I'm busy in the craft room tonight! I decided to make cards for the rest of the birthdays coming up in March. This cupcake was made by using the scallop circle punch for the top and cutting a brown piece of paper and running it through the crimper for the bottom. The candle is a thin piece of white card stock that I ran through the crimper as well. The flame is a tiny piece of summer sun card stock. I took out the Stickles to make the candle and frosting glittery :) Enjoy!

I'm playing with my Man's Best Friend stamp set...this set makes me smile :)

For the top card I ran kraft card stock through the Big Shot with a texturz impressions plate and then rubbed my Close to Cocoa ink pad over the raised impression.

The bottom card is just plain old stamping :) Sometimes it's fun to go back to the basics.

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Celebrate Love!!!!

I made this card today for my aunt and uncle. They are celebrating their wedding anniversary this week. I used the new Manahttan Flower texture impressions folder (pretty, isn't it?).

Today I am struck by how important it is to take some time out of our day-to-day to celebrate love! I am surrounding by love - the love of Michael, my family, my friends, my 4-legged house mates...I even think the birds and the squirrels in the backyard love us for all the peanuts, seeds and water we put out back :) Sometimes it can be easy to forget to celebrate all the love that we have - so today, take a minute to CELEBRATE (and if you want to put on a party hat and bake a cake for the occasion, go right ahead!!!!) :)

Last Night's Lesson from the Craft Room: Give It A Second Chance!

The first time I tried out the Stampin' Up! texture plates I have to admit that I wasn't really a fan. It could have been that I was used to the cb embossing folders. Or maybe it was because we didn't have the silicone pad and were improvising. However, last night I gave them a second chance and now I'm a HUGE fan!!!! My friend came over last night and we were trying them out (she just purchased them and decided to bring them with her last night so we could play). A new world opened up to me when she said, "I wonder what it would look like if we put ink over it." And that's when I fell in love :)

I ran kraft card stock through the Big Shot with the large dot texturz plate and then used close to cocoa ink. It made me think of luggage and travel...so this journey diary was born :)

So the next time you think you don't like something, be open to giving it a second chance...you never know what might happen!

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: When You Feel Overwhelmed and Like You Don't Want To Do Anything, Take Some Action

ok - I admit it - today's lesson sounds a little "down." And I will also admit that for some reason today I've been feeling a bit "down." Might be partly because I didn't spend any time creating. I think all this negativity in the news and about the economy has also impacted me today in a funky way. One of these days maybe I'll learn not to let the turkeys get me down!

So I was sitting here, just me and my funk tonight, and decided I would take some action and still do a post even though I'd really like to just get in bed and pull the covers over my head and wait for tomorrow. I'll do that in a little bit...but first, here's the post :)

This is a card that I submitted for a contest - for which I did not receive the call that said "You won!" I love the card and am hoping to make another one to actually send to my mom for mother's day (since I sent the original in for the contest). Hope you like it! I feel like it's a winner :) (Thanks for listening...I'm feeling better already :)

I had to share this picture with you. My beautiful white cat has decided that her favorite thing to do is to roll around in the dirt in the waiting-to-be-planted vegetable garden. There's nothing like watching a perfectly white, pristine cat decide that rolling in dirt is her favorite past time. She is now a gray cat and loving every minute of it :) Maybe we all need to play in the dirt a bit :)

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance!

This is the second frame I've made with this quote. My friend Caitlin, who is an AMAZING dancer, saw the first and her reaction to it made me realize I needed to make a second one and give it to her as a gift :) I LOVE this quote! Hope you like it too :)