Birthday card

This was the card I gave to my husband (way back at the beginning of the month!)... it has been a little bit crazy in our neck of the woods!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Adoption mini-book (pic heavy)

Some good friends of ours are adopting a little boy this month who is 2 years old.  We are just so very excited for them and can't wait to meet him!  What a blessing!  There was a surprise "baby" shower for the mom and she is one of my friends who loves all things scrapbooking.  I really wanted to make something special.  Since he is older I wanted him to know he was loved and a part of their family long before he ever joined their family.  So I made *him* a little picture book.  My friend can place a current picture of each member in the frames, then a pic of him, and pic of the 4 of them at the front.  I used a little icon to represent something that was special to each of them (mom is crafty, dad is in seminary, big sister likes horses, and he's a little boy so hopefully he likes planes :) ... and of course on the front is one of my favorite sentiments for little ones who are adopted!).

Enjoy!

Kristin

Twin birthday card

My husband is a twin and their birthday is this weekend.  I always think his twin gets the "short end of the stick" with me because my birthday is two days before theirs so we are celebrating mine and then my husband's and then I think, "Oh yea, I should have sent my brother-in-law a card!"  (oops!)  He gets one every few years!  This was an *on* year for me.

The photography however, not so much, it was TERRIBLE!  I've edited it to death, and it's still bad.  So, for those who care- Kraft card stock; EP T&T Charming paper; Simple Circles in Simply Chartreuse, Dk Chocolate, Kraft, Fine Linen, Versamark; Road Trip & Birthday Bash Sentiments.

Enjoy!

Kristin

SAF Closing Ceremony

Oh. My. Goodness. We had soooo much fun! We talked, ate, (notice I put those 2 FIRST! lol) die cut, stamped, and LAUGHED.  So. Much. Fun.  It was pure joy to hang out with these women all day long. Thanks for the great memories and the new friendships.

Enjoy!

Kristin

PS... keep scrolling down... I'll keep this as the "last" post and post the challenges in order with the right times so everything will be in order.  All my completed projects will be here :)

SAF Card Set

Truth be told, I had picked Jess's challenge before she came over to our "camp site" on Sat... but of course after meeting her I *had* to pick her challenge after! :)

Seriously though, her pictures did not let on how detailed and awesome this little card set was going to be in the end.

I changed the color scheme: Berry Sorbet, Pink (SU), and Dark Chocolate... but did just about everything else.  I am a terrible sewer (and ended up not having large enough glassine bags so resorted to the clear glossy bags I did have) so the xyron'd butterfly idea saved me from terrible looking stitches on the inside and outside where I attached the ribbon!

Enjoy!

Kristin

SAF Limited Supplies

Here's my card for today's Limited Supply card... we are having a blast but not getting a lot done, ha!

Enjoy!

Kristin

SAF lunch & snacks

Around here we did something a bit "non traditional"... a PINTEREST party lunch!  Have you attended a pinterest party yet?  No?  Well, now you know you should plan one and invite some friends over!

Everyone is bringing a lunch item they "pinned"... hopefully something they have wanted to try.  :)  There were no rules, so if we ended up with ALL desserts, so be it! HA! (just no one tell our kids!)

Here are the 2 recipes that I am serving... (both pinned from their original sources)

Chicken Salad

Crock pot Baked Potatoes

Also, our snacks are sweet, salty, and/or healthy!  Bring 2  (1 of each of your choice) and it adds to our variety.

We are eating GOOD today! :)

Enjoy!

Kristin

SAF Mini book

I followed Ashley's tutorial for the mini-book using envelopes and the envie liner die (borrowed from Joy!).  I used Cane Print IP, Aqua Mist card stock, patterned paper, Library Ledger paper, a few other PTI pattern papers, and the Gratitude Journal stamp set, Journal dies, and Button Card dies.  Thanks for a great tutorial!

Enjoy!

Kristin

SAF Ribbon Technique

Here is my "ribbon" technique... but no card to put on it...

Edited to add my finished card (the morning after, lol)... I think most of us in the NTx group are going to have to do that, ha!

Enjoy!

