Cardabilities #18

Morning All!! Here is today's card sketch for Cardabilities:

I got a little excited with the buttons....
I discovered I like these colors together. Very Fall-ish though, which might not be what we are in the mood for. But I figured we had to be done with the holiday cards ; ) Click on over to Cardabilities to see the teams reveal and play along as well!

Here's to only 2 days left of 2010! It's been an interesting year around the world, but considering we still have a job, a roof over our heads and a new baby added to our family, I consider 2010 magical!

Love to you and yours

Happy New Year!!!!

k

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing you love and laughter this holiday season.

From our crazy family, to yours ; )

loves,

k

Tis The Season

Just one more card before the season is officially behind us. This is the last of them I think. Nothing more Christmas-y to share. We are finishing up dinner and getting out stockings right about now. Soon little heads will be asleep on their pillows and mom and dad will be busy in the garage wrapping!

See you in the morning!

Warm Winter Wishes

Here is a NON-Christmas card for ya. More Cosmo Cricket and PTI. I like these colors too, but of course they are pretty much the same as on yesterdays card. When I told you there would be a card everyday, did I say they would be different, stunning and unique? Nope, I don't think I did. It's a good thing too...

So today I am baking pies, making rolls and glazing a ham. I can't wait to eat! It's my favorite meal of the season. Growing up we always had a candle light dinner for Christmas Eve. It was such an exciting thing for all of us kids to look forward to. Almost as magical as Christmas morning. It was the ONLY time the entire year that we would get out the candles. I think since my parents are visiting I will need to dig out some candles for our dinner too. Its just too fun to pass on no matter how crazy the kids get at the table.

Have a warm day and a Merry Christmas Eve!!

k

Deck the Halls

I am really liking the colors on this holiday card. Pattern paper from Cosmo Cricket and ribbon, button and stamp from PTI. Whatcha doin today?? We are heading to China Town for some quick and easy gifts for my nephew to take home. Maybe we will hit Pearl River for a kimono and grab some chinese food on our way home. I am sure it will be CA-rrrAzy with the holiday rush and tourists. Should prove to be an interesting day.

Hope you have a good one!!

k

Believe

Hey all. Another card for ya!:

So today the baby has been a bit sick and we had a total diaper blow-out....really gross. I feel like I have a ton of things to do, but when I actually try to sit down and do something, I forget what needs to be done. Do you think that means I am too busy or that I am disillusioned and just thinking I am busy. One can never tell. I do have all my Christmas shopping done (I think!) and all the Christmas cards have been sent out. whew! I thought that would never get done.

Anyway, the week is quickly disappearing and I hope wherever you are, things are great for you.

loves

k

Christmas Card 2

Good Morning! Here is another card that is all monochromatic. (is that the term I want to use? Yes I think it is)

I just want to eat this card because it looks like a candy cane:

Super simple and pretty flat which makes it easy to send. Something I have tried to be more conscious of this year. Nothing worse than having a card come back to you, get ripped up in the mail or just plain rejected by the Post Office worker.

Tonight we are seeing Mary Poppins. I will let you know how it is! I can't wait to go. It's going to be my oldest boys FIRST Broadway experience. And I can't wait to share the love I have for it with him. Should be a fun time.

have a great day. thanks for stopping by!

k

Christmas Card 1

Good evening all! This is the week right? My family is here and we are ready to enjoy days on the town and nights cozying up to a Christmas tree with hot chocolate and a book. aaaah, my favorite. So far we still have school for the boy this week, and have been baking tons of cookies for the neighbors. Tomorrow we will hit a broadway show, which should be fun. But until then, I do have a card for you:

This week I have a new Christmas card everyday to share. Nothing fancy or crazy, just a few glimpses of what I tried out either for the shop or for sending to loved ones. I did a blend of both bought photo cards and handmade cards this year. It wasn't totally creative but it helped get the job done, so I can't complain. This card features some felt paper from K&Co with some other simple elements to complete the card. I love the non-traditional colors for the holiday.

