OWH Hop!!

Hi everyone!  I'm not gonna take up much chatter time here since I'm participating in a very special blog hop today and I'd rather you spend the time hopping...or creating a project yourself!  If you need more to read from me (bwahahaha) I have a fun new post on my OTHER BLOG HERE as well!

Hello Hopping Friends! Thank you so much for coming by! 

We brought our creativity together in the hopes that we would inspire you to join us (DT members) in doing a good deed!

Most of you know our men and women from the armed forces are deployed all over the world. Sometimes these men and women are in places that make it very hard,or they’re far away from where they can pick up a sweet card to send a quick note home. Luckily,they have OPERATION WRITE HOME (OWH). OWH is a non-profit organization that sends special boxes filled with cards to soldiers all over the world. How can you help OWH keep the good deed going? By creating cards!!! Yes! OWH angels receive tons of handmade cards from crafters all over the world,then they check and organize cards to be sent out to our soldiers. 

Now we would love for you to join us to help OWH. We thought it would be amazing fun to do a blog hop to inspire you! Design Teams from Paper Temptress, Oozak and Color me Creative Classroom have joined together in one amazing Card Drive HOP. The fun just gets better! You can join in by making as many cards as you possibly can..the more you create the better your chances are to win one or more prizes.  Here are the guidelines on how to enter and win!  PLEASE remember that…IMPORTANT….OWH guidlines MUST be followed to be entered to win a prize.

 Once you create as many cards as possible enter a picture of ONE of the cards you have created on the hop inlinkz then mail all the cards you created  to the address below. Send as many cards as you can create so you have the best chance possible to win one or more of the 14 fabulous prizes by November 7th.

YES!! You do a good deed and you also can win a sweet gift!!!

Please visit the Hero Blog to see how much they appreciate the cards 

**WIN!!-You can join in by making a project (following OWH – size and safety guidelines), entering a picture of the project on the hop inlinkz (one project linked per person please) then mailing the project to us. We would LOVE it if you could send as many as you can by November 7th (we will screen them and send all of them to OWH) . You could win super prizes from amazing, super generous sponsors!!! YES!! You do a good deed and you also can win a sweet gift!!!

Thank you to our sponsors-

 ♥ Paper Temptress ♥ Oozak ♥ Color me Creative Classroom ♥

♥ Heartfelt Creations ♥ Gilli Stamps ♥ Bugaboo stamps ♥

♥ A day for daisies ♥ Through the Craft Door Room Magazine ♥

♥ Floppy Latte ♥ Sweet Pea Stamps ♥ Pizzaz Aplenty ♥

I created two seasonal cards with more generic sentiments.  I didn't want them to look too girly or too manly depending on who used them...in between works great!  I kept the layout similar so it was easy to cut and create both but make them each special in their own way.  This is about as CAS (clean & simple) as I get folks...I tried for less but I'm a more-is-more kinda girl but the layers all lay pretty flat and aren't very heavy.

Cardstock was a mix of Paper Trey Ink and Paper Temptress and I used a fall theme for this one.

The patterned paper is from BoBunny..I just used a circle die to trace and cut the round hills out.

Then distressed and inked them well.  The dark cream cs got embossed with D'vine Swirls embossing folder that I love and is great for fall/wintry backgrounds.  Sentiment is by PTI and then a few pearls and ribbon finished it off.  I glued everything done well and nothing on here would get hurt or damaged if smooshed flat which is important when creating for the OWH.

Inside both cards I created a "card within a card"...that way whomever gets this has plenty of space to write a letter or note home.  The cards can only be 4.5x5 so that doesn't give you a lot of writing space..this just adds a little more without making it bulky.  I stamped some leaves from a PTI set inside to decorate a bit more.

I changed the colors up for a wintry theme and added some snowflakes done with my punches. I embossed the aqua background with a CB embossing folder and inked the edges.  Sentiment is from PTI along with the ribbon at the bottom.

The beautiful white, shiny cardstock is from Paper Temptress and is called "Vintage Silver Lustre".

