Counting down till Halloween....

I love the holidays, so many opportunities to create. I have to admit that I do get overwhelmed with all the ideas that I want to implement. This year I seem to be doing well! :) I updated my pumpkin frame to display skulls for Halloween. ooohh as Kyle would say. The paper has glossy swirls (I believe the paper was from the Hot Spot in Target) which really makes the skulls pop! The moss filler and plastic skulls in the candle cylinder are from ...you guessed it The Dollar Tree!

I also made this "Beware" sign out of coasters. I think I am starting something here because I could see this for every holiday and season! See this is how it all starts.

So now all I have to do is finish Kyle's favors for his friends at daycare, and I am done with Halloween. This is the most that I have ever decorated for Halloween. I guess a child changes things in more ways than one.....

The Tallpeople Got Married!!

 Congratulations to my brother Jay and his new wife Em! We just returned from their Wedding and every detail was perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better sister in law! With 5 hours in the back seat with a 17 month old little boy I have to have something to past the time. You figure 10 hours round trip is precious scrapin' time! This trip I worked on these favors for the family gathering the day after the wedding. Since nothing that Em and Jay do is typical, I wanted to make some whimsical and fun. These cost approximately $1.50 each to make and that included the mini bottles of liquor that were inside! Again, I hit my favorite store - The Dollar Tree - and used my Cricut. The cartridge is Beyond Birthdays. I used that to cut the congrats and the boys and girls for the bags. I made 2 liquor bottle tags and attached the 11" Boy and Girl with the 'You Did It' sign all cut with the Cricut. I attached it all with brads from Making Memories. Black ones for the favors and crystal ones for the 'You Did It' sign.

 From the Dollar Store: The white bags (12 per pack), sparkle paper (2 sheets to a pack - Blue, Pink, White and Black) and then the shredded paper confetti in white.

You did it! ;)Love u!

In a Fall kinda mood...

 OK, so my hubby has been making fun of me because I am putting all my fall decorations up...pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins! He claims that since it is still 80 degrees it isn't Fall! We also had a card swap at the latest Inky Angels Meeting (Local SU! Consultant Meeting). Here is my card >>>

 Here are a few of my recent decorating projects. Hope you are inspired! I love to decorate my mantle. The leaf vines and ceramic pumpkins in the middle along with the candle holders (used here to elevate the pumpkins in the middle) are all from The Dollar Tree. The 2 larger pumpkins are from Michael's Craft Store and the stands for those are from Southern Living Home They have glass cylinders that are currently storing gourds on my dining room table.

The other 2 pics are my hallway table. White Pumpkin from Michael's Craft Store, Vine pumpkins I can't remember, wooden orange Give Thanks pumpkin from Walgreen's, The sign and leaves on the mirror are from The Dollar Tree. The 2 Tier holder with all my seasonal and mini scrapbooks is from Southern Living Home.

Last but not least here are two of my latest Autumn craft projects! The flower project was scrap lifted from SU! catalogue and my girlfriend Susan, a fellow SU! Consultant. I got the vase and sunflower seeds at The Dollar Tree, the wooden dowels are a hand me down and I used SU! Old Olive Classic Stamp Pad to ink the wooden dowels to look like stems. I used my Cricut to cut out 4 layers of the flowers and leaves. Then I inked them using the retired Itty Bitty Stamp set with Chocolate Chip Classic Stamp Pad. Dimensional adhesive gives the flowers that 3-D effect and then I used Pumpkin Pie ribbon and a hole punch to attach the leaves to the vase. The flowers that never die!!!! Got to love that ladies! My neighbor/guardian angel and my mom-in-law both got a set. I plan on making more. The frame was from Michael's and was an idea I saw on Becky Higgin's website > http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2010/09/easy-quick-fun-diy-project/. She has something for everyone. Check out her freebies and Recipe section. Love them! I go here often. I just grabbed some green circle pattern paper on clearance and the pumpkins were from Michael's. I bought a bag of skulls from The Dollar Tree and I am going to do a grid of skulls. Will post that one later. Creepy! Then I started thinking Christmas balls, puffy hearts, shamrocks, flowers, this could be here permanently all year round!

