Happy New Year! A little Scenic Drive thru the Redwoods!

Happy New Year everyone. Four more hours here on the west coast and we will be officially 2010! Hard to believe isn't it?!? Just wanted to wish one and all a Happy New Year and post some pictures from my dh and my drive up to Crescent City to Home Depot. You may say "whup-de-doo" a drive to Home Depot, but we have over an hour drive up the "scenic coast" of California to get there so I hope you enjoy my scenic pics from the car!! The moving car (except the elk pics and the one dark redwood pic)

The Scenic drive....
Yes, an elk in a front yard of an Orick resident!
Stuck in traffic in the redwoods due to road construction.

Climbing over the mountain.

Back along the ocean getting closer to our destination.

Mama elk in the field where they belong

See the pencil line in the horizon... (middle right of the picture) that's the "spit" certain times of the year it opens and the ocean spills into the lagoon. It's a long sandy divider between the ocean and the lagoon and only the corner (by those two trees) open up. It's a beautiful area but the ocean is dangerous on this coast of northern Calif. there is a big undertow that is kinda freaky and I'm amazed when I see surfers out there. We were ALWAYS warned as kids to stay out of the surf especially in that part of the beach. This is definitely NOT southern California. Can't wait for March to watch for the whales that migrate past us, I hope I'll get some cool photos!
Hope you enjoyed the pics. I'm experimenting with my new camera and lense! I'm definitely an amateur!

Sketch Tuesday, I've finished 2 cards!!

Welcome to my Sketch Tuesday post!! Well it's actually Wednesday at just about 1a.m. and since I haven't gone to bed yet I'm going to still call "today" Tuesday!! Isn't this sketch great!! Thanks to Gloria who is our Sketch Challenge Hostess, at Christian Paper Crafts, you rock Gloria!!! Another fabulous sketch to work with.

CPC ST37 Here is my card for the challenge.

Ingredients: DP (I believe) is Basic Grey; Cardstock is from Paper Accents and I've used two stamps the sentiment is from Unity Stamp Company and the cute cup of "coffee, cocoa, or tea" (you choose) is from The Angel Company. (thanks to Melisa Waldorf, I won her blog candy from the March of the Snowmen blog hop!) I used Prismacolor pencils: canary yellow, goldenrod, dk green, lt green, true blue, blank, rouge neon, sienna brown, rose deco) OMS; Ink: Stazon, jet black; Ribbon, American Craft; Flowers and Buttons from Making Memories (more blog candy this time from Laurie Unger also from the March of the Snowmen, I was blessed with some wonderful goodies that weekend!) The oval diecut was made with my Cricut (Kitchen cartridge, that should be the sheeps wool!) I saw the opportunity to use it to make my oval the size I needed!

I completed another card for our Color Monday Challenge (bashful blue and light purple) CPC CM37

Here are the ingredients: Cardstock: Bazzill(purple, blue, black); DP, Basic Grey Wisteria; Kaiser Stamps, sentiment; Buttons: Foof-a-la bag 'o buttons; Hemp Cord, Craft Jewelry; Daisy Punch, EK Success, Cuttlebug Border folder; Stickles, icicle on the dragonflies wings.

Ok, goodnight, it is way past my bedtime and we are heading to Home Depot tomorrow to buy a medicine cabinet and mirror for the bathroom. I'm so excited, it's almost done!!

Thanks for stopping by!! Be sure and head over to Christian Paper Crafts and check out Cassandra's Altered for Him Wednesday!! She is giving away an altered tag, but in order to get in the drawing you must leave a comment! Thanks again for looking have a blessed day and Happy New Year!

Color Monday; Family & Remodeling updates

Hello and I can't believe it's been over a week since I've been on here, that certainly says I've been just a little bit busy and a lot overwhelmed with life this last week.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas holiday! We certainly did! The family was all together minus one niece and her hubby. She had the nerve to go into labor and give birth!! Of course you know I'm just kidding, congratulations Shae and Ryan and although we missed your presence, we all forgive you! After all you have given us all the best gift! Quinton Lee, 6 pounds 14 ounces and 20-1/2" in length. Just so you know this little guy is not going to stay little and I can almost guarantee he will be playing basketball by the time he's walking.

