Merry Christmas!

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted anything on my blog. I discovered facebook and have been spending a lot of time there and neglecting my blog. I am going to make a new years resolution to come back to posting on my blog. I have made a few cards in the past month so in the new year I will start posting more cards. I will try to blog weekly.

In the meantime, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Here's looking ahead to a fabulous 2009!

Happy Friday....

I look forward to weekends! Always something to do now that Pat is off on weekends. I am posting a card I made for my monthly swap. I really had a creative block this month. I made this card very slowly, first coming up with the fold (it's a tri-fold which doesn't photograph very well), then I decided on the paper (two different designs to make the 10 cards - I only had one piece left of each), then after looking at it for several days I added the snowflakes. So here I am with a card and no stamping...I added the sentiment after looking at it another few days. There is also a nice sentiment on the inside (didn't photograph the inside). For a simple card, it took a while to make. I hope the swappers like the card. They are a pretty creative group!





Weekend plans include having dinner with high school friends of Pat's, Kerry's classes and rehearsals and Girl Scouts! We will be busy. I am now on facebook....if you are a friend, add me!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween everyone. I know you haven't seen Penny recently on the blog so I thought I would share a photo of Penny in her Halloween Costume. Can you guess what she is???



Penny is recuperating from her spay this week. It's been difficult to get to relax. She wants to play but the vet said she should take it easy for a week. She won't be going trick or treating but she wanted to at least dress up for her first Halloween.

It's been a relatively quiet week based on how busy I have been lately. I am working the polls next week. It's going to be a long day. I have to be there at 5:30 a.m., which means I will have to get up around 4:15 a.m. I haven't seen that hour of the day in a very long time. To top it off, I stay until the polls are closed. I am going to be one tired chick on Wednesday.

Don't forget to get out and VOTE!!!

Caramel Apple Kits

I love weekends! There is always something to look forward to. Now that Pat is finally off on weekends we not only get a lot done, we do things we haven't done in a long time....socialize. Meghan is home for the weekend. We had a wonderful dinner last night at home. Today we went out to breakfast. This afternoon we are having our family portrait taken at church . Tonight we are all going out to dinner on Meghan's last night (except for Kerry who has rehearsal).

Here is a little project that I make every Fall. It's a caramel apply kit. It contains about 9 caramels and a popsicle stick. There is a recipe card on front and a topper.



Here's a close-up of the topper. I was so happy to see the stamp - caramel apple kit - in the Spooky Treats II set from Papertrey Ink.



I made a few more cards for swaps that I will post soon.

I think it's been forever since I had blog candy. I will have to think about doing that next week. Check back!

Diane

Another busy week....

Another busy week after a busy weekend. Patrick and I celebrated our 27th anniversary with a fabulous dinner at a wonderful restaurant. I had a night out with friends (buffet dinner and comedy) that was a lot of fun. It was homecoming weekend for Kerry - she had a wonderful time and looked beautiful in her new dress. This week I bowl on Monday (as usual), Dog Park Meeting on Tuesday and on Wednesday a fun night at bookclub. I think I have an idea for a costume (our book club hostess is having a prize for best costume). Then, I have to get ready for a weekend visitor...Meghan is coming home...yeah! We are having a family portrait done at church on Saturday.

Here is a card I made for a swap.

Another project

Below is an altered plastic paperclip. I bought the paperclip at Target's Dollar Spot. I thought the orange one would be good for Halloween. The top of the paperclip holds a photo.



I went out to dinner on Monday (before bowling) to celebrate our friend Carol's birthday and then last night I had a dinner with friends in from Oregon last night - it was nice to see Michelle again after all these years. We do keep in touch but nothing beats seeing your friends in person. Michelle's husband Mike took a photo. If I get it this week I will update this post with the photo.

Tonight is Woman's club. I have a fun game planned for the ladies (which involves me blowing up 40 balloons).

Test Tube Candy

I bought these great test tubes at Michaels. They are from Martha Stewart and they came four to a pack. Each tube held a cool glitter pen. I took out the pens, cleaned the tubes added some candy corn and decoration (including that cool fuzzy ribbon) for a Halloween treat!



It's Monday so that means bowling. My bowling average has gone down dramatically this season. Thankfully, it's strictly a fun league so there is no pressure. Looking forward to a fun night out with the girls!

Funny

My friend Suzanne sent me this and I thought it was so funny...enjoy!

Paint Can

Here is a paint can that I made for my Big Sis from the last round of DSS. We met halfway between our homes at a scrapbook store. We shopped, went out to lunch and then shopped some more. We had a wonderful time. I had to make her something nice to thank her for spoiling me in the DSS Secret Sister Round. I have had a lot of great big sis's but she really spoiled me rotten. I loved everything she sent and the beautiful cards that came weekly. I was very lucky.

Here is a photo of the Bee Can I made. I used Papertrey ink's Honey Bee Set and filled it with the polka dot ribbon, other craft supplies and a ton of Burt's Bees products.

Notice the chocolate Bee on the lid.




I made a smaller one for a coordinator swap I participated in (also filled with Burt's Bees products). I really love this Bee set.

