For your comic relief tonight.....

I present to you......FATNESS!! My dog, my protector, my rock of 65 pounds of lovin' warmth on 6" legs. And those are his back legs. His front legs only measure 4"! But this dog is the best I've ever had. He knows me and my husband like no other dog has. And trust me, I've had many different breeds through out my whole life. This dog is the BEST!



And did you know he is an import? He was originally born in Russia. My hubby and I often call him a Russian Bolshevik especially when he is being naughty. Naughty in the way that most puppies are......eating anything that falls to the floor, chewing shoes, being crazy etc. etc. Fatness is two years old and a European pure bred English Bulldog. He isn't show-worthy because when he was a baby, he had a small spot of pink showing on his nose. Unacceptable in the show ring. You or I would probably not see it but the 'show ring masters' do.

Doesn't he have the teeeny-tineyest little front teeth? They look like baby teeth but those are permanent. But behind those little tiny teeth are the biggest inscisors ever! He only shows them when he wants to. Especially when you take his woobie away from him. His woobie is whatever blanket or toy he uses to create a blissful nights sleep with. He is not biased when it comes to what he sleeps with, it's all about the comfort that he creates with!

Why am I posting this on my crafty blog you may ask? Because I CAN!!!!
Thanks for looking! I may be posting again tomorrow, I've got a lot of cute stuff that I'm working on....but I'm not making any promises! Until next time!

Thanksgiving Card

I made this card for The 'Other Man' in My Life along with a little turkey magnet. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I really dislike how it kind of gets pushed to the side between Halloween and Christmas. To me, Thanksgiving is all about getting together to have a great meal made with love, conversation with family and friends and the true meaning of Thanksgiving....Giving thanks to God for what we have been given! It always has been and will forever remain my very favorite holiday.

So on to the card!!!



I started with a base of PTI Kraft Cardstock and stamped the background in SU! Chocolate Chip ink with my Paper Inspiration Linen Texture stamp. I picked up the stamp from an Archiver's store several years ago....I have no idea if they still carry it or not. I wanted a base to add layers to and this stamp fit the bill!

As you can see in the photo, I cut the 8.5 x 11 card stock in half on the 8.5 side and folded along the 11" side to have it stand upright.

In the photo below, you can seen the stamped sentiment and frame. I used my Cricut to cut out the frame from SU! Pumpkin Pie and PTI Dark Chocolate papers. I adhered a piece of PTI Ripe Avacado ribbon around the layers and attached the cut out sentiment to the ribbon using pop dots. The brads are from Making Memories. The gourd paper is by K&Co.



For the inside I added a few cut out gourds from the same K&Co. patterned paper and a piece of PTI Vintage Cream which had been sponged around the edge with SU! Pumpkin Pie ink. The inside looks a little messed up because I wrote on the inside before I had an opportunity to photograph it so I had to white out the words! BLAH!



I used the Card Positioning Systems layout of the week for inspiration for today's card. If you are ever at a loss as to a layout for your card check here first! They have a ton of great layouts!

I hope you enjoyed today's card. I'm not promising any more frequent blogging right now, as the holidays are fast approaching and my family comes first. But I do have a few extra days off next week, so hopefully I'll be able to be posting more. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Turkey Magnet

I was inspired by Angie Kennedy Juda's turkey made entirely with Stampin' Up! punches to attempt to make my own little turkey. I decided to turn it into a magnet, so it will, hopefully, get some use out of it. I'm making these for the 30 or so people who will be going to my Aunt's house on Thanksgiving Day, as well as the 20 people at my MIL's house. I think I'm going to be a little busy!



I used a mixture of Stampin' Up! and Papertrey Ink papers and since I don't own all the punches, I improvised. For the feathers and body, I used my circle Nestabilities. I used a standard hole punch for the buttons down the front. For the hat I used PTI's 3/4" square punch. And for the feet, I used an old star punch - you can see that detail on the back. I then used the 3/4" square punch to punch thru the magnetic material to adhere to the back. I also replaced the punched paper eyes with googlie eyes I had from a previous project.



Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have been inspired!

