Happy Birthday to Me!

I was going to post a card but instead I decided to show you what my family brought me for breakfast in bed! :D Fun, huh? Those are heart shaped waffles! I love hearts!

Hope you all have a wonderful and SAFE New Year's!

I Have a Secret! :D

Something is brewing, what could it be? On January 3rd, soon you will all see!

PS: It's definitely NOT a baby!

EtsyInspired on Break! :)

For those of you who don't know, I'm the tyrannical slave driver behind the EtsyInspired challenge. :) For the first time ever (I think) we are taking a week off! YAY! I think I need to give my girls more time off, they would REALLY hard for me!

We'll be back next week to start the year off with an awesome challenge! I hope you will join us then!

And here's another picture from our holiday photo shoot. Merry Christmas again, from my family to yours!

Merry Christmas!!!

From our family to yours! Hope your day is filled with laughter and joy!

Also, I might take a couple days off blogging, we leave Sunday for my SIL's wedding.

Snowman Happy Holidays

Hi friends! Happy Thursday! Today is the day we bake and decorate cookies for Santa each year! :) Dec 23. So, that's what we'll be doing tonight. The kids seem much better today.

I don't know why I'm still making Christmas cards but I'm just in that Christmas spirit, I guess. I still haven't mailed out all my cards yet so some of these might just go out to some friends. :)

I made this card using one of the Day 12 sketches from the LOVELY Amy Heller. I put this together very quickly using some Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather and some baker's twine. I did leave off a layer on this, I just couldn't make it work. I hope that doesn't disqualified! ;)

Have a WONDERFUL week everyone! I might not see you again before the New Year.

Card Details:

Card Stock: cream

Patterned Paper, Sticker, Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather

Misc: baker's twine

Vintage Santa

Hello again, friends! It's a rather sloooow day here so I'm blogging again. The kids are sick but in pretty good spirits. I've kept them inside today so that they can rest and get better by Christmas, hopefully!

During nap time today, I was able to make a couple cards. I haven't crafted in a while, it felt nice! This card is made for Laurel's blog candy challenge. She gave us this Santa image to work with. I love it! Its so vintage and fabulous! I also used one of Amy Heller's sketches from Day 12 for this card.

I love vintage for Christmas! I inked the edges of the paper with white ink, not sure if you can see it. I tried to use some of the vintage buttons I got at that vintage event I went to a while ago but I couldn't find two that matched so I went with some Denami buttons.

Card Details:

Card Stock: cream

Patterned Paper: Webster's Pages

Image: Digital from Laurel Seabrook

Buttons: Denami Designs

Fibers: May Arts string

Our Christmas Cards

Hi friends! We are home today since I have two kids with colds. Sigh...that's ok. I'm fine with hanging out at home. I certainly do not want to go to any stores!

Today, I'm showing the Christmas cards that I mass produced for our family and friends. Sadly, I haven't gotten these mailed off yet. Hopefully, I will today. We'll see. Not sure how that will work with two sick kids.

I made a few different variations on the same card. I made some bright and fun ones with Echo Park's Everybody Loves Christmas. And I made more traditional ones with Echo Park's Merry Christmas.

Normally, I don't make our Christmas cards, I just send photo cards. But this year, I was chatting with D's Grandma about how people don't send cards anymore so I decided to make cards and put a picture in the envelope for those who like pictures. Personally, I love pictures because I get to see how everyones' families have changed over the year.

I experimented with the border punch on some of the cards. The ones in the pictures are my favorites. There are ones I just did a couple of since I didn't really end up liking them.

Can I just tell you that making the cards isn't nearly as labor intensive for me as addressing them? Oy! I don't mind the making part, but all the writing is a chore for me. Also, I'm not that organized so FINDING people's addresses wasn't an easy task either!

Hope you all have a VERY Merry Christmas! Or a WONDERFUL any other holiday you celebrate! OR a FABULOUS winter break if you don't celebrate any holiday. :)

Card Details:

Card Stock: white/cream

Patterned Paper: Echo Park Everybody Loves Christmas/Echo Park Merry Christmas

Stamps: Ippity Merry Kissmas, Ippity Season of Joy

Misc: Copic, border punches

You Make Me Smile

Hi Friends! I'm so out of practice on blogging! I did so good for November but this month is so incredibly busy. Maybe January will be better, but just maybe.

I made this card for a friend. My friends and I did a Secret Santa exchange where we made homemade gifts. My gift was a box of assorted cards to use during the year.

I made this card using a sketch from Amy Heller who was hosting 12 Days of Christmas cards on her blog. I used SKETCH TWO. I used all elements from Echo Park's Life is Good crafting kit. I fussy cut the flower out of patterned paper.

