrogettable Nathan:
Stamps: Unfrogettable (SU!)
Paper: Old Olive, Summer Picnic DP (SU!), Pure Poppy, Stamper's Select White (PTI)
Ink: Palette Noir, Old Olive (SU!)
Accessories: Google Eyes, Deco-Color Gold Extra Fine Paint pen, oval and scallop oval nestabilities dies (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug (Provocraft) Old Olive marker (SU!), Mini glue dots, 3-D Glue dots (Zots), 20% Warm Grey Marker (Prismacolor)