Happy New Year!

I'm not a good blogger. I forget to blog or I'll get busy and not get a chance to blog...and...sometimes I don't think that I have anything to say that anyone wants to hear....but I do have something to say today.
I'd like to wish everyone reading this a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year...with good friends, laughter and love in your life. Happy 2010!

Santa's Going To Be Here Soon.....!

The tree is up (Well...most of them are...mine is up but naked), carols are playing, shopping is almost done and presents are wrapped...Christmas is almost here. I've got the menu planned for Christmas dinner and the house is in the process of being thoroughly cleaned. Just a few more items on my to do list and I'll be ready for the holiday.

Here is one of the cards that I made when I had some free time...(I believe that was in October :) ) At that time...I was very excited about Christmas and Santa coming.

Kick Off Your Shoes And Relax...

Of course...these shoes may not be your exact size...but they do look like they might be comfortable.

The original pattern for this gym shoe card came from Papercrafts magazine. I had seen an ad for the next issue of the magazine and this gym shoe was on the cover. I fell in love with it and wanted to make it for a card swap...but the issue wasn't coming out for another week or two...so I made my own pattern.

I love the metal eyelets and the ribbon laces...and the shoes are really cute using any pattern of paper...in any color...for any holiday!

A Candy Cane A Day Keeps Santa On His Way....

That's what it says on the little scalloped card attached to this Candy Cane Christmas Tree Ornament. The Candy Cane is 5 inches long...and is covered on both sides with glowing foil paper stripes. Red ribbon embellishments and a jingle bell add a little "Fluff" to the ornament. This will be cute on the tree...but would look great used as a tag too.

So Ugly...They're Cute!

These are quirky Christmas Santas...made of walnuts. They're odd, funny, and kind of homely...but I still think they're cute. What do you think?....Honestly? Think about it and let me know...I'm going to figure out something for dinner!

Rudolph and Friend...

I love reindeer...elegant, funny, cute or just plain goofy...no matter how they're displayed...I love 'em. I was thrilled a couple of years ago when a real one came running through my back yard...the first time in about 20 years.

So...because reindeer are some of my favorite creatures...I made these bright reindeer tags...complete with jingle bells. (And using BoBunny double dots paper...another of my favorites!)

Winter Snowfall Tags....

I bought a 12x12 sheet of wonderful Winter paper at CraftFancy....almost the last sheet of this design available at the store. Hoarded it for a bit and then made these tags. While I love the little tags...I'm really sorry that I don't have my beautiful paper in one whole piece anymore....sigh...the problems of a paper hoarder.

Turkey Tags....

Two little turkeys...sitting on tags...just waiting to be invited over to your house for Thanksgiving dinner...:) :):)

Lil' Pumpkins and Real Pumpkins...

I love Halloween. I know, you've heard that already...but I love the colors, the excitement, the chill in the air, costumes , lights, laughter, candy, witches, bats, ghosts and pumpkins. I hate when it ends.

Here's a photo of Morgan and Andie with their pumpkins last year....the two little ones in the back are the girls...:)

Nutty Pumpkins....

I used to have a booth in one of the Country Sampler stores. I made patchwork sweatshirts and patchwork wallhangings...but while those sold well...my best selling items were...walnuts! Odd isn't it? Painted and embellished little figures made of walnuts for different holidays....pumpkins, witches, bats and ghosts for Halloween...snowmen, santas, reindeer and Christmas trees for Christmas....snowmen with hearts and doves for Valentine's Day. I had them for every holiday...and then some. Teapots, goldfish, cardinals, bunnies, Easter Eggs....I made those too. They called me the walnut lady....and waited for them to appear in my shop. "Snicker"....my first brush with fame! :):):)

You Have To See This!

After recently selling a Halloween Mask...the very nice woman who bought it sent me a message with a link to a photo with the mask in it.

You HAVE to see this... it's perfect for Halloween! Here's the link to her blog called I Craft. She has some absolutely wonderful Halloween items displayed in it...I fell in love with all of them. http://eyecraft.blogspot.com/

A Rainy October Day....

Today it's been raining on and off and has been for the last few days...I'm looking forward to having maybe one more "Nice" day before the really cold weather starts to set in. To cheer myself up this past week and a half...I've been working on Halloween cards...it's hard to be gloomy when you're working with the colors of Halloween!