I'm hoping to be back before Christmas to blog my Christmas cards. I hope you all are having a great week!

Card Details:

Card Stock: Kraft

Patterned Paper: Echo Park Life is Good

Sticker: Echo Park Life is Good

Doily Tree

Hi friends! I'm blogging this project here and on the Paper Maniac blog today. :)

I have a Christmas project I made to share with you all. The base of this is a styrofoam cone I got at a local craft store. You can find a tutorial for this doily tree HERE. It's a pretty fast craft and would make a lovely hostess gift for anyone you might be visiting this holiday season.

Project Details:

Styrofoam Cone

Doilies

Stick Pins

Webster's Pages trim

Tree topper

I'm linking this to:

EtsyInspired #119 ~ Ling Glass

This week's EtsyInspired challenge shop is Ling Glass. They make beautiful wearable art jewelry. I love all the gorgeous stained glass jewelry they make! The soldering is impeccable. They also make pendants where art is sandwiched between two pieces of glass, framed art pendants, glass gem pendants, and fused dichroic glass items. You should check out all the fabulous types of pendants and jewelry in this shop! It's fabulous! This week, Ling Glass is giving away a $10 gift certificate to their store.

Be sure to check the EtsyInspired #119 post to read the rules and link up your creations.

We also have a fabulous sponsor this week! My friend Kim Wilson recently started a stamp company with CUTE stamps! The company is called Wilson Designs and they are offering up a stamp set to one winner.

Here's my creation from this week. I was inspired by the pendant above. I used Amy Heller's sketch found HERE.

And the amazing DT including our new guest designer for this month:

De

Emily B.

Emily N.

Joy

Kerry

Laurel (Dec Guest)

Savannah

Stephanie

Virginia

Card Details:
Card Stock: White
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye Love Me Do
Stamps: Unity Stamp Co Butterfly Beauty
Misc: bling, border punches

FWF: Love in Paris

Hi friends! Happy Friday! We are going to have a fun filled weekend, lots of holiday stuff going on.

Here's a card I made with a couple stamps I was able to pick up from Unity's KOTM from Sept called When I'm With You. Just a very CAS card with card stock and stamping. I made this for a recent call but it was REJECTED. Sigh... at least I have stuff to blog for a while. ;)

If you are looking to pick up some Unity and doing some last minute holiday shopping, you should check out Paper Maniac's Deal of the Week (there's some HOT Unity stamps in there) and their Year End Clearance.

Have a great weekend everyone! And please check out the Unity blog for this week's FWF blog list!

Crafting with Kids 2

Hi friends! Sorry, I'm ignoring the blog so much lately. I'm just overwhelmed with the holidays coming and some other stuff. I have so many projects but I haven't had time to sit and blog them yet.

Ok, here's the project we did last Friday when I was watching my friend's little girl. It's awesome because she's 5 and gets really excited about crafting which makes Brady really excited. We wait until Parker takes a nap to craft since he just wants to eat all the paper. :)

Last week's project was hand wreaths. The base is a paper plate I cut a circle in. I had the kids color the plates green to keep them occupied while I was cutting out hands, etc.... I traced the kids' hands a bunch of time. (D. asked me later why I didn't just make a template. Opps!) Then I helped them cut out their hand prints. Sophia is actually able to cut her own! That was awesome! Then I helped them use glue dots to decorate their wreaths. I just let them pick out the embellishment, place a glue dot on the back, and then they can stick it on there like a sticker. After we were done, I just punched a couple holes in the plates and tied ribbons on them.

We had a lot of fun! I love crafting with the kids especially when there's an older child who's really into it!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Christmas Carol

Here's my card from the Paper Maniac blog yesterday. We are supposed to be inspired by Christmas carols this week.

Here's my card for this week. I was inspired by the song "O, Christmas Tree." Isn't this Unity Itty Bitty so cute?! I love the size of the Itty Bitties and their sentiments, so perfect for whipping together a fast card!

Card Details:

Card stock: white

Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup Chestnut Soup

Stamps: Unity Merry & Bright

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa

Misc: brown ribbon, border punch, circle punch

EtsyInspired #118 ~ Tzaddi Shop

This week's EtsyInspired challenge is Tzaddi Shop. The jewelry in this shop is exquisite! The designs are artistic and beautiful. I love all the detailing! They also have another shop for decorative items called Tzaddi Home. This week, Tzaddi is offering two prizes. One winner will get a $35 gift voucher and another winner will get a $25 gift voucher.

They are also offering a 15% off discount on all purchases for our readers and players. Please use TZContest15 to get your discount. And head over to the EtsyInspired blog to link up your card and put your name in the drawing!

