Our Christmas Cards 2011

I absolutely love to make handmade cards to send out to friends and family for Christmas. I took on a bigger project with these cards than normal, but it was worth it! I created the front of my card with THIS and THIS set from Hero Arts. (I always tend to gravitate towards their stamps every year.) ...

To create the cover, I stamped the musical BG stamp with Versa Mark onto watercolor paper and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then I randomly applied peeled paint, walnut stain, and fired brick distress stains all over and sprayed heavily with pearlized water. I stamped the greeting in black onto a kraft die-cut. I sprayed that too with pearlized spray. It is so shiny in real life...

I was so happy to find that Silhouette sells a cut to create a CD card. So I cut all the cards on my Silhouette using Neenah cardstock. Here's a peek at the inside...

On the left is the Ruwe Holiday Music Mix for this year....a track list of all the songs on the CD and who picked what. Even Baby Aiden picked some holiday songs. ;) When you remove the CD, it reveals our family pic..

A closer look at our playlist...

That's all I got for now. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

First Published Scrapbook Page!

I've been missing here lately becuase I'm in the middle of a mountain of paper and embellishments making my Christmas cards. I should have them done today! :) Anyway, I wanted to hop on and share what came in the mail yesterday....

 THIS magazine. It contains my FIRST published scrapbook page! ...

A closer look at my awesome son...

I'm so excited, I just had to share! Have a great Monday.

Cards that Care

I wanted to share some Christmas Cards I created for the Cards that Care Card Drive. This card drive sends cards to the elderly living in nursing homes. I'm hoping these cards will put a smile on their faces during this special time of year.

The first card features one of my favorite techniques to do. Emboss a background then go to town with Distress Stains (my new favorite product) and spray heavily with pearlized water. It's hard to see the shine on the photo, but its stunning in real life....

The next card uses THIS set which is so fun because you stamp and then emboss the image...

I like that this card uses non-traditional Christmas colors...

THIS nativity scene stamp set is a must have. I embossed the image in white on dark brown cardstock and then sprayed with pearlized water. Love the results...

The last card is pretty simple but my favorite. I heat embossed the flower image in white and then used Fired Brick Distress Stain to "color" it and again, sprayed with pearlized water....

 I also made sure that each card had a different message stamped inside, something I do a lot lately...

(All stamps used are from Hero Arts.)

That's all I got for now. Off to work on my Christmas cards. I just can't believe it is December already. Thanks for stopping by.

Baby on the Brain...

I apologize for the lack of posts here lately. I'm in full swing baby mode...getting the nursery ready, getting ready for my baby shower this weekend, and starting a bunch of house projects. I've also been shopping. I'm in love with Etsy and wish I can register there too! :) Here's a handful of things I found on there matching the theme of the nursery (elephants)....

THESE burp cloths are so fun...

Love THIS scripture print...

 Thinking of putting THESE decals on the wall...

 The simplicity of THIS is perfect..

THIS is a fun, bright tote...

And maybe even something fun for me! ...

I promise to be back soon with some creative shares. Thanks for stopping by and being patient. :)

Get Well Soon Mini Cards...

I never seem to have any Get Well Soon cards on hand so I decided to use THIS stamp set from Lawn Fawn to make some mini cards...

Some detail shots....

 The inside...

Used THIS and THIS paper pad to create these cards.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope your weekend was great!

A Couple of Thank You Cards...

Many of you know I work for Jennifer. (The best job in the world!) One of the many perks of the job is she lets me borrow her stamps. I have been drooling over some Paper Smooches Stamps for awhile and Jennifer was kind enough to let me borrow some. THIS is my FAVORITE sentiment set.....

so I made a couple of thank you cards...

THIS, THIS, and THIS set are also some of my favorites from Paper Smooches.

That's all I got for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Card for James Update & Winner...

Back in April, Shane and I started Cards for James . THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU WHO SENT IN CARDS. The Overbeck family was so grateful. Here is an update on how James is doing...

