Tradefish Designs-Birthday Balloons!

Hello!  Today I have a card using Tradefish Designs set, Another Year.  I stamped the sentiment, balloons, and confetti in Memento Tuxedo Black.  I then colored the balloons with copic markers.  I added some stickles to the confetti and drew the strings with a black archival pen.  I tied a little bow on the balloon bouquet.  I was running low on birthday cards, so I need to replenish my stash!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

I Miss You....

Hi there! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We are trying to recover! LOL!  Finding a place for the ridiculous amount of toys that the boys got, is a challenge.  I think I may just put some up on a shelf and get them out a month from now. It will be like Christmas all over again! 

I made this card using a new release from The Stamps Of Life called, phrases2say.  LOVE this set and you will definitely be seeing it more on my blog!  I also used some older MME papers from Beloved and Fine & Dandy collections.  The card is super tall!  It was a pack of kraft cards and envies I have had for a long time, so I decided to make use of them.

I am going to try to get caught up on my December Daily over the course of the next several days!  We will see how that goes with three boys home!

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

Hugs and blessings,

Emily

December Daily-Day 19

Not much to talk about this day.  Luke found my old Game Boy. Yes...it was mine and I was obsessed with it about ten years ago! LOL! He has had a lot of fun trying to defeat Frogger's Journey.  I was never able to beat this game, so it has been fun helping him with it.  I love to watch his face when he is playing. Cracks me up!

 Thanks for taking a peek!

Emily

December Daily-Day 18

Today was all about football.  Will made the playoffs in fantasy football so we were keeping track of scores all day on the computer.  The Bengals even pulled off a win! Bonus!!!!

 I thought this striped paper from MME, was cute for a football layout!  I also love these football stamps from Our Craft Lounge.  It is probably my favorite football themed stamp set.

I am working like crazy to try to get this album caught up!  I know I will get behind again after this weekend with all of the festivities.

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Merry Mint!

Hello! So...I need to play some catch up with my December Daily.  I think it will be harder to get pages done now that boys are home all day, but I plan on cranking out at least three days today.  This is a card I made with this months club release from The Stamps Of Life called candy2share.  Love the different things you can do with the candy.  I used a sentiment from the penguins4Christmas set.  I stamped the peppermint with glue from a MS glue pad and then added some red micro glitter from PK glitz.  The background label is stamped in spearmint by Stephanie Barnard with a stamp from the stamps4fancylabels.  I also used Stephanie's fancy labels Sizzix Framelits that go with this set.  This card was pretty easy to put together. I am sure I will be using this layout for more cards in the future.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Emily

Tradefish Designs-You Are Just My Type!

Hi there! I thought I would throw in a theme other than Christmas, so I pulled out the set You Are Noteworthy from Tradefish Designs.  I stamped the typewriter on text from an old book.  The red notebook paper is from Authentique's Wonder collection.  Pretty simple and perfect for a Valentine card.  So sad to tell you that C has decided to close up shop at Tradefish Designs.  She will still have the blog and the Go Fish challenge, but will only be selling her stamps until the end of the month.  Everything is marked down 50% off, so if you had your eye on something, now would be the time to buy it.  She will shut the shop down on December 31st.  Sniffling  and pouting here!

Are you all ready for Christmas?  I know I am! I have to throw a pre-school holiday party today, and then I am ready to kick back and relax with my guys.  Today is their last day of school!  I actually went shopping yesterday-for me!  I rarely shop for clothes anymore, but I had some "free" money coupons (you know, buy $10 worth of stuff get $10 off, so I bought a couple shirts that were on super sale at JC Penny.  I also had some Old Navy cash, so I bought some cute lounge pants and a shirt to hang out around the house in.  Only $3.82 after the crazy mark down plus my Old Navy bucks! Love a good deal, and it was kind of fun buying something for me!

Have a great day!

Emily

Mason Jar Christmas decor

Hello!  Today I am sharing a home decor project I made.  I love the mason jar dioramas or snow globes that are popping up this holiday.  I used some odds and ends from my scrap room and some leftover berry picks from my mantle garland.  This jar is not actually a mason jar but a jar that used to hold spaghetti sauce!  I decided to practice with this recycled jar before purchasing Mason jars.  My 5 year old boys thought this was the most incredible thing EVER, so I plan on letting them make their very own to put on their dresser in their bedroom.  Since Christmas is right around the corner, I may have them make a winter scene that can be displayed longer.
With a real Mason jar, because the jar is wider, I would create my snow scene on the inside of the lid first and then screw the jar onto the top.  The jar would be standing on it's lid, but this would be much easier for younger kids.

