Family Pictures

This fall was a milestone birthday for my FIL, and you can see the projects we made for it HERE. We finally got copies of the portraits that were taken that morning, and I thought the current MDS Monday sketch was perfect for the two main photos! (I threw in a second page because we needed the others scrapped too!) So on page one, we have my husband parents, and their children and spouses. On page two, I have the parents and children, the boys, the boys with the sons in law, the girls with the daughters in law, and just the girls. I kept the page very simple to keep the focus on the photos.

Supplies:
MDS: Vintage Overlays stamp, Fundamental Phrases stamp, square punch, Days To Remember DP, Button Bouquet
Font: Learning Curve

Come back tomorrow to see some cards!! haha....

September, October & November!

Today I have the last of the calendar pages to share! ...In order from simple to complex, haha...

The September page was me trying to fit in pics of everyone at my niece's baptism. I succeeded, lol, but it isn't my favorite layout. I added the flourishes and pearls for just a little something...

The October page uses a sketch from Splitcoaststampers.com, but I pinned it so it was easier to find, HERE...and then I flipped it to fit a calendar, lol!

And for November, I put the Wonderfall DP and Punches to use!

Supplies:
MDS: Lemonade Stand (pearl) Baroque Motifs (flourish), Happy Hello (gray strip), Ice Cream Parlor (orange DP), Jewelry Tag Punch, Black Brads, Holiday Blitz (jack o'lantern), Wonderfall punches (leaves), Wonderfall DP,

June, July & August

Now that the calendars have been given, I'm going to speed up sharing the pages, haha...!
it was a little bit of a Christmas miracle that they came...the calendars hadn't been listed as "shipped" the afternoon of Christmas Eve, yet they were delivered at 545 that night anyway! And that meant they were able to be given on time! Yeay!!!

So here are three more pages from my parents calendar -
June:

July:

August:

Supplies:
MDS: Lemonade Stand (honeycomb & flower, Stitching), Vintage Overlays (ruler), Sprinkled Expressions (stars), Big Top Birthday (star DP), Candid Frames, Square punches

And yes, I left two frames empty in the August page, haha.... I was waiting to see if people could email me a couple pictures, and I never got them, but I really liked the stripes peeking thru so I decided it worked just as it was!

Birthday 2

And here is the second birthday card!
This time I used brand spankin new products from the Occasions Mini, which begins on January
And I used the latest Nacho Average Challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps: Butterfly Basics
Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Mossy Meadow
Paper: Lost Lagoon, Whisper White, Park Lane DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Banners Die, Butterflies Die, Basic Pearls

Birthday 1

Did you have a lovely Christmas?? Oh I hope so! I hope you were able to be with family and friends and enjoy happy times with them!

So, there are birthdays, even in the month of December, haha...And two of those birthdays belong to two of my closest friends! I made this at the beginning of the month, using a sketch that has long since passed, from Freshly Made Sketches.

Supplies:
Stamps: Perfect Pennants, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink: Lost Lagoon, Soft Sky, Baked Brown Sugar
Paper: Lost Lagoon, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White
Accessories: Chevron Embossing Folder, Banners Die, In Color sequins, Big Shot, Dimensionals

And tomorrow I'll have another birthday card for you, even tho it is Saturday! *smile

Merry Christmas!

I am scheduling this ahead of time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Here is my family enjoying our tradition of new jammies on Christmas Eve, along with our tree.

I truly appreciate those who read this blog and wanted to thank you for your support over the years! Today I am spending the day with family, gifts and yummy food, and I hope you can say the same.

I also wanted to share this video with anyone interested in the true meaning of Christmas. If the video button doesn't work, visit this link HERE. Enjoy this day, however you spend it!

Share the Gift of Christmas - #ShareTheGift

Can a gift given 2,000 years ago still matter today? Yes! Following the teachings of Jesus Christ can help us become more like Him. This helps us experience lasting peace and joy—this Christmas season, and always. #sharethegift www.mormon.org...

MORMON.ORG

December Page

Since it's Christmas Eve, I'm skipping over to the December page from my parents calendar! I kept the page suuuper simple because there are so many pictures I wanted to fit on there! *grin

I hope you too are almost ready, or ready, to relax and enjoy the holiday! I only have a few gifts left to wrap, and a few treats to deliver and then I think we're set!

German Christmas Cards!

Today's cards are not very different from things I've already shared, but they are just a little bit, so I'm sharing them anyway!
When I was 15 I went on a five week "exchange-student" trip to Germany. My school and the school in Germany had a partnership and the German kids came for 5 weeks in the spring and we went to the same family's for 5 weeks in the summer. Ten weeks with a friend, no matter how "required" it started, kinda binds a friendship, so after all these years, I still send Christmas cards...I try to send birthday cards, we email a few times a year, and! she called me on my wedding day and came to visit soon after my son was born!!
Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Winter kit came with English, Spanish, French annnnd German words that you could choose to use on your cards. Well, I happen to know someone who speaks German as her first language, haha, so I put these two together for her!! My son chose the card to send this year, and I'll send the other next year! But how fun is that?!

