Bittersweet Holidays

Hi everyone!
.
Hope your Christmas was a happy and healthy one. We were fortunate enough to get a chance to spend Christmas with my husband's family.

Lots of fabulous presents were given all around. The girls both got a DSi from my in-laws and were quite excited.
.

.
Each of the girls decided to give one another DS games which were a hit as you can see from the thank you hug below.
.

.
When we were at the Toy and Game Show in Chicago, L fell in love with the candy shaped pillows. I managed to surprise her with Jolly Ranger pillow. Like all the hair bows? She is such a goofball. :)
.

.
Grown up presents for my 6th grader (a duffle bag in her favorite colors for sleep overs).
.

.
The girls gave me the absolute best gift this year. One our favorite books is called the Patchwork Quilt. In the book the grandmother takes pieces of fabric from the family's favorite clothes to create a quilt that represents each of the family members. With the help of their sweet dad, the girls cut up some of their old soccer, swim and favorite t-shirts and took it to a local seamstress. She then put it all together and backed it with fleece. It is the sweetest, most comfy present ever. I didn't get a picture of the quilt yet but I do have a picture of opening the t-shirt pillow that went with the quilt.
.

.
Our ready-to-be babysitter. She does such an amazing joy with her little cousins and thoroughly enjoys playing with them, as well as, taking care of them.
.

.
While we were visiting we went to see a hockey game. They have the most amazing face painter there and she did the girls' faces. I was able to snap a picture when we got home.
.

.
As I eluded to in my post title and a previous post, the holidays have been a little bittersweet for us. We found out a couple of weeks ago that they will be closing DH's office here in Bloomington. If you have read my blog for very long you have probably read where I talked about how amazing our neighborhood is and how much we absolutely love living here. It was quite a shock and I will be the first to admit that I did not take it as well as I should have. My heart breaks for the girls and the good friends we are going to leave behind. They both have the most amazing teachers this year as well. I know that finding another neighborhood like this is going to be near impossible. But I am also trying to look at the bright side of things. They are offering DH the same position in another city. We have been able to find a couple of good school districts there and several homes that look very promising. We have our health, our family and friends that we will be leaving but definitely not forgetting.
.
Please keep us in your prayers for an easy transition, though. I am not looking forward to getting another house ready to put on the market so soon after the last move. There is so much to do and I am definitely feeling overwhelmed. I will most likely be a little light on the blog posts in the next month but I will try to post now and then to keep everyone up to date and post projects as I can.
.
Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas

Sorry I have been MIA this last week. There is so much going on here beyond Christmas preparations. I will be able to share more with you after Christmas.
.
Thankfully, we have all our presents bought and wrapped except for a few for the girls. I am looking forward to spending the holidays with family, relaxing and enjoying the season.
.
I am taking the girls to see A Christmas Carol today. Can't wait. :) We have also been watching our fair share of Christmas movies this year too. The Grinch and Jack Frost being two that we watched this last week. I have to admit, the Grinch still makes me LOL. Love that movie. :)
.
I have another Christmas project for you today. I just love how you can use all kinds of scraps to create beautiful tags. Look how a tag can easily dress up a simple kraft bag.
.

You can check out the Emma's Paperie blog to find the supplies I used for this project.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have a blessed and safe Christmas.

Christmas Past

Hi everyone!

.

The girls have been getting their share of winter fun. K spent Friday night with her best friend as they went on a Polar Express train ride and then had a sleep over. I was afraid that they may be getting a bit too old for it but they had a blast. Anything can be fun when you are with your best friend you know. Saturday night L went ice skating with her best friend and then had a sleep over as well. By the time the snow storm hit on Sunday we had two tired little girls due to late nights and then 2 hours of playing in the snow with neighbors. :) As for me, I have been trying to get ready for Christmas. DH and I spent Friday night while L was at gymnastics shopping. It seems never ending sometimes doesn't it?

.

I thought I would share a few Christmas Past projects with you today. I created each of these projects for publication. This first card appeared in Paper Crafts' sketch book. Really had fun creating projects for that book. Definitely worth checking out.

.

.

