SiSiS: Stuff I Scrapped in September, part two

Hiya and happy Friday!

Today I have three holiday layouts for you -- two Christmas, one Halloween. And since I don't have a ton of recent holiday photos (especially Halloween), I decided to make some more mini-me layouts with the three holiday lines that were part of my September kit from Scrappy Chic, which is where you can find all of my supplies. Check it:

as always, click a photo to see it bigger.

Halloween's up first. I know I have a shortage of Halloween photos for scrapping purposes, but I still went through five years' worth in one layout! These are my first five Halloween costumes -- all homemade, all well-loved (even the crazy-looking clown makeup!). My grandma can sew like crazy; she made all the clothes for her kids for years (that's five kids, people), and when I was little she made most of my special-occasion outfits, too -- Halloween, yes, but also Easter and Christmas dresses, first-day-of-school ensembles, etc. She can still sew, but these days readymade clothes cost quite a bit less than homemade for the most part -- plus she's moved on to (many) other hobbies. But I digress. The page uses Echo Park's Halloween line plus some ribbons from my stash. Aside from photo editing and printing, the whole thing took about 20 minutes. Works for me! Oh, and that princess costume in '81? cut down from a bridesmaid's dress from (I think) my aunt's wedding. And I thought modern bridesmaid's dresses could be crazy looking! Big floral flouncy border, anyone? Oy. Next:

A jolly old elf, indeed. What else could I use with that adorable elfin print (plus plaid, plus snowflakes) from American Crafts? The Thickers are a reflective shiny silver, which is why they look a little odd in the photo -- they sure gleam in person, though! In the 1981 Santa photo (on the left), you will see one of my favorite childhood fabrics: velour. Spiffy! On the right (1982), I'm wearing one of my home-sewn ensembles -- I loved that jumper. Another super-quick page, too. One more? Ok!:

I admit, this one's my favorite. The little photos are from '81, and the papers and die-cuts are all from the Teresa Collins Christmas line (except the big kraft snowflakes -- those are Maya Rd). The paper started out with a white background. Really white. Too white. Mists to the rescue! Some olive, some krafty tan, and I get shimmer, color, and less white. Since you can't see the photos, really, here's a closeup:

The same sewing grandma made me the stocking that year -- it would have lasted nearly forever, except one of my parents' dogs chewed it up pretty well when I was in college :(. On the right, you can see our family's extensive collection of macrame plant hangers in the front window, plus the toboggan that got a lot of use in Hines Park for years (Dead Man's Hill, anyone else?). Let's check out the cluster at the bottom:

More die-cuts (the cream phrase stickers are Cosmo Cricket's new Tiny Type words). That cluster is not hiding a mistake -- I hid my journaling behind it :).

Whoa -- that's a lot of photos! I do have a few more goodies to share with you (the boy pages). Last post, I'd mentioned that I hadn't scrapped much in October. In the past few days, I've made a half dozen layouts plus a couple cards! Whoa! The reason? Partly because I have a new kit to use, but mostly because of an online class I decided to sign up for from Shimelle Laine's website -- it's called Pretty Paper Party (how could I resist?), and it's really inspired me to break into my stash of new and old papers and create away! Thanks to Sue for recommending it -- it is pretty awesome.

All right then, have a lovely Friday!

SiSiS: Stuff I Scrapped in September, part one.

Hey folks -- I'm back!

So far in October, I've done very little scrapping -- and I have a bunch of it to do before month's end, so I guess I'd better get on that. However, September was pretty productive for me, so I thought I'd share a few batches of those layouts with you.

