A Short Week.....

and progress to boot! 

We had yesterday off from work to celebrate Veterans Day.  Go figure, even though Veterans Day was this past Wednesday, the company I work for celebrates it after the fact - it is called 'Deer Hunting Day'.  We still celebrate Veterans Day at our house on the actual day as both of our dad's were in the service and we are so thankful for our Veterans AND our Soldiers!!!

Okay, so on that 'Deer Hunting Day' thought - Let me attempt to paint a picture for you - I grew up in a small town that actually has what they call a 'Buck Pole' at the local sporting goods store (a little town sporting good store).  All the locals on the first day of rifle hunting season that have gone out hunting and 'bagged a buck' brings their deer to the 'sporting goods store' and they all admire who got the biggest one......hmmmmm, sounds like a guy thing, doesn't it? 

Please let me remind you, we don't hunt, we feed bambi, we don't eat him (not that there is anything wrong with hunting if you do and use the meat).  I grew up in Hicksville USA, and this event each year made the front page of our local weekly paper.  It is BIG news, every year!  My dad used to go 'hunting' though it was more hanging out with his buddies, playing cards and drinking......just ask my mom about the year she packed his extra socks in his gun case and he never found them........

I digress.....be prepared for another one. . . . . right about NOW!  So, we both had the day off and a list of things we wanted to check off - we're getting ready for two Thanksgiving dinners next week, so a trip to Costco was a given yesterday.  I usually go, run in, get what we need and run out.  Well, yesterday we spent 2 1/2 hours wandering through.  It was time well spent, we got what we needed and a few 'extras'.  Believe it or not, there is a crafty reason I'm telling you about our Costco trip :) I have some new 'lighting' news to share. 

My studio is in our finished basement.  No natural light.  Several years ago, before I got back into scrapbooking and was cross stitching till my eyes crossed, my folks got me an Ott-light for Christmas one year.  I love the light it gives off.  Anyway, in my studio, I have three can lights in the ceiling and up until this point, I've been using your standard light bulbs.  Yep, the ones that kind of give off the yellow kind of hue.  Well, in our wandering at Costco, we found a 6 pack of the 'daylight' light bulbs (energy savers too).  Can I just tell you HOLY COW, what a difference?!  Even Glen was completely blown away by just the difference in lighting!  You know you're getting 'old' when you get excited about lightbulbs!  HA HA! :oD

I can't wait to get back into my studio tonight!!

Okay, now that I've blah blah blahed your ear off, I want to share with you a little quickie I put together last night for my nephew for Thanksgiving (with my new lights).  I love making cards for my nephew Colin.  From the stories I hear from his mom, he always gets a kick out of 'reading' them (he's 4).  Anyway, when I saw this Turkey on a Scooter, it seemed like a perfect 4 year old Turkey card!

I used the Scrap-Friendzy "Thanksgiving Recipe Challenge."  We had a list of items we could use and we had to pick 5.  I used:  Twine, Patterned Paper, Buttons, Embossing & Distressing.

 

Materials:

Papers:  Leaf print - Hobby Lobby, Brown, Rust & Green from my scrap stash

Image:  High Hopes Stamps (I stamped him and then enlarged him)

Technique:  Magic Colored Pencil Technique

Cuttlebug:  Argyle Embossing Folder

Miscellaneous:  Stickles - Diamond & Silver, Twine, Colorbox Olive Ink, Buttons from the button box

Thanks so much for stopping by and being patient with my yakkin' today!

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Count Down to the Holidays Crop

What a fabulous weekend!  I hope you are all enjoying your time this weekend!  We certainly have.  I got a chance this afternoon to Skype craft for the first time with my best friend Shelly who lives all the way in Topeka.  What a fun time it was (with the exception of occasional dropped calls).  While Shelly and I were crafting, I was working on some of the great challenges over at Scrap-Friendzy for their "Count Down to the Holidays Crop".  The great thing about this crop (other than the amazing inspiration & projects) is that you can play for the entire month doing the challenges for Friendz Points and get some great projects created for the holidays too!!

Pop over and check out some of the neat-o challenges my Design Team sisters have posted.