Here you go Meghan......

Meghan has been asking me for a new photo of Penny. Penny got her first haircut on the 24th and Meghan has been anxious to see a photo.

Here it is...



Have a nice day.

Book Club

Book club was at my house last week. We read "The Next Thing On My List" by Jill Smolinski. We had a great time and were lucky enough to have the author join us via speaker phone. She was a lot of fun to talk to you. She asked us to send her our photo so she could add it to her web site. Here is the photo we sent and yes, she did add it to her web site.




You can visit the authors Web site here.

We all enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.

More Scenes from my yard...

First a cute little frog on the stairs by the driveway.



Then these cute pair peeking out from the woods in the front.



Just another day in the neighborhood.

Front Page Story

Park goes to the dogs. Here is the link to the article on the Dog Park.

Here is one of the photo's in the article. This is Penny and Ives:

Dog Park...

I am on a committee to create a dog park in my town. We had our first meeting last night and the turnout was great! Anyway, I went to visit the proposed property today with some of the committee and we were accompanied by a photographer and a newspaper reporter covering the story. Penny will have her picture in the paper!! Penny and my friends lab, Ives were investigating the property and I think they liked it! Ives went for a swim in the river while Penny watched impressed with Ives swimming.

I'll post a link to the article once it is published in the paper.

Here are some more Halloween goodies I a made for my secret sis this round. There will be more on the way. As you can see, one is a tin filled with chocolate nuggets, one is a trident gum holder and finally some peppermint patties in a pouch. Again, I am loving the fuzzy ribbon from the ribbon share Jody had on Confessions of a Ribbon Addict. Unfortunately, I am now officially out of the pumpkin color fuzzy ribbon.

Halloween

This is my monthly swap card. It's obviously for Halloween. I love the fuzzy ribbon which I bought from a Texasjodylynn ribbon share over on Confessions of a Ribbon Addict



I have some more halloween things to share that I made for my DSS on SCS.

A Single Cupcake Box

I learn so much from SCS and from blogs. I made a single cupcake box for my secret sister (round 2) and I learned how to make it from TexasJodyLynn's website, Confessions of a Ribbon Addict. You can find the instructions for the box HERE

I cased Jody's and here is my version. I didn't put a cupcake in but I did put a necklace that I made as a gift plus a ton of craft goodies. It was her birthday and this was my birthday surprise. It was easier to make than I expected and it was a lot of fun to make. I want to make another one soon.





I thought you might also want to see a recent photo of Penny! She's so cute. She ate my good black summer shoe this week but she is just too cute to be mad at, don't you think? It is my fault anyway, for leaving it on the floor.

I made this for a friends birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday Patty!

I have been stamping but I have also been making some jewelry including these two pieces. I gave the first one to my friend Patty for her birthday.



Here's a close-up



This is the second necklace I made (the same day). I am not sure who I am giving this one to yet...maybe my secret sister on DSS.



Here is a close-up:



Tomorrow I am meeting my Big Sis from Round 2 of DSS. I will post the gift I made for her after the meeting (it's stamped!)

Another backyard visitor...

This one is cute.



I have been doing a little stamping. I will post something tomorrow.

Backyard Visitor....

Look who stopped by this morning....



Yes, it's a Coyote. A little scary since I have a small puppy. I have to keep her on the leash since she would have definitely ran after the coyote to investigate.

OK, where have I been. Life does get crazy and I have taken a break. I am hoping to get back to crafting and blogging very soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Diane

Here's Penny....

Isn't she cute?!? She is such a great puppy. We are really enjoying her. She is cute and smart!






Have a great 4th of July!

I said I would be back....

and I am. Probably won't post daily but I am getting back into the swing of creating. While I wasn't stamping for the past few months, I was still buying stamps. I just love the Honey Bees set from Papertrey Ink. This is what I made using that set.



Isn't it a cute paint can. This is the small size paint can. I used black-eyed susan paper by colorblok (my favorite flower is black-eyed susans).

I also made a coordinating card. Here is the outside.



Here is the inside.





While you probably can't see it in the photo, I added some yellow stickles to the bee on top and it looks cute with the sparkle. I love my stickles!

PLUS! I also made a complete scrapbook (forgot to take photo's of a few pages before I sent it in the mail this morning) for my mother-in-law with photo's from her 80th birthday weekend. The scrapbook came out great (if I must say so myself). I sent it priority today - - I hope she likes it.

Penny is doing great. She graduated from the Petco Puppy School on Saturday (we are so proud of her!). I signed her up for another training course at a different place and we start on July 15th. Her newest trick is: BANG YOUR DEAD (she rolls on her back with her paws up in the air - - so cute). I am taking her for a day of beauty on Wednesday. I'll take pictures of her then and post. She is really cute and less than 6 pounds at 4 months so the Vet predicts she will likely be 12-13 pounds when full grown.

A lot of fun coming up. We have three summer birthdays, camps and vacations to look forward to. This will be a busy summer.

Thanks for looking!

I'll be back...

I know it's been a long time. No details, but it's been a difficult few months. I haven't stamped in a few months but an anxious to start again.

