The 12 Kits of Christmas: August 2012

Yay! Its time for the 12 Kits of Christmas! It is getting close to the time to put on some holiday music...and hopefully see some snow this year! Not that I want to rush it, though, because I sure do love fall :) So anyway, enough with my gabbing. Are you wondering what this is? Check out my first post, here, it explains all the details. This month's kit was created by Kim. Check out all the great supplies she sent!

I just loved the colors she sent us, so fresh and different! So without further ado, here are the cards I created this month:

I just love the die cut words (you can probably tell since I used them on 3 out of 4 of my cards!) There were still several images in the kit that I didn't use, but that's okay, I have to save some for future casing! Here is the list of supplies that Kim sent us:

Solid Card Stock: PTI- Autumn Rose, Sweet Blush, Ivory, and White

Patterned Paper- Fancy Pants Designs-Winterland

Pearls and Bling: Stampin' Up

Ribbon- Joann's- Blue, PTI-Sweet Blush, SU Pleated Ribbon- Blushing Bride & SU Victorian Crochet Trim

Digital Images- Pink Petticoat

Buttons- PTI- Sweet Blush and Aqua Mist

Dies- PTI- Wonderful Words Holiday

Misc- Jingle Bells and Vellum Envelope

Embossing Folder- Cuttlebug Snowflakes

And then our newest addition to our monthly kit, a case. I cased one of Suzanne's cards from last month. Here's the card she created using Christina's kit:

You can check out the original card here. And then here is the card that I created. I actually had almost all the supplies left!

Okay, now I'm so ready to see what the other gals have created! Why don't you check it out too...here's our little hop:

Suzanne: thecardyard

Cathy: EmptyNestCrafter

Joyce: Cards-by-the-Sea

Kim: CupcakesCardsandKim

Amy: Stamp-n-Paradise

Kara: KandRDesigns

Sharron: OnPapillionWings

Marybeth: Marybeth's Time for Paper

Jeanne: AKeptLife

Jessica: The Paper Parade

Christina: SeaGlass&Sentiments

Renee: ItsAPatchworkLife

Retro Sketches #26

I finally own my very own wplus9 set! I just couldn't resist this scarecrow set when it came out :) So now I won't have to borrow Suzanne's stamps all the time for the wplus9 blog hop! Here the card I created for this week's Retro Sketches challenge:

Here is the sketch I used:

So I flipped the sketch on the side. That cool denim ribbon is from SU, the yellow is from Amuse. The frame around the sentiment is from My Favorite Things. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye. Did you guys know Michaels carries some of their paper now?! I'm super excited about that :)

This scarecrow is the star of the show! I just love him :) And see those bright vivid inks?? My new SU inks that I got for my birthday from Phillip. I LOVE them! If you haven't tried the new formula, you should. 1000x better than the old. Such a crisp, clear image in one light tap. I never used to get this look with the old pads. I'm going to be in a yard sale one of our local stamp stores is having and I'm going to sell all my old inks for $1 or $2 each (what do you think? they are all still really great, juicy, etc.) so hopefully I can replace all of them with the new ones :)

This card comes with a gift! A bottle of wine from my favorite winery up here. So I had to make a tag to go on the bottle.

Using the same elements from the card, of course.

I think they turned out quite cute and country :)

And now an update on my little Garrett. Garrett had surgery last week. He had been peeing a ton, but when he started going on the rugs in the bathroom and then on Phillip's clothes, we knew something was going on. (We clean his litter box twice a day, too!). His pee also had a red tint to it. Well, they found something called a bladder stone. His actual bladder is the size of a pea, and this stone was the size of a golf ball!! Poor little guy :( So he had the surgery and came home in one of these cones:

These pics were right before we took him camping with us. Which was crazy, I do not recommend having a cat with you when you camp. All he did was spew litter everywhere, and walk around on top of us all night "shoveling" our faces with is cone. Well on Tuesday we woke up and his wound was open and bloody. So we took him back to the vet. First they gave him a bigger cone (he had found a way to lick his wound even with the cone on!) and said he HAD to stay still. Well, he won't stay still at all. So the only solution we could come up with is that he is now living in the dog crate :( It is a large one that can hold his water, litter box, and room for him to lay down, but the poor guy. I hope he recovers soon so he can get out of "captivity!"

Freshly Made Sketches #48

So here's a card that missed the deadline, but since I don't have anything new to share at the moment, I figured I'd show this one:

Here's the sketch that I used:

I used the Paper Smooches Squeaky Clean set for this card. It all started with the "Gloss and Starch" patterned paper, so I knew I had to go with the cleaning set. Although now looking back at it, I should have used the washing machine, detergent, and basket stamps, that would have fit better with the theme, but not the sketch. Oh well!

To be honest, I have no idea what I'll use this card for, lol, but I do like how bright and cheery it turned out.

The ribbon is that cool denim ribbon I got from SU. The cardstock is from PTI, and the pattern from October Afternoon.

