Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash - Christmas crafts!

Welcome to Day 3 of the Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash! I'm super excited to be chosen to host the Christmas Crafts portion of the event! (Thanks, Jeri for thinking of me!)

So...what kinds of Christmas crafting have you been up to this season? I know it's a busy time of year, but there's always time for a little Christmas crafty fun!

Maybe you've created Christmas cards...

Or cute packages to put a small gift in...

Did you make your own gift tags?
Maybe you've had a few extra minutes to make some Christmas decor...

{this is a brand new decor piece I just finished!}
~ visit HERE for the "how to" ~
Have you had a little Christmas crafting fun with your kids?

Please feel free to link up below so that we can all see your beautiful Christmas creations that you have worked so hard on. The linky will be up until Sunday! Don't forget that if you link up on this post you'll be entered to win some fun prizes over at Simply Sweet Home. Hope you join us! And, tomorrow go visit Jeri to share some of your favorite Christmas recipes!

oh my

Over the last month or so, Ryan and I have been discussing about what life would be like with 3 little ones. (I don't think it has anything to do with the long list of friends who are having or recently had a baby. Couldn't be.) We happened to be discussing this very topic in the car a couple of weeks ago. Mikayla must have overheard the conversation and needed to put her two-cents in. She matter-of-factly stated:

"Mommy, you can have a baby
and I can have a doggy."

Not sure it's going to work out like that, sweet girl.
Besides, I think you have enough "friends" to snuggle with for now.

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Goodness, I don't even know why I have been MIA.

My plate is full, but not that full.

Hope you're enjoying all of the fun, fall festivities!

{one of the cards for my next Stampin' Up! event}

check out these cards {over there}

Head on over to my Stuck on Stampin' blog to see some fun cards I made last week at a workshop. I have so much more to share, so come back to visit {over there} in the next few days!!

just a sample of one of the cards you'll see over there soon

tackle it tuesday - digging into fun!!

Today's Tuesday Tackle (say that 5 times fast!) is not housework...I think you all deserve a break from witnessing the mess that ensues in our house at times. Although I did clear off our bedroom dresser (again!) and have kept it clear for a week now!

Instead, I was able to tackle something fun! Austin will be turning 2 years old in just 21 days!! I mailed out the invites to his construction party over the weekend for his party coming up in a few weeks. I must say that I loved making these invitations! I know it might look a bit complicated, but I did it in stages, so it didn't feel overwhelming to me at all. I enjoyed it...even coloring in all the details...all 12 invitations. Remember folks, this is FUN for me!!

I don't want to fool you into thinking that I came up with this idea all on my own because I didn't. I got my inspiration from here. If you followed that link, you can see why I was madly in love with the invitation and I just had to work my magic to create it. So, the minute I saw it, I just KNEW that I had to track down the Stampin' Up! Little Trucks stamp set. I searched all over and found it on Ebay selling for at least $30. It's a retired set and apparently very rare. But my good friend Kim just so happened to have a friend who was willing to give it to her and then Kim let me borrow it. You don't know how ecstatic I was to find this out!! (If you don't know this about me...once I have my mind set on something, it's hard to change it!)

This particular card is called a criss-cross card and the tutorial can be found here (which demonstrates the technique using Christmas themed supplies...it's SUPER CUTE!!)

So, here's my tackle...





I actually came up with the wording of the invite after taking bits and pieces off of other construction themed invites I had seen around the web and putting them together into one.


Of course, I have tackled other things to get ready for the party, but I can't show you just yet. It will be a surprise! My biggest complaint about this invitation creating process is that I couldn't do more! I must say that when it's party time, I wish our house was a wee bit larger, so I could have more guests on the invite list! We're going to be combining family and friends this year again. Maybe next year we'll just have all of his little buddies over and do a family party separately.

So, that's my tackle...what's yours?

**Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom.**

late night ramblings

Today will be one of those "run around like a chicken with its head cut off" kind of days (ew...that's actually gross to think about).