Just a quick update on the remodeling.... it's still not done! But I did get the house decorated for Christmas (just in the nick of time) and the dust has settled and has vacuumed quite nicely, of course it took about 5 times to get it clean! But it did get done! Just need to do a little more painting and some trim work, purchase a mirror/medicine cabinet (old one didn't work even though dh did a great job updating it!) and install the shower door when it arrives. All but the installation of the shower door should be done this week! Hooray! It's looking good and I can't wait to post the pics.

Here is this Monday's Color Challenge at Christian Paper Crafts from Jen (aka Miss Boo). This was a challenge for me!! I wasn't sure I'd find the right combination for my card but I did!! I'm not posting until Tuesday because I'm using this weeks Sketch Tuesday challenge from Gloria!

So without further ado here is our challenge from Jen: "Bashful blue (or any light shade of blue), a light shade of purple, white, and an optional color is black. When uploading to our gallery, please use keyword CM37 and when uploading to your blog or other online galleries, please use keyword CPC-CM37."

I'll see you all tomorrow, if not sooner!!

Bible Verse Thursday and Fun On Friday!

CPC - FOF34

Hello Friends!

Here is our BIBLE VERSE THURSDAY challenge (on Saturday... oops!) and our Fun on Friday challenge from the gals at Christian Paper Crafts. I'll start with Angella who shares this about the Bible Verse Thursday challenge: "This week's challenge is to use a verse about the coming of our Savior. It just blows me away to think of Mary and how she must have felt....looking into the eyes of He who would save the whole world......can you even begin to imagine what that was like?!There are no time limits....come back and try it later if you are busy this week (Ha! Who is busy this week?!)Please use Keyword BVT35 when uploading to our gallery. If uploading to any additional galleries, please use the Keyword CPC-BVT35. Have fun!! God Bless!"

(the materials for my project)

I'm excited 'cause I got to play on our FUN ON FRIDAY Challenge. Here is what Cindy shares for this weeks challenge: Hi girlfriends! Today's Fun on Friday challenge is to make anything but a card. It can be a box, tag, whatever you'd like ... just no cards! I can't wait to see your creative wheels turning and check out the gallery to look at what you've come up with. When uploading to our gallery, please use keyword FOF33 and when uploading to your blog or other online community galleries, please use keyword CPC-FOF33. Enjoy this challenge!

So here are my creations and I've shared a super easy tutorial at CPC HERE if you are liking what you see and are wondering how to do this. This is super easy and very quick! I'm making them to give to my Sunday School Class.

CPC FOF34

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Color Monday Challenge Card and Snugglebug Addy!

It's Wednesday evening already!! Where has this week gone. I haven't finished my shopping, I haven't even decorated for Christmas, yet!! Yikes! I think it will be "minimal" decorating this year due to the remodeling. It will be the porch, the entryway, the hearth and the tree. I'm still wading through the dust, tools and MESS!! Tonight the walls get "mud" and prepped to be painted. Yippee! Enough about that let's get to the COLOR CHALLENGE!!
Here is our color challenge this week from Jen (aka Miss Boo) at Christian Paper Crafts!!
"I love watching furry pets at Christmas. I love incorporating stuffed animals in with my Christmas decorations. So this week's colors are certainly celery (or similar shade), a Christmas red, a neutral color for color of a pet (brown, gray, black), and white or vanilla. A pet or animal does not have to be included on your card.When uploading to our gallery, please use keyword CM35 and when uploading to your blog or other online galleries, please use keyword CPC-CM35."

CPC-CM35Here is my CAS card.

