Paper Smooches

...is having another blog hop!  Which means new stamps are being announced soon and there are some to be won!  Check it out! :)

9 teachers teaching

My daughter is in Pre-K this year and she has 9 teachers....NINE!  How in the heck do you end up with 9 teachers!  I guess it is just the kind of program she is in but when I was little I had two teachers. Note- I also had to walk up hill to school both ways in the snow... ;) Well, that is just how it is I guess, maybe more common these days to have more teachers.  Maybe it helps maintain their sanity. :)
As you can imagine though, I had to come up with some creative ideas for teacher gifts, cause that was going to get expensive.  Of course I couldn't not get them something, I mean they do sooooooo much.  With the events this year, I think they need a little loving for sure.  So I made some lemon sugar scrub.  Here is what the finished product looks like.  I had hoped to do more decorating on the jars but time just got away from me.  I do hope they like it anyway.  The little lemon is from the Lawn Fawn Make Lemonade set.
Of course, I also had to include a card with a personalized message for each, which looks like this.  I used my new Hero Arts stamps on this one.  I just love that little bird!
Anyhoo, I just hope that they know how much we appreciate them!  That goes to all the rest of you wonderful teachers out there, you know who you are, thank you for ALL you do!

Reindeer Games

Howdy-ho!  I can't believe we are 7 days away from Christmas!!!  I think I am finally done with my shopping and gift making, all I have left are a few finishing touches on some projects.  Phew!  For me, this is late in the game, but I've made it!

Do you remember this post where I had dressed my little Reindeer in multi-colored sweaters?  well here is another one.  I actually made these similar cards at the same time and the picture turned out better (I should have posted this one in the first place).  I have two variations on with this color scheme and one includes jingle bells.  I was going for the look of the reindeer being teathered to Santa's sleigh with their bells jingling.  Had the bells been smaller, I think it would have been more successful.  Ideas for next time!

Well it is snowing outside here.  I know it won't stick, but it still sets the mood for cozy holidays.  I hope you and yours enjoy this holiday season. 

PS- Don't forget to check out this post if you want to help the kids of Sandy Hook elementary with some creative therapy.

Cheers!

The true spirit of the season

From my last post, you know I feel blessed and am thankful for my lovely little family.  Today, I came across this post today and felt that I had to share.  Amber is putting together a fundraiser and/or donations for the kids of Sandy Hook Elementary and showing the true spirit of the holiday season.  Go to her post to find out more details about how you can donate crafts, money or help spread the word.  Thank you Amber and thank you for helping out too!

Feeling Blessed

Tonight I was lucky enough to have my little girl lay with me and fall asleep.  She is a little sick, poor thing.  But she is here and for that I am lucky, so so so lucky, so blessed.  Look at this girl, could she be any cuter?!?!

My heart goes out to those in Conneticut and those who are the survivors of any violent act.  This may be a bit of a somber post, but it is important for me to send healing thoughts to those who are in need.  I hope that we can all find peace and love in our hearts this holiday season.  I dedicate this card to that cause and hope you will all join me.

Card orginally made for the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.

Drum roll please.....

Hi-

Just a quick post to share a card with you that I made for this week's Lawnscaping Challenge, which is using this color combo.  I love this color combo and often make holiday cards with it, so it wasn't a stretch for me to use it.  It was however, a little bit of a challenge for me to use this little drum guy from Lawn Fawn's Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum set.  I love this little guy, so cute, but for some reason I always struggle with the right placement on the card and how to fill the rest of the space.  But here I think I've done it nicely by making him appear in triplicate!  And again, he is so cute, why wouldn't you want to see him more than once! :) I am also entering this into the Ribbon Carousel Challenge #75 , my first time entering here thanks to the suggestion of Savannah O'Gwynn! So much fun!!!!

OK, thanks for stopping!

Simon Says Snowflakes!

