Thank you Card Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to my posting for the New Year's Thank you Card Blog Hop!
If you've come here from Madison's blog over at Funky Cards you are in the right spot! I'm so glad you are joining us today! This blog hop was so easy for me to participate in. I do a lot of fun thank you cards after the holiday season to give thanks to the many people in our lives that went out of their way to give us gifts or host us over the holiday. Here are the two I chose for this hop today.

I just love the snowmen in this card and I love the stamped snowflakes in the background to make it look like it's snowing. This is similar to the Let it Snow card I did earlier in the week.

This ribbon from Stampin UP! is my favorite! It just makes the card and I love these three colors together! Stampin UP! Cherry Cobbler, Basic Gray, and Old Olive. The ribbon is the 1 1/4" Striped Grograin, also in Old Olive.

...Okay, now how about some blog candy? We all love that right?:-) I am giving away a Stampin UP! stamp set called Country Morning. This was a previous hostess only set and is no longer available. Just leave me a comment on this post letting me know if you still believe in sending out Thank you cards. That's it and oh I would love if you became a follower if you aren't already, but it's not a requirement:-).

Click here or below for the next blog on the hop:

http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com

If you would like to order any of these Stampin UP! products, check out my website:http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/creativestamper

Market Street Stamps

Today I had absolutely no intentions of creating anything. We have been gone since Christmas Eve visiting family and just arrived home last night. It was a wonderful Christmas celebration with family but when we got home I was a little overwhelmed with how much cleaning and organizing I needed to do. My intention today was to clean, clean, clean, and maybe organize a little. Well after doing that all morning, I needed a break. I put down my youngest for a nap and thought maybe I'll create a few thank you cards...Needless to say, I created a few and I also got a chance to break out my latest purchase of the Simply Stitched Stamps from Market Street Stamps. I am in love with these borders. They are so cute and fit perfectly around my little Let It Snow stamp from Stampin UP!

Anyway, I feel much more relaxed now that I got to create a little:-) I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Market Street Stamps Simply Stitched Borders, Stampin UP! Big on Christmas

Ink: Stampin UP! Classic White, Basic Black, Pacific Point

Paper: Stampin UP! Basic Gray, Whisper White, Bashful Blue

Stampin UP! Whisper White Organza ribbon

Fabric Portfolio and Cards

Normally I don't blog about things I have done where I got the ideas or designs from someone else as I usually like to keep everything on here fresh and my own design. I know, I know, alot of what we do usually is a mix of a bunch of different things we have seen over time but I like to think that "most" of what I put together is my own creativity. Anyway, I just have to share this project as I am so over the moon, thrilled with it. This is a card portfolio made out of the fabric sold by Stampin UP! in their latest mini catalog. The original design came from Shelli, the owner of Stampin UP! and some of this is also from my upline, Glenda Travelstead. I did take some liberties with the cards and used different stamps if I didn't have the specific ones called for in the instructions so it's a little bit of my own take on it as well. I made three of these to give away as Christmas gifts and I LOVE them!!

The front of the portfolio.

Inside of the portflio

1st card

2nd card

3rd card

4th card

This really took me out of my comfort zone as I had to sew (yikes) I can count on my hand the number of times I have sewn so this was a whole new learning experience! (of course now I want a sewing machine:-)) It was a lot of fun and I really hope the special people I give them to like it! Message me if you want directions on how to make this or would like to order any of the product.

Exciting Announcement!

Hi everyone! Today I finally get to announce that I have been selected as a guest designer for Peachy Keen Stamps in 2011. I am so excited as I LOVE Peachy Keen Stamps! Over 300 applicants were sifted through and 46 were chosen!! I am thrilled to be able to create some special projects with their stamps. I will be "designing" projects for a week on their blog along with their other permanent designers. I am scheduled for some time in October which seems so far away right now but as we all know it'll be here before we know it. Maybe I should start planning them now, LOL! Check out their blog for a list of all the designers.

Kathy's SUPER Secret Surprise Birthday Blog Hop

Hello everyone and a BIG Happy Birthday to Kathy from Peachy Keep Stamps! Here is my card in honor of the birthday girl!

