Birthday Pie

Good morning and Happy Halloween to you all! I am so excited to be taking the treat bags I made for my boss's kids with me to work today.  I really hope they like them.  If you missed yesterday's post, I announced the winner of the My Memories Scrapbook Software, so take a look to see if it was you!

I was going to save today's card for tomorrow, but a snowstorm stopped Marlene from posting on the Squigglefly blog so I offered to post it for her and am now obligated to show my card a day earlier than I intended to.   Today's challenge on the Squigglefly blog is by Marlene and it's Tickle My Fancy - which means to make a funny card because funny cards tickle Marlene!

I love funny cards too, so today's challenge was way fun for me! I used Bran Lock's Party Pig for me card. I didn't color him as a pig though, I colored him more like a cow. I figure if the you overlook his curly tail you won't notice.

I colored with Copic markers and used a border punch on both sides of the paper to create the border in pink and then wrapped it with a piece of sheer ribbon.  I added some googley eyes to make it a little more fun and funny.    The sentiment was computer generated.   Here's the inside of  the card

totally worth coming here to see, don't you think?  Please try to find time to play along this week!  I love funny cards and am always looking for more to add to my arsenal!  Today is the last day to buy at Squigglefly and be entered in the Mega Giveaway, so if there are any images you've been on the fence about today's the day to go ahead and get 'em!  Have a fabulous Halloween and don't let the trick or treaters spook ya!

Halloween Treats & My Memories Winner

Hi everyone! Well I did get some good play time in my craft room yesterday. Since tomorrow is Halloween I made some fun Halloween treats to take to my boss's kids. they are each getting a treat bag and a tootsie pop pumpkin from me!

The tootise pop pumpkins are easy to make. Just cut out six ovals (I used the largest Sopellbinder Nestabilities oval), and then punch a circle out of the middle. Fold each oval in half and glue then together end to end to form a circle. Insert the tootise pop into the circle and attach some curled green paper for vines. I also cut the sticks down a little and colored them brown to look more like pumpkin stems.

for the treat bags I made a 2,5,7,10 box out of some card stock that I printed an all over pattern on. One has spiders, one has candy corn, and one has a moon with bats flying.

This first bag uses the Boo Pumpkinimage by Cheryl Alger and is tied with some orange curling ribbon.

Next up is Marlene Shaw's adorable Nerdy Girl Cat

and finally I have this Funky Spider all decked out with fun googley eyes.

I think they will like them even if it's just for the treats that are inside. Now I have the pleasure of announcing the winner of the My Memories Suite scrapbook software and $10.00 toward shopping at the My Memories store! The winner is Niki!

Niki said...
Holly,
This looks like fun. The pack Ruff Ruff is very cute and colorful.

Thanks for sharing,
Niki

Niki, please contact me at usyungs@gmail.com to get your prize. Thanks to everyone who commented, and Niki I hope you enjoy your scrapbook program!

Now I'm off to see who the Featured Stamper is this week on Splitcoast Stampers and then I'm going to get busy cooking my meals for the week. I hope you all have a wonderful day and thanks for looking!

In My Day...

I know I've been a really bad blogger this week. I just didn't have any mojo in me over the week. I promise to make it up to you this week though. I plan on making cards this weekend to last thorough the whole week. I feel the mojo bubbling up already; lol!

Tomorrow is the day I pick the winner of the My Memories Suite Software, so if you would like a chance be sure to enter by leaving a comment on THIS POST.

Squigglefly is shining the spotlight on some special Thanksgiving images this week, so be sure to stop by and see the deals. This weekend is the last chance you have at the Mega Giveaway they are having.

Okay, now for a card. Someone at work was having a birthday and Marlene Shaw's Stone Age man and sentiment was just perfect for him.  He reminds me of the old man Adam Sandler would play on Saturday Night Live who always had stories about what it was like in his day.

and here's the inside

He liked the card a lot.  I used Copic markers to color everything and the Happy Birthday on the front was computer generated.

Okay, I'm off to do my grocery shopping and when I get home I'm making cards so I'll have something to share with you all week!  Thanks for hanging in there with me, and have a great day!

