Grateful For...

Do you have a special tradition for Thanksgiving at your house? We do, and most people find it rather "interesting" to say the least. If you saw my Instagram yesterday, here's the promised Fall layout I let you peek at yesterday...

Yes, our Thanksgiving tradition is making a Fruiturkey. Long ago, I saw this idea in a Family Fun magazine and thought it would be a great way to keep my littles busy while waiting for dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's house. It also provided a healthier appetizer than stealing cheese slices off the platter.

It was so popular, and the kids loved it so much, that it became a required thing for us to bring (and fruit is not cheap in November, my friends). My son even tried to talk me into making one for Easter one year but I managed to put my foot down... So, it's become a tradition to not only make the Fruiturkey, but to take pictures of it and its creators every year.

I love the Pathfinding papers and Chipboard Complements for this layout. I added a custom title by using the fonts from both the Artiste and Artbooking Cricut cartridges, and added lots of paper flowers and brads from my huge stash. I also snuck in a Fiskars corner punch on the large panel.

To balance out the large chipboard circle element, I stamped a couple of large circles with the Season of Thanks stamp set. I made it multi color by inking the entire image in Glacier, the blotting on Lagoon, Autumn Terracotta, and Chocolate inks in spots of the stamp.

As you can see here, I also tossed in a few pieces from the Pathfinding Assortment, including some cork and wood pieces. I love mixing up the texture with little pieces like this.

I want to say a quick word about color and pattern choices while we're here. Sometimes all of the patterns in a pack are so awesome it's hard to choose what to use, and I know it can be difficult to know which color(s) to focus on.

This paper pack was the obvious choice due to theme, and here's how I chose which papers to use: I started with a sketch (as usual), this one from Scrapbook Generation. They do a nice job of suggesting where to put pattern and solid, although I freely admit that I don't always follow the suggestions.

This sketch suggested a large pattern for the long strips at the back, and since I love that "beauty pattern" it was an obvious choice. Small patterns were suggested for the other areas, and a stripe for the long skinny strips. For the large center panel, I chose the repeating leaf image, because the minimal shape also reminded me of feathers. I replaced the suggested patterned circle elements from the sketch with flowers because I thought they fit the season better. Finally, I chose the Olive cardstock bases and the chevron zip strips because the color matched the camo shirt my son was wearing, so it helps draw attention to him. And the Lagoon is used in the title for a surprise pop of color.

I hope you enjoyed today's fun layout. I know I can't wait for this year's Fruiturkey! (Apparently neither can my son, as he has been making suggestions for this year's model for about 3 weeks now.)  
I'd love to hear about your favorite Thanksgiving tradition, so leave me a comment. I'll choose a random commenter next Friday (10/17) and send them a little something from my prize stash!

Oh Nuts! A Card For Mojo Monday

Lots of crazy has been going on around here lately, and sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. So this week's Mojo Monday sketch was the perfect opportunity both to play and to make amends for things forgotten!

This 3 Step Autumn Squirrel stamp set from Kitchen Sink Stamps is an awesome way to say "oops" (or add a great touch to any autumn project). I combined the stamps with the Pathfinding paper pack, Sunset Chevron Washi Tape, and a Colnial White Card from Close To My Heart.

I really love how realistic that squirrel is! I gave him a little pile of nuts to enjoy, stamping the smaller two directly on the panel and the larger one on a scrap. I cut the larger one out and mounted it on foam tape. For my squirrel, I stamped his layers in Champagne, Cashmere, and Barn Red. The acorn layers are stamped in Champagne, Olive, and Chocolate.

If you'd like to play along with this week's Mojo Monday, there's still plenty of time! Head over and check it out and try for yourself.

Easy Seasonal Treat Bags

I've been thinking ahead to later in the month, and have started planning little treat bags for my next Woman's Club meeting. Since we skip a November meeting in favor of an early December Christmas party/meeting, I decided to do Fall instead of Halloween for this month.

