Cleaning Day!

Hi folks & Happy Wednesday to you all!  I am back...back with a card...don't fall over or anything ok? LOL!  I managed to color over two days in spurts so I'm getting there..slowly but surely.  And tomorrow I will be super busy.  My lovely daughter decided to turn her "6 friends max" Halloween get together into a FULL BLOWN-over 20 teens-costume party....SAY WHAT...OMG??? Yeah she sprung that on my yesterday...nice huh?  And said "Oh mom, don't worry you won't have to do anything"...ummm yeah best joke ever told right there ladies & gents.  And no I can't say NO because this is her last Halloween at home really...next year she'll be at college {sniff, sniff} but advance warning woulda been nice eh?  Given that I'm still not even 70% up to my usual health I am ordering pizzas...we will do chips and dips and each of the teens are bringing a bag of candy or a dessert.  So I will use some of my Halloween decorations I made HERE, string some lights & cobwebs around the patio and on the bushes, pull out my light-up pumpkins and call it a day.  But that means I have to go to grocery store & party store and do some cleaning inside & outside.  Hopefully the temps stay mild so they can REMAIN on the patio under the cabana, with the fireplace on watching scary movies.  That's the plan...then they can come inside the basement if they get chilly..and need to be gone by 11 pm..on witches brooms home I say.  ahahhahahaha

So if I'm quiet for the next few days...you know why!  While kids are partying I shall be attempting to paint my dining room...at least the cut-ins around the doors & windows.  Not sure what Riley is planning on doing yet...I know they aren't going trick-or-treating as they have a Pasta Team Dinner tomorrow night.  Probably have friends over to watch a game but Halloween is on a school night...which is always a bummer...but gets them home & in bed at a good time (love that)!!

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Cleaning Day!

Today I'm sharing a card (gasp..I know its been awhile) that features a super cute Wild Rose Studios stamp from Magnolia-licious called Suzanne ummmm "Emily Vacuuming".  Hop over to the Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog to see the "W"ednesday Post and the other DT gals projects too!

Diana Crick gifted her to me and when it arrived in the mail I had to giggle...why?  Because I have 8 animals (6 cats & 2 dogs) and I vacuum every day..not on Saturdays though...because I can't stand dust & fur on my hardwood floors. I actually love to vacuum..I may be a bit OCD with it but the CATS...whoa nelly they shed a lot (dogs are non-shedders). And if I see a furball I will break out the vacuum even with guests here LOL.  So when I saw this stamp it screamed "SUZANNE" :)  dontcha' think?

Check out the NEW Christmas Wild Rose Studio Stamps at Magnolia-licious!!

I love the larger shaped cards these days but I'm not willing to pay the big $$ right now for those larger dies...they are quite costly and are made for larger machines (I use my Cuttlebug still lol)...beautiful yes but not in this gal's budget.  And I have a Silhouette Cameo...best crafty purchase I've made in past 2 years..so I cut my own larger shapes out of cardstock and patterned paper with my Cameo...easy & quick.  Hundreds of fun shapes to cut and a lot more economical for me.  I went with this bright, fun paper by Doodlebug Designs "Take Note"...loved the colors and patterns. The little clip boards were cut out from one of the papers in the paper pad.  The "ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS" was also cut on my Cameo...reminds me to enjoy even the most mundane tasks..because it means we are living and there is always joy in that folks!  Some layered flowers and the swirls are a Memory Box die cut from the rainbow paper for visual interest.  I doodled a bit around the aqua card base with my white Sharpie just for a lil' more fun!!

This cutie got colored with Copics and then I accented with Stickles on the vacuum (a fancy-schmancy vacuum I must say) and on her shirt...isn't that doggie sweet?  I vacuum my cats...yes I really do...they don't really like it but they have gotten ummmm used to it you could say LOL. Gets off all that extra hair quickly...I do it once a month...so everytime I bring out the vacuum they just all hide whether I'm vacuuming them or the floors ahahahha!!  So NOT sure they'd wanna ride on it ;)

These words were cut out on my Silhouette Cameo then accented with my white Sharpie pen!

That's it for me...now I'm off to run errands and get ready for this so-called

Halloween party I'm hosting ;)

Hi There!

Hi everyone!  Just touching base with you all....I have not been well which has held me back from any coloring or crafting lately.  Although I hope to color tomorrow and have a project up on Wed for you...crossing my fingers & toes...thanks for hanging in there with me.

I thought I'd share a few things with you though to catch up, in case you don't follow my other blog here OR on facebook.  Sick or not I still try to squeeze every moment, every drop of life that I can out of each day...we get this great gift called LIFE so you can't let it waste away.  I try not to even on days I feel as though I may be dying...because I never know if its the last day...but I sure want to enjoy it while I can.

