Finally Fall!

YAY!  Fall is upon us and it's my favorite time of year.  I love the colors and the festive feel of all of the homey things to come over the next few months.  Fall is when my "nesting" vibe kicks in.  I want to make the house look festive and baked anything that smells like cinnamon.  Of course, the crafty fall stuff too!  There won't be too much of that this year though with the wedding in high gear.  Instead of the brilliant fall hues spread across my crafty table, I will be seeing hues of ivory, white and the palest of pinks.  But ooohhh, so worth it!  I did get a chance to open my box of Fall crafting goodness today and make some invites for a family party.  With all of the chaos lately, it was absolutely blissful to be crafting something fun and with my favorite season's goodies.  So here are the invites. I will have a couple more things that I will be making for the party and I will post them when I finish.   What a wonderful break this has been for me at a much needed time.  And oh yes - how could I forget?  The family party I am crafting for is a combo of my step dad's b-day and get this - my mom is retiring!!!  After working for YEARS, she is finally calling it quits. We are so proud of her for all that she did for her and all that she taught us about responsibility.  Yup, it was a good day today!

Been one VERY Busy Bee!

Hey everyone.  Once again, it has been forever since I posted. My poor blog has been so neglected.  As you can see below, the last crafty thing I have to post is from July!  It's been hectic to say the least.  Of course there has been tons of wedding planning going on.  The details are pretty much nailed down so it's time to get to work on all of the crafty stuff.  The details were SO time consuming but SO worth it!  What an amazing time in life!  On a totally different note, my amazing, sweet, kind and wonderful father-in-law passed away on Sept 6th.  We spent a lot of time with him over the summer, especially within the last weeks and days and that was our top priority.  Now that he is gone, those are very cherished moments and they comfort us as we go through the grieving process.   He was a great man who left a great son who learned so much from him.  I am lucky to have a husband that leanred all that he knows from a father that was so incredibly special.  Also, my poor soon to be son-in-law has been sick since the beginning of July and no one has been able to find what the problem is.  Like I said - one Busy Bee!   We are all trying to return to some normalcy as best we can so hopefully I will have some wedding postings soon!

A card for a friend

It really has been a while since I last posted! This card was made for a friend's birthday in July! Ugh, time sure does fly. Anyway, I loved the wooden button with the number "23" on it. Her b-day is July 23rd so it was perfect for this card!

My Crafting Assistant

This is my kitten, Belle.  She was my Christmas present from my daughter and she is the most lovable cat ever! She is my shadow and follows me everywhere. My daughter put this basket on my desk for me to use for storage but before I could decide on how to use it, Belle decided for me. She is now a permanent fixture each and every time I craft. She will lay for hours happily sleeping in her basket. 

Father's Day for my hubby

I went plain and simple on this and let the sentiment be the star of the show. I have the best hubby ever and my daughter has the best daddy ever! I'm already stock piling the tissues for their walk down the aisle and the Father/daughter dance. How does a mom hold it together for those things? hehehe

Father's Day

This is a card that I made for my step-dad for Father's day. I totally lifted the layout from a card I'd seen in a magazine but added my own touches. I just loved the fold over design with the card tucked inside. The paper is from Creative Imaginations, Antique Cream Collection and I am totally hooked on it. I have used it so many times since getting it. I just seem to keep reaching for it.

Flowery Birthday

This card was made for another sister-in-law (hubby's sister). Just about everything in this one is from Cosmo Cricket's Tea for Two Collection. I love the blue paper with the little yellow roses. It reminds me of a vintage table cloth or apron, maybe even wallpaper. Just makes me happy :)

Prima's Songbird Collection

I made this card for my sister-in-law's birthday. Everything is from Prima's yummy Songbird Collection that I treated myself to. I am in love with this collection. The colors are sweet and subtle and the embellies are Oh So Prima!

Happy Anniversay!

This is the card that I made for my in-law's for their 43rd (I think that's right, give or take a year) wedding anniversary. What a milestone to celebrate!

The latest Buzz......