"Great news! James had a CT scan and MRI today, all of which were clean and cancer free! He also had blood work collected and the doctor was pleased with all of his numbers. James even gets to stop taking the antibiotic that we've been on for several months. Which (drum roll, please)......means that james takes NO medications now!! James was such a trooper today, he really showed his bravery! The plan was to put him to sleep for the MRI- as we've done for all of the MRI's that he's had in the past. James requested to try the MRI without sedation and felt that he could be really brave and hold as still as a statue for 1 and a half hours to complete the scan. I must admit, we were a somewhat nervous that he'd be able to hold still for that long or to tolerate the loud noises produced by the MRI machine. James never fails to amaze us, and he did it! The nurse wrapped him in a belt and placed shield across his chest. She taped night vision goggles to his face and put big ear phones and a microphone on him. She slid him into the scanner and he watched a movie through the goggles. Mom sat in the MRI room while all of this was happening. The sounds were quite loud- even with earplugs. It was absolutely amazing that he was able to tolerate this for over an hour. I don't know that most adults can tolerate this test without some type of sedative. He did great, even with the poke for his IV. His next scans will be in 3 months. Today Dr. Geller gave us a copy of James' MRI from 12-28-10 (full of nasty tumor) and compared it to his scan from today. The difference is night and day. We realized that today's scan was exactly 10 months from the day that James was diagnosed. It's unreal to think back at all that has been endured in that 10 month time period- and it's amazing to see how well James has recovered thus far from the treatment and surgery. Tonight, James is putting on his halloween costume for a function at school and it is just wonderful to see him being a kid again! James says "Happy Halloween" to you all!"

God is so good. :) Now, the winner of all five Hero Arts prizes go to....

JUDY MARINO!


Congrats Judy. Email me with your address so I can send out your goodies. Again, thanks to ALL of you for participating and making this a success. Hugs! Oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Bun in the Oven...

Since I shared on the last post how I told my family about the news of our baby's gender, I'd thought I would show you the cards I sent out to extended family and friends to share the news. Here is the card...

 It's a gatefold card so it opens like this...

ETA: REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION!!! :)

 to reveal the big news! ...

I used THIS stamp set to create it. I love the images. Darling. Thanks for stopping by! :)

It's a...

Hi friends! Thanks so much for all the great comments on the last post. It was fun reading through your guesses. When Ted and I found out if it was a boy or girl, my mom wanted to throw a dinner for us to gather the family and share the news. I thought it would be fun to make the dessert. I decided on cupcakes that had a special center... 

So when the family bit into the cupcake (all at the same time), they found out the baby is a .....

BOY! :) We are so excited! So, the winner from the last post is ANGIE! Email me with your address so I can send some goodies to you!

Thanks for stopping by and celebrating the big news with us!!!

Pink or Blue?...and a prize too!

Ted and I decided to find out the gender of our baby two weeks ago. So I thought it would be fun to have a guessing game here on the blog. So leave a comment if you think its a boy or a girl and I will enter all the correct guesses into a drawing and one person will win some goodies! I will close comments Tuesday morning. Can't wait to read your guesses! ...

Week of Hero Arts- Day 7

Welcome back. Today is the last day of Hero Arts Week. I hope that you have become inspired by these projects using some of my favorite Hero Arts goodies. For my last card, I used THIS favorite greeting set... 

...to create this card...

What I love so much about this greeting set is the "main greeting" has a "sub greeting" that goes with it. I chose the sub greeting to go along the bottom of the card but they are PERFECT for the inside of a card too.

 Some other favorite Hero products I used on this card...

The background which can be found HERE.

I also used THIS ink to stamp the background onto THIS card to create a monochromatic look.

I love finishing cards with Hero gems. THESE are the gems I used on my card.

That's all I got for now. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Week of Hero Arts- Day 6

Have you seen the new Hero Arts/Sizzix stamp and die-cut sets? They are so much fun. I used THIS set on today's card...

