Banner Day

Good day!

I have a festive project share for you posted on the Love My Tapes blog today. I was challenged to create a banner and decided to make one for a holiday scrapbook page.

I hope you have a few moments to pop over and take a look! Enjoy! :)

Merry and Bright and a Recipe

Hello!

How was your weekend? Yesterday afternoon our house/kitchen was a slice of autumn goodness with some fresh pressed apple juice simmering on the stove in mulling spices and I baked a batch of pumpkin cookies with caramel frosting. It never ceases to amaze me how happy and content I feel about the littlest things! When I was done in the kitchen I was sitting on the couch in the family room reading and every once in a while I'd get a big whiff of the apple cider and I would close my eyes, breath deep and smile. Ahhhh......

Today I'm going to jump ahead just a bit a share a Christmas card with you that I made a while back.

I used one of my all time favorite collections, Holiday Style by October Afternoon.

I couldn't get enough of the little flags so I made some of my own with the sentiment stickers included in the line.

I can't believe Halloween is this week, can you? Do you have any spooky fun plans lined up? I plan to eat some more of those pumpkin cookies I baked yesterday, if they last that long! ;) I got the recipe from Pinterest.

Pumpkin Cookies with Caramel Frosting

The recipe is from Let's Dish. They're really easy to make.

Thanks for your visit! I hope you have a good Monday!

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Did you know that Holiday Cards and More, Vol. 7 went on sale last week? Have you seen it? It's so inspiring, loaded with the most beautiful holiday cards and projects! I'm so excited because my first publications for Paper Crafts is included!

The thing that I love the most about this issue is the variety of styles and levels from quick and easy to the more technical. There's something for everyone!

Here's one of my three projects that appears in this issue.

I used October Afternoon's Holiday Style. It's one of my all-time favorite Christmas lines.

I love the vintage vibe to this collection!

I also have an interesting story to tell you with regards to this card and who ultimately inspired its creation.

 This 'version' with the green buttons was created by Amy Heller and pinned by yours truly. I absolutely adore Amy's work and pin just about everything she makes!

Apparently, this design was memorable enough to influence the creation of my card and it wasn't until after I finished it, submitted it to Paper Crafts and got it picked up that I was perusing my pin boards and came across Amy's card for a second time. I nearly fell off my chair! I couldn't believe the similarity and was alarmed that Amy would see it in the magazine! What would she think?

I was in a panic. Not only does it look like I copied her card, but I submitted it for publishing! I didn't know what to do. I believe that we should always give credit to those artists that inspire our work or give us a great design to 'lift.'

I decided I'd send Amy an e-mail and tell her the whole story and include a photo of my card. I had no idea how she would respond. I wondered how I would if the tables were turned? Well, I can tell you this, not only is Amy Heller an amazing paper craft artist, but she's also a class act when it comes to handling situations like this! While she acknowledged that the cards were indeed similar, she said she thinks my work is good enough to be published on its own merits. How cool is that?

Anyway, I wanted to tell this story when the magazine came out because I want to give Amy some credit for this fabulous card. Thank you, Amy! And thank you for your grace in handling this situation! I also know that in this industry, we all experience times when a project or unique technique is borrowed by another crafter. Personally, if someone is inspired by a project of mine and lifts it, I don't mind so long is this is mentioned when their project is blogged. This often gets a little fuzzy because most ideas out there are not new, just reinvented and given a fresh new perspective. I suppose we must all be mindful of where our inspiration comes from and be willing to credit an artist in our posts as we do with our listing of supplies.

Do you have any thoughts on this topic that you would like to share? Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you think.

T.G.I.F! Hope it's a good one!

Mom's Christmas List

Good day!

Here in North Carolina the temperatures are slowly dropping and the days are getting shorter. Autumn is closing in. It's such a splendid time of year, isn't it? I'm one for living in the moment as much as possible and enjoying one season/holiday at a time. I'm also one who likes to prepare ahead of time.

With that said, here's a Christmas card I created with October Afternoon's Holiday Style collection. I have a lot of cards already made for the holidays.

Mom just wants a little peace for Christmas. :)

I made that little 'peace' flag with an old Making Memories pin, a My Favorite Things die and some rub on alphas from Doodlebug Design.

Oh, the twine is from Doodlebug too. Can you believe there's no stitching on this card? I did make those stars with 'coasters' from Papertrey Ink and cover them with patterned paper. Can you tell they are thicker than paper?

Hope you have a lovely weekend. Enjoy these beautiful autumn days!

Joyeux Noel

Christmas in March? What?!?! I recently created this holiday card to submit for publishing and it didn't get picked up so I thought I'd post it. I like sharing something crafty with you everyday if I can. You win some, you loose some and this card was a no go.

I created this project with the Holiday Style collection from October Afternoon. What a fabulous and fun line it is! It's vintage goodness at its best!

I like adding a few extra doo-dads like this pompom on the lady's hat!

A shinny silver snowflake charm fits the bill.

Since I love dimension, I used adhesive foam tape under the sentiment sticker to give it pop.

Perhaps those of you who live in the northern-most regions still have some snowy cold weather? Actually, winter has been mild all over the states. Didn't Chicago have record temperatures last week? And get this...Los Angeles, land of sun, was cooler than the rest of us! Maybe I should send this card to someone there? lol ;)

My son left for school a little sad this morning. He had a good case of the Monday blues! Poor kid! Hopefully it helps him to know he's not alone! My hubs and I try to teach him by example that you have to put your chin up, face the day and make it what you want. Pretend to be as happy as a bird with a french fry until you find your groove. Easier said than done sometimes.

Kathy :)