Poppystamps: Warm Christmas Wishes

Morning, y'all!  I'm thrilled to be up again today, on the Poppystamps blog, sharing a card, boasting a paper door all dressed up for the holidays.  So, let's get right to it.

I started this card by embossing vertical grooves, into a wide strip of Oatmeal cardstock, to resemble bead-board and topping it with a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  A strip of vellum, stamped, in Jet Black ink, with the "WARM CHRISTMAS WISHES" sentiment was carefully held in place near the bottom of the prepped piece, as all three paper bits were then anchored, onto a white, cardstock, card face, with brown-threaded, straight, machine stitches and their edges distressed with Tea Dye and Antique Linen inks.

The door was Cameo-cut from Crumb Cake cardstock; distressed with Tea Dye and Antique Linen inks, as well as a little, Titanium White acrylic paint; backed with a piece of white cardstock, which had been coated with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress Inks, rubbed through the Winter Scattered Flakes stencil; and adhered, tucked under the vellum, sentiment strip, in the center of the card face.  Our Home for the Holidays Wreath was then die-cut from Garden Green, Ruby Red, Certainly Celery, and Ballet Slippers cardstocks, as well as vellum, and stacked one on top of the other, while tucking each limb, leaf, and berry into the other, until it was full and fluffy and perfectly fit to hang on the door.  I also weaved in a few Always Artichoke, cardstock, Pine Twig die cuts.

It was then topped with a length of white, seam binding ribbon, tied in a double bow, and embellished with a lone pearl, backed with a Baker's Twine bow, to complete the look.

Thanks so much for humbling me with a visit, friends!  Be blessed!

{Supplies & Tools}
Stamps: Christmas Greetings (Poppystamps) Paper: Oatmeal & Ballet Slippers (Wplus9); Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Ruby Red, Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, & Garden Green SU!); white & vellum (Paper Studio) Ink: Jet Black, Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Tea Dye, & Antique Linen (Ranger); Jet Black (StazOn) Other: brown thread (Coats & Clark); sewing machine (Janome); foam tape (Scrapbook Adhesives); Titanium White acrylic paint (FolkArt); white seam binding ribbon (Zipper Stop); Baker's Twine (Clean Country Paper Supplies); pearl (Paper Studio); Build a House - Windows cut file & Cameo (Silhouette); Winter Scattered Flakes stencil (Memory Box); Big Shot (Sizzix); Home for the Holidays Wreath & Pine Twig dies (Poppystamps)

Pretty Little Studio: Cozy Christmas Traditions

Welcome to the work week, y'all!  I trust you all enjoyed your weekends.  I'm up again on the Pretty Little Studio blog, showcasing just a little of what Heather Adams' new Holly Jolly Collection has to offer.  Enjoy!

I started this page by watercoloring the background of a 12" x 12" piece of watercolor paper and splattering it with that same shade of aqua watercolor, as well as Pure Black and Titanium White acrylic paints.  I then anchored a number of prints, with gold-threaded, straight, machine stitches, under where my photo strip, which was matted with white cardstock, would lie.  A couple of Picnic Die-Cut Tags, laced with Baker's Twine, were tucked under the top edge of my photos, along with a Treasure Map Tab, which I labeled with Christmas Eve...

and embellished with a Make a Wish Die Cut pine branch and couple of die-cut, from our Trim the Tree print, holly leaves, anchored with a red button, laced with white string.

In the bottom right corner of my photo strip, I clustered a couple of trees, which were Cameo-cut from patterned prints; Cambridge 4" Doily; Make a Wish Die Cut tree trio; and stamped, in Jet Black ink, Santa.  One of the Cameo-cut trees was anchored with gold-threaded, straight, machine stitching; and the stamped Santa was die-cut out, watercolored, and popped up with foam tape.

Three more of those Cameo-cut trees, one of which was anchored with more gold-threaded stitching, were tucked into the bottom left corner of the photo strip.  The "joy" tree was backed with Riding Hood Red cardstock, as well as a tangle of gold thread, and popped up with foam tape.

