Advent Calendar

Advent: arrival that has been awaited (especially of something momentous)

As promised, I am ready to share the advent calendar I was working on yesterday. I have always liked the mini muffin tin idea so that's where I started. Hannah and I decided that the old one we had in the cupboard had more character than buying anew one. I only use it a couple of times a year so I won't miss it in the next 24 days! I made the scalloped circles with the Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge out of 5 coordinating papers from the My Mind's Eye Sweet Dreams Holiday Ave stack. The numbers, ribbon, bling, embellishments were all stuff I already had in my stash. (OK, I did buy the Santa at Michael's on Friday!) I cut little rectangle of magnet with adhesive on one side, then adhered to top and bottom of backs of circles. This will keep the treats in until the appointed day!

Tucked behind the circles are sweet treats.

The only thing I would do differently, if I made another one, is to make the circles larger. I cut these at 2.25 and I think 2.50 would have been a better fit for this muffin tin. Oh yeah, I have this on an easel on the counter, but it could easily be hung also.

I'd love to see the advent calendars y'all are making or have made. My neighbor's girls are making theirs out of toilet paper tubes. I can't wait to see the finished products!

A Snow Day

I woke up to snow this morning! There was just enough to make it pretty and clean, not enough to make driving morning carpool a hazard. Just how I like it! The snow made me want to light the fire, turn on my Pandora Christmas radio and get to decorating with twinkle lights and plaid and greens. I got the little tree in the kitchen done, among other things. (Love my little Coffee Shop ornament I found at Artco last year.)

My little doggie is doing so much better tonight, which makes me feel better too. So sad when they get sick and can't tell you what's wrong. She laid on the floor in the scrap room while I worked on my advent calendar, which I will be sharing tomorrow. It needs a few tweaks still. I made this cute little coffee cup card today also. Inside it reads "Taking a break from the daily grind to see how you've bean." The cup is from the Joys of The Season Cricut cartridge. You know that little cup is going to get a lot of use around here!

Nothing new and exciting here. I spent today recovering from all of the fun this weekend! (I even squeezed a nap in.) My little Doggie is sick, we are off to the Vet tomorrow. I have been babying her, wishing I could make it better.

I do have big plans for this week. Hannah and I want to make an Advent calendar. I have a plan for a banner for the dining room, Twinkle Toes projects, some snowy crafts and a few recipes I have to try.

What's on your crafty list for this week?

Thanks Paula at Raspberry and Lime Designs for sending me this award! My first blog award ever! 

Now, this award does come with some rules so please follow along:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this

2. Share 8 things about yourself

3. Pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered

4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards

8 Things About Me

1. Fall is my favorite season.

2. I owned a family Lifestyle Photography business for years.

3. On cold winter evenings I like a little Jameson in my coffee. :)

4. My favorite color is RED.

5. I will be starting my practicum hours to complete my certificate for Speech Language Pathology Assisting in January.

6. I have a little wire haired fox terrier who is my joy, a little heartbeat at my feet. Her name is Millie Star.

7. I wait impatiently for the Gingerbread Lattes to arrive at Starbucks every year.

8. My favorite dessert is Creme Brulee, yuuummmm!

8 Stylish Blogs to go Check Out

These gals all have so much talent, enjoy!

1 - Little Peace of My Heart

2 - Inside BruCrew Life

3 - The Creative Stampers Spot

4 - The Homegrown Hospitality Blog

5 - Inspirational Craft Blogs

6 -  Crafty Ramblings

7 - Made Fresh Daily

8 - Honeybean Creations

Happy Black Friday to Me!

Got my $20 Twinkle Toes Cartridge today! Can't wait to play with it. I have loads of dance photos to scrapbook, not to mention cards/gifts for the dance teachers and carpool this year! What fun crafty things did you get for yourself today?

Chipboard Letters

The house smells so yummy tonight! Pumpkin Pie cake, Pecan Pie, Cider...yum. I love Thanksgiving!

While the pies were cooling I worked on these chipboard letters for some special girls. My wall color doesn't do them justice, but since I have no white walls in this house....it will have to do.

The letters are from Hobby Lobby and I used the Wild Card cartridge for Cricut for the name tags and embellishments. (Used Gorilla Glue to adhere the white ribbon to the backs for hanging.)

Back Porch Time!

My Back Porch Memories kit arrived while I was gone yesterday! It had some super cute stuff this month. Here is the Seaside line from October Afternoon. How perfect, I just pulled the photos from our trip to Seaside, OR!

As I listened to the wind howling down the mountain, I finished this LO. 