You can see some of my scrap-related projects from September in this post, and in this one. Here are some layouts you haven't seen yet:

First up, a bright and cheery layout about the little sort-of surprise party we had for my aunt's 59-and-a-half-th birthday (like that? Thought so.) I used some Basic Grey goodies here -- the fun Indie Bloom line, specifically. I fussy-cut (yes! me!) a big ol' flower and some leaves to frame my cluster of little photos, and used another subtler pattern to anchor the cluster and my title. Six photos is a lot for an 8.5x11 scrapper, but I was up for the challenge. Also, we did not make her wear that silly hat and vest all day -- just long enough to get some photos! Next:

These photos are from the exact same party, just later in the day. My uncles decided to fire off this tiny antique cannon that had been used primarily as a yard ornament -- and it worked. And it was LOUD! Who knew? It's a little hard to see in the photo, but the whole thing is not even two feet long! The title is true -- my uncles are seriously easygoing guys and mild-mannered in the extreme. I guess gunpowder just riles them up, eh? Ah, men. Anyway, I used Crate Paper's Farmhouse line here -- the ruler print is two sheets from the 6x6 pad lined up together, while the quilty squares are un-fussily-cut from a 12x12 sheet. The letters started white, but I inked 'em. Fabric-covered letters are handy for that! Oh, and those asterisks are from Studio Calico -- they started as plain wood veneer, but I hit them with some Distress Stain (thanks for the tip, Liz).

Pretty much everything here is available at Scrappy Chic, so shop (locally) away!

I'll be back soon with either a couple of pages featuring the hubster, or a few featuring little me. Which would you like to see next?

Have a blustery grey wet lovely day!

A Week of Challenges, day five

Howdy, folks!
I made it! I've posted for a whole five days straight. Welcome to my last day of challenge cards.

Today's challenge is a Unity three-fer! It's Friends with Flair Friday (if you head over there, you can find out what the special is today). Also, the monthly Unity challenge is to use falling leaves, while the Unity Kit of the Month sketch challenge looks like this:

I combined them and tweaked the sketch a little to come up with this:

All three stamps here come from different Kits of the Month: The leaves from September, the apples from July 2010, and the chair from March. I'm not sure that chair would fit in as well if the color scheme weren't so fall-ish, but I decided to just go forth and stamp with confidence...and I think I like it! This card is for my (other) aunt, who sent me a birthday gift card to one of my favorite (non-stamping) stores -- Trader Joe's! I mean, where else can I get wine, chocolate, cheese, AND friendly, Hawaiian-shirt-clad employees? Yum.

Well, thanks for stopping by -- and thanks to my "regulars" for putting up with me for a full five days. Who knows? You may be rewarded sometime soon...but that's for another day. ;)

I'll have a batch of layouts for you next, so hang onto your hats, and have a lovely day (and weekend)!

A Week of Challenges, day four

Welcome back!

Time for the fourth challenge of the week -- this time, one that's brand-new to me. You see, my pal Emily has recently fallen in love with Paper Smooches stamps from Kim Hughes. It came as no surprise that she was asked to be their guest designer this month, nor that she also won a spot on the Paper Smooches Sparks design team. How could I not play along? Plus, check out the inspiration challenge image:

I almost want to run over to make them myself. Yum! I just love the warm colors. My only problem? I have no Paper Smooches stamps. Dang! I do happen to have two of Kim Hughes's sets from (the late, missed) Cornish Heritage Farms, though -- so I'm in luck, because those count too! I took all the mushroom stamps (six total) from Forest Friendzy and Spring Trees and created myself a sweet little scene:

The grass was stamped twice along the bottom, then masked and topped with all those cute 'shrooms. I pulled my colors from the inspiration image, and added a masked-stamp-and-sticker sentiment (the original sentiment reads "welcome spring"), plus some puffy pink(!) clouds. A tiny bit of gingham fabric tape echoes the gingham tomatoes (my favorites).

If you're interested in the stamps I've used, try looking for them on ebay. What I'm interested in is winning some Paper Smooches goodies so I can keep playing along! If you are too, the challenge is in effect until October 19th.

Four down, one to go! Tomorrow's card is a three-challenge-er, so stay tuned! Have a lovely day.