It KILLED me to not use glitter (a no-no for these OWH cards) so I went with a shiny, pretty paper instead, perfect for a snowy-wintry effect.

Isn't it gorgeous?  And its 25% off right now too...perfect for the holidays!

Hope you liked both and now I would LOVE for you to hop, leave comments and join in on the fun!

Its a great way to show you support and care for those overseas and missing home!

♥♥♥

Now it’s time to HOP around. Leave a little note as you pass by all these lovely designers’ blogs! Don’t forget to add your project to the Inlinkz at the end of the Hop! 

You will also find the address to mail your cards at the end of the hop. You can Hop throughout the month of October. This way everyone in their own time can hop and join in!

Make sure to add your card to the InLinkz (last blog on hop) so you get an entry for participating!

Find Address to Send OWH Cards to HERE

Blog Hop list directory

Anary 

  Sandy 

Allnock 

  Patricia St Martin

Steph Ackerman

Ann Fran

Dana Joy

Anita Autore

Danni Bindel

Lynne Haston

Monica Lowrance 

  Suzanne J Dean ~ you are here thx

Linda Payne 

  Amanda Reed 

  Nancy Jensen 

  Cathy Preissing 

  Vickie Kertz 

  Holley Barnhart 

  Karen Gautier 

  Samantha Casey 

  Christine Riley 

  Melanie 

  Paper Temptress  

Make sure to add your card to the InLinkz so you get an entry for participating!

Find Address to Send OWH Cards to HERE

A Ghoulish Caribbean Party!

Happy TGIFriday!  I am so happy to see the weekend arrive, the past 10 days have been rough with being sick and deadlines and meetings.  I feel that I may be able to breathe a little again LOL.  But we are painting and putting in floors in the basement this weekend so no rest for the weary.   For anyone who is impressed with what I get done...please don't be...I'm no superwoman or energizer bunny trust me.  I simply am someone with an overactive brain and a never-ending to-do list LOL..ask my hubby.  He is NOT always on board with my projects but he know's I will take matters into my own hands and he will admit he likes to be "involved"...so I gotta keep him rolling when I can ;)  Anyone who has a creative mind or just likes to be busy understands me...if you prefer to NOT be busy all the time, well then I can't help you .  I think the universe's way of slowing me down is giving me sickie germs...gets me to take at least 1 day off.  So I had my one day off and now its back to business for the next month or so :)

I have sooooo much to share with you today!  A HUGE photo shoot, party set up I did featuring SCACD stamps and other goodies.  So after you are done reading thru this post, hop over to my OTHER BLOG HERE and see the details and photos of the rest of the party stuff ok?  I promise it will be a good time ;)....and no sadly I'm not serving any alcoholic drinks !

Hope you have a wonderful weekend & I'll see you back here next week...that's right I'm posting and crafting again folks.  So you gotta put up with me and my monologues for a few more years hahahaha!

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Ghoulish Caribbean Halloween Party!

I love Halloween...every bit of it...the creepy, the cute, the elegant, the scary...I've always loved it.

That being said I have two teenagers now who aren't real "into" it anymore...so that means I don't decorate the outside in haunted house fashion much anymore.  But I'm dying to have an Adult Ghoulish Party at some point...ahem...so I dreamed up these things for the future party I will have...ya feelin' me? LOL!

And I've combined it with the awesome NEW SCACD Releases today!

I'm only sharing details and pics of the SCACD release items today on this blog..but no worries...

hop over to my other blog when you are DONE here to see the rest of the goodies & photos 

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SCACD RELEASE & BLOG HOP

Today Susana Loves Stamps is releasing another new round of these unique, fresh and edgy rubber stamps due to the response we got to the premier MechAnimals stamps.  Along with the new MechAnimals there are some fabulous new Far East and floral inspired rubber stamps being released today as well.  So go check them all out!!

 SCACD Digital is also releasing today a fun little gaggle of digital ghoulies that scream fun and sweetness!  You can check them out HERE! 

For those overseas you can purchase all the rubber stamps at Quixotic Paperie

A few of the items I made for the "party"!

