Stamp on it if you want! Be sure to fold in the scored lines - just slightly and stamp on the OUTSIDE. Fold it up (crease folds pretty good) apply glue to bottom and on the lil 1/2 inch flap.

I used my corrugated tool to 'crinkle' the bottom up just a tad. Just for looks really but it also helps hold a bit better. It will still work if you don't have one. For the paper in the middle -cut paper to 6 x 2 1/2. I used a solid piece of cardstock (purple) and then used a piece of patterned paper as well. (see photo above or below for the patterned paper.) The second paper will be cut 6 x 2.

Score both of these papers at 1 1/2 and 4 1/4. It will fold and wrap around perfectly! To finish it off use a ribbon punch or HOLE punch will work fine too. Punch at top of FRONT of pocket. You will need about 19 inches of ribbon. Slide the ribbon through and tie in a knot about 2 inches from top of your ribbon (see pic below) Slide in a candy bar and when you pull the ribbon out the candy bar comes with it! :-)

Now the candy bar should be a lil 'tighter' than this BUT at first I bought a KING size Hershey bar- it was too bulky- I set out to find a 'regular' size Hershey bar. I saw this one that has almonds & it was smaller than the regular. My thinking was it would fit better right? nope a tad too small for my pattern. Any rate- it works but I would suggest the 'regular sized Hershey bar! ;-) If you make any - let me know how they turned out & email me a pic! :-)

It's here! It's here! It's FINALLY here!

OCTOBER that is! first weekend in October and it's fabulously Fall weather today! YAY! got all my Fall decor out already (since early September!) hahaha After another week or so I'll set out my 'spooky' Halloween stuff! Rats, skeletons, ghosts, and jack-o-lanterns! But pumpkins & mums for now!

I cant wait to make butternut squash soup with this squash (above!) I'll let ya know how it turns out!

I know I go a lil nuts over mums BUT they are only once a year for crying out loud! LOL I bought my mums 'under bloomed' so they'll last longer! Cant wait until they bloom BIG!

Feature Friday!

okay - two sites again! I'm always worried they aren't good enough! Ha! Today's however should pertain to many- Lots of people are getting cricuts now! (have you seen the ad for the new one- WOWSA!) Anyway - a friend of mine Barb Carrico (this years Spirit of CTMH 2010 award winner!wahoo Barb!) anyway..... shared this site with me. If you go out to http://www.cricutsearch.com/ you will be able to 'search' for an item or word in their search tab and it will pull up a cartridge/cartridges for that item! I typed in 'coffee' and it brought up over 20 cartridges that had a coffee cup, the word coffee, or anything related to coffee AND showed a photo of it! Very nice! I also typed in "life is good" an interestingly enough found TWO cartridges! This last one is pretty good if you are a camping over achiever- I am NOT! Ha HA- But it still has many cool things. I have found some cool campfire stories to tell! It has games, songs, skits, and other neato ideas for outside or camping! http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/

Needle in a haystack?

NOT THESE!!! Yum- I love Fall food! These are sooo simple and I PROMISE you they will be eaten! Butterscotch chips- melted- mix in chowmein noodles.. Drop onto wax paper and let 'set.' WONDERFUL!

Trick or Treat!

These 'treat' box goody thingys are super perfect for school Halloween parties or if you are just wanting to give away a few of them. i don't know if I would make enough for the neighborhood trick or treaters! LOL Thank you to Roxie green (fellow consultant) who shared this idea! It inspired me to make my own. See below! All you need to start with are your scraps & some candy! Cut your 'card' to 6.5 x 3.5. Score lines at 3 and 3.5.

Roxie's idea was to put in smarties- they fit perfectly. Instead of glue dots use 'tombow' adhesive -its thinner.

I also used a fun size bag of skittles that fit perfectly. I think those lil hershey's candy bars would be great too! Just nothing too bulky! The 'crabby patty' shown above was too bulky to tie up with my ribbon.

Stamp up a cutie card front and glue on - punch holes or use a ribbon punch and tie it up!

What's going on?!!??

Okay - so I'm scrapping away on something that has my FULL attention. Out of my peripheral vision (4 feet away from me) I see (and I can also hear him) my lil 2 year old scurrying away on an art project of his own. I always 'let' him use my CTMH markers so as he was going back and forth to my table - I thought nothing of it. Amazingly enough he actually puts the lids back on and sticks them back in the tower when finished! I turned my tower around for an ink pad color on the other side and I see its almost completely empty! LOL I raise my eyes up to this! NICE! Notice the pink thumb print on the white ink pad?? there's also a white print on the garnet ink pad too! HaHa... .....mem---O----rieeeees............. right? LOL

Pictures taken with my cell but this is 'his project.' :-) Love him!