A Week of Challenges, day three

Me again! Today's challenge card is a real challenge for me -- not so much because of the colors, which I think are lovely, but because I only have two stamps from Market Street Stamps (thanks again for those, Meg!), and they're both backgrounds! Here's the challenge image:

And here's what I came up with:

I had fun coloring in the little squares of the Pretty Perfect Grid background, and I used the Cane background as an accent. The sentiment is one of my earliest stamp acquisitions -- it's from Stampin' Up, and the date on it is 2002. I think it was from a set of mixed sentiments or something. Oy, I've been doing this for awhile! Anyway, I used a nestie for the sentiment, and the canvas impression plate from PTI for the background. I kind of like the contrast of squares and rounded edges...not that I planned it that way! Just a happy accident.

If you'd like to play along, the challenge runs through Monday the 17th, so there's plenty of time to get all colorful :). If you head over to the challenge page, be sure to check out Meg's trippy contribution -- I love it!

Well, look at me -- three down, only two to go! Yee-haw!

Have a lovely day!

A Week of Challenges, day two

Back again with another challenge card -- this time for the Play Date Cafe. Here's the inspiration image:

While this set of colors would indeed make for a cool Halloween card, I went birthday instead:

This tag is for my mom, who has a birthday coming up later this week. She always gets tags, because she like to hang them all up in one of their kitchen windows. Cute!  Another special fact about this card: it uses all stamps that she and my dad (who are we kidding -- she does the shopping in their house!) got me for my birthday a few weeks ago. She picked well!! The stamps are from a couple of the Studio Calico by Hero Arts sets that I've been drooling over at Scrappy Chic. My eyeballs see the challenge colors as lime (A.Muse studio ink), Purely Pomegranate (old SU), and Dusty Concord (Distress), paired with black and some Honeydew twine (the Twinery)

Ooh, how about a bonus tag! This one is also for my mom, who is a huge Detroit Red Wings fan (Huge, people. It's scary):

I stuck it in her mailbox as a surprise last week, when the official hockey season kicked off. The stickers are from my stash, the octopus is from Paperworks and gets pulled out once a year just for this purpose ;). The back of the tag reads "Go Wings!" Yep, she liked it.

I have a bit of bad news, too -- my dad, who might not do the shopping but instead is self-employed as an awesome all-around fixer/painter/renovator/Bill-of-all-trades, just got his work truck stolen. With all his tools and equipment inside. From the street in front of their house. And insurance won't cover the loss. Boo!! That really stinks. I'd like to help him out somehow, but I think he won't take assistance from his own child, y'know? Any tips for sneaking Home Depot gift cards into his pocket or paintbrushes into his mailbox are welcome!

Anywho, if you'd like to play along with these colors, the challenge closes at the end of the day today. Happy creating, and have a lovely day!

A Week of Challenges, day one

Hi all!

It's been awhile since I've played along with any of the fabulous challenges out there in blogland, so I decided to try to hit up a bunch of them, especially since I had a ton (a TON) of cards to make (mostly thank you cards) and very little mojo to make them with.

I think challenges are a great way to spark creativity...so away we go!

This first card is actually for a ColourQ challenge that expired, but I thought the colors were intriguing and way outside of my usual palette, so I gave it a whirl anyway:

Lavender-ish colors aren't usually my bag, but I thought this was actually really pretty! I find that when one part of a design (here, the colors) is tricky for me to work with, I compensate by relying on an oldie-but-goodie layout. Here's what I came up with:

Well, when a color is "pear pizazz," why not start with a pear? This one is from Unity's September Kit of the Month, All Seasons. I stamped it on watercolor paper and then used a water pen to blend the leaves a bit. Yes, I actually fussy-cut something! I replaced Wisteria Wonder with the now-retired Almost Amethyst and stamped my houndstooth bg, and added hits of chocolate and black in the sentiment, bling, ribbon, and mat. Layout-wise, I heavily leaned on the rule of thirds, a long-time go-to for me.

