Halloween wishes...

Boo!  Just wanted to pop in real quick and wish you all a Happy Halloween today!  I made my fun little digital Halloween image using My Digital Studio.  Just something simple.  It's amazing what you can do with a cool font and great images.  This was really quick and easy to put together! I also wanted to post this fun Halloween surprise I got in the mail yesterday from Kris Tillett! Check out the fun package I got:

I love the bats and the mini Milk Carton!  How fun.  Kris is so creative!

And lastly, I wanted to leave you with the 2nd Royal Blog Tour clue...I encourage you guys to play - the prizes are pretty awesome!  Here's your clue:

Have a fantastic SPOOKTACULAR day!

Saturday afternoon EBTKS Challenge

Hi all - I'm back with a 2nd post today, believe it or not.  I've been wanting to get back into the swing with challenges, so as I was blurfing today, I came upon Everything But the Kitchen Sink Challenge #26 and I couldn't resist playing in the color challenge!  Here's a look at the fun colors:

I love this color scheme.  So pretty and fresh!  Now, here's my full card:

I seem to have rediscovered my Top Note Die - I love it!  Such a great shape.  It's one of those dies that I used so much in the past, I had to put it away for a while.  Now it's found a regular spot on my craft table {or should I say...floor - my extended workspace!} I've been having fun trying diffferent ways to place it on the card and as of late, I think I'm a fan of using part of the shape and trimming it off the edge of the card.  For this card, I also used the Hostess Sets from the Mini catalog - Northern Hearts and Peaceful Season.  I am really liking these colors for the Holiday Season!  Here's the recipe for you:

{Peace On Earth}

*Stamp Sets: Northern Hearts, Peaceful Season {SU! Holiday Mini Hostess Sets}

*Cardstock: Textured Baja Breeze, Whisper White

*Inks: Baja Breeze and Sahara Sand Classic Ink Pads

*Accessories: Top Note Bigz Die, Tinsel Trim, Light blue craft store ribbon

Hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by :)  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Royal Blog Tour clues

Happy Saturday, peeps!  It was supposed to rain this morning here in Southern CA, but it turns out that it's a BEAUTIFUL sunny day and it's so clear outside!  Yay!  Well, the Royal Blog Tour starts this Friday, and in anticipation for it, there's a week of fun clues.  If you play along, you may have a chance to win a Big Shot, My Digital Studio, or a $100 gift certificate to Stampin'Up!  How fun is that?  Ready for Clue #1?  Here you go..

To find out more about The Royal Blog Tour, you can go here:

http://www.theroyalblogtour.net/

Have a great day all!

just in time for Halloween!

Hey there!  I know I've told you guys I had a crazy week this week.  Well, I've been meaning to make a banner for Halloween this year and I know I had plenty of time to do it, too.  But here it is, the Friday before the big spook day... and I'm clearly running out of time.  The determined girl that I am, I created this quick and easy banner at lunch today.  Luckily, 3 letters can be put together fairly quickly ;)  Here's a quick run down of how I "blinged out" my BOO:

I used Mod Podge and applied it with a sponge brush to my letters.  Then I sprinkled the chunky glitter over the letters and let the adhesive dry.  Ta-da!  So easy!  As for the Pumpkin Pie background frames, I used the Top Note die and ran that through the Big Shot 2 times - the first time to get the basic Top Note shape, then turned the cardstock 90 degrees and centered it on the die and ran it through the Big Shot again.  I do love this unique squar-ish marquee shape!  I added texture by using the spiderweb embossing folder.  Super easy peasy and now I have a banner for Halloween!  Whew! Here's one last look:

Have a good one!  Thanks for popping in!

Time for October's Final Friday Winner!

Hi all!  Happy Friday!  Did you have a good week?  It was a fast paced one for me, but glad it's almost the weekend!  And...It's time to announce this month's Final Friday Winner!...are you ready?  Well, let's find out, shall we?  This month's lucky winner is....

