LUCY'S GIFT

My oldest grand child just turned 9. She loves coming to "play" in my craft room with me. We decided it would be fun to work on a project this year making a small gift for each of her classmates at school.  She would come over for a few hours at a time over a period of a couple of weeks and work on her project in steps. Here is the finished project!

The clear 1" bags were used for the holiday M&M's. She used Garden Green and Real Red SU card stock that matched the candy. On the back of each one was another round circle that said TO: and FROM: so she could put each classmates name along with hers. She took her time and did a great job coloring the images. The candy cane and tree images are from SU's Scentsational Season stamp set and the Santa image is from another SU set called Holiday Helpers. The cute little snowman with his broom is from the Snow Much Fun set by Gina K Designs. After making all of these circles and scalloped circles using MFT die-namics, she considers herself an expert with the Big Shot.  :)
I was so proud of Lucy, she took her time and did a great job! The best part was she told me how good it made her feel when she gave one to each of her friends.

   Bless you Lucy, that is the true spirit of Christmas!

NOVEMBER

My cross stitch for November is none other than Tom Turkey!  Isn't he cute with all his colorful feathers?

I just love these monthly cross stitched little framed projects by Lizzie Kate and hope you enjoy seeing them as they are made and posted. I photographed this one sitting on the stand they are placed on each month. They're the perfect size ( 5x5") for where they sit in my kitchen.

BLESSINGS

We have a weekly challenge in a card group I belong to. Each week one of the members take a turn in picking out the challenge for the week and this week it was my turn! I chose a 2-part challenge....everyone is to make an Autumn card AND post it to their blog, if they have one. I think making the card will be easy, but I'm thinking that the real challenge will be getting them to post it to their blog!

I really like Autumn cards. Perhaps it's because of the beautiful colors this time of the year brings to us here in New England. I used white as my card base, adding True Thyme, a retired color from SU. The patterned papers were found in my paper scrap pile so I have no idea who made them. MFT die-namics used were the Pierced Square STAX and the Little Open Scallop Strip. The image is one from Rubber Stampede called Sunflower. I have had this stamp for years and this is the first time it's ever seen ink! I really like it and will definitely use it again. The little leaves were made using Marvy Punches, topped off with some linen thread and a button from SU. Copics were used to color this pretty sunflower.

PUMPKIN CARD

One of the challenges in a stamp group I belong to was to make a "shaped card".  I chose to do mine in the shape of a pumpkin.

Pumpkin Pie card stock by SU was used for the base of the card. My Mind's Eye patterned paper from the Mabel collection was also used. The cute little flower buttons are from The Cat's Pajamas and topped with some linen thread and buttons from the Earth Elements line of SU. I used a "For You" greeting from the "All Occasion Sentiments" made by MFT.

HALLOWEEN CARDS

I am really behind on my blog posting!  I will be posting a few things today in an attempt to get somewhat caught up, even though the postings are now seasonally out dated.
 

These are the cards I made for my granddaughters this year for Halloween. They were quick and easy to do.  I have added the inside of Lucy's card to show how I made an insert for the inside of the card to hold a surprise. This worked out great and would work nicely for inserting a gift card in your card as well.  I hope Lucy, Lily, and Claudia all had a great Halloween!

HALLOWEEN 2014

One of my favorite memories of growing up was going trick-or-treating with my brothers and sisters as a child. We looked so forward to this day every year and it didn't matter what the weather brought us, we still had a great time that evening!  To this day....I just LOVE Halloween!  Here is Steven and I, along with our granddaughters, Lucy and Lily getting ready for the big night.  Even Casey got into the fun and was dressed up this year as a honey bee.

We greeted 117 trick-or-treaters who came out for an evening of fun!

 

 I hope you all had a spooktacular Halloween!

OCTOBER

It's hard to believe it's October, never mind almost November!  I got a late start stitching this months cross stitch project and finished it much later than I wanted to. But it's complete and time to show you how my October project came out...

I think he's just the cutest little scarecrow.  I'm sure he won't scare anything away with his great, big smile!

SISTERS VACATION 2014

On September 26th, my sisters and I took a "sisters vacation". The three of us met each other in Palm Springs, California and had a great week together. No, there were no husbands, children, or grandchildren with us...just the 3 sisters for some fun, relaxation and quality time together.  We decided on Palm Springs because none of us had ever been there and we thought it would be a good place to explore together.....and it was!

The three sisters at beautiful Mount San Jacinto

Looking down from Mount San Jacinto - some beautiful views of the Coachella Valley from the elevation of 8,516 feet. We took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up the mountain to take in the views and do a little hiking on the Desert View Trail.

 

We also went down into San Diego to visit the San Diego Zoo. We could've used more time at the zoo but our day was shortened by the length of time it took to get out of the mountains and down into
San Diego. We did a lot of walking, but taking the tram and going on one of the buses through the zoo helped us to get around quicker and be able to see more than we could by just walking. The zoo closed at 6pm and we had lots we wanted to see.

I took lots of photos of the beautiful animals at the zoo but these were some of my favorites.....









We also visited the Joshua Tree National Park which was really a great place to explore and hike.  I had never seen a real Joshua Tree....but there were plenty of them here!  This park is HUGE---794,000 acres. Nearly three-quarters of it is designated wilderness where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet.



Within the park, in the Wilson Canyon, is the Cholla Cactus Garden. This is definitely a cactus you wouldn't want to touch or accidentally bump up against!

 I can now say I've also hiked in the Mojave Desert. We hiked the Hidden Valley Trail where these photos were taken. Look at these HUGE rocks! You can barely see Brenda standing by them.  Hidden in the rocks lie red diamond rattlesnakes. They tell you to be very careful around the rocks and where you put your hands.... we were all careful and happy to say we didn't see any live rattlesnakes!

I really thought this rock was cool looking. Doesn't it look like the New England Patriots logo? This huge rock looks as though it has a face on it. How cool is that!!

 

 

After leaving the Mojave Desert, we traveled through Yucca Valley going to Pioneer Town. Many western movies have been filmed here. It was really like being in the wild west.  :)  Afterwards, we went to Pappy and Harriet's for dinner. It was a real laid back little western type place where they even serve the drinks in Mason jars.

 

I hope you've enjoyed a glimpse of the sisters vacation!

THINKING OF YOU...

I just learned the glitter technique using products from Elizabeth Craft. My dear friend, Deloris, who I've been stamping long distance with for several years, was kind enough to teach me the technique through emails and even sent me enough product so I can make a few more cards using this technique!  There's always more to learn with card making and I'm always excited to learn something new!

I started out with a white card stock base, then added a couple of layers of designer paper by Heidi Grace Designs.  Both the oval and oval scallops are Spellbinder dies. The tulip image and greeting are from Elizabeth Craft.  I used the micro fine glitter for the oval layer and tulip.  The color of the glitter is called "snow" and it leaves such a beautiful sparkle.....like the glistening snow! I wish you could see the sparkle better in the picture. To color the image, I used Copics R81, Y02, YG11, YG25, and YG45. I then finished the card off with 3 small adhesive candy dots by Stampin' UP! I can't wait to try this technique again!

 

Thank you Deloris!

SEPTEMBER

Happy September everyone! 

It's beginning to look and feel like autumn here in New England. The leaves are beginning to change color and fall off the trees, and the cool evenings and mornings are here again.  All the kids are back in school and everyone is dressing just a bit warmer now. Seeing we're now into a new month, it's time to post my cross stitch project for September!

I put 3 little red buttons on the tree to make it look like an apple tree. I just love this little school house.  Gotta get stitching my next project as October will be here before we know it...