This Payday mix is a hit with almost everyone, so I'm planning on filling little bags with that. I picked up little 3"x4" treat bags and 4" doilies in the cake decorating aisle at the craft store. Since the bags aren't the zipper type, I folded over and stapled the top of the treat bag.

You can barely see one of my pewter eyelets peeking out from behind the leaf here. After folding the doily and punching 1/8" holes about an inch apart in it and the treat bag, I set eyelets in the front holes. I did this for a little added stability when tying the hemp cord through it, because who wants it to rip?! (Also because I have a stash of approximately 1.5 million eyelets, so I use them whenever possible!)

The leaves are cut from the Artbooking Cricut cartridge at 6". This is because the images on this cartridge are all based on the size of the page image - standard size for the page this came from is 11".  I cut the little banner by hand and punched a small hole in the end to tie it right into the hemp bow. Oh, and of course I sponged everything with ink because it looks cool. The stamp is an old CTMH stamp, but of course you can use any you choose or even print them from the computer.

I like how this turned out so well, I think I will make some extra (non-peanut!) treats to drop off for my kids' teachers.

There's No Place Like Home For the Holidays - Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to October's Stamp of the Month blog hop! This month we are featuring Home For the Holidays, a set of 7 stamps perfect for your Christmas projects. If you've arrived here from Sheila Bennett's blog, or if you are just starting out, you are in the right place. I have a complete list of hoppers right here in case you get lost along the way - you can open it in a new window now and continue the hop on this page.

You are in for a treat today with all of these great projects from everyone! I will freely admit that, with Halloween not even here, I was not really feeling it when it came time to work with this stamp set. But as soon as I started, the ideas just kept coming...

 I will start by letting you in on one of my favorite organizational and secret-keeping tips for Christmas. We have three Christmas celebrations, so I use one color scheme for gifts to go to my family and one color scheme to go to the hub's family.

 
For our own house, I get sneaky. I assign each kid a tag color and nobody knows whose is whose.  I can wrap and put gifts under the tree without waiting for Christmas Eve and there is very little chance of sneaky people figuring out what their gifts are.

I stamped tags in multiple colors and punched out the center circles of half of them. I then popped it up on foam tape over a contrasting color tag.

A little length of twine through the hole is a simple addition to these cute tags.

This other tag style in the stamp set is super cute on its own or as part of a card. I stamped the entire image in Cranberry on a tag, then in Slate on a scrap.  I cut out the house portion of the gray image, using an X-acto knife to cut the window, and adhered it over the Cranberry image on the tag. I colored in the wreath with an alcohol marker.

Finally, I made these two easy greeting cards. They took very little time, and I just love the way they turned out!

 

For this card, I cut the coordinating ornament shape once from White Daisy cardstock and twice from patterned paper from the Snowhaven paper pack. I stamped the ornament image in Cranberry on the white ornament, and in Glacier on a scrap.  I cut out the inner image and popped it up on foam tape. I sponged the ornament edges with Slate ink and adhered them to the card front over a piece of pattern paper and Silver Shimmer Trim.

This final card features that oh-so-cool polar bear stamp.  I cut the coordinating Cricut shape from White Daisy and stamped the image in Glacier ink. I then cut the frame from Cranberry cardstock using the Layer feature key on the Cricut cartridge. After sponging the frame edges with Cranberry ink, I adhered it over the stamped image.

Finally, I stamped the image again in Cranberry ink on a scrap of White Daisy and cut out the scarf portion. Again, I sponged the edges with Cranberry ink and adhered it over the complete image. I layered a pattern paper mat and a Cranberry mat on a white card base, then adhered the image, Silver Shimmer Trim, and some Red Enamel Hearts.

I hope my projects got your creative juices flowing today! When you're ready to hop along, we can head over to see what Dawn Ross has created this month. Or, if you'd like to shop first, I have a list of everything I used. The links open in a new window, so there's no fear of losing your place in the hop!