Lucky number 26, who happens to be Rosa-kreattiva, from Italy.  Congrats to you, Rosa!!!  Thanks all for playing this month!  It was fun reading your comments, as always ;)

Rosa - I will be contacting you soon so I can send off your goodie! 
Enjoy your Friday, everyone!  I'll check in with you guys in a bit...Ciao for now ;)

a few scenery snaps from Sonoma

Hi all! It's been a bit of a crazy week for me at the office, so haven't had much time to craft this week. So, I thought I'd share a few snaps of our last trip to Sonoma last month.  It was our second annual trip for my dear hub's Birthday.  We also shared the weekend with a couple of my college roomies, who were also close friends of mine from high school!  It was a fantastic time had by all!

The first few photos are from the Pezzi King vineyard - just gorgeous, as you'll see. We had a private wine tasting for our group of 6 and we definitely enjoyed ourselves there!   

This last photo is from our celebratory birthday dinner at The Farmhouse Inn Restaurant in Forestville.  The food was absolutely phenomenal and I would highly recommend dining there if you're going to Sonoma!

Toodles for now!  Have a great day!

2S4Y with Love

Hi there blog peeps!  I can't believe it's the last week in October already!  But not only is it the last week of October, alas, it's also my last week as a part of the 2S4Y Design Team.  I had a great time during my Summer and Fall Design Team terms...I just can't believe that it's already coming to an end!  Well, that my dear blog friends, is why my post is titled 2S4Y with love :)  I definitely enjoyed being on the DT and had a great time getting to know Laura, Kazan and the awesome design teams from the last 2 terms!  So, without further adieu, here's a look at the 2S4Y Sketch of the week. 

Another beautiful sketch from Laura!  This week's sponsors at 2S4Y are Starving Artistamps, and I used the beautiful Backlit Blooms for my card.  Here's a full view:

I love the pretty flower images!  I inked them up in Riding Hood Red  and added a few pearl embellies in the flower centers to dress them up just a touch. I used the Love Letter DSP, which I just love..I think the pretty vintage print reminds me of Paris.  And for the ribbon treatment, I cut the Striped Grosgrain ribbon width in half, which left a pretty frayed edge, then I did a running stitch to bunch it up.  I adhered it to the cardstock with double stick tape to keep it secure - and viola! A fun fringy bit of ribbon edge!

Hope you guys will play along with us at 2S4Y this week. I thank Kazan and Laura for the honor of being part of such a fabulous Design Team!  While it's the end of my fun term, it'll be a brand new beginning for 3 new designers at 2S4Y - make sure to check them out next week!

Thanks for visiting me today.  Have a great day!

{BOO!}

Hey there blog friends!  Enjoying your weekend?  It feels like fall here in Southern CA - it actually even looks like Seattle outside!  Rainy rainy rainy.  But I love it..makes me want to curl up and read a book by the fireplace.  Anyway, I've been working on some Halloween stuff, so thought I'd do a quick share of a Halloween tag I made and also a bunch of tags I'll be tying to the goodies I'm putting together for my nieces and nephews.  Wanna see the full "boo" tag?  Here it is"

I love that ghost - so spooky, yet friendly, like Casper ;)  Here are the tags I made for the munchkins:

I had fun making these - the ric rac is from the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die and the Tags are from the Two Tags Bigz die.  I used 2 different alphabet dies - Simple Letters Alphabet for my "boo" and the Serif Essentials Alphabet for the monogram tags.  Hope you like these quick shares...need to finish up my little projects so I'm gonna run for now.  Have a great rest of your weekend and I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow!

Ciao for now :)

{Contempo Christmas} holiday card

Hi all!  Have you guys gotten a chance to look at the cool Handmade Holiday Bundle promotion?  Well, if you haven't taken a peek, I've got a card share today that may pique your interest in the Contempo Christmas Card bundle {Contempo Christmas stamp set + Jolly Holiday DSP, Item #124072 for $17.52}.  What do you think of the little snippet above?  I just love these colors for Christmas! The images  showcase the stamps and paper from this awesome little bundle.  Here's a look at the full card:

What do you think?  It's a great card to mass produce - simple, yet elegant.  This may be in the running for my Christmas card this year!  The Contempo Christmas stamp set has such cute images and classic Holiday sentiments.  Plus, it coordinates perfectly with the Jolly Holiday paper.. Not bad huh?  I just dressed it up with the seam binding ribbon and a teenie bit of tinsel for the sparkle factor ;) I think the bold colors really make this card - can't get enough of that yummy Cherry Cobbler!  For you visual folks out there, here's a look at all the Contempo Christmas stamp set images and Jolly Holiday paper designs:

Now here's the recipe for you too!