These fourteen cards were made for the C.A.R.S.

group meeting that meets every month at the Craft Fancy Store in Arlington Heights,IL. Each person in the group makes 14 cards ,tags or fun items...and each person goes home with a wonderful assortment of handcrafted items. This months theme was to use googly eyes on your project. I made witch cards and used the OddBirdPlanet stamp "You've got me spellbound".

Masquerade!

Are you ready for Halloween?

Here are three pretty little masks to get you into Trick Or Treat mode.

Made of chipboard, covered with patterned paper, punched edgings, handmade paper flowers and a bat. He's in the center of the black flower on the swirly mask...you can see his little eyes glowing). I added narrow grosgrain ribbon for ties.

I think these masks would also make a wonderful addition to a 12x12 layout....or to be used as table favors for a Halloween gala!

World Cardmaking Day OddBirdPlanet Blog Hop.....

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

Travel your way through the blogs of OBP Design Team members...each one will have a fun and creative challenge posted for you.

It's simple: Starting at 6 a.m. PDT today... October 3rd....go to the first blog in the list below...complete the challenge, post a link back to your blog or gallery so that we can all see the wonderful work you've done with that challenge...and then go on to the next blog. Each blog will have the link to the next...and a list of all the blogs. The challenge ends on Sunday at 6am PDT, so you have 24 hours to complete the challenge. Here's a link to Johanna's OddBirdPlanet Blog for even more details. You can also chat and share your completed projects at Odd Bird Planeteer's Flickr Group.

And...for every challenge you complete and post...you'll be entered in a drawing for some great prizes. Johanna of OddBirdPlanet Stamps is offering an amazing Ala Tarte Halloween Kit for a US winner or... a $50.00 gift certificate for an international winner....both absolutely wonderful prizes!

My blog challenge for you is.....To use chipboard on your card or tag....alphabet letters, basic shapes, swirls, dots, flowers, animals, chipboard buttons...any of them is fine...just have fun.

My chipboard sample is a tag created from chipboard, die cut using a Nestabilities Die, covered with patterned paper on both sides and then embellished using OBP stamps and chipboard buttons. I also used chipboard under the haunted paper bag to give it a little dimension. The Odd Bird Planet Stamps used :

Things that go bump in the night Teresa's Bag EeekFlourish Karrie's Theo Owl

Here is the list of OBP Blogs for you to get started.....don't forget to come back to each blog to post your link to your completed project...we can't wait to see them! Enjoy your blog hop!

Godelieve

Dianne This is where you are now.

Karrie This is your next blog stop!

Kim

Laura

Marnie

Teresa

Tiffany

Tracy

Happy October!

A very Happy October to all of you...! Welcome to cooler temperatures, colorful leaves, football, blue skies, fresh apples, applecider, pumpkins and my favorite holiday.....Halloween.

To get this month going...I've posted a very "Halloweenish" photo.....one of the pumpkins carved a couple of years ago by Morgan and Andrea. I love pumpkins (But not pumpkin pie...ick) and I'll post some new pumpkins every couple of days for this month. Real pumpkins, fake pumpkins, pumpkin cards, pumpkin soap, carved pumpkins, white pumpkins, paper pumpkins...all kinds of pumpkins!

A Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider....

This is the spider living on my deck...right outside of my kitchen windows. He's made a web the size of Rhode Island across my windows...and he watches us through them at night. **Shudder**

You'll notice that I took his picture from inside the house...you can see the reflection of the curtains in the window.

He is a striped spider....I always did like stripes...just not on all of those hairy legs.

Anyone know what kind of spider he is? Should I just move?

Itsy BItsy Spiders....

Yep...spiders...six of them...but don't worry...they're just harmless cardstock spiders. Not like the one on my deck...he's kind of creepy...but an excellent Halloween decoration.

Poor Neglected Blog...

I haven't paid much attention to you lately...have I? I promise to be better about blogging.

For now...here is a set of tags that I made last week...I had such a good time with them...you'd think that I'd never used Diamond Glaze before.

I stamped on chipboard, colored it with Copic Markers and gave it a good coating of Diamond Glaze. After it dried, I cut around it using the Nestibilities Large Scalloped Square Die. ..and then cut one more piece...one size bigger. I layered them together...added some 1/8th inch satin ribbon ties...and wound up with a great set of tags

I'm still Diamond Glazing stuff...I seem to be addicted. I have things drying everywhere in my scraproom.