For those of you who may not celebrate Christmas there will be regular cards coming your way too, but just in a week or so. I hope to get back on my feet quickly after the holidays pass. So wish me luck!

See you again tomorrow!

Love to you and yours

k

Snapdragon Inn FREE Nights Stay Giveaway!!

Hey there peeps! Do you remember THIS trip I took in September?? It was our anniversary trip to Snapdragon Inn up in gorgeous Vermont.

Welp, in order to celebrate the holiday season, the wonderful people at Snapdragon Inn are giving away a free night's stay EVERY day from now until Christmas!

So click on over to their blog -->HERE and find out the ways you can enter to win. And you twelve chances to win, so that's pretty great! It is a WONDERFUL place to visit and would be absolutely charming during the holiday season so I am pretty sure you will be happy you entered the drawings.

That's all the fun stuff I have to share today! I will be posting all next week with a Christmas card everyday until Christmas, so be sure to come back often.

Have a lovely week!

k

WINNER!!! Alice's Tea Cup Cook Book

Hey there, we do have a winner! LINDALOU who said:

Ya gotta love cook books. This one looks lovely.

So nice to know I'm not the only one that spatters on their cookbooks and recipes.

CONGRATS!! I will get your book in the mail to you!

Have a great day!

k

A Card and A GIVEAWAY!!!

Hello there people! What a loooong time it has been. Well of course there has been a lot of action here from the recent holiday and our festivities are still going on a bit. We love having visitors and we are having a great time! Today we will head into the city to see the tree at 30 Rock.

But enough of that, I have a great non-papercrafting giveaway for you today. I know you are really going to love it, (I know I do!) and I can't wait to get it started. But first a little holiday card for you:

This is a little one I sent to the shop, although I am sure it will be a bugger to send in the mail ; )

OK...

How many of you have heard of Alice's Tea Cup which is located here in NYC?? Well, its a loverly little place that has fabulous scones, cakes, teas and food. You can read about a trip we took while still living in the city HERE. We love it there. In fact we have had more trips, but I can't seem to track down the other posts.

Anyhoo, Let me show you a little somethin' somethin':

It's the new cook book from Alice's Tea Cup!! Yes I know, it looks heavenly! And I can actually tell you first hand that it IS heavenly! I got permission to give away one copy of said book and decided to give it a try first before putting my stamp of approval on it, and let me just say I APPROVE!! (please note whomever wins will receive their OWN copy of the book, you will not get one I used with batter splatters on it and such ; )

Since the book showed up the week of Thanksgiving, I decided to let it help me round out our feast. I chose my recipe; Banana Nutella Cake (oooooh):
I mixed up the batter. And it tastes divine just plain out of the bowl (ask me how I know ; )
I stopped myself long enough to get the batter in the pans and cooked. I'm lucky there was any batter left:
Each layer is slathered in Nutella. Divine!:
And here is my frosting try. I tell you, I have NO idea how to frost cakes, but for some reason it still came out looking absolutely delectable, that's how easy the instructions are. And of course we were too busy eating it to take pictures of the inside, but trust me when I say it was totally wonderful! It really made our Thanskgiving feast top notch.

There are so many wonderful recipes in this book. The photos are beautiful and there are little fun tidbits about the restaurant and the owners that are a delight to read. SOOOO, if you wanna win this book follow the instructions below:

Leave me a comment, any comment. Something fun, sweet or just plain practical.

Leave me your name and a way to get ahold of you either by blog address or email.

Thats it!

You have until SUNDAY NIGHT at midnight to be eligible. I will post the winner on Monday here on the blog.

Good Luck!

Happy Craft Cooking this week everybody!

loves

k

Cardabilities #16

Hey there! Today marks the ending of November. What the what?? So it's another special day over at Cardabilities. Here is today's sketch:

I think I was mostly inspired by the green, summery images on this sketch. Here is what I came up with:
I have loved this PTI stamp set since the first day I saw it. I love using it. It's fun, carefree and perfect for this sketch. I have been keeping my cards extra simple lately. It seems to work better for me than when I gussy them up a lot. I over exposed this in photoshop so my cloud is a bit light. It's rather dark on the actual card.

