Make a Difference

Jenn is always making these ’scrappy stuff’ cards that are darling. I thought I’d give it a try last night..LOL! Not sure I’ll try that again! This is the October Afternoon paper and die cut sticker kit. I assure you I have no stock in them, just love their stuff. This will be a quick little ‘house warming’ card.

Everything is wonky around here this morning, so I’m not going to bore you with the mundane details - but I’ll keep the blah, blah short. There will be plenty of weekend sketch-spiration if you stop by and see Jenn, Charmaine, Mary Jo, Sharon, Beate, Cambria and Laurie. I bet they even stamped….

I have another card to post in a few minutes, but I need a cup of coffee first to clear the cobwebs. Maybe that will take care of the ‘wonky’.

Love & Later ~

• Stamps: Scroll Scrapblock™
• Cardstock: Teal Dark & Suede Dark Brown Prism & October Afternoon Sweater Weather
• Ink: Ginger Adirondack
• Accs: Basic Grey Brads & October Afternoon die cuts

Thanks for all of your encouraging comments yesterday. You sure know how to make a girl feel good!

Liz loaded the September Stamp of the Month into the CHF store this afternoon. The set (seen here) is a gorgeous autumn leaf and sentiment from Aimee Nugent. A real bargain at $6.99. I enjoyed making a sample for the packaging. And with your purchase you’ll receive a photo, supply list and instructions to duplicate this card.

My fall Bible study starts tomorrow, and I am ‘giving thanks’. Our ladies group is doing a new Beth Moore that I started to do over the summer covering the book of Psalms called Stepping Out, but it didn’t work out then for several reasons. I ready to get back into the swing.
I remember when we moved to Marshall, almost 4 years ago, I’d been the transferred wife of corporate life before, and I knew that finding a strong ladies group would make a difference between accepting my new hometown or loving my life here. I called local churches until I found one that was hosting a Beth Moore study. I love the women that God has placed in my life through these studies.

I’ll try to report back tomorrow about something funny that Beth talks about in her video presentation, God not only annointed her with the gift of teaching and discernment, but a wild sense of humor, too. You never know if you’re going to be laughing or cryin’. At this point, I’ll take either..LOL! I can’t wait!

See you tomorrow, friends!

See that little lady bug climbing the roof line? Wonder what she’ll see when she clears the last bit of fungus blocking her view?

For the last 12 months, I have been so blessed to serve on the Cornish Heritage Farms design team. It has been an incredibly rich experience to both see the company grow with fabulous new artists and licensing agreements and to work with the team of uber-talented ladies. Everyone gives 110% from Richard and Liz (owners) on down the line. Personally, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I have grown during my time on the CHF Team.

As, I move to a more full time position in my day job at Splitcoaststampers (the number one site for stamping and paper-crafting inspiration on the web ;)), I’ll be changing my blog roll around in the next day or two. CHF will be listed as past design experience. I’ll still be designing cards, posting to my blog, participating in challenges and concentrating on freelance publication work, but it will be just that, freelance. I’ll be stamping with product from companies that I have no formal design agreements with or obligations to. CHF will definitely be among that offering here on my blog, and it will always be with the utmost respect and appreciation that CHF is listed in my design resume.

So who knows what the ladybug is going to see when she crosses the roof line - that remains unseen…I feel like that little ladybug - moving up a big hill and half way to a destination unknown…can’t wait to see what I find on the other side, and I’ll be sure to share it with you when I get a peek!

Thanks for sticking with me, and Happy Labor Day!

• Stamps: Mushroom Lane #28 - Cornish Heritage Farms & Friend Centers - Cornish Heritage Farms
• Cardstock: Core’dinations Pink, Sunflower Medium Prism and Super Smooth White and October Afternoon patterned paper
• Ink: Espresso Adirondack
• Accs: Copic Marker, Nestabilities, button and ribbon, bling from Adoro - I get mine from Taylored Expressions!

So, I said I would be hanging out and taking it easy this weekend - that’s exactly what I did today! Other than getting the girls a haircut this morning, I was at my desk and paper crafting away. This is a WhipperSnapper image that I purchased last year. We are yellow lab people…I only wish our Walker would sit so still and cute like this one! He’s only 20 months old, and he’s got a lot of puppy left in him. This image is only one of several things I’ve gotten colored today. I’ll be working on more cards on Sunday, but I wanted to get this up before I headed off to ‘girls night’ at my friend’s house 2 doors down.

Hey! If you are tired of seeing October Afternoon, you’ll be happy to know I ordered some fun new paper from Lindsey at JacksonbelleEmbellishments yesterday. She’s have a sale - 15% off everything with code: LABOR08. You’re welcome!

• Stamps: Harry the Dog - Whipper Snapper Designs ** HEY! I went to get the link for you and noticed that WSD offers stamps on cling mount now for less cashola. Very cool!
• Cardstock: Frosted Teal, Suede Dark Brown Prism and Depot Park paper - Hometown Collection - October Afternoon
• Ink: Espresso Adirondack
• Accs: Copic Marker, Ribbon (Taylored Expressions), October Afternoon sticker (Night Light collection), Kaiser Bling (dog tag)

Hope you are enjoying your long weekend!

Here it is another Friday, and we are ready for a long weekend. We’ve canceled plans to travel this weekend and have opt-ed to just ‘hang out’ and enjoy the last days of summer. So happy to kick Friday off with a new sketch challenge from Beate.

Ordered this sweet little Crafty Secrets witch and her friends from Anna a few weeks ago. I think she’s the cutest, her and her little ‘creepy cousins’ are all decked out for Halloween fun. I’m not much on creepy, actually. Got the jeebees reading Ashley a mummy story last night. LOL! But, I’ll put that aside to play with my Copics and color this little darling a few times.

