Doggies on Bloggies H'ween parade + FBD cards 'n news!

You have GOT to be kidding! :)-

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Are you having a wickedly fun day?!  We've dressed up twice, partied twice, and its' not even H'ween night, lol!  I am not a fan of H'ween myself but the kids love to find *the costume* and dress up.  This year, the girls are heading out to a masquerade ball and we're taking lil man to Trick or Treat around our neighborhood :)

In celebration of Halloween, I wanted to show off my Fresh Brewed Designs card!  I also wanted to remind you of the DT call that Heather has going on - you can find the full details of the call right here!  My spooky card for you today is using the digi Smiling Jack and you can see him and many other digi goodies in the shop  Here is the sketch we were given to follow:

And here's my smilin' jack card ....

 Now, on to the fun!  It's a blog hop for our sweet fur baby doggies in their H'ween finest!  This idea was the brainchild of Catherine! We did a similiar hop last Christmas where we dresseed up our doggies in their holiday clothes, lol!  TOO CUTE it was!  Sadly, Brandy is not well enough for this hop :(  We didn't hear back from the vet so the waiting to hear about her results is a bit excrutiating, but her spirits are good, she's resumed a small walk and is eating well and drinking lots :)
Buddy, however, is in his glory and super photogenic!  He LOVES the camera!  He sits and looks at the camera, and even strikes a pose, loL!  This was *not* the costume I had planned for him - he shamelessly fits into my daughters Build-a-Bear outfits, ROFL!!  But my daughters Kaitlyn and Chrissy spent all day a few weeks ago making him an outfit for the Fall :)   They sewed some pants - including the tail hole - out of an old jean skirt BY HAND! They made a matching shirt, complete with patches and a kerchief, ROFL!  He was not having much of this, lol, but he was such a dutiful puppy and put up with his runway walk and glamour photo shoot :)  Take a look!  Introducing Old Mc-Buddy, aks Farmer Buddy!

Now hop on over to my fabulous doggie mama's blog and see what their gorgeous fur babies have on today!  LOL!!

* Catherine w/ Charlie*

 * Karen w/ Rockstar* 

*  Lorie w/ Lola and Oliver*

Here's a "gimme paw" to all and lots of love and mucho Milk Bones in the buckets today!!* :)
x0x0x0
Blessings!
~Kelly

SCH Sensational Saturdays!

Happy Saturday!  Are you "Fall-ing" into this gorgeous season?  Autumn is just splendid although we are still in searing temps of high 80's and low 90's here - hot, hot, hot!


My card for you today is using two Sugar Creek Hollow digis - Fall Harvest Bingo and Harvest blessingsThe challenge this week was to use lace on our cards! I made this card using the stair step fold but inverted it vertically - it made a wonderful decor for my son's class :)  The colors are very bright and festive IRL and the digi is fabulously colorful when printed out ~ the FALL letters are colored

Did you know that SCH also has freebies?  Stop in here and see what you can create with! 

We'd love for you to stop in and see what the rest of the DT have made for you using Lace!!

  Blessings!
~Kelly

Card deets: Cardstock:  Kraft and Really Rust; Dsp = K and Company "Pumpkin Pie",

image and sentiment:  Sugar Creek Hollow; Prima flowers; Basic Grey Buttons,

Raffia, lace, Tombo, MS Glue

A (Long, long!!) Harvest Hello!

 Although this has been a particularly rough week filled with worry and wonder,  I am happy to say that Brandy, our blessed 8 y/o Mastiff, is out of surgery and recooperating!  We have been on bended knee and terrified after learning of her tumors and cancer ~ and at the same time grateful in knowing they have been removed and praying for a good pathology report to tell us even better news.  Thank you all so much for the shoulders, tissues, listening ears and mostly your prayers!  Fur babies are so special to my heart!  She's medicated and sleeping and I can't wait to put her head on my lap and tell her I wuf her :)

