Hello Kitty's Home for the Holidays

I pieced together my first Hello Kitty from my newest Cricut cartridge, Hello Kitty Greetings. She has made herself at home at my daughter's gingerbread house. Hmm, I suppose I should mention to her that her house is very temporary. Do you think she has noticed that some young girl has taken a bite out of the roof?? Oh, well, HK herself is not staying long in my house either. I'll be placing her on a Christmas card front this month. Enjoy it while you can, Kitty!!

Getting Ready for Christmas (Photos)

I just finished a mini album made from one sheet of 12x12 paper, cut and scored so that when folded closed is tied with a ribbon, and when stood open has a multitude of photo frames to fill. I will try to find a tutorial for this, as I made the album awhile ago, and just recovered it for Christmas.
Now for a confession: I did not go out for Black Friday shopping. Which doesn't preclude killer prices on a select few items I bought this weekend:
I hit Michael's on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's, and picked up a few 12x12 albums, some photo storage boxes and a Gingerbread house (for my daughter). Total spent: $33.
I let my fingers do the shopping at Amazon on T-Day and picked up two TV series DVD collections, one for each of my boys, for half price. Total spent: $31.
I just got back from Michael's. I used my 50% off coupon, combined with a clearance item and The Hello Kitty Cricut cartridge on sale. Instead of taking 50% off the stamp set I picked up, it took off half of the already reduced price of the Cricut cartridge!!! Total spent: $33.
So this weekend I got killer deals, spent less than $100, and got to spend more time in my craft room than in lines. I call that a very successful Black Friday!

Older photos

I probably mentioned already how a flood destroyed many, many of my old photos. Here are a few that we managed to save, and I finally scrapped at the November crop. That little girl is my now 14 year old, but better late than never, right?

I haven't been scrapping for too long, so I have years and years and years of photos to scrap still. So if I had a year to myself, I would spend each of the next 365 days organizing photos, journaling memories, and recording it all in my scrapbooks.

But I have a life, a family, a job and friends, and there are only 24 hours in a day. So I'll steal my moments to scrap and remember and record when I can.

Girlfriend's Birthday card

I won't be able to give my girlfriend this card until Saturday, when i meet her for breakfast before going to work. She only lives two blocks away, but between our jobs and families, we rarely see each other now. I felt tired but not enough to go to sleep, and I knew if I started making cards, my brain would stay awake for hours, so I just sat in my craft room and colored some stamped images. Although this image is leans more toward Thanksgiving, Chrtistmas or an invitation, I thought Sue would get a kick out of Bella. Sue does not cook, nor does she eat meat! But she will love this card for its play on her talents and passions. Do you like the flower eyelet? It's one of those setter-less eyelets,. You use a pencil to set it-it was very easy to use, and looks great on this card. It's called a QuickLet and it's put out by Eyelet Outlet.

For the sentiment inside, I used a new stamp I bought from Archiver's. Love this, and Sue is always counting calories!!

Hopefully, if you like this card, you will forgive me for the previous card. Oh, my, it looks like I lobbed my pumpkin into the sea, and it sank down to the sandy bottom! Darn that patterned paper. And the ribbon almost looks like seaweed! Oh, well, live and learn.

Besides this card, I made 13 ATC Christmas cards for my co-workers. I made them last year and they were a hit, so of course I need to keep up my standards! Haha! But in doing these cards, I have now SURPASSED MY HANDMADES 2009 GOAL. Whoopee, bells ring, champagne cork popping! All I need now is some time to scrap a couple more pages and I will feel that 2009 was a prosperous year. You can too, since I will offer up some nice Blog Candy when I reach my goal. I haev a crop in December, so unless a miracle happens and I get some much-needed time off, my goal will have to wait until then!

Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog Hop Accessory Challenge Card

Here is my attempt at making a card with just a Magnolia Accessory stamped image. It is the Pumpkin and Leaves stamp, which can be seen/purchased at the Magnoli Store. They have a great new page for viewing and ordering stamps--so easy to lose myself there!
I colored the pumpkin with Copics YR07, 04 & 02. The leaves with E13, 08 & Y11 (for dimension) and the vine with G94 & YG03.
The pp is from the Bohemia collection by My Mind's Eye, the cs from The Paper Company.
I made my own frost/snow by rubbing two white styrofoam balls together over parts of the card that I had dabbed with Stickles and/or Liquid Glass.
The trim is by We R Memory Keepers, "White Off Promenade".
I used kraft paper I has torn to create some dimension in the field of brown, frosted grass?! and a clear acrylic wing inked with white for a cloud.
I also used a metallic gel pen to draw in some subtle gusts of wind, and tiny jewels for snow/sleet.'
I might have made a mistake using the pp--it almost looks like it's underwater instead of out in a field, but (haha) it's too late now!

Birthday pages

Well, at least I am up to date on Bella's layouts. Of course, she's only two, and I've been scrapbooking before she was born. That helps.

I have done a decent job on Wendy's layouts as well. I have all her birthdays, some major milestones, and her own personal bests book. I did all our Christmas pages together as a family since having my first child, and Chase is 24 next month! I also have some of his first school pages when he was in preschool.

So I'm not doing too badly, unless you add in the fact that I've been married for 33 years, been around the world in my travels, headed up girl scouts and cub scouts, chaperoned field trips, was in the Army, and spend some quality time with my sisters and my mom. The amount of photos I have yet to scrap seemsinsurmountable. And yet I managed to scrap almost 100 pages this year, and I organized a bunch of paper photos from eons ago.

All I need is time. And I still have that.

Scrapped Halloween with Bella

I didn't get to edit the photos, but wanted everyone to see what I did with Donna's PIF of the Halloween PBA Kit I received from her. The orange bags really made the bag album easier than ever. They make frames of the patterned paper on each page.

I had a couple Halloween journaling boxes that I incorporated into the album. I'm not showing all the pages, but they all show off a nice photo of our first Halloween with my granddaughter, as well as tags with the journaling to remember in years to come. Thanks again, Donna. It was a great project, wonderfully put together!

My Favorite page

This is one of the pages I made yesterday at Heidi's crop. It is one of my favorites for several reasons. First, I love the Christmas paper. It's by Cloud Nine Design. It is embossed, and so fun to look at. Second, because of the great design, I really only had to frame out my photos, add a title and slip in some journaling. No big decisions on the what and where of added embellishments, just a simple page that says it all. Lastly, I love this photo of my granddaughter. It was her first Christmas, at two months. I just rediscovered the photos and knew I had to scrap them!

Great Crop Day!

Just got home from a fabulous crop. This time it was a no frills day--no goodie bags, no games, no classes, no dinner. Just a bunch of friends getting together in a clean, well-lit room with plenty of table space. Everybody brought a treat to share, our hostess had drinks for all, we order takeout for supper, and we worked our little butts off.
I personally finished 13 pages, 9 of which were 12x12. I also finished two swaps I had participated in, making nine new handmade items as well as the five cards I had brought with me. So my 2009 Scrapping and Crafting Goal is so-o-o close to being met.
Which means BLOG CANDY. I promised Blog Candy to those who visit my blog when I reached my goal, so keep on checking in. It won't be long now.
I'll post photos of my pages, as well as a teaser of some of the Candy I'll be offering up. Have a wonderful weekend!

FALL TILDA CARD

I need to pay more attention to my swap parameters! I made this card as part of a "Stand Up Card" swap in LuckyBug Yahoo Group. I think she's cute with the leaves poking out from underneath her feet. Then I happened to glance at the swap requirements, and the cards are supposed to be Hoiliday Cards!!
Oh, well, I guess some lucky friends will soon be receiveing these cards!
I used DCWV Green Stack patterned paper, ovals cut with Nestabilities (a giftie from a good friend), and the leaves are from CTMH. I colored Tilda with Copics, and although you can't tell from the photo, I glitzed her shoes, patch and hat flower with Liquid Glass, also from CTMH.

