A little Halloween Inspiration

WOW.... can we believe it's September already? the little ones (and not so little) are back in school, the nights are getting cooler and sleeping is ahhhhhhhh so wonderful, mums are in bloom, our summer flowers are starting to die off and in the stores..... Halloween and Christmas decorations. Yes I said it, Christmas too...... I can remember when you couldn't find Christmas decorations in stores until the day after Thanksgiving.. Not any more.... Soon they'll be in the isles right along side the 4th of July decor.......

So while I'm in my stamp room crafting away for a few upcoming events I wanted to share with you all a little Halloween inspiration...

HALLOWEEN TREAT HOLDERS W/ CHOCOLATE COVERED PRETZELS

CLIPBOARD ADVENT CALENDARS

CARDS

Happy Stamping :)

Remarkable Safari Retreat Take 5

And now what many of you have been anxiously anticipating... My swaps... and a little something I made at the retreat....

Here is my swap card... I apologize that this first picture is a bit blurrrrrry... :( This was a joy fold card which I really like. You can also turn this card vertically and have it flip open from top to bottom instead of right to left.. I tried to use many different techniques and accessories on this card...

For the dies I Sizzix dies I used the beautiful butterflies die, the flower burst embossing die and the harlequin background embossing die...

Just an FYI with the flower burst, not only does it emboss but it also cuts out the flower... so you don't need to use your circle punch with it (like I thought I was going to need to do...).

The cardstock used was...... Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy and Bella Bleu DS paper..

Ink... Sahara Sand, Soft Suede and Not Quite Navy..






Accessories... 1/2 pearls from the SUP pretties kit.

And finally, the stamp sets include... Friends/ 24 7, Hope Happens and Herbed Expressions.

I also made this ornament for the Christmas Party on Friday night. I really wanted to do something with Shell-a-bration.. So for this I stamped the fish on acetate in black stazon, cut out the circle and colored with permanent markers. When I tried coloring with SUP or Copic markers, the colors were very light and tended to remove the black stazon. I then added some sand and very small shells (I picked up in the craft department of Walmart). Before closing the can I cut a small hole for the twine with my crop-a-dile and added the twine for hanging. Because of the sand and the shells I did glue the can when closing it. Finally I added the bow and small shells on the twine for a little extra bling..





And finally... Friday night my roomie Nicole and I made a quick trip to Walmart. (quick.... right Nicole... LOL) ok, so it took us a couple hours to find the Walmart that was only 10 minutes away.. But it was fun anyway. And we did find the Joann Fabric store that we needed to find and a Starbucks... LOL

While pursuing Walmart we came across these large green clothes pins... Ohw awesome. I decorated these using My minds eye paper that I picked up in Michael's. The flowers were cut out using the Flower Fold Big Diezzzzzzzz, embossed with Glassy Glaze to add a little extra umph...... and then a chocolate chip corduroy brad was added to the center.. How cute are these.

That's it for now....

Happy Stamping... Come back soon.. I feel some blog candy coming your way..

Happy Stamping !!!

Remarkable Safari Retreat Take 4

Take 1... Swaps....

I participated in a swap at the retreat. Of the one's I received here were my favorite's.

Take 2... Secret Santa Gift...

My secret Santa gift was "Peace" blocks... I love them and can't wait to put them out for the holidays...

Remarkable Safari Retreat Take 3

I'm bad... Here I thought I had all of my pictures uploaded. But when I went to upload my favorite from my swaps.... Low and Behold there were the pictures I knew I had taken. WHOOOPS.... The good news is.. You all get to see more of my favorite's from the retreat... Here goes. Enjoy :)

Remarkable Safari Retreat Take 2

Ok so I lied....... I still need to upload a picture of my swap before I can post them..... So in the mean time I thought I would show you an awesome clear scrapbook from the retreat.... This was the 25 days of Christmas... I just love all of the different pages. What's so awesome about this scrapbook is that you don't need a book with pages, you can create your own using the clear acrylic pages as your front and back covers. The crop-a-dile is great for punching holes...

