quick Halloween LO

I never did much with this past Halloween so I thought I would put this together. What took the most time was cutting out all those photos!

I still have more photos to do but sometimes it is fun to wait until the next year to do them! We'll see what I end up feeling like!

Thanks for the quicky! LOL!

New Tutorial at SOUS

Good morning all!

I truly hope you all had a wonderful holiday and I look forward to getting back into the swing on things over at Stuck on U....but before that we have another great tutorial for you.

Please visit us to see what Sandi Clarkson has to show us on paper distressing!

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time

If you can believe this...I have been working on this LO for months! And finally it is done!

It turned out that waiting was wonderful! My good friend Donna bought my Sweethearts for Christmas so I got to use many cuts from that on this LO (lock, key, dress, shoe). The bird, butterfly and crown are all from Storybook as is the title.

The story on the right is something I wrote. A little fairy tale all about Jordyn.

Since time is short today, I will let the pictures hold their own!

Hope that you enjoyed this!

And the flowers are from a tutorial from my girlfriend Sandy on Stuck on U Sketches (link on sidebar!)

SOUS Tutorial by Me!

Just wanted you all to know that this is my week for my tutorial over at Stuck on U Sketches.

I have done a 3 part tutorial on inking Cuttlebug embossing folders.

There are a few neat ideas there that I hope everyone will like!

Go take a peak!

Stuck on U Sketches you will find here!

Reindeer Christmas cards 3 of 3

well not matter what I have tried I can not get this to post in the order that I want it too...so you will have to go backwards and look at post 1 first, just down the page...I am so sorry, I have no idea what is wrong that I can not get this right...ugh)

All paper used was from this years The Holiday Collection by DCWV, printed paper. Obviously I would choose cardstock but always find myself buying the printed paper stacks because I prefer the patterns more then their cardstock stacks (which I do get too! LOL!)

This one I embossed with the ornament CB folder. Cut a section of the printed paper and used Stickles to accent the red and green snowflakes as well as the stockings

Originally I had cut these white backgrounds for all the cards but ended up on a different route. Patterned paper embossed with Swiss Dots.

This one was pretty simple but I accented the print with Stickles.

This was embossed as well with the ornament folder but after I had put it down I thought it needed more and added more strips of patterned paper, all accented again with Stickles.

I wish this showed up a bit better. I used the Ruby Slippers Glitz color to color around the red mat, the holly berries and the red strip along the bottom piece. I thought this one turned out super cute!

I hope you all enjoyed and we are down to 10 days til Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reindeer Christmas cards 2 of 3

Well what says Christmas like a little bling? Ok really, the whole bling thing is really not me but I LOVE Stickles and think they are my single most favorite embellishment!

Here are a few examples of different types of Stickles....

These are basic colors. Stardust and Xmas Red.

This was the last one I did and LOVE how the chunkier glitter adds to the snowy look! Color is Icicle and nose is Candy Cane.

I wanted to see what something a bit more shiny would look like so I also used Stickles Glitz. Colors used, Tiara (silver and some coppery gold) and Ruby Slippers (red and maybe lavendar, its hard to tell).

And last to see is the finished cards!

Reindeer Christmas cards 1 of 3

Ok I have to say that I am extremely excited to show everyone this and because it is a bit picture heavy there will be about 3 posts.

Many of you know the stamp lines by Stampendous but they also have videos you can find on youtube and I am a BIG youtube fan! The videos are perfect for me to sit and watch while I feed my little guy. HERE is the link to my inspiration for these.

Rudolf was a dollar stamp find at my local M's. I never seem to find anything really good there and this was the ONLY holiday stamp I found!

The next 2 images were taken from the youtube video on creating your own plaid with colored pencils. I used Prisma colored pencils and did not use the Gamsol technique. I have always loved the look of colored pencils and thought it added a lot to the image so I did not want to pencil marks blurred as would have happened with the Gamsol.

I chose 4 pencil colors and did one angle of stripes and then the other.

Same thing here only I chose Christmas colors. 2 greens, a red and white.

The following images were colored using only browns.

I had colored all of these and was putting cards together when I realized because of the dark brown paper I used (some paper from the back of a paper stack I think!) that if I used more white then I could have a snowy look. I think this added so very much to the image and love how they turned out!