Major Assets

Hi everyone!  Don't forget to see Yesterday's Post if you want a chance to win the My Memories Scrapbook Suite and $10.00 toward purchases in their store!

I also want to remind you that a new challenge is up on the Squigglefly blog, and you should see the wonderful cards the design made for the Saying Thanks challenge.  They all came up with some fantastic projects you shouldn't miss.  Plus, it's a great time to play along because Squigglefly is having a Mega Giveaway and you're going to need thank you cards after the holidays anyway!

There are some great new images in the store this week, and I chose to use this Badonkadonk image by Chesney Young.  She is something else isn't she?  And was she ever fun to color!

I colored her with Copic markers and colored the ribbon to match the red cardstock.  The sentiment is one that Squigglefly will be releasing soon and I thought it was the perfect thing to say about her "asset"   um - pun fully intended!  LOL!

One more thing to share with you before I go.  I've told you about my boss's kids, and their youngest girl is five years old and loves to come see me after she gets home from school.  We color and I let her type on the computer.  I'm showing her how to do things in Microsoft Word and that kid never forgets anything you teach her!  Anyway, yesterday we were coloring and she always asks me to draw her some designs because the first time we colored I just did some zentangles  and when she asked what I was drawing I just told her it was a design.  So she's drawing little squares all over her paper and she says "I'm going to draw a ... a ....  um.... " and I said "a design?"  and she looked at me all surprised and said "You just jumped in my brain!"  I thought that was so cute.

I hope you have a really great day, and thanks for looking!

A special giveaway and a $20.00 deal!

Hi everyone.  I was given the chance to review a scrapbooking software called My Memories Suite.  I haven't had much time to play with it the past couple of weeks, but what little I have has shown me that it's got great potential not just for scrap bookers, but card makers too.

There are a lot of different background papers that you could just print out and use in card making, and I love how you can test out different lay outs before you actually make to the card to see if you like how the card is going to look.  There are so many different ribbons, and stitches and embellishments included as well as lettering!  Here's one scrapbook page I made using a photo of my best friend's granddaughter and new grandbaby.

Another thing that's cool is that you can print these out and put them in your scrapbook, or you can just have a whole digital album and add music and everything and send it to family and friends that way.  I think it would be a great start to print it out digitally and then if you wanted you could add real embellishments to enhance your scrapbook.  Anyway, the kind people at My Memories are going to let me give away one of these!  If you'd like to have the chance to win this, just go visit http://www.mymemories.com/ and then come back and leave a comment telling me which paper pack is your favorite.  I'll have a winner next Sunday!  If you can't wait that long and would like to just purchase the software today, you can save $10.00 on the software and get $10.00 toward anything at the My Memories store by using this code STMMMS95010 when you check out!  That's a $20.00 deal you can't beat!


We have rain this morning and I got all of my chores done yesterday so it's a fun day of crafting for me!  I hope you have a great day, and thanks for looking!

What The Future Holds

Hi everyone! Super fast post today as I have no time to chit chat, but I don't have much to chit chat about anyway so you're not missing out on anything! I just have a card I wanted to get up

Is this not a fantastic Fortune Teller image? I just love it. it would be cool to make the crystal ball a shaker window too, but I just added glitter to it.  I colored with Copic markers and did a little swirly piercing on the side by the sentiment which is computer generated.  I thought the fortune teller was a little Halloweenish and would make a great birthday card for a friend who has a birthday on Halloween.
Enjoy your day, and thanks for looking!

Faking It

Hi everyone! The cookies were a big hit at work.  A couple of the guys said they wouldn't have known there was bacon in them if I hadn't told them.  I have eaten way too many of them myself!

 Yesterday was nearly ninety degrees, but the rain has moved in over night and today the high is supposed to only reach 62! Yippee skippee! The weatherman is even saying that we'll dip into the thirties this Friday night. I'm so happy to hear this, I mean it's mid October and 90 degrees is ridiculous!

 I told you that there was a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog. It's called Face Your Fears and you are to make a scary card or something that you are afraid of. The design team did a fantastic job on their creations and you should really go check them out. Also, there's even more reason to play along because Squigglefly is having a Mega Giveaway and every image you buy puts you in the drawing for it, so what better reason to go browse those scary images and purchase one to play?