Remarkable Safari Retreat Take 1

Howdy........ I'm just starting to catch my bearings after last weekend. Between mandatory ot, catching up on laundry etc. I just started unpacking my stamping supplies last night. In the mean time... here's some pictures of my favorite share projects from last weekend. I have no idea who made these but their great for ideas and looking at. Tomorrow I'll share the projects I made for the retreat.... Hugs,

Where have I been.... and what have I been doing?

Hey everyone.. I'm here, You may have wondered (or you may not have... but I'll tell you anyway) why I haven't been blogging. As you all know, Gram passed away New Years morning and since then I had zero creative spirit, zero mojo, zero energy to stamp.... zero zero zero... I still had a love for stamping, still filled my stamp room with new stamps, accessories and fun do-dad's, but when I sat down to stamp I was blank.

Last weekend I attended the Remarkable Stampers Safari Retreat in southern PA for an entire weekend of stamping and comrodery. I had a blast, met some wonderful stampers, cuddled with the most adorable baby on earth and re-found my creative inner spirit. So now I'm back. Different than I was before, wiser, I think funnier and definitely skinnier. Here I was..... the fall of '07....

And this was me just last weekend.

Some days my brain still has yet to catch up with my new body. I feel wonderful and most days I feel like an entirely different person. But some days I still feel like the old me. When I walk by a mirror I usually have to do a double take because I don't recognize myself.

So what else have I been up to. Well, as most of you know I have a soft spot in my heart for animals, especially those that well, are not perfect. We have Oreo our deaf dalmatian who was beaten and abused as a puppy and had her tail broken.

Carter who was from a dalmatian rescue in PA who is Oreo's ears and mama's little buddy. AND........ WELL...... now.... I guess you'll have to see for yourself.......

Meet Isabella..... formerly Patty... But Patty isn't a Princess name.. Isabella is a 5 year old cocker spaniel who spent the first 5 years of her life in a 'puppy mill' cage in TN mak'in babies. A local cocker rescue was looking for a foster family that could spend the time with her to teach her how to be a puppy. Since I work from home and have Carter & Oreo I said, we could do it. So here she came... When we got her a few months ago she knew nothing... she didn't know what grass was, wasn't potty trained (as a matter of fact when she arrived at the rescue her paws were so encrusted with feces and urine that the vet had to soak them to get it off), didn't know how to go up and down stairs, all she knew was the inside of her small confined cage. OMG has she learned what the good life is.

This is now how Princess Isabella spends her days while mama is at the 'puter working.... lying in the cushy recliner in front of the air conditioner.

Here she is snuggling with Oreo. Puppy Mill puppies feel more comfortable being confined... so she loves to sleep under the spiral staircase next to my desk. Oreo has taken to sleeping there too.... so now the two of them snuggle up together and sleep their days away.

Now don't get me wrong, it hasn't been as 'easy' as I make it out to be. Carter had his nose bent a little and wandered around acting like no one loved him anymore and wanted nothing to do with Bella.... But now, they love each other. Carter has been teaching Bella his bold tricks.... Like they are here.... begging for da'da's popcorn....

And if this wasn't luck.. here it is actually caught on camera..... Carter kissing Bella... And he says he doesn't like her... LOL

So where do I go from here........ How will my stamping be different? Last weekend I came to realize that part of the reason why I haven't stamped is because cards just got too boring. Unless I needed a card for a special occasion what would I ever do with the 100's of cards I already have in my stamp room? I have a new 'energized' stamping focus... thanks to my roomie Nicole and Chloe.. My creative spirit will now be focused outside that stamping box. What can I do with everything I've been hording in my stamp room... All those stamps, the piles of cardstock, those sizzix dies that have been collecting dust..... and espicially those little accessory do-dad's and do-hickies that are shoved in the plastic containers on my shelves. They probably won't find themselves being made into cards, but I can guarantee to you that I'm going to find a fun, decorative way to use them.....