Snowhaven paper pack

Art Philosophy Cricut collection

Silver Shimmer Trim

Red Enamel Hearts

Stamp Pads in Cranberry, Glacier, Black, and Slate

Baker's Twine

Sponge Daubers

3-D Foam Tape

Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors

Nothing Could Be Easier

I'm back today with a reminder that this is your last chance to get the September stamp of the month. I also have one of the easiest pretty cards ever for you to try.

This would make a great wedding or anniversary card, and is easy to make in whatever colors you wish. If you switch to all pastels it would make a great baby card as well. I used Glacier, Barn Red, and Kraft cardstock for a 5x7 card. Here's how easy it is:

• Make a 5x7 card base with Kraft cardstock.
• Cut a piece of Barn Red cardstock to 4.75" x 6.75" and sponge edges with Barn Red ink.
• Cut a piece of Glacier cardstock to 4.25" x 6.25" and sponge edges with Glacier ink.
• Stamp the tree with Cocoa ink on the Glacier panel.
• Stamp the tree again in Barn Red on a scrap of Barn Red cardstock and cut out the two center hearts.
• Stamp the word "LOVE" with Glacier ink on the Glacier panel above the tree.
• Layer the two panels onto the front of the card with adhesive.
• Adhere the smaller of the two Barn Red hearts directly to the Cocoa version, using a glue pen.
• Adhere the larger heart using foam tape.

 I hope you enjoyed today's project! Here's what the entire stamp set looks like:

You can purchase the stamp set on my website outright for $17.95, or get it for just $5 with any $50 purchase. The option to purchase it at the reduced price automatically appears in your shopping cart once you have added $50 worth of merchandise. Remember, this stamp set is gone after today and a new one starts tomorrow!

Even More Happy!

We're nearly out of time for the #30yearsofhappy promotion from Close To My Heart. This neat stamp set is only available until the end of September, and with the purchase of $30 worth of current stamps you can get yours free (a $13.95 USD value).

Here's another sweet project I made using this stamp set:

I made a whole passel of these little favor bags for a recent Woman's Club meeting. Each one held a piece of candy from a terrific area candy shop.

This single stamp made a great flower center in a contrasting color.  I cut the two flower layers as well as the center using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.

The mini bags are from Webster's Pages. I simply added a strip of Lagoon Hearts washi tape and the flower I made. After putting in the candy, I just folded the bag over and stapled it with the Mini Stapler.

There are lots of other great ideas out there using this stamp set, including petite little gift cards and plenty more.  You can check them out at any time by simply searching for the hashtag #30yearsofhappy on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and more.  Be sure to get your stamp set before September ends! Head over to my website, and once you've added $30 worth of current stamps to your cart the option to add this stamp set free will appear at the bottom of your cart.

Halloween Banner Layout with Scaredy Cat

Who else still has Halloween pictures from years past in a box? Even if you're all caught up, you're going to want these great Scaredy Cat products for this year's projects.

Counting, sorting, and trading Halloween candy has become a tradition at our house, so of course it was something I wanted to document in photos. I used a sketch pattern from one of the how-to books from CTMH.

This awesome banner is so easy to make using the title stickers from the Scaredy Cat Complements pack and some Colonial White cardstock.  I just trimmed some rectangles into pennant shapes and punched holes with a mini hole punch. (I totally wanted to do this with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, but the H x W ratio was a little off for my needs. It was still easy, just took a little longer.)  I strung them on twine and adhered them to the pages, using tape runner for the pennant shapes and a little Liquid Glass for the little bows at each end. Regular tape on the back of the plain end keeps that in place.

The Complements stickers also make it easy to add a little scene to the wide  open area on the layout. I added a few purple Glitter Gems and black Sparkles for accents and that's all there was to it.

Be sure to check out my Kit of the Month specials for September, including Scaredy Cat and coordinating products. There are also pictures of lots of great artwork from CTMH designers on my Kit of the Month page, so be sure to check those out too!