This Christmas bag topper was one of the projects I made for Kimber's last book, 175 Fresh Card Ideas. Obviously it is not ALL card ideas. LOL

.

.

This last card is one I created for Card Creations, Vol. 8 put out by Paper Crafts this last year. Just love that elegant Santa image don't you?

.

.

Thanks for stopping by everyone! Have a great week!

Christmas cards and sparkly stuff

I have Christmas card to share with you today. For this card I used the Christmas tree ornament from Magistical Memories. For a full set of instructions you can check out the Magistical Memories blog.


.
I added some yummy Creative Charms pearls on this card. You can find these pearls in one of this months kits. Check out this amazing deal.
.

.
Kit of the Month – Nouveaux Vintage – 125 Pieces

•Ivory Vintage Velvet Poppies
•Classic Grey Vintage Velvet Poppies
•Vintage Brown Vintage Velvet Poppies
•Amber Vintage Marble Brad
•Light Green Vintage Jewels
•Amber Vintage Flower Button
•Antique White Gradient Pearl Stickers
•Brown Vintage Velvet Ric Rac
Regular Price - $21.00
Sale Price $14.99 (30% Off)

..

There is another kit this month as well.

.

.
Deal of the Month – Winter Wonderland – 131 Pieces•Blue Pure Blossoms
•Blue Gradient Gem Stickers
•Winter Medley
•White Flared Flowers
•Blue Flared Flowers
•White Gem Garden
•Blue Gem Brads
•Blue Bells
•Blue Vintage Velvet Ric Rac
•Snowflake Ribbon
Regular Price $17.00
Sale Price $6.99 (60% Off)

.

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone. Enjoy your week!

Coming home with lots of goodies

Hi everyone!
.
Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Ours was fabulous. We got to spend time with uncles and aunts and cousins. Can't beat that. We also ended up coming home with lots of goodies as well. DH's parents and I gave him a Big Screen TV for his birthday/Christmas present and he took advantage of the prices on Black Friday to order it. I have also been looking around to find a table for our living room (my birthday present). I found the exact piece I wanted online but couldn't find a store that carried it. While visiting my ILs we found out that a store about an hour and a half from them carries it along with a ton of other furniture. So on Saturday afternoon, DH and I took the treck out there. We actually went back and forth between two pieces and ended up buying this gorgeous table.

The other thing we ended up coming home with was strep throat for poor L. She felt miserable all day Saturday and Sunday. After getting up 3 times Sunday night I decided to take her to the doctor. The medicine is helping already and although she is not quite back to her bubbly self, she is definitely on the mend.
.

I have a layout I wanted to share with all of you as well today. Been really inspired to create layouts lately. This week's inspiration came from a card sketch Jessica made for Emma's Paperie.
.

.

Here is the layout that I came up with based on the sketch. Had so much fun with this one. You can find a list of supplies on the Emma's Paperie blog along with all the other designer's interpretations.

.

.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

Toys and Games and Gift Cards

Happy Monday everyone!!!

.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We were lucky enough to be able to spend the weekend in Chicago with my parents. We spent Saturday at the Shedd Aquarium. (will share photos of this later this week) I just love that place and the girls had a ball. After leaving the Shedd, we headed to Geno's East for the best Deep Dish pizza anywhere and then back to the hotel so the girls could swim. My mom, sister and I did a little Christmas shopping while DH and my dad took the girls swimming.

.

Sunday we made our way over to Navy Pier for the Chicago Toy and Game Show. I have to say I really wasn't sure about this. We had high hopes but you just never know with these kind of events. It was far better than any of us expected. They had plenty of toys and games for the girls to play. It was a lot of fun to have an opportunity to watch my parents and sister spend time playing with them too. The first thing that greeted us when we walked in was this gigantic rocking horse. (Please excuse the awful photos. I didn't bring my good camera b/c I really wasn't expecting so many great photo ops.)

.

.

And of course you have to have a gigantic Etch-A-Sketch as well.

.

.

