Goodness Gracious GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!!

After such a long hiatus from my blog, I needed an eye-catching title for this post, right? :)

I'm so sorry for my absence, fellow crafters. I have been so sad not to be creating and sharing with you all. I MISS SUMMER!!! Oh how I long for the carefree nights without volleyball games, homework, etc.! My schedule has been especially grueling lately. I've still checked your blogs, got excited about the inspiration, but commented little and just haven't had the time and/or energy to get crafty myself.

This week, however, I was approached by a manager at my work to make a special gift presentation. He knew I enjoyed making things, and since I had been gone from my passion for what felt like an eternity, I decided that this was a good push to get crafty again.

Let me give you a little background for my gift presentation. The gift recipient is Dick Bales, who authored a book a few years back called "The Great Chicago Fire and The Myth of Mrs. O'Leary's Cow." Using our company's very old title records, he did some extensive research that actually admonishes Mrs. O'Leary's cow from being the cause of the Great Chicago Fire! And since a local theater is doing a play on this subject, my manager thought a gift certificate to the theater would be a nice early 60th birthday present for Dick.

Here is the presentation of that gift certificate:

One of the biggest benefits to crafting is making things personalized, don't you think? LOVE IT!

I used 2 Cricut cartridges for this candy bouquet: Birthday Bash (cow and numbers), and Campin' Critters for the flames. The candy, of course, was in the theme: Cow Tales, Atomic Fireballs, and Black Cow bars (the giant chocolate caramel versions of Slow Pokes - yum!). I also copied Dick's book cover to add in. If you need more details, please email me. I so need to go to sleep, though! I'll be dragging tomorrow, but at least I'll feel good about getting a post up, right? Not to mention it's FRIDAY!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend, my fellow bloggy friends!

Kick Up Your Heels!!

Hello,  my crafty friends!

Now that my kids' school year and volleyball season have kicked into high gear, my crafty time has been SOOO limited. And of course there are all of these great challenges going on that I've had to read about but pass on (sniff, sniff), which is just not fun! So this week, even though it's been extremely busy, I made a point to take time for myself and make a card so I can participate in 2 of my favorite challenges . . . JUST FOR FUN!!!

Here's my card:

Supplies:

• Cricut Country Life cartridge for guitar-strumming cowgirl
• Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge for background shape (can't wait to dive more into this fantastic cartridge!!)
• Red, tan, brown, dark brown, black, kraft, flesh & confetti cardstock scraps from my stash
• Bandanna and denim patterned paper found on internet and printed on my home printer
• "Kick up your Heels!" sentiment from Scrappy Moms' Designer's Choice stamp set
• Black Versa Ink, Ranger clear embossing powder & heat gun for sentiment 
• Jute cord plus Terrifically Tacky tape to hold the cord in place around the frame
• Stampin' Up Crystal Effects for guitar and boots
• Red Stickles for lips
• Stampin' Up' black marker for eyes
• Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip ink pad with sponge for card edge

I am entering this in Scrappy Moms' Terrific Tuesday Challenge to use the Country Life Cricut cartridge AND Fantabulous Cricut Challenge # 77's Make Some Music - YES!!

 

This was very therapeutic, I must say, even though I stayed up late to make it last night. It was worth being a zombie at work today-LOL! Well, thanks for being a part of my therapy this week by taking a peek at my card! I appreciate you all!

 

Have a great remainder of your week!

I have MOOs, I mean NEWS!!!

I can finally tell my EXCITING MOOs,

I mean news!!!

I'm going to be a Scrappy Moms

guest designer in March!!!

I've never been a guest designer before and you all know how much I love Scrappy Moms stamps, so this is just so awesome to me!!!

I can't believe I'm included is this line up of such talented crafters! Check them out!

Sep 2011 - Laurie
Oct 2011 - Heather
Nov 2011 - Sarah
Dec 2011 - Kristy
Jan 2012 - Star
Feb 2012 - Jennifer
Mar 2012 - ME!!!!
Apr 2012 - Marlene
May 2012 - Carrie
Jun 2012 - Dawnica
and new permanent design team member, Saundra!

MOO-chas Gracias, Mel and Tammy for this honor! I will have so much fun with it. It is definitely something to look forward to during those cold, monotonous midwest winter days. I'll be all warm and cozy when I'm crafting away with my Scrappy Moms stamps! :)

And speaking of crafting with my Scrappy Moms stamps, that's exactly what I did when I made the cow card above. I took that photo while visiting our local Children's zoo with my Godkids. That little cow was so friendly!

Here is the card's inside:

Supplies:

• Cow photo printed on HP brochure glossy paper
• White Georgia Pacific cardstock and black cardstock scrap
• "Moo-chas Gracias" stamp from Scrappy Mom's Furry Friends stamp Set
• "You make my heart happy!" stamp from Scrappy Mom's Quirky Quotes stamp set
• Charcoal baker's twine purchased from Scrappy Moms
• Stampin' Up Ticket Corner punch

Thank you for sharing in my excitement! I really love this big crafty family we're all a part of! :)

Have a great weekend!!!



Owl-Themed Birthday Party - The Decorations!

I've been a busy little "Night Owl" making more items for my friend's daughter's "Owl Night" Pajama Party- Hoot! Hoot!


