A Christmas Card for you!

In my last post I mentioned how for a time I had lost my creative mojo if you will. One of the tools I have been using to get my mojo back are challenges. There are so many websites out there with challenges posted that I'm always able to find one I like. I'm not always "on-time" in using the sketches from those challenges, but I use them just the same.

Every Wednesday Splitcoaststampers.com posts a sketch challenge. This week I actually had time to play. Here is this weeks challenge:

And here is my card:

I once again used some older supplies, but a new stamp set.

Card Stock: Soft Sky, Bayou Blue, Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Wintergreen DSP

Ink: Always Artichoke, Bayou Blue

Stamps: Snow Swirled (111690) from the upcoming SU! Holiday Mini Catalog, available 10/1/08, so stop back to see the whole thing!

Saying is from Mixed Messages, PaperTreyInk

A little bling on the tree too!

Thankful!

As I'm sure you can tell by the Stampin' Up! links on the side of my blog, I am a SU! demonstrator. I call myself a sometimes demonstrator these days! About this time last year I was struggling with my motivation. I hated coming down to my crafting area, even to make a birthday card for a family member. I felt as though every time I was creating I should be turning it into a class or trying to make money somehow. I was also having trouble getting attendance at any events in my home. I had the occasional workshop and really enjoyed doing them, hated the prep, but loved being with the people. I just gave up around Thanksgiving and didn't really touch anything again until after the holidays. At that time, I decided to take a step back from being a demo, I haven't done any classes in my home since last October and just did my first workshop in almost a year. I'm enjoying creating again, loving my craft room and back to having a wonderful time seeing what I can create. Why did I tell you this?

Well, the above project was one I purchased last fall from SU! and NEVER made it! I was just burned out, so it just sat there. I was going through some of my STACKS of designer paper and found I had a couple packs of last years Apple Cider. I sat there trying to figure out why I had so much of it, when it dawned on me that I had purchased this chipboard set and the paper out of last years Holiday Mini Catalog. So, I finally sat down and made the project and I LOVE IT if I do say so myself!

My challenge to you this week is to dust off an old forgotten project, stack of paper, embellishment, un-used stamp set, or whatever you might have and make something with it that makes you smile! Link back to my blog as I would love to see what you create.

Have a terrific Tuesday evening!

Jen

Happy Anniversary Ruby!

We passed a milestone yesterday that I wasn't sure we would get to! Our sweet little cavalier Ruby has been with us for one year! Ruby is a retired breeding dog that we adopted. She came to us pretty skinny and starved for attention, she was one of 20 dogs at the breeder. After some trials and tribulations for the first 4 or 5 months, some tears and thoughts of sending her back, I can honestly say I love this little girl to death. She is the sweetest dog, loves to be with her humans (almost too much sometimes!). We love you Ruby!

THEN:
These pictures were taken the first couple of days we had her. You can kind of see how skinny she was in the picture with our other cavalier, Rocky.

NOW:

Not sure if you can see much of a different in the photo's, but she's filled out (a little too much, she's on a bit of a diet now!) Ruby and Rocky are best buds now. It was a little rough at first, but they've worked things out and are very cute together. Rocky loves his Ruby!

Happy Monday!

Jen

Halloween Sweet Treats!

A few posts ago I mentioned how much I was in love with Taylored Expressions new cupcake line of stamps. I received mine along with a couple of her kits and made these cards. They are so cute! I used the same layout for all, but varied the colors. These are all made with the papers from the Halloween Kit.

Aren't they just adorable! I think my favorite has to be the mummy! I had so much fun making these cards because I was so tickles with the images!

Have a fun Saturday Night!

Jen

Spooky Spiders!

For some reason I'm really excited for fall and Halloween this year! Britt and I are making some REALLY cute things for her class (which I will post once we get them done!). Another fun thing is SU!'s new Decor Elements line! They are adding even more fun and colorful designs.

What are Decor Elements you ask? Removable Vinyl clings for your walls, windows, and other decorating projects! The whole Phase 2 group will not be available until Oct. 1st, but since Halloween is so close, they have received their Spooky Spider design TODAY!

Click here to order your spiders today (Click on Shop Now)!

Turtles!

Finally got around to downloading our turtle adventure photo's. As mentioned in the previous post, my parents have a cabin in Balsam Lake, WI. This is the first year that we've seen the snapping turtle hatching.

My daughter Brittany (9 years) had a blast!

Here is a photo of one (not the greatest photo!) next to my daughters hand for size comparison.

Enjoy your evening and I hope to be back with some cards this weekend for sure! I have a Stampin' Up! workshop on Saturday so will have some cards to post. This is the first workshop I've done in a very long time, so it should be fun!

Jen

Icky Weekend!

I think that title pretty much explains it! It was a wet, cool, yucky weekend here in MN and Western WI, which is where I spent it. We still had a lot of fun at my parents cabin. It started off getting a call Friday evening while driving there. My mom called to find out how far away we were, we would be there in about 20 minutes. They have snapping turtles there and each year they lay eggs in the gravel road around the resort and for the first time in 6 years they were there to see the turtles come out! There was probably 12 little turtles making their way to the water when we arrived. I have pictures and will try to post them tomorrow. We had lots of laughs despite the crummy weather and enjoyed the festivities in Amery.

Here is a picture of some cards I recently made using the Stampin' Up! Simply Sent Card Elements Kit called Flower Power. The kit comes with all the paper, stickers and embellishments to make 9 cards. I used a little extra card stock, ribbon and stamps that I had on hand to make 12 cards. The Kits come with directions too, so it's really easy to make the whole set of cards. I just received the Christmas one on Friday, so I can't wait to put that one together too!

Enjoy!

Jen