Caramel Apple Crisp Apples

....or.......whatever you wanna call 'em! I wanted apple crisp and caramel apples so i came up with this! It is YUM! Again - my pictures are backwards like my brain is working! I have to stop posting so late! LOL The picture directly below here is after dipping the apple into the caramel roll it in oatmeal mixture and then in the crushed/chopped pecans! YUM!

These are just the chopped pecans. Will has a nut allergy so we are VERY careful so we didn't mix them with the oat mixture. But that would work a lot better. the oat mixture is quick oats, butter, and sugar and toasted until crispy in oven on cookie sheet. (about 3-6 minutes) keep checking so you don't burn them! Don't add pecans until after you've made the oatmeal into a crispy granola. Pecans roast too quickly so I didn't add them in the oven at ALL!

Open caramels and add a lil water or milk... start to whisk when it starts to melt.

END RESULT!! Put on wax paper and ENJOY!

So sweeeeeeet!

I am so blessed to have so many good people surrounding me! CTMH has made it possible for me to get to know so many awesome people & reconnect (and stay connected) with old friends. Below is a gift from my friend Shawn. Shawn is one of the most genuine kind hearted people I've ever been around! Check out my super cute Fall gift from her! She knows how much I love those coaster books! so sweet! I know just the photos I'm going to put in there! And the candle smells great and there was MUCH more candy than that.. It just didn't make it home in time for the photo! LOL Hope your Fall is off to a happy start! Thank you again "Mrs. Shawn."

Fall weather finally here?!

More like winter already- straight from Summer weather to Winter weather- just like last year! I am NOT complaining though..... The weather today was awesome! Looking forward to tomorrow's! I had a Workshop tonight and it was brought up that the Allardt TN pumpkin festival is THIS weekend! We didn't get to go last year because it snuck up on us and we already had plans to go camping, but I am hoping to get over there this Saturday! Its just a nice start to the Autumn Season. Like any festival you will see a "queen" in this case its the pumpkin queen! You can also expect to see a parade showcasing HUGE pumpkins with blue ribbons, pumpkin rolls (filled with cream cheese), and lots of arts & crafts! Below is a page I scrapped after going in 2008. Wow- Will has NO hair! "festival" is using chocolate alphabet!

LOVE LOVE "posterboard" alphabet! One of my ALL time favorite stamps! VERY COOL! You can use it so many ways! Below is stamped on colonial white and stamped over with autumn terracotta swirls! Don't forget to use 3d foam tape to "pop" your titles! ;-)

Just wanted to throw this one in... It's no secret to anyone who knows me- I DRINK way too much COFFEE! ..and LOVE "life is Good." SO I am excited to get out my fall mug!

PUMPKIN POOP

Yep you heard me... I said I would never make pumpkin poop or reindeer poop - or any KIND of holiday poop- BUT I did! :-) You can make these as big or small as you want. I wanted to do up a couple small ones just to create something! I cut a ziplock bag in half and stapled the sides and tied with ribbon!

I stamped up a monster and glued him on! The other monster is one of our new fuzzy monsters from the new catalog!

I stuck it in a Halloween mug with some tissue paper (I also stuck in an apple cider yankee candle CAR airfreshener too - i just didnt have it for the photo here) - Cute FALL gift for my sis! The lil quote says: I started to carve a pumpkin with my carving knife and scoop, but the pumpkin got so scared that he took a poop. Nice huh?!!?! I know I know............ There are longer versions of this little phrase too but I had to shorten mine for my card. ;-)

Feature Fridays

Today I have TWO great websites for you!!!! http://www.free-cardmaking.com/ & http://bigredscraps.ning.com/ "Free-card making" is a cute lil site where you can get free card templates, ideas, and tips! I did have to sign up for an account and they do send out a few emails. They will ask you if you are interested in a 'monthly kit" or something - you do not have to do this to get to look at the stuff on their site BUT you do have to create a user ID and PW to get the templates. Its FREE. It took me only moments and I could search all kinds of patterns! ;-)

BIG RED SCRAPS This is a SUPER awesome site to get some more CTMH ideas! It was created by a CTMH consultant and its a place where we can post and share our artwork using current CTMH paper packs! For example- got lots of Magnifique paper left over and want some new ideas? - check it out- there are TONS on there right now with this paper packet!!

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!!!!! If I don't post this weekend then I will see you MONDAY!