I used the flip side of the striped paper, called Boardwalk. Bazzill card stock, Letters are made using Base Camp for Cricut and the tags  were made with Plantin Schoolbook for Cricut. 

I have been MIA the past couple of days because...

...we took the kids to Copper mountain to ski and snowboard! It was 10 degrees, snowing and beautiful. 

Legendary

Another LO for Hannah's High School album. I used a Page Maps LO sketch for this one. it also happens to qualify for their contest this month. 

(Felt Fashions flower by Provo Craft, Cricut Cartridges - Life's a Beach, Base Camp and Sweet Treats, Bazzill Just the Edge French Vanilla, and Dream Street Papers - Enchanted "Happily Ever After")

Ah ha!

It needed Geckos! Yes, I redid the card this morning after a fresh cup of coffee. :)

(Life's a Beach Cartridge for Cricut)

Aloha

I don't know if it was the warm, almost balmy weather today or the "to do" list always going in the back of my mind, but I just couldn't seem to tap into my creativity this afternoon. I wanted to create something for the color/Life's a Beach challenge over at Scrappin' 5 Little Cupcakes ...and this is as far as I got! Hmm, it is missing something, I know. Maybe if I revisit it tomorrow.... maybe that turtle needs to go....maybe if I have another cup of coffee....

Thanksgiving Thoughts

In just over a week we will gather with friends and family to celebrate all that we are thankful for. I am thankful for so many, many blessing in my life.

Today, I am especially thankful for GRACE. 
Grace has held our dear friend's marriage together though a very difficult trial, Grace has held my sweet friend C. after her husband chose to leave this world early, Grace holds my fellow military wives as they soldier on alone during long deployments, Grace holds my children each day as they navigate the teen years, and it holds me.

 Grace is the love of a Heavenly Father who hears us ~ John 11:41

Thanksgiving isn't just a day...it is a way of life. What are you thankful for today?

Good Neighbors

We were blessed with wonderful neighbors when we moved to Colorado. For Thanksgiving I wanted to do something special to tell them how much we appreciate them. I am planning on whipping up some Pumpkin Cappuccino Muffins (see post from earlier this month) and delivering them with this adorable house/neighbor card. I am going to put the addresses above the doors too, so cute.

(Wild Card for Cricut)

Lotsa Layouts

I had so much fun last night! Thanks to Jacque, Ann and Stacy for a fun, crafty evening! I ended up getting 5 LO's done last night and Ann helped me finish putting together the kits for Tuesdays PWOC project. Stacy and JAcque got some great projects and LO's done too! Here are a few of the LO's I did last night. (Thanks for leaving your Cricut cartridges here Jacque! I stayed up too late playing!)

I used Sweet Treats for Cricuit on this LO. Simple and done, just my style!

Base Camp for Cricut for the white letters, Jasmine for Cricut for "the".  (Wish you had been here to play last night Shelly! Scrapping these pictures made me miss you and the girls.)

Thickers, Basic Grey "Primitive" pattern paper, Monkey stickers from Michael's .

Snow Days

We have had snow flurries off and on for the past few days. It is making me want to curl up next to the fire with a good book and a cup of Deadman's Reach. Needless to say, I haven't gotten much else done! This is a snow LO I did this year. I played with paint on my page for the first time and was immediately addicted! The little snowflakes with jewels are from Jolees. The adorable boy is mine. ;) Here's to lots of snow this winter...and even more snowy fun LO's!

(I will have tons more to share tomorrow, Jacque is coming to play in the scrap room with me tonight! It will be good to get my hands dirty and my work space messy again after a couple of days off.)

Veteran's Day

I didn't get any crafting done today because I was enjoying my Veteran Sweetie's  day off from work. I did get to read my CK magazine while waiting for Hannah at dance though! Love that it came with a disk of page maps/sketches! I also found this cute Red, White and Blue ribbon pack for $2 at Big Lots.

(P.S. That's my little Henna Pumpkin I painted using puff paint.)

Table Setting

I had fun today making place cards for the Thanksgiving table. I used the Marquee from Storybook for Cricut, some pretty letter stickers by Fancy Pants and flowers/brads from Heidi Swapp. I made a cute little Menu board too. Fun making stuff with items you have stashed away in a drawer..."oh yeah, I have frames!" I need to get better at photographing what I am making, I feel like the pics aren't doing the projects justice. Gonna experiment tomorrow some.

Christmas Tag

I promised myself I wouldn't start blogging about Christmas stuff until Thanksgiving weekend. Then I started wrapping gifts....