A simple little card to send to a friend. So, how about them holidays eh? They are going strong and the last is just around the corner. I actually do have most of my shopping done (whew!) and am looking forward to some time with my parents and staying cosy. We are also really heavy on the birthdays in the winter so we have a lot to look forward to, even when its cold and miserable outside. There's always a party to be had here!

Hope you are well goodbye to you for now and Goodbye November....until next time

Happy Crafting!

k

Pink Persimmon Christmas!

Hey there.... I have been soooo MIA. I wonder to myself, "Self, what have you been doing??" Well, I just don't have a great answer. Mostly life has been happening and it has been preventing me from getting other fun things done. But just incase you are worried I am only filling my time with cleaning floors and changing diapers, I thought I would share a few cards with you tonight:

the new Christmas sets from Pink Persimmon helped me make these cards:

This baby is all silver embossed and flat flat flat. well, except for the button that I couldn't do without! This new set is just charming with last years Holly Wreath set. Looks lovely embossed!

This second card has been up over at the Pink Persimmon blog so I thought I would throw it on at the end. I stamped the star image as a background using some Galaxy Gold ink that is nice and shimmery. It creeps up the page. I added a ric rac edge and there is a gem at the top of this tree. My camera has been naughty this last little while. The auto focus is super messed up and so picture taking is less than enjoyable and the outcome is borderline horrible. I can barely photoshop these pics into being viewable. But there you have it anyway. I hope to be back with a super fun giveaway that is NOT paper related, well, it is a paper (book!) but not for paper crafts. It's going to take me through this Thanksgiving holiday to get it pulled together though, but be sure to check back in a week or so. I hope to get some card making in too, so I am not so out of touch with you all.

What do you have planned for your holiday coming up? (well, I guess just us USA-ers) I have some in-laws coming into town and we are all chomping at the bit to see them! Thanksgiving will be BBQ turkey this year with all the fixin's. It's actually the first time I have ever had to do it myself, so it should get interesting.

Even if you are not celebrating something, I hope you have a wonderful week with those you love.

See you soon!

k

Cardabilities #15

Hey there blog-o-buddies! It's another fabulous reveal over at Cardabilities. Hope you can join us this go-round. Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on it:
I am still working out my holiday cards for this year and I thought using the sketch would be a great chance to get some inspiration help. I had this felted paper for K&Co which was just divine and it was shaped with the swoops and peaks. So I fussy cut a bit of it to go on my card front. I added some beautiful red ribbon (this is my fav. color red!) and a tag with simple font. The ribbon, stamps and card base are Papertrey Ink. I added come glitter over the berries which are hard to make out. A pretty simple way to put together some cards which is how I like it.

Head on over to Cardabilities to join in the fun! Hope all is well with you. I am using this week to finalize my Thanksgiving menu. It's a bit complicated right now and needs to be weeded through for my own sanity. Plus we picked up a sweeeet BBQ from the clearance rack at Target so I think a BBQed turkey needs to be added in there instead. Should be pretty great. We are also having some family come this year which will be wonderful! We can't wait for the holiday to get here. I think mostly because it means the husb will have some time off. We always love that.

Have a great week and Happy Crafting!!

k

Pink Persimmon New Stamp Sets!!

Hey there all! I just wanted to drop in since it has been AGES since I have posted. I wanted to share with you a bit from the amazing new stamp sets that Pink Persimmon has just come out with. I got the great opportunity to play with them and oh how I LOVE them! Here they are from the Pink Persimmon website. Click on the link and enjoy!

I made a few cards but will only share two of them today. Here is the first:

I clear embossed the image and then sponged it with ink. The top is Brilliance Galaxy Gold and has a great shimmer to it. I added a little jewel at the top.