To create this card, I stamped the smallest butterfly in the set several times onto Neenah cardstock using black dye ink. Then I swiped an ink pad on top of each butterfly for some fast coloring. Then I used the matching die-cut to cut each one out. WHAT A TIME SAVER!! :) After that, I used glossy accents on top of each butterfly to give it some shine. Then I stamped THIS background stamp in black onto a white card. I also cut out black circles and used the same background stamp but this time in white. Finally, I added a greeting. Here's a closeup shot..

There is a great video on the Hero Arts website HERE that explains how to use the stamp and die-cut sets. I'll be back tomorrow with the last day of Hero Arts Week.

Week of Hero Arts- Day 5

Hello friends. I decided to take a day off yesterday to recover from an awesome crafting weekend with friends. I'm feeling so blessed to have so many great friends who share my hobby. God is so good.

Okay, onto the next card. This card is a window card that features a technique I learned from Jennifer. It's  called faux letterpress. You cover one side of an embossing folder with ink, lay your paper inside, and run it through your die-cut machine. It works best with Hero Arts Shadow Inks. (I used Soft Sand Shadow Ink for this card's faux letterpress background.)

When you open the card, it holds a gift card...

That's all I got for now. Off to watch some mindless t.v. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Week of Hero Arts- Day 4

Welcome to Day Four of Hero Arts Week here on my blog. Here is today's card...

I decided to do a gatefold card using some Hero Arts Layering Paper. To create the butterfly, I stamped the HA background using versamark ink on glossy paper. I heat set that and rubbed pink distress ink on top to resist the image.

Here is the inside of the card...

Thanks for stopping by. Back to creating at the stamping retreat. I'm having so much fun. :)

Week of Hero Arts- Day 2 and 3

I was so busy yesterday that I couldn't post Day Two's card so I am posting two cards today. The first card I'm sharing was created by covering a piece of white cardstock with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and stamping a background stamp on top of it using pearlized water instead of ink. Here are the results (the shine in real life is incredible)... 

I also like making shaped cards. This one was created with a Quickutz die...

The second card is a window card. Love THIS row of houses stamp from Hero Arts....

A close up of the window...

(That greeting is from a Technique Tuesday stamp set.)

Okay, off to pack for a crafting retreat this weekend with the girls. Thanks for stopping by!

Week of Hero Arts- Day 1

I've been slacking on the blog lately so I decided to work with some of my favorite Hero Arts stamps and products. I made seven cards so I'm declaring this Hero Arts Week on my blog. :) Here is the card for Day One... 

This card was inspired by Jennifer's card HERE. I am addicted to Distress Stains because of her and love using them on an embossed background. Here is a closer look...

After applying the distress stains, I sprayed it heavily with pearlized water. Love the shine it gives. THIS is my favorite background stamp because it can stand alone....doesn't need much more. (BTW- that pretty ribbon and those pearls are from Hero Arts too.)

Thanks for stopping by! Be back tomorrow with another card!

A gift for Ashley...

Today I wanted to share a gift I put together for Alex's girlfriend, Ashley. They have been dating for almost a year now and she is such a sweet girl who makes a wonderful addition to our family. She is heading off to live in the dorms at college this weekend and I wanted to give her some goodies for her new pad.

I knew she would be writing to friends back home so I wanted to make her a a note card set. I started off with my FAVORITE Hero Arts Background Stamp....

...then I stamped it on watercolor paper with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. Then I applied Broken China, Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to the image and sprayed it heavily with pearlized water. Here are the final results...

I just love the blues and greens together....

I thought I would also show the gift bag I put together for her along with her card set...

Inside this cute Thirty One bag are lots of goodies...

like bags of candy, a wall calendar, mini sodas, Uno cards, tissues, a flashlight, and earplugs. (All the things her mom emailed about saying she still needed.)

Okay, off to make dinner. Thanks for stopping by!