So stay tuned and keep watching for fun new ideas from me....

Sorry I've been gone so long

Since the beginning of December life has been crazy.. Christmas was wonderful... Gram was beautiful.. She spent the day enjoying family..

New Years morning the call came... Gram had passed away. To say it was sudden, unexpected, confusing and devastating is an understatement. Gram was so healthy just a few days prior. She was a beautiful 91 YO woman who loved her family above all and left a legacy to show it. 6 children, 11 grandchildren and 15 great great grand children. The days that have followed have been a blurr of sorrow and tears. Gram, I will miss you each and every day.

When it was time to leave Christmas night I scooted in along side my Aunt to give Gram a kiss goodbye never realizing it would be the last time. Our last words were...

I LOVE YOU...

Those words will live forever in my heart until I go home and Gram is there waiting for me.

Needless to say, I've have no stamping mojo.... My BFF gave me a home work assignment last weekend that forced me into my stamp room. I had to make something that I would have sent to Gram if she were alive. I have a few thank-you's that I need to send after the funeral... So here's what I made. This card uses..

Stamps.. Damask (Lizzie Anne), Thank you (SUP)

Card stock... MME DS paper, brocade blue, close to cocoa and very vanilla (SUP)

Ink... brocade blue, river rock and close to cocoa (SUP)

Accessories... MS chocolate twill ribbon, Angel Wings shimmerz

This picture was from Christmas '07 and it's one that makes me giggle every time I think of it. This shows Gram's true spirit. My Uncle attached his deer horns to her walker and she was gonna use 'em to get through the halls at the home.

Look how beautiful Gram and Grandpa were.... This picture was taken in 1945...

Gram.... I miss you terribly and will miss you each and every day. I LOVE YOU !!!!

what a way to start off a week

hey everyone...... WOW what a week we've had here....

Last Saturday was my trip to NYC... OHHH how much fun..... Sunday I slept in.. ewhhhhhhhhh if I only knew what was in store for me... I ended up working part of the day and puttered around the house and then around 7 OMG...... the pain.. ohhhhh the pain.... Around 7 ish I started getting really nauseous so I went to bed... I woke around 9:30 and I wished I had died.... I was doubled over in pain. I refused to go the to ER.. If I could just make it until 8:30 when my surgeons office opened.. Nope at 7 AM I called the on call.... Luckily my surgeon was on call and called me right back.. He told me to come right to the hospital, he was admitting me for ... RU ready.. emergency surgery.. Not how I thought I'd be spending my Monday... I ended up having emergency laproscopic surgery and and an endoscope.. Come to find out I had an internal hernia (which is not uncommon after Gastric Bypass surgery) and gastritis... I was back home around 6 PM and in bed becoming best friends with my pain killers...

Tuesday I was able to sleep all day until 6 when my DH came home from work... He came home with a horrible stomach bug ... so we spent our Wednesday in the ER all day (sent there by his PCP because he was so sick).... Needless to say.... Thursday we both... slept all day.. There went the week... LOL

The good news is.. we are both on the road to recovery.. I am able to go back to work tomorrow since I work from home.. I have some awesome NYC pictures to show you and a few fun projects.. So please check back this week... I just wanted to let you all know where I've been..

TTYS

Happy Stamping..
Hugs, Lisa

Blog Candy alert !!!

Well everyone.. As I was reading over today's post (which I actually typed yesterday)... I had an ahhhh.... haaaa... moment (aka.. that little light bulb went off and I said whoops...) since today is day # 3 I really can't wait 2 more days to reveal what my blog candy is.... so I'm going to post it now..... So you're all in luck.. You'll find out 2 days early.. You'll see why in a second... (I apologize for the size of the graphics these are from the OCC website)...