I hope you're enjoying your week so far! It has been really busy for me, so its going by fast, but I'm pooped!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop August 2012

This month's challenge was Autumn textiles, which I loved! Using different patterns and textures with an Autumn flair. This is what I came up with using a lot of my new goodies:

Here are the inspiration photos:

So I went after the colors with the grey, orange, and blue. Then for my texture, I used a SU Sizzix impression plate on kraft at the bottom, houndstooth from a My Mind's Eye paper pack, and PTI felt for the sentiment and the flower.

That beautiful rolled flower? Made for me by my good friend Gerry who made me a bunch of them in PTI felt and packaged them up all cute for part of my birthday gift :)

The Polaroid frame die is from PTI. I didn't order it last month and boy did I regret it! So I'm really glad it was available this month when I ordered :)

I like how this turned out, bold, and definitely with a fall feel. Make sure to head on over to Nichole's blog to see what everyone created with this challenge! I hope you're all having a fun weekend. We are camping in Salisbury Beach, MA. It is different this time because we had to bring our cat with us too! He had surgery this week, and he requires a lot of medication, so we had to bring him along. We woke up in the middle of the night and the inside of our camper smelled like a sewer because of his litter, and having a nocturnal cat in a small camper with two humans and two dogs...let me just say it has been a unique experience!

Paper Smooches Sparks Cool Shades: August 2012

Here's another card made with some of my birthday goodies :)

I used this week's Paper Smooches Sparks Cool Shades challenge. Here are the colors:

This is the brand new "Autumn Grooves" set. Wonder where that "moon" came from? Well, I used the pumpkin from the "Spookalicious" set and just cut off the stem! Everything else is from the "Autumn Grooves" set.

All the cardstock is from PTI, so is the button. The ribbon is from Amuse.

I love autumn, and I can't wait for it to get here. I love the cool air, the pumpkin flavored everything, and the colors! I never got to see fall growing up in FL, so I really cherish it now :)

Retro Sketches #25

Last night, Jen came over for our weekly stamping night, and I got busy with some of my new stuff! Here is a thank you card I created with two of my new Paper Smooches stamp sets that I got with some birthday money, and paper from a My Mind's Eye paper pack my mom got me :)

Here is the sketch I used for this card. I changed it up a little bit, but the sketch is still there.

The horse silhouette is from the "Buckaroo" set and the sentiment is from the "Chit Chat" set. The frame behind the horse is from the PTI polaroid set that I ordered with this month's release items. I already cut out the polaroid for another card (you'll be seeing that soon as it's my PTI blog hop card!) and it was just sitting there, I thought, humm maybe I'll use this ;)

I used a Copic to outline parts of the letters so that they really pop. The buttons, ribbon, and cardstock are all from PTI.

This card came out with a real south western, Arizona type feel, what do you think?

Pinterest Birthday Gift

As most people I know do, I love looking at Pinterest and getting awesome ideas, but I never actually make them! Here is one of my Pins that I actually made, and I love how it turned out!

Scrabble tile coasters!

When we were at Absolutely everything for the 60 second crafty dash, I picked out all these Scrabble tiles as they carry them there. I think for the future, though, I'm going to be picking up Scrabble games at the Flea Market as the tiles were 30 cents each making 4 coasters almost $20 bucks! I had Jen and Suzanne helping me get the tiles which made it much quicker (I had to get my game plan (for when my name was drawn) ready, afterall!). So these are mounted on some cork (thanks Suzanne!), secured with wood glue and sealed with Mod Podge. Here they are all ready to send to my brother (who is an avid Scrabble player) for his birthday!

That's not all, I also am sending him some of my homemade peach salsa that I canned this weekend. The top is made using Paper Smooches Fruittastic and Alphadot. The salsa has no tomato in it, its base is peaches which makes it really sweet (but also spicy since it has jalapeno peppers in it ;)

Just thought I'd share before I put these out in the mail today. I think he will love this gift :)

Paper Smooches Sparks Designer Drafts: August 2012

My grandparents just moved into an Assisted Living Community this weekend, so I wanted to make them a card for their "new digs." Here's the card I made for them:

Using this sketch from this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks challenge:

I used Paper Smooches Vogue Abode, and a new die from Memory Box that I got for my birthday (thanks, Mom!). The shape is hand cut to resemble the swoosh in the sketch.

I heat embossed the sentiment (which I NEVER do! but it sure does stand out nicely). The button is from PTI and the pearls from Recollections. The cardstock is PTI.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I had a busy one! We went blueberry picking on Saturday and picked up some peaches, too. So when I got home I made spiced blueberry jam, peach salsa, and mini blueberry pies in my new mini pie maker that I got for the most amazing deal... $3!!!! Then today I went to a thirty-one party, and visited with some friends from Phillip's time in the Marine Corps, who dropped by on their way through MA. It was a nice weekend.