Here is the second:
I made up a wreath using the small leaf stamp images. I punched a circle with my 3/4" circle punch and lightly fixed it to the center. I stamped around it to help me keep the wreath even. I stamped the small vine-y like image around the edge. I also copied the same onto the envelope using a different color. This sweet envie actually came from a gift I received from Red Envelope. The perfect color and size for a quick card and of course it was completely intact and just begging to be used again. I stamped the Merry Christmas image with Galaxy Gold as well, trimmed and popped it up.

So that's it for tonight. A few seasonal cards to get you all in the moooood. I have been a bit MIA since the auto focus on my camera has broken and taking pictures is just not as fun as it used to be. Gotta get a new lens since we have had this thing fixed more than once. I am a little bit exhausted of broken things in this house! So forgive me if my pics are blurry. They seem to be almost in focus except for one small spot. If you can find it in these pics, you are the winner! Ok, gonna hit the hay now so...

Nighty Night!

k

Winter Hat Giveaway!

A dear friend of mine makes these FABULOUS hats (both for kids and adults). She is having a giveaway on her BLOG. Go check it out and enter to win!!! You can pick you own colors, and you know that will make this coming winter so much more fun.

It's a beautiful fall day here today. How about where you are?? I think I need one of these hats to keep my ears from freezing off of my head. It's making me want to be cozy. I just had some hot chocolate and I see soup and bread in my near future. Yep, it's definitely fall here!!

have a great day!

k

Cardabilities #14

Oh man, do I feel Fooooolish. It seems I missed a Cardabilities reveal this last month. I think it was the church Halloween party that made me forget (I have to blame someone else, don't I??) Anyway. here is the sketch which happened this last Oct. 30th:And here is my take on it:
You know I think what happened was I saw it posted over at the Cardabilities website and I think I thought I was looking at my own blog or something. Somehow my brain thought it was already posted. I am totally lame.

I hope they can forgive me!!

This card was using up my K&Co stash from my scrap stash blitz. This is what actually started the entire blitz in the first place!!!

Anyway, its got some glittery chipboard embellies and a Martha Stewart doilies which I am (sadly) almost out of.

Happy Crafting everyone!

k

Scrap Stash Blitz

If you are anything like me, you have page after page of papers and embellishments sitting in your stash. You pull them out and realize how much you loved them but yet you still have so much left over to use and have long since moved on to the latest grand thing. Welp, I pulled out some papers and set to work making a slew of thank you cards. The list of people I need to thank keeps growing so I thought it was a perfect time to use up my stash and send some thank you love in the mail.

Because you are lucky, you get to see all of them at once. (uh, mostly its because I am too lazy to make multiple posts ; )

All these papers and the embellishments are the Berry Sweet collection from K&Co. This stamp is Lawn Fawn.

I am trying out the new color Fresh Linen from Papertrey Ink. It's not too bad, but I do find I am not sure what to do with it, the paper especially. I think my eyes need to get used to seeing it. However the ribbon, as always, is great!
These stamps and ribbon are Papertrey Ink and I added the embellishment to a Martha Stewart doily.

With this one I made up a small tag to be used for the sentiment so I could free up the paper to take the focus. I love those little mushies...
And last but not least, another Lawn Fawn stamp set. I wanted this all to be fun and colorful. I love the pink water! Again I added some Fresh Linen ribbon and a few rhinestones.

Ok, thats my scrap stash blitz for ya! I want to make a habit of using up my stash. My poor drawers are stuffed full and need some relief! Maybe I will have another blitz soon. Have a great evening. This weekend is full of halloween fun for us. What are you up to? Hope you have a great weekend too!

Happy Crafting!

k

BOO!

We are getting closer to Halloween here folks! I just wanted to pop in and share a bit of a card with you. This is using all Pink Persimmon Stamps:

The background is a mix of Vintage Pumpkins and the starburst image from Flower Garden. The jumping pumpkin is also from Vintage Pumpkins colored in with some Copics. The Alphas are from the Carnival Alpha set.