Kristin

SAF Morning Make & Take

Wow, I was able to make the card in the hour! 1st campers should be arriving any minute :)

Kristin

PTI SAF Opening Ceremony

When the campers show up this morning, *this* will greet them at the door :).  The quote is "pinned" from a site called #CampConfessions.  I found it via Renee (a PaperDoll and fellow Camper- Hi Renee!).  I used Aqua Mist pattern pack paper for the lettering and banner.  Should be a GREAT day!

So, when the ladies arrive this morning through the mid-day, they will have these little treats at the spots they pick.

 Here they are, ready to go into the oven... chocolate chip cookies in a muffin tin (YUM).

Then, as soon as they come out, stick in a Rolo (chocolate covered caramel) upside down in the center. It melts into the cookie.... oh my!  A little bit of yummy goodness to start the CAMP day!

Enjoy!

Kristin

PTI SAF Summer Camp Meet & Greet 2012

Welcome to the 2nd annual Stamp a Faire!! This year PTI made it an international event online - free for everyone (!!) - and the theme is "Summer Camp."  There are several stampers who love PTI in my area and a few of us are going to be getting together.  Tonight is the Meet & Greet but the North Texas group is SPREAD OUT so we are skipping that.  However, I'd thought I post some pics of a little bit of the set up I have created for them. 

First,  this is a small shot of my craft room where I have it set up for a few of us to be tomorrow for crafting.  It is right off the dining room and kitchen where everyone else is so we will all be together and can easily go back and forth! I moved things around a bit because each chair represents a "station" (die cutting/embossing) or scoring... but we still have room for all those activities as needed.

This is a shot of the door prize area in the front.  I have papers ready for everyone to write their names on and drop in the basket and that's my door prize (small items but fun things inside! :)). By bringing one everyone can participate and leave with a gift at the end of the day.  In the far corner is our "swap table"... bring whatever items you are ready to swap and leave with what other people want to swap.  Kind of like shopping other people's stash! :)

So, everyone who is coming will have a fun treat at their table... but no sneak peaks yet (Come back tomorrow morning! :))

See everyone first thing in the morning!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Celebrate: Frame style

Everything old is new again... or something like that :)

The Polaroid pics that were so fabulously famous in the 80s are back in style now.  (My entire childhood seemed to be captured in Polaroids from the 70s & 80s!)

I *love* this little polaroid style frame and using it on cards and not just for pics is very cute!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Wish Big

I made this card for a very special girl who has a birthday this month.  Loving the Pebbles paper!! I case'd a card I had pinned (but apparently deleted the pin?), but luckily I had the actual card copied into my Evernote file.

So, I was able to find the original cardmaker's actual blogpost!

Go here and scroll to the "party" card

Enjoy!

Kristin

Preserving Memories for the Next Generation...

Happy Independence Day!!

The pictures above are my mom when she was a baby to her 1st birthday.  SHE is a July 4th baby! :) I always told her that having that birthday totally skewed her perception (and therefore mine, and now *my own* children) of what normal people do for their birthdays!! Her picture was in her local paper when she was about 7 or so and she got fireworks *on her birthday* every year.  ;)

This year marks the 2nd time to celebrate July 4th without her.

We choose to celebrate her life.  One way, I want to do that for my children is to preserve *her* childhood memories for them.  Imagine my surprise when I was ready to begin the task and I discovered that my grandmommy (mom's mom) was a bit of a scrapbooker herself.  I mean, mom was the 2nd child and there was a picture of my mom for almost every month of her first year on the first two pages!! All together! She grouped together mom's 2 closest friends from when they were little till they were about 5-6 years (so cute!).  WOW!  What a discovery.  I am trying to preserve not only this marvelous discovery, but also trying to incorporate my grandmommy's handwriting.

I am looking forward to continuing on in this journey for my kids and myself... and to discover what other treasures I might find!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Evernote, Pinterest, and Creating

So, have you heard about Pinterest? (inside joke, lol)

If you haven't, you can visit my boards here... but set aside some time.  I've devoted a lot of time to this, um, "activity."

I do love to pin those ideas.  But, I actually like to use them too!

Enter, Evernote.

I was introduced to evernote months ago.  Probably 7-8 months ago or more (before Christmas for sure).  It has revolutionized my crafting and productivity time.