{Contempo Christmas Holiday Card}
All supplies Stampin'Up!
*Stamp Set: Contempo Christmas
*Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Jolly Holiday DSP
*Inks: Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Classic Ink pads
*Accessories: Top Note Bigz die, Always Artichoke Seam Binding, Deck the Halls Big Designer Buttons, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Tinsel Trim, dimensionals and glue dots.

It's a great time to take advantage of this deal and get a jump start on your holiday card making. Thanks for visiting!  Have a fabbie day. :)

{Holiday Bundle Promotion!}

Morning friends!  Ready to get your Holiday Crafting on?  Well, today marks the start of Stampin'Up!'s Holiday Bundle Promotion, so it's a great time to get these awesome stamp sets and accessories at a discount.  This special promo will be available from October 19th to December 16th.  Take a look at these deals - they're bundled products at a 20% savings! WooHoo!

For those of you in the US, you can shop at my Demonstrator Website, by clicking on the "Shop Now" button.  The great thing is, my online store is open 24 hrs, so feel free to visit any time ;) 

Have a great day!

Bonus sketch card for 2S4Y!

Hi blog friends!  I'm excited to share the Bonus Sketch Design I created for 2S4Y this week.  How fun - it's my first time designing a card for a challenge blog, so I'll be really looking forward to seeing all the creative interpretations of this sketch!  Here it is:

So, what do you think?  I would ESPECIALLY love for you to play along this week at 2S4Y to see what you come up with!  Our sponsor for the week is Clear & Simple Stamps, and for my card, I used the beautiful Harvest stamp set.  Here's a look at my card:

Love the autumn images..just perfect for Thanksgiving!  I used the Autumn Spice DSP and dressed up the focal stamp with a frame of the Early Espresso waffle paper.  Here's a closer look:

I love the striped grosgrain ribbon - just a smidge of a bow to accent the image.  How do you like it?  I hope it inspires you to play along!  This week, there's 2 bonus sketches - mine and Regina's - along with Kazan's awesome sketch of the week.  Make sure to pop on by at 2S4Y!  You can check out the DT blogs here:

Angie

Courtney

Kazan

Kelly Marie

Laura

Regina

Stacey

Have a fantastic day!

Quick {and chic} Halloween!

Hey there and Happy Saturday to you!  I just have a quick share today - if you're strapped for time and want to whip up some simple and easy, {with a subtle nod to shabby chic} Halloween cards, this is for you.  Just a couple punches, a stamp and a touch of bling is all you need for this card.  Clean and easy peasy.

Simple, right?  You can whip up a dozen of these in a jiff!  Here's the recipe for you:

{Simple Chic Halloween card}

All Supplies Stampin'Up!

*Stamp Set: All Holidays

*Cardstock: Greenhouse Gala DSP, Crumb Cake, Basic Black

*Accessories: Bat punch, 1 3/4" Circle punch, Basic Rhinestones

Have a great weekend!

special guest project designer today!

Hey there peeps!  I can't believe it's Friday already!  I've got a special guest on the blog-o today.  Let me introduce you to Kris Tillett, who is a dear friend of mine and is also a member of my Stampin'Up! team!   We actually "met" online...thanks to my blog!  Even though we're far apart - she's in South Dakota, and I'm in California - the magic of technology allows us to keep in touch pretty easily!  I had asked her if she'd be interested in sharing one of her projects on my blog, and she sweetly accepted :)  She designed this adorably festive pillow box purse.  Isn't it sooo cute?  She's such a talented gal and amazing Demonstrator!  I asked her a few questions so that we could all get to know her a little better...consider it her foray into the blog world!  Here's a little exclusive on Kris...

Meet the Tilletts:

Here's Kris and her husband Grant, with their kids, Carissa, Caitlyn and Derek.

{The Interview}

RD: What's your favorite crafting tool?
My favorite crafting tool would be the Big Shot, of course! :) It is hard NOT to use it. I had a workshop in which the host wanted to make one of the projects without using the Big Shot, and it was difficult not to spice it up by using the Big Shot!