This particular card will go to my aunt, who sent me a birthday gift and has always loved purple. Score!

This is but one of a whole bunch of cards I have for you this week -- I may even {gasp!} blog daily! Wish me luck. ;)

Have a lovely day!

ETA: Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends! May you eat well!

mini me.

Hi there!
Time to share that mini I've mentioned a couple of times. It's my first "real" mini, the first one I've made just for us. I love it. Making it made me happy -- I loved the challenge of working on a smaller canvas, making choices about products and trying to find a sense of flow from page to page. Fun times. Wanna see it? Ok:

It's the front cover! Woohoo! I used a Maya Rd. chipboard album -- it's shaped like a picket fence, but since I didn't use the die-cut-to-more-obviously-represent-a-picket-fence page, it just looks like an arched rectangle-y thing, which is just fine with me. The tags on the ring are mostly from We R's travel line from a couple months ago, as are most of the photo mats and about half the background papers. The front tag is an actual Amtrak luggage tag I grabbed from the station. Other elements that run through the album: Basic Grey basics papers and mini alphas. A Martha Stewart skyline border punch. Distress Stain splats. Stamps from Teresa Collins's travel line. On we go:

click-a-roo to enlarge any of the photos.

In the interest of upload sanity, I collaged the interior-page photos and then numbered them for your convenience ;) Ephemera on the travel/lodging pages: our train tickets, hotel key, and CTA card (people in cities with good public transit, thank your lucky stars [and your bus drivers]). On the food pages: business card from the home of the most delicious waffle I've ever had...on three consecutive mornings; a chopstick wrapper, another business card [old-skool Italian this time]. I could've done the whole album on food, but that's been done before. I'd link you to my food album post, but the photos seem to have disappeared. Hmm....curious. Anyway, let's move on!

We went to Chicago in the first place for a concert -- a guy named Mark Kozelek (who is really good, and whom Andrew loves). We also had a day full of record store hopping. Ephemera on these pages: receipts and/or business cards from all the record stores we hit; the much-loved scrap of map I used to cross-reference where my phone map-app was telling us to go. If you can't read the text on the sign photos, feel free to click, enlarge, and chuckle a bit (if you're a nerd like me).  Up next:

Sorry the upper photos are kinda tiny. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art since Andrew hadn't been there yet, and we've been to the big art museum several times. Ephemera about art: bits from the museum brochure. The exhibits were nifty! The back cover has my favorite photo from the trip (shh, don't tell Andrew).  Throughout, I typed my journaling on some Pink Paislee tickets from my stash, and added a few more notes on tiny-tags-in-envelopes from Melissa Frances. If you want any other specifics on products or places, just give me a holler.

Ah, what a great trip! This little album now lives on our bookshelf. I think I might be addicted -- I have another in the works right now!  Stay tuned...

...and have a lovely day!

Baby got BAK.

Well, if that Justin Bieber song didn't get stuck in your head after my last post, I sure bet you've got a song in your head now!!

I've always wondered why we crafty folk refer to the cards and other goodies we get in the mail as "RAKs" (Random Acts of Kindness) even when they aren't random at all! Recently I got some lovely cards for my birthday, which I shall hereafter refer to as "BAKs," or "Birthday Acts of Kindness." Sound good? Ok, on we go!

First, from Lindsey over at Bashful Blogging, comes this cheery Bird-day card:

Linds is a whiz with color, and I really love the pops of yellow all over the place. Plus, Linds knows I love a pun!! I haven't spied this one on her blog yet, but keep an eye out for it! (She also knows I love a good surprise!).

Next, a card from my birthday-sharing buddy Emily that makes me look way nicer than I actually am ;) :

Gorgeous! It uses my favorite shades of orange, pink, and green, along with those glorious wings, which I bet Em knows I'd never in a million years have the patience to fussy-cut at all, much less as perfectly as she did here. You can read more about it in her blog post here.