Fortunately for me, I've had plenty of distraction.  I'm volunteering nearly 10-15 hours a week at my son's school alone, and loving my "job" as room mom to the fullest.   Just this week alone, I commissioned some mom friends to help me make the kid's Harvest shirts - a spin off of tie dye (too messy!) yet a GREAT kid's craft - they had a blast!  I had the most wonderful compliment as well - in the midst of thinking I'm being stretched too thin and that I have too many irons in the fire, I noticed a few other teachers smiling and watching every time I do "something' at the school.   Just yesterday I had a good friend tell me "Do you know that you are THE most sought after room mom here?"  I was shocked and surprised and didn't quite know what to say! I've had people tell me all the time that I missed my calling in life, but being mommy extraordinaire is a pretty good job :) 

 I mixed up some batches of Rit Dye in Fall, Harvest colors and put them into squirt bottles and let the kids have at it in the courtyard :)  Some of them were so meticulous and neat while others just went straight at it like paintball, lol!  I added appliques of a pumpkin and harvest leaves, so after they were washed/dried, I peeled them back to reveal the stark white underneath.  They came out so incredibly unique, not a single one alike.  However!  I got to take them home and wash them all, then outlne the shapes with puffy paint - can we say time consuming!  I loved every minute of it, but give yourself plenty of time to complete this project as it has to dry overnight on one side, flip it over to paint the back - super fun and festive!

Once the shirts were done and the party is tomorrow,  what better idea than to put them in a gift bag that you made as well!  This popped into my head at 1:30 am - probably after one of my doppio expressos, lol!  I asked our local S'Bux if they could donate the bags to our classroom and they generously did!  {thank you!!}   I was reading the side of the bag and LOVE the "reuse, reimagine, recycle" I saw on the side and love how the children hopefully will see an important message :)  I knew instantly I wanted to use Sweetest Treat from Deedee's Digis - they will have several stations at the party where they will use these bags for collecting treats, sweets and things that are neat!  (yes, that also came to me at 1:30 am, lol!  I need to get more sleep, eh?) ;)  I added some rafia at the top, festive orange ribbon and a doubled sided pumkin tag made from the SU! Oval punch, a button with matching raffia and some colorful tissue paper.  Did I mention I had to make 25 of these!!  23 kiddies and 1 teacher and 1 aide - wowzers! 

I only have half of the shirts photographed, the other half were already folded and in the gift bags - woot, woot! 

Well that's my post for today!  Long overdue (and long winded!) 

Blessings to you all .......

heading off to snuggle with Brandy for a bit!

x0x0

~Kelly

Buttons and Bows - Autumn Joy :)

Good morning and happy SONday to you! :)   

I'd like to share with you a project I created for Buttons and Bows this week!  Have you heard of the new Challenge Blog?  Buttons and Bows's is hosting it's first challenge!! It will be a Halloween Challenge and will run from Oct. 24th- Oct. 31st with the winner being chosen on Nov. 1st. Rules of the challenge are: You may make any project but it must be Halloween-ish, it must contain buttons and or bows, and you must become a follower of Buttons and Bows blog. Upload your card to this challenge blog.  Deadline for challenge is midnight (CST) on the 31st. The prize that will be given away is 3 button sets, designer paper, $10 gift certificate from Inktegrity for digis, and ribbon!

And to become a follower, click HERE! :)

This week, we were sent this amazing Harvest buttons!  They are available in the store :)  The beautiful Fall hues are gorgeous IRL and perfect for the many harvest projects you might be planning! 


For my project, I created a small magnetic pocket style card for my daughter's locker :)  Although her and her many bff's are usually texting all day long, I wanted to make a small area for her to keep notes and attach little notes to a central card station :)  I found these adorable flower clothespins @ Joanns (all 3 for $1.00!) and added the buttons as a flower center.   They are detachable and she can add them to the side of the locker or keep them on the card ~ great for keeping on the refrigerator, too!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Blessings!
~Kelly

Card deets:  Cardstock:  Really Rust, DCWV dsp, Fancy Pants;

Buttons from Buttons & Bows; SU Corner punch, magnets, Tombo, wooden clothespins,

aileens, embroidery floss.

I love EWE muchly! :)

*For the Deedee's Digis Blog Hop,

 please see previous post!*

It's sensational Saturday with SCH and I love EWE muchly!

