Poppy Paperie

an addition to the give away!

We are having so much fun putting this goody box together! Here is an addition to the box! Gotta fill it up ya know!

So now we have

• Scenic Route Chip Board
• 7 Gypsy's stamp (These are SO cool!)
• Issue of Stampers Sampler

SO...Keep sharing your traditions on the post below to win the goody box! We are really enjoying reading about you and what make this season SO special!

Please post a comment to the other post to enter the drawing...I will move the ones already posted to this post. Sorry if I confused anyone :)

Give away time!!!

We are still snowed in here in Bellingham, Kids have been home all week due to school closures and we are slightly stir crazed. Sooooo...Here's what we're gonna do...

See this--->   This is some fun Scenic Route Chipboard that I want to send your way. Along with some other fun goodies, including a 7Gypsies stamp! Who knows what fun little goodies will accompany the goody box!

Edited on 12/1 to let you know that there are now included int he goody box!

• Scenic Route Chip Board
• 7 Gypsy's stamp (These are SO cool!)
• Issue of Stampers Sampler

To enter to win this, Please comment to this post and let me know what your favorite Holiday Tradition is! We have so many...but my favorite one is that every year when we decorate the tree I give the girls a new ornament and they get to put their own on...along with all the ones from years past. I feel so much love when I see the joy they have putting them on the tree. they have been told every year that on their wedding day they will receive a box with all their ornaments to take with them to start their own family tree and tradition.(this makes my eyes tear up typing  just thinking about it.) So, please share with us what make this season special to you!

Be sure to check back on Sunday to see if you've won!

Enabler alert!!!

If you love We R Products and want a good deal...check this out! I though some of you might want to check it out...HUGE SALE!!! I am really blown away by the prices that they are offering!

Ohhh...and...I am so glad a few of you are joining in on the challenge. I have been trying harder with my kids today to be grateful to them. They have been busy bee's in the snow today. Looks like we got a total of 18 inches and its about 19 degrees. {I grew up in Alaska and this is Alaska weather!...Sheesh!} Luckily I am used to being home a lot with work so I don't feel I HAVE to venture out into the ice and snow. They closed school for tomorrow too. this makes for a late night tonight to try to get a ton finished up since I will be on official Hot cocoa duty tomorrow. :)  Good news is that Hannah and I made 60 Christmas cards yesterday...they are super simple but cute and she was so fun to work with.

Hmm....Might need to do a RAK this week...been a while since I have given something fun away. Yes...I think I will see what fun little goodies I can pull together.

Ohhhh, the weather outside is frightful....

but the fire is so delightful...and since we've no place to go.....Let it snow, let it snow.....let it snoooooooow!

We went from nothing to this...and it's still coming down! School is canceled for tomorrow for my three oldest girls...so it will be a busy day with snowballs and hot cocoa. I have to finish up some summer themed projects for a publication deadline and I am really seasonally confused now! LOL! I find it hard to put on the Hula music and think pool party when I want to make snow angels and sit by a fire. 'tis the life though.

I hope you all have had a great weekend. As we prepare for Christmas my mind turns toward how many really amazing people I have been blessed to come in contact with and be aquainted with through a hobby turned profession. This Christmas season I am challenging myself to have an Attitude of Gratitude. I want to take that extra time to express to those who I encounter...even the clerk at the store that I am grateful for what they do. Anyone want to join me in this challenge?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am grateful for so many things, it would be impossible to name them all...but I would like to name a few.

• My Husband. My solid rock in the storm.
• My Daughters. They teach me, love me, support me and continue to humble me.
• the Gospel of Jesus Christ. this is very dear to me.
• My Friends. I may only have a few but they are rare in character and like my family!

I hope you have a fantastic day. we are spending the day with friends and staying as low key as possible.