And finally, from my uber-creative-with-her-Silhouette pal, Meg, comes a card she knows I LOVE:

Ack! If you recognize this one, it's because it's kinda famous -- it was part of her amazing final round submission for Gallery Idol a couple months ago. You can see the whole rad suite here. And yep, the tape pops out:

Since my bday often falls on the first day of fall (as it did this year), this adds an air of poignance...or something ;)

Thanks for the BAKs, crafty pals! You made my birthday brighter. And a little more full of loot, too -- there were some fun stampy gifties that came along with each card! I'll be sure to let y'all know when I use them. Woohoo!

Have a lovely day!

Baby, baby, baby....

Is there an insidious Justin Bieber song stuck in your head now? Good.  Be lucky I don't believe in having music on my blog!

(Sidenote: one of my students {college students here, people} was wearing a Justin Bieber shirt today! One of her classmates pointed out: "Hey, aren't you older than he is?" Her response? "So? Hotness knows no age." It was funny, and only moderately creepy.)

Anyway, one line I got to work with this month is the adorably useful baby line from Simple Stories, Baby Steps. Their lines are amazingly well-coordinated and perfect for people who want pretty scrapbook pages in very little time -- their paper lines all include cut-apart elements that fit those handy divided page protectors...so I gave it a shot and made {gasp!} a two-page layout! Whoa.

click for a bigger view. Yes, that's my school desk calendar behind it ;) We take our photos when and where we can!

Aside from finding enough photos of my cutie-pie baby friend Sahana, this whole double layout took maybe 15 minutes. Score! The rose trim is adhered on top of the page protector, while the other accents are adhered to the panels inside. I used some smaller elements matted onto that pretty plaid pattern, along with some ribbon, brads, and letter stickers. Imagine how rewarding this kind of scrapping would be for beginners, or busy folks, or for gift books, for that matter.

Speaking of which, I discovered a whole extra page that I'd gotten but totally forgot to use, so I got to make a couple more projects -- these for a friend who is expecting. First, a quick card:

I paper-pieced a quick Papertrey cupcake with some scraps, plopped it on an extra cut-apart panel, added a button and a mat (perfect match for PTI's spring moss), and away we go! Here's the little memory book that accompanied it (yep, another mini-book!):

The cover features some faux stitching, twine from the Twinery, and a flat bow made from some scrap ribbon (flat=easy to mail). The inside is all made from just one 12x12 sheet of 4x6 elements, quickly stitched into the cover:

Plenty of room for photos and/or journaling, yet small enough to keep in a purse -- the mommy-to-be is not a scrapper but is a great photographer, so I bet it gets filled up pretty quickly! Speaking of quickly: another 15-minute project! Score. Here's my question for any mommas out there: would you actually fill this up, or would it sit in drawer somewhere until your kid turned 18 or something? Just curious ;)

So, there you have it: three quick and cute baby projects. One Bieber song stuck in your head.

Happy World Card Making Day, y'all -- I'll be doing all my making (card and otherwise) tomorrow at Scrappy Chic instead :)

Have a lovely, crafty kind of day.

A mini-book goes back to school.

Oh boy, there's so much fun paper stuff to play with right now! This month, my kit from Scrappy Chic had paper from eight (!) different lines -- about twice as much as a normal month. So I better get sharing, eh? First up, let's start with one of my new favorite projects: a mini book! This one happens to be blank, just waiting for some fun school-related photos and goodies. I'm not really partial to back to school lines usually, mostly because the only folks going back to school in the fall are my husband and I, and we call it "work"! But this line (from Fancy Pants), is just awesome....