These were made exactly the same as I did the English versions (shown HERE) just using the German words!
So there's something fun for you today!

Our treats are all made, the cards are all sent, some of the gifts are wrapped.... haha...Still plenty to do at my house!

March & April

Happy Monday to you!
Are you ready for Christmas? I am so close I can't stand it! It's been pouring rain since yesterday and I'm hoping it turns to snow soon!!

Today I have two more calendar pages to share, from my parents calendar.
First up is March!

Supplies:
MDS: Days to Remember DP, Mis-stitched download, Limited Edition embellishments, Days in December embellishments, Burlap Ribbon download

And now April:
There are a few of these pages that are absolutely packed with photos...I tried hard to get almost every one on most pages, which is easier to do with a calendar topper than say, scrapbooking an event, haha! The April page uses photos from our family Easter gathering. Every year my parents invite everyone over to dye eggs and then go on an Easter Egg hunt. This year the party landed on my parents anniversary too.

Supplies:
MDS: Eggceptional Easter download, Easter Blossoms

Well, there are still Christmas treats to make and presents to wrap, so expect short posts this week from me! :) And pray for snow!

Christmas Cards in the Mail 3

Super quick post today, but here's a beautiful Christmas card for your weekend inspiration! I love the DP pennants, and the sparkle!
I really love receiving these cards and seeing all the fun ideas- they look so much better in person, than on the computer! *grin

January & February!

I know, you're thinking...I already used those titles recently! You're right- I have finished the calendar for my inlaws and now I'm working on the calendar for my parents! well, actually, no, I'm done (YEAY!) and have sent it to the printers and really hope it is here in time for Christmas Day....but I am now sharing my parents calendar pages! haha....

This one is for February. The wood background is recolored from the Espresso wood DP in the Wonderfall download. I sized it into wood planks and added some Vintage Trinkets as nails! Then I went for a scattered bulletin board look with the photos, so I attached them with silver brads that might look like pins. Pretty simple, but I really like it!

And here is the January page. And yes, it is almost exactly the same as my inlaws....I was totally burned out on creativity at this point, and I really loved how that page turned out so why not just use it again?! So I did! 

um....I just went searching my blog to link to my inlaws page and it would appear I never shared it?? So here's that one, haha!

And this one is really owed to a Vintage Overlay. The gray and blue is all from that. I added the snowflakes and the sequins...oh, and the white ink splatters that look like snow falling... Very simple, very pretty!

Christmas Cards in the Mail 2

Right after I shared the Christmas cards I've gotten in the mail swap so far, I received two more! They're both very pretty ideas for wreaths! So if you're still creating, check these out!

The first one uses a non-Christmas stamp/die set to make a wreath!

 And this one hung the wreath stamp/die set from the Holiday Mini on an adorable door!!

Are your cards done? Mine are done, but not all sent...I address a few at a time, and run them out to the mail box or drop them at the post office...apparently it's a work in progress, haha!

March & April Page

This is last page I designed for my in-laws calendar! Yep, that means one is done! The sketch came from Pinterest HERE. The color combination came from me wanting the big Crumb Cake panel and then checking MDS for a color combination! I went with Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, Pink Pirouette and Primrose Petals. Yep- two of those are retired, but they never retired in MDS! The page is really quite simple, just punches filled with color, buttons and brads, and the DP is from Stacks of Millions, which I think was a Sale-A-Bration disk a year or so ago....Oh, and the flower in the big Pink Pirouette circle comes from Days To Remember, which was definitely a content disk.

And right before I did March's page, I completed this one and called it April haha....Apparently this evening I was in the mood to add clusters of embellishments, especially brads...Funny how that happens.The backgrownd paper comes from Lemonade Stand (recolored to gray), the yellow stripe is also Lemonade Stand. The gray strip, and the gray Bakers Twine comes from Happy Hello. The Paper Daisies is one of my favorite downloads and I recolored some to be yellow. The pennants use Silver Glimmer DP, and of course the buttons and brads!

And that calendar is done! Yeay!

June Calendar Page

Happy Monday to you! How was your weekend? Ours was packed with Christmas shopping, a Christmas party at church and even some snow! I have been cruising thru calendar pages so guess what you get to see this week? hahaha...

Today I have June's top for my inlaws. I used a sketch I found on Pinterest HERE, and some not-hot summer colors, haha...but decidedly different than the snow outside!

