Altered comp notebooks

I altered these composition notebooks that I picked up last fall while they were 25 cents at Wal-mart - these will be sold at a open house to raise funds for Relay for Life.

I used papers from DCWV and thickers, Alphabet soups and felt letters.

a birthday card for Halle

I recently won some digital stamps from one of my FAVORITE stamp companies, The Greeting Farm. I used Pinto Pony to make a birthday card for Chuck's niece Halle who is turning 8 and she has a thing for "yee-haas"(AKA ponies/horses).

I used DCWV patterned papers, the orange is from the summer stack (last year's) and the geometric is from Nana's kids (I think)...Nesties Label 2 and some ribbon from my ever expanding stash. The Happy Birthday stamp was picked up several years ago at the dollar spot at Target.

I glittered the yeehaa's spots and the bluebird's wings and used glossy accents on the mane then tucked a flower behind her ear for some dimension.

cards, cards and more cards

I've been busy using some of my new stamps and making cards - these first 5 are cards that I owed one of my sisters since February! They finally went postal on Wednesday so she should have them shortly - I left it the insides blank so she can use them as she wishes. This first one is Sassy Suzi from The Greeting Farm - the striped background paper is Basic Grey and the purple is from Oriental Trading Company. I used Nesties Label Four and glittered the "fur" on Suzi's coat. The purple accent is something I picked up at Hobby Lobby on clearance.

This card is my favorite - random ribbon, Making Memories paper and a SU! stamp -a Hostess Level 1 set "Country Morning". Nesties Label 2 was used as well.

This stamp is one that I bought when I was on vacation last year - not sure what company makes it. The paper is SU! (Razzleberry Lemonade collection) and a bit of pom pom trim I picked up at Joann's. I also used Nesties Label 4.

This stamp is from SU! (Because of You), the papers are from DCWV, nesties Label 3 and the orange accent is from Hobby Lobby.

This is another stamp from the Country Morning SU! hostess set - the peach polka-dot paper is PaperCrate, the brown is Making Memories, twill ribbon from SU! and Nesties Label 3.

This card I made for Shawn, one of my "sisters" to accompany a goodie package I sent her. This stamp is hilarious - when I first saw it I thought of me and my sisters shopping. We usually don't get this dressed up to shop but we do have the chins! The paper is SU! (Razzleberry Lemonade) bling is from Michael's (they are gold even though they look black in this picture).

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

I am so excited!! My friend Rachel turned me on the to The Greeting Farm website - I LOVE these stamps!! And oh my, the creativity and talent on the design team and on Club Anya's blog - outstanding!
Anyhoo, I won four digi images today!! That totally makes my day, my WEEK!!

I can not say that I have never won anything....that's how Rachel and I "met" - she was offering a RAK on the Cricut message board and I was chosen... and we have been buds ever since! Now we just have to meet face to face!

If you have never wandered over to The Greeting Farm - I strongly encourage you to check them out....its a wonderfully creative place http://www.thegreetingfarm.com

baby shower decorations

My niece Sierra asked me to make some decorations for a baby shower for her co-worker Vickie. As the gender of the baby is a surprise to most she requested that I make the decorations in green and yellow. I used the New Arrival cricut cart for all these and threw a couple dabs of stickles here and there.

The booties were a little more time consuming as I chose to thread the ribbon and tie the bows - Alley had to help me unravel the ribbon - I never thought I was going to get a crafting partner when I brought her home!

latest creations

This is the pink piggy party invitation that Halle wanted me to make.....I used my brand spanking new Create-A-Critter cricut cart - I think they came out pretty cute

This is the baby banner I made for my niece's co- workers baby shower- used A Child's Year cricut cart

This is Chuck's birthday card - love the new SU! happy birthday stamp - really clean and crisp!

And here is the birthday card I made for my dad (yes they are both really into John Deere tractors). On dad's card I used the Martha Stewart fence punch (its sideways).

updated Alley pix

Alley decided that she wanted to get to know my E - she's so inquisitive! and yes, those little piles of cuts ended up on the floor......

Here she is looking like an angel.......too bad she wasn't!!

She LOVES to watch TV - she was watching American Pickers with daddy and Uncle Roy.

This is one of my favorites of her so far - the sun had risen about an hour earlier and the eastern light coming through the window was beautiful

the bluebird of happiness

This sweet little bird was sitting outside on a branch one Sunday morning - made me feel good to see him sitting there - hopefully Alley will not see him as she is quite the hunter and can jump really high and can sort of fly through the air herself.....

Easter Cards

I made some Easter cards a couple of weeks ago but have not had time to upload them here. This one I made for my mom - totally lifted the idea for using a vintage Easter image from my sister Lisa - thanks sis!! This one was for my Mother in Law - used another image from the Internet.