First I fluffed about three or four cotton balls.  I dripped some Tombow glue into the bottom and then squished the cotton balls on the bottom with a long skinny wood spoon.  Next, I dumped a generous amount of snow glitter on top of that.  I twisted the jar around so it would also fall into the crevices where the cotton did not quite meet the side of the jar.
Next I printed out that vintage Santa from The Graphic Fairy.  This site is fabulous for vintage images. LOVE it!  I placed my Santa onto music paper from Donna Salazar with pop dots.  I then pushed it down into the jar propping it up in between the glass and the cotton "snow".  Next, I took my berry pick and with glossy accents, added some glitter snow to the berries and leaves.  Using ZOT adhesives, I attached my punched bird to the front of the berry pick once the glitter and glue dried.  The bird was punched from old text and inked up with distress inks.  I then took a bottle cap from one of my oldest son's fanta sodas and punched a DP circle to adhere to the inside.  I then took some black Tiny Type Cosmo Cricket stickers to spell out "joy" on the inside and, adhered it next to the bird with another ZOT.  It was easy to just adhere the bird and bottle cap to one of the berries.
Next, I carefully stuck the pick down into the jar with the stem facing up.  This gives you kind of a handle to maneuver it down in the jar, and it looks nice sticking up next to Santa.  This particular pick has a very real looking stem, but if your stem looked unsightly you could dress it up with a ribbon or just cut it off.
The lid was painted with white acyclic paint and I added a baker's twine bow.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

December Daily-Day 17

On this day, we braved the crowds at Bass Pro Shop, and went to see Santa!  For the past several years, this is something that Bill has done with the boys on whatever weekend I was scheduled to work in December.  This year, I was able to go with them, since I have cut my hours at the hospital.  I am not a crowd kind of girl, and it was mayhem, but it was also fun to see the boys talking with Santa.  This is the first year that Max has walked right up to Santa with NO reservations.  Since birth, he has always been scared and crying in every photograph. Not this year!  Will was a super good sport and got his photo with Santa and even told Santa something he wanted when Luke asked him why he wasn't talking! Grandma came along with us and finished up some shopping.  A fun crazy day!

 Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Victorian Chrismtas Spools

Hello! Today I am sharing some more of my homemade Christmas decor with you.  I made these spools from recycled paper towel holders.  I covered them with text and designer papers.  The tops and bottom are die cut from recycled cereal boxes and then painted with white acrylic paint.  I added the angel and Santa images from The Graphic Fairy.  I just love her images!  I added some glitter to the angel wings, some tinsel ribbon, silver twine and jingle bell, and flowers on the tops of the spools.
Super fun to make and they look perfect in my shabby chic dining room!

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

December Daily-Day 16

On the sixteenth, we went to visit a live nativity at a local funeral home.  They have been doing it for as long as I can remember, and the boys love to visit the sheep and donkeys.  Last year there was a lot of snow on the ground. This year, it was just cold! 

Thanks for taking a peek!

Emily

Poinsettia card...

Hello!  Trying to do a little catch up on my December Daily album. Hopefully some pages to post soon!  This is a card I made for the Sizzix blog.  My poinsettia is made with the Tattered Florals die, and the sentiment is from The Stamps Of Life.  You can find all of the details over at Sizzix.
I have officially finished all of my baking. Tomorrow I will start boxing and packaging things up to give as gifts.  My boys have had fun "testing" the goods!  They also helped me cut all of the sugar cookies and gingerbread men last night.  If anyone has a great, spreadable icing recipe (easy for kids) I would love for you to share.  Royal icing just seems hard for little hands to use in the bags, and we always end up with a 3" pile of noodle looking icing on top of the cookies when Max or Luke are decorating! LOL!  I am looking for something that they can spread and then add sprinkles and candies on top that will harden enough to store easily on top of one another.  Maybe I am dreaming!

Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!

Emily

December Daily-Day 15

So...I actually got called into work this night.  Of course, it was on a night when hubby had to work super late, so I packed the boys up and headed to Nana and Boo-Boo (my dad) house!  My nieces were there, so they had fun playing together.  I wanted to get a photo of them in front of mom's tree.  I wonder if her tree still looks that beautiful after grandchildren x 5?

 Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

December Daily-Day 14

So....not every day in December has a "magical" moment, which is what I like about the concept of  this album.  Today was one of those days.  The highlight of the day between Tae Kwon Do and basketball practices-pizza!  Everyone was so hungry that before I could think to grab my camera, only two slices remained!  It is funny how quickly we went from being a one pizza family, to a two pizza family!

 Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Vintage bottlecap ornaments

Hi there!  Today I am sharing some ornaments I made for my dining room tree.  I cut strips of text from an old book to create a "snowflake".  I sprinkled some snow glitter on top, and added some bottlecaps to the center with vintage santa images.  I got the Santa images from The Graphic Fairy.  Love her stuff!  I looped some baker's twine from The Twinery through the top of one of the loops to hang on the tree.  These are super easy to make!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

December Daily-Day 13

The thirteenth was a day of baking.  I got a start of some of my cookies and candies while the boys were at school.  I always let them help with the cut out sugar cookies and the gingerbread men, but everything else I like to do myself.  I crank up the Christmas tunes, and bake away!  On this particular day, I made wreath and tree spritz cookies, shortbread cookies with Ghiradelli chocolates on top, chocolate cherry cordial cookies, and my Grandma's recipe-Forgotten Meringue cookies. YUM!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Tradefish Designs-Joy To The World

Hello!  I made this card for Will's homeroom teacher, who also happens to be his Social Studies teacher!  I used two sets from Tradefish Designs.  Sentiments of The Season for the sentiment, and Back 2 School for the globe.  I colored the globe with copic markers and added some green baker's twine at the bottom from The Twinery.  This was a super quick and easy one layer card to make.  Make sure you check out the huge inventory sale going on at TFD.  All stamps are 50% off right now!!!

This is also for the Moxie Fab Get Inspired by Home Decor Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

December Daily-Day 12

Day 12 is all about Luke!  He had his kindergarten Christmas concert and was FABULOUS!  For weeks he has been practicing his songs.  They sang 10 songs! I was super impressed.  Luke's favorite song is Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.  The tag behind the photo of Luke and I, will have journaling on it about the concert.  I used several ippity stamps on these pages, too.

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Pumpkin Spice DT call

Hello!  I made this card duo for the Pumpkin Spice DT call.  Pumpkin Spice is a great on-line shop that offers amazing discounts on products (30% off, to be exact)!  They carry all of the trendy popular paper lines in 6x6 sizes for us cardmakers, which makes me smile!
For the call, we had to showcase a project that we made using things they carry in their store.  I decided to make this card set with My Mind's Eye "Sunshine" Lost & Found Two collection.  I adore the yellows and blues.  I made one card that is more clean and simple and one that is more shabby chic-both styles that I love!
One thing I love about MME paper collections, is that the paper is so versatile, and you can let it be the showstopper on your card-not necessarily the stamps.  I loved the collage look of the sewing machine, doily, postage stamp and music score-all part of the paper. I just added the circle with a stamped sentiment, some baker's twine from The Twinery, ribbon and a die cut dress form. VOILA!
The second card, that is more CAS in style-I cut the paper so that the "adore you" on the DP is the sentiment for my card.  The only stamping is the flourishes.  I used Tim Holtz distress inks in walnut stain and antique linen to distress the edges of the paper, along with the stamped flourishes and "love".

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

Emily

December Daily-Day 11

After visiting the train show on the tenth, I decided to pull out my old HO train set that I received way back in 1980!!!  I don't know who was more excited-the boys or my husband.  After a trip to Lowe's for a plywood board and a gallon of green paint; then a trip to our local hobby shop for special nails for the track, oil for the engine and bands for the engine's wheels-we were ready to go!  We set it up on top of the boys air hockey table in their toy room for now.  I think we will add pieces to it and build our own little train town!

Thanks for stopping by for another peek at my album!

 Emily

December Dailly-Day 10

Day 10 is all about a train show that we took the boys to.  Our oldest went to a train show with one of his friend's already this year, but this was a first for Max and Luke.  They were super excited, and especially loved the Christmas train and the towns that had interactive buttons.  One button made a fire truck come out of the station when you pushed it, and Max would have stayed there all night, had we let him.I am 1/3 of the way done with my December Daily album.  Having fun. No stress.  Super excited to think I will actually have a scrapbook that will be complete for this year!!!!

 Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

December Daily-Day 9

This day is dedicated to a sleepover with cousins.  My SIL took some photos during the big event at her house.  They kept the boys so that Bill and I could go out to dinner.  We were also able to finish Christmas shopping and I got almost all of the boys gifts wrapped for Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

December Daily-Day 8

This page is all about my birthday.  My parents came over for dinner and took a family photo of me and the boys.  A perfect day with my favorite peeps!

 Thanks for stopping by,

Emily