Anyway, it's going to be busy.

Mikayla and I have dentist appointments in the morning which she has very seriously told me that she does NOT want to go to. Austin is going to be staying with my cousin for the 2 or so hours that we'll be gone and I'm a little nervous since he hasn't been left alone much without his big sissy AND his mommy.

After our appointment, it's straightening up the house time (it's spotless as I sit here typing, but you know how long that will last with 2 rascals running loose), cooking in the kitchen, and preparing for my event tonight! I am super excited to be hosting a Stampin' Up! card making night. During August and September Stampin' Up! is having a promotion called Just For Kids, so the theme of my card making night is Kid-Friendly Birthday Cards. My guests will be making 3 card designs (2 of each design) for $10 and will walk away stocked up on 6 birthday cards for all the little kiddos in their life (well, some of them at least)! All the supplies are ready and waiting for them. All you do is come over, eat food, stamp, have a chance to win a door prize, browse through the catalog if you want, and have fun with friends!

Here's a sneak peek at one of the cards we'll be making...


I've been staying pretty busy with Stampin' Up! but still enjoying it without getting too overwhelmed. I'm still posting on my SU! blog every now and then, so if you need a little card making inspiration pop on over there to check it out. I don't post every day, but I try to get something up at least once a week. You can check back tomorrow to see all of the cards we made tonight. Go HERE to see our creations!

In preparation, it feels good to know that the house is finally cleaned up, which I know Ryan is grinning ear to ear about (minus the part where he had to help). He says he likes it when I have people over because the house gets cleaned. No comment.

I guess there's really no point to this post other than to tell you that I'll be busy today and I'm still making my rounds to stop by and say hi to all of you who have come over to say hi to me! It would be a whole lot easier if you all just stopped blogging for a bit, so I can catch up. *wink*

Gotta love late night ramblings about nothing (12:14 AM to be exact).

And, just for fun (and because this post is a bit random anyway), I'll leave you with Mikayla's newest little obsession...dancing! She'll be starting a creative movement dance class in the Fall and she is super excited about it. I will definitely say that she has that creative movement thing going for her.

Here's the soon to be (in at least 15 years) contestant on So, You Think You Can Dance (I love that show!)

FYI: Don't mind the red face and the sweaty boy on the sidelines...we had just come in from the blazing heat outside!

teddy bear, teddy bear

Our new neighbors who moved in this last Spring just had their baby on July 5th. I wanted to give them a little something to say congratulations on their new arrival! We knew they were having a little girl, so I wanted to buy her a sweet little outfit. I love the chance when I get to shop for little babies, especially girls!! Since when did my own little baby girl get so big? How cute is this little summer dress!? (Shh...don't tell, but it was only $2.99 on Target Clearance!)


Of course the dress needed something else added with it to make it a complete baby gift, so I looked in my little gift container that I have on hand for just these occasions and I found this cute little {brand new, but stored away for awhile} teddy bear. Obviously, it instantly screams BOY with the blue bow around the teddy bear's neck. Nothing that can't be fixed, right?


I took the blue bow off and changed it up with a new one. I do wish that I had something that was PINK, but I had to make do with what I had. So, this was what I went with. I love the green and purple, but hopefully the blue doesn't overpower it.


Of course, to finish off the gift I had to make a card. And, how about a teddy bear to match!?

where has all my creativity gone?

I'm feeling a little dejavu at the moment. I can't even count the number of times I've had to tackle my little creative space here, but in order for me to squeeze out more of my creative juices, I just had to get this MESS taken care of! I must say, I'm a bit embarrassed that I can't just keep this space clean and tidy all the time, but it just happens so fast!

