Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!
I love this time of year, and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There is just something wonderful about taking a day to just slow down and be thankful.

Here are my top 5 things I am thankful for (not that I only have 5, but I am sure you do not want to spend all day just reading my blog, so I am condensing it into 5):

1. My Heavenly Father- I am so thankful for His love, grace and mercy. He is so patient with me. He loves me in spite of my faults and weaknesses. He never gives up on me! I don't know how I would make it without His strength and wisdom. He is everything to me.

2. My husband and children- I feel so truly blessed to have them in my life. They are such a precious gift. My husband is such a loving and generous man (and a great example to me). My children are such a joy to me (yes, even on the days when I feel like I go to bed with less hair.) I am so thankful of the time I have with them each and every day and feel so blessed to be able to homeschool them and share my days with them. It is so exciting to see your children grow not only physically, but spiritually, academically and in maturity. I am so proud to be their wife and mother.

3. My family- I am so thankful for my parents, siblings, and in-laws (both my family and my husbands). They have been such a blessing to me throughout the years. I have been so blessed with an amazing family who show such love towards one another. We may not see each other often or be able to spend much time together, but each moment, whether it's on the phone or in person (or on-line), is a moment I treasure.

4. My country- I am so thankful to be an American. I am so thankful for the freedoms we have here. I enjoy my freedom to worship how I want and to homeschool my children and to have the many freedoms that we so take for granted.

5. Last, but certainly not least, my friends- I have such a wonderful group of friends that mean so much to me. I am thankful for each time they take a moment out of their day to say a kind word, or to share a smile, or comment on a post. Where would we be without the kindness and encouragement of one another? I am truly blessed to have such amazing friends.

I pray each of you have a truly blessed Thanksgiving holiday! May you enjoy each and every moment and take the time to be thankful for the little things.

Bloomin' Birthday

I used Scarlet Jewel, Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream, Burnt Umber and Toile Pink to stamp In Bloom and make my own background paper for this card. The flower is stamped on Scarlet Jewel cardstock with Versamark and embossed using transcendence embossing powder, then carefully cut out. I did the same thing with the leaves using Ripe Avocado cardstock. The corners are rounded using scissors (because I couldn't find my corner rounder at the time). I layered it on top of some Spring Moss cardstock that I had punched with an EK Success border punch. The pink grosgrain ribbon was then tied around to hide the seam and the flower and leaves were adhered with foam tape to give it dimension.
For the inside, I stamped the flowers and leaves with In Bloom in Scarlet Jewel and Ripe Avocado ink. The dots in the top left corner are from Flower Garden. The sentiment is from Damask Designs.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps-In Bloom, Flower Garden, Damask Designs (PTI)
Ink-Scarlet Jewel, Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream (PTI), Burnt Umber, Toile Pink (Palette), Versamark
Paper-Vintage Cream, Scarlet Jewel, Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado (PTI)
Other-sweet blush grosgrain ribbon (PTI), Transendence embossing powder, EK Success border punch

White + 1

This is a card that I actually made for the SCS Clean and Simple challenge that was a couple of weeks ago. I am just now getting around to posting it...sad, uh? The challenge was to use white and just one other color. The card base is Papertrey white cardstock. I used the With Sympathy flourish and flowers. The sentiment is from Damask Designs. I added some mini bling gems to the center of some of the flowers and tied a ribbon around the top of the card. This is one of the fastest cards I think I have ever made. I will definitely be returning to this set again and again.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a blessed day!

Supplies:
Stamps- With Sympathy, Damask Designs (Papertrey)
Paper- White Stampers Select (Papertrey)
Ink- Versafine Onyx Black
Other-bling (Martha Stewart), black satin ribbon (Offray)

Thankful For Friends of Faith Blog Hop

The fun starts Saturday, the 14th at 10am and continues through Sunday (15th) evening.

Welcome to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine's A Faith Perspective Thankful for Friends of Faith Blog Hop. Today, we're out in force on the internet -- showing our faith and giving the glory to God. United, we stand as Christian paper crafters and blog owners to make a presence on the internet for all to see. We're celebrating the theme of friends and we're happy to share our projects with you based on the verse:

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. " Ecc4:9-10a

I am so excited about being a part of this blog hop, not only because of what it stands for, but I am excited about "meeting" new people and making new friends.

If you have arrived from Holley's Blog, then you are in the right place.

If you're just joining in on the fun, you can find the start of the train here: http://www.scrapbooknewsandreview.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=100783. First, we would like to take a moment to thank our generous co-sponsors: Layers of Color Stamps, Gina K Designs Stamps and Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Together with Scrapbook News and Review Magazine, these companies have donated some wonderful prizes for today's blog hop.

Prizes? Oh, yeah! There will be three lucky grand prize winners for today's event.