When you are DONE hopping & reading this post pop over to my

other BLOG HERE to see the rest of the party setup and details :)

If you want of course..I'm not forcing your hand..but yeah go check it out LOL!

For the party I created a Halloween Bash Invite (more on that below), hand stamped matching paper napkins and two luminaries.

I used the new Jellyfish Dreams from the "MechAnimals" Collection and embossed it on vellum with black Stewart Superior Detail embossing powder (that stuff is great for real detailed stamps like this)  To this stamp spoke of Pirates of the Caribbean.  It's my favorite Disney World ride and one of my fave movie series (let's all think of Johnny Depp for a brief moment yesssss...ahhh much better now)...so I totally went with elegant, ghoulish, creepy, grungy party theme all mixed in one...and I think it worked.  Papers are by Authentique "Irresistible" (15% off now, I need more).  I distressed all the papers and inked them well.

And yes those pearls are supposed to be crooked, they actually are pearl brads to hold vellum on and I wanted it to be a bit haphazard to go with the grunge/antique theme.  Then some twine on the top to tie it off.

This envelope invite is actually a Silhouette Cut file for the Cameo...real easy to cut and put together especially if you had to do a ton of them.  I used Scor-Tape to hold it all together.  The inside got more distressed papers and then I typed up my invite info on my computer and printed it on vellum.  Then stamped some spider & cobwebs over it after distressing.  

I love luminaries...they are fun and easy to make and so many varieties you can create. 

I went with simple and easy but graphic so it makes a huge impact.  I used two of the new SCACD Susana Loves Stamps "Sugar Skull" and "Zen Skull" stamps, embossed in black again right on sheets of 8.5x11" vellum.

These stamps are a great size...they'd be great on cards, scrapbooks, make pictures, door hangers, t-shirts...all kinds of fun things..don't limit to using them just on paper!  

The skulls come with accessory stamps that can go in their ole' eyeballs to make them more fun too :)

And if you buy both skulls you get the sentiment free!!

I grunged them up a bit and then added some fun details...the bottom trim I made by using a Memory Box border die to cut the middle of strips of black card stock so you get one solid piece of trim to attach.  Then tied twine around the middle.  Now do NOT USE CANDLES in these...I use battery operated tea lights or battery pillar candles...you do not want a fire people..so use caution!

Then I bought simple white paper napkins, chose a soft gray ink and stamped the "Jellyfish Dreams" stamp again on each one.  Simple and easy to do and personalizes your napkins for your party.

An evening view!

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And my last project is from the Far East & Floral Release by Susana Loves Stamps.  This dragon is called "Creative Sparks".

I based my project on Oriental hand painted art...bright, brilliant colors and lots of pretty shine.

I embossed the stamp with black embossing powder (Stewart Superior Fine Detail).

After embossing I painted it with different colors of Smooch...smooch bottles have those tiny, pointy brushes that are perfect for fine detail work like this.  And its metallic so it really POPS!  I matted it on black cardstock and royal blue foil card stock...then popped it in a black frame (left off the glass insert for photographing purposes).

Ok everyone, I'm last on the hop today...but if you missed anyone or would like to start from the beginning of the hop, go on over to 

Alex's Blog Here!!

Vintage Witchy!

Happy Wednesday...or in my house we repeat it the Geico commercial way.... Hhhhuuuuuummmmpppp DAY...if you have no idea what I'm talking about...check it out HERE! LOL!  My son can do a spot on impersonation of this that kills me every time ;)

Anywho this is a crazy busy week and I've been very sick with a fever, head cold, ear infections...and the blahs.  But I'm working madly on a bunch of projects to share on this blog and my other blog HERE.  And I have back to school nights, football games, doctor's appts, errands...you name it and its probably eating up my productive hours LOL.  If you feel me...say Ohhhh Yeahhhh...cuz its weeks like this that make us stronger, better, more capable people right?  Yeahhhh I don't know about all that!