BEFORE

AFTER
BEFORE
(a pile of who knows what!)
AFTER

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I feel that I have been at a lull this last month with my creativity! But then, after thinking about it a bit more, I realized that I'm still being creative, it's just all being put towards one form of creativity and that is creating Stampin' Up! greeting cards. I started this new adventure with Stampin' Up! as an independent demonstrator at the beginning of April 2009 and since then I have been enjoying the beginning phases of building this little business (and new hobby) of mine! If you're a card maker and want a place to go for some ideas, check out my new Stampin' Up! blog at stuckonstampin.blogspot.com. Not only will I be sharing my crafty creations on a regular basis, but I also have a blog list on my sidebar of other great places of inspiration for you to go and check out. All of that card making energy has turned into this...

close to 75 cards in the last 2 months!!

What about you? Do you feel like you go in and out of being creative or is there something specific that you put energy towards at various times? Some months I'm gung-ho on redecorating. Other months I'm all about organizing. I can switch easily between wanting to "reinvent" something I find at Goodwill or I can be crazy for scrapbooking. There are so many things I love to do...I just don't do them all at once!

So...I want to know. What is tickling your fancy these days? Hey, it can even be things like shopping, being out in the sun, reading, whatever! I just thought it would be fun to learn what kinds of things you are particularly giddy about at this time in your life. Do share!

stuck on stampin' - new blog!

Hi friends! Just popping in to share with you where I'll be posting all about my Stampin' Up! craziness! It's kind of skin and bones right now (really, there's not much), but I just wanted you to know I now have a place of my own to share all of my stampin' creations instead of overloading you here with all that talk. Head on over to take a peek at what's going on so far, but PLEASE come back to visit again in the near future because I'll have lots more I'll be adding to make it my own little Stampin' Up! home, like maybe some cards like these...

Stuck on Stampin'
stuckonstampin.blogspot.com

I've been on a stampin' binge the last few days and have probably made close to 20 cards! Like I've mentioned before, I usually make 2 of each design, so that might explain the high volume. I've had so much fun, but maybe that's why I haven't done much blogging or checking in with other blogs. In fact, I realized late tonight that I missed Xazmin's Mod Podge Mania today! There's always next month, right?

Hope you all are enjoying your summer and living life carefree for awhile. I think that is what's happening around here! We have birthday parties, playdates, and family fun all on the agenda for the next four days. Life is busy, but definitely full of fun!

saturday's sketch on sunday

I've been enjoying a relaxing Sunday with the kids today while Ryan works. The weather is beautiful and the kids are enjoying all of their new outdoor toys from the garage sales we hit on Friday and Saturday. Around lunch time, we got a surprise call from my brother and he wanted to know if we wanted to meet them for lunch at Red Robin. What a perfect way to break up the afternoon, so we headed that way to spend an hour or so with his family. After we got home and while the kids napped, I got to do a little card making. I couldn't ask for a better way to relax (in quiet) on a Sunday.

I recently found this website called Stamping 411 and on Saturdays they have sketch challenges. I thought this week I would join in! Here is the sketch...


And here is my take on it...

All products listed are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Designer Series-Sweet Always (retired), Chocolate Chip
Stamp Sets: Seeing Spots (retiring), One of a Kind
Ink: Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, brown brad (non-SU!)
Tools: scalloped circle punch, scalloped edge punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

happy stampers

I had my first Stampin' Up! card making event last night. It turned out to be a pretty small group, but I really enjoyed it! I know that each of the ladies had a lot of fun, too! They were even teaching ME stuff about Stampin' Up products! I hope to make this a monthly event...card making is just so addicting!

Thanks, ladies, for the fun time!



I thought you might like to see the cards we made.

They had their choice of which direction they wanted the card to go. This was made with Seeing Spots stamp set that is retiring from the catalog! I had to get in one last demo using this set.


This is a fun one that reminded me of summer. Wouldn't these make cute summer birthday party invitations!? I didn't come up with the design of this card, by the way. It's all over the internet!


Lastly, I just had to use the Cheep Talk set that you have seen quite a bit already on my blog. I can't get enough of these little birdies. Too cute!



And like I said before, card making is very addicting! In fact, after the ladies left, I wanted to keep creating, so I used up all the leftover supplies and made 10 more cards of the 3 designs we made.