To enter, simply hop to the blogs of all of the participating staff members of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine, take note of the staff member's name, and leave a comment on their posts. Then send us an email at
games@scrapbooknewsandreview.com listing each of the staff members who participated in today's hop. It's that easy. All entries must be received by Monday, November 16, 2009 at 12 noon, EST and three winners will be randomly chosen to win.

What are the prizes?

One $100 gift certificate from Layers of Color Stamps AND a 6 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine.

One basket of goodies -- four stamp sets from Gina K Designs and a 6 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine.

One set of digital stamps from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and a 3 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine.

In addition, every participating staff member of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine will offer a free one-month subscription to the magazine to one of their lucky visitors by simply leaving a comment on their blog. That's a lot of chances to win, so let's get to the Hop!

For my project I chose to decorate a candle and make a matching gift card. You can click on any of the pictures for a larger view.

The candle is one that I bought at Walmart for $5. It is the Warm Apple Pie scent. I love this scent and have used these candles throughout the fall and winter months for several years now. They smell so good and at $5, a great bargain.

I used paper from the K & Co. Wild Raspberry collection. I typed the verse and printed it onto regular printing paper. I then taped a piece of Vintage Cream cardstock over the printing and re-printed it onto the cardstock. I like doing this to save on paper. I used a Labels Four die to cut the sentiment. I used the slot punch from SU to cut the slots for my ribbon. To do this I just lined up my ribbon where I wanted it and made a line with a pencil, then double punched to get the right length. The butterflies where punched from the same paper with a Martha Stewart butterfly punch. I added some glitter and some adhesive pearls.
The paper was 12 x 12 and didn't quite fit all the way around the candle. Instead of trying to piece it together and make it look like it was supposed to be that way, I opted to just tie the ribbon (Offray) in a pretty knot. I really love the way it turned out.

I used the same paper for the matching gift card. The base is Vintage Cream (PTI). I cut a circle from the giga Marvy circle punch and used my Quickie glue pen to draw around the edges and add glitter. The butterfly was punched from the EK Success large butterfly punch. Again, I used my glue pen and colored in all the dots and added glitter. I then added some adhesive pearls. The sentiment is from the In Bloom (Papertrey) stamp set and is stamped in Scarlet Jewel ink and embossed with Transcendence embossing powder. I added some mini rhinestones to the sentiment. The picture is a little blurry, not sure what is up with that, but I apologize.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit here. I hope you come back often.

Your next stop on this blog hop is AlienAnessa's Planet.

Chocolat Butterfly

I finally got my act together enough to post. Where, Oh Where does the time go? This is another card made with the Jolie Chocolat paper. This is the cherie paper in the collection. I love this paper! I started with Sweet Blush cardstock for my base, then adhered a piece of the patterned paper cut 1/4" shorter on both sides. I cut about a 2 x 5 1/4" piece of the reverse side of the paper and punched the border. I tied brown satin ribbon (Offray) around the piece and adhered it to my card with foam tape. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch and I added some adhesive pearls to the center. I folded the wings up and adhered it to my card by using mini glue dots in the center. Quick and easy--no stamping. I feel like I cheated.

I know we are getting into a very busy season for most crafters...making cards and gifts for friends and loved ones. It all seems so overwhelming sometimes. I need to remember to focus on what this season is really all about...Christ. He is the reason that we can celebrate peace and joy in the midst of so much hardship all around us. I am so glad I don't need to rely upon myself for joy---we would all be miserable. LOL Jesus is the reason for the season. I want to celebrate Him!!

Thanks for stopping by, may your day be blessed!

Clean and Simple Sympathy

The Clean and Simple Challenge on SCS this week was to make a sympathy card. I stamped the image from Autumn Abundance in Burnt Umber ink directly onto the kraft card base and colored it with Prismacolor pencils and the blender pencil. I added some Crystal stickles to the center of the flowers. I added a strip of paper from Autumn Abundance onto a strip of pure poppy cardstock punched with a Fiskars diamond border punch. I then tied some summer sunrise satin ribbon around the cardstock and adhered it to my card. The sentiment is from Birds of a Feather and is stamped in Burnt Umber.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies
Stamps- Autumn Abundance, Birds of a Feather (PTI)
Paper-Kraft, Pure Poppy, Autumn Abundance (PTI)
Ink-Burnt Umber (Palette)
Other-Prismacolor pencils, Summer Sunrise satin ribbon, Crystal Stickles, Fiskars diamond border punch

Use It or Lose It -- Paint Dabbers

My craft room overfloweth with neglected craft materials. How about yours? I have so many items in my craft room that I have purchased because I was absolutely sure that I "needed" them. Most of them were in my beginning stages of crafting when I was easily convinced by products I saw or heard (or read) about. My craft funds have pretty much dried up, so I am at the place where I either rediscover what I already have or I need to sell it to buy something new. So, I have challenged myself to use it or lose it. This week I chose to use my Paint Dabbers that I put on my Christmas list two years ago. Quite honestly, I haven't really used them all that much. In fact, most of them were dried up and I had to resurrect them. Thankfully, this was quite easy to do.