See? Cute, right? This little guy measures about 6x3, and I made it following this tutorial from October Afternoon -- it was so easy! I altered the directions a little, making the cover wider than the inside pages and leaving the inside-cover flaps open, like a dust jacket. Here are some of the inside pages:

The bottoms of each pocket are stitched shut, and the pages are bound in by stitching as well, so this is pretty sturdy. I used some of the cut-apart cards to embellish the inside, along with a few circle-punched scraps and some stickers from Cosmo Cricket and Jillibean. I love those little pockets -- you could stuff them full of tickets or notes or other school ephemera. I wish I'd had one of these back in the day when everyone exchanged those little school pictures -- do kids still do that?  They'd look great here instead of stuffed in a desk drawer, which is where mine always ended up!

The sneaker print is probably my favorite :) Now, I used a different sheet of double-sided paper for each set of pages, but it would be just as easy to get two sets of pages from each 12x12 sheet, making this an extremely economical project! If sewing isn't your thing, a good strong adhesive or some staples would do the trick for binding as well. I'm thinking fun little holiday or baby or birthday gifts -- what a way to make a dent in my paper stash!

Let me know if you give it a whirl. In the meantime, you can see this in person at Scrappy Chic -- last time I checked, it was hanging out by the registers.

I have lots more for you, so expect some fairly regular blog posts until I'm all caught up. Also, I'm looking forward to making even more projects this weekend when I crop at Scrappy Chic with the lovely Liz -- if you're at the store on Sunday, stop by and say hi!

Have a lovely day....

Happy Birthday, times 2!

Well, happy Friday to all of you, and Happy Birthday to my crafty pal, Emily Leiphart!  Em, I hope you get to party down today!

Often, when I make a card that's going to be mailed right away, I jump the gun and get it all sealed up in an envelope before realizing I haven't taken any photos. Doh!  This isn't one of those times, luckily. 

other supplies: Unity and PTI stamps, SU inks, My Mind's Eye pp.

Can you tell I tried to channel my inner Emily on this one? Twinery twine, a mix of patterns, and I even {gasp!} colored that little party birdie! Ok, so I watercolored him, whereas Em is a Copic genius, but still.

[Speaking of that little bird, he's from a company new to me -- pictureshow stamps -- and he's actually their logo. Ain't he cute? I picked him up at a local stamp show, where they were selling tons and tons of images in mounted and unmounted versions. Their etsy shop only seems to sell mounted stamps, and a smaller variety, so if you are lucky enough to see their booth at a show, be sure to stop and browse.]

Ok then, back to business: Emily, I hope you have a fabulously crafty birthday!! I'm happy to be your stampy pal, and it's extra-special because we happen to be birthday buddies! That's right, it's my birthday too, and I'm already overwhelmed by all the birthday kindness that's come my way. I'll be sure to post some of my craftiest gifts from my craftiest pals soon.

Before I go, how about a cute cat photo for the first day of fall? It just so happens that our cats are perfectly coordinated for the season!

...dinner time is the only time they get this close to one another without any pouncing or growling, by the way ;). Don't they look like they're holding hands? Ha. Simon and Dex wish you a happy autumn, and so do I. Have a lovely day!!

I swear these pages are cute!

So, a few weeks ago I met up with some folks at Scrappy Chic to do a little cropping. I made a whole mini-book (more on that later), and then whipped up a couple of quick layouts near the end of the day. Since I used my design team goodies for those layouts, it seemed silly to take them home, photograph them, and then bring them all the way back to the store for display. I just snapped some photos right there on the table and then left the layouts behind. Turns out, that might not be the best idea -- fluorescent lighting plus iphone does not exactly equal stellar photography. Try to see beyond it, ok?

It might help that the photos feature the cutest kids I know, though!

click to enlarge...if you think it'll help!

Here's our godson, in the middle of asking one of about a million and a half questions, mostly about the bowling tournament that was on TV. After awhile, we (who know little about bowling to begin with) started giving silly and nonsensical answers, but he didn't mind :)

paper from imaginisce and my mind's eye; other goodies from ac, basic grey, and my stash.

The clickety-clack of a manual typewriter at a crop is always sure to spark everyone's "remember when" stories. Fun times.