There were tables set up all over the place where you could play games but several of the booths had variations of their games. Several different booths had jumbo sized versions of their games to play. One of these booths was the Split Decision booth. K walked up spun the wheel and after answering 2/3 questions correctly got some free game cards. Then it was L's turn. She was lucky enough to land on the Challenge spot. She got to pick the category of her choice and then the chance to win a free game. She chose the Parts of the Ear/Parts of a Car category. She was so excited because they had studied the ear in school and with my dad's knowledge of cars, they were a shoe-in. She got all three questions right and won a free game. The first of the whole show!
.

.
We also got to check out the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile.

.

.
And even got a picture with the Star Wars dudes for Uncle Ken. :)
.

.

Wanted to share some Emma's projects with you today also. Cindy asked us to create a project to hold a gift card. Knowing that it was getting close to Christmas, I wanted to create a Christmas card but also thought people might want some ideas for other gift card holders. Each card has a pocket on the front to hold a gift card. You can find a supply list on the Emma's Blog along with ideas from the other designers.
.

.

.

.

.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Absolutely Lovely

Happy Thursday everyone!
.
I know it sounds like such a gliche, but I am blown away by how fast my girls are growing up, especially my oldest. It is amazing the changes I am starting to see now that she has started 6th grade. I worry constantly about the choices she will make and the pressures she will face. Every day I am reminded by words that come out of her mouth or things she does, that I need to relax. She is a girl who is confident in who she is and how God wants her to act. She makes me so incredibly proud. She is turning into such a beautiful young women not only on the outside but more importantly, on the inside.
.
I wanted to share a layout about my sweet girl that I created for Magistical Memories and Creative Charms this last weekend. Nicole Lombardo has created some beautiful new pieces. I started by painting the Sitting Pretty Bird Frame with white acrylic paint and then spraying it with Glimmer Mist. Combined with this awesome paper from the Lost and Found collection by My Mind's Eye and the layout came together so easily. I am truly a sucker for anything from MME. Love, love, love their stuff.

.

One of the things I love about this frame is how easy it is to embellish. So I added lots of goodies from this month's Creative Charms Deal of the Month. I absolutely love those Ruffled Flowers that came in the kit. I added some Gem stickers to the centers of the flowers for a little extra bling. ..

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Feeling Thankful

I have so many things to be grateful for. I am thankful for the freedom to say and write whatever I please. I am thankful for food on my table and a roof over my head. I am thankful for dear friends that I can turn to whenever and for whatever reason. I am thankful for sweet girls who love each other and treat each over with love (most of the time) :) I am thankful for my fabulous husband who keeps me grounded and supports me in all that I do. Finally, I am thankful for the opportunity to praise God without worrying for my life. I am so very blessed.

.

So, in honor of all I have to be thankful for, I thought I would share a couple of cards with you from the Card Style book by Paper Crafts.

All the beautiful bling on this second card is from Creative Charms. I created the flower using tulle that my MIL had left over and placed a vintage brad from CC in the center.

.

Thank you so much for stopping by. It means a lot to me. I hope your week is wonderful!

Stuck

It's amazing how much you take your vehicle for granted isn't it? I am feeling a bit stranded today. My wonderful Sienna is in the shop today getting a myriad of problems taken care of and I am without a car for the day. Anyone who believes that a Stay at Home mom really stays at home is greatly mistaken. My car was really in need of this servicing, but it was difficult to find a day when I wasn't committed to one thing or another. DH is going to leave work early so that we can get L to gymnastics and K to church so she can leave for an over night camp.

.

Speaking of this camp, K is so excited she could barely sleep last night. She went last year and had an amazing time. It is a great chance to learn about God's love and plan for her, meet new friends and go to a wonderful concert. I am sure she is going to have a fantastic time. While she is gone she will miss her little sister's second meet of the season. And since K is coming back at the exact time L's meet starts 2 hours from here, I will be missing it as well. It just kills me to not be able to go. I love to watch her compete, although I find it hard to breath when she is on the balance beam.

.

