Brew To You!

The kids went back to school! The kids went back to school! I am amazed at how quiet the house is. . . boys make a lot of noise, you know? So I didn't get many videos done over the summer, but here is one to kick off the fall season! I'm so excited!!!

I have made a template for making these little envelopes for Halloween treats. Each one holds a packet of "brew" or cider. If you wanted to get fancy, you could even tie a cinnamon stick to the front, or add tea bags or cocoa! What you brew is up to you! Haha. . .ok. . .

Here is the template for the design and measurements. Just left click on the photo to see the big version of the template page - then select print on your browser.

And here is a video to go along with the template so that you can see the assembly. . . don't be spooked . . . this isn't a difficult project, and the final result is so fun! I'm thinking that we will give these to neighbors, teachers and friends for Halloween. Have fun!

Autumn / Winter Close To My Heart Idea Books. . . Released!

That moment I have been wating for is finally here! The Autumn / Winter Idea Books by Close To My Heart are finally out - I have my box full of Idea Books just sitting here waiting to be handed and mailed away! The new stamps and products for Autumn / Winter are amazing! I decided to take part in a blog hop for the new book so that you can hop along and see all of the fun new things that are available - if you would like to take a peek you can also stop by My CTMH Store after the 1st. . . oh, just wait until you see the Christmas stamp sets and papers! Oooooo!

So.....on with this blog hopping. . . . if you have come here from Amy's Blog you are on the right track! You can also find a complete list of Blog Hop participants here if you get lost along the way.

My first purchase from the Idea Book is the September Stamp of the Month. They are so danged cute. . . this stamp set called "Thriller" is only available in September so I was sure to snag one up to show you! You can always earn the Stamp of the Month at a discount or even for free with your purchase. Just look at these little Halloween goodies!

One of the projects that I am working on for Halloween is my very own witchy apothecary - I am going to alter several bottles and jars and fill them with fun Halloween things for use as spooky decorations! Fun! Here is how I used my Thriller stamp set.

I saved liqour bottles from our camping trip and rinsed them out. You could also use empty jars, old glass soda bottles, or decorative containers - try the dollar store, the flea market, the second hand store, or an antique market!

I used some sticky back paper to make the labels. You could use adhesive cardstock, old label paper, or just plain cardstock and adhere the heck out of it. :)

Using a ruler and a pencil and the bottle or jar as your guide, measure and cut a label suitable for your bottle. Cut the label out - but decorate it with stamps first. Adhering it to the bottle is your LAST step.

Go nuts decorating those labels! You can use letter stamps, stickers, glitter, anything that you like! Put things into your jars and containers like bits of black pom poms for "Spider Bits"  or pieces of that stretchy webbing for "Spider's Silk" . . . get some kids' toys like Green Slime, Play Doh or gummy worms to put in your jars! Keep it creepy! Ingredients for a witches' brew are always downright gross!

Thanks for checking out my spooky bottles - I did rather enjoy making them - and helping to "empty" those bottles for the project too. Hey, it's all in the name of creativity right?   *hic*  There are MORE apothecary bottles to come, and a fun contest too.
Your next stop is over to Sheila's Blog . . . thank you for stopping by my little blog. I hope that you will come back again for more Halloween fun!

Don't forget that the Autumn/Winter 2010 Idea Book goes LIVE on September 1st. . . if you would like a copy be sure to let me know!

I apologise

. . . in advance. . . this post has nothing to do with cards, tutorials, scrapbooking, or anything of any real value. . . In effort to spend more quality time with my dear hubby, I have been trying to learn about, and appreciate NASCAR. He loves to watch NASCAR. He has informed me, that next year, we will go to Las Vegas and watch the NASCAR race. Hey, I'm ok with Vegas. Can we go during some sort of scrapbooking convention week?

But really, I was watching NASCAR with him a little while ago, and he made fun of me because I picked the "3M" car. I did so because, hey, I recognized that 3M does indeed make a kind of scrapbooking adhesive. Pretty good stuff, too. He was upset when the 3M car won the race. I took it as a sign to go to Michael's and buy some more glue.