I have a card to show today, but it's not one I made for the blog challenge. I'm still working on that one. This one uses the Starlet image by Chesney Young and the sentiment is one that will be available soon. Squigglefly is getting ready to release a bunch of great new sentiments that you will love!

I colored this with Copic markers and embossed the background designer paper with a Sizzix embossing folder.  The sentiment was die cut and then chalked a little while still in the die.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful day and thanks for looking!

Cookies and Cards

How do these look? Yummy? They are!

  I think this is quite possibly the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I've ever made.  If you're afraid to try the bacon,  leave it out and it makes a great basic chocolate chip cookie.  When I found the recipe, they said they made three batches of the cookie mix - one the regular way, one they browned the butter first, and the last one they browned the butter and added bacon.  they took the cookies to a party and the bacon ones went first with people asking for more and saying "why didn't you make them all like this?"  The browned butter ones were the second favorite, and the regular ones they had some left over.  So, I think the secret to making them really good is browning the butter.  Anyway, here's the recipe if you want it.

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

14 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup chocolate chips ( I used the mini ones)

1 cup bacon that's been fried until crispy and diced into roughly 1/4" pieces.

Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium-high het until melted.  continue cooking, swirling pan constantly.  Watch carefully as butter can go from brown to burned quickly.  When butter is dark golden brown remove from heat and immediately transfer to heat proof bowl.  Stir the remaining 4 tablespoons butter into the hot melted butter and stir until melted.  Add sugar, dark brown sugar, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until completed mixed.  Add egg and egg yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth and there are no lumps of sugar remaining.  Let the mixture stand for a few minutes and then whisk again for 30 seconds.  Do this several times - you want to make sure that the sugar has "melted" into the liquid.  When ready, mixture will be smooth, thick and shiny.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in the the flour and baking soda until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips and bacon pieces.  Don't over mix, but make sure no flour pockets remain.  

Place heaping teaspoon of cookie dough on baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10-14 minutes.  Mine took 11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.

I'm taking some to work today to see what the guys there have to say about them.  My husband tried them and liked them a lot although he did make a face when I told him there was bacon in them!  If I had told him before he ate one I don't think he would have tried them.

Okay, I do have a card for you today although I didn't make as many cards over the weekend as I had hoped.

I made this for the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers yesterday. the card I picked to CASE can be seen HERE. I used the Spotty Frog Prince image from Squigglefly. Now before you think "prince?" there is another frog in the set that has a crown!  I colored this with Copic markers and added some googly eyes for fun.  The sentiment is computer generated.

today is a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog, so be sure to go see what Marlene wants us all to do!  Have a fantastic day, and thanks for looking!

The Art Of the Dance

Happy weekend! I hope you're able to squeeze in some fun play time today. I'm going to try to. I've got my grocery shopping to do this morning and then some house cleaning, but after that I plan to play!

I have something I want to try, and if it works I'll be sharing it with all of you - so stay tuned!

Here's a card I made with the Retro Dance image from Squigglefly. I colored it with copic markers and then glittered the bodice of her dress. The sentiment is one that will be available at Squigglefly soon.

Squigglefly has been busy adding a bunch of new sentiments to their store. So many great ones to go with the images you may already have!  One more day to play in Squigglefly's Yipes Stripes challenge - so get busy!

Birthday diet?

Hi everyone! I've got a fun card to share with you today. I love the inside outs at Squigglefly. They make a card so easy to put together because the sentiment and image for both the inside and out are all there! this particular inside out is called Screw the Carbs. It comes with the Happy Birthday sentiment, but I think it would be a fun card to send to a friend for no reason if you left that part out!

and here's the inside

I colored everything with Copic markers. Sorry to cut it short, but I've got to run! Hope you have a great day, and thanks as always for stopping by!

