SSS October Card Kit + Crafty/Life Updates + Giveaway!

Hello! Today I have a card to share that features the newly released October card kit from Simon Says Stamp! This month's kit is full of pinks and golds and has an awesome stamp set and die as well! I had a lot of fun creating with it!

For my card I used one of the patterned papers and one of the journal cards to create a butterfly shaker card. As soon as I saw that butterfly journal card I knew it would look awesome with sequins and beads behind it.

I cut the journaling card down to give it straight corners rather than rounded and then I added a piece of vellum to the back of it for the shaker window. I then added foam adhesive all around the butterfly and filled the inside with clear and gold sequins and beads. 

I adhered the shaker piece to the gold heart patterned paper that I diecut with a stitched rectangle die and then matted the whole thing onto a piece of black cardstock.

I stamped the smaller sentiment onto a piece of black cardstock with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I adhered it to the card over the butterfly and then also added the word Hello that I diecut from some gold glittery cardstock.

I completed the card by adhering the finished panel to a white top-folding card base and then adding a few clear sequins around the butterfly.

You can pick up the October card kit here for just $29.95 + shipping. Or if you’d like to receive this kit and future kits for only $24.95 + shipping per month, you can subscribe here. When you subscribe you will receive kits delivered to your door automatically!

Giveaway

I have an extra October card kit to give away! Just leave a comment on this post by September 20, 2015 for a chance to win! ;)

Crafty/Life Updates

I don't usually share too much on my blog aside from card/crafty posts lol! but I wanted to touch base on a couple of things:

This will be my last month sharing cards with the Simon Says Stamp card kit. I've decided that's its time to let a couple things go so I can focus on other things (see below) and this was one of those things. It's been fun creating with the kits for the past couple years but I felt it was time to move on. ;)

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you know I've been renovating my kitchen. My husband and I have been doing a lot of it ourselves so it has been taking up a lot of my time lol! But I am loving seeing the progress as we move forward and now I pretty much want to renovate everything in the house. So proud of 'us' for all the hard work we've put into it! Thank you to all of you for sharing our renovation journey! ;)

I've been really focusing on getting healthy and taking care of myself. I make time for the elliptical on a regular basis and feel so energetic and happy when I push myself to get moving. I'll be having surgery in November and I really want to have my body in the best shape I can. 

I'm definitely still crafting, although sometimes I have less time to get creative... mainly because of the above haha!

So I apologize if I don't have crafty posts up as often. I'll be taking a bit of time off after my surgery (I'm going to try and have stuff scheduled and ready beforehand) but I have weeks of being home to recover that I'll hopefully feel up to creating. I'll definitely keep you posted!

Thanks as always for stopping by and spending part of your day with me!  I so appreciate it!

Supplies

InLinkz.com

Happy Birthday | Sweet Sixteen

Today is a very special day in my world because my daughter Caitlyn is 16 today! I can't believe I have already been her mom for 16 years!

She is an amazing kid who would do anything for anyone. She is polite, funny, smart, beautiful and one of my best friends in the world. I can't imagine a life without her in it and I thank the stars above for her every day.

I knew I wanted to make her a super fun card for this milestone birthday. Something fun and girly and completely her own. She has always been a crafty girl like me and I know how she much she enjoys and appreciates receiving handmade cards from me each year. 

I actually joked with her this year that I was buying her card instead of making it, and she wasn't too thrilled with that idea lol!! Guess it's a good thing I was just kidding around with her! ;)

So for this year's card I went bright and fun and made her something that is so her.

She loves fashion, loves to shop and loves being outdoors so I think I did pretty well this year on her card. I had so much fun making it and customizing it to what I know she likes. 

This cardmaking thing... it's a pretty awesome thing! ;)

Happy Sweet Sixteen Caitlyn!! Love you! ;)

Supplies

InLinkz.com

Happy Birthday Laurel!!

Today is my friend Laurel's birthday and I wanted to share this card I made for her big day!!

Happy Birthday!

Laurel,

I hope you have the best birthday yet and get spoiled rotten!! You so deserve it!!
SO happy your Silhouette wouldn't work and after a little google chat to help you, I now get to call you a friend!! :-)

Enjoy your day!!
Love You! ;-)

Operation Safe & Sound

We have a special post today.  Our dear friend Christy's home was broken into and a lot of their things were either destroyed or taken. Some things held such sentimental value that nothing will replace it.   What makes our community so remarkable is that we are there for each other even though we can't physically be near our friends. These "people" violated her home, the place where we are supposed to feel the most safe, where we raise our children and where we sleep in peace. I can not even imagine what she is going thru or the loss she has endured.  Dealing with the police and insurance company has been and continues to be exhausting and frustrating for Christy and her family. She has been updating her facebook page with some details.

