Outta Here

We are out of here.  We move first thing in the morning.  I am met with great excitement and lots of reluctance.  :) and :(

I wanted to show you one of two last cards I made before officially packing up my craft room.  See you on the other side of the digital world once I am moved and the computer is all set up and going!

 And of course a peek at the inside . . .

Credits:  Pattern Paper - Digital Paper from Silent Night Collection by Connie Prince; Die Cuts, Stamps, Ink, and Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Flowers - all sorts of places and finds

Thankful . . .

I am so very thankful for all that is going on in my life at the moment.  Highlights?  We sold our house!!  God is so faithful.  So, we are moving.  Like this next weekend into a temporary home until our house is finished.  Our new home will be done at the first of May in 2013.  I am designing both my craft room and my closet.  It isn't going well.  Why does a little thing like money always play a part?  Oh, and I was supposed to have them both designed by two weeks ago!!  My sister just lost her husband.  (ok, so not technically thankful for that, but it sure makes you thankful for those you do have!)  They are having a Celebration of Life next week because Thanksgiving was his absolute favorite thing.  They wanted to keep it sacred.  I am, however, thankful to celebrate the life that he did have here on this earth.  AND, last but certainly not least, my newborn (who probably isn't technically a newborn anymore but 6 months old) has begun to sleep almost all the way through the night.  YES!!!  One easy peasy feed between 4 and 5.  Yes!!!

I am still planning on showing you how the craft room is coming.  Endless possibilities + Overthinker = Very Difficult to Narrow Down to What I Want!  I have initial drawings from the cabinet maker.  I also have tons of sketches, etc.  I hope to get it all put together so you can see it go from empty space to "Craftopia"!!  I just made that up . . . utopia combined with crafts . . . craftopia!

Now to show you what I have been working on before the "now" craft room goes into boxes.

Credits - All Papertrey Ink unless noted:

Stamps - Pretty Peonies, Polka Dot Basics; Ink - Summer Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Harvest Gold, Winter Wisteria; Paper - Vintage Cream and Summer Sunrise, Flowers - Prima; Jewels - Dollar Store

It's My Life . . .

. . . and I love it.  I really do.  It is just that my life at the moment is . . . well . . . how can I put it . . . a lot.  But, look what I have made today!!

It felt sooooooooo good to get into my craft room and make a card.  It feels like it has been so long now.  It probably has been so long.  

Here is a closer look:

I was so excited at how this turned out.  I would like to give it to my sister for Thanksgiving.  She will LOVE it.

I also made a Veteran's Day card.  I have a family member that is in a nursing home.  He LOVES to get mail.  I thought this would totally make his day.  I cannot wait for him to open it up!

And I also made the inside to this one.

I am getting ready to start packing up my craft room.  Before I do, I WILL do some stamping.  I will do some stamping.  I am not completely sure when I will see them again.  So, I cannot wait to share all my creations before the big move.

Digital Scrapbooking - The Easy Way

I have shared more and more of my digital scrapbooking creations.  In fact, I really do virtually no paper scrapbook pages anymore.  So, I wanted to encourage all my paper crafters out there that you CAN do this.

I have a few loves in the crafting world . . . all things Papertrey Ink . . . all thing Shabby Princess!  These are two things that I buy without fail.  I just buy and buy and buy.  Papertrey Ink is a physical product company that has the MOST adorable things.  The entire team is amazing (yes, I met *stalked* them at CHA a couple of summers ago).  Shabby Princess is equally amazing in the digital world.  Her designs like Papertrey Ink are timeless, beautiful, and always look amazing.  And the SP team is equally amazing.  Although I only know them in a digital/online sense.  **I feel like I live half of the time in the real world and the other half in the matrix!!**

I was looking around a few months ago for something specific that I was needing for a digital book I was going to scrapbook.  I ran across something I found amazing!!  Pre-made elements . . . all the hard work done for you . . . I had been under a rock.  Where had this been all my life?  So, I ran over to the store that was carrying the digital genius products.  That is when I discovered Connie Prince Designs.  She has this amazing blog where she gives out freebies and showcases her amazing stuff.  Seriously, go check it out here:  http://scrapinfusions.blogspot.com.

Let me show you something I made that I was super happy with:

Now let me show you how easy it is to do this for yourself in a simple graphics program like Photoshop Elements.

I bet you didn't realize that all the hard work was done for me.  Amazing right??!!  I have this totally amazing layout that anyone . . . and I mean anyone . . . could totally do.  The best part . . . if you head over to her shop at Gingerscraps, you can get all the pieces for this layout for only $3.  AND you will have enough stuff to do lots more pages.  Paper scrapbooking doesn't hold a candle to the budget friendliness or the ease for the finished product.

Thanks for looking today.  I have a HUGE post that I am working on all about the big move . . . coming sooner than I would want.  And, I have started designing my new studio!!!!!!  I am hopefully going to have the time/energy to share all about that as well.

Thankful for Teachers

I am so thankful for great teachers that come to work each and every day to educate my sweet babies (ok, not so baby as my 3rd and 1st grader, but you understand).  We have some amazing teachers, and I wanted to do something for them this year before the official Christmas season kicks off.  So, I made all of them a goodie bag with a couple of gift cards and a piece of candy or two.  I hope they enjoy their Christmas a touch early this year.  I thought it would a way for them to enjoy their treats and use all the gift cards on all the great pre-Christmas sales.

So, what did I come up with?  Well, let me show you.

I made this little gift sack from a regular lunch sack.  I cut it down and dressed it all up in Thankful, Christmasy paper crafting goodness.  Both of my kids have 4 (Yes, you read correctly, FOUR) classroom teachers.  Not aids, certified teachers.  Then you throw in the amazing secretary (who is amazing by the way) and the PE teacher (who is my son's favorite PE teacher so far) and the music teacher . . . and I made 11 of these puppies.  I still need to get some more gift cards, but I have a little time before Thanksgiving (which is my goal to have these done and delivered).  Each teacher is getting a Sonic gift card.  Otherwise, we are somewhat tailoring it to the teacher as to what we get.  Fun!

Look at that amazing decoration.  It was so super easy and relatively quick.  As I cheated.  It is actually a digital image that I put together and then printed 11.  Yeah!!  I also made the tags with the names, printed them, and then punched them out with a 1.75 inch circle punch.  So, this project went a bit quicker than you would think.

Credits:  Brown Lunch Sack, White Tissue Paper: Target; Digital Papers and Word Art: Connie Prince (you can get the digital kit at GingerScraps); Black Gingham Ribbon and Scallop Circle Die Cut (Limitless Layers): Papertrey Ink; Red Ribbon: Hobby Lobby.

Thanks for stopping by.