Thursday, December 22, 2011

Ho, Ho, Ho, Holidays!

As my last posting stated, the month of November just flew by and December seems to be the same.  My group projects this month are of course inspired by the Winter Season and Christmas Holiday.
 First, my Saturday Scrappers did four pages based on winter with Snowman and Snowflakes. Can’t wait to see the fun pictures they use to fill these pages.




For my Mojo Monday group, I put a twist to the standard colors used during the holidays. Remember Christmas does not have to be just Red and Green. I had both the Dasher and Snow Swirls stamp sets from last year’s catalog and was thrilled to see that they are still current for this year.  Now my favorite Christmas animal is a moose;  I just love the simplicity and elegance of Dasher.
The Sleigh is just the Top Note Die cut to resemble Santa’s sleigh. I added the Mica Flakes to give it a wintery touch. I had seen a version of this card on Lorri Heiling’s blog http://stampingaddict.blogspot.com/ . She is so creative.




By the way, the “snow” that you see these pages and cards sitting in is part of my husband’s wonderful holiday village scene that he does each Christmas season. We have been collecting the Department 56 – Dickens’ Village since our first Christmas together 17 years ago. It is great to see how large this village has grown over the years. 
Thank you stopping by and I hope you and your families have yourself a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Hello December - - What happened to November?

Yes, somehow I missed blogging the whole month of November, but that is not to say that I wasn’t crafting. I still had my Mojo Monday, Saturday Scrappers, and an extra Santa’s Stamper’s Workshop in November. Along with my fun crafting days, I celebrated my son’s 15th Birthday and my father‘s 80th Birthday. He had 2 parties, one for celebration and one I hosted. That was the good. The bad and the ugly was that three out of four of us in the house were sick 3 weeks in November. So, with all of that going on, I hope it is understandable why I did not post on my blog. I am going to try and catch up today with my November projects.
Starting with the Santa’s Stamper’s Workshop hosted by myself and three other wonderfully crafty women, below is a card and wine charm from Debbie using the cute new SU Stocking punch.

Staying with the stocking theme, one of my projects was a gift card holder using the large Stocking die. Then a cute snowman made from the Top Note die.

For my Saturday Scrapper group, we completed the Advent Calendar shown in the SU Holdiay Mini Catalog using the Bigz L Peekaboo Frames die and the 25 & Counting stamp set . Overall I think we did a pretty good job of copying it, with our own twist on some of the days. Below is my finished product and the framed piece I have hanging in my house now for the holidays. 

For my Mojo Monday group we did some Thanksgiving cards and a cute Santa inspired card.

Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you come again.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

More Mojo Monday!

Mojo Monday…….We did three fun cards this month, well four if you count the two different purse styles individually. The Purse cards were inspired by Janice my SU Upline. She designed and created ‘Thank You’ cards for a friend who is a regional Miche representative. I just thought they were very clever and my way of adding a little “Bling” to Mojo. The purse is SU Mocha Morning DSP and, with the felt texture, I think they look and feel like fabric.

Making the Happy Halloween card was fun. We embossed the Haunted Forest stamp from the mini catty. We colored in the trees and pumpkin and then sponged inside the trees for a spooky glow of the moon. I love the color combo of Cajun Craze and Early Espresso because Halloween does not have to be just Black and Orange.


The last card was a simple fall card using the French Foliage stamp set. The background was done by inking and stamping a clear block with Crumb Cake and then going back with a Soft Suede for the leaf. KISS, Keep It Simple Stamping!


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

October Pages

Wow, it’s spooky how quickly this month has flown by, like witches in the sky. Here are two pages from this month’s Saturday Scrappers group. They can be used together or work great on their own. Yes, the ghosts in the tree are the Owl punch upside down and I used the bat punch flying in the moon. That punch is currently on sale at SU clearance rack and I am sure it won’t last long.  Oh yeah, that is the 2 foot pumpkin with feet holding up the pages. I know, still no name for him?


One of the other pages we completed was a Fall set. I used the new Spice Cake DSP in the SU Holiday Mini. That paper is so beautiful.


So, I guess you are wondering why we did Halloween and Fall pages prior to the actual events? Yes, with scrapbooking you usually complete the pages after the event, but next month’s group is making the Advent Calendar using the Peekaboo Frames die and the 25 & Counting stamp set.  Don’t forget to check back and see the finished project!


Friday, September 30, 2011

Happy October!

