Domestic Love Stamp Set Give-Away

I spent a little creative time this afternoon playing with my new stamp set this afternoon! Designing this plate was so fun, I really wanted it to be playfully quirky but also inspiring and useful.

I pulled out a bunch of my delicious October Afternoon paper and had a lot of fun making these! They are all sized at 3" wide by 6" tall, a great card size in my opinion. I think this group of cards would make a fantastic little gift. Who can't use a little encouragement?

I would like to give one of these away, leave me a comment just to say hi by midnight on Monday night and I will randomly select someone to send it to!

Good luck!

B-

Don't Stop Believing

A quick post so that it is a little fresher in here!

First, I want to thank everyone who left such sweet and supportive comments, I really appreciate you my friends!

Second, I wanted to share this layout of Chloe. She is such a hard worker with incredible dreams, and I want her to remember how important it is to believe in herself and her dreams when things get tough. It didn't photo very well, but you get the idea. Tons of shimmer mist, silver paint dabbers, glittered alphas and Zva Creative bling. It is so pretty IRL!

And last, I have a new stamp set that was released yesterday! I have made a few things with this set, but they are in for publication so I need to get to work making more. But please go visit Lisa Silver's blog, she created a card that I just love! I promise I will get one done too, hers is so inspiring, I feel like stamping right now and it is almost midnight. It will have to wait until tomorrow though, just so tired!

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful week. We are here, the weather is the perfect jeans and sweater temperature, my fav!

B-

How is it Hanging?

I had a Monday filled with interesting and fun emails today! The morning started bright and early with an email that had pictures attached from Tyler and how he spent his Halloween in Brazil. They ate the insides out of a few watermelons, carved some fun faces on them and put in candles. We really missed him, I am sure it was a time when he missed us very much as well. I love getting these notes from him, for one minute it feels like he isn't half a world away.

The Zva Creative Design Team was announced, and I am thrilled to be included amongst that talented group of artists. I will be getting all of their information onto my sidebar, I hope you take a few minutes to go visit them, I think you will be impressed as well!

I was also sent an email today letting me know that I was a winner in the "Love" category of the World Card Making Day contest that Paper Crafts sponsored. I wish I could show you that card, so cute! But instead I am sharing the other card that I sent in. This card just makes me so happy when I look at it. It is totally wacky, but it makes me smile!

And I was invited to participate in the Ranger CHA 2010 Designer Challenge. That is going to be so much fun! Looking forward to getting the details on that, but I love making a mess, and this will be a great way to get a good one going!

A few things in my life have been pretty challenging, and without going into sticky details let's just say that I have a heart that hurts from it all. So I feel very blessed that my Heavenly Father has given me some wonderful opportunities to balance it out on the other side. I do believe that it really helps you appreciate the wonderful things that happen when you have the hard knocks too. So often it seems that things are so easy for others, but it is because we usually only see the surface. Everyone has tough times to endure, so if you are going through something similar, try to find the bright spots and really focus and appreciate those instead. It really makes me feel better when I do that, hope it works for you too!

Attitude of Gratitude going on here...

B-

In the Fall Swing of Things!

It is a beautiful crisp fall day today. Leaves have fallen all around, the sky is the perfect blue to compliment the oranges and browns of the ground and a warm cup of herbal tea is warming my hands and soul.

Don't you love this time of year? Where the earth trades her energetic green frock of foliage for the lovely oranges, rusts and browns for the season of abundance and gratitude. Just as every season departs and another arrives it seems to be just the right time for a change. So grateful to live in an area where that is punctuated by the appearance of the earth.

Welcome November I am ready for you!

B-

Happy Halloween!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween!

I took a picture of the really cute magnetic blackboard project that P Kelly Smith had thought of for our September meeting. I made all of my elements magnetic so that I could change them out for different seasons, they are great for showing how darling the October cards are! I will find some fun elements for the Thanksgiving season and use those until it is time for Christmas then those will go on, and so on...

So what are your plans for the day? I will be taking Carter down to Roxanne's so that the boys can carve some pumpkins, goof off, and then go trick or treating. I miss the days when my kids all spent the evening together, and we had a big pot of chili on the stove. It is hard watching them go different directions, but part of letting them go too. It will be interesting to hear from Tyler what he did in Brazil, as well.

Be safe, have fun and enjoy the candy!
B-

I Figured Out How...

I figured how to keep my room clean and do a little playing. How about a little digi project? Keeps me busy, I can do a little scrapping while I chat on the phone and check up on my facebook friends. The kit is one that is called DSP Storybook Dreams NY and is free over at Wacom Pen Scrappers! Fun that is free and not messy, sign me up!

Also working on some new products for the Every Thing Creative Etsy store. I should have them ready to put in the shop soon, and that is another way for me to keep things tidier.

But I have to admit the glitter and glue are calling, and there are a few ideas for projects kicking around that I am going to have to let out of the attic sooner or later.

