2011 Christmas Tree

Hello!

Would you like to see our Christmas tree? I took a photo this morning to show you. Shoot! As I'm typing this I realized I didn't turn the lights on! Ha! Oh well, I'll try and get another shot with the lights on, and at night, for another post.

You know...the good thing about taking a picture is that you can really see if your tree looks straight and if you like the ornaments where they are. Case in hand...I can see that the top of our tree could use a few more ornaments! :) Might have to find a little time to create a couple! :)

This little Santa is one of my fave decorations! He was given to me by a special friend a couple years ago and makes me smile! He's perched on a stack of books on the table next to the tree.

Here's another guy that makes my day...a snowy little fella holding a sign that says 'wish.' He's sitting in the foyer greeting all those who enter.

We have more decorations to share. In addition to the main tree with have three mini trees  and a village, but I'll save some of those for other posts. I hope I get to see some of your favorite decorations on your blogs too!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Kathy :)

Another Christmas Card

Hey!

I've been working on some Christmas cards in between other projects...and here's one using the new Papertrey Ink thin die alphas and the Santa's Workshop collection from Doodlebug Designs.

Love these colorful papers and whimsical patterns!

These snowflakes are also thin metal dies. The center is a brad from Doodlebug's Happy Holidays Assortment of Boutique Brads.

To add just a touch of sparkle, I added my fave Doodlebug Mini Jewels.

I had fun with this one...and I'm currently working on another using a Bella Blvd. line I adore!

Well, have you gotten back into the swing of things after Thanksgiving weekend? I'm getting there. It hasn't been as difficult as I anticipated. I'm enjoying my 'work' so I 'm not too bummed that our fun weekend is over!

As always, thanks for visiting! Hope you have a terrific day!

Kathy :)

It's Begining to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Hi!

How was your Thanksgiving weekend? Did you travel? Stay at home? Cook? Shop? I stayed home with my boys, cooked, relaxed, ate, decked the halls and ate some more! It was the most wonderful Thanksgiving!

Today will be a little difficult as I try to get back into routine. I was hardly in my office over the weekend so it's always a challenge to dive back in. To make it a little easier, I already have a cheerful and festive card to share with you!

Over at Doodlebug Designs there's an awesome Doodles card sketch for you that can be used for your Christmas card crafting.

I was in the mood to get stitchy with this one so I created a grid background. I think it's ideal for all these colorful Doodlebug papers and glittery Frills from the Santa's Workshop collection.

To make this card even more festive, I sprinkled it with gems and this totally adorable holly brad.

Thanks for stopping! I hope you enjoyed my card and have a little time to craft along with us at Doodlebug Designs. I've got to run to the post office. Shouldn't be too bad there yet! ;)

Kathy

Bella Blvd. Saturday Sketches

Hello!

Have you eaten enough turkey to feed an army yet? ;) Yum! Such good eats! Do you begin decking your halls this weekend for Christmas or are you one of those Black Friday shoppers? Here at the Martin household it's tradition to put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving so we managed to do that. Today I'll spend more time decorating the mantle, banister and side tables. I'll put the finishing touches on everything and tidy up so we'll have lots of time to enjoy it all!

If you are in the mood to do a little crafting over this Thanksgiving weekend, Bella Blvd. has their Saturday Sketches challenge going on!

The sketch is awesome, made for scrapbook pages so it was a bit of a challenge to incorporate it into a card, and lots of fun too!

The Bella Blvd. collection I used for this project is one of my faves, the Finally Fall line. The leaf print paper is actually from last year's fall collection, and matches perfectly!

Whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope it's a lot of fun and shared with family and friends! Hopefully, I'll have some pictures of our decorations to share with you this week!

Kathy :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you happen to have some down time today or tomorrow and stop by, I'm leaving this Thanksgiving card and wish for you to have a lovely holiday! I hope you have oodles to be thankful for and enjoy sitting around the table with those you love and share a wonderful feast together!

These Bella Blvd. chipboard pumpkins remind me of pumpkin pie, a must for our Thanksgiving meal!

Thanksgiving just isn't complete without a slice of pumpkin pie with real whipped cream! I think if Thanksgiving had a taste, it would be of pumpkin pie! Maybe because it's only on this holiday that I eat pumpkin pie.

Well, I hope your table is full along with your hearts and that you have lots of yummy dishes that remind you of Thanksgiving too!

Kathy :)

October Birthday

Hi!

If you stopped by yesterday, you would have seen the Doodlebug birthday card I made for my dear friend. She loved it and we had a great time at lunch and enjoyed a little browsing the shops in downtown Apex. The weather was so warm so we sat outside for awhile to watch all that was going on and had a nice chat.

Today I have another birthday themed project to share. This is a page I created for my husband's birthday last month.

