Snow!!!

Ok, forgive my excitement, but seriously, we had the biggest, fluffiest snowflakes coming down today that I have ever seen!
I'm not kidding at all...just look at that! Yes, that bright white spot is a giant puffy sheet of snow falling through the air. Some of them were huge. Now I know, they were actually multiple snowflakes that became close friends as they were falling through the air so they were just hanging out together for awhile. They were just so big, it was crazy.

It doesn't take much to get an Oregonian excited. I don't know how many times during the couple of hours that the snow was falling that I said, "Seriously, look at that one...oh my goodness, that one is HUGE...oh, my goodness, seriously, this is crazy..." You get the idea.

New Tim Holtz stuff!

Now I realize this may not be as exciting to everyone as it is to me, but just look at this new stamp set by Tim Holtz! For me it's all about texture...talk about a versatile stamp set. I can't wait to be holding this one in my hot little hand. Of course there is more greatness where this came from.
Also from the mind of Tim Holtz, some more great products in his idea-ology line.
Great stuff!!!

It's that time of year!

The CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Convention and Tradeshow is coming right up, and along with that comes all kinds of new product releases within the industry. So, to assist you in checking out some of the new products, etc. I have started a list of company blogs. For now I will leave this list up at the top of my blog so you don't have to scroll way down to find the links. Keep checking back because I will keep adding links as I have time. There are some fabulous new products coming out...enjoy!
Oh, by the way, the paper shown above is from a new line by 7 Gypsies. Isn't it beautiful!

Another Mini

I'm loving the mini valentine cards right now. This card has many of my favorite companies represented.

Stamps:

Cherish sentiment - Faith Collection - Kodomo Inc.

Polka Dot background - Tiny Textures set - Tim Holtz Collection - Stampers Anonymous

Flourish (stamped on background and on the butterfly) - Reindeer Flight set - Tim Holtz Collection - Stampers Anonymous

Ink:
Alabaster Fluid Chalk Ink - ColorBox
Pearlescent Poppy Brilliance Ink - Tsukineko
Jet Black Archival Ink - Ranger Industries

Die:
small butterfly - Nested Butterfly set - Spellbinders

Embellishments:
Clear Jewel Trinket Pin and White Velvet Blossom - Maya Road
Rhinestones - Hero Arts

I might have to photograph this again tomorrow when there is light though. The colors are not true in this picture. I'll try to fix it, because you really need to see how beautiful that Pearlescent Poppy Brilliance ink is.

Just a simple little valentine card (2 1/2" x 3 1/2"). I used a heart stamp that I have as a pattern to cut out the window. Stamped a cute little bird image from the Bird Notes set by Crafty Secrets. The sentiment is from the same set. Added some Distress Ink to define the edges of the red patterned paper.

Surprisingly, of all of the valentine cards I have made so far, this was my husbands' favorite...totally shocked me. Of course since I make him choose favorites who knows if he actually likes it, but he had to pick something. lol.

I was so shocked that I asked, "Are you sure? That's really your favorite?" It was confirmed. My poor husband. To be fair though, he's usually a pretty good sport about the whole thing. And I try not to set him up for failure with a "Do you like this?" question. It's almost always a group of items..."Look what I made today, which one do you like best?" There really is no wrong answer there, just surprising ones sometimes.

LOVE mini

This little mini valentine (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") was inspired by a design I saw on Debbie Olsons' blog:
The cute little floral image is from the Lotus Floral stamp set from the Amy Butler line by K&Co.
The designs in this set are all just wonderful. I can't wait to play with them some more.
I made the little corner accent by cutting a square with the Labels One Nestabilities die by Spellbinders, then cutting it into four pieces. I added some twine and a little metal Asian coin. I don't know what anyone else will think of this card, but frankly I don't care because I could look at it for hours. Every now and then I have a project like that, one I just love in spite of, or maybe because of its calming simplicity.

This laid back Valentine card is going to be a part of the Be My Valentine card class to be held at Scrap-a-Latte next month.

This card began with the LOVE squares in the center. These are from a stamp set by Magenta called Floral Love. I've chosen to do one of my favorite techniques for vintage style stamps, the Shabby Chic technique. I started with dark brown paper, stamped and embossed with clear ink and powder, painted with the Pebble Adirondack Paint Dabber, then wiped the paint off of the embossed areas with a damp paper towel.

The background was created with the Butterfly Bliss stamp set by Impression Obsession. I stamped the swirly pattern with VersaMark Ink then stamped the butterflies with paint.
When I had finally done that much I was stumped. I just sat there and stared at it waiting for inspiration to come. I finally ended up coming back to my favorite standby embellishments...Maya Roads Metal Blossoms and Kaisercraft pearls. With my love for classic and vintagy (is that a word???) things it seems like those embellishments show up alot.

