Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

Whether you're in the US or not, it's always nice to pause and think about all the good things to be thankful for. And if you ARE in the US, well...why not stuff yourself silly too? That's right, tomorrow is Thanksgiving here, and besides the thankfulness and all the great chow in store for me tomorrow, Thanksgiving is also prime crafting time.

For most big holidays, I make tags for my family. This year, I got all Tim Holtz-happy and broke out my underutilized TH embossing folders, along with about 5 different colors of Glimmer Mist, three styles of 7gypsies tape, and some Prima leaves to make these:

Ooh, pretty. :)

After the mist dried, I hit each tag with some Distress Ink (using one of the foam applicator thingies) to catch the highlights of the embossed designs.

All the ribbons were pulled sort of randomly from my stash -- I just picked fall-appropriate colors.

Those flowers look like the ubiquitous rolled-ribbon flowers, but I actually made them with strips of vintage pattern tissue - it works the same as ribbon, I just had to be a little more delicate as I twisted to keep the paper from tearing.  The stamps are from Waltzingmouse, and they're conveniently placed to disguise the seam in the embossing (my tags were bigger than my folders, so I flipped them around and embossed the bottom inch or so separately).

The back features my favorite tiny gnome (and an appropriate sentiment) from this Unity stamp set (their big sale ends today, in case you were looking to spend some dough). The papers on the back are all from We R Memory Keepers' Autumn Splendor collection.

Everything you see here (except the Waltzingmouse stamps) came from Scrappy Chic -- some recently, some from days past. Their big sale starts Friday, in case you were looking to spend some MORE dough (and at a locally-owned small business, natch).

I had fun getting all misty and inky and stuff making these, and I hope the fam digs them, too!

Time to get back to the oven -- one more dessert to go, and my contributions to the feast will be complete. Yum. I'll get photos, don't you worry.

Have a lovely day, and have a great Thanksgiving, wherever you may roam.

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!

Easter...plus a week!

Hi there!
In the midst of my last batches of essay-grading, exam-planning, pie-making, laundry-doing, yard-working and roller-derby-bout-preparing (!), I managed to make some Easter tags for my family -- and yes, I really did make them LAST week! Blogging just fell to the bottom of my list, so they're going up here a little late :)

Here's my last-minute, throw-'em-all-on-the-floor pic:

(click for a closer look)

Grabbed a bunch of Honey Pie scraps (a three-year-old Cosmo Cricket collection that I still think is really cute), die-cut some cardstock tags (spring moss and aqua mist from pti - yum), added a paper rosette (Tim Holtz die), die-cut border (new pti die), and buttons to each, along with some super-quick stamping (spring jar fillers and retro bkgds -- also pti).  Ribbon, twine, and I called it good. And quick.

Oh, and in the centers of each rosette I added either an epoxy shape or button made with my new button and shape-making tools from Epiphany -- won 'em on the CK blog. They are fun, and even more fun, they were free!

I have a stack of other projects to post...and I will, soon. Soon-ish.

In the meantime, I'll also be prepping for the big ol' Mega Meet next weekend -- look for me and my projects at (who else?) Scrappy Chic's booth! I'll be there Friday and Saturday -- if you are, too, stop over and say hello!

Have a lovely Sunday.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! (Papertrey November Blog Hop Challenge)

Hi people -

To my US pals, Happy Thanksgiving! To everyone else: eat lots of delicious food today anyway :)

For the past couple of years, I've switched from cards to tags for the fam on major holidays. Here's the 2010 Thanksgiving edition:

Don't they look festive in a big ol' pile? Wait, let's get a little closer:

Rustic and collage-y, no? I admit, this isn't a style I turn to often, but every once in awhile, I get the urge to mix and layer. Let's focus, shall we?

For a little tag, there's a lot going on. Mostly Papertrey (Leaf Prints, Autumn Tags 2009, Wreath for All Seasons, Scrapbook Series: Ledger, and a couple Fillable Frames). Also, dies from Spellbinders, Papertrey and Sizzix/Tim Holtz, some BG Pyrus, Maya Road mini-tickets, Twinery twine, Stickles, staples, burlap and a button. Whew! If you'd like to know more about the products, you'll have to let me know -- I'm way too lazy to link everything up (just finished baking 2 pies and a crisp, you know!).

A parting shot:

Sparkly! Festive. Just like today.

Happy Thanksgiving!!