My Memories Software coupon code

Hello!  I'm now an affiliate for My Memories! :-)  I LOVE their software program - I have version 2 and it's so easy to use! They have since come out with version 3 and I've got a coupon code for you!  Use this code (STMMMS72517) to get a $10 discount on the purchase of the MyMemories Suite V3 scrapbook software.  The software also comes with a $10 coupon good for downloads at their site as well.  There are also a bunch of free downloads too...and on Fridays they give away a freebie from their Facebook page.  And, if you want to try before you buy, they offer a free trial as well.

If you know anyone that would be interested, please direct them here to get the code :-)

https://www.mymemories.com/

Heidi again...

Another Heidi card ;-)  For some reason my hubby loves to give these out to his friends for their birthdays...hmmm...  LOL  This time I went with simple black cardstock.  I had some leftover ribbon that I thought went really nicely because of the black edge around it.  I immediately thought of using the ribbon as a frame! So that's what I did.  There's a close-up picture of the (frame) corner below.  The image is from Victoria Case Stamps.  

Tools used: Heidi image, SU Sassy Susy for sentiment, Prismacolor colored pencils, leftover ribbon.

1st Communion Cards

 Two of our neighbors' kids made their first communion together.  So, I made them matching cards :-)
The background/frame is D'vine Swirls embossing folder - I embossed and then cut the oval out using Lifestyle Crafts nesting ovals and my Cuttlebug (where would I be without it!)  The cross stamp I got years ago and don't remember who made it, but it was just a single stamp I bought.  I stamped it with SU Creamy Caramel ink and hand-cut it out.  To get the 'light' shining behind it, I flipped the cross over to the backside and chalked from the corners out.  This way I could cover all the area I needed while lining it up just right, and not having to worry about getting chalk on the front of the cross.  Then flip and adhere.

Tools used: Cuttlebug, D'vine Swirls CB embossing folder, SU Creamy Caramel ink, SU Stampin' Pastels, pop-dots.

Heidi Birthday Card

I literally made this card in 5 mins.  My husband had decided last minute, practically before walking out the door, that he needed a birthday card for a friend of his.  Luckily I had already colored this image but hadn't made a card with it yet.  A little matting, a little embossing, and BOOM, it was done!  Thank you Victoria @ Victoria Case Art Designs for the awesome Heidi image! I've had fun coloring her.  I will post another card featuring Heidi in the future, so be on the lookout! :-)

Tools used: Cuttlebug w/ d'vine swirls embossing folder, Heidi digi from Victoria Case Art Designs, Prismacolor Pencils, SU Sassy Suzie stamp set for sentiment.

Wanda's Crafts Contest!

Wanda, at Wanda's Crafts, is having a Blog Button Contest.  You can check it out here.  Add her button to your blog and sign her guestbook and you'll be entered.  Easy peasy!





Wanda's Crafts has freebie svg files - check out her blog or sign up for her newsletter to get more - and also a store where you can purchase even more of Wanda's awesome files!  If you have a cutter go check out Wanda's Crafts!
 
Good luck!

My first blog award!!!

Woo hoo!  I got my very first blog award!  I'm so excited - I feel like I've made it in the blogging world now LOL  Thank you Elizabeth!! 

These are the rules about this award,

1) Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link.
2) To accept this award, answer 7 random facts about yourself.
3) Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blog buddies

Hmmm... 7 random facts...  let's see
 
1) I LOVE chocolate...I mean I really love it!
2) I have been married for almost 13 years and I have two kids - no pets.
3) I have been teaching myself how to knit.
4) My latest love is photography - I'm hoping to learn lots more about it soon!
5) I wish I had more time to craft and then blog about it.
6) My family and I love camping!
7) The older I get, the less I like winter...I'm pretty much against it but I can't change it. Oh well!  In my perfect world winter would only last from after Thanksgiving until the New Year, just so we have a white Christmas, and after that we'd go right into spring. 
 
Hmmm.. what if I don't have 8 other people to send to?  Well, I'll do my best...
 
1) First and foremost is my bestest blogger friend (outside of blogging as well!) Diane
2) Debbie
3) Kelly
4) Rivka
5) Meg
6) Wanda
7) and if she weren't the one to give it to me, I would have given this to Elizabeth for sure! :-)
 
 
 

Thank You Card

I wanted to use my border embossing folder so I decided to use it for this card.  It's one of the borders in the Pop Culture pack from Cuttlebug.  For the background I used Versamark and 'thank you' from the Wonderful Words SU set. The sentiment came from the SU Curvy Verses set.  For the piece of paper I used the SU ticket punch corner punch and the ribbon slot punch from Fiskars.  I tied the ribbon in both directions to change it up a bit.  I also cut the front of the card narrower so that the embossed border could be seen while the card was open or closed.

Tools: CB embossing folder - Pop Culture; Fiskars ribbon slot punch; Versamark ink (background); SU stamp sets: Wonderful Words, and Curvy Verses; SU ticket punch corner punch; ribbon; Cuttlebug machine

Anniversary Card

Friends of ours got married the same year we did...and they have the same initials as we do!  They live across the country from us and we always send them an anniversary card.  This is what they got this year:

For this I used the LOVE set from SU and matted the small squares on a piece of red paper that I used the border and corner SU punch for.  Don't you just love punching all the way around a piece of paper now?!  I cut the gold ribbon to resemble an arrow and for the background I used my Cuttlebug to emboss (using the Textile embossing folder).  I used SU Stampin' Pastels to highlight the embossing.  I chalked around the edges as well.  Inside I used the Full of Life set from SU and the 'happy anniversary' is from Inkadinkado.