I'm getting ready for our December Cookie Exchange (and homemade chocolate making) hence the Yummy Goodie Bag challenge I posted.  I used a combination of hand-stamped white treat boxes, pre-printed mini-metal tins with a little ribbon and bling I added (tins @ Michaels $1, LOVE IT), paper mache cookie box painted and paper treated and these super cute little mini-loaf pans that I'll combine with a cute cooking apron and bread mix.

Stop over, spend some time and be inspired, we'd love to have you join us!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Card for Noah

I wanted to share with you a card I created for Noah.  If you haven't heard about this little boy, you can see his story here.

Thanks to Aprile from the Cricut MB for the super cute Christmas Gruffie Image.

Happy Craftin'!

Hugs & Happy Days!

Min

Invite to a Yummy Occasion!

Good Morning & Happy Hump Day!!  I've been working on several things for the upcoming "Count Down to the Holidays Crop" starting TOMORROW at Scrap-Friendzy, that I can't show you until this weekend.  BUT, here is something I can show you that relates to a project or two for the Crop!

Every year for the past 5 years, my girlfriends, moms (mom & MIL) and other family have gotten together around Christmas for a Cookie Exchange brunch.  In keeping the spirit alive for this year, we're at it again!

I'm not sure if you've ever participated in a cookie exchange, but we all love doing this each year!  I have some wonderful cooks/bakers in my family.  My mother in law makes these awesome little pecan cup type cookies among many OTHER yummy treats!  YUMMO!!  And my mom, she always finds a super neat cookie recipe too.  I end up making about 15 dozen cookies - mostly because I can't decide on just one or two recipes!!!  I ask everyone that comes to bring 5 dozen cookies.  There are usually 10-12 of us and we all make something different.  Some ladies bring two different recipes, others just do 5 dozen of the same.  Whatever the choice is, we have at least 10 DIFFERENT cookies that we all get to go home with.  And even better yet, you don't have to make all these different cookies yourselves. 

So, there's all my blah blah blah, :) and here's this year's cookie exchange invite. 
I think it's my favorite Cookie Exchange Invite so far!

Materials:

Paper - Cardstock all from my stash; printed paper used for the Oven Mitt - Hobby Lobby, super cute Christmas Tree print

Cricut/Design Studio - From My Kitchen Cartridge for the Recipe Card, Rolling Pin, Oven Mitt & Recipes word; Stretch Your Imagination (I think) for the Gingerbread Man

Cuttlebug:  Swiss Dots & Distress Stripes Embossing Folders

Miscellaneous - Homemade text - Font pack from Lettering Delights; Doodling - all by hand, invite information & details - computer generated using Papyrus & LD Playful fonts; Flat backed black pearls and jeweled heart - Michaels; And of Course - Googley Eyes!

Hope you're having a great day!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

A Dino-mite Time

was had by all today!  What fun we had celebrating Colin's 4th Birthday at his party with all his friends and family.

This year his party was at Pump It Up.  I've never seen so much "Jumpy" stuff!

So, I said I'd share a photo of how the cake decorations turned out - here it is.

Amy got the cake at Costco & they put the writing on the cake, we did all the paper work.  BTW, the Costco cake was SUPER SUPER yummy!!!  I'm not a big cake person, but this was fantastic!

Cake Decorations were cut with the cricut using Paper Dolls Dress Up.  The Dino was cute at 5" and the little cave people at 2.5", just to give you an idea on size.

I didn't get a lot of photos, but here are a few.

Here's the birthday boy and his mama on the BIG slide!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I had to take a photo too of the Birthday Boy trying to Hula-hoop. 

When was the last time you hula-hooped?!

Thank you Colin for a wonderful day (And Amy & Andy too!)  :o)

Hope you've had a wonderful weekend!  We enjoyed 67* today - We HAD to have set a record.......I don't EVER remember it being 67* in November in Michigan.  It was an absolutely beautiful weekend!

Stay turned, starting Thursday over at Scrap-Friendzy, our "Here Comes The Holiday Crop" begins and the girls have some fabulous Holiday projects!!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Dino-mite Box O' Candy

I finally had a chance to get a good daylight photo of the little center piece boxes for Colin's party tomorrow.