If you haven't had a chance to check out Peachy Keen Stamps you MUST! Kathy comes up with the cutest stuff! They are so adorable, the face stamps are perfect for Cricut projects. I love my Princess faces stamps and the Critter faces stamps. I also love this adorable set I used above called Vivienne and Friends. The look on the little girl's face is so sweet and I love how she's pulling her turtle on roller skates:-). I hear we have lots of prizes to give away on the hop so be sure to to start the hop at the beginning at the Peachy Keen Blog and leave a comment on each blog to get more chance to win! If you are following along on the hop you will want to visit Glora's Crafts next! Thanks everyone and Happy Birthday Kathy!

Winner of the It's a Small Word Blog Hop

Good morning everyone! It's beginning to look A LOT like Christmas around my neck of the woods. We received lots of snow these last few days here in Chicagoland and it is bitter cold. Perfect weather to sit inside and get some crafting done:-) Anyway, onto the winner of the Gypsy Magic and More DVD. Congratulations to Monica!

Monica said...

I love that sign! I love Emma's videos. I"m a new follower.

http://happyscrappn2.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to Monica! Thank you to everyone who hopped this weekend. I love reading all the sweet comments and hopping along as well to see everyone's projects. Have a great week!

It's a Small World Blog Hop

Hello everyone! Welcome to the It's a Small World Blog Hop hosted by Kinderstampo! If you came here from the Scrapbooking Techniques Blog then you are on the right track. If you just happened on my blog today and want to start from the beginning, head on over to Kinderstampo.

As you may know the theme of this blog was to make something that fit into a tradition that is celebrated this time of the year. Ever since I was little, I can remember celebrating the entire month of December with a fun German Advent Calendar. My family didn't have too many traditions outside of putting up a tree and decorating for the holidays. I loved this as a little kid, counting down the days until Christmas and of course getting that special little chocolate treat. I decided to make my own advent calendar to hang up in our house to count the days down.

I started with a black sign that I bought at Target during the after Halloween sales for 2.99. It had some silly saying on it and at the time I knew I would be covering that up! I needed to use some 12x24 paper as this is larger than 12 inches and I wanted the paper to flow nicely. I found this great paper pack from DCWV that has adhesive on the back, so nice! I used my gypsy to design the rest of it, using the font from Winter Woodland, the Santa from Christmas Cheer, the ornaments from Joys of the Season along with the Christmas from Merry Christmas (I hid the Merry so it wouldn't cut). I used velcro adhesive to attach felt numbers onto the ornaments for the countdown numbers.

Are you ready for some exciting blog candy? I have a wonderful sponser, her name is Emma from My Creative Time. She has a wonderful blog and I have learned so much from her on her videos. She uses her gypsy a lot and even has a few videos that you can purchase. The videos are great and her projects are always so CUTE! I am giving one of these videos away to a lucky winner.

Just leave me a comment on this post with a way to get in touch with you and I would love it if you became a follower if you aren't already:-).

If you would like to continue on this hop and check out the fabulous projects and enter to win some more blog candy, then check out DD's Crafts next!

Winner of the 'Tis the Season Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Just wanted to take a quick time out from Christmas gift making, card making, and taking care of kids to announce the winner of the blog hop over the weekend. The winner was #28, picked by random.org.

I am a follower and these tags are wonderful. Love your blog :)

Happy Scrappin'

Sue B

Sue, I will be in contact soon.

Thanks so much for playing everyone!! I have something VERY exciting planned for this weekends blog hop! See you on Friday;-).

'Tis the Season Blog Hop

Welcome to the 'Tis the Season Blog Hop!

If you came here from Bonnie's Blog then you are on the right track, if you just happened to visit my blog today and want to start at the beginning, head to Iva's blog.

It's getting so close to Christmas, my kids are getting more and more excited each day. (Well at least my 4 yr old is, my 1 1/2 yr old just gets excited along with her, LOL!) I'm not sure if they are going to last the next 20 odd days to Christmas! We have been having so much fun decorating the house and crafting in all things Christmas. For this blog hop I decided to show off a few tags I made. I normally don't make my own tags for Christmas but I thought this might be something fun to try out this year. It's super easy and lots of fun!

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Stampin UP! Delightful Decorations

Ink: Stampin UP Cherry Cobbler, Versamark, and Old Olive

Paper: Stampin UP! Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla

Ribbon: Stampin UP! Chocolate Chip

Supplies Used:

Stampin UP! Real Red and Basic Black paper, silver brads and retired Stampin UP! Gingham ribbon

Now, onto some blog candy I am giving away this December calendar page from Simple As ABCraft.