What A Girl Wants

Hello! I hope your week is off to a good start! I thought I'd share a couple more cards with you today. The first one is one I made for the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers Sunday. The card I picked from the gallery is THIS ONE, and here is my card

I picked an older image from Squigglefly called Shopping Girl. It was drawn by my daughter Ashley. I colored with copic markers and then sponged around the image while it was still in the rectangle die with some Cameo Coral ink.  I also sponged the ink onto the flower so it would match perfectly.  The sentiment is one that will be available at Squigglefly very soon.  Isn't it a sassy one?

My next card was done for one of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges also going on at Splitcoast Stampers.  I used one of the FREE Support Shy Bears - I think they are the cutest things!

I colored her with copic markers and the sentiment is computer generated.

Don't forget to enter the Squigglefly Blog Challenge, and remember to get your 25% discount when you shop at Squigglefly by using the code spookysavings!  Gotta love that much of a discount!  Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

ARRR!

Good morning everyone! Are you one of the lucky ones who have today as a holiday? It's Columbus Day here in the states and Thanksgiving Day in Canada - so happy day to all of you! I still have to go to work today, but that's okay. I enjoy my job and had lots of crafting time this weekend.

Squigglefly has a new challenge on the blog today and it's such a simple one that there's no reason you shouldn't play along! It's Yipes Stripes! (How many of you remember that chewing gum commercial?) Anyway, it's as simple as using stripes on your project! Here's what I came up with.

I used the new Nerdy Boy Pirate by Marlene Shaw and thought the stripes on his shirt were sufficient for the challenge.  Isn't he a cutie?  I came up with the sentiment and Marlene was kind enough to make it into a cool looking one complete with skull and crossbones, so if you've already bought this image look for that soon at Squigglefly.  I found a skull and crossbones on the internet and made the background paper using Adobe Photoshop Elements.  There's a great tutorial that my daughter made showing how to do that HERE.  If you don't have Adobe Photoshop Elements, you can download GIMP free and still do it.

Now, just in case the stripes on the shirt aren't enough to qualify here's another one I did that uses striped paper.

Yes, it's another riddle for ya! LOL! The image is one by Lynne Stansbery called Sumo Wrestler. I made this for a friend who could use a laugh. Here's the inside.

One last thing I'd like to tell you all is that Squigglefly's newsletter went out yesterday, and just in case you haven't signed up to receive it you can save 25% on your entire order by using the code spookysavings when you check out!  This is good for the whole month of October, so it's a great way to not only save on your Halloween images but Thanksgiving and Christmas images too!   I hope you have a great day, and thanks for looking!

October Reminder

Since October is breast cancer awareness month there are lots of challenges out there with that theme.  I know that Splitcoast Stampers is doing their Hope You Can Cling to challenges all month long.  Anyway, I thought it was a good time to point you all to the Squigglefly blog for some special freebies you may have forgotten about.
Enjoy your weekend!

Halloween Witches

Happy Weekend! for those of you experiencing a headache from yesterday's riddle, I have the answer, and now I see where I kept messing up. I failed to go back and read the main paragraph - I concentrated on the clues alone. this made me forget the fact that all of the items were donated over a two week period. I think had I remembered that I would have figured it out. Anyway, here is the answer

Mr. Olson was from Midway and donated the water wheel.
Ms. Miller was from Fulton and donated the wagon.
Mr. Jacobs was from Fenton and donated the harness set.
Ms. Beebe was from Senton and donated the trunk.
Mr. Reyes was from Canton and donated the wood burning stove.
Ms. Alcott was from Keeton and donated the sewing machine.

How about another halloween card? This one used another Brian Lock image called Witch Moon.

(big enough for ya?)

I colored the image with copic markers and then chalked the sky.  It's actually darker looking than the photo makes it look.  Then I took a white gel pen and dotted little stars all over the sky.  The spider and web border is from Martha Stewart.  I still may add some eyes to the spiders - they look weird to me without them.

Have a fun weekend, and thanks for looking!

Boo! I've Got A Riddle For Ya!

Good morning and let's all give a cheer for Friday! Yay for Friday!