Hi-

Just a quick post today.  I won a fun Hero Arts set on the Simon Says Stamp Blog (WHOOPIE!) and now I am properly using it to post my card for Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog.  :)  The challenge this week is snowflakes.  I have mine in the background and on the reindeer sweaters.  I had fun stamping and embossing and cutting out the different colored sweaters for these guys.  I also like that there are some traditional colors but the focus isn't just there, it is really more on the blue.  Anyway, that is about it today but I hope to have more to share with you tomorrow.

:)

Trees, glorious trees!

What is your favorite holiday tradition?  Decorating? Caroling?  Opening stockings?  I have many, but I really love getting and decorating the Christmas Tree.  It is so fun to bundle up with the fam and find the perfect tree to cut down.  We love drinking the warm cocoa or coffee in the cold winter air and the smell of that fresh pine scent!  My lungs feel clearer just thinking about it!  Then of course taking that tree home, strapped to the roof of our car, when I see other's doing the same I just get giddy. Finally, decorating the tree is the best part yet.  I love unwrapping each ornament from the box and remembering where/when it came from, usually in the stocking from Santa on a specific year, the ornament representing something special.  When we are all done, it is oh-so-wonderful to see that glorious, glittering tree!

Today's card is of some of those beloved holiday trees.  It has that traditional Christmas feeling with the reds and greens and the bright and fun washi tape makes a great accent.  I love DP for the trees, the variety of greens like you might see in real life but also the little bits of color that look like decorations.  And of course the sparkle that really does make you feel like you want to, "be merry!"  This card was fairly easy to create with the paper piecing and die cutting.  The stamps are from Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest & Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum.

Thanks for stopping.  Whatever holidays you celebrate, I hope they are merry!

PRIZES!

My fave time of the month is  (NO, not that time!!!) when one of my fave stamp companies does a release and gives away prizes.  I always cling to a hope that I will win one of the fabulous new sets and if not, it was totally worth it and I will buy them all one day!  bwa-ha-hahahahaha! :)  So with out further ado, here is the hop for today over at Paper Smooches.  Check it out, maybe you will win!

Come back later and check out my post for today with some Holiday goodness!

It's all about Elephants

Yep today that is what you get, Elephants!  I adore elephants and have a small figurine collection of them from different countries.  As is appropriate the color scheme is GREY with pink and either yellow or green.  I think these bright colors totally offset the grey and are super fun.  So let me introduce you to today's cards....

The first card is for a girlfriend and her husband.  He has been on dialysis for some time but he finally got a kidney transplant ON THANKSGIVING!  Talk about something to be thankful for!!!!  I am so excited for them and hope this makes their lives just a little bit easier.  Some of our other friends are getting together and purchasing a meal service to give them some breathing room while he is still in the hospital and adapt to this change.  The news seemed so big that the word huge and the elephant seemed appropriate! :)

Supplies for this card include Lawn Fawn stamps Interlocking Backdrops (oh so trendy!) and Quinn's ABC's.  The elephant stamp is from Inky Antics Honey Pop Collection.  I love the bright pink and green against the grey, it just feels happy!  I also used a fun tag and that means I can participate in this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge #46, Using Tags (not the goal but happy it worked out!).

Next I have a baby shower card for one of my daughter's pre-k teachers.  She is having her first child and much to the family's surprise it is going to be a girl (I guess there are a lot of boys in the family).  So of course they are excited.  I asked her sister what her colors would be and she said she found a cute combo of grey, white, yellow and hot pink.  I wouldn't have dreamed of putting these colors together, but they really do work!  And of course that allowed me to keep with my grey elephant theme. :)

The stamps used here are, again, the Inky Antics elephant and the Sentiment from Paper Smooches Word Salad Set.  I LOVE this sentiment set!  And of course this worked out with the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge photo!  I obviously substituted pink for the red, but these colors, patterns and textures are perfect for the challenge.

So.....CONGRATULATIONS to these wonderful people, they deserve the best! :)

Missing You

Not much to report today, just want to get this card up before the deadline.  This is for the Paper Smooches SPARKS sketch challenge found here.  Here is the sketch and here is the card.

