the next one

How's your week?! Mine's fuller than normal. Visitors in the middle of the week, Christmas tree decorating, shopping tomorrow and my kids' "Sports Day" this Saturday. I just hope the rain holds out though....they are supposed to have alternative activities planned in case of rain, but its just not quite the same :)

Well, here's the next card I made with my Friendship jar stamps. I'm tried taking a break and using stamps that were easier for me, but in the back of my mind the jars kept creeping up, reminding me I couldn't use them. I might be a little weird....do no one else's stamps talk to them?!

So, I just had to keep trying to make some more cards with them. I used the Holiday Fillers too. I think I actually like the end result :) Oh, and I used the stems from Green Thumb again. I used some Quickutz holly to cut my felt. I trimmed the jar with a copic marker for definition. Oh, and I colored the snowmen with copics and cut them out. So much easier to position them correctly,and more room to mess up and make again as necessary :).

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great day!! :)

we'll see...

I started on my Christmas cards now :) Well, actually I make Christmas cards all year long because they are just so fun :) But around this time I start making mostly just Christmas cards and tags for awhile. Anyway, so I started. And I am determined to like my Friendship jars. They are such a cute concept, and I do like what I have seen others do with them. So I've been trying to make some things with it. Here is one I came up with yesterday:

Really, really simple. (I seem to be like really simple ones lately, not as much big bows etc. I'm sure it's just another phase of mine, lol.) I used some of my new Fine Linen cardstock. I really like the rustic feel it has. I added a layer of red for a little pop of color. I used my copics to color the trees directly on the Fine Linen cardstock. Oh, and I don't have the Friendship Jar Fall fillers. I don't do any Halloween cards at all, so I couldn't justify getting them. But I loved the idea of the sticks to put things on in the jar. I looked in my stash and I found the long stem from Green Thumb worked perfectly. I'm still trying to find a good flourish or something for the decoration at the top. The sentiment is from Holiday Button Bits. Finished off with some twine. 

Alright....lots of school to do and we have guests coming. Well, really the cousins don't count as guests lol. But they are still coming which makes for a busy full day :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Guilty.

Heehee :) I just thought this face was priceless. Miss Emma stole both Leah and Rhys's sandwiches stacked up and was trying to bite into both. She knew they weren't hers and was looking at Rhys while he was starting to panic. Being the sensible mother that I am, I of course had to take it away get pictures :)

Anyway....

Here are some pictures from our tree trimming time :) We kind of have a tradition of  putting on the wreath :)

 

We also have a tradition of everyone taking turns putting on the star. Usually Daddy holds the little ones that can't reach, but Miss Emma was a little tired so it had to be Mama this time :)

Anyway, that's just a look into what has been going on here the past few days. I'm so in the mood for Christmas now. I have my Christmas music in. And once I put the Christmas music in, that's all we listen to until after Christmas :) Last year Tomio asked if we ever listened to normal music anymore, and I nicely told him, that no, we don't. Not until after December 25th :) AND, Christmas means Christmas card and tags! yay: ) I've already started on some cards.I hope to make some tags (today?) too. The kids loved the tags from last year, so that makes it even more fun for me to make them :)

Thanks for stopping by!! I hope your week is starting out well! Mine is so far~yay :)

wishing you...

Wow, the weekend sure went fast!! Usually things go a lot more slowly for me. I can't believe its over already!
It was fun though. Leah and I went to the salon together. We usually end up taking her about once a year. She has so much hair it gets too heavy, so we get it cut and thinned out for her. This was my second time this year. It went well though, so I hope to make it a little more often to keep up my fun highlights :) Leah had them curl her hair, which she really liked. Tomio and Leah were going to go to golf practice afterwards, but he decided we looked to good for that, and we all went out to eat and then to Starbucks after :) It was really fun to get out :)
And then last night, we put up our Christmas decorations(!) I know, I was really pretty surprised too. He even rearranged living room first too. The kids had SO much fun!! Even Emma got into it. She raised both her hands and then clapped and say "Yay!"I love how the kids all remember and talk about the things that we always do at Christmas or did last year, while we are putting up the decorations :) And of course I took tons of pictures. My camera was pretty full and I said to Tomio, "34pictures should be enough, right?" He said "I doubt it." And he was right :)

Here is today's card. I actually made a layout with these papers butterflies first. Then I liked how the colors looked together I decided to make up a card too. I've had the pattern paper in my stash forEVER :) and the cardstock is from cored'nations. Used my favorite butterfly stamps and die again. I also used my new Mat stack die from Papertrey. I really like this shape :) For the white strip, I just cut the strip longer than the label and then ran it through my Big Shot with the die to cut the edges, then I attached. Much easier than trying to trim it to match after I stuck it down. Oh, and the sentiment is from Papertrey's Sweet Peas set. I stamped Hero Arts Friendship definition on the brown label in versmark. And that's about it :)

Thanks for stopping by!! I've decided I'm going to start this week off well :) Hope you do too :)

A simple card

I have a simple little card for the weekend. Just playing with my new Tea for Two Additions again. I was a little unsure if I would get a lot use out of this set when I first got it. But I'm really glad I did. The images are adorable and I have found them easy to use. ( My Friendship Jar set, on the other hand, I've yet to make a card with it it....hopefully I'll start liking it more soon...) 

Like I said, really simple. But I like the colors--kraft and purple :)

 Tomio mentioned rearranging the living room and getting out our Christmas decorations this weekend. I won't hold my breath {wink}, but I'm still hopeful :) I can't wait for Christmas!!
Thanks for popping in! I'm off with Leah to the salon :) Yay:) Hope you have a super fun weekend!

the best ever.

We've been having perfect baking weather lately. Cool crisp mornings and evenings. It's really a shame NOT to bake something... right? Soooo, we made these yesterday. And a I managed to snap a couple of pictures before.... the kids all gobbled them up :)

Okay, seriously, these are the best oatmeal cookies. ever. really. I've tried making several different kinds of oatmeal cookies, and they would okay, but not great. You know, the chewy, spicy wonderful-ness that they should be. But these are. And since these are just.that.good....I thought it would be cruel not to share the recipe :) Oh, and the amount of cinnamon and the baking temp are the key :)


Awesome Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups rolled oats

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening, brown sugar and white sugar. Stir in the egg, water and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the rolled oats. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on baking sheets for a couple of minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

I make them with margarine instead of shortening most of the time since that is so much more readily available here.

Be sure to let me know if you try them :) They are super easy.

Thanks for popping in! We are SO close to the weekend :) Leah and I have hair appointments this weekend. Should be a fun girls' day out. Heehee :)

some bumps...

We've been having a few "bumps" in our homeschooling lately... A few frustrating moments, concentration issues and some others. So, we're trying a few things to help work them out so things go more smoothly and *fun* for everyone. Mostly some scheduling things. So far, it DOES seem to be helping. And as everyone knows, the attitude you start out with can affect everything. I'm working on my attitude as well as theirs :)

Anyway...for today's card, I used one of my *new* sets from Papertrey. I got the Tea for Two additions and die :) Love the matching dies. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig for this though. I messed up a couple of times before I decided that breaking out the stamp positioner would save me a lot of time and frustration :)

I used all three different pattern cups in the set. I opted not to use the outline for them, just because, well I thought they looked fine without it lol. I used Polka Dot Basics II for background in versamark. I also inked up half of the sentiment at a time in Walnut Stain distress ink so I could do half on top and the other half on the bottom. I used my favorite wood grain background in Spun sugar before stitching it to the kraft layer. All stamps and papers I used today are from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks for stopping in! The week's more than half over :)