Here he and Christopher are getting ready to blow out the candle on his birthday chocolate chip cookie! ;)

I created the title with a couple Silhouette cuts and used some Pink Paislee patterned paper for the background. This patterned paper is a grid of autumn phrases you can cut apart and use individually on cards and pages, but I thought they would be fun to use intact and make it look like individual pieces stitched together.

My journaling was created with a couple Papertrey Ink thin metal dies for the mini envelope and notebook paper.

Because it's a birthday page and I wanted it to be festive, I created some rosettes using a Tim Holtz die and some 'Season's Greetings' papers from Echo Park.

Well, I'm going to taking it easy today since I'll be plenty busy in the kitchen tomorrow. If you are traveling today, I wish you a pleasant and safe journey! I'll be stopping in for a moment tomorrow to  leave you a Thanksgiving wish and card.

Kathy :)

Hooray - It's a Special Birthday!

Hi!

Today is a special day because it's my BFFs birthday! And days like this call for handmade cards, right?

I made this colorful and happy card with a Doodlebug Designs collection called Cake and Ice Cream! What could be more perfect?

Love this yummy little cupcake and how Doodlebugs' brads and rhinestones match whichever paper line you choose!

What's a birthday without pretty packages? Doodlebug didn't leave those out!

So, I'm off to go celebrate and take my friend to lunch!

Thanks for dropping by today...I hope you enjoyed seeing my special card.

Kathy :)

Joy

Hello and a happy Monday to you!

It's Thanksgiving week already! Are you ready? Yes? No? If you're not, let's agree that we're not going to sweat the details and just enjoy ourselves! And perhaps take a little time to unwind with a crafty project! Oh, and maybe a pomegranate martini! Sometimes a cocktail is just what the doctor ordered to relax a bit! ;)

I spent part of the weekend getting crafty and made this card.

It's a mixture of Echo Park and Papertrey Ink goodies. I think the two compliment each other beautifully!

I love using jingle bells on Christmas projects! And snowflakes!

I have a new picture of the babies, Cinnamon and Sugar!

This morning when I went up to my office the little rascals were still awake! They're usually fast asleep by the time I've showered and eaten breakfast. So the two of them crawled on me while I walked around the house for a bit. They love to take turns cruising around on the other's back!

Now don't ask me which one is which! I can't tell! I can only tell them apart by Cinnamon's ear; she has a little notch in her left ear, but I can't see it in this photo! Little Cinnamon is making progress, she's less and less afraid everyday. And Sugar is getting more playful and adventurous everyday too. They're a lot of fun!

Well, I have a few things I have to do so I'm going to leave you now and get to it. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Kathy :)

Free Bella Blvd. Digital Printables

Hey! I have a message for you from Stephanie Hunt, owner of Bella Blvd...

"Ciao ciao Bella fans! Boy, do I have something fun & inspiring for you ... and guess what? I’ve done all the prep work for you! So, next week I host Thanksgiving, and each year I do some “crafty” something for everyone to participate in. Last weekend I thought to myself, "self, if you don’t get going on an idea it’s never going to happen-you’ll run out of time!". So I brainstormed up a digital mini album! Why digital? Because it takes less time (for you at least!) and this way I can have the ENTIRE album done and ready as soon as Thanksgiving is over."

To get all the free printable pages for Stephanie's Thanksgiving book click here.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoy the free download and your weekend!

Kathy :)

Cup of Sugar

Hi!

T.G.I.F! It's the last weekend before Thanksgiving! What do you have planned? I'll be making our grocery list and preparing for the big day. How about you? Will you cook this Thanksgiving or travel? Our family is scattered throughout the U.S., Australia and Canada so our Thanksgiving meal is usually the immediate family. Occasionally, we'll have extended family join us or have a friend over. I love to cook our feast! Everything is made from scratch, the kitchen warm, heavenly aromas, a hubbub of activity all day! And it never fails to amaze me that the hours of preparation take only 15 minutes to gobble up! :) But what a meal it is...and the leftovers are the best kind!

If you stopped by yesterday, you may have noticed that I promised a scrapbook page share of Sugar, our new little sugar glider. The name is so fitting because she's a real sweetie!

She's an itsy bitsy little thing, weighing only a couple ounces. Sugar gliders are marsupials from Australia. They make excellent pets if you have lots of time to devote to them since they love to spend the night, our daytime, sleeping in your pocket! I work at home so it's a perfect situation! At night, they are a bundle of energy hopping, jumping and running on their wheel together!

I created this colorful page with the Bella Blvd. Tail Waggers and Cat Naps collection. Included in this line are the perfect phrases and accents for all your non-human companions!

I did a hidden journaling circle behind one of the photos. I Often get so caught up in the designing and artistic part of a page that I forget where I'm going to put my journaling! Sometimes I use a tag that I can pull out from behind a photo which works too.

Both these photos are of Sugar. Cinnamon is still too frightened of people so I don't want to stress her out by taking pictures of her. She's making progress, one day at a time. Soon I'll have photos of her too, but I warn you, you will not be able to tell them apart! I struggle with that! They are identical!

