Thankful For You...and Fall! :)

I had a tiny bit of time to craft today.  My husband's schedule is all over the place now, but one good thing about it is that sometimes he comes home for a few hours in the middle of the day.  I have a giant list of people that I want to send a note of gratitude to, and this one will be going to one of my son's teachers.  I've probably said this before, but I absolutely love that Thanksgiving precedes Christmas.  I don't know any other way to prepare your heart for the Christmas season that to focus on having a grateful heart and having a holiday that constantly reminds you to be thankful.

Supplies: Stamps: Give Thanks (TAWS); Ink: Aqua Mist, Canyon Clay, Classic Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss (PTI)

Linking this up at:

Share Handmade Kindess Challenge: Week 2: Community

Simon Says: Thanks/Thanksgiving

TAWS November Link-up

I just had to sneak this picture in.  I'm am constantly in awe of the beautiful fall colors here.  After having lived away so long, I had forgotten the incredible vibrance of the leaves.  I snapped these (unedited) photos this afternoon of some leaves that were scattered about my parents' lawn.  The beauty of this earth is most certainly something I am so grateful for!

Tic-Tac-Toe + Share Kindness x 2

Hi, again! :) I'm back to share the other cards I made a few nights ago.  These were inspired by an upcoming Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge over at Stamping Smiles Designs.  I love tic-tac-toe challenges, so it was super fun to play along.  They are having a design team call right now, too, if you are interested.

I was originally inspired by the first row on the tic-tac-toe challenge, but when I saw Jennifer McGuire's Share Handmade Kindness Challenge, I switched things up a bit and used the first column instead.  I love the idea of sharing kindness, so I made this card and sent it to my mom.  She is still staying with my grandmother helping her to adjust to life without my grandfather.  I know that the last few weeks have been especially hard, and I just wanted to let her know that I love her.

This is my second take combining both challenges. This time I used the middle row (leaves, embossing, sparkles) of the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge and I sent this one to my grandma for the Share Handmade Kindness Challenge.  I embossed the panel with a piece of burlap (forgot how easy that is to do!), and then did a little inlaid die cutting with the leaves.  I added just a couple sequins for my sparkle element. And can I just say...this was a challenging card to photograph! Because the card front isn't as wide as the bottom it looked oddly angled each time I photographed it standing up.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you all are well and hope to have time to visit blogs soon.  

Fair Isle Christmas

Hello, friends.  It's so nice to be back today.  Thank you so much for all of your kind wishes and for the beautiful cards!!!  Each has meant so much! It's been a little difficult to get back into making cards.  It's interesting how your creativity seems to suffer when your heart hurts.  I turned to some challenges to help get my inspiration going.  My first card is for WPlus9's Throwback Thursday #8 featuring Fair Isle Backgrounds.  I really love this set and was happy to use it.  The resulting card is pretty basic...remember what I said about my creativity being a bit stifled, but it felt good to finish a card.  Oh, I hear the baby waking.  I'll be back soon (I hope!) to share some more. :)

Two Halloween Cards and a Whole Lotta Challenges

It's been a busy week, so last night I sat down to look at current challenges.  They started melding together in my head (as they often do) and this CAS card was the result.  The neutral colors (which are my very favorite autumn color combination at the moment) and theme were inspired by The Card Concept #41 Autumn Neutrals and the sketch was inspired by CAS(E) This Sketch #145.   The idea for the sentiment was sparked by CASology Week 168: You, so I wanted to make sure that the "you" was highlighted.  I decided that the little ghost holding a sign with "you" on it would do just that, so I trimmed his arm out and reattached it, so he he could do so.

Next I wanted to play along with Papertrey's Create Along With Us: October Release Week Challenge.  Believe it or not, my card was inspired by this beauty made by the oh-so-talented Betsy Veldman.

Betsy's Card

And here is my simplified take:

I wasn't quite ready to jump completely to Christmas projects, so I used the color scheme from the Simon Says Color Inspiration Challenge.  I wanted to highlight the house like Betsy did, but I off centered my focus and instead of trees in neutrals, I stamped other houses in neutrals.  The twine was supposed to mimic the plaid strip across the bottom of Betsy's card, and I swapped little bat silhouettes for the sleigh silhouette because I liked the bats flying in the Simon inspiration photo.

Simon Says Color Inspiration Board

**Just to let you know, I'll be gone for a little while.  Had I not prepared this post ahead of time, I probably wouldn't have shared these cards.  My grandfather passed away today.  I believe firmly that families are forever, but our hearts are broken.    

W&W Christmas Take Two

I'm back. :) It's a double post night because we have birthday celebrations going on this weekend and as scatterbrained as I am, I decided I better just post both cards tonight or I will likely forget about it.  And I love this card, so I don't want to forget about it. :) I loved the patterned paper I created so much for this card that I used the rest of it to make this more CAS version of a Christmas card.  It was inspired by the following challenges: 

W&W BBB: masterBoard Background Building Challenge

W&W Color Challenge

Simon Says: Clean & Simple Christmas Challenge

Oh, I almost forgot!  Winnie & Walter also has a Craftie Challenge....one where you are supposed to show your crafting in action.  It can be you, your craft room/supplies, etc.  I am definitely not a fan of posting pictures of myself, but I figure someday I may want to remember the time I crafted literally out of two packing boxes, so here we are...me and my two little boxes. :)

Alright, I just couldn't end this post with a picture of myself.  (You know what they say about people remembering the first and last thing, right?) SO, this little one was my card picture taking buddy, and I'd rather end the post with her.  This almost one-year-old (I can't believe it! Sniff!) was not interested in getting her picture taken (try as I might!), but I think she's pretty adorable even from the back. :)