Paper Craft Crew #223!!! Wahoo!!

Am I lucky or WHAT???? I was asked about a month ago if I would like to join along with the amazingly creative peeps at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge ... are you KIDDING??? It took me a while to get my brain wrapped around the schedule (I shall blame the holidays for that!) ... but I actually got 'er done this week!!! And I was trying VERY hard to NOT make a Christmas card (not that there is anything WRONG with making a Christmas card ... in fact, I have yet to START my "official" Christmas cards, but I digress). I pulled out some of my new goodies from the upcoming Occasions Catalog ...

When your house is festooned (good word, eh??) with red, green, white, silver, gold and the like for the holidays, it is VERY VERY VERY difficult to use a color combo that isn't in THAT scheme. Trust me ... I struggled ... a LOT!!! And now I have yet another stack of "tools" which need to be put away. Maybe when I'm done with this blog post I shall go into the CAVE with a rake and shovel ... wish me luck!!

Stamps: That's the Tag
Paper: Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Pool Party
Ink: Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Layering Circles Framelits, Lace Doilies, Falling Petals Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, 3/8" Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack (SAB)

Great sketch!!!









Here's a link to the Paper Craft Crew Challenge so you can play along:

Paper Craft Crew #223

If you guys don't hear from me in the next few days, just assume that the Glitter Monster nabbed me and dragged me into the Great Crafty Black Hole. I really should "clean as I go" ... what a NOVEL idea!! (and, by the way ... thanks for letting me be a part of the Paper Craft Crew, Pam Staples!!!)

Monday Montage #84

Well ... yeah ... this post is pretty much indicative of how this whole dang year has gone!!! I mean, SERIOUSLY??? How are we HONESTLY in DECEMBER already???? I feel as thought I have been running (literally and figuratively) ALL DANG YEAR!!! Which leads me to this post ... this card??? Yeah ... it's LAST YEAR'S Christmas card. And I NEVER posted it ... because I was LATE getting it together and didn't get around to posting it at the time! And welcome to Monday Montage!!!

So ... I am not even sure what the name of the stamp set I used for the sentiment is (I WILL find it and add it to my supply list as soon as I find it!)!! And I kinda went out of the SU Universe last year as well. I used my Silhouette to cut out the sparkly vinyl I used for the backdrop.  I also cut the little snowman out from a Silhouette image.  I can't hardly remember what I did YESTERDAY, which is why I'm having a hard time remembering everything I used on this card!!

Stamps:Happy Scenes (I found it!! It is also retired ...)
Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Early Espresso
Ink: Night of Navy
Accessories: Gently Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Rhinestone Basics, Silver Ribbon

Here's the inside.  We took this photo last November while the family was all together pressing apples for apple juice.  The background was SO amazing with the beautiful blue sky and the mountains!!! And we all look pretty happy (even though we are wearing our grubbies!!!)!  At least I can now officially say that I HAVE posted this card.  And now I need to start on THIS year's Christmas card!!



Click "Back" for Kaitlyn Zumbach and "Next" for Amy O'Neill ... SO much creativity!!

Fab Friday #102

I know I have lamented time and time again about TIME ... about how QUICKLY it passes by. And about how we are already nearly in the MIDDLE OF DECEMBER, and I think I just took my tree down (at least it FEELS that way!)!! Back again to play with the Fab Friday Folks. I still need to start on my family Christmas cards ... but at least I'm starting to feel in the mood for it (and I bought the supplies I need ... and they were delivered YESTERDAY!)!

So here is a little Christmas cheer ... and I cheated just a little ... I used Cherry Cobbler for today's challenge instead of the Real Red I was supposed to use (I am SUCH a rebel!)

Stamps: Merriest Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Northern Decorative Strip Die (retired), Gently Falling Textured Impression Embossing Folder, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch, Stitched Shapes Framelits, 5/8" Burlap Ribbon, Baker's Twine Trio Pack, Emerald Envy Ruched Ribbon

Ooooooo ... Christmas-y ....











Here's a link to the Fab Friday Challenge Blog so you can play along:

Fab Friday Challenge Blog

Check out the Fab blogs of my fellow Fab Friends:

Mindy Backes
Cindy Beach
Heather Heroldt
Brian King
Amy Koenders
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Jan Tinklenberg

Off to shop ... again ... need to take my mama to get some wrapping supplies! And I have the second Christmas party in as many days toNIGHT (so, of course, I'm making more FOOD!)!!! I am starting to really feel the joy of the season ... and in just over two weeks it'll be all over!! Sheesh!!