Has anyone heard of Operation Christmas Child... now to be referred to as OCC ??? If not, allow me to explain just a tad but please at any time feel free to head on over to their website for all of the important deets that I may erroneously leave out.. Please note that all of the information I have here came directly from their website..

Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God’s love. Since 1993, more than 61 million shoe boxes have been packed, shipped, and delivered across the globe. People of all ages can be involved in this simple, hands-on missions project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus Christ.

So what can you do to help spread the love of Jesus to a child this holiday season.. Well, you can do 1 of 4things...

1- you can send a shoebox of goodies to a child ages 2-14....

2- you can donate a monetary gift to OCC and they will fill a shoebox for you

2- you can serve at a collection location during national collection week 11/17-24 (that's why I'm letting the cat out of the bag now.. I want everyone to have as much time as possible to get their shoeboxes together and dropped off my Monday the 24th)... (or)

3- if you reside near Atlanta GA, Boone NC, Charlotte NC, Denver CO, Minneapolis MN, or Orange County CA you can volunteer at a processing center...

Shoeboxes... Pack a shoebox...

to pack a shoebox you would simply use a standard size shoebox or clear container, pick if you want your shoebox to be for a boy or a girl and the age range, fill it with gifts (please see website for gift ideas), include your $7 donation to assist with shipping and between 11/17 and the 24th drop it off at a collection center near you. (please see website for locations).. Or you can send your gift box directly to...

Samaritan’s Purse

Operation Christmas Child

801 Bamboo Road

Boone, NC 28607

If you think you' re running out of time and can't pack a shoebox yourself... But you would still like to send one .. OCC has made it super easy for you.. Simply go HERE and you can EZ give a shoebox donation online instead of in a shoe box. EZ Give is a simple, convenient way to make your shoe box donation online by using a credit or debit card, eliminating the need to place a check inside the box. After completing your donation, you will be able to print out special EZ Give shoe box labels included in your e-mail receipt that indicate you have made your donation online rather than placing it inside your shoe box gift.

To volunteer at a collection location or at one of their processing centers PLEASE check out their website for additional information..

So now how to I entice you to spread a little holiday cheer to OCC... Well, with a little blog candy... Here goes...

If you participate (and you'll let me know by posting a comment on this post .. and this post only) you name will go into my blog candy drawing.... So how can you be entered?

1- if you send a shoebox please post a comment with a link to a picture of your shoebox before you drop it off...

2- if you choose to ez donate... please post a comment to that effect and

3- if you choose to volunteer.. please post a comment as to the date you volunteered and where...

t's that simple...

what will you win? Using the random # generator I will randomly choose 1 lucky winner who will receive a $15 gift certificate to Roses on Paper...

Now here's 2 extra little goodies...

1- if you send a shoebox and get a child involved ... if your child adds a homemade holiday card to the box I will enter all of the children in a separate give away and send him/ her a small token as a thank you for the holidays.... When posting a link to the shoebox please let me know that the card was enclosed.. and,

2- if you post a link to this blog candy and get people involved through your blog you will be entered into a drawing for a separate candy goodie of 2 new UNmounted Stampin Up stamp sets... The world over and alphabet soup...

It's that simple..

So get filling those shoeboxes.... You only have until the 24th to get it dropped off at a collection location...

Just a note.. this post will remain on top of my blog until my drawing on the 26th. This way everyone has time to get their comments posted.... Hugs and Happy Holiday's...

Lisa

Day 5... Baby it's cold outside

sorry -- I started this 2 days ago and never finished it....





I saved this for little guy for last because right now he's my all time favorite...

Well... favorite so far this season... I just keep plugging along with the holiday cards... I think I'm at the point now where I'm going to start giving them away... But I just can't help myself.. I (((HEART))) Christmas, Santa's, Snowmen... Love 'em all...

This card uses a fun snowman stamp I picked up last year from WhipperSnapper Designs.. It's Snowman Skater. And I just adore the color combo... Next only to Chocolate, blue, red and vanilla together.