RD: What's your favorite food?
My favorite food… I love snacking on sunflower seeds, and I enjoy indulging in taco pizza, and my hubby makes perfect pork steaks, but the one food that I could not live without is veggies with Ranch dressing. J The latest thing that I cannot go without every day lately though is garlic stuffed olives. Have you had them? Mmm… they are good!

RD: When did you first start crafting/stamping?
The first card that I ever made was for my twin who had just had her baby boy, Alex; who is now 4 going on 5. A friend of mine talked me into making a diaper shaped card. But I was not hooked until about six months later when the same friend invited me to a SU! party. Then I had my own party, and I was hooked! That was in October of 2006. I had a slow start (just had the girls so I did not have that much time to indulge), but I was started nonetheless!

RD: What one word describes you best?
I do not know what one word would describe me… I actually asked my kids, my husband, and my twin. My kids said the one word that describes me would be:

ballerina (Carissa)
princess (Caitlyn)
stamping (Derek)

My twin said "loveable" and my hubby said "persistent." I must say though, that at the time, I was trying to get my hubby to answer the question of what one word would describe me and he kept saying “I don’t know.” I guess, it took a bit, but I finally got my answer…

RD: Who is your favorite movie star?
My favorite movie star is Julia Roberts. Love, love, love her!

RD: Where were you born?
I was born in Marshall,  Minnesota. Yes, I am a Minnesotan! On that note, I must say that I am ecstatic that Randy Moss is back in the house!!! I can wear my jersey again!!! I almost broke down last year and purchased a NE jersey, but... Whoop! Whoop! Loved the game Monday night, even though it was a bit frustrating at times, but I think we are in for a treat this season!

{Project Details}
Now, about my little project. The purse is made from the pillow box bigz die. I also used the Jolly Holiday DSP, glimmer brads, a filigree brad, and tinsel trim to make them a bit more festive. I plan on selling them at both of my vendor fairs in November. I love these little buggers, and I hope that I will be able to make a bunch of them!

Here are a few more pics of Kris's adorable purse project!

It's such a cute size, you can even hang it as an ornament on the tree! 

The purse is kept closed using a teenie bit of the magnet sheets.  You can also use velcro as an alternative.

Here's another peek at the inside.  It fits a stick of lip balm nicely.  Candy treats would work well, too!

Hope you enjoyed getting to meet Kris and seeing her creative project.  I love the purse she created!  I'll definitely be CASING these for the holidays...maybe an upcoming class project, too.  Thanks so much, Kris, for sharing your talent with us!

Have a great weekend, all!  Thanks for visiting ;)

{woot woot!!}

Morning!  I've got some fun news, blog friends!!!  Remember the card above from this post?  It got picked as one of the winners in Shelli Gardner's Fantastic Fabric challenge!!  I was sooo thrilled and excited to get the email this morning notifying me that my card was picked!  Yay!  It's made my day.  You can check out the rest of the winners here...I still can't believe that my card was picked...the other fabric projects are so amazing.  I am truly honored and humbled :)

Hope you guys have a fabulous day!

Check out my October Final Friday Giveaway...

Hey there blog friends!  I'm finally posting my Final Friday Giveaway for this month!  It's a great set that'll help you get ready for the Holidays!  It's called Christmas Punch and all of the stamps coordinate with Stampin'Up!'s punches!  This was a hostess set from last year and now you have the opportunity to win it :)

Ready to play?

Here are the rules {only enforced by the "Honor System"}:


1. Leave me a comment on this post by midnight Pacific Time, Wed, October 27, 2010.
2. On your comment, please make sure to include a valid email address or a blog URL (where I can leave a comment or have a way of contacting you). For those of you that are uncomfortable with leaving an email in a post, you can write your info like this: yourname at emailaccount dot com.
3. One comment per person please. :)
4. Anyone can play - international visitors welcome!

You can leave me a comment about anything, or you can tell me about any holiday crafts you plan to make or give out this holiday season.  Look forward to reading your comments!  The lucky winner will be announced on my blog on Friday, October 29th!

Have a fantastic day and good luck to you!

2S4Y Winter Wonderland!

