Family Banner & Leaf Jar Set by Heidi King

This is a great time of year to decorate for the season and this wonderful project by Heidi King would do the trick!  Included in this project are the “Family” banner, a beautiful “leaf” jar and a matching card.  These little décor items are perfect for a gift or to decorate your own home.  The project also makes for a fun holiday class, club, or camp project!!  You can learn more about Heidi on her blog HERE.
--> Want to subscribe to the October edition of Craft Project Central and get 10 wonderful tutorials for only $10?  Head on over to the Craft Project Central website HERE!  Or, if you are feeling lucky, head on over to Craft Project Central and comment on my project that was posted on October 1st to be entered to win a FREE October subscription!  I will be choosing the winner on October 25th!!!!  Good luck!!!!

Grid Birthday Card Redux

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  It's Never Too Late To Add To Your Creative Output!
Today I was going through a box of completed cards and I saw a birthday card I had created and posted a while back.  When I saw it this time around it looked totally incomplete to me.  Just a Smoky Slate card with the Grid stamp stamped in Smoky Slate and "happy birthday" in Basic Black.  I decided it needed a makeover!  So out came the paper trimmer and I cut the front off of the card.  Next I added a few hand-cut banners from Tempting Turquoise and Basic Black card stock.  I stamped the word "celebrate" from the Express Yourself stamp set onto Whisper White card stock and cut a little banner end.  I began layering the banners onto the card front with different depths of dimensionals.  I then layered the panel onto a Tempting Turquoise panel and a Basic Black card base.  A Tempting Turquoise panel was also glued inside the card.  Finally, a few rhinestone adhesive jewels added a bit of sparkle.  I'm much happier with the card now - it feels finished...at least for now :)  It's never too late to add to your creative output.  What can you give a creative makeover to?
I hope you have a beautiful, creative and loving weekend!  There is a touch of snow in our forecast here...can't wait to see if it happens!  Buddy will be so excited!!!! :)

Two-Sided Halloween Treat Holder

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  There Is A Crack In Everything
I purchased a wonderful book that I have been reading at night before bed.  It is a book of quotes and small stories entitled Wabi Sabi The Art of Everyday Life by Diane Durston.  Last night I read this quote by Leonard Cohen, "Ring the bells that still can ring; Forget your perfect offering; There is a crack in everything; That's how the light gets in."  It is in a chapter about the beauty of imperfection.  I love the concept that there is a crack in everything and that is what allows our light to shine.  It led me to the idea that our perfection is actually that we are imperfect.  We are perfectly imperfect :)  And so too is our artwork.  Sometimes the lines aren't straight or the stamping is tilted or smudged.  Sometimes the card stock doesn't fold exactly as we would like or the impression doesn't stamp as clearly as we wish.  And it is in these "cracks" that the light of you gets in.  It is through these perfect imperfections that we show that we made it - that we put our heart and soul into it - in its perfectly imperfect state.
I decided to make a 2-Sided Halloween treat holder...'cuz it is all about the candy on Halloween (and Buddy and I wish people would just put candy on their lawns instead of all of those scary skeletons and spooky ghosts)!  I hope you have a perfectly beautiful day!  May it be filled with love, laughter...and cracks that let the light in!!!!

2 New Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Sets!

Stampin' Up! has come out with a new Christmas photopolymer stamp set!  Love the beautiful script writing!  The set is called Endless Wishes (133455) and it is $13.95.  Click HERE to order now!

Stampin' Up! has also released another wonderful new Christmas set - great for making tags!!!!  It's called Christmas Taggables (134623) and it is also $13.95.

Timeless Talk Desktop Card Set by Laurie Zoellmer

This project isn't just about cards!  You also create a darling card box, and when the cards are gone you can use it as a notepaper holder!  Simply cut 8-1/2” x 11” sheets of copy paper, or recycled paper, into quarters and you have notepaper for the holder!  This project, created by Laurie Zoellmer, makes a nice addition to any desk.  Also, a great gift idea or class idea for demonstrators.  You can get full step-by-step instructions for this elegant project by subscribing to the month of October over at Craft Project Central!  Or, if you are feeling lucky, head on over to Craft Project Central and comment on my project that was posted on October 1st to be entered to win a FREE October subscription!  I will be choosing the winner on October 25th!!!!  Good luck!!!!