Speaking of loving Maya Road, check out some of the new items that will be coming out soon!
www.mayaroad.typepad.com/mayaroad
Wow! Loving it...can't wait to get my hands on some of those vintage leaf pins!

Check back tomorrow for more Valentine designs.
(Yes, I'm actually going to post two days in a row.)

It's officially my first project of 2009

I am an earring girl, and since I had some scraps of copper left over from a project, I decided to make them into earrings. The shape of the metal was die cut with the Tiny Tags set by ProvoCraft. The leaf design was embossed into them with the Stylized Flowers Embossing Folder by Cuttlebug. I added some black paint to bring out the design, then applied Glossy Accents to both sides.

The little green "beads" were made with UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), Alcohol Ink (Lettuce) by Ranger Industries, and Gold Pearl Ex. I am really pleased with how they turned out, I have the perfect outfit to wear them with. They would even look great with a simple seed bead instead of the UTEE bead that I used.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's already 2009. A year seems to fly by awfully fast these days.

This is my husband and I on our anniversary trip this year. We stayed on the Long Beach penninsula in Washington. Our trip was planned smack in the middle of one of the largest amounts of snowfall that Oregon has seen in a long time. Sooo...we had to take the long route over the coast range and up along the coast to get to Long Beach. It was pretty crazy because they actually had snow too, and they hardly ever even get a little skiff of snow. We went for a walk on the snowy beach one morning. So beautiful! We saw a bald eagle flying over, and lots of little water birds of various kinds shared the beach with us. There were alot of heron on the beach too. It's a very pretty place, I think if we went again we would go in the summer though because it was COLD.

Well, I started this blog one year ago, and it was fun for me to look back over the entries that I've made in the last year. I find it interesting that at the beginning of the year I chose to put my focus on the word prioritize. I wasn't sure how I would actually see that focus play out in my life over the year. But I've spent significant time praying about this, especially in the middle of the night when I was laying awake and everyone else was peacefully sleeping. Now looking back, I do see that my priorities have actually changed gradually throughout the year. I've become more and more aware of how very quickly my children are growing up. I don't want to miss it, I want to just take it in and enjoy this special time in the life of our family. If you've been following my blog, you may have noticed that the amount of blog entries dropped significantly over the course of the year. Now, I could blame that all on priorities, but truthfully, some of it is just a lack of knowing what is interesting for you to read. Some of it is priorities too. My goal through this next year is to post an entry on my blog at least once a week.

As for 2009...I believe that my focus for the year is this, live intentionally. The things I do in my life do have meaning and purpose, even in the daily grind, and I want to be intentional about using my resources, time, and talent to intentionally bless my family and others, and to grow as a person. How that will look at the end of this year remains to be seen...

So happy 2009! What will it hold for you?

Snow, Snow and More Snow

This is what's been going on at our house for the last week. We've had an extra week of Christmas vacacation due to snow days. I came out and took these early in the morning before anything but deer had messed up the perfect smooth snow. This is the nice sticky snow that piles up on branches and such quite nicely. It also packs together wonderfully for...

making a sledding hill and...

igloos. Daddy and a neighbor spent a couple of hours building this great little igloo. Throughout the night it has been snowing on it and adding thickness to the walls. The great thing is, with all that work, it looks like it won't be melting yet for a little while. Some forcasts are reporting another possible 6 - 10 inches today on the valley floor. Great for snow forts...not so great for anniversary trips and holiday travels. Although they are still predicting rain for Christmas, blech. For now we'll just enjoy the snow.

Shabby Deer

I made this card with one of Tim Holtz' new stamp sets, Reindeer Flight. Swirl is stamped in Gold Embossing Powder, then I ran the top part of the card through the Cuttlebug machine in the Swiss Dots embossing folder before applying several colors of Adirondack Paint Dabbers.
Also used:
VersaMark Ink and clear embossing powder
Lace by Rusty Pickle (I think)
Grungeboard hinge

What Have You Done...

I saw this list on a blog that I visited, and thought it was fun.
You copy and paste this list, then go through it and make the things that you have done bold.
So here goes...

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (a little bit of one anyway-Swahili-in case you wondered)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (that depends on what you call rock climbing - I climbed up a dry waterfall-no ropes-and was really truly scared trying to get back down)
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (helped anyway)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Kerri Walsh)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

You know, it's amazing, my life hasn't even been that long yet, and I've done a lot more than this list represents. I've been so very blessed to get to do the many things that I've done in my life.

A few more fun things that I've done that weren't on the list:
-Swam in the Dead Sea
-memorized 3 chapters of my Bible
-beat my husband at Ping Pong (not recently unfortunately)
-gotten cards published
-been to Zanzibar
-backflipped off of a giant rock (not the smartest thing I've ever done)
-written a song
-flown an airplane

Sooo, what have you done?
If you post this list on your blog let me know and leave a link here in your comments so we can all check it out.