{Not sure why the picture is sideways, but I'm too tired to figure it out.}

Off to hit some garage sales during the weekend, a hair cut and color that is very much needed, and a carnival birthday party for the cousins on Saturday. Busy weekend, but I'm sure it will be lots of fun! Ryan has to work on Sunday, so that day might be a long one.

hit me with your BIG SHOT

Woah! Has it really been 5 days since I've blogged last? What's up with that? I never go that long. There's usually something I have to say. I suppose there's just been a lot of other things that have sucked up my time and I'm trying really hard to be better at prioritizing. I think I might have said this once or twice before!

So, while the kids take a {much needed} nap, I wanted to share with you some cards I made over the weekend. I hosted my second Stampin' Up! workshop on Saturday and it was so much fun! Thanks, Angie, for hosting!!

My friend, Andrea, who is also my upline (the person I signed up under) loaned me her BIG SHOT over the weekend. It's a die cut machine you can purchase through SU! Oh, and let me tell you...this bad boy is definitely going on my Christmas list (if I can wait that long!!)

I got to play around a bit with the "top note die" and the "medium scallop die". It was so much fun to use these to make cards. Here are the samples I created below...just for fun!

These two are created with the "top note die". I love the look it gives the card and the way it frames the stamped images. I always make at least 2 of each of the cards I design.


This one I did as a demo at the workshop, so the guests could see the Big Shot in action. The flowers in the top right corner are also created using the Big Shot.


These next two cards I made just for fun using the "medium scalloped die" (blue circle background). I, again, made two of each of these and then just changed out the greeting, so it's a different sentiment on each one...to have a variety of occasions to choose from.

**Sneak peek! This first card is going to be one of three cards that we will be making at my card making night next Thursday.


This next card was actually the "make n take" at the workshop on Saturday. We didn't use the die cutting machine for this one. Can you tell I love this little birdie set!? It's called Cheep Talk. (There are other samples I've created here.) Thank goodness it's sticking around for the next catalog. It's too cute to retire!


These last samples were the hostess gift for my friend Angie, who hosted the workshop. (For each workshop I do, I try to spoil the hostess by giving them some extra goodies, since they are so kind to open their home to let me come in and share about Stampin' Up!)

I made 3 of each of the two small birthday gift tags and then made a matching box to put them inside. These are made with the stamp set Think Happy Thoughts and the Seeing Spots stamp set. Seeing Spots is actually retiring from the catalog. So sad! I loved this one. I'll still use it for my own personal use, but I won't be able to show it off at any of my future workshops or card making nights since it won't be available for purchase any more.

3x3 cards...

...with matching box

Each of the guests at the workshop had these at their table, and then I quickly did a demonstration of how to "whip these out". Check out this tutorial if you want to make your own!


For all of those die hard Stampin' Up gals out there, sorry I didn't go into detail about the colors/DS papers used, but I didn't want to bore all my other readers with a long list of supplies. Please e-mail me if you'd like to know. I find it very helpful when I'm searching out ideas for Stampin' Up! products to know what colors are being used in the project, so I have decided that (because I don't have enough already to do) that I'm going to start another blog (oh goodness!) that will showcase my SU! projects. On that blog, it will post all of the "ingredients" needed to make them. It will be slow in getting up and running, but it will come soon and I will tell you all about it when it happens. In the meantime...I need a name! There are so many play on words with Stampin' in the title, but so many are taken. So far I have Stuck on Stampin'! which I haven't seen used...yet. Any other ideas??

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And in other craftiness...

Don't forget you still have TWO MORE DAYS to showcase your monogram projects! We will be taking July & August off from the monthly craft challenges, so be sure to squeeze this one in! If you haven't yet checked out the fun projects, be sure to visit here. Thanks to everyone who has joined us so far! It's been fun to see what you have come up with.

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I'm working on a Father's Day gift for the grandpas, so I'll see if I can get that finished to show off tomorrow! Hope you are all having a great start to your week!