Ben as Bob

This year is Ben's first real Halloween.  He wanted to be a "construction guy" just like Bob the Builder.  So, I got to work and did the best I could.  :)

Sorry it's a bit blurry.  "Bob" was a bit excited to get trick or treating.  He had a had, "safety" glasses, and I made a tool belt for his hammer, screwdriver, wrench and some nails & screws.  Ben wore one of his t-shirts, a plaid shirt, his hoodie for warmth, jeans and his boots that look like work boots.

Since it was his first year, we both went with.  I, of course, took the camera and snapped this as we headed out.

Ben had a great time & really loved trick or treating.  We went to a few houses around the neighborhood and then headed to both grandparent's houses to show off his costume.

Happy Halloween Everyone,

Blog Candy!!

I've been busy packing up my whole room and all the gear I'll need for our bi-annual scrapbooking weekend.  If you haven't heard of my retreats, head over HERE.  I'll have pictures to show you while I'm gone of all the cool stuff I've made for the girls this fall and after I'll have photos of our fun.  However, before I go, I need to celebrate with some blog candy!

I got a lovely email from CTMH today congratulating me on my 2 year anniversary with the company.  Two years sure flew by fast and while it seems like such a short time, I'm looking forward to many more years to come.  In celebration, I'd like to throw out some blog candy specifically to those I won't see at this upcoming retreat.  So, if you're not coming with me, leave me a comment on this post between now and November 7 and I'll ship you the same goodie pack each one of my girls is getting next weekend.  Check it out...

Remember, to win, all you have to do is leave a comment!  The winner will be drawn November 8th.  Good luck everyone!

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For Amy

When I posted the customer box a few days ago, I had forgotten to take a picture or talk about the top of the box.  Whooops!

Good thing Amy was paying attention and left a comment asking about it.  Thank you!  This is for you.  :)

The top is decorated with another random flower combination and left pretty simple.  There was a lot going on in the front, and I didn't want to overload it too much.

Thanks for coming to see me today,

Customer Box

I needed a few days off from my last round of posting.  That sure was a lot!  I've been working on a new customer rewards system.  CTMH had to discontinue the last program due to some abuse by other consultants.  I still want to reward my customers, so I've been coming up with a good system and needed something pretty to store things in.  Can't just make it plain you know!  :)

It's the CTMH recipe box.  I covered it in some paper I had on hand and used a combination of flowers from assorted companies.  The label is a piece of cork I cut in the shape of one of my punches and stamped with some StazOn ink.

More to come tomorrow,

Our patch at home

Even though we go to the farm every year, I have this thing about decorating the house with little pumpkins and gourds every fall.  None of the fake ones ever look good enough to me, so they've got to be real.  It adds up fast if I buy them from the farm every year and while I'd love to support them, I decided to grow some at home.

This is my second year.  Last year we got some larger ones and this year it's all minis.  I think I lost the larger size's seeds and I know I got a late start on things.  It's all about learning!  I think I've got somewhere near 40 or 50 mini pumpkins and gourds and I've got great plans for annihilating more of our yard in the name of cute little pumpkins.  :)

And yes, my patch has weeds.  It's the end of the season and I just don't care about battling them anymore.

FYI, if you don't think I'm crazy for growing my own and want to try for yourself, I'd suggest starting with the minis.  Most varieties can grow up a trellis or fence (with help of course) so you're not taking a lot of space.  Beware of the regular size varieties and larger - vines in our small patch have twisted around to keep growing in the area and have reached 30 feet + in length!

Happy Harvesting,

'Da U.P. Eh?

I think in another life (if there is such a thing) I was a yooper.  If you're not familiar with the term, a yooper is a person who lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  We were up there for vacation in September and I took the opportunity to take this picture of the bridge from 'da yooper side.

I'm pretty sure I've got a million pics of the bridge, but not too many at night.  It turned out pretty good considering the little camera I was using and no tripod!  Uh...where's the equipment when you need it?  :)  At any rate, I'm considering getting a bigger print and hanging it in the house somewhere....now to find the right spot....

Thanks for stopping by today,

2011 Schedule is Up

Soon, we'll be knee deep in the holiday season and I'll forget to plan for next year.  Well, not this time!  I sat down and created the 2011 calendar of events as best as I could for now.  There will be more updates in January I'm sure.  You can find it by clicking on the Classes/Events link under my blog title, or by just clicking HERE.

Please take note that I am now offering gift cards for all events including day crops and retreats.  I can also provide gift cards for Close To My Heart products in any denomination.  This means there's no more excuses to receive presents you don't want.  Send them my way, and be the recipient of a gift you'll actually appreciate & use!  