How cute are they?  Each side of the box is different, so I thought I'd stack the four boxes to show you what each side looked like.  The sky and grass were painted with acrylic paint, everything else is paper.

I got the Boxes at Michaels, they're 4.25 x 4.25" square and actually come with a lid, but we weren't going to need those, so I've got them saved for another time or project.  The boxes were a glossy white before I got some paint & paper attached to them.

Materials -

Cricut - Paper Dolls Dress Up (all cuts except the Cloud, those were hand cut

Paper - all paper from my scrappy stash

Miscellaneous - Googley Eyes (Every Dino deserves googley eyes! :), Stickles, Acrylic Blue & Green Paint, Chestnut Roan Ink, Boxes from Michaels, Pop dots, Gel Pens for detail & liquid applique for the orange guy's horns. 

I have the parts & pieces done for the cake too, but I'll take a photo of it all tomorrow once it's attached to the cake, instead of piece by piece.

So today we're headed outside (it's going to be 60* today & tomorrow with sunshine), to take down our halloween decorations.  We might try & get the christmas lights on the gutters hung so we're not out trying to do it in the snow and ice.  Guess we'll see.  College football starts at 12:30 today.  Go Blue!  Go Green! (See, we're an equal rooting household when Michigan & Michigan State aren't playing one another!) ;o)

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Blog Award

Thank you so much to Lynn for the Blog Love. If you haven't checked out Lynn's blog, it's definitely a stop that should be on your regular blog viewing list. You can check out Beautiful Delights

Okay, so on to the blog award -

The rules are: I need to pass this award on to five people, post on their blogs to let them know I left this award, and then I need to answer this list of questions in ONE word....

Here goes -

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse

2. Your hair? Short

3. Your mother? Kind

4. Your father? Strong

5. Your favourite food? Ravioli

6. Your dream last night? None

7. Your favourite drink? Iced-Tea

8. Your dream/goal? Many

9. What room are you in? Office

10. Your hobby? Scrapbooking

11. Your fear? Death

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy

13. Where were you last night? Studio

14. Something that you aren't? Tall

15. Muffins? Cranberry-Orange

16. Wish list item? Peace

17. Where did you grow up? Michigan

18. Last thing you did? E-mailed

19. What are you wearing? Turtleneck (Brrrr, it was 27* when I left for work this am)

20. Your TV? Large

21. Your pets? Kitties

22. Friends? Wonderful

23. Your life? Blessed

24. Your mood? Content

25. Missing someone? Hubby

26. Vehicle? Ford

27. Something you're not wearing? Flip-Flops :(

28. Your favourite store? Scrapbook

29. Your favourite colour? Orange

30. When was the last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? Sunday (Extreme Home Make Over – darn emotional shows!!)

32. Your best friend? Hubby

33. One place that I go over and over? Beach

34. Facebook? Rarely

35. Favourite place to eat? Chili's (It's actually the Olive Garden, but that's 2 words – DOH!)

I am passing on the award to some fabulously crafty ladies:

My Sis Shelly

Jean

Lisa
Staci
Mandy

Happy Craftin' today ladies!

Min

Friendship...Warms the Heart

I came home to a nice 'happy-mail' surprise yesterday.  My design team sister Jean surprised me with the cutest stamps today.  The Changito stamp in slippers with 2 cups of coffee and a sentiment that says "Some mornings you just know...it's going to be a two cup day!"  Boy, don't we all know THOSE kind of mornings?!

So, to thank her for her kindness and for thinking of me, I put together this cute little ditty - the little house mouse is just too cute .  My apologies for the crummy photo - now with day light savings time, it's usually nearly dark by the time I get home from work. 

Image:  House Mouse "Lip Smackin' Relaxin'"

Paper:  Printed - American Crafts (from my stash), Orange - American Crafts, Pink - Bazzill

Technique:  Magic Colored Pencil Technique

Miscellaneous:  Sentiment "Friendship...Warms The Heart" computer generated, Stickles & Hand Doodling

Thanks for stopping by today - hopefully tonight I can get a few photos of the center pieces for Colin's party to show you.  I was able to finish those last night.  Tonight it's the Caker Toppers and Costume Ideas, oh and a it's Thursday, so you know what that means?  SURVIVOR & CSI!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

A Little Turkey Day Invite

Every year we host our annual "After Turkey Day Dinner" for our parents, my cousins and Glen's brother.  Because we have some 'out-of-towners', we always do it the Saturday after Turkey Day when everyone can make it into town.