While we are on the subject of sports, K had her second practice for indoor soccer last night. I have to say, I am seeing a definite shift in her. She has played soccer for years but has never really taken the game outside of practice. She definitely enjoys it and always has a lot of fun but there has been a change. She now brings her soccer ball in the house and kicks it around constantly. She talks non-stop about the girls she is practicing with. She has not brought up playing travel yet but I have a feeling the request is coming. The majority of these girls play together on the travel team and I think K is going to have a hard time going back to playing rec in the Spring, especially since the majority of her team is male. We will see, it will be a tough choice. I am not sure she is ready to give up swimming but I don't think we can pull off both.

.

This last month we did a Echo Park spotlight over at Emma's. I really love their bright colors and fun patterns. Here are two cards I created using their Life is Good line.

.

.

Have a fabulous weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!

Fabulous Fall

I absolutely love fall. It is by far my favorite time of year. I feel that we got a little ripped off this year though. I didn't get a chance to enjoy the amazing fall colors as much as I usually do. We went from steaming hot weather to freezing. Then we had a storm with wind gusts of up to 60 miles an hour. All of this took it's toll on the gorgeous foliage. Sadly, this was the first year that I did not get to take pictures of the girls out in the leaves. I am going to have take them out some time this week and get pictures, even without the splendid colors behind them.
.
Anyway, I do have a fall project to share with you today. I created this Thanksgiving tray using some of the awesome leaves from Magistical Memories and of course my trusty Glue Dots.

.
.
I thought I would share the easy instructions for this tray so you can make one as well. The tray came from Hobby Lobby and all of the wonderful papers came from Emma's.
.
Instructions
1. Paint the tray using brown acrylic paint. It may take 2-3 coats to get an even cover.
2. Cut paper to cover the inside of tray.
3. Using a scallop punch create a decorative edge along one side of a piece of brown cardstock. Cut to create a strip that is 1 ¼ inch wide and fits the length of the tray. Use Glue Lines® to adhere to inside of tray. Repeat for all edges of the tray.
4. Cut 1 x 1 5/6 inch strips of pattern paper. Ink the edges and attach to brown cardstock.
5. Punch out label from die cut pieces. Attach circle label to left side using a Glue Dot®. Cut cardstock to cover a White Oak Leaf by Magistical Memories and ink the edges. Use Glue Dots® to attach cardstock to chipboard and then adhere label and leaf to inside bottom right corner of tray.
. .
6. Cover three smaller White Oak Leaves using Glue Dots®, making sure to ink the edges.
7. Adhere leaves and chipboard label to front of tray using Glue Dots®.
8. Embellish with pearls.
9. Create tag for bread by cutting label out of pattern paper. Mat with brown paper.
10. Cover final chipboard leaf using cardstock and Glue Dots®. Attach to label and add sentiment using letter stickers.
11. Attach label to bread using ribbon. Tie button onto ribbon using twine.
.
I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team.
.
Thanks for stopping by today. I really appreciate all of you that take the time to check out my blog. Have a great week!

Relaxed and Rejuvenated

Happy Monday!
.
We had our fund raiser wrap up assembly on Friday. It definitely feels good to be done with the program. We ended up bringing in over $34,000 for the school with 100% of that going to the school. On top of that we had 80% of the kids reading and participating. That is the best part of this fund raiser. I was quite happy to say the least. :)

DH and I got to enjoy a quiet weekend. His parents gave the girls tickets to see Lion King in Chicago as part of their birthdays in July. So they came and picked them up on Friday after school, and on Saturday took them downtown Chicago for some shopping and to see the show. The girls obviously had a great time and came home in time to get some dinner with us and head to bed to rest up after a long weekend.
.
DH and I spent our time alone by going to a football game and then to a comedy club on Saturday night. It was nice to be able to go to a late show and then sleep in on Sunday and still get up in plenty of time for church. Not only did the time change help but things just go so much quicker with only two of us.
.
I do have to say though, I welcomed those big hugs when we met them all at the restaurant. As much as I enjoyed the quiet time, I love having those sweet girls hugging all over me. :)
.
Speaking of those sweet girls, look at these pictures I found of them. I can't believe that I hadn't scrapped these. Look at those baby faces! I really need to make time to go berry picking with the girls again. We used to do that a fair amount but now we are so busy we just haven't taken the time. It has been a while since I have done a two page design and I had fun with this one.
.
.