We are sad to see the MLB baseball season ending and of course my Redskins, not so good .  Seems a lot of the capable NFL teams are struggling this year... Giants, 49ers, Packers...weird, sloppy season.  But I'm also happy that NHL season begins this weekend...my Caps...rockin' the red.  I'm a DC sports fan...always faithful to all my teams...but some years are GREAT and some not so much. But I keep hopin' and rootin' :)

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Vintage Witchy

Isn't this Wee Stamp "Hazel" adorable...so cute!  Today is "W"ednesday at the Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog!

Magnolia-licious now carries Wee Stamps, Wild Rose Studio, Penny Black and CandiBeans by Little Darlings. Go check them out...so cute!

I've always had a fascination with witches, I love to read books about them, watch movies...just the stories about them, the whole deal I find intriguing.  Pagan practices have a huge history in our world and no not the devil worshipping stuff...pagan beliefs are actually rooted in astrology and very fascinating if you take the time to learn about it.  One of my fave book series is "All Souls Trilogy" by Deborah Harkness..the final book comes out this winter and I cannot wait!

I used papers by Authentique and kept the colors to warm blacks, creams and browns for a more vintage feel.

All the papers got distressed and inked with both dark brown and gray inks.

You know me, I love vintage and distressed and the more TEXTURE the better.

Some burlap, creepy clock die, tulle, dew drops, diamond glaze all work well for me.

The sentiment is from PTI along with the spiderweb stamps.

The beautiful black tulle flower I love...they come in rolls but I clip them apart.

(links at end of post)

She was colored with TouchTwin Markers.
Marker List will be posted later today...sorry!

Then I added a Gold Liquid Pen on her buckles, clock and necklace.

Diamond Glaze on her shoes, hat band and clock.

Hop on over to the Challenge Blog to see what my DT friends made today as well!

Have a wonderful week everyone!  I'm back on Friday with an SCACD Release!!

Links & Embellishments List:

Tulle flower trim from "Lavish Laces"...for unique & beautiful trims and flowers!!

SCACD Die - "Alice's Clock Statement Corner

Burlap and burlap flower by 7Gypsies

Paper by Authentique "Irresistible" (15% off)

Bella Baubles in Gold

I'm entering this into the following Linky Parties/Challenges:

Savvy Southern Style

Candy Monsters!

Cute right?  Easy as a blink to make and cheap to make...a win/win!

I've made these in the past for the kids and their friends. I never made 100's to give away on Halloween just because where we live its NUTS with how many kids come by. That's wayyy too much work LOL!  But I would make these for a few of the kids besties or for sleepovers.

Supplies Needed:

-long, thin candy bars like Hershey bars

-a great craft glue (I like Best Glue Ever)

-Googly eyes

-Scotch Tape

-crepe streamers in colors (black, white, orange, green, etc)

-optional ink pads

I usually would buy my candy bars in huge packs at Costco..if you have lots to make its more economical. 

However our grocery store had a Buy 2-Get 1 Free Deal last week...so that worked for this project well.  Only thing I bought was google eyes (.89 cents) and candy bars ($3), the rest I had on hand.

Pick a candy bar and a colored crepe streamer to start with.

Obviously you can do this in many colors...use orange streamer for a pumpkin face...hot pink for a fun girly monster..whatever your mind dreams up!!

Tape the streamer onto the candy bar..doesn't really matter where...and then just wrap the candy bar as much as you'd like but make sure to wrap in different directions for a fun look.

I like to ink the edges of the crepe streamers to add a bit of dimension to them.

Easy Peasy..take an ink pad in your color of choice and rub around the edges as much as you'd like.

Dirty 'em up a bit!

Glue their eyeballs wherever you'd like...more than one pair if you want to go crazy with it :)

I like to tuck some of the eyes a bit under the streamer wrap too.  My green & black bar is my version of Frankenstein ahahaha, the black one is a Ninja and then some ghosties..but let your imagination SOARRRR and have fun with it!  

But remember to KISS...keep it simple so its fun and easy..and get your kids to help.  Mine "used" to help when they were younger...as teens, well...not so much anymore LOL!

It's Fall Y'all!

Happy Fall Y'all!  Yup yup I'm back to crafting...it was great to have time off and enjoy the end of summer and now to get back in the swing of things.  Do you know that was the first break I took that was longer than a week in over 5 years...wow?? LOL!  It was needed...that's all I will say. 