Hello Kitty Mini Album

My daughter is crazy for Hello Kitty. For Halloween, she dressed up in everything Hello Kitty. She's 14 years old! So when hubby asked for a desk album of updated photos of Bella and Wendy, I knew what theme I had to use for it. The Cover and back display Hello Kitty from the Cricut cartridge. I don't have it, but I swapped with a good scrapping friend for some of the images.

The album pages are caribou coffee sleeves, bound with a jump ring. Each mini layout display photos of both hubby's girls, although when I took this photo they weren't posted on the pages.

I used Daisy D's paper and DCWV Luxury papers-they are a good match, I was surprised. Each page has a tag for journaling stuck into the top of the pocket made by each sleeve. I now have enough sleeves for three more albums, and I think they will make great Christmas gifts.

Busy weekend

Between Bella spending part of the weekend with us, and my road trip to Wisconsin with my sis, my mom and my daughter, I still managed to squeeze a few moments in the craft room. Bella went to the mall, specifically to Build-a-Bear, to make a bunny. Although I asked for photos, none were taken (grrr). After they came home, we took her to the library, where daddy sat in a forest of bean bag chairs while reading to her. I think she was more interested in crawling over every bean bag they had, but she had fun!
Today I went with the otehr girls in my family on a road trip to Cedar Grove, specifically to the Cedar Creek Winery. We had been invited to a special cellar wine-tasting event. Several swallows of wine and a case later, we were back on the road. Of course, a trip to Wisconsin always starts with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I was tired when I got home, but not too tired to finish cards for a swap for LuckyBug Yahoo Group and a Hello Kitty Mini Album. I embellished a bunch of 3x3 card bases that had been embossed with various forms of THANKS. Here are my small Thank You cards. I like to include some card or note of thanks to friends who snag my PIFs, or make a trade with me. Now I'm on the hunt for 3x3 envies!! LOL

Chocolate Mountain

I had some leftover Hersheys paper and time to color a Tilda, so I came up with this bright colorful card. I used pop dots on a couple chocolate bars as well as Tilda to give it some dimension, although you can't really tell in the photo. The green polka-dotted paper in the background was a leftover, too. The cherries on Tilda's dress have been red stickled, and I used Liquid Glass on her shoes. The inside of the card is decorated, with the stamped sentiment "All you need in life is a friend who has chocolate". So true!

Mingle and Rain cards

I received these beautiful card bases from my scrapping friend Lelia, and immediately thought of adding Tilda to the fronts. I like the Basic Grey papers on the cards, and I think the coloring of the Tildas worked well with the patterned papers.

Thanksgiving Favors

The last of my packages are going postal tomorrow am, and these little treat containers are packed in one of the boxes. I bought some pails filled with candy about a year ago. I threw out the candy, and kept them for just this kind of project. Now they have been painted, modpodged, bejeweled and decorated, just in time for Thanksgiving! All they need is some treats!

Busy Halloween Weekend

We took our granddaughter to the church for a Halloween Party. She was the cutest LadyBug present (of course, she was the only ladybug present). Here she is deciding if green is a good color for frosting.
I have been shackled with an air boot since my last foot doctor's appt. Eight more days and it's gone, but meantime I haven't been driving, and forget the stairs! Today I had to wash the inner boot. Since I can't stand or walk without it, my son ended up laundering it. I was stranded on the living room couch amid my computer, some Tilda images, my Copics and a couple boxes of Christmas cards I had bought two years ago on clearance.
The good news is that I have signed and addressed most of the cards I'll be sending out this year. The bad news is that they are not handmade by me. I couldn't attempt to make the cute cards I bought for pennies. They are pop-ups, beautiful ones, and four different designs. I hadn't sent out Christmas cards last year because the time got away from me, but here I am, November 1st, and they are waiting on stamps and a trip to the P.O.
Hopefully this is an omen of my newly-organized life. Keep your fingers crossed.