Supplies:
MDS: Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set, Lemonade Stand DP, Pocket Full of Posies DP, Punches (circle, square, flag), Mis-Stitched

Christmas Cards In The Mail

Yesterday I mentioned my project for Cards In The Mail, and today I am sharing the Christmas cards I've received so far! You can never have too many ideas!

I love seeing how other people use the same supplies I have access to, and create something totally different! I wouldn't have thought of any of these cards!

Snowy Houses

Today's Christmas card is a two-fer!
This is the card I sent out for the Cards in the Mail swap, for November/December. It wasn't difficult to mass-produce and honestly I loved how it turned out! I assembled them all before adding the Dazzling Detail "snow", and then had them all spread out to dry, haha! Click on the picture for a better view...
Then crunch time hit for my card class, and I decided we could make this one too!

Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Home
Ink: Soft Suede, Versamark
Paper: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Pool Party
Accessories: Chevron ribbon, Homemade Holiday Framelits, Big Shot, Dazzling Details, White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool

How are your Christmas cards coming along? The last couple years we've done a photo card, so you'd think I'd have quite a stash acquired...but you'd be wrong, haha! I still need to complete a dozen or so more, and I was hoping to have them all mailed out tomorrow....hmmmm! Guess how I'll be spending my day...? hee hee....

Two Random!

These two cards are unrelated to all the other cards in my class, so they'll share a post, haha!

The first card was completely inspired by THIS card by Cindy. I am sooo not a gold person (my wedding ring is white gold!) but I did love the gold with the Cherry Cobbler and the stars on her card. My card is much simpler, but I think it captures the colors, haha!

Supplies:
Stamps: November Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler card stocks, Gold Glimmer DP
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon, Big Shot, Stars Die

This one uses the latest Clean & Simple sketch, and the November My Paper Pumpkin stamps!

Supplies:
Stamps: November Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon
Paper: Whisper White, Lost Lagoon card stocks & All is Calm DP
Accessories: All is Calm Washi Tape, Dimensionals

White Christmas 3

Here are the last of the White Christmas cards from my class... and no blue nor black to be seen, haha!

First up, the one that's been in my head since I saw the set! I thought the banner in Real Red would be fun and striking, and it is! The trees are kept very simple in Chocolate Chip.

Supplies:
Stamps: White Christmas
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Old Olive Baker's Twine, Dimensionals, scotch tape

When I used the deer, I wanted him brown but not super dark. I stamped him in Soft Suede and then used a Blender Pen to pull the ink across his body and give him a hint of brown. And this one made me think of my brother, haha...so yes, he'll get this one!

Supplies:
Stamps: White Christmas
Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Paper: Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Nordic Buttons, Linen Thread, Blender Pens, Dimensionals, Big Shot, Woodgrain Embossing Folder

November Calendar Page

Happy Monday to you! Are you ready to dive into another week? I'm not sure I am either...haha!

...something about good intentions....
I usually want to play along at 123 Get Scrappy, and you'd think with a month to play, I'd get it done more often... this time I was super excited because I knew it would fit a November calendar page so well....and I didn't get it done til into December, and the challenge was over by then. sigh... lol! So, today, I'm sharing the page that fit the November challenge at 123 Get Scrappy! I chose the row with "Spots of ink, more than five brads and Kraft background". check, check and CHECK!

Supplies:
MDS: Brads (So Saffron recolored to Tangelo Twist), Ink Splatters, Wonderfall punches, filled with Wonderfall DP

White Christmas 2

I seriously love this set! I counted what I've got in my stash and I'll have to make a bunch more Christmas cards this year and I have a feeling this one will be well used!
Today's cards use and almost use, haha, the current Retro Sketch, so we'll start with the one that follows it! Even if I did use a greeting set that just retired....on both cards....ahem!

I absolutely love the black, white and silver combination on this card! I had 14 of my 15 cards designed before I got to use the sequins and I'm glad I finally found a card that it worked on, haha! I thought about adding some brown marker to the trees, and some color to the snowman, but then I decided I like it just the way it is!

Supplies:
Stamps: White Christmas, Good Greetings
Ink: Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White card stock, All is Calm DP
Accessories: Silver Taffeta Ribbon, Frosted Sequins, Glue Dots

This one was inspired by the Retro Sketch but I definitely missed a few bits....and that's okay! I kept this one fairly neutral colored too, mostly trying to keep the cold look of a winter night. I love how this little bear is looking upward and I liked him looking at the stars. I colored the stars with the pen side of my So Saffron marker, and I squished my Soft Sky ink pad so a splotch of ink was on the lid and literally dipped a blender pen in that and scribbled downward thru the sky to add a hint of blue.