Wow, sure as been a while since my last post. Things have been a bit hectic around here. The normal routine and daily activities and life seem to always take away time from crafters. Then if you dump a few out of the ordinary things in there, your whole schedule is outta whack! :) Maybe we crafters should do our crafting first and put everything else after that! If only right? So the lastest buzz in my world is that my beautiful and amazing baby girl is getting married!! We are totally beyond excited and are anxiuosly awaiting the day, which is May 10th! Her choice of a husband was the absolute best. I couldn't have hand picked him better myself. So now this crafter has been thrown into full wedding mode. It's a DIY wedding so I am going to be one busy girl for the nest 10 months or so. Get ready to see lots of wedding posting from this girl!

Catching Up

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I have posted.  It's been a little upside down and backwards around here lately.  Here are some of the things that I have been working on.  I hope to continue to chop away at that never ending craft to-do list.  Thanks for looking and enjoy!

This is the gift that I made for my mom for

Mother's Day.  (Sorry about the not so great

pic. It was tough taking a picture of a picture) 

This layout is based around the only existing

pictures of my Mom's entire family together.

It was located recently and my Mom was so excited

that I knew I had to do something with it for her.

Although most of the people in the picture

have since passed on, these are the people

of her roots (amd mine).  She loved

it and it's one of my favorites too

just for the meaning that it has.



 

I made this Get Well card for my

husband's uncle who recently

went through a rough patch.

I'm happy to say that he is slowly on the mend

and I hope that he liked his old-

fashioned Get Well greeting as much

as I liked making it.

These are this year's Mother's Day cards.

The top one was for my mom

and the bottom one for my Mother-in-law.

I love the pictue in the first one.  It

reminds me of when I was little and my

Mom bake pies and the crust from

scratch.  Yummm!

I have been dying to make one of these pots of flowers.

I actually bought everything last Spring and

never got around to it.  What a blast these are

to make and a great way to use up scraps.

I gave it to my sister-in-law who came

and paid us a surprise visit this past

weekend.  It was wonderful to see her and

it has been way too long.  I hope she

enjoys it.

I made this journal recently for my teenage niece.

The top picture is the outside cover and the

bottom picture is the inside where I made a

pocket and a matching bookmark.

The back inside cover matches too.

Spectacular Spring!

Hey everyone!  I hope that you are enjoying some lovely Spring weather in your neck of the woods. In NJ, it's sunny, 72 degrees with a light breeze.  Just perfect!  Tomorrow is going to be like summer though.  88 degrees!!  That's a little too much, too quick for me but I love seeing the trees pop and the flowers coming to life.  Here a couple of Spring cards that I made for a couple of very special people in my life.  They make everyday Spring for me.  :)

How cute is this matching paper with the

sweet little birds?! Doesn't get much

more Spring-like than that.

(card looks crooked for some reason

but it's really not.)

I love the sweet flowers & bright colors on this paper.

I did a fussy cut on a few of them

and used pop dots for some

dimension.



Special Thoughts

I made this card the other day for my FIL. He is one of the sweetest, kindest & most gentle people I have ever met.  How lucky I am that his son took on so many of those wonderful traits.  My FIL is battling cancer and has had a really rough time lately.  I have been making him as many cards as I can to lift his spirits and to let him know that I am always thinking of him.  I was so incredibly lucky to have had a chance to have a private talk with him to tell him how I feel about him and he did the same for me.   It's a conversation I will cherish forever.  Please don't let another day go by without telling those you love how you feel about them.  You will be so glad that you did!

March Birthdays

Even though the weather is acting more like late April, it really is just March.  During the month of March there are 2 important birthdays are here.  First is my amazingly wonderful hubby on the 8th and then on the 11th is my first-born niece.  Here are the cards that I made for them.

This one is for my niece, Heather.  I used my new

favorite line from My Mind's Eye - Miss Caroline.

Heather was very happy with her card and

that's the best part!

Happy Birthday Taterhead!



This one is for my hubby.

We all know how hard masculine cards

can be but I was pretty happy with this one.