Even though it's only family, I always enjoy sending out invitations.  This year is no different.  It's been ages since I've done a long card and I really like how this turned out.  Simple.  I've never made bows like this either, but love the way they turned out.

Embossed Pumpkins are from a stamp set from Joann

Versamark & Orange Embossing Powder

Paper - Rust Cardstock, Little Yellow Bicycle printed paper

Ribbon - Chocolate Brown from Michaels

Invite - Computer Generated - Ld Chicken Scratch Font from Scrapnfonts.com

Thanks for stopping by today and taking a look!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Christmas could Come Early......

Sure Cuts A Lot is giving us all a chance to win a copy of the SCAL program - so someone could be getting an Early Christmas gift!!  The more I read about the program, the more I read about the program, the more interesting it looks to me.......hmmmmmm.

For your chance, check it out here.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

BLINK!

And the weekend was gone!  Wow!

I hope to have some paper craftiness to share with you tonight or tomorrow, but for now, I thought I'd share with you our Pumpkin Craftiness!  Glen and I decided to carve pumpkins on Friday night (see our personal blog for the Great Pumpkin Adventure......).

So, from -  

To these fabulous works of Art!

Pretty impressive, huh?  I'll be lighting the candles in these little babies for at least another few weeks (or until or crabby assocation board sends us a letter.......)

We went trick or treating with my nephew on Saturday (and celebrated his 4th Birthday).

  Isn't he the cutest little Birthday Boy?

Sunday after some MAJOR grocery shopping and Freezer reorganization (yep, do that every time I do a big grocery shop) I got bit by that cleaning bug.......DOH!  So much for getting to my studio......

Luckily we made a HUGE Yummy Tray of 'zagna last night, so we'll be dining on that tonight for dinner. 

'Tovers tonight = MORE TIME IN MY STUDIO!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Happy Birthday Colin!

Happy Birthday to my dear nephew Colin!

Wishing you a wonderful, spooktacular Birthday!!

We love you!

Aunt Min & Uncle Glen

Batty for You!

With Halloween just 2 1/2 days away, I thought I'd take a quick second to share with you the Halloween card I made for my hubby.  I usually make cards that are non-occasion cards and leave them where he might find them - by his coffee cup, on the bathroom counter, in the refrigerator (yep, I've put a few in there) just to name a few places.  But when one of my design team sisters at Scrap-Friendzy gave us a challenge to make a Halloween card or layout using 'non-traditional' halloween colors (no black & orange), it was an omen that I needed to bring this cute idea in my head to life.

So, that's exactly what I did!

Papers - From my Stash of course!  Yellow, DARK purple, Pink & White (the most NON-Halloween colors I could imagine).

I used Design Studio to weld and design the base of the card.

Carts:  Dreams Come True, George & Paper Dolls Dress Up

Sentiment is Computer Generated

Stickles & Googley Eyes

I cut a second bat out and popped him up on dots for a bit more dimensional.  When I welded the Circle and the Bat together, the left wing of the bat was welded to the circle.  So, that's why I cut out a second bat, so we could have both his wings.  Of course it won't go in an envie since it's a crazy size and becuase it's for my hubby, there's no reason to mail it.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you're having a fabulously productive day!!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Yee-Haw

Just a rowdy little cowboy birthday card I thought I'd share with you.  After making Colin's Purple Dino-four birthday card and having WAY too much fun making it, I thought I'd give another one a shot.

All paper used is from my scrappy basket (Black, White, Brown, Yellow & Red). 

Cricut & Design Studio:  Base Camp, George and Paper Dolls Dress Up

Cuttlebug embossing for Sun, Silver part of the Hat and Mountain texture

Stickles, Silver/Black/Brown Inks, Black Fun Flock (on the cow), Googley Eyes, a WHOLE LOTTA POP DOTS and MCPT for cow features.

