Hug Your Children!

Hi there!  Today is my son's 10th birthday.  Hard to believe that just 10 short years ago this guy came into our lives!  I cannot imagine my world without him.  Happy Birthday Ben!

With the recent tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut, I am reminded more than ever what a gift our children are.  After several days just feeling very depressed...I saw this on Facebook and I got some comfort from it so I thought I would share it:

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.
they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.

"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."
when what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
those children all flew into the arms of their King
and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
and as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"come now my children, let me show you around."
excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

***

Aside from spending more time with family and all the normal holiday hustle, I am taking a little time to get my CHA projects done so they are ready to ship AND I am anxiously awaiting the Jan Gina K Release----you are gonna love it! 

Here is a project I had in a recent Crafts 'n Things weekly:

Supplies: Plastic Craft Water Globe- Celebrate It! (Michael’s)

Buffalo Snow Flurries

Star Stick Pin- Little Yellow Bicycle

Baker’s Twine- Honeydew (The Twinery)

Sentiment sticker- Winter (SRM Stickers)

Patterned paper- Dots & Stripes: Ruby Red, Small Dot (Echo Park Paper)

Silhouette 3d Christmas Tree file (by Lori Whitlock)

Silhouette MachineEnjoy!

Make sure to sign up to receive Crafts' n Things Weekly in your inbox.  It is filled with great ideas and it is FREE!

Hug your babies every chance you get.  Thanks for stopping by!

Cardmaker Flower Soft Animals Hop

Hello! I am very excited today because the Cardmaker blog team is paring up with the Flower Soft team for our blog hop today. The theme is Flower Soft animals---create any type of animal-themed card incorporating Flower Soft into the design.

If following the hop, you should have come from the amazing Jen's blog.  If not, head on over to the Cardmaker blog to start at the beginning.

For my card today, I used a Silhouette image of a penguin (by Lori Whitlock) and I ran the base of the penguin through my Xyron Creative Station to make it sticky before adding the Ultra Fine Black Flower Soft to add texture to him.  It worked like a dream.  I also added some Bright Orange Flower Soft to his feet and beak to add some more fun texture.  (You can see in the photo that the ultra fine is not as textured as the regular flower soft.)

I added the image to my card to make a whimsical holiday greeting:

The next stop on the hop is Cibele's wonderful blog.
Thanks to Flower Soft for sponsoring today's blog hop! You can find lots of ways to use this product on the Flower Soft blog!  Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Holidays Hop

Hello! Today is Day three of the Handmade Holidays Blog Hop going on over at The Twinery Blog.  The Twinery, and many other amazing companies,  have teamed up to bring you a hop filled with special HANDMADE gift ideas for the holidays.

Today is the last day of the hop, so you will want to be sure to head on over to The Twinery blog to be sure to stop at all the blogs participating.
While you hop, be sure to leave comments at all the stops along the way because each company is giving away prizes to random participants.
The Twinery is giving away:

 3 spools of baker's twine in your choice of colors

{$48 retail value}

Before you go, I have a project to share that uses product from The Twinery, Fiskars and Tombow (three of the wonderful companies sponsoring the blog hop!).  It is a stocking perfect for presenting some holiday treats or gift cards.

First, I cut the stocking design using a Silhouette file (Lori Whitlock).  I adhered the pieces together using Tombow Permanent Adhesive Dots Tape Runner.  I added the lace border along the top using the Interchangeable Border Punch Starter Set by Fiskars and the Lacy Doubles Interchangeable Border punch cartridge. Then, I punched holes all along the scalloped edge of the stocking:

 

I used my Fiskars Original scissors to cut some Peapod baker's twine so I could thread it through the holes in the stocking.

 

I used these snowflake punches by Fiskars to decorate the stocking--Medium Lever Punch Snowflake and Medium Lever Punch White Christmas. Then, to add some dimension to them, I used some Tombow Mono Aqua liquid glue to apply a large dot of glue in the center.  After wrapping a section of Peapod baker's twine, I added it to the glue:

Finally, I punched the Fiskars XXL Lever Punch TAG to complete the stocking gift.  I added an SRM sticker (Fancy Sticker Sentiments- Christmas) to it.  Here is the finished project:

 

Hope you like it! Thanks so much to Fiskars and Tombow for the wonderful products to work with!

Thanks for stopping by!

Boo!