Stamp Review Crew - Christmas Pines Edition

Merry-merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! Been working all week trying to get my Christmas decorations up ... lights are on the house and porch is decorated ... tree is up and decorations are currently going on. YAY!! Finally!!! So it's only appropriate that we are playing with "Christmas Pines" with The Stamp Review Crew. It has taken a while for me to wrap my brain around Christmas being here ALREADY again this year ... but I think I'm getting there!

I really like how this one came out. I seemed to have a hard time NOT adding and adding stuff to this card. I thought I was done about THREE different times ... and then decided to add something else!

Stamps: Christmas Pines
Paper: Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Whisper White, Warm & Cheer DSP Stack
Ink: Garden Green, Real Red, Versamark
Accessories: Pretty Pines Thinlits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Real Red 3/4" Stitched Edge Ribbon, Kraft Rope Twine, Gold Sequin Trim, Baker's TwineTrio Pack, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

BEST thing about this stamp set is that it has a MATCHING set of THINLITS dies that match!!! YAY!!







I plan to have ALL my decorating done and the boxes put away BEFORE I got to bed tonight!! Wish me luck!!

The "previous" button will take you to the amazing Charlet Mallett, and the "next" button to spectacular Valerie Moody!

 

Monday Montage #83

Grateful, grateful, grateful!!! That's how I'm feeling today. I am SO very grateful for SO many things. Grateful to have had some days to reflect on those very things this week as we have celebrated Thanksgiving here in the US of A. I have actually had TWO Thanksgivings this week (the traditional one with extended family on Thursday, and one with my immediate family and a very good friend today ... now WE have turkey leftovers!! YAY!!). Also, I am VERY grateful to be part of this creative, talented, remarkable, kind, lovely and wonderful group of friends on this blog hop ... grateful for my connection to them through Stampin' Up ... do NOT know what my life would be like without them all in it!

Jingle Bells and Ho! Ho! Ho!! After spending nearly 24 hours cooking, cleaning and getting ready to feed the troops, I FINALLY got to sit down and play (and I am embarrassed to say that the last few cards I have made look so much alike!!! I need to break out of the mold!)

Stamps: Holly Berry Happiness, Merriest Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Neutrals DSP Stack, Warmth & Cheer DSP Stack
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green
Accessories: Merry Tags Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Cableknit Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Baker's Twine Trio Pack, Warmth & Cheer Designer Washi Tape

It's snowing. And I have put up my mama's Christmas tree and decorations, done most of my Christmas shopping (SO grateful for online shopping and Black Friday Deals), plan to put up my own tree tomorrow, and bought myself some SNOWSHOES so I can do some AMAZING hiking with my good friend, Beck!!! I was introduced to snowshoeing last year with Beck's help ... and now I am ADDICTED!!

Click "Back" for Melissa Stout and "Next" for Amy O'Neill ... super duper FANTASTIC!!!

Fab Friday #101

Happy Black Fab Friday!!! Bwahahaha!!! For all my friends in the US ... who is STILL FULL from yesterday??? I went to bed SO stuffed (and we ate dinner at 3:00!!). I'm still feeling the effects of eating ALLTHETHINGS!! But I need to get moving so I can speed my metabolism up for ONLINE SHOPPING!!

Happy that Fab Friday MADE me play with some of my lovely Christmas-y crafty supplies. I LOVE that this card is BLACK ... and today is BLACK Friday ... and it's a CHRISTMAS card!! YAY ME!!

Stamps: Merriest Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Garden Green, Delightful Dijon, Early Espresso, Warmth & Cheer DSP,
Accessories: Merry Tags Framelits Dies, Gold Sequin Trim, Gold Baker's Twine, Mini Stapler, Real Red 3/4" Stitched Edge Ribbon
Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Basic, simple, easy, fun!!











Here's a link to the Fab Friday Challenge Blog so you can play along:

Fab Friday Challenge Blog

Check out the Fab blogs of my fellow Fab Friends:

Mindy Backes
Cindy Beach
Heather Heroldt
Brian King
Amy Koenders
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Jan Tinklenberg

Since it's Black Friday, I plan to sit in front of my computer and SHOP ... in my SWEATS ... with NO makeup on!! HOORAY!!

Happy Holidays from the Freaks!

Ok ... I hafta admit, I have actually started listening to Christmas music (and will probably do so until some time during the first week of January). I EVEN did some CHRISTMAS SHOPPING today!!! I guess it really IS the most wonderful time of the year ALREADY!!! Welcome to a little holiday tribute by some of my fellow Control Freaks!

