My Vacation!!

Char, Chris and I took a trip to Chicago to visit my brother last week. Though I don't usually share photos of non-creative stuff on my blog, I decided to post some so that my family can have a chance to see my brother's children. We don't get to see them that often and it was so nice to be able to spend some time with them!!

The boys love their sister. She is fun to squish!!

I could just eat her up!!!

Look at that dimple!!! So cute!

It has been so long since Chris fed a baby!! My niece was so much easier to feed then Charlotte ever was and it was a fun change of pace. I even offered to do it and I would always hand it off to someone else if they were around when Char was a baby.

Charlotte and my brother. Are these two related or what?

My brother and family.

 
A photo of my brother's children and Char altogether. After looking at this, Charlotte said we need to get ALL the cousins together and have a professional photo taken.

Isn't my niece delicious? She was so squishable and you just had to kiss those cheeks!!!

Char had fun climbing the wall with her cousin at the science museum in Chicago.

I took so many photos over the two days with my brother's family that I only took two more for the whole rest of the vacation and we were gone five more days!!! Charlotte even complained and she is always up for a good photo shoot.

Have a great week!!

Nora

A Few Projects

I love summer. I have time to do things I WANT to do rather then just what I have to do. One of my favorite things is getting into my craft room to make cards. Here are a few of my favorites that I have made over the last month or so.

The first two cards I created for a challenge at scrapjazz.com. It was to create your own background paper using text.

The first card I chose to only use the text in a small area. I used the Buttercup Collection patterned paper by Lily Bee and a fun Sizzix telephone die cut.

The second card I chose to use the printed text background for the whole card. I printed it out on white cardstock but it looked too stark so I misted it to make the background more like patterned paper.  I used the Sizzix telephone die again and some patterned paper scraps for the circle and the telephone.

I had a lot of fun creating this third card. I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the lace paper, colored it using mist spray and then accented it with some patterned paper circles. The butterfly was an extra that was left over from a scrapbook layout and was a perfect addition to this card.

Though this card has a telephone on it, the die cut is a PTI die rather then a Sizzix. I used some paper by My Minds Eye that I bought at AC Moore and a lace accent from Prima. I think this is my favorite!!

This last card is SO EASY!! I just used die cuts and stickers to create it. You can never have enough thank you cards either!!

I want to thank you for looking!! Have a great Sunday!!

Nora

A Grand Experiment

I have a black thumb. I tend to either kill my plants from over watering and only by luck last year was I able to grow tomatoes, basil and egg plant in my front garden. So why did I want to try a bigger vegetable garden this year...and plant it at the end of June? I am not sure but Chris was actually on board with the idea and had the idea of doing more of a container garden then digging up our grass.

So one day last month, we decided to take on this project. The good thing about it was that we got all the vegetable plants on sale because we planted it so late. The bad thing? We spent A LOT of money on soil!! According to my husband's research, this is a "one time" expense and we just add stuff to the soil to bring the nutrients back next year.

We added cloth to the bottom so that we wouldn't have to weed. Wish me luck that it works because weeding is really not my thing.

We really wanted to get soil especially for a container garden but when you plant things at the last minute, you don't find what you want. How do I know? We went to FIVE stores to search for it but to no avail. Note to self: if we decide to do more containers next year, (and it is looking good for that) plant the stuff earlier!!

Here is what it looked like after planting. All you experienced gardeners will tell me I planted too much and planted it too close together. Do you remember I said in the beginning I haven't a clue at what I am doing?

Here is what things look like as of the beginning of this week. I let this cucumber grow and picked it today!! I decided to put cages on my pickling cucumbers because they were overtaking the garden. I know, this is not a common thing. However, at the advice of my friend Jen who has a PHENOMENAL veggie garden, I used tomato cages to prop the pickling cucumbers up and will see what happens. She says she does this and gets bumper crops of this type of cucumber every year. If it is successful, I hope to try making pickles with Charlotte this fall.

I planted my eggplant in a pot because I didn't have room in the garden. I had to plant Japanese eggplant because the store where I purchased the plants didn't have the Italian plants. I picked two today and am hoping they taste good. I love a good eggplant dish!!

We planted three kinds of tomatoes-cherry, beef steak and plum. They seem to be growing but I noticed today that the leaves at the bottom of two are a bit yellow. We have gotten a lot of rain and I am not sure the plants are loving it. We had a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes last year and I am hoping that it turns out well. Again, I know if I planted these earlier I would have some to taste already!!

Last but not least, here is my zucchini. When I planted the garden originally, I thought I had one zucchini and one yellow squash plant but they were mislabeled. Instead I have two zucchini plants. Good thing we like zucchini!! I picked two out of the garden this week. One zucchini was HUGE and had large seeds. I know now to pick them when they are a bit smaller. They tend to taste better.

So far I am enjoying watching everything grow. I intend to start all my veggies from seed next year with a grow light or on my new garden window that I am getting when we redo my kitchen. (That is hopefully happening soon but that is another post!!) Chris and I also discussed buying a few more containers and cutting down some trees to shed more light in the backyard. This is coming from a man who doesn't really even like vegetables!!

Happy Saturday!!

Nora

More Baby Cards!!

On my last post I stated that I had created multiple baby cards using a similar card design. I thought I would do a quick share with you.

I created the elephant using my Silhouette die cut machine. Isn't he the CUTEST? I loved him so much that I used it on every card I created for baby!!

Here is a close up of the little guy!!

I created this card with a slightly different background. Instead of layering paper, I chose to stamp pink polka dots and finish it off with a heart border. I don't like this as much as the first card but it works.

The last card was for my friend whom had a baby boy. I I think I like this the best. I am partial to blue!!