I need simple right now so this fits the need big time! The green cardstock (Bazzill) I put through the Cuttlebug using the Fleur de lis folder and then inked the raised paper with VersaMagic Archival chalk ink pad (Cornucopia, silly me I thought it was just gold!) The dp is Cosmo Cricket (last years Christmas line), I used the Martha Stewart border punch and the sentiment is a stamp from Fiskars (Heidi Grace Designs). I also used a Kraft cardstock (Paper Accents) and my ever faithful corner rounder from EK Success (I love that tool!) I also inked the edges of the sentiment c/s with the "gold." This is pretty minimal, kinda like my decorating is going to be this year!!

I can't believe our little Addy is 6 months old already! Aww, she loves her Grammie!

Tuesday Sketch (CPC ST35) and NO DRIPPY FAUCET HERE!

Sorry I've been neglectful of my blog. I'm still dealing with the bathroom remodel plus working, plus church stuff! It's a busy time of the year!

Here is this weeks SKETCH TUESDAY so wonderfully supplied by Gloria our challenge hostess with the mostess!! She's does a great job be sure and check out Christian Paper Crafts and visit the challenge threads and say hello!! This weeks Bible Study has been posted there as well and so if you are looking for a study head on over there. I'm teaching from the Gospel of John and we are now in the 5th chapter. I'll be posting more of the challenges (color, Bible Verse, Fun on Friday, CASE etc) so check back often or better yet visit CPC!!

Here is the sketch :

And here is my card : CPC-ST35


The ingredients:
Paper: K& Company "Swell Noel" doublesided; Cardstock: Paper Accents
Stamp: Hero Arts
Punch: Martha Stewart
Ink : Stazon Midnight blue
Embellishments: Rhinestones from Queen & Company
Pen: Sharpie Poster paint, white pen for dots on blue strip
Technique: Paper piecing (trees on bottom corner and star/flower/snowflake - what is that thing??) lol

Before and after pics will be coming of the new and improved bathroom, too! Of course the "after" hasn't been completed yet.....I'm patiently waiting (cheerfully) really! With a smile... I've already learned that grumbling will not make it go any quicker and a nice countenance is much better then sounding like a drippy faucet (there is a lesson in that!). Have a wonderful day!!

Sketch Tuesday {JOY} and Experimenting with Alcohol Inks

Hello,

The remodel saga continues..... however I'm hiding away in my craft room for a bit and I've been playing with this weeks sketch from our go to gal Gloria Stengel. I've also been experimenting with the alcohol inks! So I have 3 cards to share with you today. Two I like, the third... not to fond of it. The first one is from a tutorial from Angella who posted this at Christian Paper Crafts for us!! Whoo-hoo Angella, this was fun and I loved using this technique (Bandana). I can certainly see this in future cards!!

Card #1

You'll have to click to enlarge to really see the details of the "bandana" technique. I started with white glossy cardstock (Paper Accents) and then used alcohol ink to color the paper. I've used "currant" and "meadow" after getting the color pattern I wanted (kinda) I choose four stamps, each from the Heidi Grace Design series from Fiskars and randomly (kinda) stamped all over with Stazon Jet Black ink. Then after all was dry (which was very quick) I took my Sharpie white poster paint pen and dotted all around the images. Then took a piece of glossy cardstock that I was "practicing" on with the alcohol inks and punched out the oval scallop (Marvy Uchida) the sentiment is a wood mounted stamp from Inkadinkadoo. Used foam squares to mount it and... voila! This was a very quick and easy card to do! The only thing I would change is the color of the inks, I think I would have preferred traditional red and green for this but you use what you've got!!

Card #2 CPC-ST34

Here is my JOY card using this weeks SKETCH TUESDAY from CHRISTIAN PAPER CRAFTS . The dp is Crate Paper (cratepaper.com) that came in a package "North Pole Collection) It's doublesided, if you click on the photo you'll see the ornament side and then the brown side that has a faint pattern to it as well. The red cardstock is from Bazzill. The buttons from my stash and the ribbon is American Crafts with a red grosgrain( 1/4") on top of it from Joann Fabrics. The stamps are from two different sets: the sentiment is from Heidi Grace Designs (Fiskars) and the 2 ornaments are from BoBunny. I used Stazon jet black ink for the "JOY" and the ornaments are colored with Prismacolor pencils (crimsom red, dk green, deco yellow) using OMS, the smaller ornament I used green perfect pearls for a little sheen and then put Candy Cane Stickles over the red. The card base is Kraft cardstock from Paper Accents.