The second one features photos from the same day, same kid, plus his little brother and some very messy ice cream!

ruby rock-it paper, fabulous stamp from suzanne carillo/art gone wild

I made a little journaling flag with a toothpick. I have a feeling I'll try that one again soon. Also, isn't that hanging-clouds stamp amazing? I love it. These days, a wood-mount stamp has to be pretty awesome for me to buy it (storage space issues and such), and this one definitely qualifies! (Got mine at Scrappy Chic, of course, but you can see it here if you scroll down a bit.)

By the way, if you happen to be local, Treat Dreams in Ferndale has amazing and well-made ice cream for the whole family! Blue whatever-that-is makes kids happy, but the salty caramel ice cream made me very happy. There's also a cute train table for kids to play at, which distracted these kiddos soon after the photos were snapped ;)

Friends with (cake) Flair Friday

Two posts in the same week? I must be getting my act together!

Today is Friends with Flair day over on the Unity blog -- be sure to head over there to see the great deal they have in store for you. I made the card below a couple weeks ago for the same gnome-loving friend from this post. I used a couple of KOMs (shouldn't that be KsOM?), along with the sketch for the September Kit of the Month Sketch Challenge, and came up with this:

(sorry about the slightly blurry photo -- getting used to nighttime project photography is taking some time!)

My gnome-loving friend is also a talented cake-baker-and-decorator, so I also whipped up some recipe cards to send along as well. The recipe card stamps and the arrow on the card are from August's kit, while the cake is from May.

I'm a lazy-butt colorer, so I went with some simple outlining and accenting, and added some rhinestones to the spots on the cake. Maybe my pal will be inspired for her next cake design! The fun, fun papers are from Echo Park's Happy Days 6x6 pad (from Scrappy Chic, of course). Love the retro-cheery feel and the gender/age versatility of this collection!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back with some layouts and my newest scrappy venture: mini-books. Oh goody!

Have a lovely day.

got the no-bloggin' blues!

Well hey there, old pals!
I haven't blogged in, let's see here...two and a half weeks! That's just crazy.

I must say, while I have been making some things. I've also got the autumnal nesting bug -- cleaning the house, canning, baking, even (gasp!) weeding! Pair that with getting back into the swing of the school year (oh, and an adolescent kitten -- sheesh, Simon can be a pain in the cat-butt these days!), and the blog has been sadly neglected.

Anyone else with me? I've noticed some of my other regular reads have been a little quiet too....Of course, that hasn't kept me from getting behind on blog comments, too!

Anywho, how about a couple of quick cards to get back into the groove?

Here's one:

This is a quick Halloween card I made, currently on display at Scrappy Chic. I'm always drawn to fun Halloween products, which is silly since I don't really have much Halloween stuff to make or scrap. However, I couldn't resist the stuff you see here: Authentique's Halloween line (the 6x6 pad and die-cuts, specifically), and an uber-cute Hero Arts stamp set. I love that cat! Solid stamps like these are great for lazy stampers like me -- and they're already distressed-looking, making them a fine match for the paper line. There's a bit of May Arts ribbon there as well -- at about 40 cents a yard, how could I resist that one?

So, in short, I'm a sucker. But it's a cute card, no?

How about one more?

This is a dual-purpose card: it's a housewarming card for a pal of mine who moved from my town to one about an hour north of here -- sad to see them leave the 'hood, but I'm happy for her -- she used to drive almost two hours each way for work, and now she's way, way closer. Plus, we share a love of the film Amelie, so the gnome is especially appropriate.

The second purpose: it fits right in with my good stampy friend Emily's Moving Challenge -- she also just experienced a big move! In fact, I made her a card using the same house stamp from Unity -- you can see it in her post here.  The adorrrrable little gnome and sentiment are also from Unity -- I got the set at Scrappy Chic, in case you're local and want to indulge ;)

Ok, enough from me for now! I'll try to blog a bit more regularly -- there's a lot of scrappy goodness coming up soon! Have a lovely day.