It's Saturday, and that means another fabulous SCH post for you! I hope this post launches as scheduled as by now I'm down at a farm with real sheep!  :)   Today my son and some of his Kindergarten friends are all heading to a local farm for pumpkin patch pickins, scarecrow building, hayrides and more - a fun outing we do every year as a family and this year bringing along some new friends.

This week at SCH, we were asked to make a card using the primitive sheep digi ~ a fun image to work with.  Using an easel card, I paired this lovely sheep with various sheets of dsp to create a grouping of primitive papers but in holiday colors.  I am so in love with Tracy's country crinkle ribbon, I had to buy one of each of the new holiday colors!  I'm envisioning the holiday cards I will make with my new green and red ribbon and just might actually accomplish getting my cards done early!  The poinsetta and BG button, twine and ric-rac were all

items I had one hand. 

Would you like to see what the

rest of the DT made using Primitive

Sheep and Christmas Cardinal?

Take a peek here and see all

the wonderful cards - it will definitely get you in the mood for starting your holiday cards!

Blessings,

~Kelly

Deets: SU! Cranberry crisp, Black; DSP from SU, Basic Grey, Making Memories:  Image: Sugar Creek Hollow; Country Crinkle ribbon from SCH; BG Button, RIc-rac, origami twine; MM poinsetta & brad; red prang marker; tombo

Thankful Thoughts Blog Hop!

  And a good morning to you on this much to be thankful for day!  Fall is such a marvelous time of year! God's great bounty is so very visible -- in the harvest of crops that will sustain us through the coming winter, in the glorious display of leaves and foliage, and in so many other ways! It is little wonder that we find ourselves feeling thankful thoughts at this time of year particularly, though it is good to be thankful at all times :)

Please join us today for a blog hop as the Deedee's Digis design team shares with you some of the ways we express our thankful thoughts through papercrafting. We hope our projects will inspire you to share some thankful thoughts of your own. Here's how the hop works:

To participate, visit each of the participating designers' blogs to see a fun project using one of our digis, and leave a comment on their post for a chance to win a free digi of your choice from our store! You have until 12 noon ET on Sunday to comment. Each designer will choose a winner Sunday evening, and we'll announce them all here on Monday. Please be sure toTo participate, visit each of the participating designers' blogs to see a fun project using one of our digis, and leave a comment on their post for a chance to win a free digi of your choice from our store! You have until 12 noon ET on Sunday to comment. Each designer will choose a winner Sunday evening, and we'll announce them all here on Monday. Please be sure to check back then to see if you have won!

For my card to share with you today, I was brought back to all the years of sitting at the table for hours, eating a wonderful home cooked meal and listening to stories from relatives told over and over again each year :)  It's a fond time to remember those moments and keep the traditions going given to us by some of the family that still live on in our hearts and memories.  I am the Thanksgiving host in our family :)   I cook for about 22-25 each year and have always enjoyed having that baton of cooking passed down to me - however!!  Due to the sheer size of the group that shows up, we have had to do the dreaded "Kid's table", lol!  We keep the adults together and let the kids eat in their own area.  After seeing the cover of Scrapbooks, etc with a plethora of Thanksgiving ideas, I thought an adorable crayon holder for the kids would be perfect this year!  Instead of the usual "napkin ring" (which, btw, this could easily double as BOTH!), they'll have a small activity book and Mr. Turkey filled with crayons to keep them busy!  Perfect!  (just like I hope my turkey for all of them is this year, hee hee!)

Now here's what the DT have created today:

April
Ceal
Darsie
Deedee
Jerusha
Kathy
Kelly (you are here!) :)
Lawren
Melissa
Michele
Robin
Sandy

Be sure to leave a comment here for a chance to win a $15 credit at the store, spendable on any of our products. Again, you have until until 12 noon Eastern time on Sunday to comment, and we will announce the winner here on Monday.

And FINALLY... here is a little treat for you, as a token of how thankful we are for your support of our site, store, and team!

Thanks so much for joining us today :)
Blessings!
~Kelly

A Twisted Thursday with S2G ~ Spots 'n Dots!