It's even cuter in person!  I'm so pleased with the way it turned out!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and taking a look!

Hope you're having a fabulous crafty kinda day!

Tonight is assembly night for 29 little goodie bags (The world series starts tonight and I've got to have something to do while we're watching it).  :)

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Wow, where did last week go??

Do you ever have one of those weeks that when it's over, you wonder where it went and exactly what you accomplished?!  Whew, that was last week.  I spent a few days down for the count with a miagraine.  Those kind of 'bucket by the bed' miagraines.   And of course with a miagraine, comes the few days after still not feeling 100% which = low or no productivity. 

So, on Saturday when I was feeling better, let me tell you, Saturday and Sunday, boy, oh boy was the paper flyin'!

On Saturday we spent a crafty day with Amy and Colin.  Colin is celebrating his 4th birthday this Saturday (yep, my Halloween nephew).  We're getting all his goodie bags and cake toppers and things together.  So, we cut and dressed 29 little paper dolls for gift bags.  We have Witches, Rock Stars, Firemen, Pirates, Cowboys/Girls & Indians, Princesses, Pixies and Super Hero's just to name a few!

We've got some extras that don't yet have clothes for the late RSVP'ers.   In addition to the googley eyes on these little dolls, I believe there were some googley eyes that at one point were attached to a 4 year olds nose, but of course, the camera wasn't anywhere within reach.  This week I'll finish getting them attached to their little bags.  All that's left to finish cutting is the center piece decorations and the cake toppers. 

Sunday I did a bit of playing catch up until it was time to meet Amy, Colin and Susan for the Zoo Boo at the Detroit Zoo.  We always have such a great time.  We're still swapping photos back and forth between the three of us, but here's a cute one of 'Chef' Colin and his three little monkeys.

 

I was able to get a few Scrap-Friendzy projects done, which was fabulous too!! 

 

 These are just a few I did.  I had this font that is all pumpkins (I got it through Scrap N Fonts which has fabulous fonts and dingbats - yep, another addiction!!).  I increased the size to 325+ point, printed out a few 'layers', colored them using the Magic Colored Pencil Technique and then started layering the different parts & pieces with pop dots.  The eyes and stems were cut out and put on 1/8" dots.  Added a bit of doodling and some stickles and wal-lah.

So, that's about all for today.  I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things this week - after last week, anything is better than last week.

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Keep on Hangin' On!

Just thought I'd share a little quickie I put together over the weekend.  Isn't he cute?

Image - Dustin Pike

Technique - Magic Colored Pencil Technique

Papers - We R Memory Keepers & Green/Brown Cardstock

Extras - Ribbon, Stickles, Cat Tail is flocked

The inside says - HANG IN THERE

Hope you're having a super productive day!

This evening I get to spend some time with my nephew, so we'll be busy busy busy doing some 4 year old crafty-stuff (I'm sure we'll also be playing Uno Attack "Colin-style" with his Uncle Glen).

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Good Friend Challenge Week of October 19

Whew, kind of a stinky productivity week for me last week.  Not sure how that all happened.........Those kind of weeks make me crazy!

So how did you do this week??

I finished a few things on my to do list - So, this week will be a week of playing catch up -

I finished 2 Scrap-Friendzy Challenges, including a layout!  This layout if for Tammi's Blog Hop #1 Challenge - It was to use 3 patterned papers, some bling and something old.  Papers, Check, Bling, Check, Something Old, Check!  It was so great to get back to doing layouts.  This one was a great way to get back at it. 

This is my nephew Colin.  How darn cute is he?!

Birthday cards!  I had a few I finished - one was the cute Dino-Four card I posted here.  Haven't photographed the rest of them yet, so I'll show you them later in the week. (I'm trying to get ahead of the game for November.....).

Turkey Day Dinner Invites  These are back on my to do list for this week.  I have an idea, but no progress has been made yet........I do have the paper though and that's 1/2 the battle, isn't it? :)

Work on Santa Album Design for December LSS Class - Album is designed

Gift albums  Nope, no progress here either - DOH!

