Ahhh, Leaves (and some Halloween Fun!)

I should be outside dealing with all the leaves in my yard, especially since it is dry, but I'm having a hard time getting motivated. Or maybe it is the kids' Halloween candy that is calling my name... Anyhoo, I was watching leaves fall yesterday and was inspired to make a card last night using my Avocado Arts October and November stamps.



I would love it if my leaves fell right into baskets, wouldn't you? It would be so handy and save me lots of time, which might mean I can get more work done in my craft hole. Of course, I would need some mondo baskets for all the trees in my yard. For now, I'll just have to rely on good old fashioned child labor. Thanks, kids!

Speaking of kids, I thought I'd share a few photos of their costumes from this year. Each of these ideas were kid-generated, mom-crafted.


First, Mad-Eye Moody from the Harry Potter series.




A young lady enjoying time at the spa.




A Lego minifigure (made for ease of mobility).




And, celebrity chef, Paula Deen. I think I might send her a photo of my wee one in costume; all the neighbors said I should.

Ready For Action

Well, I have been on an extended leave of absence from this here blog of mine. It is the same story as anyone else could have: kids, family and commitments have taken over my free time. Here is something I've been up to with my family:



We went to Disney World over the Halloween weekend and had a lot of fun. It was our first time there and my kids are already asking to go back. Don't know when that might be, but I think we will definitely try before the oldest is off to middle school!

I just wanted to pop in quickly to say "hi" and I am ready to get back to the inks and stamps I miss. Hope to have something to share soon!

Girl on Film

Birthday season is upon my house as of now. Today my eldest daughter turns nine. 9! She has become a voracious reader and loves to be crafty with me. I was able to get a quick smile from her this morning before school to share with you all.

Next week, my baby turns four. 4!!!

Anyone Know Where My Week Went?

Good heavens, it has been so long since I've had time to sit and write here. As is the same with so many other people, life gets in the way and people get busy. For me, it was kids and Halloween, while trying to keep them fed, watered, germ-free and happy. Now that Halloween is over, I have a week or two to lay low before another birthday, travel and Thanksgiving happen.

I thought I'd share a couple of photos of my kids in the Halloween costumes. I only had two costumes to sew this year and the other two just required a bit of handiwork on t-shirts.




My #3 was Handy Manny from Disney Channel fame, #2 was a cupcake with a cherry on top and #1 was Percy Jackson, a book character. #4 decided to be Miss Frownie Pants for this picture but I managed to get her to cooperate...



to show off her mermaid skirt that I sewed. She ended up wearing a bathing suit top over her white shirt when we went trick-or-treating, which looked much cuter than this tank top.


Amid all the craziness, I have had sometime to stamp. Mostly I have been working on my holiday cards. I am mostly finished with those, so I celebrated by making a card. It is challenging for me to make elegant cards, especially types like a sympathy card. I had seen on SCS a Clean and Simple challenge to make a sympathy card. I thought it would be good to go in a different direction from all of the glitter I had been using for holiday cards, so I got to work. Here is what I made.



I used a new MS border punch that embossed a scalloped line above the punched scallop. It is really difficult to photograph, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thursday!

card info: paprika, espresso shimmer papers, oak leaf flourish and sentiment by A Muse, white cardstock, MS border punch.

Beautiful September

The past two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of activity for me. I had so many things I wanted to do with my kids this summer. We did get to do quite a few of those, plus one I hadn't planned. Can you tell what we did?



We went to the top of the Washington Monument. It had been years since I went, myself, and I figured my kids should go. My city-dwelling brother was good enough to pick up the tickets for us and we had a great time. This view, by the way, faces west toward the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and Virginia.

Last Saturday, we met some friends of ours out in Markham, VA to go apple picking. It was a great morning and the kids had a great time. I managed to get my husband to climb up to get the good apples for me.




While I was procuring prime cooking apples, the kids picked their own, literally filling their pockets.



I was in a hurry to freeze pies and store apples because on Sunday I was going to have a mini getaway with my husband, who was headed to NYC for a conference on Monday. My parents were generous enough to stay with our children Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning so that I could go.

I spent Monday walking around. I took in the southern part of Central Park.



This is the bench where I sat to read, near the Bow Bridge. It was a beautiful day!

In the afternoon I met up with this man.



And we walked through the West Village and had dinner. It was a nice thing to do, just some time alone, just for me. This is one of the things my sister told me I needed to do more often. I'm glad I took her advice.

I do have some cards to share, soon. Promise!

The Grand Finale!