See how this works out?

At any rate, I was inspired. . . but I didn't have time until this evening, to share what I thought might be a darned good idea. How about a NASCAR for the ladies? Something that we can really get behind?

That is all!

Sketch #31

What a treat! I am filling in at an office this week. *Just answering messages, filing, taking care of mail and etc. Fun! And what great timing. . . all of this back to school stuff is expensive, you know? I do appreciate the opportunity to make a few extra dollars. And I promise not to spend them on paper and glue!!! So in between calls and filing my nails  charts I was able to glue down this little **quickie for Sketch challenge #31 over at Stars & Stamps. Fun haunted tree sticker, huh?  I am pretty sure that it came from WalMart. Oooooo!

THE TEMP




* All kidding aside, I have worked very hard at the office this week! Customer service has been OUTSTANDING.  And I washed the windows too!

**Any resemblance of the background of this photo to Debbie's desk are purely coincidental.

Cards from leaves and twigs. . .

Now, about that camping trip!!! My hubby was not so very pleased to see the sorts of things that I was carefully packing into the motor home before our extended vacation to the Yellowstone area last week. While he was packing camping gear, tools, utensils, food and other sorts of survival gear, I came out of the house carrying a ginormous rubbermaid tote filled with paper, glue and glitter. (Hey, we are talking survival here!) I carefully moved my mobile scrap station into the Shag Wagon (named so for the long orange / brown shag carpet that decorates the walls of our 1970's era camper extraordinaire!) and grinned all the way down the road to Island Park - a mere 90 miles from our back door.

Hubby just sort of shook his head in disdain at my choice of essential camping gear. . . he is used to this sort of thing. I did camp for a few days without scrapping, but on the third day or so, I decided that it was card day. I got some pretty crazy looks as hubby and the in-laws all geared up and rode off on the 4-wheelers, leaving me alone at camp with the bears and my beloved tote full of paper and glue spread out all over the camp table. . . under the awning of the motor home.

What a fantastic day it was . . to say the least! Complete quiet and seclusion. . . nothing but me and the fresh air and the squirrels and the pine cones and the paper and glitter and buttons and ribbons and pine cones and . . .  it was then that it hit me that Richard's last words were, "Did you bring enough stuff along or are you going to scrap with the pine cones and twigs?" Eureka! The man is smarter than I give him credit for. . . and I did indeed set off to find the perfect camping embellishments for my autumn / Halloween creations.

Fist of all, I found these little pine twigs, perfect for this scary little Halloween bat to hang from. There were also billions of these teeny little pine cone things littering the ground. I found a few cute ones and adhered them to the branch. I even picked up some and stored them for later for using on other cards. I ignored the dirty looks from the squirrels while doing so.

There were also loads of pine cones in every shape and size to be found - all perfect just for the picking. . . and free! What is better than free scrapbooking embellishments??? It took me a little while to whittle the end of this pine cone down to a flat surface. I made an owl, for Grandma Bonnie who really, really loves owls. I think that she will love this card too. His ears are also those little pine cone things, and his beak is a little piece of an orange leaf that I found.

If I thought that the looks that I got from everyone when they left camp were strange, you should have seen the ones when they got back and I was squealing over my pine cone cards. Best of all were the hugs from the family, and the words, "You're crazy, but we love you anyway."   ^_^   Now that is what camping is all about. I can't wait to go again next year!

Boo! I have returned!

It's official. . . our very short summer is drawing to a close. We just got back from a really nice vacation to Yellowstone and the surrounding area. . . saw lots of critters, ate a lot of camp cooking, rode a lot of dusty trails on the 4-wheelers, and had a ton of fun! I really enjoyed the trip but I would be lying if I said I didn't really miss keeping up with my card business and creating new things! More about this later. . . much to my poor husband's chagrin.  :)

Let me kick things off by showcasing my new Halloweenie layout. . . I LOVE Halloween . . . and I have so many fun Halloween projects in store, that I am going to spend a lot of time over the next few months sharing them with you!

First things first. . . I had to check in with Stars & Stamps and snag this week's sketch challenge. Here is Sketch #30.