I hope you can craft with me in 2011,

Down on the farm

Every year we go to Post Family Farm to take in their Fall Farm Fun days, eat an enormous amount of pumpkin donuts (they're like heaven for your taste buds) and pick out a pumpkin, or 3 or 4.  Ben's first year he was too little to do much and it rained.  The second year, he was willing to hang out, but again, it was raining.  Pumpkin patch + rain = muddy mess.  This year, the weather reminded me of early June - crazy! - and we had a great time.

Ben was less than thrilled that I wanted lots of pictures, but he did sit still long enough on this pumpkin so I could request a smile and take a pick.  Yep, that's my hubby in the background hauling pumpkins.  :)

Happy Pumpkin Picking,

And the winner is...

Thanks to everyone who played along for the blog candy!  I really appreciate everyone who took the time to comment and share their sites.

Thanks to random.org, the winner is........
Krista Ritskes!!!!!!

Congratulations Krista!  If you could email me your address to gloriajrogers@gmail.com I will get your blog candy package in the mail asap.  :)

If you didn't win, or didn't get the chance to enter, don't stray too far.  I've got a CTMH anniversary coming up soon and I might just feel like giving away some more freebies to celebrate.

Have a great day everyone,

Kit Layout #2

This is the second layout that I created for the kit.

All of the embellishments on this layout are cut out and popped with foam so they are totally movable based on your photo needs.

The title goes where my photo info stuff is.

This page design was inspired by one in the Originals book.  I random stamped the cranberry cardstock.

Remember, today is the last day for the blog candy - see a few posts back.  I will draw and announce the winner tomorrow.  Also, I will be getting the directions out for this kit to fellow consultants so that if you'd like to use it for your customers, you can.  :)

Have a great day,

Working...sort of...

Ok, first peek at the first layout.  Now that I've half fixed the issue with the light box, my computer is giving me the blue screen of death and crashing left and right.  Heaven all mighty, I just can't win with technology lately.  Here's a quick pick of the layout.  I've got to get Ben up from nap, but I'll put in more photos tonight when he goes to bed.

Thanks for sticking with me!

Ok, Ben's up and watching Toy Story 2 (thank you Netflix for delivering that today!)  So I was able to finish up the photos quick.

Page one has the A Timber tree stamped three times in the corner and topped with pearls.  It's a generic design so you can place the pictures where you need.  Plenty of space for the title at the top or more embellishments.

Page two has one defined mat, but you can really do what you want with this page too.  I stamped three gifts in the lower corner and defined the mat with a few more stamps from the A Timber set which I'm including in the kit.

I've designed the pages so that you can rotate them and shuffle them all around to fit your photo needs. You'll see that in the second layout tomorrow too.  In fact, if it works better for your pics, you can mix up the layout  page pairs too.  I tried to make it very versatile.

Have a great evening & "see" you tomorrow with layout #2.

Light Box vs Camera

Okedoke Ya'll, the light box and camera are not friends tonight.  It's late and I need to hit the hay, but I'm going to do my best to get things up during Ben's nap tomorrow (today) at 3.  Check back with me no later than 5 and I should have things rolling again.  :)  Sorry 'bout that!

Blog Candy Reminder

Posting daily hasn't been too bad, but it has made my blog candy post fall off the main page.  I know not too many of us click the "older" button when we get down there.  So, if you missed it, CLICK HERE to go to the post that has info about the blog candy.  You can enter until the 16th and I'll be drawing the winner and announcing it on the 17th.

Good luck!

Holiday Kit Cards v5

It's the last card - a good and a bad thing.  :)  After this little gem comes the layouts! (After a one day break) Here's the fifth one, simple and sweet.

Well ya'll, that's all that's left in the card department for this Holiday Card & Layout Kit.  I'm skipping a day of posting artwork for a blog candy reminder post and then I'll start showing off the 2 double page layouts.  I'm going to spread those over two days as well.  :)  Gotta make sure I get my daily posting in!

"See" you tomorrow,

Holiday Kit Cards v4

I'm starting to run out of creative ways to introduce these cards!  Hope tomorrow is better.  :)  Here's card 4...

I'm thinking that this card needs it's focus points moved up a bit too...what a design dilemma I've gotten myself into!  The scalloped edge is created using our corner rounder with the guard removed.  Yep, you guessed it, the kit also comes with our new opaques pearls.  :)  The final card will be up tomorrow!

Have a creative day,


PS. Yes, if you watched the game, my team lost on Saturday.  It was not pretty, and our performance left something to be desired.  At this point, let's just not talk about it.  Hopefully next week will be better...hopefully...

Holiday Kit Cards v3

I'm back!  Day 10 of this challenge and I've got card 3 for you today.  Take a peek...