From My Heart Thank You Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  You Can Find Every Reason Not To, But All It Takes Is One Reason To Do It
I'm sneaky.  At least that's what I'm discovering when it comes to creating.  If you asked me if my #1 thing to do is to create, I would be screaming, "Yes!!!!" before you finished the question!  But I'm sneaky.  I've started to notice that when I have minutes that I could be creating, I am doing anything but creating!  I am checking email.  I am straightening.  I am going outside to put out more bird seed.  I am drawn to do laundry, pet the dog, make a "to do" list.  Yup, anything but creating!  I can find every reason not to do it at that moment.  And yet I say that it is my most favorite thing to do.  So what is the deal?  I know!  FEAR!  The fear of creating.  The fear that I will be discovered as a fake!  That as long as I am not creating I can skip around the world believing I am an artist!  But what if I create something and...I...don't...like...it?????  Or, worse yet....YOU don't like it????  What then?  Am I still an artist??????  So I'm sneaky...that little fear monster helps me to find every reason not to create.  But all it takes is one reason to do it and that one reason is because I was born to create!  No matter what comes out of me.  No matter what mess I make or masterpiece I come up with.  It is what I was born to do!  And that's the only reason I need to march myself into that craft room and Do It!!!!!  Find your reason....and DO IT!!!!
Today's card began with the idea of sponging on computer paper.  Which then turned into putting the computer paper on top of the inside of an embossing folder and doing some rubbing with a sponge.  And then I ran the typing paper through the Big Shot with the embossing folder...and then sponged some more (a combo of Soft Suede and Always Artichoke ink).  The Always Artichoke panel was stamped with the Woodgrain stamp and then I adhered the computer paper.  Today I figured out that the sentiment from From My Heart actually fit into one of the labels framelits! :)  So I die cut it and sponged the edges and heat embossed the little heart with gold embossing powder.  I decided it needed a little something more so I created the mini hang tag using the Lovely Little Labels set.  I hope you like it...but if you don't...I'm still calling myself an artist! :)

Envelope Punch Board Halloween Treat Holder

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  There is...beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.  - Rachel Carson
After my travels last week I found my healing in walking with nature.  This past weekend was gorgeous here in Denver - the leaves turning every shade of yellow, red and orange.  I am once again in awe of nature - her ability to make death so stunning.  All of these leaves reaching the end of their lives and doing so brilliantly!  Leaving us (pun intended) with a dazzling reminder of the cyclical nature of life.  I hope to make such a glorious exit one day - to go out with colors blazing - having lived a full life of joy, appreciation and love.  Nature, you dazzle me!
I am in love with my envelope punch board!  How fun to be able to make "pocket" treat holders in so many different sizes!  I created this one from a 7 7/8" x 7 7/8" piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock.  It fits a regular-sized candy bar perfectly!  The mummy is on a belly band that slides up and down the treat holder.  I used the Top Note Bigz die along with the Halloween Hello stamp set and a few punches.  I foresee making a whole lot of these "pockets" to contain treats of different types :)  Can't wait to figure out what I can do next with the envelope punch board!!!!!

Fall Appreciation Gift Set by Julie Beltramo

This Fall Appreciation Gift Set is packed with all the writing essentials you’ll need, plus a super simple two-ingredient recipe for ‘The Best’ Pumpkin Spice Cookies - just right for the season! The six note cards, coordinating covered notepad, and Stampin’ Write Marker all fit into the two-pocket fold up tote. If you subscribe to the month of October over at Craft Project Central, you’ll also get the instructions for making the Pumpkin Spice Cookies that fit just perfectly into the Stampin’ Up! Tag a Bag Gift Box.  This yummy Pumpkin Spice Fall Appreciation Gift Set was created by Julie Beltramo.  You can check out Julie's blog HERE.  And, if you are feeling lucky, head on over to Craft Project Central and go to my October project that was posted on October 1st...leave a comment on that post and be entered to win a FREE subscription to the month of October at Craft Project Central!  I will be choosing the winner on October 25th!!!!