I also got some new autumn goodies from Close To My Heart! There are new packages of A-2 sized clear cards. . . which are a blast. . . and some beautiful new autumn colors to use. I will list these at the end. . . .

Here is a little card that I made with the new clear cards, the new autumn colors, and a few papers that are by My Mind's Eye. This little vampire guy is my favorite. Isn't he cute? I also used a Trick OR Treat dollar stamp from JoAnn's. These clear cards are awesome for using double-sided papers. It's a lot of fun because - since the card base is clear, you get to enjoy both sides of the cute paper! 

front

inside

back

That's all for today - if you would like to shop along, just hop over to my CTMH SITE . . .

Clear Cards - item #Z1323   $8.95 for 8 cards with envelopes
I used these autumn ink colors - Black, Autumn Teracotta, Gypsy and a wee bit of Topiary.
The new Fall / Winter Idea Books will be available soon - if you would like a hard copy let me know and I will get one in the mail to you. :)  Mine are on the way!

$2-4-6-8 Who do we appreciate?

Just spreading the word that Close To My Heart is having a huge customer appreciation sale this week only. . . on my site under "Shop Online" you can find a whole section of goodies that are on sale for just 2, 4 and 6 dollars - this includes old paper packs and things that are "retiring" soon. This is an AWESOME value for these papers . . . I have been warned that this sale is HOT and people are buying up these goodies fast! Yesterday my site ran a little slowly due to heavy traffic (at corp., I am sure) . . .so have patience. . it still loaded but was slow! If you want to snag up some of these goodies be sure to do it soon . . . my favorite is the "Blue Ribbon" pack which is just full of the cutest red white and blue papers for summer! This is a sale that does not come along often. Don't miss out. :)

SHOP HERE TODAY!

August Expressions!

It's my favorite time of the month - Card Kit Time!!!! August Expressions kits from Express the Moment!!! This month you will NOT want to miss this kit. Kim picked the cutest darned paper and stickers from a company that is new to me - echo park paper co. They came up with the most adorable selection of bright colors and bold patterns! The line is called "Sweet Summer Time" by Crystal Wilkerson and it is just full of F U N.  :)

Also included in this month's kit you will find lots of coordinating embellies as usual - strips of ribbon and fabric, buttons, brads, chipboard, metal, paper flowers, die cuts, punches. . . wow. . . plenty of things to play along with if you are participating in the 16-card 3-papers template by Jeanette Lynton of Close To My Heart. Here are my 16 cards that I made using just three of the papers from this month's kit.

Don't you just love those wacky letter stickers?? They make me laugh every time! And there is a ton of them - I made everything in this post with just the one sheet of letter stickers that came in the kit.

I also made my August 8x8" page with a few of my favorite embellies and papers from this month's kit. I love that little strip of patterned paper with the flowers and the words. . . summer summer summer. . . lol

I was also able to create a few fun pocket cards - there is a page of paper in the kit with these adorable little journaling cards. I cut them apart and used strips of cardstock measuring 4.25 x 8.5" to create the pockets. Score the paper at 3" and at 6" - fold and adhere them at the edges. Use a circle punch to punch a tab or cut a notch in the front of the pocket as shown. Add a bit of ribbon to the journaling cards and attach them using colored staples (not included) or hole punches - decorate the pockets with strips of patterned paper and border stickers and letters! Write a little note on that journaling card and slip it into the pocket along with some cash - what a fun gift for someone who is going away to college, back to school, or for any reason!

 

When I am done playing with my monthly kit - I always love to use up my scraps to make cards for the troops. Some of my "16" cards will go to the troops this month - along with this one that I made following this week's sketch challenge at Stars & Stamps.  Here is the sketch if you would like to play along.

And my card. . . . Thank you for stopping by! If you had fun with the 16-card templates, the "Wishes" book is available through my Close To My Heart site along with lots of other fun CTMH products. The "Wishes" book is outstanding for card templates and ideas. . . you will definitely want a copy for making your Christmas cards this year!!! The fall / winter catalogue will also be coming out soon. . . I am so excited!!!