Oh my goodness!!! Did you see what was on Mindy Backes' blog????? SO wonderful!!! And so very proud of her, by the way, for making this next year's Artisan Design Team for Stampin' Up! GO MINDY!!

I went simple this month ... which is VERY hard for me, actually. I think it is much harder to do a "clean and simple" design than it is to do one with ALL the layers and bling (sometimes I SERIOUSLY have NO idea when to STOP!)!

Stamps: Holly Berry Happiness
Paper: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Dazzling Diamonds DSP
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Merry Tags Framelits Dies, Gold Bakers Twine, Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits, Woodland Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

And here's a little Crumb-Cake-colored number ... I think I have decided that Crumb Cake goes with EVERY-EVERY-EVERYthing!!! I used it ALL year round. It's probably my fave ... I think ...

Stamps: Merry Medley, Festive Season
Paper: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Warmth & Cheer DSP Stack
Ink: Whisper White
Accessories: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Gold Ribbon, Gold Sequin Trim, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch

It's AMAZING how your life can come to a STAND STILL when your internet becomes NONFUNCTIONAL!!! Our modem died last night, and you would think that the WORLD had ended or something!!! Had NO idea how much I relied on having WORKING access to the Interwebz ... how CRAZY!!! Maybe I need to take a vacation on some remote island and do WITHOUT it for a while ... just like the good ol' days!!

Next up??? My dear and talented friend, Cindy Elam!!! WONDERFUL in EVERY way!!

Monday Montage #82

Snap!!! And JUST like THAT two weeks have flown by!!! Welcome to Monday Montage, my friends!!! I've been UBER-SUPER busy the last couple of weeks ... more on that in a few paragraphs ... but for now, it's time to share!

Stitched Shapes Framelits???? Why, YES INDEED-Y!!! These are the caYOOTEST things EVER!!! I challenged myself by trying to make a grown-up "dude" kinda card (you know how THAT is)!! I'm pretty happy with the results, but have to admit that it was VERY hard not adding flowers or a butterfly or something!

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Whisper White Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Island Indigo, Night of Navy, Dapper Denim, Neutrals DSP
Ink: Night of Navy
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Framelits, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch, Large Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Mini Treat Bag Thinlits (for sentiment)

So .... I decided to start ANOTHER "new business" for myself (I'm always looking for ways to earn extra income by doing something FUN (but I hate to admit that I am my own best SU customer!). I launched my own LuLaRoe clothing page on Facebook last night (which is why my darn post is so darn late!)!!! I had bought so many of the clothes myself that I figured it wouldn't hurt to try to sell some (sound familiar with stamps and paper???). AND I went to Disneyland (again!) this week to run the Captain America 5K with some of my friends. It was a REALLY good time!

Click "Back" for Melissa Stout and "Next" for Bree Renwick ... so very lucky to be "linked" to these friends!

Monday Montage #81

Boo to you and Happy Halloween!!! Welcome to another edition of Monday Montage!!! Y'all KNOW how much I love Halloween ... I mean, it IS my favorite holiday! Despite that ... I had to make a non-Halloween/Fall card ... I just felt it was time to move on because EVERYthing I have made for the last long while feels the SAME!!

And this is what I came up with. I have seen several people posting samples of how they turned the Fox Building punch into a teddy bear ... HAD to try one myself! Couldn't decide if I wanted to go with a "boy" themed card or a "girl" themed card ... so I made one that would work for EITHER!!

Stamps: Sunshine Sayings, Swirly Bird
Paper: Tip Top Taupe, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette, Soft Suede
Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Soft Sky
Accessories: Fox Builder Punch, Swirly Scribbles Thinlits, Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits Dies, Circle Framelits, Owl Builder Punch, Cableknit Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

This is the first year in about the last TEN years that my next-door neighbor hasn't done a SUPERDELUXE spook alley sorta deal in his yard. While I am KINDA sad about it, I am also hoping that that means we will NOT be getting over 500 trick-or-treaters this year. I don't mind a lot of trick-or-treaters unless they are 20-somethings ... which is what we seem to get a LOT of when the spook alley next door happens!! Who knows?? We may get just as many anyway, since I have a feeling some of the "regulars" will be stopping by looking for the spook alley that once was. At least my house is all decorated and lit up ... time will tell!!