We also have an awesome sponsor this week, Scrapincovers. They are offering up a $15 gift certificate.

Here's my card for this week. It's inspired by the photo above.

And the amazing DT including our new guest designer for this month:

De

Emily B.

Emily N.

Joy

Kerry

Laurel (Dec Guest)

Savannah

Stephanie

Virginia

Card Details:
Card Stock: Kraft
Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny Crush
Stamps: Unity Be Owl Mine
Misc: My Little Shoebox Alphabet Stickers, twine, Martha Stewart punch

Crafting with Kids

Hi everyone! Hope you are having a good week.

Here's a craft I did last Friday with Brady and his little friend Sophia who we were watching. I cut out all the trees by hand, there are 12 of them. Brady requested that we have ORANGE in our banner so I went with it. I found some old SU winter paper with orange in it.

I punched out brown squares for the tree trunks. Then I punched a bunch of different shapes for "ornaments." The kids glued on the ornaments, added some rhinestones, and I added some Stickles. Then I punched holes in each side of the top of the Christmas trees and threaded them on this ribbon. Then I tied on tons of little ribbons to keep the trees in place. Overall, the kids spent like 20 mins on it and I spent like 2 hours. What can do you?

Sorry for the bad pictures. It's really hard to take pictures of something so big and there's a chandelier in the middle of this room.

Hope you have a great day!

Echo Park Christmas

Hi everyone! Hope you are doing well! It's continuing to be a rough time in our house but hopefully things will get better. I'm starting to feel ready to leave this year behind.

Here's the card I shared on the Paper Maniac blog yesterday. We are sharing Christmas decor ideas so if you wanna hear my tip to do with all the cards your making this time of year, hop on over there.

I made this card using the Card Patterns sketch for this week. I rather love this sketch so you might see it from me again. All the elements other than the card stock are Echo Park's Merry Christmas line. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really really love crafting kits since I can create just out of the kit without having to add much. Love that! Anything that makes crafting simple is good for me!

Have a great week everyone!

Card Details:

Card Stock: Bazzill

Patterned Paper: Echo Park Merry Christmas

Sticker: Echo Park Merry Christmas

Misc: border punch

Maniac Monday: Christmas

Please check out my post on the Paper Maniac blog HERE and leave me a comment! Thanks soooo much!!!

EIC #117 {Paper Seeds}

Sorry I don't have a creation to share. It's been a rough week. Please check out the challenge HERE.

And the amazing DT including our new guest designer for this month:

De

Emily B.

Emily N.

Joy

Kerry

Laurel (Dec Guest)

Savannah

Stephanie

Virginia

Christmas at Our House

Hi friends! It's been a rough week so I don't have any creations to share with you. But I thought I'd show you the Christmas decorations we put up last weekend. This is our first Christmas in our new home, we just moved in Sept.

Here's our tree. It's artificial and it probably older than I am. We got it from D's parents. We only used the non-breakable ornaments since our kids are so little. I tried to take a picture of this in the dark but it didn't turn out.

Here's my FAVORITE thing we did this year, our mantle. I think it looks beautiful. Just warm and homey. I love the lights, giving a soft glow to our decorations. And look, there's my FAVORITE picture of Parker. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Card and a CALL!!

Hi friends! Hope you are having a great week! :) I can't wait for the weekend! Shocking, huh?

Here's a card I made using the Card Patterns sketch for this week. I used my Unity store kit from last month. You had to know I was getting those hearts. :) I pulled out some Basic Grey Sugar Rush for this. And I pulled out these heart shaped doilies for the first time.

Also, you have TWO DAYS to submit to the call for Through the Craftroom Door Magazine!!! Check out details HERE! PLEASE SUBMIT!!!! I wanna see your work in print!

Have a great day everyone!

Ashley's Holiday Wish List

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to:http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family? My wish is to make wonderful memories for my children that will carry them through the years. To instill hope and a spirit of giving. For them to have this very special time of year to look forward to each year.

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition? First, I'm the pesky mom that makes you take pictures in your Christmas pajamas before you can open gifts. Then we open stockings then presents, one at a time. After that we eat breakfast which I make.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? I'd ask for a maid! :)

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? Driving around to see everyone's wonderful Christmas decorations. Baking cookies and letting the kids decorate them. Making crafts together as a family. Listening to Christmas music.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up? Lots of NES games especially Duck Hunt. We also played Monopoly and card games.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? We still do a big family celebration on Christmas Eve and then immediate family on Christmas Day.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip? We've tried Christmas away from home and I don't really like it. I like to be around family, friends, and tradition. We'd love to take a trip any other time of year though. :)

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year? 1. the new X-box Kinect 2. a DS for my son to take on long road trips 3. Epic Mickey for my hubby