so thankful...

with Thanksgiving coming up, i thought i would share some of the people and things i'm thankful for... God has blessed me in so many ways, and i can't be thankful enough! so here goes a completely UN-COMPREHENSIVE list in no particular order:

• music! i really really love listening to music. i think it can change a mood right away. currently i'm totally digging Christmas music (and have been for at least a month), but the current favorite i just bought on iTunes is "Pennies from Heaven." hehe, so fun!
• my family--love them so much. my parents are awesome and supportive, and my brothers are super sweet and they never fail to make me smile. Peter and Joey still live close to me, and getting to see them brightens my day. AND! everyone will be together for this Christmas. Cecelia is coming from D.C., Lincoln will be jetting in from PA, and my grandma and my aunt are coming from NY. who knows when the next time me and my siblings will all be together like that again. it hasn't even happened yet, but i'm already thankful it's going to! :D
• Christmas! i love celebrating the birth of Jesus, and i love everything that it entails. i'm a fan of traditions, but i'm so totally excited to decorate in my own place in just my style. since i have a pink living room and bedroom, i'm thinking of going with a sweet and girly tree and decorations (aka pink and green!)--of course i'll be making some handmade decorations, and i'll have to share them with you :D
  

this one i found HERE was sooo pretty!

friends. this includes so many people. the ones that care about how i'm feeling and how it's been going, the ones who pray for me, the ones i get to meet up with and we don't skip a beat even though it's been ages since we got together, my sister, my daily best friend, my co-teacher, my crafty buddies... they help me in so many ways. i only hope that i'm half as reliable or steadfast as they are. i just seem SO lucky. actually, BLESSED.

sandwich grills. addicted and about ready to give them as Christmas gifts to everyone i know. they make grilled perfection every single time no matter what the contents! *LE SIGH*

scrapbook retreats--i counted up the actual 'completed pages' and even though not all of them are 12x12, i still had a record productive weekend: i completed 82 pages!!!! w00t w00t! :D

bursts of ingenuity when teaching or planning for school--it helps so much! i love doing something that makes students think!

coupons and sales. these make me so happy. good deals MUST be endorphin boosters, would you agree?

diet coke. helplessly addicted.

laughing--i am so thankful for laughter.

water polo with all its challenges and physical demands. i think what others say is 'insane' actually keeps me 'sane.' oh, the irony.

and YOU, my precious blog readers... you are a constant source of encouragement that i feed off of. i am blown away by your support. i love reading your comments!

oh, and you thought i wasn't going to share a card? hehe--nope, i've got one here:

i used tons of Sassafras papers that made me think 'vintage' so i de-hoarded a length of vintage lace trim and then inked up the edges, and finally i added a fun swirl stamp i picked up from Impress a year ago. i also added a few BG felt stickers--they're perfectly wonderful texture-wise on this acetate card. oh, and i used an EK border punch for the inside edges. fun stuff in sort of fall colors--what do you think?

so, what are you thankful for? i'd love to hear what has blessed you lately :D thanks for stopping by!

vintage one layer 'thank you'

so just a quick post today.

i'm so glad it's Friday, but i'm also really tired... it's been a long week for me telling stories at VBA and acting in the skits as well. it really wears me out, so it's a good thing i've been able to take naps every day.

here i wanted to show you some vintage one layer cards i made a while back. these are from the Impress Stamp Night.

i think that what makes these pretty (for me, at least) is the layering of the pinks, and then the cool script in the 'thank you' sentiment.

well, like i said, it's going to be a short one... i'm going to see Despicable Me tonight with some friends, so it's a great start to my weekend... hoping you have a great one too!

thanks for you comments and for stopping by :D

OH! how i love steampunk!! (2S4Y style)

hey everyone! happy thursday :D (note: i seem to be a little 'talky' today, so if you want to skip that, go to the end.)

i had the pleasure of using Kazan's sketch #56 for this card, and oh boy! was it ever PERFECT for EVERYTHING... the details just shine through with this awesome layout :D

and believe it or not, although i've been behind on the challenge side of things... haven't been creating much for sketches/ color combos/ etc, i actually made this card for the 365 Cards Day #129 - Aged Look. it's simply a match made in heaven :D

on to my card. i actually made this to giveaway in a contest... i was given some idea about what the contest was, but i was given artistic freedom in the execution. i think i've mentioned before that i LOVE it when that happens... i love that freedom to create what i think will fit :D

so, the contest is called SteamBoyz, and it's hosted by Velvet over at vvb32 reads--she's got a great book blog going on over there, and i know she's fabulous herself! now, you may be wondering how i got connected with a book blogger to create a card for a contest. the answer is simple. i'm a nerd. YES. a NERD.

