Handmade Christmas Gifts

So this year we made a lot of handmade gifts to save money. Here are two of my favorites, an altered Gingerbread calendar for my Mom and 26, yes 26 moustache mugs for all of Aspen's friends, teachers and Scott and my co-workers.

Materials Used: Crate Paper/Peppermint paper collection; Jillibean Soup/Dark Woodgrain Chipboard Alphas, Kraft Tags & pink/red felt blossom; Queen & Co/Felt Gingerbread Stickers; Zva/Pink flowers; Recollections/Gingerbread STickers; pink & red gemstones

This idea was discovered by my daughter Aspen via one of her favorite blogs to follow: Kandee Johnson, the full tutorial is found here: http://www.kandeej.com/2011/12/guilt-free-sweet-treats.html A trip to the dollar store for mugs and a special marker from Michaels and we were all set.

Of course we had to add something inside the mugs so there were 2 dipped and sprinkled oreos in each mug as well. YUM. The mugs were a huge hit!

Hope your Christmas was fabulous!

Happy Holiday Photos!

We did our annual Christmas Photo Shoot and just wanted to share some of our favorite family pictures:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you and your families!

Moxie Fab Potpourri Challenge

I had been working on a card that seemed to fit perfectly into the Potpourri Challenge over on the Moxie Fab World Blog. Regardless here was the inspiration photo:

You could interpret it however you like, here is my interpretation:

I was inspired by the cute little chairs and the doily and incorporated those into my design, attempting a shabby chic effect.

Materials Used: Scenic Route & SEI papers; Close to my Heart Stamps/Chairs to You; EK Success/border punches; white satin ribbon; Tim Holtz/Distresser; Cats Eye/Fawn Brown Ink; Archival Ink/Coffee; American Crafts/White Card Base; Want 2 Scrap/green pearls

I found this stamp set half price by Close to My Heart at a Scrapbook Event in October, how cute is this chair? The whole set is adorable and called "Chairs to You." So there you have it a quick card post, very busy time of year here. Better get back to work on Christmas preparations! Hope all you elves out there are enjoying this season! It would be much nicer here in Ohio if we could please have some SNOW instead of RAIN! Yuck, it is not supposed to rain in December. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow......

Great news when I began this post on Thursday it was raining, today it is SNOWING! YAY! 

The kids and I did our annual Happy First Snow Dance!

The Color Room - Palette #87

There is a spectacular palette posted on the Color Room website this week. The whole month is dedicated to the Christmas Spirit and this week really inspired me, here is the inspiration:

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Oh my isn't it gorgeous? The colors, the photo, the sketch- soooo lovely.

So here is my interpretation and some close-ups:

Materials Used: Bazzill Cardstock: metallic silver & white base; Basic Grey/Picadilly-Blue Plate Special; Jillibean Soup/Wonderful White corrugated Alpha & Corrugated sheet; Cosmo Cricket/Salt Air-Half Shell; Cuttlebug die/Winter Play; Stickles/white; Martha Stewart/clear bling; EK Success/border & corner punches, white feathers, opalescent ribbon, cream pearls

Hope you are all enjoying your Holiday seasons too! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Thanksgiving Projects & Insider Tip

Just wanted to share a quick post today to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! May you be surrounded by your loved ones and may your bellies be filled with delicious Thanksgiving delights!

I have been busy creating something special for my families table place settings. Some super fun sour cream container treat placecards. I used all Jillibean Soup papers/Apple Cheddar, HOmemade 6 Bean & a little Dutch Mustard. Here are some pics:

These adorable owls were for the pre-teen/teens; Inkadinkadoo Stamp/Mini Halloween Asst.

The little chickadees were for the youngsters; Hot Off the Presses Stamp/Snow Bird

These Home Cooking Pies were for the women of the group; Studio 112 Stamp/Fall Mini Asst.

These awesome Turkey Bowl ones were for our manly men; Studio 112 Stamp/Fall Mini Asst.

 So I may have gotten carried away but, they are super easy to make and I warn you, they are addictive!
There is a great TUTORIAL on how to make these at the Jillibean Soup Blog here.

Here are a couple really quick cards using Jillibean Soup/Apple Cheddar

Oh I almost forgot to enable you.... There is a huge BLACK FRIDAY SALE happening at the Jillibean Soup Retail Site almost everything is 47% off it runs from 4:00pm today to 7:00pm on Sunday!!! That includes Unity/Jillibean stamp sets, Coredinations Cardstock Pads, Corrugated Alphas, embellishments, clear stamps, paper even the discount packs which would be $85 in product for 47% off of $19.95! So if you need restocked now is the time!