I just finished watching Babies. It was cute and funny and delightful! However, I do feel for those babies that are tethered to the bed and who play in the dirt all day. Although its a testament to the fact that you don't need a ton of toys! Check it out if you haven't seen it yet. So cute. I guess that means it's time for bed now right? The morning comes early in this house (and in every house, to be sure) and this cranky lady needs some sleep so she can be nice ; ) Thanks for stopping by. Nighty Night!
k

Cardabilities #13

Hey there! Today is the start of a new Cardabilities term. I am so excited to be staying on for the next term, so lets get started! #13:

Here is my take on the sketch:
I decided to off-set it a bit. This Lawn Fawn set comes with the curly cue stamp that is actually straight but I curved it around the circle instead of adding any scallops like the sketch. I also added a bit of pink color to the spools of thread for the background and if you look close you can see some embossed polka dots. Added some felt ric-rac and polka ribbon.

That's all for me today. I have come down with a cold and don't feel to well, but will still be posting a few times here this week. Hope all is well with you!!

k

It's a "Framed" Christmas

Good evening folks! Tonight I am sharing some Christmas cards. I have been starting to think about what I want to do this year. A few criteria... easy to mass produce, FLAT, and fun to look at. I figured if I don't start now, I really won't get them all done in time. I am not a big fan of mass production, nor a fan of flat cards ; ) so I need to really find something I love. This first one I do really like:

I think it should be stamped on white though. I think the colors will pop better. I like the color combo on this. Not your regular holiday colors. But it wouldn't be easy to reproduce. You have to concentrate to keep everything super straight, and I think my patience would run thin. So maybe only a few like this and then I will move on.

Second sample:
ugh... really really UGH! I actually hate looking at this card. blech... It doesn't help that you can't see the glitter on the snowflakes. The glitter makes it a bit more bearable, but most of it has rubbed off since it only dawned on me to add the glitter once the ink had partially dried. I think this would be a good man-card right? totally manly ; )

Sample 3:
Now I am liking this one, and its pretty easy to pull off. You can't see the glitter that I added to the berries, but I think I would do them with red rhinestones instead. It will really help it sing. And I would do a black frame/sentiment instead of brown and maybe on white paper? Or, this one needs some distressing or inking around the edges to make it a bit more home-y to match up with the cream paper. That might help it.

Anyway. This has been a talk through for my own sake as maybe you can tell! It's been a bit since I have sat down and created without a deadline, or requirement attached, and I think I am a bit rusty! I hope to get some more crafting in soon. How about you? Are you crafting? I hope so!

thanks for stopping in tonight. Have a good one!

k

Hey Dude

Hey there. whew, it's been a loooooong week for some reason. I am feeling super drained from kids and bedtimes and food fights and toy messes. I think I am ready for a weekend where I can leave these kids with their dad for the day! So a little dude-ness to get your weekend started right:

I just love love love this image! I also really love the font style. That Kim Hughes... she really knows how to put a smile on your face right?! This one is made with Clear Cardstock from Short Cuts (who I think are not around anymore? can anyone out there verify? I couldn't find their website)

A bit of orange Copic action and some T1 outlined around the image to help with dimension.
Here is more dude-ness with some green monsters. I love this image too. It's all around a great set. So glad I snagged it! (took me long enough ; ) Ok. so I am trying to breathe deep now. Trying to not feel like this week was a total failure. At least I got some crafting done right?! Ok... Onto the weekend!! On to OCTOBER!!! Hope you have a great one!!