CPC BVT34 and CPC ST34

My last card is our Bible Verse Thursday challenge from Christian Paper Crafts. I'm sorry to say it's my least favorite. I'm still experimenting with the alcohol inks and I don't know if it's the colors or just my choices in general. Anyway, in all fairness it is nicer looking in person. I do like the little butterflies I used instead of buttons. I thought they turned out pretty good and are definitely one of a kind! The larger butterfly I cut out using my Cricut, (Walk in My Garden cart.) I've added pearls from Creative Charms, ribbon from American Crafts and you probably recognize the pattern paper from Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses and the cardstock green base is from Bazzill. I used Stazon jet black ink and the alcohol inks from Ranger (shell pink, meadow green and cloudy blue). The scallop circle punch is from Marvy Uchida and I also used the EK Success corner rounder. You can barely see the little white dots that I put around the scalloped circle using a Sharpie white poster paint pen.

Wow this was a long post. I'll have another one later cause it's Fun on Friday and I need to see what Cindy has for us. I keep getting interrupted with our remodeling!! Have a great evening!

Sketch Tuesday and What a Time to Remodel!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!!

Don't you just love this sketch!! I can't wait to use it for inspiration for my next project. Gloria did an incredible job with it for our Sketch Tuesday and I'm so excited that she's using her wonderful talents to share with us and Christian Paper Crafts! Remember, use keywords ST34 in our gallery and CPC-ST34 in other galleries or blogs so we can find your work!

We are in the process of remodeling our little bathroom and it has turned our household upside down!! We only have one bathroom, so you can only imagine the craziness. (how we managed with 3 teenagers at one time, I'll never know!)

End of day 1 (notice the toilet seat is up, so you know who was last in there (tee-hee!).

End of Day 2 (LARGE hole in the floor!) No toilet...

I was a little concerned because we now can walk on the the ground through the floor, into the guest bedroom which means that so could the skunks that have taken up residence under our lovely little home!! Our cat came in that way last night so I'm thinking so can other critters! Such as, raccoons, possums and skunks, oh my!! Not to mention the other neighborhood stray kitties looking for a warm spot to sleep for the night! Only another 2 or 3 nights like that. I'm so glad I have long johns and flannel pjs to keep me warm it's been in the low 20s at night and early morning hours and it's downright cold!! If the urge to use the potty comes we must run next door to the church.... needless to say my fluid intake has dropped drastically in the evening.

Day 3: Plumbing 90% finished, at least the part you can't see when the job is complete! Here are two pictures of our contractor also known as our son, Sean!

Did I not tell you there was a big hole in the floor!!

Sean busy at work! He knows his stuff and is making us proud!!

It's Color Monday!! "Cute or Elegant, It's Red & Brown."

Good Morning!
Hope you'll join us for the Color Monday Challenge at Christian Paper Crafts. Jen has adorable cards to share so be sure and check it out. Here is what Jen says about our colors this week: "Some say brown is the new black. Cute or Elegant, it's red & brown. You may also use white or vanilla.When uploading to our gallery, please use keyword CM34 and when uploading to your blog or other online galleries, please use keyword CPC-CM34. Here is a link to the CM34 gallery."

My card is actually from last week, which I hadn't posted yet at Christian Paper Crafts and you can find the post here. It's the "Gingerbread Couple" featuring the buttons.

You are Invited to the "March of the Snowmen" Blog Hop!! TODAY!

You are invited to the first annual "March of the Snowmen" Blog Hop (TODAY) Dec 5th. I was so impressed with all the fun snowmen cards and altered creations and gift ideas I had to share about it!! Almost every participate is offering up blog candy. SPREAD THE SNOW!! I MEAN THE WORD!! Our own Angella Crockett from Christian Paper Crafts starts out the hop so head over to her blog here. Melisa Waldorf has organized this group and they are so very talented and fun!! You don't want to miss out on this. For more info you can contact Melisa here.

