Are you getting ready for Halloween?

As I looked through my stamps, I realized that I had no Halloween stamp sets. That is not really that surprising. I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween. The candy is great, but I tend to get annoyed with the hassle of picking and preparing a costume, whether for myself, or my kids. So anyway, I wanted to make a Halloween card for my sample basket. So what did I do? I got creative, that's what!

I started with a Pumpkin Pie card base (what could be more appropriate?) I stamped swirls around the edges from the Baroque Motif set. Next I punched a bunch of circles and ovals in Pumpkin Pie and layered them together to make just little pumpkins. I drew the jack-o-lantern faces on with marker. I added vines to the tops of the pumpkins with an old corner punch I had hanging around. I attached the pumpkins to a white layer that had been cut with the Top Note die for Big Shot. Next, I added some Garden Green swirls. At this point I was liking the card, but it need something more. So I cut a strip of Garden Green to go across the back of the card, but before I attached it, I spritzed some water on it and crumpled it like crazy. Once it was dry, I attached to the card. It was still missing something... a greeting. I do have the All Holiday set of greetings, so I added the Halloween sentiment and layered that on an oval cut from the crumpled Garden Green card stock.

I hope you are also inspired to make a Halloween creation!

Holiday Fun Card Swap

Hey there! This month our card swap group decided to embrace the holidays. And we could not decide on just one holiday, so we just decided to each decide what holiday we were in the mood to do. So we got a nice selection here. Take a look!

Easter, by Breanna Kenyon

Butterflies, by Nickie Kenyon

Bewitching, by Becca Goodwin

Valentines, by Christine Fouts

Pumpkins, by Michelle Hansen

Thanksgiving, by Lisa Jones

Frankenstein, by DeeAnn Haworth

Merry and Bright, by Michelle Tweedy

Happy Stamping!

Some Cards for a Change

Here is a birthday card I made for my Sis-in-Law, Laura.  I used the SU! Designer Paper called Tea Party.  In case you weren't aware, SU! is having a sale on Designer Patterned Paper: Buy 3, Get 1 Free!!  I just had to get in on this one and got four packs of beautiful two sided patterned paper.  This paper is similar to the stamp set Time Well Spent so I stamped the big flower on Shimmery White card stock and colored with SU! markers.  Then I cut out and attached to the flower with dimensionals.  I tied white organdy and pink satin ribbon.
I also made a Graduation for my Bro-in-Law.  He just earned hi Master's degree.  Go Chris!  This one is quite simple with just a piece of patterned paper from Michael's and one stamped sentiment from the SU! set: All Year Cheer 1.

Next week my oldest child will be graduating from High School.  Boy, do I feel old!  I'll be sharing photos from that and from his final Show Choir Concert soon.

Enjoy your three day weekend.  And please take a moment to remember the reason for the holiday.

"They fell, but o'er their glorious grave

Floats free the banner of the cause they died to save."

-Francis Marion Crawford

And a heartfelt thank you to all of the service men and women who are serving our country, sacrificing their time and their lives, being apart from their families, to bring peace to the world and keep us safe here at home.  In fact, my brother, Paul, is in Iraq right now.  We pray for his safety everyday.  Thanks Paul!

iMac and Holidays Happenings

Today we brought home our new iMac computer. I'm totally excited. We have always had PC's so now we have to learn something new. But I think it will be a great change! And isn't is beautiful?? So in the next few weeks I may be moving my blog to an iweb page. I'll keep you posted.

On the family front, we are busy getting ready for the holidays. The tree is going up today. The lights went up last week. And baking will commence this week. Yeah!

Last night we went to the Drama Holiday Showcase at the High School. Jacob enjoyed playing several parts during the Showcase. It was really energetic and funny. Jacob is sad that so many chapters of his life are coming to a close now that it is his senior year. Tonight will be his last drama performance in high school. He's already turned in his Senior paper and is anticipating the Christmas Show Choir performance coming up in two weeks. He'll be singing a solo at that. Chuck and I are so proud of him!