Idea for Halloween Costume - I have an idea, now I just need to figure out how to execute it!
Back on the list for this week -

Scrap-Friendzy Challenges - There are so many awesome challenges the girlz have posted that I want to get to this week.  If you haven't stopped by and check out the Blog Hop or regular weekly challenges, please do, you'll be inspired, promise!

Birthday Cards - just a few more and I'll be ahead of schedule!!

Turkey Day Invites

Tinker with Albums

Slippers - KEEP knittin' em!  (I've finished 8 pair now, 14 more to go)

Tinker with Colin's Birthday extras - cake topper & goodie bags

Enjoy the Zoo Boo with Colin, Amy & Sue this weekend!!

I hope you have a fabulous week - we're supposed to get another blast of 'kind of summer like' weather this week - mid-60's, so we'll be enjoying every last little bit of sunshine we can!!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Colin's Purple Dino-Four

Ha ha, just a little play on words - really I know how to spell dinosaur:o)

This card turned out so cute for my nephew Colin who will be celebrating his 4th birthday on Halloween, I just had to share it!  Even if it is a little early.  Because he's a Halloween baby he always has a themed birthday party - his momma is wonderfully creative and we look forward to it every year!!  The first year it was a Puppy Pawty, the second a Zoo Party and last year it was a Cooking/Food party (Glen as 'herb man' and I as Colin's 'menu' - see last years photos here.  We always have so much fun because YES, we dress up for our favorite little man's parties!  This year it's kind of an open theme, but Colin will be a Purple Dinosaur (Purple is one of his favorite colors).  So, it only seemed right that the birthday boy get a specially made purple dino-four birthday card from Aunt Min & Uncle Glen to go with his Mr. Potato Head Family.  Amy if you're viewing, shhhh.  :o) 

I was going to take another photo, but I thought it was kind neat the way the sunshine that we haven't see very often this week made it into the picture. 

The card was designed using Design Studio.

Cricut - Cuttin' Up (4), Every Day Paper Dolls (Grass), George (Square for square parts of the card), Paper Dolls (Dino & Mountains)

Cuttlebug for Dino texture (tiny mosaic texture) & Mountain texture (distressed stripes)

Papers - Purple Core-dinations, Black, Yellow, Green, White & Rust cardstock, mostly from my scrappy bin.

Miscellaneous - Pop Dots (LOTS OF THEM), Stickles, Ink, colored pencils, hand cutting, Googley Eyes & Hole Punch and Large Round Punch 

There are lots of layers on this one and the last two photos I wanted you to be able to see them.  I cut four layers of the dino, cuttlebugged him and then started sticking the layers together (hence all the popdots).  I also cut 2 layers of the #4 and layered them in as well.  The first four is glued right on to the card base, the second layer is popdotted to look like it's being held by Mr. Dino.  I also layered the grass on both the inside and the outside (the inside has grass, mountains & popped up clouds).  I'm working on the witty Dino Birthday wish, but last night it just wasn't coming to me.

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend so far.  I'm hoping for a bit of time in my studio this afternoon, but also plan to get all the planters emptied and stored for the winter, I don't think with 30* at night lately we'll be growing much of anything.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

The Last of the Halloween Cards....

Are finished and ready to be mailed :o)  This one was the last design in the set.  Yes ma'am, another House Mouse - but WAY TOO CUTE not to make a card with, don't you think?  I love the little mouse stuck in the witches had.

Image - House Mouse "Witch Way To The Candy"

Technique - Magic Colored Pencil Technique

Cuttlebug - Spider Web Embossing Folder

Papers - Core-dinations (black spider web embossed/sanded), Purple & White Paper from Stash

Doodling & lots of Stickles

Thanks for stopping by today wishing you a day of Happy Craftin'!

Min

Good Friend Challenge Week of October 12

WAIT, YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE!!!! 

We're just getting dressed up for Halloween!!!

Spooky, huh?

Whew, what a week last week!!  On Tuesday, our laptop computer died - yep, kaput, kaplooie!!  No warning.  So, Glen and I spent last week trying to determine if it was better to get it fixed after 2 year and 2 weeks (of course the 2 year warrenty we'd purchased expired 2 weeks ago - perfect timing, huh?) or buy new.  So after much homework, we decided new was the way to go.  Friday my wonderful hubby did all the leg work and when I got home from work he was busy reloading software.  Amazing how much time dealing with a computer situation takes out of your life.......but BOY OH BOY is this new computer FAST!!!