Have you ever had a feeling that you NEED to stop at a store, that something is calling you in there? Well, I did the other day. I was driving my youngest son Conner to his friend’s house and on the way I saw a sign, 50% off today, at a local thrift store. I already knew I wanted to go thrift store shopping for some Halloween costumes, so, I thought that was what was “calling” me to the store. I started my search for the costume items, but was coming up shorthanded. Why then was I in this store? Then, there it was sitting alone on the shelf, which I would swear it had its own flood light shining down on it and I heard angels singing, (that’s my story and I am sticking to it). Now many of you would think – So what a 2 foot ceramic pumpkin with feet, big deal – but it was only $5.99 and half off that, which meant it was mine for $3!
This silly 2 foot pumpkin with feet has been something I have wanted to purchase, but always thought – “Oh no Kat you can't spend money (have seen it for as much as $40) on something as trivial as a 2 foot pumpkin with feet”. So I swept up my wonderful find and brought it home to share my excitement with my family. Much to my dismay they were not as excited as I, except for my kitties. Simba and Missy, they had a ball climbing in and out of him (need to name him, can’t keep calling him the 2 foot pumpkin with feet).

  Simba

  Missy

So, next time you get that feeling that you NEED to stop at a store, call a friend, or do something that may not be in your plans for the day, I say listen to that feeling. You might never know what you will find.




Oh if you have any suggestions for his name, please leave a comment.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

What a friend.....

When I got home from my Mojo Monday group, I stopped at the mailbox, and to my excitement I received snail mail from my friend Wanda, I like to say that she is “Wandaful” for so many reasons. 
Wanda has been so supportive of my Stampin’ Up and somehow she knows when I need a pick-me-up I may get a phone call, an email or even more amazing, a beautiful card in the mail (oh yeah she makes wandaful cards www.ablogcalledwanda.com/ ).
Thank you Wanda for being a friend..........okay are you all now humming the theme song from the Golden Girls? And if you are, have you ever asked yourself "which Golden Girl you would be?" I think that I would like to be a cross between Blanche and Rose.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Mojo Monday - September

So, last month we did some really beautiful cards and projects for Mojo Monday. This month we are moving into the holiday season starting with one of my favorites, HALLOWEEN.  So, I did some fun projects; Friendly Frankie is made with punches and the Top Note die, and how cute is he? The tube of candy is using an old time favorite stamp set, Batty for You, and the new 1 x 8 cellophane bags in the mini holiday catalog.  Both are fun projects to give to your co-workers, children’s classmates or other friends.


On to the cards, here in the greater Sacramento area the circus comes to town in September. So, I was inspired to use the Big Top Birthday DSP paper and the Bear stamp from the Tagtastic Hostess stamp set. If you look back to last month I used this same stamp set with the Doily stamp. It really is a great stamp set and if you host a workshop you too could get this set.
There are subtle differences in the cards shown below because I could not decide between a swirls embossing or polka dot background; or between using red or blue (Tempting Turquoise) ribbons. Which one do you like better?



Last, but I don’t think least, is a simple card, using the Season of Friendship stamp set and the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch. I think this card is good for ending the summer and starting the fall season.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again for next month’s projects……..


Thursday, September 15, 2011

Sunny Sunflower Pages

This past Saturday was my Scrapper group, let me say that these ladies are such a great group and I am blessed to call them my friends. The pages that we completed were inspired by SU’s large Sunflowers stamp. Sunflowers remind me of summer and although we are in September this has been a really hot week, so I thought this stamp is very fitting for this month’s pages. And as it turns out, one of the ladies in the group, daughter has planted a large sunflower in their yard, what a quink-a-dink.
My main colors used are Vanilla, Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, and Cajun Craze, all great summer and moving into fall colors. Oh fall time, cool nights, the leaves starting to change, pumpkins showing up everywhere, oh well better get thinking of fall pages for next month…… thanks for stopping by.





Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A sad day

This past Saturday was a sad day for our family. We took our elder (7 ½ years) Great Pyrenees Kuma, to the veterinarian; he recently has suffered two seizures within a two week period, so we wanted him to be checked out. Idea’s that were running through our head we from Epilepsy (no signs of this before), Canine Distemper (had not been in a kennel recently), Environmental Toxins (we don’t leave out chemicals) or the worst Brain Tumor (most likely the cause). Yes due to his age, no other symptoms or enlarge masses found the mostly like is a brain tumor, where he will have brain bleeds and will surely suffer another seizure or too, until we will need to help him over the Rainbow Bridge. So I was going through some of the pictures we had taken over the years of Kuma and ran across the very first picture we had taken of him the day we adopted him September 2007 and then a more recent photo taken at the very same place this July 2011. Although Kuma has not changed much over the past four years the difference in my boys is amazing.
September 2007

July 2011

Kuma is such a special dog for us; he came into our life soon after we lost our beloved Koda, a Bernese Mountain Dog at an early age of 3 ½; Kuma filled the hole in our hearts and we filled the loss of his family in his. I want to give a shout out to the wonderful rescue that we adopted Kuma from, Sierra Pacific Great Pyrenees Club Rescue in Granite Bay, CA (http://www.spgpc.com) is such a wonderful place they have the heart of a saint. They do so much for the breed that this little blog could not even begin to explain.  If you get a chance check out their site, but I must warn you Pry’s are addicting.


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Scrapbook Trays


So at last month’s Saturday Scrappers we did something a little different, we made Scrapbook Trays, instead of scrapbook pages. These trays can be hung in a bedroom, family room or whatever room you feel the most appropriate. Cause again with scrapbook pages it is something that celebrates a milestone or family member that you want to cherish with photos and mementoes.  Below are a couple of trays that Donna and Anne completed, aren’t they beautiful? Both were given as gifts…..remember the holidays are coming maybe this will inspire you to be a little crafty.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Saturday Scrappers

So as I mentioned before I have two Stampin' Up groups - Mojo Monday and Saturday Scrappers. My Saturday Scrappers has been my longest group that I have had since becoming a SU demonstrator last June. My first passion with paper crafting was scrapbooking, which started let’s see 25 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child Lauryn, since then I have added two sons Kyle and Conner. I have to admit I have changed my style scrapbooking but still love the art of telling a story of a birthday party, summer sleepover, Prom, first car, bringing a new puppy home or some other wonderful milestone of me and my family’s life.  

Today I am sharing some of my previous Saturday Scrapper pages, I hope you enjoy them.


These pages were inspired by enjoying a cup of coffee with a friend on a cool crisp morning. I love the "steam" coming off the mug of coffee – I know it is Labor Day weekend and we are not experiencing cool crisp mornings right now but I can think back when it was cooler or look forward to the changing of the seasons sharing java with my friends again.   

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Wordfeud with friends

So for my 50th birthday in July, I purchased a 'smartphone' and some of my wonderful crafty friends have hooked me up with Wordfued. We play continously and at times it can be quite frustrating and exciting at the same time. Well this morning while reading the Sunday comic's I read Get Fuzzy and could not help but laugh. I truly feel like Satchel at times when I am trying to find that perfect word.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Mojo Monday's

     Well what is Mojo Monday? I think that phrase could mean so many things to everyone, what it means to me is a great time to share my "Mojo" of Stampin' Up with wonderful, creative friends. Although I am not new to SU I am still pretty new to holding monthly workshopsand/or c lubs, and posting to a blog. But I have been blessed to have two great groups, first my Mojo Mondays where we mainly make cards and small craft projects (loving the Halloween crafts coming) and then my Saturday Scrappers, yes you guessed it we do Simply Scrappin' pages. Today I am posting cards from my last Mojo Monday, and I hope you like them.
     First is my attempt at Bling as you will see (I hope you will come back and see more), my cards are not very "blingy" but I do really like this card. The stamp sets are: Hello Doily and Tagastic (Hostess). The Doily is embossed in white and can I say it looks like a real doily? My bling is the extra pearls. 
     My next card is just a real sweet and simple card, the set Touch of Kindness is from the current Summer mini catty. And I just had to do something with this set, as I do love the kitties.
     And my last card is also a very simple card but yet so grand at the same time. I saw this set in a recent Stampin' Success and it spoke to me so much that I am going to use it for a Saturday Scrappin' too. It is simply called Sunflower - not a hard one to remember and the saying can be found in Pursuit of Happiness, also a really nice set of greetings.

     I have to say that the Sunflower and Simple Things card were both semi-cased and I would love to give the original creator a shout out but I am not sure where I saw it, I am so sorry but really do love them.

Thank you for taking a look - please come back again and I will have more to share. Kat

Friday, August 5, 2011

D is for Dog

Okay I like (love) the dogs too, just don't tell the cats.

C is for Cat

Of course my first love is CAT's but why do they spell it Cat, everyone knows cat is spelled Kat!