Valerie posted the intructions for this cardbox on her blog awhile back and I made several of them, but hadn't taken the time to make cards to go into them. I plan to give these as gifts at Christmas time this year. This box is so easy to make, so give it a try (just click on Valerie's name above and it will take you to the tutorial).

I used images from Lizzie Anne Design's October Monthly Mix set "A Harvest of Memories". I love the fall images this set is full of!

Spider's Web

One morning as I was going outside, I saw these magnificent webs that a spider had made between the railing on our steps. The dew drops hanging on the web was so cool. I grabbed my camera and snapped some shots and then called Aaron to look at them. I wish I would have kept hold of my camera, because as Aaron stood on the ground looking at the webs, a spider started attaching part of the web to his jeans. Unfortunately, I said "don't move" and he moved to see what I was talking about and the spider left.

fall, winter, fall, winter, ...repeat

What WILD weather we are having! First beautiful fall weather, then snow, then fall weather this week (that's when I took these pics below), then this morning wake up to snow and no school! Oh and tomorrow and thru Tuesday???? High 50's!

Well, I'm not going to complain about the snow. I'm okay with snow as long as it keeps me home. Ü I plan to do lots of stamping today (I hope as we need to can pears...see more on that below as well), so will have some things to share later. I'm working on a FUN POTM (project of the month) for Lizzie Anne Designs. Can't wait to share it with you all.

Okay, on to my FALL pics. These are pictures of our pear trees. I love the rich colors that the leaves turn...absolutely beautiful!Bruce estimated that with all the pears we have, we could end up with 200 QUARTS of pears!!! I am going to slice the next batch and see if I can get more in a jar. Anyone with yummy pear recipes? Ü I made pear muffins a couple of days ago and they were yummy.

SCS and Inky Antics

It has been a LONG time since I've had a chance to play in some SCS challenges. Now that we are on Fall Break, I decided to see what this week's challenges were and play along for a few. I used all Inky Antics stamps. Here are the challenges I played along in:

Color Challenge #241: burgundy, coral, artichoke and vanilla. This paper by Basic Grey had all these colors.

Way to Use It #241: patchwork:

Today's Inspiration Challenge: I chose this bedspread as the inspiration for this card: All the cards use Basic Grey patterned paper, buttons and/or brads.

IHP Birthday Bash Day 5

I am so excited to have been asked by Kendra to help her showcase food for i {heart} paper's birthday bash.

Each day there has been a theme to create for a birthday party. The theme today is food. I love giving food gifts and this was fun for me to do. I have two projects I want to share. This first one is my all time favorite altered treat with a toilet paper tube. I think this would be so much fun to give as a take home gift for a Strawberry Shortcake party. These yummy candies are called Strawberry Puffs.

For my second project, I made a cupcake holder. You can download the pattern here. I love this sparkly cupcake paper that IHP carries! I added the shiny velvet rick rack to the inside. This would be fun to make for a child's or adult party or just because.

Strawberry project supplies: Paper, rick rack, ribbon

Cupcake holder supplies: paper, rick rack,

Here is the info on the IHP blog:

IHP Birthday Bash Challenge —Day 5

Another very important consideration in party-planning is the menu! The kitchen is usually the favorite gathering place for guests, and food and drink are the main attraction.

Our challenge for you today is to make a card (scrapbook page, 3-D item, etc.) using stamps or papers that feature food and/or drink!

Remember, everything this week has to do with birthday celebrations...so be sure your creation is birthday related!

Before you begin, take a few minutes to review the challenge guidelines! You’ll want to follow these rules to maximize your points and qualify for the opportunity to WIN the prize for today’s challenge and the Grand Prize, all announced on the last day of our festivities!

To qualify for the prize of the day, all you have to do is upload your challenge card/project to Splitcoast Stampers (SCS) and/or Paper Craft Planet (PCP) with the appropriate tag so we can find it. Today’s challenge tag is IHPBB5. The daily challenge winners will be randomly selected at the end of the week.

To qualify for the Grand Prize of being IHP Guest Designer for the month of November, here’s how it will work: Every challenge card/project you enter will earn you points (see below), and one with the most accumulated for the week the Grand Prize winner. So the more challenges you enter, more points you earn — and the better your chances of winning the Grand Prize (and the bigger the value of your Guest Designer box will be)!