The entire design was then grounded with the "cozy christmas traditions" title, which was created from Make a Wish and Twinkle Words Die Cuts and a Jolly Acrylic "christmas", which actually stands out much better in real life due to its thickness...

as well as die-cut phrases from those same named packages above and a Remember Sticker.  Stamped, in Jet Black ink, snowflakes; "merry christmas!" sentiment; and row of hearts from our Cedar Stamp Set, not to mention a scattering of peppermint and snowflake die cuts and 4mm and 8mm Crystal Clear Sequins, complete the look.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a blessed, Christmas season, friends!  Hugs!

{Supplies & Tools}
Stamps: Jolly Holiday (Reverse Confetti); Cedar Stamps (PLS) Paper: Riding Hood Red (SU!); white & vellum (Paper Studio); watercolor (Master's Touch); Holly Jolly: Santa's Bag 8x8, Deck the Halls 8x8, Stocking Stuffers 8x8, Christmas Confetti 8x8, Trim the Tree 8x8, & Peppermint Stripes Clear 8x8, & Here Comes the Sun: Summer Night (PLS) Ink: Jet Black (Ranger) Other: gold thread (Coats & Clark); sewing machine (Janome); foam tape (Scrapbook Adhesives); watercolors (Kuretake); Holly & Jolly Holiday Confetti Cuts dies (Reverse Confetti); Big Shot (Sizzix); button (Papertrey Ink); white string (Hobby Lobby); Baker's Twine (Clean Country Paper Supplies); Nicole Nowosad November cut file (Hip Kit Club); Cameo (Silhouette); Pure Black & Titanium White acrylic paints (FolkArt); Holly Jolly: Make a Wish Die Cuts, Jolly Acrylics, Remember Stickers, & Twinkle Words Die Cuts, You & Me: Cambridge 4" Doily Pack, Here Comes the Sun: High 5 Journaling Cards, Treasure Island: Treasure Map Tabs, & Summer Vibes: Picnic Die-Cut Tags, 4mm Crystal Sequins, & 8mm Crystal Sequins (PLS)

Friday Faves

Evening, y'all!  I trust all my American friends had wonderful Thanksgivings!  If you read yesterday's Happy Thanksgiving! post, you know that my little guy was running a temp hovering around 103 degrees all day long.  It started late Wednesday, but it broke at about one o'clock this morning; and we've been able to keep it down, with meds, all day.  Praise the Lord!  He's on the mend!  Despite his illness changing our Thanksgiving plans from driving to have dinner with my parents and siblings and their families to staying right here at home, it was truly a very relaxed, peaceful, and memorable day.  I'll share a few pics later, but until then, I've got a short Friday Faves lineup for you all, beginning with Avery Elle's Favorite Person stamp set from their latest release.  I just love that Jamie is already thinking about Valentine's Day with these "love"ly, versatile sentiments.  And isn't that font perfectly scrumptious?!

Bella BLVD's You Are Loved 12x12 Collection Kit caught my attention for its bold, bright, happy colors and playful, childlike prints.  Gorgeous!

I happened to run across a package of Fiskars' Performance 8 Inch Softgrip Titanium Nonstick Fashion Scissors on a recent trip to Tuesday Morning.  I brought them home, on a whim, crossing my fingers that they'd do just what their LONG name says they'll do; because my foam-tape-cutting scissors are completely gunked up and impossible to pull apart.  Well, I couldn't possibly be any more pleased with their functionality.  They've been getting a ton of use, cutting flawlessly, and not picking up even a hint of residue for over two weeks now.  Eeek!  They're a must-have for any papercrafters on your Christmas lists, y'all!

And just for fun, because I seem to be craving them at all hours of the day and night, I had to include Cinnamon Chex Gluten Free Cereal from General Mills.  I think I'm going to go have a bowl right now ;).  Mmm!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope to see you all on the other side of the weekend.  Be blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, our Thanksgiving plans have taken a bit of a nosedive.  My littlest kiddo woke up with a 102.8 degree fever, which began yesterday afternoon.  Ugh!  We won't be making the trek to my parents' place after all.  My hubby ran to a couple of grocery stores to check on turkeys, but he only found frozen.  So, we're having chicken for Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in my lifetime.  It's no big deal to me, being as I'm a vegetarian.  Honestly, I think it's okay with the rest of my family, too; but I still promised them a turkey for Christmas dinner ;).

photo credit

Over the last few days, each of the members of my family secretly wrote, on little strips of paper, all the things for which they are thankful and tossed them into a basket.  We read through them at breakfast this am, and I thought today would be the perfect time to share those entries here on my blog.  Please keep in mind that this is by no means an exhaustive list, and see if you can guess who might have written what.  In no particular order, we are thankful for...