Tools: SU sets: LOVE & Full of Life, Cuttlebug, CB Textile embossing folder, SU border and corner punches, corner rounder punch, ribbon, ST Stampin' Pastels, Inkadinkado stamp

Another Wedding Card

Here's another wedding card I had made.  This time I used the same bride and groom stamp, but made a different card altogether.  The ribbon holds the front flap closed.  Once you untie the ribbon the flap opens and you can open the bride and groom part.  Then you get to the inside :-)  The bridesmaids wore purple so that's the color I went with.  It's the bride's favorite color after all :-)

(Card closed)

(Front flap open)

(Inside)

Tools used: Scallop punch, circle punch, SU stamp set To Have & To Hold, ribbon, hole punch, colored pencils.

Wedding Card

 I made this card for friends of ours that were getting married.  I like the classic blacak and white look, but I had to add some color to the flowers :-)  I also added glitter to the bride's vail.  The background/frame was done with my Cuttlebug machine and the Scrollwork embossing folder.  For this card I also stamped on the inside and back of the card.  I also used the two hearts on the envelope and wrote their initials in each heart. 

Tools used: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Scrollwork embossing folder, glitter glue, ribbon, SU stamp sets: To Have & To Hold, Greetings Galore, and In My Thoughts.

Cupcake Honey birthday card

I needed to make a b-day card for friend of ours - he's not the kind of guy to go for frilly things, so I used this image instead of my typical cutesy digis :-)  I hope he appreciated it! LOL  In any event, the image is from Sassy Studios and it's called Cupcake Honey.  The candle background is an embossing folder from Cuttlebug.  The sentiments (inside and out) are from SU Sassy Suzie set.  The digi was colored using Prismacolor colored pencils.

 Tools used: SU Sassy Suzie, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Prismacolor pencils



Book Review ~ His First Kill: A Short Story

I usually don't read short stories....because...well...I think they are too short! LOL But this one was filled with twists and turns and unexpected things. I loved it! It was a quick read (as I guess is the point of short stories lol) but it was enjoyable all the way through. Thank you John Brinling! It was a fun, unexpected read!

Dragon b-day card

Here's a birthday card I made for one of my kids' friend's birthday parties.  I used Dustin Pike's freebie image and colored with Prismacolor pencils.  I double matted him and put some ballon brads along the side.

Tools used: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities squares, balloon brads, Prismacolor colored pencils, Dustin Pike digi

Book Review ~ The Usurper

Title: The Usurper

Author: Cliff Ball

This is the first Cliff Ball book I've read...and I'd have to say that if he writes another political thriller ... I'm in! "The Usurper" is a fast-paced fictional story that has non-fictional elements in it of events that really happened. Cliff makes you think 'could this really happen?' He makes it all seem possible...which is a scary thought! This book had lots of twists and turns that kept the reader on the edge of her seat throughout the book. I gave this book to my dad to read since he likes the same kind of books that I do. I'm sure he'll have a good review as well. Thank you Cliff for writing this book!

Monkey Book

Last year my sister-in-law was pregnant with her first baby.  The baby's room theme was monkeys so I had made her a wipes box decorated in monkey decor.  My brother would update everyone on the pregnancy along the way via facebook.  My brother is very witty and has a great sense of humor and every week we would look forward to reading about how the baby was growing or how the pregnancy was going.  I really wanted him to have these memories he recorded along the way so I created a mini book filled with all his postings.  The postings began with his announcement of his wife's pregnancy and ended with baby Alex's birth information and hospital picture.  I know this is a book they will treasure always. 

For the album cover I used two coasters (like the ones you get at a bar - the cardboard throwaways) and covered each with paper.  For the top cover I used the same monkey as the wipes box  and the same punch along the sides.  I cut out a bunch of paper and scored it to make enough sheets for the entire book.  Then I printed out all the quotes/pictures and glued them in order along the one side and down the other.  I tied a piece of twine around it to keep it all together.

Book Review ~ Butterflies In May

Title: Butterflies In May
Author: Karen Hart

I give this book 5 stars! LOVED it! Even though I knew Ali would become pregnant in this book (afterall, that's what the book is about), I found myself wishing it weren't true. Ali is such a straight-laced A student who's found love and you know that having a baby would change all that, so I was secretly hoping she wouldn't really be pregnant. But alas she was! I found it a remarkable story to follow Ali and her boyfriend Matt as they discover the truth and deal with it. These teens had some very tough decisions to make and the author had written these characters in such a way that you could really feel for them. In fact, this book actually made me cry! First time ever I've cried reading a book! Maybe it's because I'm a mom myself, I don't know, but it was a very touching and thoughtful story of these two teens. I think this is a must read for all teens!

Book Review ~ Thanksgiving at the Inn

 Title: Thanksgiving at the Inn
Author: Tim Whitney

LOVED this book! Such a heartwarming, touching story about family. This story is about Heath and his dad and their travels back to Massachusetts to live at the Inn. The story has some very interesting characters. I loved how well the characters were written - especially Preacher with his accent. Every time I picked up this book I was brought right into the story and could picture myself as a fly on the wall watching everything happen. It was like I was following Heath around learning as he did. The characters make it such a warm story that makes you realize that 'family' can be a variety of things. I could definitely see this story becoming a movie. It was so enjoyable to read and I think it'd be a shame to not have it on film. It's a good story that the whole family can enjoy. A+


Tim Whitney - if this is your debut, I can't wait to see what comes out next! Thank you for the read!

Happy New Year!

Hello, hello!  Welcome to 2011! 

I'm hoping to be able to spend some more time on my neglected blog this year and hopefully get back into the swing of things.  This year I'll also be posting book reviews of books that I've read on my Nook. 

While I haven't been able to do as much crafting during my hiatus as I would have liked, I did manage to create a few cards here and there...and my 6 yr old daughter has too - maybe more than I did! LOL  Being the proud mama that I am, I'll be posting her creative works as well.