Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Happy holidays!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Have a wonderful holiday!!
Thank you for spending a little bit of your time here with me!! I am so thankful for my friends and crafty pals, that live in my town and live across the WORLD. Some of you I have had the pleasure of meeting in person, and some of you I FEEL like I've met, and known forever!!! What a crazy crafty online world we have!
Happy Holidays!!!
XOXO

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Merry Christmas! (CPS 147)

The last minute holiday rush is officially HERE!!!! I am scrambling like a mad woman to finish printing out the calendars I make every year, and HOPEFULLY get them in the mail on Tuesday. (This might be cutting it close, but they are late every year, so I am feeling pretty good about then getting in the MAIL before Christmas!!) 
 I have never had much luck with circle shaped cards, but I LOVE this card, I must admit!!! It just came together so perfectly. The trees are tags I got on clearance at WalMart a few years ago, the sentiment is a sticker from Cloud 9, (also been hanging around for ages) and the paper is flocked paper from Doodlebug Designs. 
 To create my scalloped circle, I actually took a little circle diecut and traced it all the way around a giant circle (I think I used a coffee can or something to trace the big circle.) Lots of wingin' it, but it all came together! Love it when that happens! 
 Okay - back to scramble around. I have one baby sleeping, one husband sleeping, and one preschooler watching TV. . .now is my time to get as much done as I possibly can, before the chaos begins again!!! (Please tell me that all of you are as crazed as I am?!!! It's crazed in a good way, but crazed none the less!!) I'll be back when I can!!! XOXOX

Thursday, December 17, 2009

hello robot

here is the long-promised robot cake that i made for Mr. B this past weekend, for his robot birthday party. we kept things simple this year, no major decorating and craziness - it was just more than i could handle this year!!! but i DID spend a good deal of time (always longer than i intend) on the cake. it was a yellow cake, with chocolate cupcakes for the side and top pieces, as well as the details. (mini cupcakes for the eyes, and a giant cupcake sliced across for the mouth) The frosting recipe is HERE. . . its one of my favorites. It's like buttercream, but even better!!! And I always add LOTS of almond extract. :)

Monday, December 14, 2009

holly jolly!

two more cards from Apron Strings for you today! (the last two for this month, i think!)

If you need some scrappy inspiration, Lori has 25 days of Sketches going on at the Apron Strings blog. Be sure to check it out, and check out the packed-full December card kit here!

And now, with baby sleeping on one arm, I am going to use my one free arm to get back to some cards which need to be finished!!

(And in case you were wondering, the 5 year old's birthday party was a success! I'll be back soon with photos of the robot cake!!!)

xoxo


Friday, December 11, 2009

Joy is. . .

Joy is . . . my mom coming to town today!
Joy is . . . .being DONE with a certain 5 year old's birthday party tomorrow. (Is that bad??) ;)
Joy is. . . .the cool weather outside, which makes it FEEL like Christmastime!
Joy is. . . .chocolate mint truffle creamer for my coffee beverages!
Joy is. . . . .clean sheets on my bed.
Joy is. . . .this day!

Have a wonderful day, and a terrific weekend!!! Lots of holiday festivities this weekend, aren't there? (And birthday festivities in this house!) I'll be sure to share pictures of the robot cake and decorations after I finish them!!!

XOXO

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Oh Christmas trees. . .and red wine spills. ..

Christmas is creeping closer and closer, isn't it!!??? I am in the mad dash to get ready for B's birthday party, as well as the holiday festivities! Someday (some YEAR) I will figure out how to balance the birthday as well as Christmas all in one month. I don't think it will be THIS year that I get it figured out though!!! To add to my delight, last night I spilled an entire glass of red wine on our beige living room carpet! ACK! Thank goodness for my sweetie pie Angie, and her steam cleaner! And thank goodness for my sweetie pie husband who went out to pick it up at 8:00 last night!!! I think we have most of it out. (And now we are going to go ahead and clean the rest of the carpet tonight!)
But to get back on track. . . I have two more cards from Apron Strings to share with you today. These cards are both using the BasicGrey goodies included in the December kit.
Two Christmas trees. . .using the same paper, but they look pretty different. This paper is really versatile. You could come up with a lot of interesting shapes and designs with it!!!
And I must say, Lynn made an excellent observation on my last blog post. I complained all autumn long about the hot weather. . .and in my last post, I might have complained just a touch about the COLD weather while we were in SeaWorld. SO, to clarify . . .I LOVE cold weather - just not cold DRIPPING WET weather, especially when one is not prepared for it. (And in our defense, up until the 11:00 news, the night before, the weather was SUPPOSED to be perfect - except that the front stalled, which is why we were slightly unprepared!)
And now. . .back to work!!!
XOXO

Sunday, December 6, 2009

phew!

I'm back.
We made it.
We made it through a tire blow out on the interstate.
Through pouring down rain the ENTIRE day at SeaWorld.
Through COLD pouring rain the entire day at SeaWorld.
My oh MY, has Florida gotten CHILLY all the sudden.
(Yes, I know, this is where you northerners chime in and tell us how ridiculous and NOT cold it is, compared to where you are.)
But I'm sorry, cool and RAINY, and windy, and walking around wet all day . . .
chhh-chhh-chhh-chillllly!!!!
But we made it. With a pretty happy now-five-year-old. And a surprisingly happy three-month-old who stayed fairly dry and warm in his stroller throughout the escapade.

But without further ado, the first of my Apron Strings cards for December, as well as my CPS card for this week. The sketch is very fun. . but for the life of me I could find NO big star or snowflake or flower or anything that WORKED for me on this card. . .so I shrunk the whole idea down. and this is what I came up with!!!! You can find the goodies at Apron Strings Designs. Lots of fun winter paper in this month's kit!!!! (And so happy that I will be working with them again, next year!!!)
Okay - onward to cleaning up, finishing the decorating, laundry, and getting ready for next weekend's 5 year old birthday party.
May the festivities continue!!!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

I almost forgot!

This was one of the projects I did for Sweet 'n Sassy during November, and I think I forgot to share it HERE! I busted out the embossing powder and heat gun for this . . . which I NEVER do. This was a plain white gift bag, that really took all of five seconds to dress up. Patterned paper, an embossed snowflake, and Wahhh-LA! I whipped together the matching card just as quickly.
To get those fun snowy edges around my snowflake images, I dragged my cardstock through the embossing pad, just like I was inking up the edges, and then dusted the embossing powder over them. It's super easy, it's okay if it's a little messy, and I think its fun! (You can click on the image to see it closer up.)
We are heading out to SeaWorld today, to celebrate the BIG Little Man's 5th birthday. We went last year for his birthday, and had such a fun time, we decided to do it again this year. . .but this time with a three-month-old in tow. Wish my luck. (I know, I am seriously insane to be doing this!!!)
Have a great weekend, I'll be back with something to share on Sunday or Monday.Add Image
XOXO

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

it will be here before you know it!

I told you I'd be back! And this time, I meant it!
It's a new month. . . . so it's time for a NEW stamp set from Stephanie Barnard at The {Stamps} of Life! Just because it's not quite Christmas, doesn't mean we shouldn't be planning ahead for Valentines Day! This stamp set will get you in the mood to create some super cute love notes!
Along with Stephanie's stamps, I used some Cosmo Cricket paper and diecut, plus CTMH ink on this card. I have really enjoyed the past few months designing with Stephanie's stamps. I am excited to see where this great new company will go! Stop by the website and check out the cute stamps that were released today!