Supplies:
Stamps: White Christmas, Good Greetings
Ink: Memento Black, Soft Sky, So Saffron Marker
Paper: Lost Lagoon & Whisper White card stock, All is Calm DP
Accessories: Soft Sky seam binding ribbon, Blender Pens

White Christmas 1

This stamp set was on back order when the rest of my things arrived, so these were the last cards I designed, but the ones that were loudest in my head wanting made, lol! I had several basic ideas I really wanted to play with, so I was glad to finally get them out and created!

This card turned out really pretty for as simple as it is! I also managed to use two challenges from this week! I used the Mojo Monday sketch for the layout, and I used the Nacho Average color challenge too! The color challenge is not something I typically participate in, but it was really easy to do with the All is Calm DP, haha... I did cut out the car, with the tree on top, rather than stamping over the snow line, and I like how it turned out.

Supplies:
Stamps: White Christmas
Ink: Smoky Slate ink & marker, Old Olive, Pistachio Pudding marker
Paper: Whisper White, Smoky Slate card stocks, All is Calm DP
Accessories: Nordic Buttons, White Baker's Twine, Glue Dots

December Calendar page!

Happy Wednesday! Quick post today...

Today I have another calendar page for my inlaws...this time December's page! Of course these are new pictures, haha, and I used the latest sketch from MDS Monday! Just the first page, but still. I also liked the line of items across the bottom and had a hard time picking what item! I used the star punch, filled it with Old St Nick DP and spun the stars a bit! 

Supplies:

MDS: Old St Nick stamp set, Star punch, Square punch, Letters to Santa DP

Watercolor Winter Kit 2

Today I've got the last two cards from the Watercolor Winter Simply Created Kit. You can see how Stampin' Up! intended them to be made by clicking HERE. However, as I mentioned in THIS post, I didn't know I needed to have ink refills to make the cards until it arrived, so, I went the creative route and changed it up to use what I had! haha!

And so, I present to you, the same cards, with slightly different colors and/or stamp sets! haha!

This one I used the So Saffron ink for the background, and I gotta say- painting was fun!
*also, when watercoloring, please be smarter than some of us and move the rest of the paper crafting things away from the water!!! not that I know or anything...just trust me!
The words were watercolored over with Real Red ink refill.

Supplies: Watercolor Winter Simply Created Kit
Ink: So Saffron refill, Real Red refill,
Accessories: Two Way Glue Pen, Glue Dots

And for this one, I used a different stamp set for the "Christmas", and I switched the tag and holly...I liked it better this way, haha...

Supplies: Watercolor Winter Simply Created Kit
Stamps: Good Greetings
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Always Artichoke refill
Accessories: Glue Dots

Blog Hop: Wrapping Up the Holidays!

Welcome to December!! Oh my goodness, the year is nearly over! How does that keep happening??

This month we thought we'd feature gift giving, since that's what almost everyone is thinking about!

I thought for my projects, I'd create some different tags using the November Paper Pumpkin kit! We made a TON of jam and jelly this year, and we'll definitely be giving some away as Christmas gifts- so these three are now ready to go, haha! All of these tags come from the Paper Pumpkin kit.

Here are some closeups, with a little more detail....

On this one, I just used the blue tag, but I put a bit of Red Glimmer paper behind it, using scotch tape! Then I attached the tag to the jar using white Baker's Twine! Couldn't be quicker!

The second tag used completely My Paper Pumpkin items- all of which you can get tonight, except the To/From stamp. Those snowflakes are a fun touch- and the washi tape is too!

And the last tag only used the paper tag from the Kit, and every thing else was stuff I had on hand already... I used stamps from White Christmas, some Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, and my Smoky Slate marker to write with!

Tag making can be so quick and so fun! You can cut any paper into a tag, and we even sell great products like tag topper punches to make it faster! Stamp literally anything you want and you've got yourself a cute tag ready for anyone's gift! Love it!

- Did you know that if you are a subscriber to My Paper Pumpkin, you can get some of the past kits and the refills, including the refill for November's kit? -it's called Simply Snowflake, if you're curious! (Click HERE to see which kits and refills are available!)
- Did you also know that if you hurry and sign up right now, some of the refill kits are discounted tonight only?! (Click HERE to see what is still available through the Online Extravaganza)
- Did you also know! that you can give My Paper Pumpkin subscriptions as a gift??? How awesome is that?! Check it out:

Item	Paper Pumpkin Prepaid Subscription	Price (Shipping Included)
137858	1 month	$19.95
137859	3 month	$59.85
137860	6 month	$113.70 -- save $1 per month
137861	12 month	$215.40 -- save $2 per month

Now hop on over to Cheryl's blog and see what she suggests for your gift-giving needs!

Then hop to everyone else's, and be sure and leave comments! We love to hear what you think of our work!!