For this card I used....
Stamps... Snowman skater (WSD), Out on a limb (PTI) and 2 various snowflakes 1 Basic Grey and 1 WSD

Ink.. black stazon, soft sky, brocade blue and various copic markers

Card Stock... blue bayou, brocade blue and whisper white

Accessories... Stickles, SUP stitched grosgrain,

So tell me.... Do you have any fun plans for the weekend. My plans this weekend are to work on my gifts for my secret elf.... Finally a stamping weekend... Don't forget to put together your OCC packages and get them to a drop off my Monday....

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.. Hugs,

Lisa

Day 4... Isn't Shimmerz BEE-A-UTIFUL

I used to think that glitter was my favorite.. But now... I honestly think it's Shimmerz paints. They add a delicate bling (and who doesn't like a little bling bling on their cards?) to your images...

For this card I wanted to do a little something 'simple' using this adorable tree I found in Mike's dollar bin... A week ago I ran into the new Mike's in town and can you say... OMGosh... Overload... It was awesome. They had sooooooooo much... and so many new dollar stamps. I'll never go to the other 2 Mike's around here... I'm now a loyal patron of the new Michael's in Latham...

For this card I switched back to the 5 1/2" square to give myself a little extra working room... Using my SUP stamp-a-ma-jig I lined up 3 trees and then stamped 2 more on scrap whisper white card stock.. After coloring all of them to match using my copic markers... (Hey Gina is it time for another shipment yet.... I think we need 2 a month.. ah nah... that wouldn't work, I'd never be able to afford new supplies)... after giving the markers a few minutes to dry I covered the trees with ButterCream Shimmerz.. let then dry. Once they were dry I added glassy glaze to the pots and the red bows for that little extra something.. When everything was dry I cut out the two extras.. Applied pop up glue dots to the back and then added them between the other 3 trees so that they pop off the page a little. Using coordinating Basic Grey 6x6 paper, SUP card stock and the new SUP alpine grosgrain ribbon... I thought HUMMMM it still needs a little something. So I whipped out one of my PTI stamps, stamped my sentiment and covered that in the ButterCream Shimmerz. Once dry, using my SUP circle punches I cut out my sentiment and a piece of the coordinating Basic Grey paper.... added another pop up glue dot and thought... HMMM not quite yet... Where's that black marker of mine.... A little detail work around the edges and VIOLA.... What do you think?

Have you all started working on your Holiday cards yet? If so, I'd love to see them..

Happy Stamping...

Hugs,
Lisa

Day... 3... We need you to come down to the police station for a

Line up... Apparently there have been some mischievous elves, snowmen and reindeer in the neighborhood and we were hoping you'd be able to identify them in a line up.... Apparently Santa's little helpers have been blowing off a little steam and whooping it up around town....

First we have our snowmen.... They have been charged with stealing carrots from the reindeer's and using them for who knows what... You can tell that some of the snowmen have ...can we say over indulged in the apple-tini's as they used the line up to salute, waive at the photographer and strangely throw 'snowballs' at each other.

Mr. Reindeer can you identify which snowman stole your carrots......

And now we have our elves..... a little over indulgence in the malt liquor (I know but that's their drink of choice).... and look what happens.... One elf pulled the beanie hat down over the eyes of another, gave him a wedgie and all heck broke loose... Now they all stand here praying Santa will be lenient on them..

Can you tell who the ring leader of the group is?

And last but not least we have our reindeer... Who after over indulging on Mike's hard lemonade were retaliating against the snowmen.. since there may be children present.... we'll just leave it as a public display of lewdness.... a few of our snowmen are now a little 'yellow'.....

Sadly one ring leader found it be very funny.... Can you tell which one that was?

So now the jail is packed full of reindeer, elves and snowmen sleeping it off.... Tomorrow we'll send them back to the North Pole to let Santa deal with them...