I found these super fun bookmarks at a store and all I could think was how cute they would look on a card! Yes, I have a one track mind! :)  I have two more, one is a thumbs up and one is an I love you, will save those for later. I wanted to use them with this sentiment and hearts from Paper Smooches Word Salad set.  I liked using mostly blue thinking it kinds represents that sad feeling of being blue because you miss the person so much.  But the bright red and pinks along with the bling balance it out.  What do you think and who are you missing?

Thanks for stopping!  Happy early Thanksgiving!

Putting the Spring back in Autumn

Hello all.  Not much to report today.  I just wanted to share a birthday card I made for a friend.  I hope she likes it.  The object for me was to put the Spring back into Autumn!  It is so cold and dreary here in Seattle, that I thought a little sunshine would be perfect for her birthday.  Also want to point out the fun washi tape with the hearts (LOVE)!  What girl wouldn't like these sweet hearts?  And using the trendy tape is so fun!

Of course I used the little fawn from the Paper Smooches Happy Camper Set.  I also used part of a sentiment from Word Salad, I cut off the word "belated" so that it would just read birthday wishes.   And of course it can't be spring with out the little button sun.

Happy Birthday to you Gen!  Hope you have a marvelous day!

True Confessions of a Stampaholic- 1st Edition

Hellooooooooooo!  How have you been?  I hope you are enjoying the beginning of the holiday season as we are about to be in full swing.  I am good.  I am busy.  So much to do, work, school, mommy, wife... I am trying to start making my holiday cards, but I don't know how many I'll get done.

Which reminds me, I have a confession to make...after my daughter's birthday...(I don't know if I can say it)...I bought pre-made thank you cards...ARG!  There you have it, you've heard me confess my deepest, darkest secret!  Sigh.  I just didn't have time to make them.  It just seems wrong and shameful...the HORROR!  Once you make your own cards, people come to expect them and more importantly, you expect it of yourself.  Well, that is it for today's edition of True Confessions of a Stampaholic, if you want more dirt on me you'll have to come back another day. :)  Actually, there were a few folks that got homemade cards.  They were randomly lucky, as the box of cards I bought was about 5 short, so I did have to make a few.

And that brings us to today's post...the first card I am showing is what I made for those 5 lucky people.  AND...it is one of two cards for this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge!  Oh how I've missed this challenge. This weeks challenge is "Dust 'em off", aka use something that hasn't been used in a while.  For the first card the item I used is an old school scallop square punch.  This punch is a pain in the tuck-us to use, which is why it is dusty, but it is still a good shape, so giving the old gal a chance to come out of the closet. I used Lawn Fawn stamps from the sets, Gnome Sweet Gnome and Bon Voyage, the butterflies and mushrooms are from Paper Smooches Spring Groves set and finally, the sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I have a second card for the challenge too.  I used my newest beloved Lawn Fawn set Making Frosty Friends.  I just love these snow folk, so darn cute!  For the "dust 'em off" part in this one I used acetate for the window.  I rarely use acetate, not sure why, just don't but thought this was the perfect opportunity.  I like the dimension it gives the card.  Probably there should be something behind the window, but I couldn't think of what.  Any suggestions?


That is about it for today.  I wasn't going to miss another Lawnscaping Challenge deadline so I had to get this post up.  Thanks for stopping and reading it!

Thank You's and Witches Brews

Happy Halloween Everyone!  I hope your day is filled with frightfully good fun and treats galore!  What are your plans for the evening?  We are taking our little one trick or treating and this year she is a Tiger- with a capital T!  I am looking forward to having some fun tonight!

Today starts the whirlwind of the holiday season for us.  Halloween and then this weekend is my baby's birthday and then Thanksgiving and....well you get the idea.  We fly through this part of the year, but it is oh so fun.