So there you have it, some Thanksgiving joy for my friends and family. 

I am very thankful for you my "gnomies". :)

Inspired by Nicole Samuels

I try to follow some of my favorite designers when I get the chance and recently I was very inspired by a layout from Nicole Samuels blog, for Studio Calico on this post here.

Here is her inspirational layout:

 I loved the effect of the one very large photo and the design elements framing it. The folded banner title the happy little flags and cute journal tag and banner below.  Soooo this is two fall layouts I created based on that inspiration:

 I know finally the Trick or Treat layout I promised! 

I used almost all Jillibean Soup on this one from five different lines and Jillibean Mini Kraft Alphas. Then there are K& Co. alphabet stickers, Pink Paislee Soiree stamp/banner, My Minds Eye Journal Tag and Basic Grey Felt Stickers.

This is one featuring a hayride photo from our annual pumpkin patch trip to Leed's Farm, pure happiness.

Materials Used: Jillibean Soup/Apple Cheddar, Dutch Mustard, Watermelon Gazpacho & Atomic Soup papers; Jillibean Felt Blossom, Apple Cheddar Pea Pods, Dutch Mustard Alphabet Stickers; EK Success border punch, Jillibean Bakers Twine, Pink Paislee/Hocus Pocus orange glitter alphabet stickers.

I have plans for two more layouts utilizing this very versatile layout design, one for my niece's High School Album cover page and one for my daughters Lacrosse Team Photo! Would love to hear what you think of my scraplifts!

Moxie Fab Challenge- Random Fun Challenge

There are some really fun challenges going on at Moxie Fab blog this week to celebrate their release of the 365 Cards issue. So I had to join in the Random Fun Challenge, to create a paper crafted card that incorporates a button(s), a mustache(s), or an alcoholic beverage.
 I chose the mustache:
Here is what I came up with: Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto :)

Materials Used: My Minds Eye Paper, ribbon & brad, Jillibean Soup kraft card, Making Memories/shimmer alphabet, Basic Grey/Life of the Party-mustache sticker

Here's a close up of Mr. Roboto

Ha Ha, Hope it made you smile too. Have a great weekend!

Apple Cheddar Layout & Article Sneak Peek

So out of the New Jillibean Soup Lines Apple Cheddar was not my original favorite, but oh my how it has grown on me. The color palette and B side design are so perfect for fall and literally any other theme. The woodgrain/Milk was one of my single paper favorites from the start and the calico on its back its so sweet. My other fav paper is the Green Peppercorns with the brown gingham on the back side. I did a product review on Apple Cheddar for Scrapjazz.com and created a layout, card and a teacher chalkboard gift. Here is a sneak peek of the layout:

The article should be up at Scrapjazz.com very soon, so be sure to watch for it!
UPDATE: Article is up now go here
Also those very cool kraft diecut titles are available now at the Jillibean Soup Online retail site here.

Here is another layout I did using this line and fav photos from Church Camp this year:

Materials used: Jillibean Soup/Apple Cheddar Line: Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Green Peppercorns, Milk, Apple Cider, Bite Size Bits; Apple Cheddar PeaPod Diecuts & 12x12 Sticker sheet;  Journaling/Soup Labels; Jillibean Orange bakers twine, Stampin Up/banner pieces; Butterfly punch

Hope you like this line as much as I do! You can find it online at Scrapjazz.com ($3.99 flat rate shipping in the U.S.!) or Scrapbook.com or at your local scrapbook stores around the country!

Trick or Treat Anyone?

Monday night was the final of three different trick or treat ventures. Gabe was fully understanding the concept this year, hold out your pumpkin and get candy. He was loving it, even his sister got into the Halloween spirit this year and dressed up and went out with her bff.  Here are my fave pics, already working on a layout too!

Gabe is doing the "Alex" from Madagascar pose- ROAR!

My Babies Too cute to spook

We take our pumpkin carving seriously round here.

Scott's werewolf extraordinaire, I think he outdid me this year.

My hoot owl, or as Gabe says Who How.

Gabe at our neighbors, how cute is that tail?!

My fave pick of all!

Hope you enjoyed sharing Halloween with us! I will have some layouts very soon!

October Outings Photos

Just wanted to share some of our fall frolicking so far. Highlights this fall include the following:

4th Anniversary Getaway Weekend to The Georgian Manner B&B in Hocking Hills/Logan, Ohio

Annual Pumpkin Patch Visit to Leed's Farm in Ostrander, Ohio

I will share trick or treat adventures next week, since we still have one more candy collecting event planned!


Have a Happy Halloween!