Also today at CPC, it is our Scripture Saturday and this is what Mary has challenged us with: "For the month of December, I would like us to try something a little different. Please feel free to select any verse from Luke 2:1-20 (The Christmas Story) for your creation each week. One way I will be using these verses is to make premade scrapbook pages to have on hand for scrapbooking our Christmas play at church. Please join along with me as we celebrate this wonderous occasion of our Savior's birth through praise and paper-crafting! As always, there are no time restrictions, please just have fun! Don't forget to link back to us and stop back by once you have uploaded your creation either to our gallery or elsewhere and let us know how we may find you! Remember to add the keyword CPC SS25 God Bless You!

If you you like CAS other papercrafters we also have a challenge for you this month. Again, Mary (aka softangelkisses) has provided an ongoing challenge for December. Here are her thoughts: "Throughout this time of year, many people begin to think about what they are most thankful for. I hope everyone else feels just as thankful for my "DT Sisters" or "Design Team Sisters" as I do. Not only can you draw inspiration from these lovely women in the form of their paper crafting works of art, but also through their love of our God. Please join me throughout the month of December as we CASE the Christmas area of our design team girls. Each Saturday I will post two names of who are the "Designers for the Week" and encourage you to show them how much you appreciate them!Knowing this is an awful busy time of year, if you are unable to participate now, remember that as with all challenges here at CPC, there are no time limits. Thank you and God Bless You!"December 5 - Cindy's Gallery & Angella's gallery (keyword: CPC CAS32)

Challenges and Introducing our New Challenge Hostesses!

Hello Friends!

We have two more fun challenges to add to this week at Christian Paper Crafts. The first one is Bible Verse Thursday. Here is what our talented Angella C. has to share: This week's Bible Verse Thursday Challenge is to make something with a vintage feel, plus use your favorite verse regarding GIFTS FROM ABOVE. Please use Keyword BVT33 when uploading your project to our gallery at CPC. Please use Keyword CPC-BVT33 when uploading to any additional on-line galleries. There are no time limits or challenge police.....these challenges are to help you have fun and bring out your creativity while glorifying our Lord!! God Bless!
Our second challenge Fun on Friday with Cindy giving us our challenge: Use fruit on your project to reflect the Fruit of the Spirit. If you upload at CPC be sure and label your creation with FOF32 and if you upload on your blog or any other gallery please use the keyword CPC FOF32.
I invite you to check out the gallery at CPC and see what both Cindy and Angella have created for these challenges! We have some very talented ladies.
I'd love to know if you are playing along so be sure to let me know by leaving a comment.

We are excited to announce we also have 3 new challenge hostesses!
DT member Jenny Charboneau (aka Miss Boo - check out her blog and also visit her at Splitcoast Stampers ) will now be hostessing the Color Monday challenge which I've had a sneak peak at and I'm excited about her fun challenges with color! Gloria Stengel (Gloriadee), will be taking over the Sketch Tuesday challenge. Be sure to check out Gloria's blog (Scraps of Life)not only is she a very talented cardmaker but she has a great sense of humor!! Next we have Lynn Ray (Mitzy5000), who will be doing our Journaling Challenge on Wednesday and Saturday. You'll also want to visit Lynn's blog (Scraplife with Lynn). Thanks ladies, we appreciate your talent and your love for the Lord!


I want to mention one more thing.... Every week at CPC we have Altered For HIM Wednesdays and this is not a challenge but the opportunity to win a "tag/card" to give to someone needing an encouraging word. All you need to do is leave a comment and the following week a name is chosen randomly and then sent to the recipient or to you to give out. I hope you'll take time to visit and see the beautiful and encouraging vintage tags that Cassandra is making each week! Well, that's enough and if you've read this whole thing I applaud and appreciate you!! God bless.

Run Run As Fast as You Can...