OK time to work now...This should get some creative juices going! ~J

Loving my Cricut

There is no doubt that when I want to mass produce I use my Cricut. My loving, thoughtful hubby purchased this for me as a birthday/Mother's Day present - and yes he spent too much! No worries though it is getting used! I recently was planning a Rayman Family birthday party (which was post poned sorry everyone!) There are 8 birthdays within 2 months! Geez! So I made it a Michigan Wolverines theme since 7 of the 8 birthdays are men! Geez! I made these little favor bags using the cricut to cut out the yellow and blue Ms. The green topper is the Top Note Big Shot Die from Stampin' Up! and the Felt football was a border from Queen & Co. that I cut apart. I am planning on attaching more Ms on the football birthday cake. 

Another Cricut creation are these school buses for Kyle's daycare using the Gerber Food cups turned upside down. For the babies, I left the Fruit puree but for the older kids I replaced that with Goldfish crackers. They will get these this week sometime. 

Quick and easy with the cricut but looks complicated! Love those kind of projects. If you need a favor idea, let me know. We can cook something up.....

A Little Inspiration (for now)

Well, I have been quite preoccupied with ... well LIFE. I take the good, bad and the ugly and lately have gotten my fair share of all three. This doesn't stop the creative juices though. In fact at times like these, I am more inspired. I wanted to set up an area where I could post photo books and Album pictures that I have created and since I use Shutterfly the most, it was an easy decision. Their share sites are a great place to share your pics with your family and friends even if you aren't a blogger. I am not married to any particular brand or type of scrapbooking but lately the digital is easy and quick and I can order multiple copies for the grandparents. I also posted the birthday album I made for one of my friends as a present for her mom's birthday as discussed in my previous post. So check this out and see what you are inspired to create. Scraplift, Share and Inspire!
http://scrapnchic.shutterfly.com/

So many projects, so little time!

Another project down! I have been creating a scrapbook for my friend Christina to give to her mom on her 60th birthday. I love the album so much I might have to recreate it for one of my own projects! It seems like if you are a scrapbooker, you seem to make things for everyone else and forget about your own projects! At least that is how I feel. But it is priceless to see the faces of appreciation when you give a handmade gift. I just received a touching thank you card from my mom's friend. I made her an inspiration box for her birthday. What's an inspiration box? It is a box with 31 cards that have quotes and a mini layout. You can include an easel or stand so that the person can pull a card out each morning and reflect on the quote for the day. It makes great gifts! I will post my list of quotes and some pics if anyone wants to scraplift. I can't take credit for the idea though, Beth, a friend of a dear friend gave it as a present. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Thank you Beth!!! Here are a few pics of my mom's inspiration quote cards. It's a great way to use your scraps and miscellaneous embellishments. I don't even know the brands of paper. The chandelier and crown I cut on the cricut and layered with paint. All my quotes I prefer to print on vellum. The frame below was a plastic party favor that my girlfriend had tons of so I painted that too!

I will post pics of the album once the birthday is over - I don't want to ruin the surprise, she should see it before all of you don't you think? :)

Busy, Busy

WOW how time flies! Between work, family, vacations and scrappin'....where does the summer go? I have been playing with the background of my blog so that it represents ME! I love pink;) I am outnumbered by testosterone at home so I guess pink gives me a soothing girly feel. Not to mention Chic! I have been mailing out some catalogues with a cute butterfly magnet idea I found online. Love this website for ideas!I am so loving butterflies right now > (http://memystampsandi.blogspot.com)Working on a class project that will be offered soon - So keep watching! My head has been spinning with ideas....
Take care ~ j
Project Ingredients:
Paper: Greenhouse Gala Designer paper, Magnet sheets
Embellishments: Basic Pearl Jewels
Tools: Beautiful Butterflies bigz die, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Blossom Party Die
Other: Stampin' Dimensionals

Hello World!

Wow - here I am - Blogging! Never thought that would happen but I love searching blogs for creative ideas. Then I thought...I should share my ideas as well! I have also embarked on a venture with Stampin' Up! as a Demonstrator. I have been trying to curb my creative juices so my dear friend, Cathy came over to give my visions focus and more importantly LIFE! We feed off each other's ideas (with a little help from Starbucks). Time well spent! THANKS Cath!....We came up with a fabulous idea for a class. Can't wait to play with the prototype. You will love it! Totally different from anything you have done lately. Check back for updates. My other dear friend allowed me to place a SU Display in her store to help me get started. Thank you Lisa! Of course it had to be chic'd up! Let's celebrate fresh starts...