Yesterday when I went to work my boss had a print out of a riddle on my desk. This was given to his 9 year old son who is in the third grade as homework. I have to tell you, I worked on this quite a long time yesterday and my head was hurting too much to figure it out! I still don't know the answer, but I'd love to know if any of you figure it out! I'd also be curious to know if you think this is too hard for 3rd graders. Okay, here it is

The Abbott County Historical Society had not accomplished very much until a kind donor gave them an acre of land containing an ancient home and barn. This initiated restoration work by volunteers along with requests for local people to donate items of the past that would be appropriate for the old house and barn. Within two weeks, six items were received from people in various towns. From the following clues, you are to determine the order in which items were donated, the donors (one surname was Olson), and the hometown (one was Canton) of the donors.

1. the Midway resident delivered his gift which was followed by one more before the Fenton man's gift, which wasn't the fifth.

2. Two of the three women gave household items the second week, and one was the first of three items received that week.

3. The wood-burning kitchen stove was donated just after Ms. Beebe's gift, which wasn't the antique sewing machine from Keeton.

4. The old wagon wasn't the first gift, but it was donated just before Mr. Jacob's gift, which was just ahead of the trunk.

5. Ms. Alcott's donation came just after Mr. Reyes's, which was just after one from the Senton woman, who isn't Ms. Miller.

6. The water wheel arrived just before a donation from the Fulton resident, which was just before the harness set.

Think you can figure that out? I swear, just reading the clues has my head swimming!

Okay, enough of the hard stuff - let's get to the fun stuff! I have a Halloween card to share with you. This one uses the Pumpkin Kid from Brian Lock, and the Boo sentiment from Mark Hicks.

( big enough for ya?)

I colored with Copic markers and then used an embossing marker on the BOO and embossed it with a couple of layers of clear embossing powder.  the brads on the side were silver ones that i colored black with the markers.

Have a great Friday, and thanks for looking!

Could Be The Devil In Me

I'm back with another of Suzanne Urban's fun Halloween images! This one is Halloween Devil and he looks like he's pleased with the fact that he just stole some poor kids Halloween candy!

I don't think you have to enlarge this baby!  I "extra larged" it for you!

I colored him with Copic markers and printed the sentiment with my computer.  The background is actually some fun candy corn fabric I bought a few years ago.  It goes perfectly with this image don't you think?

Don't forget to play along with Squigglefly's blog challenge - you could win this handsome devil for yourself!

Hope your Thursday is really great, and thanks for looking!

Do You Drive A Stick?

Hello everyone, and happy hump day! I hope your week is going well. I think it's going by pretty fast! I've got a fun card to share with you today. This one uses an image from one of my favorite Squigglefly artists Suzanne Urban. I love her quirky characters, and this witch on a Halloween Joy Ride is no exception!

(click to enlarge)

Isn't she just a wonderful witch to create with? I colored her with Copic markers and watercolored the sky.  The sentiment was computer generated.  I'm switching between Halloween and Christmas cards because they'll both be here before you know it!
Have a fabulous day, and thanks for looking!

Splitting Trees

Hi everyone! Have you had a great weekend? Mine was really great! I made a few cards on Saturday and got my grocery shopping for the week completed. Sunday I got the meal preparation done and then we gathered at my brother in law's house for some family game time. I found some new games for us to play, and they were fun! If you're looking for some fun family games to play I can highly recommend Telestrations and Talkin' Tango! I also managed to make a card for the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers yesterday!

(click to enlarge)

I'm sure most of you have heard of the Split Negative technique where you stamp your image in black on white and then again in white on black and cut them in half and piece them together. Well the card I chose from the Featured stampers' gallery used that technique, but I had never tried it with digital stamps before. I thought this was the perfect time to try it out!

It turns out to be very simple in Photoshop elements! I just opened up the image which is one of the trees in Where the Love Grows at Squigglefly and went to the "filter" button at the top and clicked on "adjustments" and then "invert" to turn the black area to white and vice versa! then I printed out one regular image and one inverted image and cut them in half and put them together!

After that it was a simple matter of coloring in the hearts and tying a ribbon at the top.  I hope you will give it a try sometime soon!  Don't forget that there is a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog today!  Try your hand at the challenge Marlene has set for everyone and you could win your choice of Squigglefly images - including sets!

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for looking!