You will have until October 25th to post your work, and you can enter as many challenges as you like, but you CANNOT combine challenges in one project. All winners, including the Grand Prize winner, will be announced at the Birthday Bash on October 26th.

Birthday Bash Points

For each project:
5 points for each challenge card/project you make, upload and tag to SCS
5 points for each challenge card/project you make, upload and tag to PCP
2 points for uploading to your blog and linking at least one IHP item used to the IHP website

One time points:
2 points for signing up to receive our newsletter*
2 points for joining our PCP group*
2 points for becoming our fan on Facebook*
10 points if you participate in all 6 IHP Birthday Bash challenges

*When you sign up, or if you are already signed up, a comment on the IHP blog Birthday Bash week so your points can be credited.

Here are the hosts for today. You can also check the main IHP Birthday Bash page at the store. It will be updated daily.

Day 5 (10/23): Megan/Chris Veneruso and Kendra/Debbie Fisher

a sad day

Today one of Benjamin's classmate's brother was in a fatal car accident on his way to school. Our hearts go out to the Slingsby family. Please know that we are praying for you.

Christmas Magic Tags

Today's challenge is hosted by Sankari and we are getting away from cards today. Sankari's challenge was to make tags.

I used the large package from Lizzie Anne Design's Christmas Magic stamp set. Then used up those scraps of cardstock from Basic Grey 6 x 6 pad I've been trying to use up. The tags were given to me this week by our school librarian. She got them at a rummage sale and knew I would be able to use them for something. Ü

Lotsa Chicks

Here are a couple of chick cards I sent to Inky Antics awhile back.

Let It Snow

Well, not really, but that's the sentiment to this card. I "like" snow, but AFTER Thanksgiving! Ü

This card is for this week's CSAYL challenge. Maria is our hostess and challenged us with this sketch. The bottom accent through me off for the longest time and I almost left it off and then got the idea to use ribbon. I like how it looks and am glad I went through with the whole sketch.

The ice skates are from Lizzie Anne Design's Christmas in the City set. I wanted a "frosty" look, so didn't use alot of color. The gray polka dots is from LAD's digi Spooktacular paper pack and printed in black and white. I printed it on sparkly white cardstock so it looks "icy".

Be sure to check out the blog and see what the other diva's designed this week.

Deck the Halls Stockings

Have you purchased any of LAD's new sets or singles yet? This is one of my favorite images in Deck the Halls.

This card is inspired by LAD's ad on SCS the past couple of days. I stamped the large snowflake from Way Up North in green on green cardstock by stamping off on scrap paper once so that is was very light. Then I stamped the stockings with black ink on the green and colored with Copics and a white gel pen. I love this look and am going to do this again. I never thought of stamping on a colored cardstock and coloring until I saw their ad.

The papers I used are Basic Grey.

Flower glitters

not a very snazzy title, but the flower on this card DOES glitter! Ü

This flower and digi paper is from Lizzie Anne Design's Bloomin' Doodles. It is even more sparkly because I printed the paper onto glittery white cardstock.

It Really Snowed

Last nite was x-country parent nite at the football game and we were FREEZING! There were more of us than there were spectators! Here are the flowers that I was surprised with from Benjamin. (school colors are red and white) Bruce got candy. Thank you Benjamin! We are so proud of you!

We were only suppose to get 1-3" of snow. Yeah right!!!! Hard to believe we have 6" already this early in the year! Here are some pictures I took around the farm. I will be posting more as my 3 yr old nephew is here and we are going to make a snowman. Ü I have stamping projects to share later too.

Barn:

After it starting melting:

Apple trees:

Snow ON a Pear Tree:

Back Yard:

Nook right outside the door:

Showing 6" deep

Deck the Halls with Christmas Magic

Like my fun title again? Ü I'm trying to be creative. Today is the second day for sneak peeks from Lizzie Anne Designs new sets. Can you guess the names of the sets? They are Deck the Halls and Christmas magic.

I love this teddy in Christmas Magic. I think this would make an adorable baby's first Christmas card. This teddy could also be used for anything baby or young child. I like that you can use a set for more than just one holiday.

