Cupcakes In A Box

By now you must all know how much I enjoy creating the memory boxes. My mother-in-law has a Christmas birthday and I wanted to send her something unique. She enjoys receiving my handmade cards and enjoys it even more when I send her an assortment of cards that she can send to her family and friends. I know she won't get one of these boxes from anyone else, so she is the perfect recipient. I wrapped the cake mix and frosting mix boxes in stamped tissue paper and added the cupcake liners, decorates, candles and some Smarties. I made her a matching birthday card and will include a gift card in the box. Now I need to get back to getting ready for Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

Stampin' Up! Online Extravaganza

Beginning today thru November 30th, SU! is having an online sale extravaganza. There are some great discounted products. Click on "My Stampin' Up! website" on right side of my blog. When you get to my SU! website, click on "shop now" and then click "online extravaganza". If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call. Happy stampin!

Thanksgiving Favors

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is less than a week away. Last night I was able finish the favors/placecards for the Thanksgiving dinner. We will be having a fairly large group so we will be split up--all of us old folks will be in the dining room and the younger people will be in the living room. The children will get the sweet treat turkeys while the adults get Hershey nugget boxes. They look very festive, don't you think? Now I can concentrate on the important part of Thanksgiving dinner--a grocery list (LOL)! Actually, everyone is bringing a dish or two, so I really only have to cook the turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes. And that means that between today and Thanksgiving Day, I will find myself some stampin' time!

The Flowergirl

Our darling granddaughter was a flowergirl for her Uncle Dave and Aunt Saida. She was so excited when they asked her. And even more so when she found out she was wearing a white dress with a pink ribbon. We are waiting for the professional photos, but for now I just had to scrap these. I have quite a few photos of Sydney at the wedding, so don't be surprised when you see a few more layouts of the flowergirl. Syd is truly the love of our lives!

Christmas Card

A few weeks back I decided it was time to think about Christmas cards. I went thru the Stampin' Up Catalog and there were quite a few Christmas stamp sets that I really, really liked. But there was one stamp set that I absolutely loved--Gifts of Christmas. Not only was the main image so very pretty, but the sentiment was perfect. Needless to say, I ordered it. (Since joining SU! I have learned that I don't need to purchase every stamp set I like, but the ones I know I will use.) I made a few of the same card using different colors of ink and cardstock, but the Real Red is my favorite. This is a clean and simple card, and in my opinion, simply beautiful.

Back Home

I had a wonderful time in Arizona--of course, when I am with my family I always have a wonderful time. Our son picked us up at O'Hare and our daughter made us dinner. So as much as I was missing my mom and brothers, I was spending time with the reason we are back in Chicago--our children and granddaughter.

As I mentioned in my post from Arizona, I hadn't been scrapping or stamping. While I was surfing the web before our trip, I came across a stand-up card. I printed the directions and set them on my scrap island for my return. I went downstairs to my scraproom to make Thanksgiving cards and saw the stand-up card directions. It was not difficult and the card turned out pretty nice. Now that I have made one stand-up card, there will be more. I have two card classes scheduled during the week and a stand-up card will be one of the items we work on. Have a great day!

Sunny AZ

I am down in sunny Arizona visiting my mom, brothers, sis-in-law and families and having a wonderful time. The time is going by much too quickly and the weather is absolutely perfect. Today my brother took me and my mom and to the white Tank Mountains. It was just beautiful. Many of you know that I lived in Arizona for 6 years, but missed my children and granddaughter way too much. My husband and I moved back to the Chicago area and I am very happy being home. I really did not miss AZ at all. Well, being back here has made me remember some of the things that were esepcially good about AZ. For one, the blue skies--just beautiful. The stars at night are amazing. It is mid-November and flowers are in full bloom--purples, pinks, yellows, oranges. I have not stamped or scrapped since Friday, but that is ok. I am with my mom and family and meeting my little great niece and nephews. Instead of scrapping, I am taking the photos to scrap when I am back in Chicago and the snow is falling and I am all bundled up! Find yourself a little scrappin' time--or--take photos of some people and things that are good in your life. When you do get around to scrapping the photos, you will be able to replay in your mind how great those moments, people and things are.

Cricut Basics Class

The holidays are upon us and it is time to create your holiday cards and gifts. Many of you own a Cricut machine, but have questions as far as settings for cutting, etc. I have scheduled a class demonstrating the basics of the Cricut. We will also make two holiday projects using images cut from the Cricut together with stamps, ink & creativity. The class is scheduled for Tuesday, December 1st from 7-9 pm. There will be a $20 fee for this class. Please contact me to let me know that you will attend so that I have adequate supplies.

Memory Box

My last post was titled "I was Busy This Weekend" and I was. Not only did I play with my Thanksgiving & Christmas favors, a memory box was on my list of things to do. I will be attending a wedding shower towards the end of this month. The bride-to-be is a special person that we saw grow from a little girl into a very nice young woman. I wanted the memory box to be special. All of the pattern paper was SU! Designers Series Paper in Close to Cocoa, as the bride's colors for the wedding will be brown, pale yellow and cream. I used Close to Cocoa and Barely Banana cardstock. Using my diecut machine, I made the gift card holder. I just love making these memory boxes. And the recipients are thrilled when they receive them. And now I need to go clean up my scraproom. Until next time, find yourself some scrappin' time.

I Was Busy This Weekend

I will start off by showing my sweet treat cup turkey. This is my first version and I will improve upon it when I get my back-ordered SU! sweet treat cups. They should be shipping this week, so hopefully they will be here in the not too distant future. And then I wanted to use the sweet treat cups in a Christmas item. Due to the fact that I wasn't sure how these projects were going to turn out, I used my "scrap" paper instead of my SU! cardstock. As the favors are now, they are a little on the flimsy side. When I make copies of these, I will definitely use the SU! cardstock. The chocolate candies I buy at the Meijers store as they have a large display of bulk candy and these particular candies come in a huge variety of colors. I actually pulled my SU! color ring from my purse to see what color choices I will have for future projects.