The countdown is on!

It is almost here and we are getting snow today in MA. If it stays on the ground for a few days we will have a white Christmas. Always makes is more merry.

I have been busy making cards. I found several sites that have digital stamps but so far my favorite is bugaboo stamps! Here are a couple of cards I made with a print and cut on the Silhouette and then colored using my copic markers.



and a birthday card....



The Silhouette made easy work out of these cards. Love that machine!

Hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas!

For the love of all things crafty

You HAVE to check out this web site http://www.whimsiedoodles.com/
I found it this morning and if I don't stop browsing around it and their blog I am going to have gotten nothing accomplished today work related! You know...that thing that pays me!

I downloaded the digital stamp and created this adorable card (if I do say so myself). I colored in the cute little underwear with my copic markers then I used the colorless blender to make the poka dots...so cute. I used a different pattern paper than the original design on their web site but the rest is totally scraplifted or cardlifted as the case may be ;)



I can think of a few friends who just may get this card this Christmas instead of the traditional one below.



The stamp used above is from Papertrey Ink www.papertreyink.com
They have really wonderful high quality clear stamps. This one is called Wreath For All Seasons. It is simply 3 stamps, one is the stick wreath stamped in brown, then on top the green wreath and lastly the red berries. Add a little bakers twine and there you have it.

So now onto mailing all these cards!

Welcome December

Here it comes again. The fastest month of the year. It happens before you know it then is gone in a flash and you are left curled on the floor in a puddle of wrapping paper and ribbon. Sometimes I wish I still "believed" in the meaning of the holiday. It would make it much more enjoyable I am sure. Instead it is about planning and shopping and stressing and parties and lists, lots and lots of lists.
My DH is not a fan of Christmas at all. I wanted to make a special candy advent calendar for him so he could get a treat each day and maybe have some fun but that idea was lost in the Thanksgiving shuffle. How could I possibly make time now? Well as I do every year I made a Christmas organizer book which is supposed to keep me on track. Here is a shot of this master of organization.



I will let you know how this worked out...sure. The tabs are Calendar, To Do, To Buy and To Send (which has a list of all the cards I need to send). OH GOD...I need to get the cards ready to go out! Did I mention I make my cards most years. I deserve to be stressed!

It's been a long time baby

Well it has been ages I know but I have been trying to edit my Halloween Card Video and get it up on the blog but it apparently is not going to happen. So.....I am going to just post some pictures of the cards I have been working on.

WA LA! The infamous Halloween Card. I am actually sick of looking at this damn card! LOL

Here are a couple others. Love the Bee-Lated Birthday card I made for my niece. Yes, I forgot to send my niece a birthday card OK!



And then this cute little Fall Thank You card. The pumpkin is simply 3 oval shapes arranged together. Easy as pumpkin pie...sorry couldn't help myself!

I have been playing like crazy with my Silhouette SD! Love that sucker. I have 2 scrapbook pages in the works because of it. Will post those soon I hope.

Can you guess?

Almost done with my halloween costume. Can you guess what I am going to be this year?

Obsession

For about the past month I have been lurking around other craft blogs and becoming obsessed! I see it... I must make it! Here are a few sites that I have been checking out:

http://www.creativityinprogress.com/blog/

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/ (one of my favorites)

http://www.u-createcrafts.com/

And each time I go to one of these it leads me to another then another then another! MAKE IT STOP! I do not need a mod podged clip board!

http://littlemissmomma.blogspot.com/2010/03/mod-podge-clip-board-tutorial.html

Can't touch this

May I introduce you to my new............wait............here it comes............

















It slices it dices! I am hooked on this thing. I waited a long time to get a die cut printer and researched the heck out it. This is the one I thought best fit me. AND IT DOES! (one thing though...I wish it cut chip board)

This machine is amazing. I have been attached at the hip (or usb port) to it since I unpacked it. She came with a $25.00 gift card to purchase designs at www.silhouettemachine.com . HELLO!

I have been very busy shall we say. Were you looking for me? Oh sorry.

Busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs

Well haven't I been just crankin out the paper goodness. I don't know if part of this was due to my pitty party last week and the need to keep busy or just plain old paper addiction run amuck!
But here few of the things I was working on. I made a couple of really cool cards, designs completely hijacked of course and also have been watching Stampin Up video's on You Tube. I think I need a hobby...oh wait..this is a hobby.

Play day

I think I could just stay in my studio all day and play. I am finding it hard to actually work. You know...the job that pays me money...to buy the supplies to play with. I have been spending a lot of time checking out this blog http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/. Kristina is very talented. She posted a scrapbook page yesterday for Basic Grey and I had to try my hand at it. Below is my version. Didn't change too much. The hardest part was putting MY writing on the page. Took me hours to get just the way I wanted it and I am still not happy with it.
The picture of the cat scanned a little dark but you can get the jist.
I put in an order to Stampin Up last night. Almost out of my grid paper. A girl cannot NOT have her grid paper. Also waiting on an order for more Sticky Back Canvas. I love the UPS man did I already tell you that?

Change

My thoughts have turned to fall already. The days are still hot I know but we are almost to the middle of August and time is rushing on. I absolutely love September. I don't know why but I always have. When I was a kid September meant leaving the Cape and starting school again. Leaving behind long days filled with swimming lessons, bike rides to the general store and putting on plays in the backyard. Coming home meant getting reacquainted with neighborhood friends and preparing for the new year at school. Now as an adult there is no leaving and coming home but just a change in month, weather and my feelings. Even though I will not be starting something new there is still this sense of change when September comes along. I chose the month of September to get married perhaps for that very reason...a beginning, change.

I just turned 50 this past week and something tells me I should not be rushing the days away. "The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time". Thank you James...I think I will.

How I spent my summer vacation

We are back from a 2 week vacation in Bridgton Maine. The house we rented is right on Highland Lake. This was the second year we rented this house. Darling husband's parents owned a couple of houses on this lake many years ago and he always wanted to go back so back we went. Although this lake looks gorgeous I have issues... I spent my childhood summers on the Cape. I am an ocean girl. I am not partial to lakes. The ocean has a nice sandy bottom. Lakes have a mucky, rocky, creepy bottom to them. I am always afraid a snake is going to slither by. Yes oceans do have sharks and other things but they do not exist in my imagined scenario.

I have about 200 pictures to weed through and come up with a scrapbook page. I will probably do it digitally due to the amount of pictures that will be used. As soon as it is completed I will post it.

KitKat survived us being away but apparently his talk button was broken while we were gone. He used to meow up a storm with me every day now I barely get a word or meow out of him. Will have to dig into this issue. I cannot have a cat with a faulty talk button.

A beginning

How hard can this be? I can start my own blog. Billions of other people do this. It is billions right? A place where I can talk endlessly and no one will complain...you won't will you? A place where I can show what I am working on creatively...promise to be kind. Forgive me over the next few days while I take creative license and change things up on this blog until I find just the right look. Feel free to comment and tell me what you think. God knows I love criticism!