 
Hi my friends - sending blessings to you all.   I apologize for the short post today but wanted to share with you that S2G is once again bringing you a new challenge today -- Twisted Thursday Challenge #79 - use spots and dots :)   My card is a bit unusual for a Halloween card, I wasn't planning on making it so unique but after coloring up this lovely image ~ I pulled the bright pink from her costume to match the spotted dsp, and so it began :)

You can find the new challenge HERE ~ or take a peek in the shop and see what might strike your fancy!

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Hugs,

Kelly

Put the Lime in the Coconut .......

 

This poor branch was so heavy with fruit it's leaning all the way to the ground - easy pickin! :)

Hi there!  I hope you had a marvelous weekend!  I was just outside and could not believe the amount of Key Limes my daughter's tree has - there is a plethora of limes growing in our yard and it smells positively heavenly!  As someone who adores citrus, I'm envisioning LOTS and LOTS of Key Lime pies, breads, and some homemade juice!  (not to mention some great accent seasonings for this week's meals!) These are just growing wild in our yard from her special tree, the one we planted when our first born daughter was christened.   Now in a few weeks she'll be 16 - sniff, sniff!  I reached up and grabbed one of those gorgeous green fruits off the vine and the smell - oooooooooh!!

Speaking of green, this week at Deedee's Challenge Blog, the challenge is to use a card with green and purple ~ What a fun combo!   I went a little lighter with my green and purple and leaned more towards a mint and lavender-ish to fit the dsp I was using - isn't crafting great that way!  Using the digi "Teacher's Pet", I created a long overdue thank you card for a sweet friend ~ always going the extra mile, there to give a lending hand, and seems to always know just what you need  - even before you do :)  This set comes with 4 sentiments, including the one I used, so it's perfect for a friendship card, too!

We hope you get a chance to play along this week!  Here's the challenge blog where you can add your Green and Purple cards!

Have a blessed day!
~Kelly

Deets:  SU! Cardstock Lavender Lace, Gable Green; GP White;

Image & Sentiment:  Deedee's Digis; DSP = Kioshi Basic Grey;

Prismacolor markers, CB, Nestie, SU round corner punch; MM & prima flowers,

BG button, embroidery thread, Tombo

French Country Christmas - styled with SCH Color Combo!

Paris remains one of my all time, favorite cities I've been in ~ and there's something about that Parisian feel to fabrics, decor and rooms that just add chic and style.  That's the feel I was aiming towards when I was putting this card together! ;)  I really wanted to try a unique holiday card and I had a wonderful time creating this card collage using the color combo given to us this week at SCH -- Early expresso, River Rock and Baja Breeze - gorgeous!!  

The colors aren't as dark as they are showing here on my screen ~ the colors are light and fresh and airy - just like France in the summer :)

The holiday images are available in the SCH store - take a peek!

And be sure to see what the other designers have made for

you today ~ the DT and the challenge can be found here :)

We'd love for you to play along - the winner will

receive a free digi of your choice!

Blessings!
~Kelly

 

Card Deets:  Early Expresso, Baja Breeze by SU!,

DSP = Cosmo Cricket "Fleuriste" & Making Memories;

Silent Night Digi by Sugar Creek Hollow;

Scallop punch; MM Vintage button; tombo; prima flourish rub-on

Dueling Darlings ~ Round 3 ... You're a Treasure!

Good morning!  For my Cancer Awareness Buttons and Bows card/post, please click the previous post - I have two for you today!

Although I have been fighting with my blog for about an hour, I have had the chance to hop around and see the amazing DDD creations that are up and let me tell you, this month we had a ball!  For those of you that might be new to our little traveling card kits or my blog {hugs!}, the Dueling Darlings are a group of super wonderful friends that met on SCS and created a card swap group - each of us takes a turn one month and creates a card kit for the others!  We are divided into two group - the Divas and the Dazzlers.   This month, the Divas (our group) was hosted by the incredibly sweet and talented Carol!  She sent us a cute kit with a Whipper Snapper image and so many wonderful embellies that it was impossible to chose, though I did try to squeeze in as many as I could :)  Sadly, I will be "rogue" this month as the paper she sent along with the kit ran away from me - far, far away!  I know it's in my craft-saster Cabana somewhere and promise to post a second card upon it's return!  (humblest apologies, Carol!)