Calendar pages are a great way to organize your scrapbooks, especially when you are trying to "catch up". Wait, do we ever really catch up on scrapbooking?? Anyway, if you would like to win this page, please become a follower and leave a comment on this post with a way for me to get a hold of you by Sunday night, Dec 5th. Super easy!

If you would like to keep going on the hop, please stop by Christine's blog next. Take care, and have a very Merry Christmas!!

30 Days of Gift Making Blog Hop, Day 30

Welcome to the last day of the 30 Days of Gift Making Blog Hop! I cannot believe this hop is over, there have been so many fabulous projects and I have gotten lots of ideas on what to make friends and family for Christmas. Now I just need more time to do it!:-)

Anyway, on to my project. I have been wanting to make a board book on my cricut for quiet some time now. One morning I had an idea and starting designing this one on my gypsy. I thought "Noel" would be the perfect thing to cut out for a Christmas book. At first, I had a hard time cutting the chipboard I used. I chose to use a cereal box with my deep cut blade but after cutting it many times and not having much luck, I gave up. My machine was making noises and the blade wouldn't move unless I had it on a pressure of 1. I decided to go at it again with some thinner chipboard on a pizza box and not use my deep cut blade. After one cut it cut out perfectly! I am thrilled with how it came out!

Here is the book standing up

The "N", I just love my little face ornaments:-)

The book opened to the first page

The second page

The third page

The back of the book

The book laying flat

Supplies and Directions:

Cartridges: Plantin Schoolbook for the letters and the rectangle. I welded a rectangle onto each of the letters and just stretched the rectangle until I was satisfied with the look of the letters overlapping each other. I used Joys of the Season for the ornaments.

Paper: Stampin UP! Jolly Holiday DSP and Very Vanilla for the ornaments and saying

Stamps: Stampin UP! Teeny Tiny Wishes and PKS Everyday Face Assortment

Ink: Stampin UP! Basic Black, Old Olive, and Cherry Cobbler

Misc: Silver Stickles, various ribbon, 3 gypsies rings, and Stampin UP! Old Olive brads

Please email me if you have any questions on this project. Thank you to Jill, The Scrapoholic for hosting this fun Hop!

Wall Decor

I just have to share this fabulous wall decor I picked up on a recent trip to Frankenmuth, MI. If you have ever heard of Frankenmuth well then you know it's home to the largest Christmas store in the World, Bronner's! I picked up this very cute wall decor while there. It's called Wall La La! and I love how it looks on my door!

Winner of the 30 Days of Gift Giving Blog Hop

Hi everyone,

I am a day late picking the hop winner, so sorry about that. We were a bit busy in my house yesterday between school, the kids being a bit under the weather, and oh yeah Harry Potter!! I went to go see it yesterday and would highly recommend it! Anyway, onto the winner. I had random.org pick the winner and it selected number 10, Patty K. Here is what Patty had to say:

pattyk said...

Great project -kids always like pretty boxes to put thier treasures in-thanks

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!! I have my next day for the hop on the 30th and have something fun planned. I hope to get in a few other posts along the way before we head east (Eastern Michigan that is) for the holiday.

30 Days of Gift Making Blog Hop

Hello again! What an exciting season we are getting into! My husband actually thought it would be a good idea to put our Christmas decorations up last weekend! I said let's wait just a little longer... I mean, I love Christmas time but I thought that was a wee bit early:-).

Anyway, here is my project for the 30 days of gift making hop, if you are just finding me the hop is ongoing all month with a project each day. If you want to see all the projects check out the Scrapoholic's post on Nov 1st as that's where it all began and she can help you hop along.

A while ago I watched a crafting show on decorating a wooden box and I thought it would be a great idea to decorate a box with paper and use it to give as a gift. I asked my husband to go to the cigar store and see if they have any left over cigar boxes they were willing to give away, the owner said he would give my husband two. How perfect is that? free is always good! Well once I started working on my box for this blog hop my daughter decided that the box would PERFECT for her to hold her special things in and she took over in the design process. She picked out the paper and said she wanted butterflies and her name on it. Here is what we came up with. Hope you like it!

This was my first time cutting chipboard with my cricut. I cut the crown using the Disney Happily Ever After cartridge on chipboard then again with the silver glitter paper. I used Storybook for the letters and stickles to decorate it.

