Boots!

To create the wreath, I used a tip I saw on the Wplus9 blog, you can find it HERE. Basically, it says to create a perfect shape, use dies as a template. I used my circle die to trace out the circle and then stamped the wreath around that shape. The bow is a silhouette file.

the inspiration photo from Paper Smooches Sparks:

the team:

Jenny

Jocelyn

Alice

Savannah

Love this pic of our local pumpkin patch. Love Fall. Love clothing layers and jeans and boots, comfy cardigans, hot tea, the jewel toned colors...all of it. I need some new boots. Geez, they are expensive!! I have had the same pair of good Coleman boots since I was 24 and I love them, but sure have my eyes on these: 

or these:

or this one, because at 5'2", I need all the help I can get! 

or this:

Still deciding on the perfect boot...

Supplies:

Stamps: Paper Smooches Autumn Grooves and Word Up.

Crate Paper DIY Shop

Die: Bow Silhouette #16778 , Spellbinders circle

All I Want For Christmas is NUDE LIPSTICK and a Nice Card.

2 things to discuss today on the ol' blog today.

1. The perfect shade of nude lipstick. I am on a mission. It's serious. I always get one that is too light or too peach. Just not right for my skin tone.

One time, while in nursing school, my high school/college friend Julie and I were in health assessment class and were asked to describe each others skin color. She called mine "JAUNDICED". Really? REALLY! And if you want to know how to say it professionally: "skin color normal for ethnicity."

I have searched and searched and found THIS blog post outlining the 7 best nude lipsticks. I plan on trying out this one. Cross your fingers for me. Hope it's not a million dollars!

Kim Kardashian in Dior Addict Extreme in Incognito. 

And now, on to the card! This card came out pretty balanced and well, NICE! It was pretty easy to make too :) Last year, I was blessed to get a lot of beautiful cards from bloggers and I got lazy and just printed up a photo card. I felt guilty for not putting in the same effort. THIS YEAR, I am going in prepared. I have begun making a variety of Christmas cards ready to be mailed to my blogging friends. YEAH!

Supplies:

Dies: Penny Black Downtown 

Stamps: Christmas Banners  Hanging Treasures

It's Fall Y'all: i {heart} papers SALE!!!!

i {heart} papers  is thrilled to be celebrating our 5^th birthday this month!  To celebrate we’re having 5 days of savings!   From October 21-25 check our SALE PAGE for steep birthday savings on hundreds of items, some marked down as much as 50%!  

We know there’s no way we could have made it this far without each and every one of our loyal customers sharing their IHP love with their friends or following us on Facebook, Twitter, our blog or through our newsletter.  We will also have a giveaways on the blog and on Twitter during these days (they’ll be linked from Facebook too but since giveaways aren’t technically allowed on Facebook we have to do it on the blog!) so be sure to check in daily to see how to enter.  

But wait!  There’s more!  Most customers know that Kate is a huge dog rescue advocate, volunteering for a local dog rescue, transporting dogs in need and doing rescue work on Facebook.  October happens to also be Adopt A Shelter Dog month, as well as the birthday of one of Kate’s dogs, BooBoo and the Gotcha/Adoption day of Mr. Barbo.  So, in honor of all of that, IHP will be donating 10% of all sales during the birthday sale to Home For Good Dog Rescue, Eleventh Hour Rescue and Pilots ‘n Paws.  

Thank you for supporting IHP for 5 years.  We’re so happy to celebrate this milestone with all of you!

Plan: A Card A Day For the Month of November

This weekend I went to the 5th? annual scrapbook weekend with my fab 4 friends. We went out to dinner Friday night on our way to a local craft store in Colorado Springs called Simple Pleasures. Although I didn't need anything, I came out 40.00 poorer. Thank You Caryn for my beautiful stamp (to be revealed in a later post). 

 We spent the weekend in Marcy's beautiful country home that felt like a lodge and I enjoyed delicious food and yummy coconut chocolate almond balls from Costco courtesy of Angela. I laughed a bunch and it was awesome to wake up surrounded by pine trees when I wanted as opposed to be woken up by a kid wanting something :) It's the simple things, you know?