After I created this card I realized that I really should have moved the stamped portion up a bit on the card....whoops!  In my instructions it will say to place it higher on the card.  This, folks, is why I always create the project, write the tutorial and then go back and make it again myself with my own instructions.  It's the best way I know how to catch any of my mistakes (design or otherwise) before I release them.

Have a fabulous day,

PS. Yes, v4 is coming tomorrow.  :)

Holiday Kit Cards v2

As promised, here's card number 2:

Some of you may recognize the new A size stamp set, A Timber.  I love these new little sets!  In fact, I didn't think I needed any of them at all.  Boy was I wrong!  I have this one and A Sip (so perfect for cocoa, coffee and tea lovers) and I'm getting A Posy too...thanks to Vicki for showing me I needed it.  :)

In an effort to follow the Blogtoberfest rules, head on back again tomorrow for card 3.

Have a great day,

Holiday Kit Cards

So, yes, I already missed yesterday for Blogtoberfest.  What can I say, I've got a sick kiddo.  He's two and a half and has no idea how to blow his nose...so today, I'm a tired mommy.  Oye!

I've been hard at work creating my Holiday (or Christmas if you're not feeling politically correct today) Card & Layout Kit.  I did an actual workshop last year and things are just so crazy this year that I can't fit it in.  So, not wanting everyone to miss out, I've made a combo style card and layout kit.  To entice everyone, I'll be showing the 5 card styles here on my blog.  One day at a time.  Then I'll show you the two layouts that are also part of the kit.  I know that I should be thinking Halloween in October - but I've got to start my Christmas stuff early!  So, without further ado, here's the first card:

The kit uses the new Mistletoe pack and my kit is designed to make 30 cards (5 designs with 6 of each design) and 2 double page layouts.  Be sure to come back tomorrow for card number 2!

Thanks for stopping by,

Go Blue!

This one is for the hubby.  :)  My husband's boss works out of their corporate office in Texas.  He comes up every other week and they have a meeting while he's in town.  Well, it's football season and he and his wife are State fans and, of course, we are Michigan fans.  So, with the big game being this weekend, my husband needed some special "gear" for his meeting.  Of course, he turned to the crafting guru and this is what I came up with.

It went really fast too!  I came up with all the ideas and made it all in just 2 hours.  Starting in the upper left corner and working your way around the items are: wrist bands, headband, "gangsta" style necklace, under eye patches & large button.  The pen in the center is for taking all of his notes in style.  :)

Pretty good for the night before the meeting - which is also the reason for the crummy photo.  Granted, had I been given more notice that my skills were needed, I could have come up with something a little more flashy.  However, I think this did the trick.  :)  If I was a State fan, I'd be scared!  Wouldn't you?

Go Blue! & Happy Early Halloween!

Blogtoberfest!

You may have noticed that I have a new badge on the right side of my blog.  Yes, it's Blogtoberfest.  Created by The Stamp Goddess herself (aka Tresa Black at fabulouslyartsy.com), Blogtoberfest is an effort to get us blogging on a daily basis and sharing all of our great ideas for the month of October.  Blogging more is always a goal of mine and while not all posts will be crafting related, and I might miss a day here and there, I'm sure going to try my darnedest to post daily.

Yes, I'm a little late to jump on the bandwagon, but I'm on!  I invite you to join me.  Head over to Tresa's blog and grab her badge.  Be sure to leave her a comment to let her know you're playing along!

My official post for the day:  I realized that I may have been a tad misleading with the blog candy.  To clarify, you do not need to have a website or blog to enter - just that if you do have one, please add it to your comment.  If you've got no idea what I'm talking about, see this post.

Have a great day,

Make It From Your Heart Winners

Wow, I forgot how long it takes to recover from a vacation!  At any rate, it's the 1st now and I can post my contest winners - yea!  :)  Read to the end - there's a blog candy contest!

This is my Magnifique card:

View #2 shows some more of the dimension to the card.  Yep, there's a lot of bitty sparkles on this one.  :)

This is my Olivia card:

I had to take a side picture for this card since it's so dimensional.

The instructions for making this flower can be found by clicking this link to head over to my tutorial blog.

Since I won not one, but two categories, I'm feeling extra happy today and have decided to add some blog candy to this post.  If you are the randomly selected winner, you'll receive identical replicas of my winning cards hand made by me AND a new card tote with 4 cards that I haven't even made the tutorial for or talked about yet!  For a hint on what it might be like - think Land's End boat tote.  :)

Now, rules for the candy (I know, boooring!):

1. You must be a follower of this blog
2. You may only comment once
3. Your comment must tell everyone what your favorite paper packet is from the latest Idea Book
4. And, since I love seeing other people's artwork, must also have a link or the address of your own blog/website if you have one

The blog candy contest will run from now until October 16.  Good luck everyone and thanks for playing!

Have an absolutely fabulous Friday,