I used my Stampin UP! butterfly punch for the butterflies

This is the "before" of the box

My daughter with the inside of it (this is after she decided the box should be her box)

How would you like some blog candy? I am giving away a calendar page of your choosing from my site Simple as ABCraft. Just leave a comment on this post and become a follower;-). Super simple! I will pick a winner this Friday morning so have your comment in by Thursday the 18th. Have a great day everyone!

Be Thankful Blog Hop Winner

Hi everyone! I had so much fun participating in this blog hop, looking at all the fun projects from the other bloggers, and most of all reading all the comments from you!! I love that part the best:-)! Anyway, on to the winner. I used random.org to pick my winner and the lucky number was 148 which was... A Scrap Above!! Congratulations Bonnie! I will be emailing you shortly to get your address and send you your calendar page.

A Scrap Above said...

AWWW, I love your project, this is such a wonderful idea,just too cute!

I am already a follower and love your blog.

TFS and a chance to win

Bonnie C

http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com

Be Thankful Blog Hop

Welcome everyone! I am so excited to be bringing you my project for the Be Thankful Blog Hop, hopefully you are hopping along and just arrived here from Little Paper Sprinkles, if not and you want to start from the beginning you will need to start with Sarah over at Pink Cricut. Here is a list of the blogs if you get lost along the way.

http://www.pinkcricut.com/
http://217creations.blogspot.com/
http://www.blueyecicle.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftjunkietoo.com/
http://scrapguy.blogspot.com/
http://www.littlepapersprinkles.blogspot.com/>
http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/
http://www.backporchcreations.blogspot.com/
http://luvmybabygirl.blogspot.com/
http://gilbyscraftster.blogspot.com/

Since we are nearing Thanksgiving time here in the US I'd like to mention a few things that I am thankful for. First and foremost, my family. They are what drive everything I do on a daily basis and I am thankful for them. My husband is the love of my life and my kids are just so much fun. I am thankful for my friends, especially all my Mom friends. I love to be able to connect with women who go through the same daily struggles I do. I am also thankful for this wonderful crafting community we have out here. I just love being able to go to other blogs or facebook and get inspired every day. It is so fun! This week my daughter had to bring in a photo of something she was thankful for to preschool. At first she wanted to bring in a photo of her friends which I thought was so sweet. Then she changed her mind and decided to bring in a photo of Jesus instead. She inspires me every day and I am thankful for Him as well.

On to my project...I decided to make a calendar page for November. Each month I make a different one and hang it up on my fridge in the kitchen. It keeps us as a family organized and I love popping it in my scrapbook when I'm done with it. This way when I (finally) get around to scrapbooking that month I can remember when everything happened!

Now onto to some blog candy. I will be giving away this page as part of the hop this weekend. In order to qualify please become a follower and leave a comment on this post with an email so I can get in touch with you. Super easy! I will be drawing the winner on Tuesday using random.org so leave your post by Monday at midnight (cst). If you would like to order one of these pages for yourself or maybe one of the upcoming months, check out this website that my friend Nancy, just put together, Simple As ABCraft.

Love You Much layout

Lately, I have decided that I need to focus on what I love, scrapbooking, so I can get some stuff done. If you scrapbook you probably deal with the same feeling I do of always being behind, however, I feel like I keep getting more and more behind lately! It's time for me to buckle down and get to it! Anyway, here is one of the layouts I did this week. This is based on a layout that my friend Nancy over at Fancy with Nancy designed. I tweaked it a little but it's pretty similar to her original design. I am in love with this stamp set now from Stampin UP! and I love how the colors go so well together.

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Stampin UP! Inspired by Nature and Well Scripted

Paper: Stampin UP! Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Melon Mambo

Ink: Stampin UP! Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, and Pink Passion

Sizzix: Stampin UP! Top Note die

Be Thankful Blog Hop

I am so excited for the blog hop starting tomorrow. Here is a list of all the blogs participating:

http://www.pinkcricut.com/
http://217creations.blogspot.com/
http://www.blueyecicle.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftjunkietoo.com/
http://scrapguy.blogspot.com/
http://www.littlepapersprinkles.blogspot.com/>
http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/
http://www.backporchcreations.blogspot.com/
http://luvmybabygirl.blogspot.com/
http://gilbyscraftster.blogspot.com/

Halloween Treat Bags

This year for Halloween I really wanted to use my cricut and create something fun for my daughter's treat bags using mini monsters, however after giving my daughter the book and letting her pick out two monsters (she picked out at least ten), I realized I needed to par down my ambitions and do something easier. As you can see from the photo we chose a few different things to cut and I love how they came out. Ava signed a few of them but realized that signing her name on 31 of them was going to be a little too hard, (she is 4). Luckily, I have a stamp that says "made by Ava" so I stamped that on the back of them. Technically she filled the bags and I just made the tags:-).