And this one was for Kaytlyn - I used a stamped image that I got in an image swap and some scraps... the triangles and the rectangular ones are BG.

spring time wreath

I got the inspiration for this wreath from a fellow blogger:
http://hollyscharmedlife.blogspot.com/2009/11/deck-doors.html

Here is my version that I made for my NSSS JennyK for her March package. It was a tad more time consuming than I had planned - its base is a Styrofoam wreath wrapped with ribbon. Then I hot glued the hand made paper flowers to the ribbon covered wreath. I added a wired ribbon to finish it off and a ribbon for a hanger. Here is a close up of the flowers - the papers are from a collection from Making Memories and glittered with silver stickles. The center of the flowers are those marbly things you would put in the bottom of a vase - super sized skittles for those of us who bought into that craze! I backed them with some co-ordinating paper from Daisy D's.

Another shot of the flowers.

And the ribbon. I really loved the results ( I only tore it apart twice!!)

I think I'm addicted....

to The Greeting Farm stamps!! I love these little things...they are so adorable! This is Hope & Grace - Laundry. I'm not sure of where I got the patterned papers - they were in the scrap collection. The skittles were hand dyed...I believe these are Red Pepper. I used the usual lone Copic for her skin and a combo of SU!, Bic and Sharpie markers for the rest.

Here is a closer look at the coloring. I am no where talented at this - it's a major miracle that I can stay inside the lines. and here is another attempt to embrace my handwriting....for some reason this looks NOTHING like my usual hen scratch!

Introducing Alley Sunday

This is our newest family member, Alley Sunday Landers. She showed up one day at work, in the alley behind the office. She was pregnant and homeless and she reminds me so much of Shadow that I could not let her have the kittens outside. So after two days of feeding her and letting her sneak into my office I decided that she needed to go to the local shelter. I thought I was doing a good thing for her. Unbeknownst to me I was more attached than I could ever imagine - I cried like a baby when I dropped her off at the SPCA. I could not even drive home- I had to sit in the parking lot until the sobbing was done....the director of the SPCA is a friend of one of my co-workers so she told me that I could have her after she had her kittens. I knew in my heart that I wanted her to help fill the void that was left after Shadow's death and Purrsha really needed someone to love while we were gone all day. Alley fit the bill.
Now the hard part was talking Chuck into letting me bring her home. He fought it tooth and nail telling me that if I brought the cat home that I could find my own shelter somewhere else. I didn't let that stop me! I bombarded him with photos of Alley and finally told him that I was bringing her home and he had no choice. So, after a week at the SPCA where her kittens were aborted (she wasn't that far along I was told) she was fixed and gotten all her shots and a micro chip in case she gets lost, it was time to bring her home. She is a very loving cat and cuddly with her humans. However, she and Purrsha still have to come to terms. We usually awake to a screaming ball of fur rolling down the hall way....not what I envisioned at all. Everyone tells me that they will settle in and they may - meanwhile the current situation is NOT working for me. Today was a good day; no fights that I was aware of. Purrsha is choosing to stay in the basement on the ratty old couch - which is better than hiding behind the couch or under the bed.

I named her Alley after where she was discovered, Sunday after Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman's daughter Sunday Rose; Alley calmed down on the long ride home when listening to his music.

She sleeps through the night snuggled between Chuck and myself spread out on her back with her little kitty arms over her head....She is content with her new home.

birthday cards for Emily and Jennifer

My sister in law Jennifer's birthday was this week so I made her this Bella Birthday card. The patterned paper is Basic Grey with some random ribbon scrap that was on my desk. This card was for my co-worker Emily's birthday, also this week. The background papers are Basic Grey, some random stray ribbon, some skittles and the stamp is from TGF - its Sassy Suzi! This little chick looks the most like Em- brown highlighted hair with a funky blunt cut. And her fav color is purple

Here's a close up of the coloring - I used my SU!, Bic and Sharpie markers.

Megan

Megan is a Wild Sprout from The Greeting Farm - I really really love these cuties!
The floral background paper is from DCWV not sure what stack; the peach polka dots is Paper Crate. Megan was colored with a combination of SU!, Bic and Sharpie markers.
I am trying to embrace my own handwriting so, instead of using a stamp I wrote the "hello" myself. I can live with it.

Blingabella~

Here is the card I made for my friend and previous co-worker Barb - she recently got engaged and we are meeting up with a bunch of other co-workers to celebrate. I hope she is not adverse to the color purple.... Here is a close up of my faux bow and some of the faux stitching (used an old tracing wheel that old time sewing people used). I used scraps from my stash so I'm not sure of the origins.....the embossed scalloped heart is from Stampin' Up! ~ I just got it this week. The "sparkle" sentiment is also SU! Here is a close-up of the tiara and her sparkly dress~I think Barbie has a dress just like this!!