I have a very awesome, devoted, patriotic, loving soldier in my life who is going to be in Afghanistan this Christmas. To make sure my sister gets her Christmas decor and gifts in time to enjoy them, I have to get her box out in the next week...thus the early Christmas post. Her box is filled with all sorts of goodies, some to enjoy throughout the season and some to save for Christmas Day. (Jessica, if you are reading this then I have spoiled some of the surprise, sorry.)

I made the sweetest little tags for her gifts using the Cricut (love this machine!). Just a simple green Christmas Tree from Potpourri Basket Cartridge, shadowed with tan (3.5 inches in size). A little red jewel brightens the whole thing up. I wasn't planning on making homemade tags for everyone this year, but now that I see how easy it will be with the Cricut I may just surprise myself!

Peace

Peace: a state of tranquillity or serenity.

This is a project I am teaching at PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) next week. When Amanda asked for projects for the craft day I immediately thought of scrap booking on canvas. I knew I could put together a kit that could be finished in the time alloted and that the ladies would be able to keep or gift to someone else. Because PWOC is a Christian based group I wanted to focus on a faith oriented project....Psalm 23 and the word Peace. I had fun designing this for the class next week and hope the ladies have as much fun making their own! 

(Supplies - 8x10 painters canvas from Hobby Lobby, 8.5x11 pattern paper, 5x7 photograph, coordinating card stock scraps, grosgrain ribbon by Ribbon Trends and a Flower Center by Prima Marketing.)

Pumpkin Cappuccino Chip Muffins

Photo Credit: Jocelyn at Inside Brucrew Life

Jocelyn over at BruCrew Life (a foodie blog I follow) took my Fall fetish for pumpkin and my love of coffee and made these yummy muffins! Of course I tried them! I tweaked it a little for altitude and personal taste. I added my changes in orange at the end of the recipe. Enjoy! 


Pumpkin Cappuccino Chip Muffins
(adapted from Starbucks recipe)

2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
2 eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 packet Starbucks VIA (I used 2 tsp. espresso powder instead)
1 c. mini chocolate chips (optional, but who are we kidding...everything is better with chocolate!)

BruCrew Additions
1 c. canned pumpkin
2-3 tbsp. sour cream
4 tbsp. extra flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350*. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Mix together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until combined. Do not over stir, batter should be lumpy. Add the chocolate chips...it isn't optional:-). Fill muffin liners 2/3 full. Bake for 22-24 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy! Makes about 24 muffins.


I did not add chocolate chips. For altitude I cut baking powder by 1/2 tsp and added 5 Tbs extra flour instead of 4. I baked at 360* for 22 minutes. You will need to experiment with the high altitude changes based on where you live.

For Gigi

Simple. A special note for my Grandma Louise.

(Basic Grey pattern paper, Storybook for Cricuit, stickles.)

4th Grade LO

Time sure flies! Just finished this LO of Luke's 4th Grade Moving On ceremony, he's in 8th grade now! (Yes, I am hopelessly a chronological scrapper.) In my quest to catch up on my LO's I am trying to balance simple LO's with more time consuming ones. KISS, right? (Keep It Simple Silly)

(Bazzill c/s, Hibiscus from Storybook for Cricut, stickles, SU! Chalks.)

School Spirit

Hannah started High School this year and I decided to do a High School album for her. Both the kids have a baby book, but the rest of the photos all go into family albums. High School seems to be so full of special memories that I thought they should be in their own personal book. I am still looking for ideas for the cover page of the album, I have a plan for the School Photo for each year, the rest will be filled with teenaged shenanigans and accomplishments!

Here is the first LO I did for her book:

(Bazzill c/s, Creative Imaginations Sports Extreme patterned paper, Plantin School Book "Roly Poly" Cartridge (Cricut), ribbon, Tim Holtz mini fastener.)

Twilight Fans Only

As promised, here is a peek at the Twilight mini chipboard book I worked on Friday night. I lost the third ring so just imagine it is there, covered in ribbon. I also haven't had time to sit and journal about the trip so if you are one of those people who likes to zoom in and read the journaling, sorry. :)

The laser cut words/dies were purchased at a scrapbook store in Tacoma, WA. I think she has gone to an online store now also, I will do some looking and add a link soon. The apple is from a New York sticker set...yes I bought the stickers just for the apple!

A photo (from the internet) of the books that led me to take 4 teens to Forks, WA for Spring break!

La Push is beautiful! The kids and I could have stayed and played there for a couple more days. Since we didn't see any werewolves while we were there, I thought maybe a Taylor Lautner/Jacob Black photo would "dress" the page up a bit...tee hee.