Run4Don

This past Saturday I participated in a 5k Run & Walk. It was in honor of Donald Chaffin, a local minister in my area. The run and walk was to raise money to benefit students in their pursuit of a Christian education and the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association in hopes of finding a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease. Don was able to join us on the sidelines for this day honoring him. Below is a picture of my sister Amie. She is an AVID runner who has participated in several 1/2 marathons and is currently training for another! (whew im tired just typing that!) I on the other hand- I USED to be a runner and I only ran a few times leading up to this event just so I wouldn't be the one sitting on the sidelines with oxygen tanks! lol Amie hung out with me for this race 'for fun.' LOL Here we are finishing 64 & 65 (out of 424) with a time of 33:21. Not too bad for me! :-) you can see my nephews on the side there waiting for us!

Here I am with some friends right before the race started!

And we're OFF!

Here is a group photo of everyone from my church who came out to support this effort! I LOVE these people!!! :-)

I'll leave you today with this thought: "To think that a boy or girl might get to go to a Christian College because of my illness is exciting. We never know how God may use us. " - Don Chaffin, April 14, 2010

OLDIES BUT GOODIES!

So when I am short on time- I pull out some oldies but goodies! and in keeping with HOPING Autumn weather will be here SOON- here's some posts from last year! I LOVE this card! I actually still have this card, and I still go back to it for a pattern! So simple BUT very nice & professional!

This was one of my first layouts using one of our how to books- Its either Imagine or Cherish! Id have to go look- BUT this layout and the 'quilted' page from reflections are my 'go to' pages as well!!!! I have many layouts using this pattern that ALL look very unique from each other! Here I used eyelets- some times i use brads and ribbon to connect the squares.. (I did this page for my convention swap too!)

have a great day ladies!

Welcoming Taylor

Below is a card I made for a baby shower I went to on Sunday afternoon.. Guess what? BABY is here! Born yesterday. Mom to be said things felt different! LOL Baby and mom are doing great! I love to make these lil 3x3 or 4x4 'tag' cards for showers- clean, neat, and cute!! Just score your lines, sand, add a personalized stamped embellishment and buttons! So sweet! Congrats to Robert & Melissa! She's beautiful!

Never to early to think about ....

CHRISTMAS! I am not trying to rush through Fall (trust me) I just wanted to throw in some Christmas here and there so you can start gearing yourself up for all those things that you can get started on now! If you want to make ALL of your Christmas cards this year then start thinking about joining me for my Christmas card workshop. (details coming soon!) Below are some CUTIE ornaments I made with our "dimensional elements" ornaments. SO much fun!!! and SO easy! Made all three of these within MINUTES! Sponge them up with a beuatiful ink and decorate! Easy as that! Add a photo, a sentiment, a coordinating pretty paper, and/or piece of pretty ribbon!

What if Christmas ...perhaps...

Means a little bit more.......... I LOVE that.. So sweet- this stamp set is so FUN for Christmas cards. Below is a 'cover' I made for my memory keeper box I plan on putting all my Christmas cards into this year.

This NEW stamp set "Adorn-able" is similar to last years stamp set "Holiday Trinkets." If you LOVED that one then this one is a MUST as well! So fun to play with and create your own ornaments!

Recreate this same idea! See pg 48 in the new idea book!

Featuring Discovery Education on this Friday

This website probably has much more to it than just what I use it for. I 'found' this site a long time ago, and I mostly use it for quick activities for the kids to do in Sunday School class. Here's how I use it: at the home page (link below) Click on "classroom resources" at the top. Next, click on "puzzlemaker." A list like this: Word Search, Criss-Cross, Double Puzzles,Fallen Phrases,Math Squares, Mazes, Letter Tiles, Cryptograms, Number Blocks, Hidden Message, should pop up. You can make them whatever you want- for example you can help Moses get to the land of Canaan in a maze, or enter in 'clues & answers" for the crisscross. You can title a word search: The 10 plagues and list them for them to 'search.' VERY COOL..Cryptograms are COOL too. play around with is and make up some for your kids, Sunday school classes, home school groups or word searches for yourself if you enjoy them. http://discoveryeducation.com/

UUGGGGGGGGH

Hate it when i do this!! okay so this is a 3 part post (below) BUT the last is first and the first is 3rd.. Nice huh?!?! Anyway - start with the 3rd post and read UP! My challenge for the day! LOL Hahhahahahaha

I added glitter glue to the metal clips here. Glitter glue polka dots on 'fair' to match the lots o dots sponged blue letters.

Collect them all for maximum creativity!!! They are all so unique! Reflections: 1 page scrapbook designs with a suggested coordinating page, Cherish: 2 page layouts- a good 'basic' layout recipe book, Imagine: 2 page layouts- a bit more advanced with tips/techniques and challenging layouts. Originals and Wishes - the ultimate 'CARDS' how to books!