Yesterday I decided to share the football star card instead of a mini album page because I'd only be able to share one image with you. However, by waiting for today, I can share the rest of the pages with you because it is release day and you can see all of the stamps for yourself! If you don't know what I am talking about, look here.

On the the pages!



This is a little embellishment under a photo of my daughter and her very best preschool pal. They really had fun times together (that sentiment is on the school clear set).




Here is the chalkboard frame. I know that some of the other CT members used white ink for words on their chalkboards, but I wanted my own words on it, so I used a white colored pencil and I think the overall look is pretty good!




A photo with the teachers at the end of the year and a class performance photo. I used a couple of new stamps. Here are some close-ups:



That is a red twinkle sticker over the apple/heart.



And the crayons, minus one because it wouldn't fit.

Thanks for joining me down memory lane for amuse-bouche this week!

More From the Mini Album

Hi all! I hope you aren't sick of looking at the pages I did for my daughter's preschool mini album. I was so glad to get this thing done, that I cannot wait to show more of the page elements I made using stamps from the Back to School release. Here is another page from the book:



This is from her last day of school - the BIG performance. She was so excited to be standing next to her two best buddies and singing. Her face just was all smiles that day. I love that my kids love school. They'd better, because they have a long way to go!

You'll notice that I had her write her name for me up at the top of the page. Well, the blue lines are not from a piece of paper from a writing tablet, but it is a stamp! I love it! Here is a better look at it:



She does an ok job writing, considering she is a lefty in a right handed family. ;) Back tomorrow with some more. Just not sure what I'll share next. Who wants to see more from the album? Or would you like to see something *new*?

Let's Get Back to School

As promised, I have more of my daughter's preschool mini album to share. Today, I'm showing off a new sentiment from a brand new clear set called School Time. This one comes with lots of sentiments prefect for teacher cards, as well as a few images. One of the new sentiments is this "I *heart* school." It goes so well with this photo of my daughter running up to the school doors on her first day (one of my favorite pictures in this album).



What is really great about the sentiment is that it fits perfectly inside the smaller frame from the clear frame set. I did a little happy dance in my chair when I discovered this. Isn't that great? And what about that lined paper? Oh, my, I love it. I have lots of plans for that stuff.

I'll have another amuse-bouche for you tomorrow. Hope you'll stop by!

Going to School amuse-bouche

I am so happy to be sharing some fun, new images with you today. This new collection is all about school and there is something for every age.

Now, I have three children in school, two in elementary and one in pre-school. My pre-schooler absolutely fell in love with her school, teachers and classmates. She was always enthusiastic about school and learned so much about herself and the world around her. What I wanted to do is make her a mini album with photos from the school year. I was able to incorporate many of the images and sentiments from this release in the album and I will be sharing small bits here and there over the next few days.



Here is the cover of the album. The different colors of gingham papers are perfect for school crafts, don't you think? Do you spy a small amuse-bouche here?



Here is the first page of the book. Isn't the little girl precious? Well, actually, both are pretty cute. *wink* I thought the stamp mirrored Carolina perfectly, pigtails and all.

That is all I can show you today, but I have lots more to share, so I hope you come back!

Birthday Fun

This past weekend, we hosted a birthday party for our four year old. We planned the birthday party rather on the late side but still had 10 children come to celebrate with us. We have never had a birthday party with so many little ones before! We had some fun games for the kids to play out in the yard and, thankfully, the weather was beautiful. The welts left by the mosquitoes, however, were not.

Amidst all the planning of the party, I managed to get some crafty things made. I really wanted a party sign for the front door and managed to make one the morning of the party using some of the new gingham papers from A Muse. I love it!




I also made some popcorn boxes to hold some little goodies for each party guest. I found a template for these here. There is the birthday rascal in the background. She was really excited about her day!




And, finally, I was crafty in the kitchen. My daughter has really taken to a new character on the Disney channel (please don't judge me). He is "Special Agent Oso," the unique, stuffed bear. He looks like a panda bear that is yellow and teal colored. So, the question for me was, do I make a cake to look like Oso? Or do I make Oso cupcakes. After an inquiry to Lexi and further investigations on the Internet, I found some panda cupcakes that inspired my take on Special Agent Oso. Mine are not as cute as the originals, but the kids loved them!



Now that I have recovered from the party and the last day of preschool, I am hoping to find some time to stamp. I am in the middle of making a set of cards for each of my kids' teachers for the end of the year, but I also have a few fun ideas that I want to get done. Hopefully, I will get to it tonight.

