Happy Birthday Mom!

I just got the French Foliage set from Stampin' Up, and I love it already!  So many possibilities...

But the first thing I made using the leaves was a birthday card for my mom, whose birthday is on Tuesday!  I needed a card I could mail without going and paying extra postage, so that meant it has to look nice without a lot of embellies.  This set is perfect for that!  I really don't live very far from my mom, actually.  We took her out to birthday dinner on Friday night, then she just stopped by today to give me some garden goodness, but I thought it would be nice for her to actually get something on the real day.

I also have to say that I was so inspired by my sister's card that this is basically my take on her challenge...if she had a challenge.  Do. you. not. just. love. her. card.  ps. I realized I need to get a dark red.  Ya know, fallish red.  Like not so Christmasy red.

After church today I whipped up this puppy with some apples from my co-worker's apple tree!  It is cooling off right now, then I'm about to go dig in.  Oh baby.  I am horrible at crusts; don't judge.

I also made a Christmas tag just in case my card club has a tag swap again this year!  I wanted to to get a head start on an idea.  But I can't show you that because that would be cheating!!

On a sidenote, today my heart is a little heavy because there seems to be a lot of friends and family around me who are hurting and having a tough time.  In church today, there was a great reminder: "Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

I hope you're having a peaceful fall day!

Thankfulness

Here's Mr. Pumpkin again doing his thing looking all gorgeous and pumpkiny.  I really like that stamp set.  Also check out that roller wheel from Stampin' Up!  I love all the words on there!

Together

I have been waiting for the perfect moment to scrap this precious photo of my nieces and nephew running up my mom's (their grandma's) driveway toward her house as fast as they could possibly go.  I love how they are caught in motion with all the fall colors behind  them.  They were so tiny!  Well, about 5 years later, they still have a blast every time they are together.  That's what this layout is all about.

The Once Upon a...Sketch blog teamed up with Color Inspirations this month and has been doing such amazing challenges, but this was my first chance to play along.  Honestly, I didn't think I would because all of the specifics kind of intimidated me, but I ended up really enjoying the challenge and the direction!  Here was the challenge for this week:

Road Trip

One of the highlights of any road trip with my nieces is the stuffed animals they bring along.  More often than not, it is "Bunny," featured below, and a pink kitty neck pillow who must've missed out on this particular road trip.  It was Turtle's lucky day, I guess.

There is so much you can do with stuffed animals in the back seat of a car with kids.  And it's amazing how funny kids think you are when you play puppet master in the back seat with their stuffed animals.  I've spent quite a bit of time on every road trip doing that very thing and feeling like I'm seriously talented.

So here's a layout of the girls that shows how much they love those little guys.  

Sketch from Lisa Saunders at Scrap365 December 2011

Playing in the Sunshine

This summer my nieces and I went to the museum, and one of our favorite parts was the Living History "exhibit."  (Can you call that an exhibit?)  It's super cool: they moved a homestead house and its outbuildings right next to the museum, and they have a working summer garden/farm with people dressed in character and ready to tell you a piece of history!  I had been there during the winter and had a tour, but I had never seen it truly working.  

They have row upon row of gorgeous sunflowers, and it was a perfect photo op!

Yes I did have a scrapbook page with this paper in mind when I took the photo.  I'll be honest.

Season of Thanks

I'm sharing with you today a fall card that I made using a stamp set from Stampin' Up.  I think this set is now retired, but I'm super glad I got it!  Don't you just love that sentiment?!?

Sketch by Mojo Monday

CPS 283

Oh is it nice to have some down time to craft on Sunday afternoon!  Today I nabbed the current sketch from CPS.

Here's my take on it.  I first tried turning the sentiment vertically so the card would be the other direction, but I really liked the direction of the original sketch better, so here's what I came up with.  I FINALLY used my October Afternoon 5 and Dime collection.

I have a seriously hard time using things that I think are super cute.  I feel like I'm damaging their overal l cuteness by cutting them!  

CPS 279

I know, I know, you're probably thinking that my last post was CPS 280, so aren't we going backward?  Shouldn't we be on CPS 281?  Yes, but I made this card after the challenge was over and thought I'd just go ahead and post it anyway.  The perfect sketch for some scrap usage.

Summer Garden

Hey!  Here's another page I made using the same kit as in my last post.  I had actually been saving some pictures of my mom in the garden to make a summery layout of her when this paper arrived at my door!  How fitting!

She actually did NOT like this picture of herself at all, but I love it because she's right in the middle of picking some goodies.  That just totally captures her with her favorite hobby!!

 Here's a little closeup for ya.

My Creative Scrapbook August Sketch Challenge

I am having so much fun with all of the challenges lately on the blogs I follow.  You are going to get super tired of me and challenges, but it's been working for me!  I have limited crafting time during the school year, so I can get in the groove so much faster when I have a clear direction.  

So this one comes from the My Creative Scrapbook August Challenge (which is open until September 14th if you want to play along and there is a prize, so you should!)

I have got to tell you about making this layout.  First of all, my husband and I have an office/hobby room that we share.  Our computer is in there (you know, for looking up sketches!) and so are both of our craft tables.  And by the way, no, he's not a scrapbooker.  He ties flies and makes fly fishing rods.  He would want me to clarify that for you.

So my twin nieces turn 10 tomorrow.  10.  Let me just say that again.  10.  I think they were four in this picture.  I got to spend a lot of time again with them this summer "baby"sitting them, and I just think they are more and more awesome all the time.  But still, they're turning 10, which is making me feel all kinds of reminisce-ish these days.  I have printed a lot of old pictures of them lately for layouts, and as soon as I pulled this one out, I showed it to my husband (who was right in the middle of something involving glue and feathers and a hook) and I continued to comment a lot about how little the girls were, and does he remember when Sophia burnt her finger on a hot dog on this camping trip, and does he remember them making s'mores in this picture, and does he remember how they didn't want to use the outhouse, and does he remember why their faces are orange--Doritos, of course--and does he remember their little footie pajamas they wore?  You get the idea.  I'm pretty sure he wanted to tell me YES I DO REMEMBER, NOW WILL YOU ZIP IT?  But he didn't because he's that awesome.  But seriously, these two girls are amazing.  If I could have kids just like these two, I would.  The title says it all, thank you very much Echo Park Paper Company and My Creative Scrapbook for this kit, which I LOVE and which says it so perfectly.  You will see this kit with more pictures of these two on future layouts for sure...

CPS 280

Seriously!  These past couple of CPS sketches have been awesome for using some of my favorite scraps!  Here's my take on the CPS Sketch #280.

This stamp set from Stampin' Up was the first set I ever got!  (Trendy Trees) But ironically, it's the trickiest one to use, and I could not do it without the Stampamajig!

Sweet Little One

Well, since pretty much everyone I know between the ages of 20 and 40 are having babies, I seem to be giving out a lot of baby cards right now!  I love to be able to give a handmade card at baby showers!  My goal has been to find ways to make cards that are not gender specific, and this little turtle was perfect.  God bless all these new little ones!