Supplies:

Cardstock by Worldwin
Farm Fresh Hay Barn Paper by October Afternoon
Boho Blooms Pink Passion Flourish Varnish Paper by TPC Studio
Best of Friends by Mind's Eye
Firefly by October Afternoon
Corrugated White Alphabet Letters by Jillibean Soup
Strawberries by Creative Charms
Ric Rac, Buttons and Floss
.

Been working on a Thanksgiving project for Glue Dots this weekend. Hope to finish that up today so I can share that with you in the next day or two. Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope your week is amazing!

Post Halloween quiet

Hi everyone!
.
I have been spending my morning beefing up on my infomation about the candidates I want to vote for this afternoon. I want to encourage everyone to not only get out there and vote, but go educated. Know what the candidates in your area stand for.
.
I have a few pictures to share with you from this weekend. We started our Halloween celebration by carving pumpkins.
.

.
As soon as the girls finished their pumpkins they were ready to jump into their costumes. We had to do some major layering this year. Man, it was cold but I think we pulled it off pretty successfully. L's Polar Girl costume made it pretty easy. K's Greek Godess costume posed a few more issues. The flowing gown actually disguised the long johns pretty well I think. :)
.

.
We continued our Halloween tradition by celebrating with neighbors and a few friends. The girls all go trick or treating with their dads while the moms sit by a fire in the driveway, handing out candy. We set up tables with lots of yummy foods and hang out for a while before the kids go trick or treating. We got a picture of the sweet girls before they headed out on their trek to get as much candy as possible.
.


.
Creative charms has some kits for November that I want to share with you.


.
Kit of the Month – Fabulous Fall – 150 Pieces - $14.99 (Regular $19.42)
• Thanksgiving Chipboard Stickers – 6 Pieces
• Fall Seasonal Sparkles – 21 Pieces
• Light Green Vintage Jewels – 9 Pieces
• Sage Green Vintage Brads – 9 Pieces
• Fall Medley – 17 Pieces
• 18” Brown Velvet Ric Rac
.

.
Kit of the Month – Winter Wishes – 145 Pieces - $14.99 (Regular $20.42)
• Winter Chipboard Stickers – 6 Pieces
• Winter Seasonal Sparkles – 25 Pieces
• Red and Green Vintage Jewels – 12 Pieces
• Christmas Vintage Metal Frames – 6 Pieces
• Christmas Twinkle Stickers – 10 Pieces
• 18” Red Fancy Polka Dot Ribbon
• 18” Green Fancy Polka Dot Ribbon
• Red Vintage Poppies – 8 Pieces
• Red and Green Gem Stickers – 76 Pieces
.
Speaking of Creative Charms, I have two cards I created last week using one of the October Kits of the Month. I decided that instead of going the Halloween route with this kit, I wanted to focus on using contrasting colors to make your embellishments stand out.
.

.
Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a fabulous election day!

Ah, Fall Break

I slept until 9 o'clock this morning. I had forgotten how good that feels. I now feel ready to tackle some of the chores that have piled up around here with me being gone so much the last couple of weeks.
.
Even last weekend was crazy busy but in a very good way. The girls both had soccer tournaments and were scheduled to play three games each with DH coaching both teams. Both teams won all their games. L and I ended up leaving one game early so she could get ready for her first gymnastics meet of the season. She did fabulous and has actually already qualified for state. She got two 4th place medals in vault and floor, a 5th on beam and 6th in all around. Sunday K had her first swim meet of the season. She had a fabulous meet too. She placed a second in 100 breast, third in 50 free, fourth in 200 free, and fifth 50 breast. She dropped time in every event including almost 21 seconds off her 200 free!
.
I have two projects I created for Emma's Paperie that I want to share with you today. The first was created using a sketch by the fabulous Anabelle O'Malley. You can find the sketch along with the other designer's take on the Emma's blog. All supplies are from Emma's except for the little spider. I used a small purple pom pom and gave him googly eyes.

.
This second project was for the color challange at Emma's. Loved these fall gorgeous fall colors. You can find the inspiration photo at Emma's as well.
.