This stocking card uses Deck the Halls. The sentiment is also from this set. I am using up my Basic Grey 6 x 6 Christmas pads and almost have this one used up.

Be sure to check out the other DT's blogs to see their sneaks as well as the LAD blog (all are posted in the column on the right). LAD is giving away sets, so you won't want to miss posting on their blog.

Tomorrow these four sets will be available for purchase. Which one is your favorite?

SNOW???!!!

Unbelievable! A chance of snow tomorrow nite and then it's suppose to snow Friday, Saturday and Sunday!!! A high of 54 and low of 22 and then next Wednesday be 64*!

Today was beautiful and I wish it would have been a x-country meet instead of tomorrow when the high is suppose to be 43*, 50% chance of rain and possibility of snow!

I fed over 30 runners last nite. I made lasagne and a couple of moms helped out with paper products and desserts. I think they all had a great time. I will post pics later.

Fanciful Flourishes Way Up North

edited: I have been trying to post this for several hours and it's just now working. If anyone has any experience with blogger and how to get images to upload when it's being stubborn, please let me know.

How is that for a fancy title? Ü Today is the first day of sneak peeks for Lizzie Anne Designs new stamp releases (these will be available for purchase on Friday).

I have cards to show you using "Fanciful Flourishes" and "Way Up North" (thus my title).

My pumpkin card uses the pumpkin from Happy Harvest and the flourishes from new to be released Fanciful Flourishes. I also used the polka dot from Spooktacular digi paper pack.

I went over parts of the pumpkin and all of the flourishes with an orange Spica pen. This is so pretty and sparkly in real life.

I love the images in Way Up North. This is one of my favorite images in the set. I used the snowflake in the set also (on the tag).

A Smile is a Curve

I made this card using this sketch. I used Lizzie Anne Land's Bloomin Doodles flower for my background (as well as the cheesecloth background by Cornish Heritage Farms). The sentiment is from LAD's Say It in Script set. I used my Nestiblitlies to cut the flower and circle.

BOO

I'm not a Halloween person, but this Mummy is just too cute.

I had only planned to post this fun little box that my friend Cami designed (go here for tutorial and inspiration Ü) that I had made, but the mummies kept growing and then one idea after another came to mind. For the candies above I used some chocolate crispy circle candies that come in a bag for $1.

I loved the Pixie Sticks project I had made earlier (inspired by Heather) and decided to make a more "mature" pocket for an adult. The other one I made was more "kid-ish". The polka dot background paper is My Mind's Eye. I stamped the stars with LAD's In The Background. The orange polka dot scallop is from LAD's new digi pack "Spooktacular". This is very easy to make: Cut a strip of cardstock 3" x 11 and then fold where you need to for the candy to fit. Use Tombow's Mono Multi adhesive for the sides and decorate. (I tried mono-adhesive on my last one and it popped apart, so be sure to use the tacky tape unless you are going to sew it shut)

This is my favorite-ist of them all. I cut a thick piece of chipboard 3.5 x 7. I then cut the black, cream (Basic Grey) and dots (My Mind's Eye) to fit the chipboard and sewed around the edges. The "b" is chipboard, but I don't know the company. It's one I got at my LSS.

I cut 3 scallops with kraft cardstock for each "o" and taped together so that they were the same thickness as my "b"

Pilgrims Gratitude

From Lizzie Anne Designs blog:

New Singles of the Month!
It's October 1st, which
means that it's time to reveal our new Singles of the Month.... Introducing
Pilgrim Girl and Pilgrim Boy....the two newest additions to our Little People
line! These two stamp singles are being sent out with the Monthly Mix (if you
are signed up for the extra Singles-of-the-Month) and they are now available in
our webstore! Don't they make a cute couple?

If you follow my blog at all you know I love everything about fall and Thanksgiving in my favorite holiday. I am thrilled to share a card made with two singles by Lizzie Anne Designs, this boy and girl pilgrim. I placed them both on my large clear block and stamped once. (note: these are TWO stamps, not one)

I wanted to make a "traditional colored" card so I printed four digi papers with the black and white option. The dots are from the NEW Spooktacular paper pack (just in time for Halloween projects), The plaid and scallop from The Great Outdoors and the stripe is from Surf & Sand.

You can go here to see the Projects of the Month page for more fall inspiration.