Until then.. Their mug shots will be posted all over the Internet

and sent out on my Christmas cards.... If this is what they do in mid-November.. Can you imagine what they do on December 26th?

Are you ready for hint #3...... November 17 - 24th.... Has anyone figured out what it is yet? The first person to guess correctly will win an New Unmounted Stamp Set... Which I will reveal on day 5.

Happy stamping everyone..

Hugs,
Lisa

Day 2... It's Snowing Outside....

No not really.. But this week it will be cold enough here to snow and their actually calling for snow showers most every day next week.... Since there's hardly any frost in the ground it's not really going to stick.. It'll just be flying around making everyone with a plow (including my deranged when it comes to plowing... but I still love him DH).... crazy wishing for snow... It brings back the Dunkin' Donuts commercial of the man sitting in a lawn chair watching the first snowflake fall... Yep that's my husband... It's true and can you believe I married him... LOL

Today's card was cased from this card of Pine's.. It's so simple card and that's what I love most about it.. Just like with Pine's card I cut my card stock lengthwise.. Folded in half at 5 1/2"'s and then on the side that would be the front using my paper cutter took another inch off the front side. This gives it the asymmetrical look.

Don't you just love the new Marvy snowflake Punches.. I picked up mine from PTI only because I could not find it elsewhere not even on line... I'm sure soon it'll start showing up but I needed it NOW !!! This particular one is the Mega 2 1/2" which coordinates with the Snowfall Additions stamp set.

This card uses.....

Card stock... Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky and Whisper White cs all from SUP

Ink... Soft sky & Close to Cocoa, Canvas by Palette

Stamp sets... Snowfall Additions (PTI) and Merry Christmas was from the $1 bin at Michael's. The little squiggly was from my "Santa Baby" stamp set by Basic Gray

Accessories... Versa Mark, iridescent embossing powder, glitter glue, fine white glitter (for the snowflake.. I covered mine in glitter before punching it out), mega marvy snowflake punch, pop up glue dots and Martha Stewart twill ribbon..

Are you ready for today's clue..... Whether big or small.... shoes come in it.

Have a wonderful day everyone..

Happy Stamping :)
Lisa

5 Days of cards..... Day 1

Hey everyone.. I know I've been promising you lots of project so here goes... I have 5 days worth planned for you and then a HUGE surprise at the end... the surprise is still in the planning stages but I can give you a hint... If any of you read Melondee Langworthy's Blog (if not head on over and give her a look seeeey... she's linked under "you have got to check this out"... ) you're familiar with her Drive-thru Thursdays.... So here's a quick little hint... It has to do with PIF (paying it forward).... so get those creative juices flowing.... Stop back each day to see what I've been up to and for another hint....

Today you're in luck.. I'll give you a 2nd hint... Christmas is for children.... and it's important to remember the "True meaning of Christmas"..

Even though I'm trying to get into the Christmas spirit I have 1 more quick Halloween card for you... Why am I showing you a Halloween card 2 weeks after Halloween??? I just love how this came out and it's so easy to adapt it to Fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Remember back a few weeks ago I did a little enabling which seems to be something I'm really good at (right Teresa????) and told you all about this set that I just had to have from TreeHouse stamps... Well, just as soon as it arrived, I knew I had to ink it up. This creepy hat was just calling for a pair of googlie eyes... LOL

Here's the full card.. I just love it... For this card I used...

Stamps... Creepy Crawly (THS)

Card Stock... SUP -- black, kiwi kiss and whisper white... Haunted Cosmo Cricket DS paper

Ink.... Black stazon, Green, Grey, Orange and Purple copic markers, Kiwi Kiss & Tangerine Tango SUP

Accessories.. Ranger glassy glaze, orange, purple, black and green stickles, SUP circle punches, misc word felt tape and pop up glue dots.

Have a fabulous day everyone... And remember to come back tomorrow for day 2 and hint #2..

Happy Stamping,
Lisa