I have two fun things to share with you today.  The first is the Witches Brew- ooooooooo!  These are a few little treats I made for her daughter and a couple of friends.  They remind me of little witch cauldrons, but pretty.  I had fun making these and they were super simple.  I know I got the idea from someone else's blog and I wish I could remember who to give them credit, but I can't. :(  Just know that the paper around the bucket came from somewhere else and if I ever find it again I will credit them for this fab idea!  So what do you think, do you like them?

Second I want to share the party favors we are giving out at my daughter's party this weekend.  She wanted a mermaid party, cute.  We are going to have a fun mermaid cake (not Ariel, just generic) and some other stuff.  These guys were fun to make and fill with rings or gold, sunglasses and some other booty. :)  The mermaid stamp is from Pink Cat Studio Stamps.  I just love Lily, she is so cute!  I made them all different different hair colors and tail colors.  I highlighted the scales with glitttery gel pens and what not.  (I tried to take a picture of the whole favor but I had to take this at night and the lighting was off and it looked horrible, this is the best I could do.)

Now I am not one of those people that think boys can't like pink and girls can't like blue... BUT I just knew that such a thank you favor with mermaids would not be COOL for a boy...as if!  So I did the boys differently and used the log and this fun Pelican from Paper Smooches Surf and Turf set (BTW- Paper Smooches is having a little contest to win some stamp sets, so check it out here).  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.  I think they turned out super fun and compliment each other well and I hope all the guests will be happy.  What do you think?

That's all for today, but I thank you for stopping by and hope you have a marvelous night whatever your plans!

Blog Hop

New PS blog hop, check out the cute, cute Raggedy Ann stamps!!!

http://papersmooches.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-dt-blog-hop.html

You win some, you lose some

Right?  That is just how it goes.  Today I am feeling both at once.  Why?  Because I have a post for a challenge where I actually made the deadline and another for a challenge where I didn't.  What do you want first, the "good news" (the deadline I met) or the "bad news" (the challenge I missed)?  Well I suppose I'll give you the good news first.

Meet today's first card (aka the good news).  This card was made for this weeks Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge which features these colors below.  I tried to focus on the main colors but added some other in too just for fun.  I used one of my new fave sets Surf and Turf (yes...they are all my faves...).  I have to tell you I am loving all the different bright and pastely colors here and the new trendy paper from My Mind's Eye.  This was a fun card to make.

Meet today's second card (aka the bad news).  Now this card shouldn't automatically have a bad reputation, it really isn't the card's fault that I didn't make in before the deadline.  Don't take it out on the card, be kind! :)  This was for the Lawnscaping Challenges Texture Challenge.  What I didn't realize is that I made it about 3 days after the challenge ended.  Whoops, oh well.  This one has the fun little Critters Down Under (another fave set) from Lawn Fawn.  Again, more fun and trendy My Minds Eye paper.  I had fun making this one too.

I love both cards equally, good or bad. :)  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping!

WCMD

Hello!  Just wondering if you did any creating yesterday on World Card Making Day?  I did just a tad myself.  I made some fun little treats for my daughters Pre-K class for Halloween.  It is always fun to make stuff for the kiddos, even if you know they are going to have no appreciation for it and just want to rip it open. :)  Hopefully their parents can appreciate it for one minute before the tearing happens.

Before I show you that project I wanted to show you the card I made for last weeks Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge.  Now as I look at this picture again, I am not sure I accomplished what I wanted for the challenge, but I am still liking this card.  Of course you see the inspiration photo and it is a tree.  I didn't focus on the tree as much as I did the swirls and I tried to capture those in my fire.  This is a fun combo of some of my fave products!  Obviously Paper Smooches Stamps and one LawnFawn as well and then some great paper from Stampin' Up! which also captures the idea of a multiple colored tree.  Again, not perfect by any means but still fun. :)

Now that you've seen that I can show you my fun little halloween treats.   I hope you like my projects and thanks so much for popping by!  Oh and happy belated World Card Making Day!