Some of Christy's friends have come together to help. We are of course making cards for her because that's what we do, right? But ultimately, the expense of trying to get her family back on their feet will be somewhat of a strain. Imagine having to replace household items, necessities in our world all while trying to rebuild a sense of security that we all most times take for granted.

So, we're asking for your help. We've tried to make it convenient for you to help Christy and her family. There's a PayPal button on each of our blogs. We are asking that if its your hearts desire, that you donate whatever you can to help Christy and her family regain a sense of safety and security.  NOTHING is too small. Every little bit will make all the difference. Our goal is to raise $1,000 to help cover the costs of food, lodging and replacing at least some of the items taken.

Thank you for even reading this post in its entirety. 

If you're interested in seeing all of the cards, a full list of girls who are participating in the card drive  is available at the Lawnscaping Challenge blog & A Blog Named Hero


Edited to add: Thank you to everyone who was able to donate a little something to Christy and her family. And thank you also to everyone who helped spread the word about Operation Safe & Sound. 

Thank You!
Steph

Project Life 2012 | Week One

Sorry I am a little late in posting week one of my Project Life. The weekend ended up a little busier than planned and I have been busy working away on CHA assignments. (The big crafting tradeshow that happens twice a year. Jillibean Soup has some really awesome stuff coming out this release! I'll share some of the sneaks in the next day or two.

And now onto Project Life. About a month before Christmas I decided that I really wanted to do Project Life this year. And it is sooo popular right now and after a couple I weeks I can see why! It has reminded me so much why I started scrapbooking and why I love it so much! And while I still love my layouts and will continue to create them, this approach is so stress free, easy and fun! It's a little ridiculous how excited I get each week when I pick up my developed photos for the past week. (I was originally going to print all of my photos at home on my Epson Artisan but I decided to send them to get developed instead and am really happy with doing it this way. I just upload my prints, pick them up the next day on my way home from work and it costs like $2 depending on how many photos I have for the week)

So here is Week One:

I am hoping to get on a schedule of posting my Project Life for the past week on Saturdays.

Be back soon!
Steph :-)

Merry Christmas!!

Just wanted to stop in quick on Christmas Eve to say Merry Christmas!!
I hope everyone has a relaxing holiday with family and friends that is full of great memories, laughter and love!!
I also wanted to share this layout of my little guy that was in the latest issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today.
One of our favourite Christmas traditions is the cookie decorating!!

Merry Christmas!!!
Steph :-)

Elle's Studio December Gallery & Other Randoms

Hi!!
Can you say complete blog slacker?!?!
I knew it would happen...in December it always does. Life is just so crazy busy with work, home, kids and preparing for and enjoying the holidays.
And I openly admit that I am currently a December Daily failure - I have photos and notes and memories all tucked into the album, but nothing has actually made it into the pages. And I am completely OK with that. I was hoping to assemble the pages each night or at least every couple nights but it just didn't turn out that way.
My plan now is to just keep saving the memories and maybe put the album together in the new year. And if that doesn't happen then I will just create a few layouts, save the foundation album for next year and call it a day!! :-)

In other news:

Today the Elle's Studio gallery went live for December. Yes it is earlier than usual to allow for the holidays. And this month the design team worked with the special edition kits that Elle's Studio released last month. I worked with the Jack Frost kit and created a layout and a card:

Snow Day

 

Winter Wonderland

 

And I am sad to say that this was my last gallery contribution for Elle's Studio. December marks the end of our 6 month design team term. I am so sad to be leaving as I have really enjoyed working with Elle and the other girls. Elle is seriously one of the nicest most generous people I know. I can't thank her enough for welcoming me to the team.

Be back soon!
Happy Friday Eve!

Steph :-)

A New Layout

So sorry that I have been away from the blog so long! Life is returning to normal since coming home from the hospital. Thank you to everyone for all the get well wishes for Caitlyn. She is a real trooper... just taking everything day to day and adjusting to life in a full arm cast. And of course it's her writing hand so that makes everything a little more difficult. We're hoping everything sets correctly and she can be out of her cast in time for the holidays. :-)

Thought I would share a layout today that I created for the Jillibean Soup blog this month. I used some older photos of Ryan carving his pumpkin. He was so funny at this age... the pumpkins fascinated him lol!

Carving Pumpkins

For a complete supply list, you can find this layout at the Jillibean Soup blog here.

Steph :-)

Sorry...

I have been missing form the blog this past little bit. I finally got my computer problems fixed by getting rid of my PC and getting an iMac! Yay!!!
But then I had a bunch of stuff keeping me busy and this past Tuesday Caitlyn fell playing soccer at school and we have been in the hospital since. She had emergency surgery on her arm Tuesday night and is now in a full arm cast. I just got her home and am trying to get settled back into life here.
Will post soon!! :-)

Steph :-)