Click "Back" for Melissa Stout and "Next" for Amy O'Neill ... you will NOT be disappointed no matter WHICH direction you choose (just be sure to go ALL THE WAY around to see what these girls have come up with!)!

Fab Friday #99

How can it be that we are SOOOOCLOSE to doing Fab Friday Stampin' Challenge #100???? I honestly have not been able to figure out where time has been going lately ... as in the past 10 years,lately!!! WHOOSH!!! Right by me!!

And Monday is Halloween ... Really???? Can't believe that has come back around again, either!!! So on this challenge (see sketch below), I purposely tried to create a NON-Halloween card given that it's only three days away and it would be only TOO EASY to roll with Halloween, know what I mean???


Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories:  Botanical Builders Framelits, Cableknit Dynamic TIEF, Square Punch, Burlap Ribbon, Gold Cord, Mini Stapler

Spooooooooooky and fun color combo!









Here's a link to the Fab Friday Challenge Blog so you can play along:

Fab Friday Challenge Blog

Check out the Fab blogs of my fellow Fab Friends:

Mindy Backes
Cindy Beach
Heather Heroldt
Brian King
Amy Koenders
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Jan Tinklenberg

My weekend is chock FULL of Halloween activities. Starting today ... this is about the 20th time (or so ... perhaps, 22nd?) that my friend and I have been in charge of the Halloween Carnival at the local elementary school. Food, cake walk, costume contest, trick or treating, spook alley, professional photos ... we seem to have this baby down to a SCIENCE. Saturday, our family will be doing the Annual Weixler Apple Pressing Day, as well as having a Trunk or Treating party at our church. And Sunday, after church, we will be having all our kids hanging out with us to have dinner and carve jack-o-lanterns ... it'll be EXHAUSTING, but SUCH a great time!

Grateful to Be a FREAK!

What a crazy-eventful day!!! LOTS of things have been going on in my life ... which I will get to later ... but in the meantime, welcome to the "Grateful" version of the Control Freaks Blog Tour. We are all sharing our own little "thank you/gratitude" creations this go-round! If you've been hopping around, you just came from the magnificent Melissa Stout!!! I'm in a "Melissa Sandwich" for this blog tour ... how FUN is THAT???

The inspiration for this card came from an AWESOME dress I bought a few weeks ago. It is seriously SO fun! So I decided I needed to make my own version of the fabric in a card ... I LOVE this color combo!!

Stamps: Flourishing Phrases
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Soft Sky, Mint Macaron, So Saffron, Cajun Craze
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Pretty Pines Thinlits, Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits, Gold Ribbon

Here's a similar version of my last card ... turned horizontally ... and swirled instead!!! I was really trying to stretch myself with different color combos this time around (and I used some colors I don't often use!). I had fun with this ... I also love me some framelits dies (like, WHO DOESN'T??)

Stamps: Feather Together
Paper: Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Linen Thread, Flourish Thinlits Dies, Swirly Scribbles Thinlits Dies, Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits

So ... my crazy life ... we have started doing a LITTLE bit of prep for my daughter's wedding. This is going to be fun and BUSY. I have also been trying to reorganize my life (meaning, my HOUSE). It's been WAY to long since I did this. I DID put up some Halloween decor and lights as well. I hope I can PURGE a bunch of stuff and free myself up!

Next up??? The marvelous Melissa Davies!!! Grateful for all of her creative inspiration!

Monday Montage #80

It's Monday Montage #80!!! Holy COW!!!! I can't BELIEVE we have been doing this for so long!!! And can I say that I am still SO THRILLED to be a part of this group of amazingly-talented women!! HOORAY!

I think this Moroccan Nights stamp set was on my VERY FIRST order from this year's catalog. I absolutely LOVE it!!! And I promised my friend, Cheryl, that I would do EVERYthing I could to make her love it, too! (How'm I doin'???) And with fall colors??? FANTAB!!!!

Stamps: Moroccan Nights, Wherever You go
Paper: Very Vanilla, Pool Party
Ink: Soft Suede, Pool Party, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Circles Framelits, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch, Burlap Ribbon

We have actually done TWO things for my daughter's upcoming wedding ... what a MIRACLE!!! Actually, we have done THREE ... they picked a date (May 12 ... I think!), they had some engagement photos taken this weekend, AND we have a venue!!! HOOOORAAAAYYYY!!! This may actually HAPPEN, folks!!! It's gonna be a wild ride!!!

Click "Back" for Melissa Stout and "Next" for Amy O'Neill ... super duper FANTASTIC!!!