Hi blog peeps!  It's Monday, which means it's 2S4Y time.  WooHoo!  We got another free week to create and design our cards using any products we like...so here is what I came up with.  Are you ready to check out the Winter Wonderland card I created?  First, let's take a look at Kazan's awesome sketch:

I was really inspired to do a Christmas Theme when I saw this sketch.  Maybe it's because I still had the vintage Christmas colors from the Deck the Halls DSP on the brain from my Vintage Santa card last Friday, but in any case, I continued with the holiday spirit.  Here's a look at my full card.

If you've visited my blog before, you'll know that I love me the Greeting Card Kids stamp set.  It turns out that I also love this yummy Cherry Cobbler color with this vintage look.  I also played with the waffle paper and created my ribbon edge around the circle.  It turns out that the waffle paper is really nice to work with!  It's very pliable and easy to scrunch to create that evenly crinkled border.  Here's a closer look at a few details on the card:

The seam binding ribbon is soo cool to work with because it makes such pretty bows so effortlessly.  All I did to create my bow is wrap 2 loops of ribbon around my hand, then I cinched the middle with the tinsel and then threaded the tinsel through the button. The final step is adhering it to the circle piece of cardstock using mini glue dots. Viola!

And here's a closer look at the waffle paper.  I cut 2 strips of the waffle paper at 1" thick.  One strip goes around just over half of this 2 3/4" circle, so I used the second strip to finish it off and just trimmed the excess.  I used Mono adhesive around the back edge of my circle, then scrunched and secured the waffle paper to the adhesive as I made my way around.  I'll be making more of these circle pieces for sure!  You like?  Hope so!

Here's the recipe for you:

{Winter Wonderland Greeting Card Girl}

All supplies Stampin'Up!

*Stamp Set: Greeting Card Kids, Bright Christmas

*Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Deck the Halls DSP

*Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, and Basic Black Classic Ink Pads; cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Pear Pizazz, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, and Blushing Bride Markers

*Accessories: Waffle Paper Assortment 1, Basic Pearls, 2 3/4" circle punch, Silver Tinsel Trim, Deck the Halls Big Designer Buttons, sponge daubers, Snail Monoadhesive, dimensionals, mini gluedots

Now, don't you want to come play along with us at 2S4Y?  You've gotta check out the rest of the amazing 2S4Y Design Team's creations!

Angie, Courtney, Kazan, Kelly Marie, Laura, Regina, Stacey

So glad you came by!  Hope you have a great one!

thankful for the {cherry on top} award!

How fun that I got this sweet award from Amanda Perth from Australia!  Thank you so much for the kind gesture, Amanda! Hugs to you! :)

For this award, I need to share 3 things about myself and then pass it on to 5 blogs.

Here are 3 tidbits about me:

1.  I LOVE purses and shoes - outside of stamping and papercrafting, they are vices that I enjoy indulging in :)

2.  My favorite ice cream flavor is Jamoca Almond Fudge - YUM!

3.  My favorite book of all time is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I have a fascination with the Lizzy/Darcy thing, I guess. :)

Now here are the 5 fabbie blogs I'm passing this award to...these ladies are sooo creative and inspirational!

Angela
Chat
Jinny
Selene
Steph

Have a fantastic rest of your weekend, dear blog friends!

wicked treat

Hi blog friends!  Happy Saturday!  I've got a wicked treat to share with you today.  It's a cute little chapstick holder that's inspired by Nicole Tugrul's adorable Christmas themed creation.   I followed her super quick and easy tutorial on her blog and it really is easy peasy to make these adorable little guys. Aren't these little holders just so cute?  You can make a bunch in one sitting! As I said above, these were created to hold chapstick, but what a fun favor to give to your girlfriends and fill it with Lip Gloss! The final measurements for this holder are 2 1/2"x3 1/2" x 3/4", although you can adjust the thickness based on the chapstick/lip gloss you choose to insert.

Here's a look at the sideview, so you get a better look at the mechanics of this holder.  Have you gotten perfume samples from the mall?  This is exactly the same concept.  What's great is, you can adapt it for any occasion.

Hope you like this fun little treat.  This is a great packaging idea for breaking up those lip gloss sets that the stores offer during the holidays - now you can package each one and give them as stocking stuffers or just sweet somethings to give to your bffs {heehee!} :)

Hope you enjoy your weekend!  Bye for now!