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/