...You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man! Well... in this case, it's the Gingerbread boy and girl wishing everyone a Merry Christmas in this card.

Hello Everyone!!

This was a fun card! I actually combined a couple of challenges here and both are a first for me. The design is a sketch from Card Patterns (#43) and the other challenge is from La La Land Crafts their "La La Weekly Wednesday Challenge #15 which was to incorporate buttons into your card or creation. That's not very difficult for me 'cause I love using buttons, so the easier the challenge the better!! La La Land Crafts is also the sponsor this week at Stampin' Sisters in Christ, so be sure and head over there to see what the DTs have done!! Incredible as usual, what a creative team they have over there! I'm hoping to play along with that challenge next!

I love the pattern paper from American Crafts, the Gingerbread couple stamp is also from American Crafts. Each piece is from the Merrymint line. I doubled the brown buttons (BoBunny) and added the red grosgrain ribbon (Offray) the brown dotted wired ribbon is from Michaels.

I want to focus in on this close-up because I originally used white cardstock(Paper Accents) but it was so bright it was distracting so I used 2 different Distress Inks from Ranger and blended the ink around the edges (Antique Linen and Worn Lipstick) the sentiment is a stamp from a 12 piece set from the Heidi Grace Designs from Fiskars. I cut this out using my Cricut, George cartridge (cylinder shape). The brown cardstock(Bazzill) I put through my Cuttlebug using the Dotted Swiss folder and the white dots around the red cardstock (Bazzill) is Smooch pearlized ink, I also used it to do a little highlighting on the gingerbread kids. I also used the EK Success corner rounder. The finished card is 6"x 5.5"

Thanks for looking!!

All Pout But No Tears! And Color Monday/Sketch Tuesday

Hello Friends!

It's Tuesday evening but I wanted to make sure I got the two challenges posted for this weeks challenges at Christian Paper Crafts and then post this adorable pic of my youngest granddaughter Addy.

Trust me this was just a pout there were no tears!! Can I just say she has us wrapped around her little finger!! Look at those rosy cheeks!

Okay, I confess, I'm a proud Grammie...

Here are the challenges this week:

Color Monday: Certain Celery, Bashful Blue and Kraft (When posting please use the label CPC CM32)

Sketch Tuesday: (CPC - ST33)

Have fun! Hope to be back soon with a card or layout to share! Have a good evening!

Unity Stamp Company - Grateful for You!

Hello!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Christian Paper Crafts DT's are finishing up a fantastic month of showing off their Unity Stamp creations. I invite you to check out the CPC site and their blogs to see what the gals have done with these fantastic stamps! I have my final two projects to share. Since it's the gift giving season I chose to do a customized gift bag as my first project today. The Unity stamp set is Simple Blessings and I love using it!

(CPC-UnityNov09)

I've embossed the leaves gold onto the brown cardstock (Bazzill cardstock) tag that I've cut out to fit the bag. The gold sheen cardstock is from Paper Accents and I've used the EK Success corner rounder then stamped the swirl with olive Archival Ink from Ranger. The leaves and sentiment are gold embossed. (Ranger gold embossing powder)

Sorry the photo isn't the greatest. The gold paper is a gold sheen cardstock and I'm having trouble getting a good shot. If you look really close you might be able to see the red dots I've painted on with Claudine Hellmuth's Studio acrylic paint (Dab of Red). The adhesive backed ribbon is from g.c.d. Studios (Winter Wonderland)

CPC-UnityNov09

My second project is this card which I've used the same stamps set. I love using the swirls with leaves. I've used my Prismacolor pencils (goldenrod, sienna brown) on a few of the leaves after stamping with Olive Archival Ink from Ranger. The cardstock is from Bazzill and the pattern paper is BoBunny. The large orange brads are from the Heidi Swapp line.

I've used the corner rounder from EK Success and added dimensionals behind the sentiment. Pretty clean and simple design! Thanks again to Angela Magnuson at Unity Stamp Co. for sponsoring Christian Paper Crafts this month!! Thanks for looking!! God bless!