1. portable DVD players (My kiddos use these for some of their homeschool lessons.)
2. nature
3. papercrafts
4. Thanksgiving
5. our fire pit
6. Summer, our dog
7. mission trips
8. Silver Dollar City
9. family movie night
10. Snowflake, our bunny
11. George, Kaden's stuffed Curious George
12. slippers
13. popcorn
14. cinnamon rolls
15. snail mail
16. hospitals
17. missionaries
18. libraries
19. a wife willing to stay home
20. Lenexa Baptist Church
21. Christmas
22. Kaden's Elmo book
23. a democratic government
24. unconditional forgiveness
25. hot cocoa with candy canes
26. Jesus' death on the cross
27. Mom and Dad
28. coffee
29. a Jeep that no longer leaks oil
30. homeschool
31. pizza
32. animals
33. baseball
34. family vacations
35. the Bible
36. United States of America
37. family
38. basketball
39. flannel sheets
40. Aegis Fire Protection, my hubby's employer
41. toys
42. butterflies
43. sunflowers
44. food
45. friends
46. pumpkins
47. Shirley, our neighbor
48. Ezekiel
49. a positive bank account balance
50. Kansas City Zoo
51. gardens
52. books
53. my hubby
54. Royals baseball
55. Pumpkin Spice Lattes
56. hot baths
57. haircuts
58. seasons
59. horses
60. television
61. Kaden
62. clothes
63. breakfast
64. Casas por Cristo
65. Cinnamon Chex
66. Colorado
67. stars
68. apple shampoo ;)
69. a new washer and dryer
70. birthdays
71. grocery stores
72. orthodontics
73. methods of transportation
74. music
75. band concerts
76. our home
77. Mommy staying home
78. cowboy boots
79. summer camp and fall retreat
80. ABeka Academy
81. colors
82. siblings
83. weather
84. Kaden's polar bear, a figurine my hubby brought back from his trip to Orlando
85. cousins
86. a Christian heritage
87. paints
88. my bed
89. salvation
90. swimming pools
91. pets
92. our backyard
93. technology
94. soccer
95. Adina
96. a good Sunday School class
97. playdough
98. mint M&M's
99. fruit, especially grapes (Kaden eats them like candy.)
100. blog friends (That's YOU!)

From my family to yours, have a truly blessed Thanksgiving!  And to all those who don't live in the United States, have an absolutely fantastic day!  Hugs! 

Coffee Happy Birthday

Hey, y'all!  I'm back, as promised in yesterday's Family Update post, with the card I made my grandpa for his 90th birthday.  Enjoy!

I started this card by dividing a piece of teal, chevron, patterned paper with a diagonal strip of yellow, triangles, patterned paper and anchoring them both, to the white, cardstock, card face, with white-threaded, straight, machine stitching.  A length of white, seam binding ribbon was then wrapped around the diagonal print; tied, in a bow, near the left edge of the card face; and embellished with a teal, enamel dot.

I then die-cut Reverse Confetti's Gift Card Holder Tag from an aqua/star, patterned paper; trimmed its hole with a Dove Grey, cardstock, Hang Ups, ring die cut, laced with a length of white string; and stuffed its pocket with a gift card.

The coffee cup was stamped, in Jet Black ink, on watercolor paper; watercolored; hand-cut out; and popped, with foam tape, off the surface of a die-cut, Dove Grey, cardstock circle, which, in turn, was popped off the surface of the card face with foam tape.  A scattering of large and small, silver sequin stars, as well as a cork star and a hand-cut, from patterned paper, chevron tab, completes the look.

While I was at it, I duplicated it for my brother-in-law's birthday this coming Sunday.  Shhh!

Inspiration for these cards came from Reverse Confetti's Sketch for You to Try #42.

