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!