Hi there!  Just popping in to share a quick Halloween treat-- Using SRM Mini tube and SRM Stickers:

 

I dressed up the tube by die cutting some black vinyl (Haunted House by Lori Whitlock in Silhouette store).  I added the 10/31 sticker (SRM- We've Got Your Border- Halloween).  The tag was created by punching a circle of patterned paper (My Mind's Eye) and then adding the Boo SRM Sticker (We've Got Your Sticker- Treats). I added a button over the one O.  I added a scalloped green punched circle under the two circles and finished the tag off with the glittery bat (K & Company).

I tied the tag to the tube using some Charcoal baker's twine (The Twinery!)

Easy treat idea!!

PS: If anyone knows the winner from my recent blog giveaway, can you let her know she has one more day to claim the prize!  There is no email associated with her comment :(  Might be picking a new winner....

Thanks for stopping by!

Tag Card

Happy Monday! Hope you had a fabulous weekend.  We did--spent most of it outdoors because we had a burst of warm weather! LOVE it!

I did get a little time in my stamp room too and here is one card I whipped up using SRM stickers- We've Got Your Sticker- Sweet and Fancy Sticker Sentiments- Love:

 

I love how easy it was to alter the tag I found at Target (Curiosity Shoppe) using the white SRM stickers.  I added the Pink Paislee chipboard heart and the tiny birds (Lori Whitlock) that I cut using my Silhouette.  I added one more SRM sticker on the bottom of the card to finish it off.

Patterned paper is by My Mind's Eye and Jillibean Soup.

Supplies- cardstock- Gina K Designs; patterned paper- 6 by 6 mini pad- Sweet & Sour (Jillibean Soup), 6 by 6 paper pad- Haunted (My Mind's Eye), Stickers- We've Got Your Sticker- Sweet, Fancy Sticker Sentiments- Love (SRM Stickers); Artisan Chipboard hearts (Pink Paislee), metal heart (Colorbok); tag- The Curiosity Shoppe (Target); birds- Bird on Branch (Lori Whitlock-Silhouette Studio).

Have a great day!

 

Owl Pillow

It's homecoming weekend here so I spent the afternoon yesterday making chocolate covered pretzels and bagging them so that my daughter's Ultimate team could sell that at the football game tonight.  Afterwards, I relaxed for a bit and decided to make an owl pillow using Lori Whitlock's Heart Owl  file as a template for my design.  Here is what I came up with:

I just printed the owl out on cardstock and then cut the felt and fabric shapes using the paper shapes as a template. Very easy!  The last time I used this design to create something, I made my youngest daughter a tooth fairy pillow.  You can see that HERE.  This time, I just made a cute little fun fall-ish owl pillow...just for kicks:) (Was that enough adjectives?)

Have a great weekend!

Tag Wall Calendar

Hello! Happy Monday! Thanks so much for all the comments and emails from my last post.  I just love my super fabulous blog friends!

Last year I created a wall calendar made up of tags that hang on this birdcage in my kitchen.  I decided to update the tags for 2013 since it has been a big conversation piece in my house.  The tags feature SRM Mini Calendars and a LOT of other SRM stickers (listed below!)  You can see in the detail pics all the other stickers I used (including lots of border stickers!) Here is the finished product that was on the SRM stickers blog last week:

SRM Stickers used:
Stickers by the Dozen- Valentine’s  #62004

We’ve Got Your Border- Halloween  #57005

Express Yourself- St. Patrick’s Day #42036

Freestyle Winter #50001

We’ve Got Your Border- Valentine’s #57007

Mini calendar 2013 Standard #48009

Mini calendar 2013 Decorative #48008

Sticker Sentiments- Life is Good #51014

Year of Memories 2013 #48007

Express Yourself- Water Fun #42039

Express Yourself- Graduation #42019

Quick Card- Class of 2013  #52043
Express Yourself- School #42020

Other supplies used are from these companies: The Twinery, Ranger (Distress inks), Gina K Designs, My Favorite Things, Bella Blvd, October Afternoon, Little Yellow Bicycle, Echo Park Paper, My Little Shoebox, Lori Whitlock (Penguin Silhouette Shape).

Thanks for stopping by!

Lori Whitlock Grand Opening Sale

The amazing Lori Whitlock just opened her new online store specializing in high quality SVG files.  She has spent many months perfecting the shopping experience.  You will now be able to create a wish list, view your order history and access your downloads at any time.

To help celebrate, she is having a sale:

In addition, if you head on over to her announcement post HERE, you can enter to win a gift card to her store:

Thanks for stopping by!