.
Off to take the girls to the dentist and get some food for my poor family. Have a wonderful Halloween weekend and stay safe!

Last Chance

Hi everyone!

Sorry I have been out of the loop all week. Things have been crazy busy at the girls' school. Everything is finally starting to slow down and I hope to be back to my regular posting tomorrow. Until then I wanted to make sure you didn't miss your last chance to pick up one of this month's kits from Creative Charms.
.
Click on the images below to place your order before October 31st.

.

.

Check out my post using this last kit over on the Creative Charms blog.

Have a great night!

Lisa

Halloween Drive By

Hi everyone!
.
Sorry for the quick post today. I am still swamped with this fund raiser at our school. I am having fun but I am exhausted. The individual class parties are a huge hit but it is a lot of work. We definitely need to get more help next year. Not sure how much we have raised for our school yet but as of last Friday we were only 5,000 minutes short of what we read last year. That is amazing considering that last year the kids read an average of 45 minutes per student per day during the read-a-thon.
.
I did want to share a project I made for Emma's Paperie this last week though. You can find a supply list on the Emma's Paperie Blog. All the goodies like the candy and socks came from Target. Man, I love that store! :)
.

.

.

.

.
Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous week. I am heading back to school! :)

Do you boo?

Hi everyone!
.
Before we moved a year and a half ago we lived in a really big neighborhood. Around the beginning of October you would start to see signs in people's windows and you knew that the Boo'ing had begun. It was only a matter of time before we would find a treat container on our door also. After moving here we discovered that no one knew what boo'ing was, so we have started it in our neighborhood. :)
.
Basically you fill a container (does not have to be anything fancy) with a few goodies and secretly drop it at the door of two friends. In the container should be a poem telling them what to do. You can find them all over the internet. Here is the one I used. You also need to include a ghost that they hang in their window so everyone knows they have already been boo'd.
.

.
To create this quick little bag I simply used one of the Kraft bags from Emma's and covered it with Happy Halloween Magic Stripes Paper by Echo Park using Glue Lines to make sure the paper didn't fall off. I then cut a strip of Monster Stew Cup of Eyeballs Paper by Jillibean Soup, matted it with purple and attached it to the top of the bag. I cut out one of the cute creatures from the Whoo-ligans Monsters Pattern Paper by Bo Bunny Press and attached him to the bottom of the bag. I then printed a speech bubble in Microsoft word, inked it up and I was done.
.
I also wanted to let you know about a Facebook promotion that Creative Charms is running right now. Anyone who buys both the Kit of the Month and one Deal of the Month will be entered to win $25 gift certificate. If anyone buys both Deals and the kit they will be entered twice.
.
Thanks for stopping by everyone and have a wonderful day!

Christmas sneaks and a Halloween treat

Hi everyone!
.
Had a few quick things I wanted to share with all of you before I rush out the door. Today is going to be a fun day. We get to spend time with the classes that earned rewards for the Read-a-thon today. I am really looking forward to all the fun games we have planned for them.
.
Anyway, have you seen the newest issue of Crafts N' Things yet?
.

.
There is a lot of amazing stuff in this issue, holiday cards and gifts, quick-and-clever ornaments and dazzling décor ideas. They have included a Budget-Savvy Gifts section with a ton of handmade gift ideas and so much more!
.
I thought I would share one of my cards from this issue with you. You will find step-by-step instructions to make this card and so much more in this issue.
.

.
I have a Halloween layout to share with you too. My girls get such a kick out of designing their own Jack-o-Lanterns and carving them by themselves. There are not so crazy about taking out the goo though. Check out K's face in the second picture in the second row. LOL
.

.
I created this layout using some of the yummy chipboard from Magistical Memories. I painted one of the scallop lace borders and painted on some Stickles for a little bling. Speaking of bling, there is lots of great Creative Charms sparkle on here too. The cute little pumpkin charm comes from the Vintage Halloween Frames set. The black gem stickers embellishing the journaling block are also from Creative Charms, as well as the orange brads on the scallop border.
,
Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a fabulous day!