Next you will see how Stickles adds to all of this!

First year teacher gift

Well this is the first year I am making teacher gifts! The idea was pretty simple...Scotti's class is the "Busy Bees!" so I knew I had lots of bee stuff...strangely I do not have as many bee stamps as I thought I would! But this one was perfect to do a set with!

Anyone else notice one is missing? I guess thats what happens when you have to craft at the kitchen table..too many little hands around! And not only did this one card go missing but so did my Versamark ink! Crap!

The cards are simple. I embossed (or rather Scotti did that part) directly onto the card with the swiss dot folder. I embossed the bee stamp in black and then layered with colored cardstock. I used 2 layers of prima flowers and a brad for each...and finished off with using Stickles on the brads and on all the bee wings.

I have a few boxes I picked up at a local flea market and embossed around the edge of the box. Now this for whatever reason was SOOO messy...the embossing powder just stuck to the box...but I decided to go with it so it has a kind of messy, almost distressed look to it.

Mrs Best has post it notes EVERYWHERE...LOL! So I knew giving her more would be a great idea. Originally I was going to do a holder but nothing made sense, as they needed to be super easy access and I just couldn't come up with something that I thought worked. Anyways I could not just give her plain old post it notes so I used Versamark and watermarked one of the bees on EVERY post it note! OK, really....who's idea was that? Geez!

And last but not least I added a beautiful bee ornament and littered the bottom of the box with paper punched bees in the coordinating paper of the card set!

I'll add some ribbon to the box and thats about it! I plan on giving this to her after school on monday! Hope she likes!

This weeks tutorial at SOUS

As Nanne said...TGIF! LOL!

I wanted to come let you know that Nanne has put together a wonderful tutorial over at Stuck on U Sketches

You'll find the link HERE

A poinsettia tutorial that will knock your STOCKINGS off! LOL!

Please go take a peek...you will not be disappointed!

7 years of wedded bliss!

Happy Anniversary Justin!

Thought I would give a shout out to my husband...even though we really don't get to be together today all I need to know is that your in my life....that is celebration enough!

I love you so much...look at everything that has happened in just 7 years of marriage....2 homes, 3 KIDS and so many adventures!

And if the only problems we ever have will be crumbs on the counter..well I consider myself lucky! You are the most wonderful man in the world and your everything I had ever wanted!

So here is to the next 7...how about 3 more kids? oh geez! just kidding! yikes!

k, love ya my Hunk-a-Junk!

Our first "snow" day ever!

So as far as I can remember this is the first time I have ever seen snow at home! Our local hills often get a dusting but this was something else! Ok ok, might not impress many of you but it was plenty exciting for us! So here is a bit of a video with the kiddo's.....enjoy!

For You Christmas Challenge (TCS)

Its begining to feel a lot like Christmas!!!! A full week into December and all I can think about is the holidays! Gosh I LOVE it! And loving it so much makes it fun to have these challenges to do! So this week challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot was to do "For You" holiday packaging.

My in-laws (thank goodness they don't look at this blog! LOL!) are getting a few giftcards so I made this little box from Wild Card and adjusted it in DS to make sure it would fit the dimensions of a giftcard.

For You is Storybook font and then welded the penguins from Joys of the Season. There was a back layer, lettering and then the penguins.

Cuttlebug Highlight~ the white textured vellum paper as well as the black vellum were CBed with Swiss Dots. The tag is a shaped tag but decided to add the black vellum behind the wording. Then added a strip of the embossed black vellum around the bottom on the box to tie it all in.

Here is just one more picture to show the box a bit more and the shaped tag! Hope you like!

The box holds about 3 giftcards. If you are interested I could share the cut file, please leave a comment here and email me at...

mrsbealash@aol.com

December 4 SOUS Flower Tutorial

The girls and I at Stuck on U Sketches decided that this month we would run some of our favorite tutorials instead of doing sketches. Kinda a break for us and for those that join us on our challenges.

So with that said...please go over and check out Sandy Windsor's GORGEOUS flower tutorial. She did an amazing job with it, it is very easy to follow and the end result is a great sized flower that could be used on any paper crafting project...or try it in this season's colors and add it to a gift you'll be giving for Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful week and enjoy your weekend!

Stuck on U Sketches