The Twinery & SRM Stickers - Perfect together!

Hello! For two days,  The Twinery and SRM Stickers are teaming up to show you what you can do with their products.  You can check out the SRM stickers projects on the SRM blog and the list of designers for The Twinery hop are on The Twinery Blog.  

 

Of course, there are PRIZES up for grabs just for visiting the blogs on the hop:

The prize will be 3 full spools of winner's choice ($42 value)

To be eligible to win, you MUST leave a comment on each participating designer from The Twinery (16 total, 8 on Thursday and 8 on Friday)

A complete list of designers will be on The Twinery blog each day.

Deadline to leave comments is 11:59pm Sunday, April 29th

And be sure to stop by the SRM blog to be entered into their awesome giveaway, too!

Here are my projects:

 For my first project, I altered a wooden ornament I found at Jo Ann's.  I painted the ornament and added some patterned paper over the body.  I cut out a chipboard heart and added some Caribbean twine and a SRM sticker (Love) in the middle.  I added an SRM sticker border along the bottom of the ornament and then added a row of adhesive pearls.  To create her hair, I braided a section of Lemondrop baker's twine.

Supplies: wooden angel (Jo Ann's); acrylic paint- butter creme, blue, pink; stickers- Love, Thinking of You (SRM stickers); adhesive pearls and rhinestones- Recollections (Michael's); baker's twine- Caribbean, Pink Sorbet, Lemondrop (The Twinery); Patterned paper- Be Mine: Love Letters (Echo Park Paper).

My next project is a fun tube.  I wanted it to look like a rainbow coming from a cloud:

 

I used a SRM tube and filled it with m&ms in many different colors.  Then I added some baker's twine between each color--Denim, Mandarin, Lilac, Peapod, Lemondrop.  For the cloud, I separated the Shore twine piece and stitched through some the edges of the cloud.  I added a SRM sticker in the cloud.

  

Supplies: The Tube (SRM Stickers); sticker sentiment-Life is Good (SRM stickers); baker's twine-Denim, Lilac, Peapod, Shore, Lemondrop, Mandarin (The Twinery); cloud- Silhouette file (by Lori Whitlock); bird- element sticker- Hello Summer! (Echo Park Paper); m&ms.

Hope you enjoyed the project.  Don't forget to leave a comment on all the blogs along the hop to be entered into the giveaway!

Thanks for stopping by!

Gift Set and Some Updates!

Hello! First of all...thanks so much for all the birthday wishes that were left here, on Facebook and in my email and mailbox yesterday.  I was so overwhelmed.  I really felt special!

Next,  I am sad to say that my design team term with Lori Whitlock AND with Helmar Inc. is up at the end of this month.  I decided not to reapply to either team because summer is quickly approaching and I will have the kids home and we have lots of fun things planned.  In the fall, all the kids will be in school all day so I am clinging to this time.   I am sad but I can say that I LOVED being part of both teams and, although I won't officially be on the teams, I will still be a big promoter/cheerleader of them.

Today is my last post for both teams.  You can see my Helmar post up on the Helmar Blog.  

Here is my Lori Whitlock project:

I just adore the little milk carton box that Lori created so I decided to use that to create a card and treat holder:

I used Note to Self Collection (Echo Park, designed by Lori Whitlock) on both:

Here is a close up of the treat holder.  I just love how quickly it came together.  THIS is such a fun/easy way to give some treats or buttons/ ribbons or a gift:

 

Special thanks to Lori Whitlock and Helmar for allowing me to be a part of your teams.  xoxo

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a great one!

Makin a List

Hello! Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend!  We are still recovering from all the family fun!

Today I have a little notepad to share.  I created this using half of a Jr. legal pad and the adorable heart owl by Lori Whitlock that I cut using my Silhouette (you can find it in the Silhouette store):

 Here is a close up of the owl.  (He's my favorite!) 

 

I used some  Peapod and Blossom baker's twine (The Twinery) to add some fun texture to it.  

I made this for a friend's birthday.  I love little notepads like this because I am a list maker. You can put magnets on the back of it and use it as a grocery list or put it by your bed or on your desk to jot down important things you don't want to forget. So I think they make pretty practical gifts.

Speaking of lists---->  I am blogging today over at SRM Stickers and the Cardmaker Blog.

Click on the links if you want to take a peek! Thanks!!

Hope you have a great day! Off to tackle 37 loads of dirty laundry. Jealous?

Thanks for stopping by!