you see, i have a sister, Cecelia, who is awesome, funny, but equally (if not more! [agreed Cece?]) nerdy as me. she loves to read. which isn't to say i DON'T, because i'm actually an English teacher, but she LOVES to read. like--she went to the American Library Association Conference a few weeks ago, even though she's not a librarian. well, you say, that's not all bad... and NO! it's not. but that's how nerdy WE are. :D

so--last year she began a blog shortly after i did, and started featuring recipes, anecdotes from her life, and of course, she shared her love of books, or shall i say OBSESSION with them? she introduced me to some books, and i read them, and they were awesome! really, they were, and i can recommend some to you based on your movie preferences... really. it's what i do for my students at school. anyway, she fell pretty hard into the book blogger stratosphere, and i have to say, if i'm being honest, that i'm a little jealous at her instant popularity. i mean, there has to be a little rivalry for us to be normal siblings, eh?

at any rate, she's wildly famous and funny, while i just make cards and occasionally tag along to book events like author signings. the one author signing i went to was for a book called Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld. and it was a steampunk book. and i got to see what all the fuss was about.

i had a TON of fun. AND, i got a signed copy of the book to go in the bookshelves at school too! win WIN!

and after reading some books from the steampunk genre (Soulless by Gail Carriger as well, and probably more), i knew what my sister kept raving about. yes, she may have looked foolish to her roommates or our mother, but i at least, finally, understood.

and here i am, to present you with a card made specifically with steampunk in mind, and my sister, and Velvet, who asked me to do it :D thanks a ton girlies!

i used a lot of vintage stuff... tried to make it fit with the genre. so, there's some Graphic 45 papers on there (from the Le'romantique line) and a page torn out of an old book covering a chipboard piece. i then stamped the chipboard with a wrought iron fence stamp that i bought at a stamp convention who knows where :D and let's not forget how i shabbied everything up with either distressing with scissors, inking with Tim Holtz antique linen pad, or even using some black ink from a SU! cube. and can you see those Kaiser black pearls in the top left corner? so many details.

i also grabbed a bookplate and some brads from my stash and roughed them up with my file, and then inked them with some black Staz-on ink to give it a more 'aged' look. the crown brad comes from Queen & Co, and the buttons are vintage from my stash as well. i even layered a Hambly frame transparency to the hat/ cane panel to give some more depth.

i've seen some crafters use the 'pull back' approach with double sided paper, but i've never really given it much thought until this creation... i think it's a fabulous way to showcase both sides of the paper, and to show a little of the fanciness underneath, don't you?

now, check out the inside. because i used a clear card stock to create the card base, you can add some awesome details all over and have them show through to the front or back. in my case, i covered the OTHER side of the chipboard piece with a steampunk clock image that i got HERE before i adhered it to the front of the card. that way, when you open it up, you get more for your money :D

also, you can see from above and below, that i used some October Afternoon papers from the Thrift Store line... i know just about everyone and their mother is in love with this stuff, and i'm no exception. i mean, seriously--with so much in the steampunk genre originating from London, what other choice could i have than to use it on the inside of my card? it's PERFECT!

and also, after you're done checking out my card... if you've missed the tons of tags i've been creating, then you'd better take a look HERE, and HERE, and at yesterday's HERE. plus, i finished the rest of the tags and have a few pictures to show you...

these yellow ones were INTENSE. PTI's polka dot basics II again, some October Afternoon stamping, a flourish is there as well, along with Sassafras papers, Recollections rosebuds on top of Prima flowers inked to the perfect color. there's some 'orange peel' stickles there, a vintage orange button on all of them, and some citrine glitter from DeNami Designs. oh, and green ribbon from M's.

now these red-orange tags feature some Cosmo Cricket Early Bird papers, more Recollections rosebuds, clothespins, random buttons from my stash, 'so happy!' ribbon from SEI, and then some chipboard from DCWV that i glittered and shabbied up. oh, and some MM blooms as well.

now, for the ULTRA FUNKY orange tags. these are crazy. but, they're good crazy! more Sassy goodies, stickles, buttons, KI memories ribbon, and even those green foil stars you usually put on chore charts... hehe!

and here's one from each of the colors all grouped together. i realized that i used my Cricut to cut out 11 different colors, and they're all completely different. i LOVE that. what do you think? don't they look awesome together? :D

so all in all, i've been quite busy this week, and plan to be even more so next week. i'll be the storyteller for my church's VBA (Vacation Bible Adventure... just like VBS), and i'm head of the skit crew (and in it as well). so mornings/ afternoons will switch schedules for me a bit.

thanks so much for visiting... i'd LOVE to hear what you like most in today's post > the card? the tags? the sister envy? ha!

have a great day, and stop by later to see what i've been doing on the scrapbooking end of things! :D XOXO