So, onto the 'house cleaning' for the week.

How did YOU do with your weekly challenges??  Successful week??

I was able to get a few of my Scrap-Friendzy Challenges done - including this super cute little card for my favorite nephew.  He's going to be a purple dinosaur for Halloween, so this image (courtsey of Aprile on the Cricut MB for the October MCPT Challenge) was PERFECT!

I got PART of a gift album cut prior to the computer demise, so I ended up hand-cutting the papers for the album (UGH......hand cutting.......talk about ole' school), so that's coming together.  I thought we completely lost everything on our hard drive, but turns out we didn't, so all those cut files that I've designed I'll be able to save off onto a jump drive, including the current album I'm working on.  Whew, THANK GOODNESS!!!

Another week that I didn't get any layouts done though, which really bums me out because the Design Team has so many fabulous layout challenges!!

But let me tell you, the slippers are coming right along.  Finished another pair last night!

And because Halloween is my favorite Holiday, my hubby and I were able to take advantage of the 'nice' weather (50* and sunny) on Saturday and get all of our Halloween decorations & lights up.  I'll have to show you a picture. 

So, this week will be a week of playing catch up -

At least 2 Scrap-Friendzy Challenges, including 1 Layout (this is first on my list this week!!)

Birthday cards & Turkey Day Dinner Invites

Work on Santa Album Design for December LSS Class

Gift albums

Idea for Halloween Costume - Any one have some fun home made costume ideas??

So, WHAT'S on YOUR list this week.........?

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Last Stop on the Scrap-Friendzy Blog Hop!!

WELCOME TO DAY 10 - the final day of the SCRAP-FRIENDZY Birthday Blog Hop!!

Thanks so much for joining our 2nd Birthday Celebration!!  If you haven't had a chance to hop by and visit my 9 fabulously talented design team sisters blogs, please start here and hop, hop, hop your way to inspiration!  Stop by all 10 blogs on the hop and leave a comment and you get 10 changes - yep, you read that right - 10 chances to win some YUMMY Scrappy Blog Hop Grand Prize Treasures (say that 5 times fast :)!!

You have until the end of October to complete the Blog Hop Challenges for Friendz Points at Scrap-Friendzy, but only until October 15th to leave a comment on all of the Blog Hop Stops to get your name in the bucket for the Goodies.

So, the Girlz have provided some awesome challenges for the last 9 days of our blog hop - amazing talent they have!! 

Since today is the final day, you know a birthday party is never complete without a Birthday Gift or two and of course, the FABULOUS packaging those gifts come in!

So, I'm challenging you to "Wrap it up in a neat little package".

Your challenge is to create some type of packaging - it can be a 'good things come in small packages' box or a fabulous gift bag or any other neat-o crafty gift wrapping you can come up - the choice is yours.  And even better yet, it can be for any occasion (Birthday, Halloween or even Christmas if you're working ahead!!)

Here are a few of mine -

This was for my hubby's birthday last week - he's a huge baseball fan, so Grand Slam Gift Wrap seemed appropriate (complete with Wii games & accessories inside).

And what 4-year old Halloween Birthday Boy wouldn't enjoy opening this little ditty for some sweet treats from his Aunt Min & Uncle Glen?

This challenge is worth 40 Friendz Points!!  Complete your packaging and upload it into our Gallery at Scrap-Friendzy!!

Thanks so much for joining us today and for hopping with us these last 10 days.

We can't wait to have you stop by and join us for more birthday fun throughout the month at Scrap-Friendzy!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Silent Night

So, I finally got the necessary ribbon together for the Glass Block I 'almost' finished over the weekend.  Doesn't it just make you crazy when you run out of something just as you're ready to use it?!  DOH!

Cricut - Calligraphy, Christmas Noel & George/ created in Design Studio

Vinly - Light Blue Wall-pops (from Lowe's last winter)

Standard Size Glass Block, frosted with Krylon Frosting paint

Ribbon - Michaels

Bow - The bow is a bit difficult to see - but it's a nice big loopy bow hand created by Moi! :)

I'm so pleased with the way it turned out.  This one will be going to my mom's store this weekend when we see them for sale.