For the first time, I made cards. I am starting to enjoy cards more than scrapbooking. It made me kind of sad because I am so behind and could have used the weekend to feel a little more caught up. I am not sure if I will stick with just cards in the long term, but giving myself permission to let it go for a little bit was liberating. 

I made 38 cards! It was fun to use all the stamps and supplies I had gotten and never got to use. I challenged myself to try to make a variety of cards this year for the holidays instead of just 1 design massed produced a 100 times (or so). 

In honor of my fun weekend, I am going to "try" to post a card (mostly Christmas card) a day for the entire month of November. I have never posted every single day for the whole month before, but I think it will be a fun challenge. Plus, I want to end the year with a bang! I hope you will join me. 

This simple banner card is one that is easy to mass produce and the original design I had in mind for my holiday cards before I came up with my NEW plan.  The stamps are from Penny Black called Christmas Banners.

Pillows and Bags, Let's Chat...

I really do love my house and all the chaos in it. The family room is my favorite space because its the hub of the house and where we lounge around most of the time on a big stone blue sectional. Recently, I decided it needed a revamp. The first place I started was the pillows. They are cheap (mostly) and can transform the entire mood of a room so quickly. I found these pillows at TJ Maxx and love the pop of color it gives. 

The couch is also where I am held hostage watching shows that I have seen a 1000 times with my kids playing all around making messes faster than I can clean them. There is a reason for the zoom shot in the above photo! Ha! Here is the space zoomed out.

My favorite pillows purchase are these by Pottery Barn called the Lucianna Medallian:

and on the table are these hurricanes which I think are a great concept, just switch out the bottom part with different fillers depending on the season. Mine has seashells and rocks:

So while my kids are playing, I am dreaming up crafty ideas...

This small box is perfect for sweet treats, gift certificates, jewelry or other trinkets.

A close up of the tag...

I used the small square in the Casual Fridays die set to create the tag, by using a technique found HERE (by the fabulous Elena Roussakis).

Supplies:

Dies: Bag Silhouette file #31875, Casual Friday Bold Wishes Die

Stamp: Casual Fridays Bold Wishes

Our sponsor for this challenge:

So where do you dream? :)

The EPILADY Is Not Just For Hair Removal

This is my second post of the day...for my Paper Smooches Sparks Card, click HERE.

I am a hairy gal.

And for many years, I had searched for the perfect hair removal tool and this was one of them. The EPILADY. Dude, this thing hurt bad!! After a while I gave up using it, the pain was too much. BUT, I couldn't throw it away, it cost too much.

Fast forward to my card making days and this little baby came in handy as a DISTRESS TOOL! It works just like a Distrezz it all by Zutter. It is how I got the distressed edges on my card.

Here is the inspiration photo for Runway Inspired Challenge: 

Our sponsor is Ellen Hutson! You MUST check out the design team:

Nina

Virginia

Tasnim

Pamela

Aga 

Jennifer 

Joni

and our special guest designer: Jocelyn Olson !!!!

Supplies:

Silhouette File #42228

Paper: Studio Calico Darling Dear

Punch: Tab punch Stampin Up!

Other: wood veneer stars Studio Calico, flair Bossy Joscie

Good Times: Background Stamping Technique

it's Paper Smooches Sparks Designer Draft time :)

To create the back ground I used my Hero Arts Envelope Liner Stamp and inked the entire stamp with Antique Linen Distress Ink and then randomly using Vintage Photo distress ink. It gives a faded random pattern to the background stamp.  