Guilty Pleasure

So...I have been drooling over The Cat's Pajamas' awesome rubber stamps for about a month now. I love when you can just look at an image an ideas start racing into your mind...it's such a great feeling! I rarely step out of my work products though...so I was having a hard time deciding what I really had to have from them...since I love all their images. GUESS WHAT?! Yesterday I received a little enabler package from Alma at the Cat's Pajamas!!! {If you live in the area and heard the scream of delight, please forgive me!} I ripped the envelope open and ran to my ink pile and whipped out this little card in 5 minutes...and let me tell ya...it felt gooooood!

I love feeling in sync with images to the point that its not exhaustive to create. This may not be the most complicated card...but it doesn't always have to be to get a good result. Simple straight stamping with a few simple elements is very effective. Take a gander at the pooches tongue! Heeheee....this is one of the many reasons I LOVE my Chalk ink cats eyes...the pointy end can act as a marker if you are carefull...then you can get a flat and solid multi toned image. I have a few additional cards that I will post at a later date!

If you haven't taken the time to check out her images...DO! they're a blast and very workable. Check out their gallery too! Some fantastic ideas by some cool  chickies!

Alma, thanks so much for thinking of me and taking the time to share with such generosity! You enabler you! :) 

Oh...and check out her blog...there is a really cute animation on there using some of her images!

Traditions Studio

I had this little key chain published in Paper Trends a few months ago... I can remember if I shared this before or not...but...I really like how it turned out. Alex now displays it on her back pack.

This company has some really fun items to work with. I am expecting a little box with the clock in it this week and am really excited to design with it!  It's nice to not have to re-invent the wheel when you want to create a gift!

3-6-9 box

  Many of us know about 2-4-6 boxes...this little box was created with 12x12 paper in a lager pattern.I used non traditional colors also. When I think of Chrismas...I usually think in non-traditional colors. It might be because my very first Christmas tree that I put together as a young single girl was themed in Victorian Peach (I know *rolling eyes* but it was the 80's still...and I really thought it was cool!) LOL! I went from peach and moved onto Cranberry and Navy. Today my tree is very eclectic. it holds the memories of our 14 Christmas' together...down to the cheap little bells with ribbon at the top that we threw together on our very first little "Charlie Brown" Version of a tree...we were SO broke! I also have ornaments for each girl....the get a new one each year... most of them I have made...and when they get married and start their own family they will start out with some really sentimental ornaments. Oh....sorry...back to the box...The ornaments are colored in with yellow and fruit punch stickles and White ink is applied DTP on the box and celery layer.

You can see this in Stampers Sampler (Dec 07) photographed with some other pink toned concepts. It turned out to be a lovely page.

We R Memory Keepers DT Search!

Here is your opportunity to try out for the Design Team for THE most AWESOME company EVER! We R Memory Keepers is having a DT search, here is the link if you want the details!

I know I say this all the time... but I honestly LOVE this company... they are kind and warm...and the turn out some of the HOTTEST products ever! Good luck if you decide to apply!

get it together Woman!

I am constantly in need of being organized... it doesn't come natural to me... I block out the explosion on my desk during my creative "Hard Hat" time....then look up in wonder...WHO MADE THIS MESS???

So I slowly conquer little areas of trouble in my process. the thing that I most dislike about being a designer is the paper work... or writing the copy for the mini articles that must accompany the projects. Sourcing every little things can be tedious to say the very least. last week I decided that I would make this a bit easier on myself. Mr. Brown brought me a Rubicoil last week and I made this little goodie to help me source all my We R Memory Keepers paper...you see, I get all their papers to design with as part of their Design Team and they have a TON.

You will see that I cut the paper making sure that the collection and name are front and center.The other great thing about this is that I have a quick reference to all the colors...and I used a large enough piece of each so that I could get a feel of each pattern too. This has made things easier already...*smiling with glee*

needless to say...I love my Rubi...and I plan to coil my heart out this holiday season.

added some new blogs...

to my blog links. Cari L, Jennifer S and Kimber M... A few of my fellow We R designers and they are incredible paper crafters. Take a moment to check their blogs... great ladies too!