And I am so excited for Halloween too! And did you know it is pomegranate season? That is a holiday in and of itself around here! How do you feel about pomegranates? Too messy? Delish and work the work and mess? Great if someone else does the work?

Next week is the release of one of my last stamp sets from CHF, I really love this set, so I can't wait for it to come out. That is the best reason to get the room messy right there!

B-

A Clean Scrap Studio!

Two big events today, I have a spotless studio, and I had on make-up and did my hair!









Crazy days!










I had a photographer in my house, and I thought it would be nice if things were cleaned up a little including me, so there you have it. I guess all it takes for me to get my act together is the possibility of public humiliation and voila' I can get my act pulled together.


It looks really nice, and I am really wanting to get a little crafty, but so don't want to mess it up, what a dilemma!

Usually the center table is filled with paper, adhesives, baskets, punches and other odds and ends.

I like it looking that way, really loved and lived in, but the Davester, not so much. So I will try to walk a fine line for the next couple of months through the holidays and see if I can keep it a little more presentable. If you are a gambling person, this would be a great time to start a pool on how long this will last.

And the little seat cover is really much cuter IRL, but it photographed dark. It is just a shade darker than the walls and really adds a nice touch.

I also have room for a couple of other crafty chicks to hang out, any takers?

B-

Gnome Sweet Gnome

I just wanted to quickly share a layout that I love. Called "Gnome Sweet Gnome", it is about Carter, his Halloween costume and how he came up with the idea.The layout is a little older, but with Halloween upon us I thought it would be so fun to share!

This was my favorite costume that he has ever worn because he came up with the idea himself and did most of the figuring out how to do it with what we had in our closets. I did have to make the hat and beard, but that was the easy part!

I am thinking I might need to borrow this idea for my costume this year since he and the sisters have decided to all be zombies together.

Hope you are having fun with your kids and enjoying the holiday prep! I love to celebrate Halloween because it is the one holiday where it is all about the kids!

B-

I Love Ruffles!

I have always been a BIG fan of ruffles, and I am not referring to those potato chips that are great for dips! Ruffles on dresses, blouses, skirts, shoes, sweaters, and anywhere else you can think to put one! One of my favorite things to add to a layout, card or sewing project is a ruffled ribbon, so cute!

So when Cath over at Moxie Fab did a post about ruffles as a trend and issued a new design challenge, I was all over that!

First I started with the idea that it would be fun to try to do a Christmas card and that a ruffled ribbon would look great as a tree! So I used my sewing machine to stitch the ribbon onto the darling, glittery, polka-dotted background and gathered it as I stitched along. A chip star with some Ranger Distress Crackle paint on it and a stamped sentiment from the "Night Before Christmas" set that Julia designed for the Rummage Bin. Easy and so fun!

So how do you feel about ruffles?

;o)
B-

Lucky #2 You are the Winner!

Congrats to Diane McVey! She won the Royal Birthday stamp set by leaving comment #2!

Your stamp set is awesome! What I love about my birthday, is that it means if I have one~~I'm not dead!

So true Diane, thanks for the perspective of appreciating what I have and for reminding me to live in the moment!

I shared a tutorial over at Everything Creative for coloring with Alcohol inks, jump over and check out how I made this project...

The girls and I went and got our hair done today, they look amazing! They got "Adult" hair cuts and it is so fun to see them looking so beautiful and grown up, but that brings a little melancholy with it as well. Anyway they are as wonderful on the inside as they are on the outside, and that makes a mom super happy!

LOVE YA GIRLS!

B-

A Royal Birthday and a Stamp Give Away!

It is always so exciting to see one of my stamp sets get released! This one was inspired by my birthday, and thinking of ways to lighten up how I was feeling about turning another year older. This set is called "Royal Birthday" and it has so many fun components that make it useful for many other "Royal" occasions as well!

Both of these images were stamped with Ranger's Big and Bossy in Black and then heat embossed with black detail embossing powder, I LOVE that look!

And speaking of Royalty, check out Paper Crafts Connection today, they have a blog post about Stamping Royalty. I was one of the gals who won a spot this year, and am very honored to be included with these talented stampers!

So to celebrate I am giving away "A Royal Birthday" set to one random winner! Leave me a comment by Friday at Midnight, about what you love/hate about your birthday. I will randomly select someone and send them this stamp set!

You Rule!
B-

So Much to Share so Little Time!

It has been a sharing kind of week!
I did a tutorial in The CLASSroom that is super fun, take a second to check that out! This layout was one of the projects that I shared how to make.





Also today is a new In Touch newsletter from Ellen, I wrote a sewing tutorial that has some really useful information and also shows how to make two fun projects!




And if that isn't too much information for you to digest, pop over to the Everything Creative blog and catch a tutorial on paper piecing with printables! This darling gift bag is one of the projects I share how to make.

Other than that, not much going on here. Laurel has had the week off from her classes at the U. So we have been relaxing and hanging out, so nice!

I do have to admit that I am completely addicted to the new Fox show called Glee, check it out on Hulu! So cleverly written, the performances are amazing and it is just darn funny!

B-