To answer the sentiment on the front,

the inside says "Your youth that you

have been looking for!"

Good thing he can take a joke. :)

Happy Birthday Honey!

Birthday Card

This is the birthday card that I made for that same someone who is very special to me that also received the Recipe Mini Album below.

Recipe Mini Album

This project I did for someone very special who is like a daughter to me.  It is a recipe mini album for her 22nd birthday.  She recently got her own apartment and is enjoying learning her way around the kitchen. The book and all of the paper and embellishments are from Melissa Frances' Kitschy Kitchen collection so it was pretty easy to make it look good considering the great stuff that I had to work with.



HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I hope that you all had a wonderful day full of love, spent with the people most special to you.  Here are a few of the goodies that I made for family and friends.

Make A Wish

This card was for my daughter and her boyfriend.

The inside has a matching heart pocket that

held gift certificates for the movies.

So Supportive

Front View

Back View

These are too cute and so easy and fun to make. I made these for my gal-pals and my sister (pics to come).  The sentiment on the inside reads "Friends (Sisters) are like bras. All about support and always close to your heart. The little "tattoo" on the back reads "BF's have your back."   I heard that hubby of one of my friends actually blushed!  :)  Too cute!



A Big Milestone!

Hard to believe, but on Friday, January 27th, my precious "little" girl had her 21st birthday!!  I can barely wrap my head around it.  Where does the time go?  We all are always saying how fast it goes by but I don't think we ever really stop and think about it.  It's become more of just a saying.  However, time really does fly by and before you know it your little girl with the pony tails is going out with her girlfriends for her first legal drink.  Sometimes I wish I could hit the rewind button but I so adore the woman that she has become that I wouldn't change a thing.  Ok, maybe a few more chores would be nice!!  :)  Enjoy every moment of every day.  You can't ever get it back.  Here's the card that I made for her special day.  Her dad and I gave her a beautiful lavendar amethyst and diamond ring to mark the occasion.



Big Old Thank You

This is a Thank You card that I made for my wonderful friend and mentor,

Kristin who is the site owner at paper Therapy.  I made this to thank her

for a very special Christmas gift.  Ironically the day I am posting it,

she has made an announcement to close the doors at

Paper Therapy to pursue all of the amazing opportunities that

have opened for her in the crafting world.  So I post this now as

as double thank you to her for all that she has done for so

many of us at Paper Therapy. I wouldn't be where I am

without her.  Tons of luck Kristin! Love you girl!

Post It Note Holder and Matching Box of Refills



I made these as part of a neighbor's Christmas gift.

It was my first attempt at making the matching box

to hold extra Post-It notes.  I was pleasantly surprised

by how easy it was and the end result is a great

little desk set.  The template for this can be found

at TheCuttingCafe.com

A Homey Christmas Touch

I saw this saying somewhere and knew I just HAD

to use it somewhere in my country cozy house

for Christmas.  I used an old 3x5 wooden frame and just

roughed it up with some sand paper.  Then I printed the

saying on my computer, added the berry vine from

my digi collection and added a few embellishments

to the frame. Really simple and FREE!  Woo-Hoo!

It found a home nestled by my 2 ft tree

on my kitchen island that is decorated with

cookie cutters, kitchen utensils and

gingerbread men.

Bucket of Warmth!

This is a bucket that I altered for a Christmas

swap over at Paper Therapy.  The first picture shows the

front and the second shows the back.  I filled it up with

all of the makings for hot chocolate, right down to chocolate

chips for extra yumminess!  My swap partner really loved it.

This is another very fun and inexpensive way to give a

great gift for any occasion.  They are great for baby

showers filled with all the little gadgets babies need. 

Countdown to Christmas

This is an advent calendar that I made for my bestie - Kate.

It was a really fun project to make. 

The box was premade with a template for the drawer

fronts. Then I just used some embellishments

to decorate the drawers a bit more.

The ribbon I found with the numbers on

it was perfect for this project plus Kate loved it

so it was a hit!