So...I have been incredibly busy with design work and personal stuff. I just finished up my first round of samples for the Hampton Art Catalog, Wrote up 6 acceptances from CardMaker and today am working on my Marvy Uchida Make & Takes for Winter CHA. Chris was gone all last week and this week I teach Art Enrichment at Pepper's school and then we have Ella's Princes Bday party on Saturday. She is turning four! Just a little crazy... but that's life with 4 kiddos....and a busy husband.

Ohhhh.... and I was just so bouncy when I received and email from the editor at Paper Crafts Magazine that my Valentines card had made the cover of the Feb 07 issue!!! I even got a sneak peek of the cover.... it's so luscious! I can't wait until January when I can share it! I feel really honored!

Watercolor Crayons

So, today I was creating cards for the new Hampton Art catalog and decided to pull out my watercolor crayons. I have 2 sets... the full Stampin' Up! Set and the smaller Lyra basic set. Both sets are made by Lyra and the crayons are identical in quality... color is the only difference. The fun part of having the Lyra set is having some of the neutral colors. I LOVE the dark Grey... not quite black crayon. Here is a close up of how I used it to watercolor some depth into this image.

First I lightly colored the outline of the image with the Dark Grey crayon. I then used a moist brush to Float the color with the brush starting on the images line then moving outward. you can see how Floating can feather out the the color to offer a shadow.

These soft crayons are incredible to use... the can create a lusciousness to an image with just a few strokes.

Yummy Stuff!

I have to say...It's no big secret.... I love We R stuff! Let me enable a little, if I may *Wink*... check this out! {WARNING...BUCKLE UP FIRST!}

You will notice the Value Line... this is a particular favorite for me as it portrays the values of our church's Young Womans program. Its great for any faith though.

While you are browsing... there are some new ideas in the We R idea gallery... some really fun holiday projects! I am really blessed to work with such great designers, both presently and in the past. lots of good Mojo supporting each other.

Best Fishes

Here is a fun card I created a while back. It's one that I loved but no one seemed to want to publish it... thats pretty much the story of my career... the ones I love are not usually chosen. this card took some time to create and involved a bit of detail work. I watercolored the creatures and added some selective glitter to them, the balloons and starfish have crystal effects on them as well.

Look at the biggest fish before you peek at the next photo.

Check out Mr. Crab popping up from behind big daddy fish. The red balloon is secured to the pop up portion of the card so that the crab is pulled up with that portion of the card when opened. when closed, he hides between the big fish and the vellum waves.Hee hee... He makes me smile so big!

I don't have a pattern for this, I traced a great card by Lori Pinkham from a swap I participated in a while back... but I am pretty sure there is a pattern on SCS.

Pepper is 8!

We had a fun night with each other Celebrating Peppers 8th Birthday. We let her choose what we did and ended up at Old Navy...she scored some pretty cute outfits... and Build-a-Bear where she chose to spend some of her Birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa.

  Her little Puppy turned out really cute. Hannah had gotten a few gift cards for their and created a white teddy at the same time. Ella's birthday is in a few weeks and my guess is that we will be back so that she too can build a bear. Having three birthdays within a month makes for a busy fall!

It's really a Pepper weekend, eight is a pretty big number in out house. Pepper is going to be baptized tomorrow and we are all very excited for her choice!

Happy Birthday Pepper!

I love being a Mom.

I Love being a Mom...

There is never a shortage of hugs.

your imperfections are unseen in their love.

The simplest moments seem so precious.

the faith in Magic Mommy Kisses is unbreakable.

Love continues to multiply daily to an unmeasurable amount

....I LOVE BEING A MOM!

Give Thanks

  Fall is in full force here in Washington State. the leaves have half fallen and the vibrant colors are bountiful...I love fall!

This card uses all Stampin' Up! images and supplies. I embossed Chocolate Chip craft ink with clear powder, then watercolored over it. I used shimmery white paper so that the leaves and tag sparkle. Creamy Caramel cardstock is the base. DTP is used with various colors to create the depth.

I know it's a bit messy, but sometimes.... I just NEED to get inky!