Portrait of Piper...

I was crawling around the floor with my camera...following Piper through the house when she stopped and stared at me like "What is it exactly that you want?"....and I got this picture. I know it's not perfect...but I love it.

Witches Do Come True...:)

Here's a lil' witch ready for Trick or Treat on Halloween night....she's hand cut and paper pieced in bright Halloween colors!

Grow Your Own Jack O'Lantern....

Well...probably not in time for Halloween this year...but here's a new glittery Seed Packet Tag for Halloween Jack O'Lanterns. I love this Mary Englebreit paper!

Halloween Creature Tags

Three Halloween tags featuring a ghost, a jack o'lantern and a black cat. The creatures were coated with Diamond Glaze, cut out and then pop-dotted onto the Halloween texted tag. When they were completed...they still needed something to brighten them up...so I added rhinestones for eyes .(And a pumpkin nose!)

Happy Birthday Marnie!

Many happy birthday wishes Marnie!


I hope that your day is wonderful and that it's filled with pleasant surprises....and cake :).

The Etsy Twitter Team...Goin' Back to School

Click the link below and take a look at some of the great items for back to school....and some wonderful promotions in these Etsy Twitter Team shops! The Etsy Twitter Team Goes Back To School

Pretty Pumpkin....

This is a very easy, simple paper pieced card...but I had a great time picking the blend of papers. That's my favorite thing to do...choose and blend together different patterned papers . It's amazing that you can put 6 different patterned papers on a table...have a group of scrappers choose the ones they like....put them together in a card or layout...and the results will all be completely unique.

The Odd Bird Planet Halloween Blog Hop......

Welcome to the Odd Bird Planet Halloween Blog Hop! Starting today at 6:00 am pst...there are ten blogs to visit...each with a wonderful Halloween creation using the Odd Bird Planet Halloween Stamps.

Start at the beginning with Karrie and work your way to the end with Tracy...or hop, skip and jump your way through the blogs. However you do it...you're in for a treat (Absolutely no tricks!).

While you're at my blog...here's my contribution to the Blog Hop.... a Halloween card I've made featuring a little witch practicing magic on her pumpkin friend. The OBP stamps used are Kelly's Tall Witch Bird and Catherine's Pumpkin Large It's a simple card...but the Odd Bird Planet Stamps make it really stand out.

Here's the Odd Bird Planet Halloween Blog Hop List...have a great time!.......
Karrie
Debbie
Dianne ------ This is where you are now

Godelieve
Kathi
Laura
Marnie
Teresa
Tiffany

Tracy

Here's a link to the Odd Bird Planet Blog and a link to Godelieve's Blog ...she's next on the list!

Happy Halloween Everyone...Enjoy the OBP Blog Hop!

One More Layout...

I either don't post any layouts at all...or I post two in a row...I need more balance in my life.

Until I get "Balanced"....here's another layout that I did recently for the BoBunny Design Team Audition. They weren't interested....but I wound up with a layout that I really like...using one of my favorite pictures from this summer.

Haven't Done A Layout In A While....

While doing a challenge at Marnie's house (We were each to bring a baggie with whatever elements we wanted to challenge someone with)... my challenge was a wonderful baggie full of green (My favorite color) goodies. Beautiful paper, stamped images, flowers, tags, and more...it was a complete bag of treasures! One of the items that stole my heart was a stamped image of a little monster...SO cute. He became the basis of my challenge layout....I named him Grendl. He's got his own flower...and he has a googly eye...I love him. Haven't found the picture for this layout yet...so the photo mat is empty...but Grendl will keep an eye on it.....

"Things To Do" Notecards...

Sometimes you need a list of things to do each day...each of these notecards gives you one of a group of things that should be done every day...alone or with a friend. Laugh, relax, talk, create, giggle, enjoy, play, share....it's a great list to have to follow!

Speaking of cards...a very nice lady named Patti created an Etsy Treasury featuring some wonderful Halloween items...papergoods and vintage items. If you have a chance, please take a peek at her treasury...http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=75262 I guess that I'm not the only one eager for Halloween!

Baa Baa Black Sheep....

I sang this nursery rhyme to my children; and to my grandchildren. Now they're all too big to sing it to....so I put the rhyme on these notecards.

Tie One On...

....To your Halloween package. More Halloween tags...I seem to be on a tag kick. Hope I get out of it soon...I want to make some witch cards.