As you probably know, Penny is home! She is 15 weeks tomorrow and weighs 5 lbs and 8 ounces. She is really cute and is pretty good (still has an accident every now and then). We go for puppy class every Saturday and have a trainer come to our house every two weeks to work with us. We are training her to hopefully be a therapy dog some day....visiting hospital and nursing homes. Right now she knows the following commands:

Sit

Down

Come

Stay (sort of)

Leave it (sort of - depending on what it is)

and today she finally got PAW - - I have been working with her for two weeks on this one.

We are not doing well with OFF but will continue to work on that one.

Next I am going to teach her roll-over.

Penny has been a lot of fun. I took her for a walk on the green tonight but all she really wanted to do was lay down on the grass and relax . . . I ended up carrying her (lol)...some walk.

Anyway, wanted you to know I was still here and will begin blogging again soon.

Another Playdate with Penny.....

She has had her first set of shots and it's only 11 days till we can bring her home.



Isn't she cute....




Here's a photo of her playing tug of war with her brother. They found one of the girls headbands and had a great time playing with it (for hours).



Here's a photo of Penny napping with her brother.



We haven't even brought her home yet but we have over 140 photo's of her....she's not too spoiled.

Enjoy the photo's of our little girl....

With Sympathy...

Here is another sympathy card.

Two and a half weeks until.....

we bring Penny home. Kerry and I spent an hour and a half playing with her and her brothers and sisters. They are now seven lively, playful, funny puppies. They were so much fun. She's still not quite 3 lbs. She plays enthusiastically with toys and jumps and plays with the other puppies. She is not the smallest pup but is one of the smaller puppies and does a great job of holding her own with her bigger brothers and sisters.

Look how cute!!!




Cards will be coming soon...just picked up a new cupcake set...very cute.

Thank You To Karen

My cousin Karen has been searching Local Craft Stores in Tennessee for Cuttlebug Embossing Folders for me. She found two of the folders I was looking for. I sent her this little thank you for her trouble. Having said that, Karen is a lot like me and being asked to look in local craft stores is hardly trouble...more of a delight. Anyway, THANK YOU Karen!

Here is a photo of some monogrammed notecards. (Karie - - oh no, here we go again! more monograms). This set uses the paisley embossing folder which Karen found for me. Karen should have these by now so that's why I posted the photo today.




BTW, I did finally find the Swiss Dots I have been looking for thanks to an ink-stains friend who helped me find a web site who still had them in stock....Thanks Sharon!

Gift Card Holder

Here is a quick & easy gift card holder. No need to buy one in the stores, make it yourself! This one took about 10 minutes to make. Simply cut a piece of cardstock to 4 1/4" X 11". Then score 3" on both sides and right down the middle at 5 1/2". Fold the cardstock so that it forms a "W" shape. It will be easy to see where to put the adhesive. You will need to punch in the middle of card holder (where you put the actual gift card) and open up the rest of the way with a small scissor or craft knife. I used a 1 1/4" circle punch (half way). This one was pretty simple. As an afterthought I used my cuttlebug birthday embossing folder on the inside. Since that was an afterthought and I did it after the rest of the card was finished I thought I would ruin it but it came out perfect and added just the touch I needed.

Here is the finished card



Here is the card opened




n

All together now....

say AH!!!!



Isn't she adorable. Penny is now weighing in at a big 2 lbs. and 5 ozs. She is now so playful! We spent over an hour with her on Saturday and had a great time.

Here's the whole litter at feeding time.



Here she is again.

Last one...

from this "series" of items I made. This is a package of 3X3 cards with envelopes, again using Berry Bliss Designer Paper and the Elzybells.



Here is the entire package I sent which includes everything I showed her plus some monogrammed notecards, a large Bridgewater Chocolate candy bar and assorted craft items (brads, primas, hardware, stickles, glue stick, ribbon glue, vellum envelopes etc.).



Hopefully, we will visit Penny today and have more photos.

Here we go again.....

Only one more after this and then I will move on to something else. In the swap I did we had to include a decorated tin. This tin uses Pretty in Pink Cardstock, Berry Bliss Designer Paper and the Ellzybell images. Inside are Hershey chocolate sticks.



TGIF! Have a nice weekend everyone!

Yet Another Elzybell project...

Here is a card. It is the first card I ever made using a challenge (meaning the layout was pre-designed).

Another Elzybell project

Here is another gum holder using the Elzybell image that was sent to me. Very cute images. The paper is Berry Bliss.

Elzybells

This week I am going to post some of the items that I made for a coordinator swap over at SCS DSS. We were suppose to use Bella or Elzybell stamps. I do not own any Elzybells so two nice coordinators sent me some images to use. I wasn't sure how that would work out but I really like the Elzybells images and I liked the items I made. The first one is a treat holder. In a tutorial I posted on this blog in January I used a scallop punch and inserted a heart candy. In this example I used a square punch (twice) and inserted a large trident gum.



Here is a photo of the gum holder open.



I'll post more of the items I created for this swap during the week. The receiver of the items seemed to like them (I'm glad)! I used Pretty in Pink card stock and Berry Bliss designer paper.