It Was All A Blur

We had a wonderful Christmas yesterday, celebrating with our own little family, then later in the day we celebrated with my larger family. We had an unconventional meal - almost like tapas - because my mom's stove decided it was going to retire about ten days ago. But, there was still lots of good food.

I forgot to post just a few things for you. The first is a card made for our good friend, the priest. He married us, baptized our children and we continue to keep up with him by playing Fantasy Football in the same league with some other college friends. I used some stamps from The Saltbox Studio for this one.

This next photo is a gift card holder I made a long time ago. Back when I was making my girls' Halloween costumes, I thought it would be cute to have a mitten card holder. I cut out a pattern, sewed it together, then inked the edges and added the sentiment. Really easy!

This last photo is just a favorite from the last two weeks. If you have kids, you know that it can be hard to get them to sit still for YOU (they'll do it for others, though). But my husband had the ingenious idea to get a peck on the cheek from them while I snapped a photo.

Have a great day, everyone!

*** ALERT!!! If you got spending money for the holidays, you'll want to set some aside for some new Valentine's Day images coming your way in early January. The sneak peeks start January 2!!! ***

card info: stamps by The Saltbox Studio, notecard, paper (for the mitten), twinkle stickers and sentiment by A Muse, Copic markers - sand and powder blue, pop dots.

Pardon This Blog Interruption...

My oldest daughter was playing with some Play Doh today and made this lovely sculpture. It is titled "Flower Cup with a Pearl" and it lives at the bottom of the ocean. Apparently, the real one is stuck at the bottom of the ocean because no one has ever been able to retrieve it. I wanted to be the first to share this rare item with you.

Tune in tomorrow if any more treasures from the bottom of the Play Doh sea are discovered AND a cupcake sneak peek!

The Baking & Sewing Shac

This week, to keep my mind occupied, I decided it was time to get my daughters' Halloween costumes done. All three are going to be fairies. However, I only had one costume that would fit the littlest girl. So I've been sewing! I first worked on the oldest one's costume, because she knew what she wanted. I did ok with this, only two boo-boos, and a few minor adjustments to it, but she is so happy with it, so that is all that matters.



The second one was a bit different, but I had more success with it, not a mistake at all! I couldn't believe it. She wanted to be TInkerbell, but purple. So this is Purplebell's costume.



And, finally, yesterday was the youngest one's birthday. My baby is two. Her hair is getting long enough for short pigtails and she is talking and exerting her will. Here she is enjoying, and being highly protective of, her cupcake.

I will be back very soon with some stampy stuff. I haven't had much time this week to work on things to share. I guess I need a little motivation. Anyone want to see something stamped?

Chick Magnet

Here's another card featuring the mother hen from the new release from The Saltbox Studio. I covered the hen with one of the A Muse clear stickers, then cut off the scallop edge. I had intended to add a magnet to the back of this, then adhere a glue dot to stick it to the ribbon so it could be used as a magnet, but I couldn't find the package of magnets in the drawer, so I nixed that idea. It would have been cute, though. I have a couple more cards to share, just got to get those photographed.

On the home front, I had a child come home from church with "Nurse Maid's elbow." It is a slight dislocation of the joint. It was worrisome enough to take a trip to the E.R., but the doc was able to just pop it back in place with very little drama. It was my first trip to the E.R. and I was so glad that we were there for less than an hour!

card info: image and sentiment by The Saltbox Studio, papers and clear sticker by A Muse, ribbon from my stash, pop dot, Copic markers - sepia, lipstick red, canary yellow.

A Grand Weekend

Happy Easter to everyone. Yesterday my family had a big celebration - 30+ people at my mom and dad's house for lots of food and fun. Although it was a lot of work for my parents (as well as my aunts), I think everyone had a great time. I thought I'd share some photos from yesterday, in addition to this card, because I had a few inquiries about the egg hunt for people over 20. It is really just like a regular egg hunt, just maybe more cutthroat and brutal.



The starting line where everyone is jockeying for position. The three time past champ is my husband, so everyone was trying to get in his way.



Here are some of us in action (yes that is me in the foreground). This year we had our largest number of adult division participants - 17! And, this year I almost beat my husband; we tied for first place (I'll get him next year!).



These are the boxes of cascarones that we made for the kids to smash. We had forgotten about these until almost the end of the day. The kids had a good time and made a really big mess.



Cascarones in action - the two boys ganged up on the oldest girl and got her good. They were smart to stock up on the eggs before tracking her down.