A while back, I saw this crafty blog, SnowyBliss  that I now happily follow because this blogger, ANJ, is just full of awesome craftiness and has such a fun writing style! In fact, right now she has an incredible Halloween-themed polka dot cake posted on her blog! It is so COOL!! I really want to try it. Hopefully I can soon, but for now let's get back to the owl party (Squirrel!). ANJ threw an owl-themed pajama party for her 6-year old daughter last December. Her February 4th post gives details and fun photos of this unbelievable bash.

ANJ made some fantastic decorations, but what was really unique were the felt owl stuffed animals she made for each guest with descriptions and adoption cards to hoot, I mean boot! I told my friend that she just HAD to do something like this! My friend was "OWL" over it, but didn't feel she had enough time to make all of the stuffed creatures the way she wanted to, so she enlisted an Etsy artist to make them for her (I don't have her info right now, but I will update this post when I do).

Here are the owls that were made:

Aren't they just adorable??? Not only are they going to be well-loved pals for each guest long after the party, they can also be so much fun DURING the party!! It can be a game to get them like what ANJ did, they can be props for later games, They can indulge in "spa" time (pretend of course), etc., etc. If you couldn't tell, I love these owls and have really gotten into this party theme - LOL!

Ok, so ANJ set the bar really high and now I needed to come up with owl description cards and adoption certificates for my friend's daughter's party. Thankfully, ANJ gave the descriptions she used for her party on her blog, so I happily CASE'd it - Thank you, ANJ! Like the invitation, I utilized Dreamlike Magic's "You're A Hoot" digital papers and clipart for everything I made for the party.

Here are the owl description cards and adoption certificates (sorry for the horrible photos! I wanted to get everything mailed off to my friend ASAP in case something wasn't right or if she needed anything else, so I just grabbed these pics super quick!):

This is "Dress Up Owl's" description card and

adoption certificate for the birthday girl!

I also made sundae bar signs and cupcake decorations (x24):

And lollipop decorations which will be put on 3 inch swirly lollipops (x12):

I didn't do too much "Cricut-ing" for these little projects, but I did use my bug for the circles (Accent Essentials) and Scallops (Straight From the Nest). A lot of it was designed and printed utilizing my PC. And of course I matched the fonts to the invitation, which were CK Jolly Elf and CK Fun fonts.

Also in the care package mailed off yesterday I included my card and birthday gift for the party's guest of honor:

The gift included "Happy Birthday" Mad Libs, an owl pencil, a slumber party journal, a spa eye mask, a fun "write-on" T-shirt, and the pony tail "lollipop" that is on the top of the wrapped gift. And the card was made with the Dreamlike Magic digital papers and clipart. NO Cricut -  I know!  I just had to have everything match, though! :)

Well, that's "owl" for the owl party. I'm not sure if I'll be making anything more for it, but if I do, I will surely post it! But for now, I am entering these projects in Decorate To Celebrate's Challenge # 8 - Anything Goes!

I got my Cricut Imagine last week, but unfortunately it needs to fly back to Provo, Utah to get doctored up. Sniff, sniff. I knew I wouldn't be one of the lucky ones with a perfectly working machine, though. It's just not how I roll unfortunately. But the Imagine cartridges that I've already purchased for it are getting VERY lonely (insert pitiful pout here)! Hopefully I'll be up and running on it soon, though.I do need to start looking toward my big Halloween bash and get some invitation ideas brewing (this time insert a sinister witch cackle! Hee, hee, hee).

Oh, and one last thing. I have some exciting news! I can't share it yet, but when I am given the green light, I'll be a postin'! It's something I've been really wanting, though! I'll give you a couple hints:  1) I blog about these craft products A LOT and use them often, 2) I have never been a part of anything like this before. It's super exciting for a very part-time crafter/blogger such as myself. Ok, that's enough on that. Don't want to get in trouble! :)

Have a wonderful weekend all! Hopefully you are somewhere enjoying comfortable temps and some sunshine! Gotta love September! :)

I've Got Scrappy Mail!

There I was . . . walking into my home office after a long day of work and picking up my kids from volleyball practice. I saw the mail on my desk, which included a big USPS box. I thought, "Hmmm . . . what could that be?" I really didn't think I had anything ordered that would arrive today. Much to my surprise, I opened that USPS box and saw all of these WONDERFUL goodies inside . . .

 Isn't it AWESOME?? I was so excited!!

Papers, stickers, embellishments, and an SU stamp!

This was all from my lovely bloggy friend, Monica

over at Scraplifter's Anonymous!

 All of the papers are FABULOUS, but this one

I especially adore which is by Sassafras!

 Now I love all of this "Happy Scrappy Mail", but these
epoxy stickers are my absolute FAVORITE!! They are
so true for me. I am SO prone to frequent stops and lagging
behind taking photos during sight-seeing-LOL!

Many thanks to you, Monica.

You totally made my day!

Thank you for spoiling me rotten

with such fun "scrappy mail."

And to everyone else, please give Monica's blog a visit! She is such a talented scrapbooker. Her boys are so lucky to have a mom that documents their lives so beautifully. Her Photoshop tutorials are really great, too.

Not a bad start to September for Jen, huh? And it's almost Friday before a long weekend - YES!

Happy crafting all!