So we have kicked off my daughter's senior year and my son's sophomore year.  My son is playing both JV and Varsity football...he's a defensive end at 6'3.5 feet tall and 240 lbs.  So I am VERY busy with school stuff, work stuff and of course life stuffs.  That never changes right, hee hee.  But I am feeling extremely blessed, glad to have had time off to get back to being somewhat healthy in spirit, mind and body.  So thank you for sticking with me and I promise to have more projects completed soon :)  Yet today I am battling a tummy virus..what else ugh..that is going around so I will keep my chatter light today and hope you like the project!

Keep Up With Me:
As always I have other posts regularly on my other blog too if you want to check in over there at Bitz of Me!  I also post daily on Facebook most things I'm liking or doing...I have two twitters as well.  My twitter under my name is mostly my country music, random thoughts and sports twitter...my MoreBitzofMe Twitter is project post oriented. I have an Instagram as well that I'm TRYING to be better about posting to.  I have linked them all on both my blogs if you love social media like me and want to add me.

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Fall Y'all

Today the Magnolia-licious DT has a fun Fall/Halloween Blog Hop for you all.

Everyone has created some special projects to share with you all today.

You can see the blog hop details HERE and we hope you find time to hop along with us today.

So I started out with a chalkboard I got off of Amazon...loved the distressed look and size.

However I didn't want to attach anything permanently to the chalkboard..I wanted something I could change out each season.   I made an insert with black cardstock that can easily fit inside the chalkboard frame and come out when needed.  

I LOVE SUBWAY CHALK ART...

so this subway art was cut out on my Silhouette Cameo from one of their files.  Then pieced together after I inked it well with brown ink and glued onto my black cardstock.

 

Then I added some extra details...with 3M foam so each element can be easily removed when I'm ready to change it for the season.  Nothing says fall like beautifully fall colored leaves to me..and crisp air outside..football..fires in the fireplace and comfort food.

I used an oldie but a goodie "Tilda in Fall Leaves"..one of my fall favorites..I used to love jumping into leaves.  Now I'm old enough to cringe at the bugs and spiders that may be lurking LOL...but I sure enjoyed it when I was young!

She's colored with a mix of Copics & TouchTwin markers (list to come).

Then I added some Stickles to the mix for pretty sparkle.

The leaves are older stamps from EKSuccess and then inked a bit and stuck on with small bits of 3M tape I cut up.  The leafy swirls are a Memory Box die cut out of dark yellow cs and inked and then I added some leaf punches to them.  Check out all the delicious dies that Magnolia-licious has in stock now...so many, so many I love and want ;)

Some raffia ribbon tied at the top to finish it off.

I love the way it turned out and can't wait to think up ideas for a wintry version. Its the perfect size to hang, lean or add to a fall arrangement...hope you like it too!

 Thanks everyone for stopping by...missed ya!!

Now you need to hop on to Patti Jo's for her sure-2-amaze-u project!!

We Shall Never Forget!

September 11th

A Day to Remember

To Heal

To Love

To Stand United

I remember as though it was yesterday.  I will never forget it for as long as I live.

Alexa was 5 and Riley was 3 and I was prepping them for kindergarten, pre-school and

putting Alexa's hair up for morning ballet class in front of the TV.
I remember the innocence of them as children...the innocence and sweetness of Mister Rogers playing on the TV.

They were watching Mister Rogers on PBS and they actually interrupted the kids show

to announce breaking news that could be upsetting to children.  So I decided to check it out while they
ran into the bathroom to brush their teeth.

So innocent they were...so innocent I was to events like this...so innocent the Country was that day.
And then...

I turned the channel and saw this.  Unbelievable but yet we thought it was just 

an "accident"...a plane flew into the World Trade Center.  Tragic yes but not alarming for most in

the US. Certainly upsetting but then you feel something.

We kept watching...because something about it wasn't right...something in my gut told me this wasn't just an accident..and you feel scared...deep down in the depths of your stomach something is telling you that this is NOT right.