This was colored with Copics and then accented with Spica Glitter Pens which is so hard to capture in a photo. The yellow polka dot paper is from the October Afternoon line that I was raving on the other day, Hometown collection.

Make sure you check out the other sketch samples - this longer, skinny card with a large image panel was fun. You can see sketch-spiration by visiting Cambria Turnbow, Charmaine Ikach, Jenn Balcer, Laurie Schmidlin, Mary Jo Albright and Sharon Harnist.

If you are just hanging out online - Cornish Heritage Farms is offering double CHF points until midnight on Monday, Sept 1st, 2008. You can see how the club works HERE - but basically, if you spend $50 you’ll get double points and $10 off of your next order and the points keep accumulating for future discounts.  I’m always happy to enable. Have a great weekend!

I received a box from CK Media yesterday containing the latest Holiday Home (aka Home & Heart) and this project that had been included in the issue. I love this CK publication because it has such beautiful photography and simple, yet elegant ideas for conveying your affections. I’m proud to be included with the talented artists published here, including my sweet friends Dawn Lusk and Julia Stainton.

I made this box last winter, but you can find the instructions in my recent online class tutorial at CHF, ok…I’ll be sweet and just link it HERE. These are so, so easy and only require 2 sheets of card stock to complete. This one is accented with the Vintage Sunflower and Sophisticated Swirl backgrounders and Script Essential Expressions. You’ll have a quick gift box in a matter of minutes.

Tomorrow is Beate’s Sketch Challenge, so I’ll be posting bright and early! Have a fabulous week!

Still holding out hope that I’ll get to stamp for the Sketch Challenge today! But for now, I’m going to show you one more Vintage Winter Signage card that I made a few weeks ago. More of that yummy, yummy October Afternoon paper. To purchase October Afternoon, I’ve had very good service and most excellent communication from Stop and Scrap. I notice that she has this Good Cheer collection and Hometown on pre-order…Have I told you that I love this paper: the weight, the smell, the feel? I promise you I am not affiliated in any way - it’s just good stuff! Maybe I’ll work on something with Hometown collection tonight! It is starting to feel like fall around here!

• Stamps: Winter Sled - Vintage Winter Signage - Cornish Heritage Farms
• Cardstock: Good Cheer - October Afternoon, Blush Red Dark and Cryogen White - Prism
• Ink: Espresso Adirondack and Tombow Marker (for the sled)
• Accs: Ribbons, Copic to color the decorative pin, small circle punch, dimensional dots

It’s Color Challenge Tuesday, and I got to crank out 2 cards this morning before I started working. Too bad it took me all day to break away and upload…LOL! The colors today are Rose Red, Black and Kraft, hmmmmm.

My grandpa was so special to me. (You can read more about that HERE.) He was a retired General Motors Auto plant worker (Fairfax, KS) who took great pride in his job and great pride in American made products. I’ll never forget taking him to look at the first car that I wanted to purchase when I got out of college. I should have known better…seriously…but even a college degree doesn’t guarantee common sense, KWIM? What was wrong with my choice? It was an Explorer…a FORD. Grandpa loved me through it, and even rode in it, once. I ordered a few of the new GM images from Cornish in honor of my grandpa. They make great manly cards - something I struggle with. I’ll send this one to my dad, just because, and it’ll immediately make him think of his dad, my grandpa.

• Stamps - 1957 Bel Air, You’re a Classic sentiments - Cornish Heritage Farms

Here’s another take. Can’t believe that I got a chance to stamp two!

• Stamps: Dove with Branch, Aged Sheet Music Scrapblock™, Script Essential Expressions and End Diamond Backgrounder - all Cornish Heritage Farms

Sketch challenge tomorrow, and I might make it 2 weeks in a row… gasp! See you in the morning!

I love the color palette of the forth-coming October Afternoon winter collection. I was gifted a few of the pages, and thought they would be fun with some gorgeous snowflakes that CHF released last month, Joyeux Noel. These snowflakes were created for the bling factor, and KaiserCraft bliss blue pearls provide just that. The sentiment is from the October Afternoon coordinating sticker pack. I think the line should be shipping late September and early October. I love that the pieces aren’t totally Christmas-y, making them good til February for cards and such. The pearl stick pin was colored with a Copic Marker (R39), making it perfect compliment to Prism Blush Red Dark.

Speaking of Copic Markers - if you’re planning to be in the Kansas City area for Copic Certification or the Creating Keepsakes event the weekend of October 10th, join Marianne Walker, Sharon Harnist and myself at a Copic/Splitcoaststampers get-together on Thursday, October 9th. It will be a free open house with an optional swap and a cards-for-the-troops collection. You DO NOT need to be registered for Copic Certification to come to our get-together. You can get the details HERE! I’d love to meet more Copic-crazy nuts like myself!

Hope you weekend was fabulous! See you tomorrow!

It was so fun to stamp for Beate’s Sketch challenge yesterday. It’s been a long summer, KWIM? You can see Beate’s Sketch here, and I hope you find time to give it a whirl this weekend.

Extra celebration in order for my friend, sweet Kim Hughes. So very excited to see patterned paper added to her line at Cornish Heritage Farms. This is MochaChica paper, accented with a sweet little birdie and ‘hello’ from the coordinating mini set of the same name. These little birds are great because they are facing mates to all those adorable Pretty Birds. Branch from Kim’s Landing Pad set. Little nest made from a Prima Hydrangea.

I’m going to check out other samples from Cambria Turnbow, Charmaine Ikach, Jenn Balcer, Laurie Schmidlin, Mary Jo Albright and Sharon Harnist. Then I’m going to can some salsa…. Have a wonderful day!