Thanks so much for stopping in!  I'm off to finish the baking and clean my bathroom, while it's peacefully quiet around here.  My littlest is napping ;).  I do have our thankful list to share tomorrow, but I know many of you won't be blog visiting much over the course of the holiday weekend.  So, to all my friends here in the United States, have a wonderful Thanksgiving; and to the rest of you lovely people, I'll see you tomorrow.  Hugs!

{Supplies & Tools}
Stamps: Be a Barista & Monkey Business (Reverse Confetti) Paper: Dove Grey (Wplus9); white (Recollections); yellow triangle (Crate Paper); teal chevron (Maggie Holmes); aqua/yellow star & aqua chevron (Jillibean Soup); watercolor (Canson Studio) Ink: Jet Black (Ranger) Other: white thread (Coats & Clark); sewing machine (Janome); white string & small silver star sequins (Hobby Lobby); white seam binding ribbon (Zipper Stop); enamel dot (MME); large silver star sequins (Pretty Pink Posh); Gift Card Holder Tag & Hang Ups dies (Reverse Confetti); Clear Cut Stackers: Circles die (Wplus9); Big Shot (Sizzix); foam tape (Scrapbook Adhesives)

Family Update

Good evening, y'all!  I'm so excited that I've gotten to come around to visit a few more of you over the last couple of weeks.  If I haven't made it your way yet, don't fret.  It's on the agenda.  I truly do love visiting you all, but my kiddos' various activities and the busyness of the holiday season have kept me from it.  Matter of fact, with the exception of a couple of special, family, event posts, I haven't even posted a family update in over two months.  So much has happened!  I couldn't possibly share it all, but I do have a few of the highlights for those of you who enjoy reading such.  I'm super proud that both of my big kiddos decided to get baptized, at Kill Creek Park, back on Sunday, September 18, 2016.

Our Sunday School class held a fall picnic, at Shawnee Mission Park, for all the adults and their children.  I just love these pics of our donut-eating contests.  Adina took second place.

The grownups got in on the action, too...

and we all enjoyed roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

Before we left for our trip to Branson, Ezekiel had a mid-semester mini concert for his homeschool band class at REW Music.  He's enjoying it so much this year!  He got to take on the bass clarinet and even performed a quick duet with one of the girls in his class.

We turned the bushel and a half of apples we picked back at Cider Hill Family Orchard into 48 pints of apple butter.  If you're counting, one pint is missing.  It went right into the fridge to enjoy.

You might remember my complaining that the apples were ever so puny at Cider Hill Family Orchard.  Well, check out these big ones from the apple tree in our front yard.  Yum!

We paid a trip to CoCo Key with my friend Monica and her kiddos.  My group photo was terrible, but Monica's was great!  Thanks for such a wonderful day, Monica!

Ezekiel got braces.

My friend Brandi had her fourth, precious baby.  Kaden is completely smitten with him!

My hubby, Ezekiel, and Adina all helped package meals for Feed My Starving Children.  Little kiddos weren't permitted to participate, so Kaden and I got some more one-on-one time together.  Adina was kind of proud of her hair net ;).

I took this photo of the supermoon earlier this month, which "is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth," according to Wikipedia.  "This was the closest supermoon since January 26, 1948, and will not be surpassed until November 25, 2034."

Ezekiel has really struggled with his advanced math class this year.  It's a high-school-level algebra course, and he barely squeaked in a B- first quarter.  You can imagine how excited this recent, test grade made him!  We've worked so hard with him, that I might've even shed a little, happy tear myself.  Sniff.  Sniff.  Congratulations, Ezekiel!

Last weekend, my grandpa celebrated 90 years on this earth.  Happy birthday, Grandpa!

I just love these old, black and white photos!  Here he is, in his younger days, in his uniform...

and with my grandma...

and here they are with my dad and my Aunt Cindy.

I got a photo of him with all his great grandchildren in attendance...

and a few of my kiddos, with their cousins, just for fun.  You may remember Marty (Seen in the first photo below.) from back here.  He and Kaden share the same birthday.

Other than all that, not to mention Adina's 8th birthday, we've been working hard and enjoying life.

Thanks so much for checking in on us!  I'll have my grandpa's birthday card to share, with you all, tomorrow.  Until then, be blessed!