With Sympathy

Sympathy cards are always difficult for me to make. Not the design or sentiment, just the whole process of making a card for someone who is grieving for someone. The whole time when I'm making a sympathy card, I think about the person who I'm making it for and I think about the feelings they are experiencing because of the loss. As like most of the sympathy cards I've made, this was a do-over because of the tears I shed that fell upon the original creation and spoiled it. This card was no exception. It was especially hard for me, because I made if for a woman who has lost her father. My Dad died 2 years ago and that place in my heart is still empty. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him or wish he was still here so I could ask him about something. He truly was my hero and he is deeply missed.

Okay - enough boo-hooing, on with the card!



The main card base is with PTI Stampers Select card stock. Sturdy, pristine white - I love it. It holds up all on it's own as a true card base should. I cut my 8.5 x 11 piece along the 11" side at 4.5. That way, when I created the crease, the card would be like a mountain fold. I used a corner rounder on the edges of the base and on the PTI Aqua Mist layer. I used images from PTI's Everyday Blessings stamp set throughout the card. This set has so many Biblical verses that are so meaningful to me that when I saw it, I knew I had to buy it.

Below is a full frontal view of the finished card....



Followed by a close up of the main image. The pearls were a find from my local craft store. They come prepared with adhesive already on them. They don't have any name brand on them, so I can't say who makes them, but I really love that if I wanted to adhere a straight line, I could, because they are all stuck together in one straight line. On this card, I cut them apart to adhere on to the cross image.



And finally, the inside of the card as I decorated it. I left enough white space below the sentiment to write a little note to my friend who has lost HER hero.



As always, thanks for taking a peek at my creations!

Just another quick post for you....

I told you I was MIA but not absent in my card making. Here is another post for you tonight! I made a little bitty pocket card for my sweet daughter. Not mine, physically, but by marriage. She is a strong young woman who has two strong young ladies in the making of her own. She lives far away from us but I love her as if she were my own. I love her free spirit and Independence and enthusiasm. She doesn't let ANYTHING take that away from her. She has had a LOT of hard knocks of life on her door step, but perseveres, come what may. This woman is a FIGHTER! She is gorgeous, and FLAUNTS it with the knowledge that, if she CHOOSES to flaunt, she is taking a roll-call and sizing you up....deeming if you are WORTHY of her inner circle. She tells it like it is and has no shame for telling it like it is! She has so much courage and doesn't take nonsense from anyone!!

So, on to the wee pocket card (wee ~ thanks to my friend Claire, means cute and little at the same time.)

This pocket card is just about all Stampin' Up! stuff. The only things not SU! are the ribbon, which is PTI, the flower punch which is from Martha found at a local store and the bling also found at a different store.



Below is a pic of the insert outside of the pocket. Again. using SU! products. As a former SU! demo I'm not afraid or intimidate to jump back into the SU! world - they have some great stuff! The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment is from the Birthday Greetings set, unfortunately retired in 2005. But I love the way the sentiment is curved. Retired or not, I used it. After all, I'm just a regular stamper now, and I don't HAVE to use what's in ~ just what I love!




The next pic shows you the hand-crafted envelope using, YES-ONCE AGAIN, Lauren's envelope template. I know I've said it before, but her formula is amazing. She has perfected it down to a T! I will forever keep her formula in my recipe box! And me, being mathematically challenged, can even do it! Try it ~ you will like it! And NO - I'm not being paid to promote it! It just works, that's why I keep prompting you to try it!



And finally, the last pic of the wee pocket card is the completed envelope with, of course, the sticky seal to hold it all closed. The finishing touch on a cute little card!



Thanks for stopping by tonight! I've been a little long-winded so I appreciate you finishing until the end.

MIA......that's ME!!!

No, my Son is not, just me! I've made several creations that I haven't posted because I've been busy in my real life. But I've found time to post one here for you tonight.

We decided to throw a baby shower for the woman at work who is due with her second child that I made this card for. And I was asked to make her shower card.

Well, I couldn't NOT make a card without a matching envelope, using Lauren's formula it was very easy and this is what I came up with:



I used PTI Lemon Tart as the main base for the envelope and card, and because the card is going to be passed around, I wanted to make it larger than the standard card size. The actual card measures 4.25" x 6.5". I also wanted a lot of space available for people to sign the card, so the inside is very plain.



I used the Papertrey Ink Bitty Baby Blessings set throughout the card and created a decorative edge to the card and envelope with a Martha punch I found at my local Michael's.



If you are wondering about the larger duck all on it's own, it's a sticker I made so we can seal the card once everyone has signed it.

So that's it for today. Thanks for taking a look!