My Little Crafter

My daughter has been getting more and more into crafting as she gets older. It remains to be seen if she will be into like I am but I do love the times she wants to do a project with me or on her own. The other day we went to Joann's (so I could use my 50% off coupon of course!) and she saw this cute sunflower that she could paint herself and she had to have it! At one point she almost picked out a smaller one with a princess and a castle on it but she decided to go with the sunflower in the end. When we got home we got out the paint, went outside, and got to painting! I was so proud of her for doing such a good job!

Winner of the i-rock!

Hi everyone! I had so much fun in my first Blog Hop! I am already gearing up for my next hop in November. Thank you so, so much to everyone who stopped by and made a comment. They really made my weekend so much fun!

Anyway.... on to the winner of the i-rock. I used random.org to pick the winner and the winner is....

Marionment said...

What a cool banner. I might have to give it a try. Thanks for a chance to win.

Congratulations!!

The winner of the grand prize, a scrap n'tote, is Sesanz. The winners will all be emailed with the good news. Have a great week everyone!!

Monster Mash Blog Hop!

Hello everyone! I am soooo excited to be taking part in my first ever blog hop! If you have come to me from Janis' blog then you are in the right place! If not and you would like to start the blog from the beginning visit Jenny over Crazy about Cricut and she'll get you started. I have a special project I made just for the hop. I hope you all like it! It's a wall hanging, perfect for Halloween. I designed this all on my gypsy using Storybook for the scallop squares, Mini Monsters for the monsters and pumpkin and Plantin Schoolbook for the squares and letters, the ghost is from Everyday Paper Dolls. I also used my Big Shot to emboss a few of the squares and added some Stickles where I felt a little sparkle was needed, LOL!

Ingredients:

Cricut Cartridges: Storybook, Mini Monsters, Plantin Schoolbook, Everyday Paper Dolls

Paper: Stampin UP! Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Rich Razzlebery, Whisper White, and Old Olive

Stamps: PKS Everyday Faces and Pumpkin Face Parts

Email me if you have any questions.

Guess what? I also have some fun blog candy. I am giving away an i-rock from Imaginisce!

You can win by becoming a follower and leaving a comment on this post with your email address. I will announce the winner on Tuesday and you have until Monday at midnight pst to enter. Good Luck!!

Click here to go to the next stop on the hop:

Scrappin Sweets by Abby

Here's a list of the other blogs just in case you get lost along the way;-)

http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
http://thescrapbookingqueen.blogspot.com/
http://neverfullpricescrapbooking.blogspot.com/
http://almabrooksblog.blogspot.com/
http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/
http://thescrapoholic.blogspot.com/
http://www.scrapbookaholic.blogspot.com/
http://dreamofcrafting.blogspot.com/
http://pausedreamenjoy.blogspot.com/
http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/ THAT'S ME !!!!
http://www.scrappingsweets.blogspot.com/

Throwback Thursday

Today Emma over at My Creative Time released her latest Throwback Thursday challenge. The challenge was to make a "shape" card and use some orange in the card. Since I have a special birthday coming up this weekend for a little four year old princess I thought it would be fun to use my newest cart, Disney Happily Ever After, and create a real princess birthday card using my gypsy. Hope you like it!

Minnie Mouse Halloween

Today I finished a layout I had been thinking about for a while and finally cut out. I designed this all on my gypsy and got the idea from this months Creating Keepsakes magazine. I love how it came out so I thought I would post. I cut the scalloped border from Plantin Schoolbook, the Minnie Mouse and the Minnie Mouse wording from Mickey and Friends and the Halloween and the Mickey frame from Mickey font. I also searched high and low for some ed and white polka dot paper, after finally giving up on finding some I created my own! (how creative of me right?LOL!) I have an old SU polka dot stamp that worked well to create the dots on my red paper.

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Stampin UP! Polk Dot (retired)

Ink: Stampin UP! White Craft

Paper: Stampin UP! Basic Black, Whisper White, Green Galore (retired), Sahara Sand, the red, cream and the pink are out of my scraps