At first, I put all my PTI stamps in it.  Next, I copied and pasted the tip sheet ideas (from the old website) into each "note." Then, I added my inspiration cards to those stamp sets.  Most of them were NH and the design team, but sometimes it might be one of my own or a blogger from the forum or a Paper Doll.

One Paper Doll had her dies listed separately.  So, I did that as well.  She also gave me the idea to put my Cricut Cartridges in too.

Now, I have my card stock, other patterned paper, a wish list, etc.

***And then, I started to think about how I could merge Pinterest and Evernote together to actually make crafting time better.***

So, now I pin card and scrapbook layouts and then put those into EN notes.  I do the same for cards I really like and sb pages that inspire me that don't necessarily have PTI product.

Once it is all synced up, I can open my iPad at my desk (or iPhone) and craft from that inspiration, sketch, or color combo!

Getting things out of Pinterest has been the best part.

Next up... all those RECIPES!!

Enjoy,

Kristin

MIM: Bordered Sentiments

I'm playing along with PTI's MIM: Bordered Sentiments this week only because I had an idea that came off exactly like it looked in my head (!).  Love it when that happens.  From idea to creation completion was 30 minutes.  I used the Color Crush combo I pinned from back in April.  Find it here.

Love that sentiment from an older SU set (that I *had* to have and never use anymore... but that is a favorite sentiment of mine).  The caterpillar changing into a butterfly is just what life is all about... life has to change.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Celebrate Generosity- Thanks Renee! :)

This month on the Paper Doll's blog Joyce's challenge is to create a card using something in our stash that was "gifted" or a RAK.  Awhile back, Renee- another Doll, sent out the prettiest pearls to me.  They aren't the standard white pearls (which is why I hoard them so and still have 90% of the original package, lol!) but more of a cream color.  They are a Recollections brand, but try as I might, I cannot find them in my Michael's.  (sigh)

***Please play along and link up your card to Joyce's post.***

However, I broke them out for this month's challenge.  I paired them with the Aqua Mist pattern pack and Birthday Tags.  I never really used Berry Sorbet until I had the new ink to match (the old ink formula was just not as vibrant) and I have found a new color to love!  (I actually feel that way about Melon Berry too!)

As most of you know I have a cricut that I love but haven't bought a cartridge in forever!  I have plenty and with the new craft room online I can do anything I need to do.  Well, I broke down when they introduced the new banner cartridge (pennants, I think) and J's was selling it for $20.  LOVE it! It was a anniversary gift from DH :) - even better!  Banners in 5 shapes, any size, with mats.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Chevron Grandpa :)

I picked up a sheet of Studio Calico Kraft Chevron paper in a cute little LSS a couple of weeks ago when I was doing the "kid exchange" for grandparents' week ;).  We met halfway both times and had lunch in town and I got there too early and found out there was an LSS (LUCKY me!).

So, I broke out My Hero, My Dad and Grunge Me and whipped up another Dad's day card.  The kids make their own of course :)

Enjoy!

Kristin

My 15th Wedding Anniversary

I cannot believe it has been 15 years since I was blessed to marry *this* man.  Time has changed our appearance but only deepened our love and commitment to one another.  I am wholeheartedly devoted to this man and would follow him to the ends of the earth if he asked.  He has been tested through various trials in our married life and shown himself to be a man of integrity, honor, and one who places God at the center of his life.  I so enjoy getting the opportunity to be a parent alongside him... it is a gift to see a dad who truly loves fatherhood and cherishes moments with our son (rock climbing, rough housing, and teaching him how to start fires... while camping!) as much as he has a tender heart towards our daughter with baby dolls, tea parties, and the games she wants to play and books she wants read.

The card reads "You & Me True Love Forever"... and those words speak volumes of the life ahead of us we have yet to experience!

Enjoy!

Kristin

PTI MIM #69: Inspiration Sketch

Here's my card for this week's MIM from PTI. You can go here to watch the video and play along! I haven't participated in forever, but vacation week helps a lot! :)

 Of course, it also helped that I need to make 3 Dad's day cards so I whipped this one up quickly and will make a couple of more before the week is over.

 I used the sketch below from Nichole Heady as my inspiration. 

Enjoy!

Kristin