Hot Dog! It's a Chrissy Card! :)

  

 OMGosh, I cannot tell you how excited I am to post today -- because my 13 y/o baby, Chrissy, made me this card! She did an absolutely amazing job! I just love it to pieces - she's an amazingly creative girl, always crafting beside me and comes up with the sweetest cards but this one just made my day, I was smiling huge all last night when I got home {another meeting!} I just had to share, she just tickles me ;)  

The little joke in our home is that she eats her hotdogs a very specific way - the rest of the family eats them "however" but with her, she loves them split down the middle, grilled (almost charred!) ala Johnny Rockets style ;) 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and seeing my baby's creation! :)

Blessings!
~Kelly

It's a Magical, Mystical and Fantastical Nov. Kit-Cat!

*Edited - Just back from a weekend of camping and I see the post didn't launch :(  I think I was the first one done and yet the last one to post, ROFL! Murphy's Law!  But camping was a blast  - more on that later!  I came home 1. exhuasted and 2. climbing Mt. Laundry all day and 3. trying to put together the pieces of a few interesting events that took place while mommy was away - but God is good and my babies are all fine and dh survived the weekend, bwahahaha!*

It's Kit-Cat Sunday once again and this month is the exciting preview of a little mysticism and fantasy!  Our host this month is the absolute sweetheart, Susan, who came up with this month's theme and sent us a yummy cache of paper goodness!  This kit was so chock full of goodies that it was nearly impossible to chose and use them all - definitely lots more cards in the future :)   She sent us some gorgeous Fairy images if we chose to make a card and a plain (au naturel!) daily planner .... and, of course, being the uber busy mom of 4 going to and fro every hour of each day, I chose the planner.  

Using this scrumptious paper from Que Sera Sera collection from K and Co, I chose a larger piece of the dsp that had an image already on it and couldn't bear to cover up this beautiful Koi fish!   Instant focal point ;)  I added the flowers, bling, gorgeous ribbon,  silver cord and

*Love* charm that Susan sent - the only thing I added was this flower paper border to give a little pop under the ribbon.  I didn't want to over embellish it since this baby will be traveling in my purse! :)   And, I couldn't resist making a little bookmark to go with and covered it with dsp, modge podge, matching ribbon and bling - a great remider to keep in my new fabulous daily planner.

Now be sure to head on over to see what the other kittens have made for you using this same kit "ingredients!"  You will not be disappointed!

Susan * Jeanette * Lorie * Michelle *

Thanks for stopping by this morning and have a most blessed, magical day! :)

Blessings!
~Kelly

Have a Bloomin' Good Day :)

Happy Bloomin' Friday! :)




Happy Friday to you! This week at Buttons & Bows it's "anything goes!" That makes for a fun challenge as Kristy is so generous with her button sets, there are enough left over from each set to make a second card, scrapbook page or project!

This week, I bring you flower pot goodness, made from paper, flowers and gorgeous button centers! The centers are all from the sets of Cancer Awareness, Witches' Hat, and Harvest Time :) I started with this little flower pot car that opens up to include a small card or bookmark, but wanted to make actual flowers to have a little card for my daughter after her Opera tonight :) I tucked a little note down inside the pot for her :)  The stems are just plain ol popsicle sticks covered with ribbon, and that's pretty much it!

This weekend I'll be campin' with my lil Girl Scout - and we recently heard it's dippin into the 50's at night - can you imagine!  We'll all be freezing something awful - guess it could be worse and have a forecast for rain and more rain, LOL! 

Hugs & Blessings,
Kelly

Sending baskets of love!

Oh, soon to be Key Lime Pie! :)

Wow, the rain that is pouring down from my window as I type!  It's a monsoon out there!  I ran out to grab a few more limes off the famous lime tree and barely got 20ish or so off the tree before I was hit with an instant shower - no time to run for cover :)  But soon, a fresh baked Key Lime pie will be gracing my oven ........ and hips ......  but it's all good! :)

Have you seen the new Happy Monday Challenge sketch at Deedee's this week?  You can find it here!  It's a fun one!  I used Baskets of love for this challenge, colored with my prisma markers ~ except when posting the pictures I realized I forgot to color the centers! :(  Hopefully it doesn't look too awful as I'm out of time to do another photo op and blog post so we'll chalk it up to creative expression, right? LOL!


Deedee's Happy Monday Challenge Sketch 6

How sweet is this digi set!  My sample is using Basket of Love :)

And even sweeter, ALL of Deedee's Fall digis are on sale!   Through the month of November, all Fall digis are just $1.00!  You can find them and all the splendid new images in the shop! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings,

~Kelly

It's a Snowflake kinda day!

Even in Miami, bwahaha!  This is the only kind of snowflake I will see here - the cardstock cuttlebugged kind! :)

Sooooo are you recovering from a fun night of Halloween festivities?  This was the first year dd15 went off with a group of friends in a  "theme" group of Alice and Wonderland - too, too cute!  DD was, naturally, Alice :)  They kept getting stopped for concersation and photo ops, lol!  I did manage to get one of my troop before they all scattered and yes, my kids are very mis-mashed this year being they were doing their own thing!  This photo cracked me up!!  They were in full drama mode and totally posed after taking their "mom-a-razi" required picture of the year ;) 



Breaking news!  Opera star attacked by zombie while Ninja Warrior turns Alice into Sushi! ;)

Never a dull moment at my house! :)-

And how about a card!  First, if you haven't stopped on over to Buttons and Bows, please do!  You can find the blog and become a follower here!  Kristy's buttons are all handmade, clear polymer buttons and I promise you, to see them IRL is absolutely joyful!  She has many sets to chose from for all occasions in her store!  And the DT are super creative and their cards and projects are simply genious - so many things to see, especially with the holidays coming up ..... which reminds me ......

52 more days til Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!  Are you ready? ;) (not me!)

I found this neat-o (I can't believe I just used that word!  eek!) template on SCS for a mini pocket style card which I turned into a card holder :)  You could easily change it up for the seasons and add anything from a gum to a packet of seeds to gift cards!  



Ready for an envie!  5" x 3.5" closed



Close up of the gorgeous button! (from the Harvest set)



Inside and open - enough room for a bookmark and Gift Card :)

I thought this was so cute - 1.5 years old and never stamped til now! 

Buttons and Bows blog can be seen HERE!  Please click to become a follower so you won't miss the upcoming wonderful-ness in the next weeks! 

Thanks for stopping by today! Your comments mean the world to me and I appreciate you!  I hope that in some small way something I post or create might inspire you!

Blessings,
~Kelly

Deets:  Close to Cocoa Cardstock (bookmark), Candy Lane DSP from SU!; button = Buttons and bows,
stamp = inkadinkadoo, close to cocoa ink; Cuttlebug, stickles, embroidery floss, tombo

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