Halloween Card

Just a quick peek at a Halloween card I made for the cricut challenge over at Scraps of Color.  This was the second part of the October challenge on the cricut lovers message board.

I used orange textured cardstock for the card base and the same cardstock for the embossed overlay.  I used the spiderweb folder to emboss the image with my cuttlebug and raised it up with foam dots.  I added a little interest with distress ink just to make the spider web show up a little.  The images were cut with my cricut from the October 31 seasonal cartridge.  It's hard to see in this picture, but I popped up the jack-o-lanterns.  I chose an orange striped pattern paper from DCWV fall stack from a couple years back and anchored it with brads.  Then, I finished it off with some ribbon that I picked up at Walmart.

I have another project I'm working on with the October 31 cartridge that I will share in a day or so.  More Halloween fun coming up!

Autumn Inspiration

Autumn has arrived and beautiful colors are bursting out all over.  The days have a slight chill to the air and the hills are alive with awesome color.  We've been rather busy around here getting into school and sports schedules.  They take a great amount of time away from my creative process, but I still manage to be inspired with everything around me.

We recently were invited by friends to help make apple butter using a huge outdoor cauldron and I can't tell you how much fun it was!  The smell of the wood burning and all that bubbly goodness in the pot combined to make for such a wonderful fall afternoon.  And the apple butter spread over homemade rolls along with all the other yummy foods were beyond delicious!

It was also a fun time to pose for a family photo...something that I don't get much opportunity to do since I'm the family photographer!

I've also been spending time adding fall color to my home.  Something about all those fall colors just kind of brings the cozy in.

And for the most fun of all....

I actually found some time to work on a home decor piece for the October challenge over at Scraps of Color.  We were challenge to create an over-sized tag using cricut cuts and an autumn theme.  Here's mine...

 

I used a tag from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for the base cut from cream colored cardstock.  I used my favorite Tim Holtz distress inks to give it some muted mixed color all over.  I also used cuts from Lacy Labels & Thanksgiving and a stamp from Hero Arts and Inkadinkado along with a few leaves, flowers and a bit of raffia.  

All of this was inspired from all the beautiful autumn scenery here in New York.  This is going to be a beautiful weekend here, so I'm planning to get out and take it all in!

Thanks for stopping by!

Life Change and New Inspiration

Well, the last couple of weeks has been a rather busy time around our house.  It was a time of change for the kids as they returned to school schedules, and then new sports schedules.  I am spending a bit more time transporting everyone to their destinations.  I've also taken a little extra time from our already busy schedule to fit in my workouts so I can stay in a healthy place.

We lived through the loss of an extended family member of mine, which was so unexpected and rather emotional.  In dealing with her loss, I have come to a place where I don't want to spend my days putting off the things that I would like to accomplish.  I think sometimes the passing of a life allows us to step back and take stock of our own lives and rethink how we really want to spend our time.

Here in NY, we are transitioning into the early fall season.  The leaves are changing and the views are just splendid.  I have begun the process of redecorating my home with fall colors and I find it all to be rather inspirational.  I just received new scrapping toys and I would love to spend some time creating in my craft space.  Here's a couple pictures of my new toys, and although most of this is old to most scrappers, it's new to me and I can't wait to get crafting.

I finally picked up a 12 x 24 mat for my cricut, so now I can cut those wall quotes for my family room.  I also snatched up some Tim Holtz tools that he had on HSN last week.  The best part of it all is my new Martha Stewart scoring board.  I love this!!!  Now, I just gotta find some time to scrap...

Back To School Again

Yesterday was the first day of school for my kids.  Everyone was feeling confident and in good spirits, surprisingly!  My oldest child started high school, 9th grade, so life for him is about to change significantly.  My middle child is in 5th grade and seems determined to have a great year.  And my baby is in 2nd grade and seems to love everything about school right now, but that could change any minute!

I of course couldn't resist getting those yearly shots of them prepped and ready before heading out.  And I also couldn't resist getting my daughter at her desk taking all those supplies from her new backpack.  I hope this year turns out to be a wonderful year for everyone!

Halloween Timspiration

I love Halloween just like everyone else.  The costumes, the candy, and Tim Holtz inspiration...or Timspiration for short.  Tim posted some spooky goodies on his blog just in time for Halloween crafting season.  I especially love these.  For more yummy "creative trickery", hop over and check out Tim Holtz blog.

Inspirational ATC Challenge

I stayed up last night to work on this ATC for the challenge over at Scraps of Color.  I'm just happy that I actually completed a challenge on time!  I embossed kraft cardstock with my Cuttlebug using the script folder and distressed it with a bit of Tim Holtz distress ink in vintage photo and black soot.  I used paper from Colorbok's Truffle paper pad that I picked up over at Walmart.  I also cut the word "faith" with my Cricut from the Home Accents cartridge and layered it and distressed it a bit with ink.  Threw in a bit of ribbon and embellished a corner with a corner punch.  I also dabbed on a bit of  crystal Stickles over the already glittered paper just to emphasize those leaf-like edges and give it a bit more shimmer.  The stamp is one that I have had in my stash for ages, so I'm not sure of the manufacturer.
Thanks for looking!

Now, This is Cute!

I just read about this fabulous Pottery Barn Cubby Organizer over at Dawn McVey's blog  and I just had to share it here.  This is such a cute Cubby Organizer, and I love all the Christmas decor in there!  I'm working on a project for our Women's Ministry Christmas banquet and this is great color inspiration.  I promise to share them once I'm finished.

My how time passes...

It's been 4 years since I last posted here and so much has changed.  My kids are growing up.  Life is going on and I'm trying to simplify as much of it as I can.  I am going to try to keep my blog current.  I changed the look a bit.  I'm still learning how to do this so there may be changes that come and go until it feels right.  So for now...here it is!