loves

k

Cardabilities Reveal #12

Hey there people in the blogosphere! It's that time again. Cardabilities it's last reveal of this month. Where did September go anyway?? Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on it:
I got this sweet small picture frame (Melissa Frances) from the dear ladies over at Pink Persimmon and used all Pink Persimmon stamps on it. I mixed some patterned papers (Cosmo Cricket and PTI) and did some Tim Holtz inking action to the paper.
I colored my Santa with Copics and added some dyed silk ribbon and the new bakery twine from Papertrey Ink. Lots of fun to be had on this card. I can't believe I am thinking about the holidays already, but it is that time again. Once October rolls around you really don't come up for air until January. But I do look forward to all the wonderful things that come with the holidays. School is finally in full swing as is the falling of the leaves and the nipping of the cold. It's time to break out the hot chocolate! YUM!

ok. really, now I want some, so I am gonna go now. I suggest you get some too, just because its so good. Happy sipping ( I mean, crafting!)

k

Cuteasaurous

Good evening!! I have a boy card to share with you tonight. Stamps are PTI and Kim Hughes:

I adore this stamp set so much! Well, actually I adore both sets. So very fun. A fun color combo too. Hawaiian Shores and Ripe Avocado. I did some Copic coloring as well.
I am waiting for the husband to stop working in the garage so we can watch a movie tonight. It seems late to get started, but I am determined to relax tonight even if it means being dead tired in the morning! Anyway, I got popcorn made, salsa and chips and a nice big cold beverage. aaahhhhh. I'm gonna go now, but not before I wish you good night!! Happy Crafting night owls!

loves

k

A card and my trip to Snapdragon Inn!

Hey there everybody! I wanted to stop in and share a card with you real quick, but also to share some pictures of the trip I took last week for my 10 year wedding anniversary (*gasp* 10 years!!)

So here is today's card. Simple and to the point:

I wanted to thank the lovely people at the Snapdragon Inn for such an amazing time! It was just what we needed to celebrate 10 years in style.

The Inn is located in Windsor Vermont (which is the most lusciously green place I have ever been)! You can check out the website to the Snapdragon Inn HERE. The Snapdragon Inn just opened to the public this month and it is fabulous. It is the former house of Maxwell Perkins who was the literary editor to famous writers such as Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Floyd. It has been completely remodeled and now is absolutely GORGEOUS! Here is a shot of the back of the Inn (you can see Patrick sitting on the porch):

Dontcha just love the look of it? Inside our room they had the most AMAZING bed. I tell you, for days after getting home, I really didn't like being in my own bed. It is SO horrible in comparison and I actually dreamed about the big fluffy one back in VT. Baby Kai loved the soft downy pillows and mattress:

The dear sweet owners left us a little love in our room to help us celebrate our special day. Chocolate covered strawberries!! What?!? How perfect is that? And all the roses *sigh* I want to go back!

One of my favorite things about the place was the fabulous toiletries they offered. You just can't beat L'Occitane! Every once in a while I would catch a smell of my hair and smile, it smelled so good! Wish I could go back to that, for sure. I loved the soft fluffy towels and the bathrobe too! Actually I wore that thing as much as possible since I don't have one at home. It made me feel extra spoiled.

The husb and I spent a lot of time on the back porch in the rocking chairs. It was so very peaceful there. You are surrounded by lawn, garden and trees everywhere. If you are looking for a nice getaway where you can actually relax, then this is the place for you! But there are even things to do as a family, which I know we will be exploring some day.

Here is the lake right behind the Inn. It's so lovely! We strolled all afternoon. You may wonder who I actually went on the vacation with right? I did take a few pictures with my husband, I promise. But it was so sweet to celebrate this with the baby because it gave us good alone time with him. Something he will rarely get growing up in this family ; ) And it was also such a great reminder of the journey we are on together... 10 years and 3 kids later.
So that was our trip and since we got home I just can't stop thinking about when we can get back there. If you live in the New England area and are looking for a quaint, quiet getaway, you really should look it up. (They are also having a special this month too which you can check out HERE!) I definitely think this will have to be a re-occuring trip for Patrick and I. I love the idea of making this "our place" while we grow old together. It was a perfect 10 yr. celebration and I look forward to many more years together and at the Snapdragon. Thanks for letting me share it with you!

Hope you have an amazing weekend.

love to you!

k