This is my daughter's Senior Year so we just had her last Homecoming Dance this past month .  I'm so thankful that she prefers classy and pretty styles over..well...you know the "other" trampy kind LOL. But she is picky so I usually order 4-5 dresses online that we both pick out and this one made the cut...we both agreed it was pretty, appropriate and looked lovely on her.

The girls did their own hair and makeup this year...I think they did a lovely job!

Alexa and her BFF Grace....they're a little goofy...as it should be ;)

No dates...most went in groups...they prefer to have fun with friends instead of the stress

of being with someone...gotta love that!!

Always a Daddy's girl!

3 Generations...me, Alexa & my mom

My son didn't go this year as his friends and him decided that it was more fun AFTER the dance.  Last year they all went to Buffalo Wild Wing so this year they ALL came here instead for yummies, Xbox wars and lordy knows what else was going on down in that basement with all of them LOL.  So they had a good time. It was his free pass...I told him he HAD to go next year ;)

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If you don't follow me on my other blog...well you can if you'd like HERE...but I share all kinds of projects and recipes over there as well.  This is my current post if you'd like to hop over and see...making your own Beautiful Mercury Glass items...easy & inexpensive.

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And my CMC Challenge is always ongoing...its open to everyone to join...and runs every 2 weeks.  This week our challenge is all about DUDES, MALES, BOYS...masculine projects...I know some struggle with them but they can be so much fun.  Our sponsor is Dr. Digi's House of Stamps and he has some super humorous images for MALE cards that are irresistable.

Below are my CMC DT's AWESOME creations they made for the challenge....lots of great ideas...if they can rock it..well I KNOW you all can.  So hop on over and join in on the fun!!  And share on our CMC Facebook Page too...we'd love to see you there!

PinWheel Fun!

Happy Sunday Friends!  I am busy painting today...my life is all about painting..and I HATE painting ugh.  And I'm not a fast painter and I have to take muscle breaks because I can only do so much at a time...real pain the bum I tell ya.  But eventually I'll be done so I can start on the basement staircase walls ay yi yi LOL.  And tonight we are having dinner with two neighbor couples we are friends with so I gotta get done, cleaned up and make some yummy dessert to take over.  Thankfully I just have to walk next door for dinner :) which means I may have a glass of wine.  I rarely drink wine...I like it but hubby doesn't drink it so its dumb to open a bottle for one glass.  So I will have one on occasion at a restaurant but ONLY if I have no work to do afterwards or am not too tired. Wine makes me realllllllly tired and I don't drink red wine because it gives me migraines.  So you could say I'm a picky drinker...maybe a glass of wine every 6-8 weeks LOL but that's ok...I like my Cherry Coke just fine!

And Friday night Riley PLAYED in his first Varsity game (he's on the JV team now) but he dressed out this Friday in the new all black uniforms.  It was a BIG game for us...Battle of the 'Burg...two big county rivals.  It was so much fun to watch him and with my NEW camera hubby bought me I was able to get some amazing shots.  We won 48-14...so we are the ONLY undefeated team in our county at 6-0...which is AMAZING!  So proud of the boys and the team.  

Thought I'd share a picture and a video with you.  The video is a pre-game ritual the boys always do...I find it hilarious...shows their goofy-lil-boy side that I know they try to hide on the field most times ;)

My 6'4 240 lb baby with his dad whom he now dwarfs LOL!

My son is the crazy maniac jumping in the red shorts LOL ;)

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Some PinWheel Fun

Scraptown Lady Guest 

Today I'm guest designing for Scraptown Lady which is a crafty online store.  I always like guest designing since it gives me a chance to use images/stamps outside of my usual repetoire :)  And this Stampavie Penny Johnson cutie "Little Tobi with Pinwheel" is no exception...isn't she a cutie?  I used new papers by BoBunny "Zip a Dee Doodle" pack...my fave color combo of aqua, black and white of course!!  Scraptown Lady has a TON of cute stamps, flowers, papers and other goodies in stock that you will may want!!  The banners around the image are made with a fabulous LaLa Land die!

She got colored with Copics:  BG78,BG18,BG13,BG11,BG10 / C7,C5,C3,C1 / E11,E00 / E29,E35,E31,YR20.  I added some black polka dots to her dress with my Copic MultiLiner pen, easy to do and adds a bit more fun to her dress.  Stickles on the center of her pinwheel...the pinwheel I colored using the "feathering technique"...love that look.  Then I inked around the image edges and embossed some white swirls on edges as well.

Stop by the Scraptown Lady blog to see my post and their OWH World Cardmaking Hop as well!

That's all for me today....enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Monday comes bright and early :)

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