New Year's Blog Hop- Day 2

I mulled over several ideas for a New Year's card... fireworks, resolutions, a new beginning... so many choices. I ultimately went an entirely different direction... Chinese New Year. One of my children is from China so every year about this time we start talking about it. Then I remembered some cool embellishments I had for some pages related to China...

So... Gung Hay Fat Choy- Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year... and Happy 2012!!!

OUT with the OLD and IN with the NEW- Day one

 Welcome to the Out with The Old and In with The New two-day New Year's Blog Hop!

We're so happy you could join us. Day one of the hop will feature some of our favorite projects we've created this past year, and day two of the hop will feature a New Year's themed project. If you've just come across the hop and would like to start at the beginning, please visit Ashley's blog http://especiallymade.blogspot.com

As I look back on the year, it seems like the majority of my projects focused on Christmas...mostly cards. I really enjoyed using the Cricut cartridge Joys of the Season to inspire my creations. These cards were simple, but elegant.
One of the biggest and most difficut projectsI  worked on was the Exploding Box. What made them so difficult was the time it took to design and create each one... but it really was worth it in the end.

An exploding Birthday box

I also created another simple Christmas card using embelishments and simple shapes.

Stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow....



How many cats does it take to destroy a Christmas tree?

Just one if it's a frisky little kitten named Snickers... need I say more?

I never thought I would own a cat let alone really love this little thing... but she has definitely stole my heart. In fact, this entire family of dog lovers has fallen in love with her. (Shhh... don't tell anyone, but even my husband, who is a staunch dog lover, can be found watching his football games with Snickers in his lap.) We all agree that, although he won't admit it, he loves Snickers.
The only problem right now is that her favorite plaything is our Christmas tree. I put the ornaments on the top half of the tree (thinking she will never get them), but she can EASILY maneuver her way to the top. Despite my frustration, at times, of her playing in the tree... she brings lots of joy to the family!

Colors...

The colors of autumn are truly breathtaking. It seems like everytime I turn a corner I commenting, "Oh, wow! Look at that tree!". The palate of colors is amazing... bright reds, gold, cranberry, bright orange, bronze... I never tire of looking at the world around me.

I think that's what I love so much about scrapbooking... playing with all the colors and patterns. I've been experimenting with different styles in my papercrafting and really fell in love with the vintage look. I just purchased the Nifty Fifties Cricut cartridge and have been having fun with it.

Happy Coffee Day



Wedding card for a nieces wedding

I just discovered that today is National Coffee Day; a day where we get to celebrate all that we love about it... the smell of fresh ground beans, the sound of my espresso machine hard at work, the taste of a truly good cup of coffee. My day really hasn't started until I've had that first cup of french-pressed coffeee. And with the anticipation of the grayer, colder days ahead as we move from autumn to winter; that sometimes dreary Washington winter weather... coffee can be one of my best friends. But, despite the gray winter sky we see so much of here, the sight of those beautiful, majestic mountains covered in snow is truly a sight to behold.

Summer coming to a close?!

Though the calendar shows that summer is coming to an end, we still have a few more beautiful, end-of-summer, sunny days. This has always been my favorite time of year, especially growing up in the midwest. September always meant that we would have sunny, warm days without the dreaded, oppresive humidity... and then there were the trees... all those beautiful colors!

Speaking of colors... I've been having fun playing with my scrapbook papers, cricut and inks. With the kids back in school, I've had a little more time to play with my 'toys'. Here are some cards I've recently completed.

A Call for Designers

I was VERY excited when I was looking at the Echo Park website and saw their "fresh faces" campaign. What fun! I headed out to my local scrapbook shop and purchased some cute Echo Park paper. What to make?? Once my creative juices started flowing, I came up with three different projects:

This first project is a greeting card. My original thought was to make it a birthday card. However, once I made the envelope... the idea of the hearts and the 'love' stamps just seemed to flow.

This project used the Happy Days paper. This project used a file folder to make a small scrapbook album. I tried to keep with the theme of the bright colors and the retro look by using the Tim Holz distressing ink.

The final project is a paper bag scrapbook. I used the "For the Record" Echo Park paper... I tried to stay with the retro/nostalgia look; again using the Tim Holz distressing ink.
For all my projects, I used my Cricut to cut the envelopes and tags. I also used the cricut for the "happy days" lettering and the birds in the nest on the front of the paper bag scrapbook.

Recovering from a BUSY weekend!

2 games, the freshman kidnap, migraine recovery, church, Sunday school... It was definitely a busy weekend which was underscored by a migraine for most of it. I really enjoy watching Sam play football. He hasn't played in about four years so it's been fun seeing how his skills have matured since then. I must admit that the mommy in me does cringe when I see him take some of the hits he takes.

My newest scrapbook adventure is the exploding box. I've seen these on other websites and they look like lots of fun to make; something very different than the standard mini-scrapbook album. Despite the fun I had in carefully designing and constructing each one... they do take considerable time to make. One of the fun things about designing them is finding something special for the center of the box

And so it begins...

It's the beginning of a new school year; seems like a good time to launch into the cyberworld with a blog. My hope is not only to share some snapshots into this crazy home of mine, but also to share some of my creative work. I so enjoy creating cards, scrapbook pages, mini-scrapbooks or some other fun project... I love all the fun papers... finding the perfect papers and embellishments... and don't forget about the amazing cricut cartidges available. One of my absolute favorite cartridges right now is the Create a Critter. The critters are ADORABLE and make for such fun cards and mini-scrapbooks.