I promise to be back with more stamped projects soon. I've been getting some sneak peeks together for you... be ready on Wednesday!

card info: notecard, image, sentiment by A Muse, ribbon scrap, Copic markers - cool shadow, sepia, shadow pink, warm gray no.4, canary yellow.

Quieres Tamales?

This is what consumed my afternoon yesterday: making tamales! It is a laborious task even when you have eight adults doing it. We are having a HUGE family Easter celebration this year and we need lots of tamales for the occasion. Usually tamales are a Christmas food, but we were not all together for Christmas. Since my sister and her family have come to Virginia for Easter, we are having foods that she wants (she is feeling well, up to travelling and eating!). I love tamales, too, so I am so happy we could convince my visiting aunts and cousin to help make such yummy food. I am so excited about Sunday, too. I have filled over 300 Easter eggs for hunting! Lots of fun for us, so long as the weather cooperates.



This is the other activity that I was busy with yesterday: dyeing eggs. You might be wondering why the eggs have holes in the tops. That is because these were later filled with confetti so we can have cascarones for Easter, too. All the kids will get to smash the eggs/confetti on each other and make a big mess. My kids are already plotting who they are going to "get" with the cascarones. It is going to be a great time!

I have been stamping, too, but it is stuff I can't share yet. Check back with me next week for a peek-a-loo at what I've been doing ;)

Long Time, No Blog

Hello anyone! It has been almost two weeks since my last post. We had such a wonderful time in Massachusetts. Thanksgiving was beautiful! My whole family was together, so there was a lot of noise, but, honestly, I loved every minute of it. Here is a picture of one of the place settings I had for the kids.




Here is another photo of one of the girls working on her placemat.



They had a good time with those. My nephew plucked his turkey clean, though. It was really amusing. One of the highlights of the afternoon was the "Little Cousins Theater" production of "Caps for Sale." It was a big hit (I think).

I promise to be back very soon with some stamped goodness for all. AND... starting December 10 I can share some wonderful A Muse sneak peeks!!!!

Birthday Barrage Continues!

This is my baby, my wee Clare. She is one today! I cannot believe she is toddling around, nor can I believe she still has blue eyes and this reddish-blond hair. It is absolutely crazy! We'll be having homemade chocolate cake after supper - YUM :)




Saturday is my husband's grandfather's birthday. He is such a sweet, dear man - we just love him! He is a die-hard Red Sox fan, too (GO SOX!!!), so I wanted to make him a baseball themed birthday card. The new A Muse clear set has great mitt and baseball images, so I put them together with the little star to make a fun little card. Now, it is up to the Red Sox to make his birthday a little happier.

card info: images and sentiment by A Muse, cardstock from my scrap supply, tag punch by Martha Stewart, circle punches, jump ring, ribbon by Offray, pop dot, Prismacolor markers-crimson red and sand.

Catching Up

Here is my big girl, Emma. We had her "make your own pizza" party last Friday and it was a lot of fun. A lot of work, but fun. I had made chef's hats for the kids, too. That is the weird white thing hanging on her chair. Emma had a great time and is, naturally, already thinking about next year's party!



Here's the cake. I thought she'd want a cake that looked like a slice of pizza, but she said candy corn, so , there you go. She is DEFINITELY my daughter, huh? This was also a big hit because there were candy corns all along the bottom of the cake, too.





After a party, you've got to have thank you notes, right? So, I made pizza chef thank yous. I know, I know, pizza chefs don't toss dough with the toppings already on it, but I hope that the 6 and 7 year olds recipients don't notice ;) Where'd the pizza stamp come from, you might ask? It is the mini oval from the A MUSE A PALOOZA 2007 release! I used the rock and roll technique for the dough and cheese, then drew in the rest.




And, finally, here is what I have been trying to get done at the sewing machine lately. My kids decided to be Harry Potter and Hermoine Granger for Halloween. I am making up their school robes with no pattern or anything, which is hard for a novice seamstress (I use that term very loosely!) like me. This is the first time I've done sleeves, lining and a hood, so I am way out of my element here. My husband keeps reminding me that it will be dark and the robes are black, so mistakes are unnoticeable. I figure, hey, if the kids are happy, I should be, too. That, and I didn't have to pay something along the lines of $25 per costume. All the materials for this so far total about $17. I have one more to make before Halloween, so wish me luck!

card info: notecards, images and sentiment by A Muse, ribbon by May Arts, Prismacolor markers-black, crimson red, raspberry, walnut, Copic marker-baby skin pink, Making Memories ribbon slot punch.