This month we were to incorporate a "treasure' - either something given or recycled or found .... I struggled with what to put and originally had a small pendant my daughter had given me but it just didn't work.  It looked more like an afterthought and it's so special to my heart, I didn't want to just look like it was stuck on there anywhere ;)   So I found these darling little matching glittery butterflies that were given to me in a birthday package (last year - at least they didn't run away, too! LOL!)  Although they don't fit into a holiday card so much, they represent the friendship of Mike 'n Ike that are winter fishing together and the stellar friendship we Darlings have, too!   This card has layers on top of layers and is probably one of the poofiest cards I've ever made, but it was fun!  I'm not sure what kind of fold I ended up with either!  I started with a joy fold, flipped it sideways and changed the layout and somehow ended up with this - hopefully it worked, lol!

Here are the list of Darlings you can hop on over to visit and see what they did with their kits!

The Divas:  Kelly * Barb  * LJ * Carol * Jamie * Joan *  Judy

and

The Dazzlers:  Jeanette (Team Leader) * Melina * Debbie * April * Michelle * Paola * Terry

   Blessings!

~Kelly

Card deets:  GKD Green Apple, SU Bermuda Bay, DSP = Reminsce Winter,

stamped image:  Whipper Snapper, all embellies from card kit, tombo,

prismacolor markers, ice stickles

A new challenge from Buttons & Bows! (REALLY long post, grab a seat!) :)

T.G.I.F!  Wheeeeeeeeeeew! Sliding into the weekend, I could not be more worn out this week!  And yet a busy weekend ahead, too - ROFL!  But at least we will have a rare quiet Friday night at home and I have much to catch up on ;)  Like sleep! *wink!*

I wanted to show you some absolutely darling new buttons from Buttons and Bows!  Kristy has been hard at work creating some amazing new buttons - you can find them all HERE, in the store!  This week, we are debuting the Cancer Awareness buttons.  Coincidentally this week, I had that mammo "call back" (which I was expecting to get the call back) but we found out thru a recent series of tests that it's something unrelated, treatable and I'm elated and blessed, PTL!

 Buttons and Bows is hosting it's first challenge!! Our 1st challenge will be a Halloween Challenge~  It will run from Oct. 24th- Oct. 31st with the winner being chosen on Nov. 1st. Rules of the challenge are: You may make any project but it must be Halloween-ish, it must contain buttons and or bows, and you must become a follower of Buttons and Bows blog. Upload your card to the Challenge Blog.  Deadline for challenge is midnight (CST) on the 31st. The prize that will be given away is 3 button sets, designer paper, $10 gift certificate from Inktegrity for digis, and ribbon!

And right now, all Halloween button sets are 15% off in the store - hurry on over so you won't want to miss that!  

And .... my card!  I needed to send a card to a friend and mom of 3 daughter's who is a recently undergoing the last round of radation for breast cancer.  She has had to move her daughter from college So Fla to up North, take another dd on her Senior immersion trip to England for 3 weeks, and juggle a full time job and her 10 year old daughter who has learning disabilities and has done it all with remarkable grace, humor and absolute style!   She is indeed a hero and I admire her tenacity and spunk through-out this journey and wanted to make a card that reflected that. 

I intended to start out with a bikini card but my son saw the finished product on the table and said "eeewww!  A bra!"  Doh!  Well, he's 6 so I can't put much into what he really knows, lol ....... either way, the card insert shows what I really want her to know!  The buttons are clear polymer and handcrafted from Kristy and just a fabulous addition to the card - both on the front and as the center focal point of my flower {did you catch that on the dsp?! :)}

I am just so in love with SU's "Sending my love" shimmery beautiful paper and wish I could get the camera to capture it's color ;)  I paired it with regal rose, pink pirouette and used the stamp set Sassy Sayings 1 from SU and of course, buttons from Buttons & Bows!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings!
~Kelly

Entered for consideration into: The Craft Garden - Pink/lace

Craftalicious - Anything Goes

Stamp and Create - Cancer Awareness

Card deets:  Cardstock by SU:  Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, GP white;

DSP: Sending My Love; Buttons by Buttons and Bows; Ribbon is Regal Rose SU and  Antique lace from AC; Ink = Regal Rose; Tombo, Trimmer; Making Memories flower