The stars were embossed in gold. After die cutting the 2 notebook dies, I punched out a rectangle using a square punch that I angled a bit and punched twice to get the shape I wanted. I layered the notebook dies to create some added interest. The alien was left as is :)

Here is the sketch for this week if you want to give it a go.

and the rest of the DT:

Jenny

Jocelyn

Alice

Savannah

Supplies:

Stamps: Envelope liner Hero Arts, Space Cadet Paper Smooches

Dies: Notebook die Paper Smooches

Paper: Crate Paper Acorn Avenue

A GREAT GIFT IDEA

Sequins are all the rage right now. My blog friend Yuki was kind enough to send me some sequins as a gift and I put them to use in my water themed shaker card. I can't get enough of die cuts either! My sail boat was made using my silhouette. I could put those little paperclips on just about everything, they are so heavy and substantial on a card.

The Casual Friday Challenge this week is using stitches. Easily accomplished using the Lil' Inkers Stitched Square Dies! I love the sentiment (by Hero Arts)  on this card. Great for a wedding or someone who has moved to a new home.

Speaking of, I found this FABULOUS custom stamp on Pinterest and it's going on my wish list. The font makes me drool. You can get your address stamp just like this one HERE.

Our Sponsor this week:

Research Experiment

Ever seen Oprah's closet?

Isn't it beautiful?  If you want a complete tour, click HERE. I remember on this episode she spoke about making your space so beautiful that you would want to shop in your own closet. It gave me an idea...

I made my own mood board with supplies that I bought recently. I made it pretty and inviting just like the closet. Then I challenged myself to make as many cards as I could using mainly the above supplies. Here is what I came up with. 

#1:

#2:



#3:



#4:



#5:



Close Up of #5:

I made these cards in a single evening. They were super fast to make because I basically was inspired by cards I pinned by Laurie Willison on Pinterest. She is an inspiration to me. Also I think concentrating your supplies helped me stay focused and helped my creativity.

I wrapped up my card set with the ribbon from my "kit" and attached a simple tag. Voila! a gift set complete!

Supplies:
Dies: Lawn Fawn Into the Woods , Avery Elle  Simply Tags
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Into the Woods and Happy Everything
Paper: Crate Paper DIY shop
Other: Gold Sequins and Ribbon  by i {heart} papers, twine by Hemptique

I am entering this in Lawnscaping Challenge: Patterned Paper

Giveaway Winner, Poll Results, and a NORMAL Card

For WCMD a bunch of bloggers got together and I sat next to my talented i {heart} papers design team member and now friend Stacey Schafer. She sure knows her way around patterned paper and twine. I watched her die cut and layer to make a fabulous treat bag for her kids halloween party (you can see a pic of the project and everyone who came to celebrate World Card Making Day in Colorado HERE. It inspired me to try my hands at some patterned paper manipulation too.

My card is very normal. but cute :) I think I was so busy trying to make all the elements work that I couldn't think of anything dynamic to do! Isn't that ok sometimes?

Supplies:
Stamps: Neat and Tangled Swirly Twirly Tags , Lawn Fawn Into the Woods
Paper: Crate Paper DIY Shop
Twine: Lawn Fawn Lawn Trimmings


I also asked you all to vote on your favorite card from my Runway Inspired Challenge post.  Thanks to everyone who voted. Here are the results:

So basically Elena was right, and I make the best cards when I take the advice of the pro's :)

The winner of the stamp set is:

Jodpea!!

I will be contacting you to get your address!!

thanks so much everybody :)

If I Had Somewhere to Go...

First, Happy World Card Making Day Everybody!! I spent the day crafting with a whole bunch of fun blogging friends. It was a TON of fun! I thought I should post something for today, being World Card Making Day and all...

As I am sick and sitting in my jammies, thoughts of regal parties go dancing in my head. I miss the days of dressing up. Most of my friends are married, no wedding events for me to attend. With small kids, a night out at New Year's Eve isn't really possible. Who wants to stay home and watch my kids when they could be out themselves?

But...if I could go out for a Cinderella evening, it would be in something like this:

The Embroidered Santri Dress by Anthropology

Although I am content in the life I am living, I am also...occasionally, dreaming...

Where do I actually go? Kids birthday parties! The dress inspired the card below,  made quick and easy using Penny Black Let's Go Wild set:

I am entering this in the Moxi Fab World Color Media Challenge. This could be for a boy or girl depending on the twine you use.