Speaking of the babies, it's time for me to do some bonding exercises with them. Basically, you handle them a lot and let them sleep in a little pouch you wear. They have an acute sense of smell which helps them to know who is part of their 'colony.' I've had them just under two weeks and it's been such an amazing experience bonding with them. And our cats enjoy them too. They like to sit outside the cage and watch them play. Our boys (the cats) are really docile, indoor critters who will run off if the sugar gliders crab at them. I have no doubt they wouldn't hurt them and they'll be fast friends before long! After all, they live with two birds as well!

Please come back tomorrow because I have a freebie to tell you about! I hope you have a great Friday!

Kathy :)

Bella Blvd. Cards on Thursday

Hey!

Wow, we've had some amazing weather this week! The past couple days were warm and summer-like with temperatures close to 80 degrees and today is the opposite, cold and rainy. A mix of everything!

Today I have a couple of fun card shares for you and the Bella Blvd. Cards on Thursday post.

I got to choose the Bella Blvd. collections that I want to use! I love free-for-all days because there are so many cool lines to choose from! For my ‘Family’ card I thought I’d take a break from holiday crafting, and use the Sunny Happy Skies collection.

 These houses caught my eye … they’re so detailed, colorful and fun! Makes me want to move into that little neighborhood! I’d move into the red house with roof-top patio and shades lined with hearts!

After Halloween, I thought it was time to stash away the Too Cute to Spook line, but I didn’t want to! I’ve been having a good time playing with this line and decided to challenge myself to use it in a different way. So, I came up with this thank you card.

Usually when I sit down to make a thank you card, I start by choosing colors and accents like bright colors, butterflies and flowers. This time, going at it from a challenge to use a particular product, I ended up with a look I would have never thought of. I don’t think I would have used black for a thank you card, but I love the results!

Well, I have a special share tomorrow so I hope you can come back! I created my first scrapbook page using a picture of one of my new sugar gliders! I haven't even had the babies for two weeks yet, but one of them is a little friendlier and outgoing than the other so bonding is moving right along and I was able to get a few photos! The other is still to scared for a photo op so we'll just wait patiently, right? :)

Thanks for dropping in today! I hope you enjoyed the cards and you have a lovely day!

Kathy :)

Office Reveal

Hi!

After the big clean-up last week, I've taken some pictures of the office for you. I don't have the best lighting with two smallish windows for a rather large space so the photos are a bit blurry.

Here's my desk with ladder shelving behind it.

The desk, where all the crafting and blog hopping happen. I love to do both at the same time.

Now that some of the shelves are free of excess supplies, I've started decorating them...it's a work in progress. Little by little I'll be arranging and re-arranging until I'm happy with the look.

Over the years I've purchased all these drawer units, in three sizes, from Target for holding all kinds of supplies.

Here's a sample...top drawer holds flowers, second drawer is full of metal accents and the last contains felt and fabric.

The smaller drawers on the top shelf are perfect for smaller items like brads, adhesives, etc.

I've added some of my vintage pieces for storage too.

I have two long folding tables along the opposite wall from my desk. At the far end is Christopher's computer where he spends a lot of his free time playing train simulator. The closest desk is my die machine station. I can fit chairs behind these tables and have a few friends over to crop.

These small drawers house lots of buttons, plastic accents and trinket type goodies. Many are for sale in my Etsy shop.

I love this old wood box...it's perfect for storing cards, some also for sale in my Etsy shop.

This little corner is Christopher's art nook. He's 10 now and he prefers the table where his computer is so this will probably go at some point in the near future.

I have a small space by one of the windows where I have a table for my cutter. Below is my scrap and recycle paper bins.

Behind the cutting table is this ladder shelf. It used to be full of how-to books and magazines that were donated. It's a work in progress...I want to fix it up so it looks nicer. Notice my 'photo station' on the third shelf down? That's where I photograph some of my projects. The light is nice and bright there.

On the last shelf is the enormous stack of scrapbook pages that need to be put in albums. I wish I had opted for D-Ring albums! The post bound type are so much harder to use!

I got these wire shelves from Target too. The shelves on the right hand side house most of my scrapbook paper. I was able to space the shelves about 1 1/2" apart using zip ties.

At the end of the shelving unit, closest to the window, I have little baskets that hold my ribbon. Those are drawer dividers I bought at Target and attached with zip ties.

So that's about it. It's not magazine or Pinterest worthy, but a very nice space with lots of room. I'm lucky to have my own place to work! It's a finished attic which makes it a nice get-a-way from the rest of our home. When I'm done with work/crafting, I can go downstairs, shut the door and leave it for another time. It doesn't interfere with the rest of the house. In the early days, I used our kitchen table to craft and it took over!

I hope you enjoyed my office share. Have a fantastic day, okay? :)

Kathy