Then a few minutes later I saw this happen.  A second plane.  You watch it hit the second tower.

Your mouth opens but no sound comes out, you stop breathing because you can't quite believe what is happening. You are watching the TERROR.  My stomach sank, my heart clenched and I sank to the floor.  The kids had no idea exactly what happened but they knew it was terrible and Riley started crying.
Why mommy? What's the matter mommy? Why are you sad mommy?

Then they say the words "terrorists" and "death" and "more" planes headed to DC.

My husband works in DC two blocks from the White House (now he works across street from White House ugh).
I remember frantically trying to call him on his cell, no cells were working that day, no contact with anyone.

Anyone? Where is everyone that you love? Your mind races..your heart stops.
You just try to breathe.

Our phone is ringing...his family calling to see where he is...my family calling to tell me my brother is overseas and not at work at the Pentagon that day.
Craziness...kids crying, my neighbors heading over to see how we were.
Everyone standing outside in disbelief.
TVs and radios blaring out of every window, car, house.
Its everywhere.

 Pentagon after being hit

Finally my husband got a call through and had been at a meeting in Maryland that morning...thank God...and he was headed home ASAP.  Gridlock in DC as news of a plane hitting the Pentagon and another on the way to the Capitol.  Total Panic in the United States and for those in NYC and Washington, DC.
 I can never ever explain the horror, terror and fright that we had that day...its unexplainable.

So I decide NORMALCY is the order of the day for the kids to get them away from it.
How did you get away from it that day...it was everywhere..on people's faces, on the radio, in the conversations.

FEAR and DISBELIEF and PAIN

Alexa had ballet so we went to ballet..ballet is across from a US base..there are 5 US tanks surrounding it and armed guards everywhere...frightening.  Of course my boy being a BOY loved that part and is mostly what he remembers about that day.

Needless to say ballet and school was cancelled on 9-11 and we headed home to glue ourselves to the TV and see and hug dad.

Then both towers collapsed the world stopped breathing...for a few seconds..no one moved, no one said anything, hands covered eyes and mouths...complete & utter silence.


Then the SIRENS and ALARMS and SCREAMS and sounds of DESPERATION
RED LIGHTS BLINKING IN A SEA OF WHITE...
across the TV, across the US, across the streets.
Sounds I hope to never hear again.  Feelings I hope to never have again.

And images that I can never erase from my memory, images I never want to see again.
Things that no one should witness let alone see over and over...but we wanted to see..
we needed to see...we need to understand WHY?

What was happening?  What do we tell our children? How do we sleep at night?
Have we ever really learned WHY?  Do we truly understand what happened?
No one truly knows..each perspective is different..each memory different..
yet we all prayed, we all cried and we all mourned.
WHAT DO WE DO was on everyone's mind in the United States of America that day.

The stillness and whiteness...NYC gone white with debris and horror.

I can't imagine the horror of being there in NYC that day.
The city I love so much devastated in such a way no one was sure if it would recover.

I live near Washington, DC...my relatives and friends work in the Pentagon...my husband works in the city.  There was a sense of fright and terror that day in DC...something that no one here will ever forget.
So many lives lost, hearts broken, futures taken away.

BROKEN...we were all a bit broken.

So many people died that day..so many gave their lives so others might have a chance.

So many people held their breaths and vowed to stand by their country.
To save...to protect...to honor.

Yet we stood together, we found a way to move forward, to honor
to remember and to find a way to go on with our lives and futures.
Our country tried to heal as our own minds and hearts healed along with it.

The 9-11 Memorials in NYC

Shanksville, PA Memorial..stillness in a field..where those that died trying to save

a country can be remembered forever.

the Pentagon Memorial...a bench for each person that died..lit up like angel wings

But we won't forget.

We will NEVER forget.

It is ingrained in everyone's mind that experienced this..no matter where you lived...how old you were...what race you are...what religion you practice.  

We experienced it...we felt it...we grieved...we cried...we screamed...we fell to the ground in despair...

but most of all....

WE REMEMBER



{all pictures credited to google.com}