Isn't she lovely?

I'm sure she'll be embarassed when she finds out I did this but isn't my daughter lovely? Alex and a friend went to dinner Saturday night and she asked me to take this photo before we left the house. Unfortunately Alex inherited my genes and will never be stick thin but she's becoming a beautiful young woman regardless of her genetics. It's hard to believe she's almost fifteen! My baby just isn't a baby anymore. Okay, I'm gonna go have a good cry now!

Thank You Card

This summer I decided to participate in an online swap and had a lot of fun finding different craft supplies to mail to each of my two Mystery Sistah's. This week I received this lovely thank you card from Debra Harrison, aka disneydeb25 on Splitcoaststampers, who was one of the ladies I sent goodies over the summer. Look at the detail on this card! The dry embossed top, the felt butterflies, the scallops on the bottom: that's alot of work and she chose to send this to me! :) I love being inspired by other crafters and this beautiful card has certainly done that. Thanks, Deb!

3x3 Mini Notecard Box

This latest project was featured in the Weekly Inkling newsletter, produced by Splitcoaststampers, and was the main project for my September Paper Junkies Club at the Ramstein Arts & Crafts Center. There is a tutorial on the SCS site with step-by-step instructions on how to complete the project. I've been trying to use up my new SU! Designer Paper and this project was perfect for doing just that! Here's the link to Laurie Schmidlin's tutorial:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/3x3notecardbox/

Supplies: SU! Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink, Kiss Me Kiwi, and Whisper White cardstock, SU! Riding Hood Red, Kiss Me Kiwi, and Pink Pirouette Classic ink, SU! Bella Rose Designer Paper, blender pens, ink, ribbon, scallop edge punch, dimensionals, and crystal glitter.

Legoland

Recently we had the opportunity to take a day and visit Legoland AGAIN! While we had a great time, we've come to the realization that our family is outgrowing Legoland. Many of the rides are geared for Jordan's age and while there were some rides which appealed to Joe and Alex, they don't have the same appeal as rides at Six Flags or Knott's Berry Farm. As you can see by the first photo of Joe in the SUV, I think we laughed more hysterically trying to flip Pringles in our mouths on the drive to the park than the wet, overcast weather we enjoyed during our time actually in the park. We'll have to check out Europa Park and see if we like that better but I think we'll do it on a day with better weather!

Altered Mini Notebooks

I finished these altered mini notebooks yesterday as a small gift for my club members and I'm rather pleased with how well they turned out. This project was inspired by a tutorial I viewed on Angie Kennedy Juda's blog, Chic'n Scratch. I've put the link to her site in the resource bar to the right of my blog for your viewing enjoyment. She has some terrific projects on there and the tutorials are fantastic! I made a template for the covers by tearing out a sheet of the notepaper, cutting a piece of cardstock the same size as the cover and then overlaying the notepaper on top of the cardstock and using my Crop-a-Dile to punch the holes. To fit the paper on top of the cover I cut tiny slits at the top of each hole and fit it around the spiral wire, then adhered the cardstock or designer paper to the cover. I kept the cover design simple and was able to crank these out pretty quickly.

Supplies: Ginger Blossom and Bella Rose Designer paper, SU! Riding Hood Red, Groovy Guava, Real Red, and Old Olive Classic ink and cardstock, scallop and circle punches, Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon, Certainly Celery twill tape, and Pink Hedgehog Papercrafts red/white stripe ribbon,Papertrey Ink Trajan Monogram and Boxes, Bags, and Tags clear stamps, and generic memo notepads.

Chalkboard Technique

I'm finally getting caught up on past projects so I thought I'd post a few of them for your viewing enjoyment! This card utilizes the chalkboard technique featured by Beate Johns in the Splitcoaststampers Resource library. The link is listed below if you're interested in experimenting with this technique.
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/chalkboard_technique/

Card Resources: SU! Heartfelt stamp set, SU! Close to Cocoa, retired Groovy Guava, Rose Red, Very Vanilla cardstock, retired Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon, vintage brads, SU! Craft White, Classic Close To Cocoa ink, Certainly Celery and Rose Red Chalk, retired Ginger Blossom Designer Paper, and misc. punches.

RAK Winner's Gift

As promised, here are photos of Nicole's RAK gift, which she will receive Friday during our monthly Stamp Technique Club. I've been cruising the web for different but inexpensive crafting items to use as hostess gifts and found these cute bags at Joann.com. The pink was a little lighter than I anticipated but it's still a cute little tote for carrying crafting supplies around. The checkered ribbon is leftover clearance ribbon from Verve Visual and the tag was made with Marvy Uchida oval punches, Papertrey Ambassador Monogram Stamp Set, and SU! Pretty in Pink/Close to Cocoa Ink, SU! Bella Rose DP, and the butterfly from the new SU! Dreams DuJour set. I'll have to come up with something more spectacular for the next contest!

And the winner is.....

Through a highly scientific process, (I wrote all the participant names on notepaper and dropped them in a bucket for my husband to select. Isn't he handsome?) the winner of the RAK gift is.....Nicole Apel!! A huge thanks to everyone who took the time to visit my blog over Labor Day weekend and leave comments. You were all so generous in your compliments and I appreciate the time given to checking out what's posted. Nicole has won a customized scrapbook mini totebag, of which I will post a photo by Wednesday. Thanks for playing along!