If you're interested in purchasing one for yourself or a holiday gift, please feel free to contact me.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

The Felted Slippers

So, on top of scrapbooking, card making & my mini albums, I also knit.  A few years ago when both my mom & I were 'relearning' how to knit, we'd try to take a class together each fall or winter.  One winter about 6 or 7 years ago, my mom and I took a Felted Slipper Knitting class.

I think everyone thought we were looney when we brought home a 'slipper' that looked like something a clown in a circus would wear.  However, because they were knit with wool, you throw them in the washer and guess what happens?  Yep, they shrink up like sheep in the rain and into something FABULOUS!!!

So, every few years, after the recipients wear the bottoms out, I start from the beginning and make everyone a pair of felted slippers for Christmas.  My dad and Glen usually get a new pair each Christmas.  My dad usually wears his out in 8 months, so it's gotten to be a funny gift between he and I.  This year I'm making 21 pair, hence getting started on CHRISTMAS gifts in September........

So, here's my start -

I made two pair last week (the purple & green) and have begun the first pair for this week.  I've made 6 pair in the last few weeks (I usually knit while we watch tv in the evening or sports.  My mom and I have also been known to take our knitting to football games, baseball games and pretty much any place else we can 'get away' with it.  You wouldn't believe the conversations we end up in with other people wondering what we're doing......:).

So, this is a slipper from the side, prior to felting - you can see the stitches much more than the second photo below.  This one is about 16" from end to end, just to give you an idea how they shrink down.

This is the felted slipper from the side (my mom made me these last winter).  I wear a 7 1/2 ish just to give you an idea of size.  They are the warmest slippers I think any of us have ever had and we haven't had a complaint from anyone yet.

 So, that's the story of the felted slippers. 

Hope you're having a great day!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Good Friend Challenge Week of October 5

Whew, what a week!

How did YOU do with your challenges this week?

I was relatively productive, but of course, we had a FEW nice days which we won't have many more of, so I didn't get EVERYTHING I wanted to get done.  But, there's always this week, right??

I was able to wrap up all the Halloween Cards I needed for the Kidd-o's in our family.

Didn't they turn out cute?  There are 6 of them total.

Image - House Mouse

Punch - MS Drippy Goo Punch

Papers - Doodlebug (older halloween papers), Purple, Green & Orange Cardstock

MS - Trick or Treat Stamp (embossed)

Orange & Diamond Stickles

I also NEARLY finished one of the Christmas projects I had, but DOH, ended up running out of the ribbon I needed.  I'll take a photo of it this week once I pick up the ribbon.

I was also able to wrap up my Design Team projects, but can't show them to you until a little later.  ;)

And last but not least - slippers are coming right along......I finished 2 pair this week - in the last 2 weeks I've done 5 pair.  I'll post the photo of all of them tomorrow as it was too dark to take photos last night by the time I finished.

I'll explain more about the felted slippers tomorrow when I post the photo.  :)

I think I may have been a bit OVER optimistic last week - I DIDN'T finish my one layout, but over all it was a very productive week.  

So this week - 

FINISH at least 1 Layout

Work on October Scrap-Friendzy Challenges (If you haven't stopped by and checked out Scrap-Friendzy yet, click here and join the fun!!)

Design Gift Album

What's on your Crafty TO DO list this week???

Hope you have a great week!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Celebrate!

A few little House Mouse quickies to share with you this morning.  I realized (at the last minute of course) that I didn't have any kidd-o type birthday cards.  So, I set off to create a few.

Image - House Mouse Surprise Party; Celebrate - Studio G

Technique - Magic Colored Pencil Technique

Papers - Printed & Cardstock from my stash

Sizzix Dots Embossing folder

Miscellaneous - Stickles, Brads & Bling

Hope you're having a great weekend!  If you haven't stopped by the Scrap-Friendzy 10-day Birthday Bash Blog Hop, click here to start at the beginning.  You won't want miss the fabulous inspiration and yummy goodies you could win just by commenting at each of the stops.

Happy Craftin'!

Min