Have a great day!!

Nora

Thank You Card and Other Stuff!!

Once again I have dropped the ball on my blog. It is such a shame because I have been making a ton of projects but the photographing and putting blogging about them is extremely time consuming. I will get there, though.

For my first card, I created a thank you for my Aunt who LOVES smiley faces. I used my Silhouette to cut out the smiley and had fun with the colors. I think I will make a few more of these using some scraps and tuck them away for later.

I created my second card for my nephew's birthday this weekend. I really didn't know what I wanted to keep the top of the cupcake simple so I just used some number stickers.

I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the ticket and a Paper Trey Ink stamp for the cup cake. I wish I photographed the card a little better, though. The 13 is NOT crooked in real life!!

This third card I created for a friend that just had a baby. Isn't it sweet? I had stamped the bear and colored it in ages ago. I just cut it out using a Paper Trey Ink tag die to make it complete. I actually created multiple baby cards on this day, all using a similar design but die cut. I will post those on a future date, though!!

My last post today was done for Scrapjazz.com in March. The challenge was to pick a photo and create a layout on what you don't see in the photo. The journaling was about the horrific day we had with my dog Zach whom I nicknamed Stinky. I created the banners behind the photo with some Queen and Company tape and some pretty patterned paper.

I hope you enjoyed my post. See you soon!!

Nora

A Short Cut to Thank You Notes

I cannot believe how fast this month is flying by!! This week is school vacation and I have been looking forward to this for the last month. After this there are only two months of school left. I cannot wait for summer!!!

I am going to make a confession. I am a card maker but I almost never make my own thank you notes. Usually it is because I have too many to make around holidays or my birthday and so I wind up going out and buying them. I was determined NOT to do this anymore and had to figure out a way to make my own cards but make it easy on myself. Here is what I came up with.

First I bought some plain notecards for $1.50 from Michaels. Yes, I could have just sent these but what is the fun of that? I am a HUGE fan of orange and knew that I could just doctor these cards to make them my own using supplies I already had on hand.

First I went through my patterned papers scraps and die cut a bunch of shapes using Paper Trey Ink's limitless layers 1 3/4" circle dies.

 I then went through my stamp pads and picked some colors that would match the die cuts I had created.

Next I chose some stamps, stamped the images and then die cut the stamps to make the focal point of my card. Here is a few of the finished cards:

The thing I liked about this project the most was that I really only spent $1.50 to create this cards because I used things I already had on hand. I love when that happens. I think that I am going to make some sets of these to give away as gifts.

I just wanted to post a close up of one of the cards too!!

This wasn't the only project that I had to make this month. My father was quite ill so I made a card and sent a care package to cheer him up.

I used a combination of Echo Park and My Mind's Eye products to create this. My daughter said it looked too much like a birthday card but who said get well cards can't be festive too?

That is all for today!! Happy Sunday!!

Nora

Did you miss me?

Hello everyone!! I haven't posted in exactly two months and I feel bad. I was doing so well!!

Things have been crazy around here and I wasn't doing too many projects. I lost my mojo somewhere along the line. I am back though and wanted to share a few of the things I have been doing.

I had a few birthdays last month so I created a few cards. The first was for my friend, Donna.

This card is a combination of old and new supplies. I used Aqua Mist card stock and patterned paper from Paper Trey Ink, as well as their houndstooth background. LOVE the pink on pink!! I then stamped the sentiment on a Making Memories die cut and finished the card off with a Prima butterfly.

Here is a close put of the detail. It is such a simple card but love how it came out!!

I liked the design of the first card so much that I created a second card that was based off it using similar supplies. Instead of the label, I used punch and added a button.

The next two cards I created were for my cousin and a request of my friend to make a card to give to someone. I basically CASED the cards off this card design by Dawn McVey-the card maker I want to be when I grow up. I LOVE her stuff!!! If you haven't ever been to her blog, set aside some time because her creations are fantastic!!

Both of these cards I created were for males. I used Paper Trey Ink stamps and my Silhouette machine to created the die cuts.

Here is the card with the matching envelope. I love this color scheme so much that I used it again on the card below.

I chose to only layer two stars for this card and stamp a cupcake on the second one. I hate making the same exact card twice so this is how I mixed it up.

This last card I created I made for another friend. I used almost all scraps to complete it too!!

This was for a challenge over at Scrapjazz.com. It was to create a card with a window. I die cut a scalloped circle into the green card stock, stamped some Paper Trey Ink birthday sentiments from various sets onto it and layered it over the "It's your day" image. The only thing I would change about this card is the ribbon. I only had a small piece in this shade of pink and I can see the cutting on the edge of the bow isn't so hot. Oh well, it is home made!!!

Thank you for browsing today. Have a great weekend!!

Nora

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I just thought I would post a quick one today. I wanted to showcase the treat bags I made for work. I originally created a few of these little bags to give away for Valentine's Day but decided I wanted to do something a little bit different. I chose to keep the kraft colored card stock as my base but stamped them with a few different Paper Trey Ink stamps. I also used various stamps and die cuts for the tops of the bags. I assembled them in an assembly line style.

The first one I made I used a little tag I had lying around with a little heart as my focal point.

I chose not to use this design because I would have had to die cut by hand all the little tags and I didn't feel like spending time on that. I also used black ink on the banner and I decided I didn't like the looks.

Instead I chose to cut hearts out with my Silhouette digital cutter and stamp the Happy Valentine's Day in red ink. I figured that using a digital cutter would make it faster!! I filled them with Dove milk and dark chocolate hearts.

 I am hoping my fellow co-workers will enjoy getting a treat for Valentine's Day!!

Nora