Daily Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a almost here and ready or not, here it will be! I'm not much of a holiday person because I believe every day is special and significant but in preparation for giving simple teacher gifts, I wanted to make a few Thanksgiving cards to let the elementary school staff know how much I appreciate all of their efforts in educating my daughter. She is allowed to shine her light of Christ and make a difference in her world- I'm so proud of her!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Many Thanks!

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner! We're all ready for a much needed break and a time to fellowship with family...  A few weeks ago I made this colorful card using most of my 'thank you' stamps. I also used washi tape, paperclip and string. Simple in a busy sort of way but fun since it gave me a chance to use a lot of stamps. Enjoy the day.

Happy Halloween!

It's that time of year again- my 2nd grader is having her class Halloween party and all of the parents were asked to bring treats. I know that all of the kids will be soon swamped with candy-galore so I resorted to my default treat- kettle corn! It's so simple and yummy that we put together 16 bags in no time at all. I used the black Halloween stickers from the 'Boo-tiful Bags' My Paper Pumpkin kit.

It was fun to do this with the girls and I know that this will continue to be my go-to class treats tradition. Happy Halloween!

Starry Night

This week I wanted to branch out from my usual cardstock color choice and use black. I am an avid fan of SU black cardstock- it's so crisp, deep color, smooth, etc. It's my top choice for paper...  I wanted to play with the WISH letters from the MPP kit and make some quick embossed cards for some friends with October birthdays. These turned out nicely and I like the color combos.

Enjoy your day!

Fall Frenzy

It's been a pleasant jump into fall around my house and now that the seasonal decorations are up (inside and outside!) I can look all around and relish my favorite season! I love the cooler temps, the beautiful array of colors and a change to my wardrobe... I made some cards last week and finally got around to uploading them. Google+ is often easy to navigate but this time it's been challenging because my photos have swallowed up by the Internet---grrr! I'm not complaining though because, hey-- it's FREE!

These fall cards don't really have a theme, I just enjoyed playing with the different textures, layouts, etc. Welcome FALL!!!

Loving my life that God has given me- all of it!! and praying for a lasting legacy for my family.

Celebrate today.

Smiling because God is ALWAYS good!

Wow September is almost over already! Blowing the dust off this blog for sure but I've been busy behind the scenes with homeschooling my 4 y.o. and overall responsibilities of home/life. I carved out some time to work on an 8x8 SU scrapbook- it took some time for sure but I love the results. In the meanwhile I also made some cards for 'just in case' occasions.

The September challenge guidelines for My Pumpkin Challenge of SMILES is timely.

With ailing parents, busy school schedules and overall life transitions, it's easy NOT smile, to feel defeated and find blame but instead I chose to SMILE, joy, love, prayer and thanksgiving to my Creator! God is good not only sometimes but ALL THE TIME. HEY THIS ALL CAPS THING IS SO CONVENIENT AND EASY TO DO, WHY IS IT UNPROFESSIONAL TO USE ALL CAPS ANYWAY? I'M REALLY NOT YELLING- OR AM I?? ha ha


O.k. here's my cards and entry for the MPC- sorry for the poor photo quality but we've been blessed with a lot of rain lately and I simply had to get this done before I completely forgot about it. Enjoy and give thanks!

I used that lovely gold foil enenvelope liners from the 'Glittered Greetings' kit. This paper was too pretty to stuff in an envelope!

This card was hard to capture because of the busy stripes but I like the stars and stripes theme for my WISH card from the WISH BIG kit. I usually don't work with purples but I like this color combo!

The last 3 cards are not for the MPC but I used some of the My Paper Pumpkin stamps and had fun making them...

               

 

                                        

                                      

Celebration Mood

I have been busy lately with a variety of fun crafts- sewing, scrapbooking, card making, etc. but I wanted to make some time to add to my dwindling stash of celebration cards. A few weeks ago I made a couple of fun birthday cards to celebrate the birthdays for some new and old friends of mine. I used some leftover items from previous My Paper Pumpkin kits and I was done in no time- yippee!

The girls have been asking to play with my "SU toys" to make some cards for friends and of course I gotta oblige! My next blog post will feature their creations.

UPDATE! I just had time to check out my favorite My Pumpkin Challenge blog and I'm linking up over there :)

Christmas Card Collage

Over the past few weeks I have been busy creating Christmas cards. I have enjoyed the seasonal colors, stamps, gift ideas, etc. but now that Christmas is just around the corner, I've cleaned up my workspace, put away all my holiday stamps and will work on other things (i.e. sewing mermaid outfits for my girls- they LOVE mermaids;)

Here's a photo collage of some of my creations. I borrowed from here and there, had some original ideas, and overall had fun making these cards. Merry Christmas- Jesus is the KING!

 I used Picasa & MDS to make this photo collage- these programs working together has lots of potential!

Mini Scrapbook

For a long time now, I wanted to create a scrapbook for my youngest daughter. She amazes me every day with how smart she is, how she's grown into her role as big sister, and just how much fun she is!! I'm really enjoying this season of being home with her and teaching her all sorts of fun school stuff. I'm also dreading the day when she starts kindergarten but fortunately we're not there- YET!

My dearest friend Jessica and my SU Demonstrator wrote a tutorial a while ago on how to create a mini- scrapbook. I loved how the tutorial was easy to follow because of the images and it had well written instructions. So many months ago I made 2 albums and tucked it away with the best intentions to decorate it. Well, this week that all changed!

It took some time to gather my pictures, add some accessories/embellishments but it was totally worth it! My little girl likes her album and wants to "play with it". Now in my head I'm thinking 'there's no way you're going to bend, fold, pull, or peel off all this work I put into it' but my reply is 'Sure, let's take a look at it - together!'  ha ha

Now all I have to do is work on the album for my 6 year old. Why can't the responsibilities running a household wait until I finish all my crafts?!?!

All complete with the exception of adding a monogram on the front.

'Summer fun' is the theme of this album.

I was featured on RememberJ.blogspot.com!!!

I was so excited to see how my dearest friend, Jessica U., was able to showcase my cards on her wonderful blog- rememberJ.blogspot.com Jessica and I not only share the best name in the world :) but we also share our love of stamping- in fact, she introduced me to Stampin UP and card making!!! I once thought I wasn't very creative but when she explained that our wonderful Creator Father created us and we're His masterpiece, my outlook changed and I began to see how I was made to create...
Thanks Jess for feat. my cards and I look forward sending you more inspirations throughout the year!

Having fun and gaining confidence

I am really enjoying this card making frenzy I've been on. I used to kind of dread making cards because I thought everything had to be 'just right'- from the cuts, color combos, layout, and don't even get me going on perfect inking/stamping! I liked it but it was almost like a chore. Now, that my creativity is unleashed, I've learned that it's just about having fun and for the recipient of the card, it's the thought that counts. I'm interested in learning new techniques and I find myself brainstorming a variety of ways to mix this element with that or try this set with this paper- it goes on and on! I'm having FUN and I'm ready to create more!!!