They are easily thinned with water, so I took the cover off and put just a few drops of water in the bottle and mixed it with a craft stick. I used the craft stick to "dig" all of the dried out paint that was in the top and put it back in the bottle and mixed it in. Shake it up really good, it should be of the consistency to shake. The tops were also dried out, so I ran hot water in my kitchen sink and dabbed the paint dabber in the water in the sink until the paint loosened up. They worked like new again.

I really had a lot of fun playing with these and made all kinds of accessories as well as cards. I will share with you what I did. You can click on the pictures to view them larger.

I found they work great on raw chipboard. The daisy flower was painted with the dabbers. You can put glitter on the paint while it is still wet and it will stick really well. I really like this look. I also did this with the white tag. I painted it white, then added glitter to the wet paint. I painted a fabric flower purple. It also works pretty well on coated chipboard, I just needed to used two coats. I love the look of the metallic paints on raw chipboard (the tags). The pearl is so pretty and dried with a crackle look. I used the paint on some fabric leaves that come on silk plants that you can buy at craft stores. I dabbed some copper on one, gold on one and some red pepper on another. I also tried it on acrylic, you can get different looks depending on how much you apply. If you paint on the back you can stamp with Staz-On on the front. I also love the look of edging with the paint dabbers.
On this card I used the acrylic that comes with the Papertrey stamps and cut it with nesties in my BigKick machine. The Labels One die is stamped on the front with Staz-On and I dabbed some Copper paint on the back of the stamped section and around the edges. I then ran it through the BigKick with the swiss dot embossing folder.

The Designing D.I.V.A.S. are having a Secret Sister challenge right now to make lollipop flowers, which I had never heard of before, but it sounded interesting and I checked out the links. Super cool, I just had to try it. In the tutorial, she used alcohol inks but I wanted to try it with the paint dabbers. After I cut the acrylic circles from Petite circle nesties, I ran them through the BigKick with the tiny bubbles embossing folder. I then used the red pepper and butterscotch paint dabbers on the front and copper on the back and edges. I used my heat gun to melt the acrylic circles. I held the circles together and used the Crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the center and used a brad to hold them together. I really like the way it came out. I don't like this card, but I love the flower. lol You can find the tutorial I used here.
For this card, I used the Aqua paint dabber to paint a background for my stamps. The stamp is from the All Things of Nature set by The Angel Company. I stamped it with Broken China Distress ink. The sentiment and the music notes are from the Birds of a Feather Set by Papertrey and are stamped in the same ink. The bling in the corner is clear bling colored with Stream alcohol ink. For some reason, this picture makes them look like they are embedded. Weird.
I used the paint dabbers as my background again on this card, but I used watercolor paper. I stamped the image from Spiral Bouquet (Papertrey) in Aged Mahogany Distress Ink on top of the lettuce background. I tore the paper and inked the edges with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and the blending tool. I added some clear bling to the flowers and matted it onto Scarlet Jewel paper and adhered it to the Spring Moss card base. The sentiments are also stamped with the Aged Mahogany ink.
Here I used the cranberry paint dabber to ink my stamp. The stamp is a retired stamp set from The Angel Company called Partridge. I stamped it onto a plain manila shipping tag, then blended Old Paper distress ink onto it with the blending tool. I wrapped some twine around the end and put some ribbon through the tag hole and secured it with a button threaded with twine. I matted it onto Wassail paper from Basic Grey. The edges of the paper are distressed with a distressing tool and inked with Colorbox Creamy Brown ink. The paper is then matted onto Olive paper (TAC). My husband adored this card and snatched it to give right away. What a compliment!

So, the verdict. I really had so much fun playing with these and now that I have spent so much time playing with them, I have all kinds of ideas. I am going to keep them and keep playing.

I want to share one more thing with you. I have made this chart that I keep in a binder to keep track of the colors I own. I have done this with almost all of my craft supplies. It is a really nice reference tool when I am looking for a certain color. I can look through my binder and see all of the different products and colors that I have.
This isn't the best picture, but I think you get the idea. If you are interested in a chart like this, feel free to email me and I will send you the file I made. It includes all of the colors (except the metallics which I will add) so I can easily add the other colors if I choose to purchase them.

I know this was a really long post. I hope you found it informative and maybe it even challenged you to use the paint dabbers you own or something else you have neglected. I would love to hear how you use paint dabbers or see something you made with them, please leave a link in the comment section and let me know.

Have a blessed day!