Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to share a quick Thanksgiving card I made for my husband's grandmother.  She's 91, so she really enjoys getting cards in the mail (especially handmade!)

I used a lot of random scraps on this card.  I don't really have any Thanksgiving themed supplies, but I found these chipboard acorns from Basicgrey and a "THANKFUL" rub-on from Pink Paislee. 

I took a vacation day today, so this morning is the official start of a five-day weekend.  Yay!  Off to start the day with a hot yoga class and then grocery shopping for the big meal. 

Have a great holiday everyone!

Where did the summer go?

This past summer seemed to go by sooooo quickly!  At the beginning of the summer, I told my husband that I wanted the two of us to come up with a list of things that we wanted to do during summer.  Well, we never even got around to writing out the list and the summer passed by with most of the things that would have been on the list not getting done.  This layout is my list for next summer - no excuses this time!  

I used the Studio Calico October 2011 kit, Field Guild for this layout.  Field Guide is one of my favorite kits so far!  The kit included two rolls of washi tape and I used a bit of each on this layout.  I don't find washi tape really easy for me to use on layouts, but I really like the way it looks as part of the title under the word 'summer.'

I used some photos on the layout of previous summers that make me smile.  The two on the left are from a weekend that we spent in Vermont two summers ago.  One is a covered bridge and the other is a field of sunflowers.  The photo on the right is of my husband taking our niece out sailing for the first time  on Lake Michigan.  

I hope that we are able to accomplish more on our summer bucket list in 2012!

Have a great week everyone!

I've been pinned!

I was on Pinterest recently and saw that a card of mine was pinned for the first time ever.  I'm not afraid to admit that it made me happy to be pinned!  You can see it here.  I thought I'd share the card here as I know that a lot of people are looking for holiday card ideas.
I used a sketch for this card that I found on Pinterest.  The sketch that I used can be seen here.  It is from cardabilities, which I was unfamiliar with before I found this sketch.  Looks like a fun blog if you like to make cards, which I do on occasion.

I used mostly scraps from the October 2011 Studio Calico kit, Field Guide.  The velvet trim was from an older kit. The Merry Christmas stamp that I had planned on using ended up in the garbage (very cheap one from Michael's or something - apparently not worth the 99 cents or whatever that I paid for it), so I just typed the words MERRY CHRISTMAS several times and added a strip of it.  I used Mr. Huey SHINE on the snowflake and it added just a perfect touch of glimmer.

I've been adding twine to everything lately and I think it was a perfect touch on this card.  

I loved this sketch as it is so versatile!  I have also used it for a birthday card already with a ladybug instead of a snowflake.  

Enjoy your day everyone!

Potato Lake Theatre

We live half-way across the country from both my family and my husband's family.  We spend most of our vacation time for the year heading to Wisconsin to visit them, usually twice a year.  Another week of vacation time is usually spent in France, visiting my husband's brother's family - lucky us!  The two sides of our families live on opposite sides of the state, making our vacation time a bit tricky.  Once in a while, we are able to bring the two sides of our family together, which makes it a lot easier on us.

We were able to do this four years ago when my family, my husband's family - including his brother's family from France - spent a week together at Potato Lake.  My parents have a cabin on Potato Lake and then there are cabins at Rose's Bay Resort across the lake that we rent.  

We had a great time, especially my nieces and nephews who were meeting each other for just the second time.  The first time was at my wedding at Potato Lake four years earlier.  Kaylie, Olivia, Paul, and Elisabeth spent an afternoon creating a play and then they presented it to everyone after dinner that night.

I don't remember exactly what the play was about except that they were poking a little fun at my parents, Marvin and Jean, and that there was fishing involved (big surprise if you knew my dad!)

I used the July Studio Calico kit, Mid the Gap, for the page.   I also used my Silhouette Cameo that arrived in the mail last week!  I have to say, I am impressed with how easy it is to use and how great it works.  I'm hooked!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Birthday to Me!

November is my birthday month, so I thought that I would start out the month by sharing two birthday layouts that I created recently.  The first one I made using an older Studio Calico kit, Paper Moon.  I had never made the folded pleat flowers before and I LOVE THEM!  I went out the next day and bought the Martha Stewart scoring board, which I didn't know that I needed until I discovered these flowers. Honestly, I had to watch a video on how to make them several times before I could figure them out, but now that I have the technique down, I will be making them often. 

For this next layout, I used the most recent Studio Calico kit, Field Guide.  I used lots of blue and yellow on this layout to match the shirt that I was wearing that was blue and yellow and a big '9' on it.

I did some sewing and stamping on this layout and I used my Slice for the 'happy birthday' and the '9.'

I never use original photos on layouts if they can not be replaced.  I scan the originals and print them out, which I did for both of these layouts.  I have a super cheap scanner and I have to say that the scans come out great, so I'm happy about that.

Have a great November everyone!

Welcome Baby

I created this layout for some friends of ours with the birth announcement that they sent to us when their son, Cooper, was born.  The birth announcement was so cute, I just couldn't throw it out.  We finally got to meet Cooper last weekend (what a sweetie!) and I was able to give this layout to them.  I realized that I had never shared the layout here, so here it is:

I used the July Studio Calico kit, Mind the Gap, along with some letter stickers from an older kit.  I used a lot of Zing! on this layout!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Gone Fishing

I love getting my new Studio Calico kits in the mail.  I look forward to it every month and can never wait to open it - I have to open it immediately!  The problem with getting my new kit is that the previous month's kit gets set aside and doesn't get as much attention as it should.  That is why I try to make as many layouts (that's usually 2 or 3 for me) as I can before the new kit arrives.  

I had some photos of time spent fishing this summer on my vacation in Wisconsin.  I was trying to make something work with the current month's kit and it just wasn't happening.  I went back through some older kits and found the perfect embellishments and paper for my page.  The kit I ended up using was from January 2011, Who's Who.

Everything on my page came from the kit except for the chipboard letters were from another kit.  I had to cut the tail off of a couple of j's because I had run out of i's in this set of letters.

The lake that we are fishing on, Potato Lake, is where my husband and I had our wedding more than eight years ago!  

I always feel good about using up some of my older supplies, so this layout made me happy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Brenda