HOME AT LAST!

Well, I have had a couple of busy weeks so I have been unable to post. We moved back home to New York two weeks ago and I couldn't be happier! We are living in a rented apartment while we search for a house to buy. We came back quickly so we could get our son Tom enrolled back in his old High School before too much of the new semester had started. In Charlotte, the schools did classes in "Blocks" so they take 4 subjects the first half of the year for 90 minutes a day then their next 4 subjects for the second half of the year. This sounded good when we moved there, but on moving back to Buffalo; it put Tom a half of a year behind in three of the core subjects! So he has to play catch up in science, history and math. The only core subject that he completed was English and he will still have to take the NY regents exam in June to have it recognized! Kind of stinks to be in his shoes... But he is a game kid and wanted to come back early. Yeah Tom! I am in the midst of finding a job ,Jim is job hunting while taking a semester off of college,and Bud is starting a new career so there are a lot of changes for all of us! Our apartment is small (can you say tiny?) so we have a ton of boxes in our basement and have only unpacked what is absolutely necessary until we move once more. It makes for some interesting mornings around here when we are hunting for certain things! Oh well, no one said the move would be easy! I had a beautiful place to do my papercrafting, cardmaking, and scrapbooking in our home in Charlotte, and am now resigned to a table in the basement surrounded by walls of boxes!!! BUT; I am home!!!
I did this card in my new crafting area yesterday. SCS had a challange to do a card with no designer paper, and using circles. This is what I came up with.I used Bazzil grey paper, unknown white and blue papers, and slate grey ink. The middle circle is from SU's Riveting set. A scallop punch for the cut out area of card and the scallop behind the the round stamp. The "love" is from another SU set and my background on the blue is a combination of two different stamps both which have circles. Enjoy!

TAG SWAP

I did this tag for a swap on Split Coast Stampers. We each do six identical tags then send them to the hostess who in returns sends us back 5 different tags (She gets to keep one for herself for hosting). The tags can then be used for scrapbook pages, cards, or whatever we want. Everyones' will be different and each person can choose their own theme. I can't wait to see what I get in return! I hope they all like mine...

Bella's Beautiful Cards!

Isabella spent some time with me on Monday and we made cards side by side(she doing hers while I worked on something of my own) in my craft room. She loved picking out all her materials and then of course the glitter glue! She made these to give her cousins and friends when she moves back to Buffalo! I think she has a great future in papercrafting...(She might even have just a little bit of "Meema" in her!)I sure was proud of her creativity!

Beautiful Girls!

I made this canvas wall hanging for my brother-in-law Russell and sister-in-law Tracy for Christmas. Their daughters' beauty made this a pretty easy win-win project! I used 5"x7" canvas (2) which I painted with acrylics and distressed with antiquing inks. To this I stamped designs using versamark ink then embossed with copper embossing powder. I did their initials with chipboard which I also embossed. I found a beautiful copper hinge to connect the 2 pictures and used ribbon to hang it from. I am so glad that they loved it! But like I said, what's not to love when you look at those beautiful faces!!!

Happy New Year 2008!

I made this cute little chipboard calendar to sit on my daughter Ericas'desk at work. I saw this really cool tutorial on Splitcoast by Beate (she rocks with tutorials!) so I had to try it out. I basically used (2) pieces of 4" by 4" chipboard which I covered with designer paper (both sides). Then I printed out a little calendar (2&3/4" square) from a place online. This I mounted to 2 pieces of cardstock each a little bit bigger than the last. I used brads to hold the calendar and cardstock together, then mounted all to one of the pieces of covered chipboard. I used the other piece of chipboard to place a family pic that we just had done and a little word embellishment and then used my crop-adile to punch holes in both pieces of chipboard, add ribbon, and voila! If you need further info on how make one of your own, please e-mail me and I would be happy to share!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! We will be making a new start to our new year and are quite excited to be returning home to our family and friends..."There's no place like home" is really very true to two boys who are very much missing their home in WNY!

Joy to the World!

It is only five days until Christmas, and I don't think everything will be ready! I am working everyday up until Christmas day, so it doesn't leave a lot of time to finish things at home... But; you know what? It doesn't really matter if everything is just perfect(or at least how I think it should be). The important thing about this holiday is the birth of Jesus and how we can celebrate Him! So... I am ready!
On a lighter note, check out my grandson August wearing Jim's clothes hamper on his head! Boy did we ever have fun with him! Family makes every day a holiday!
Sorry, I haven't posted any cards, etc lately but everything that I have been doing these last few weeks are xmas presents and I don't want anyone to see them on here before they open them up on Christmas!

CHRISTMAS IS NEARING!

Hi to all,
I just got back from the post office where I mailed all my cards and packages! Thank goodness that is done... Now I just have to finish up the gifts for home and do my baking. I already had made peanut butter fudge, but... it was found by my family and is now non existent! At least I know they love it! I guess I will have to make another batch! Here are some of the different cards that I made to send to friends and family. One of them might be yours! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!