COTM and Pocket-FULL

This is my November COTM (Card of the Month) that I'm sending to my friend Jeanine in Cleveland, TN. The cardstock is from Club Scrap. Stamps are from Papertrey Ink.

This is the artwork inside Susie's pocketfull book. Her book is house shaped and she crackled all the pages. I went with a faith theme.

This is the front page with the artwork inserted into the pocket. Sorry for the glare on the photo.For the back, I used a piece of fabric from a slip, cut into the house shape. The angel image is layered on top. I used my handy Xyron to attach the vellum saying.

Card Making

Here are all my supplies for my Christmas cards. I've actually got them all done (well, 150 of them anyway). This is the first year I've had them done in October. Boy, it's a great feeling (since I love to PLAN ahead).

I'm also working on my project for the DRI next weekend. This is a get-together with other stampers in my local area. I finished the sample this morning. It's a slider card modeled after one shown on Papertrey Ink. This picture shows the slider part pulled out to reveal the inside image. I colored the flower with Prismacolor Pencil and used mineral spirits to blend them. I think it turned out pretty good, although I'm not a big fan of coloring. I like quick/easy and coloring sometimes takes too long. This is another card I made this morning, still using the mineral spirits to blend the pencils. I really like how this one turned out.

Fall is definitely here in East TN - the mornings are cooler and the leaves are turning such wonderful colors (and falling to the ground). I didn't think summer was ever going to end this year! When I was a kid, summer was my favorite time of the year (guess it was because school was out and we went swimming nearly every day). As I got older, Spring became my favorite, especially after moving to TN as the trees and flowers in the south are so gorgeous! But now, my favorite is Fall. I love the cooler weather, wearing jeans and sweaters, buying new boots, making chili and soups, snuggling with my hubby on the couch. It's all wonderful!

Celebrating 50 years

We had a family reunion (15 of us) last weekend in Branson, MO in honor of my parents 50th anniversary. It would be appropriate to post a picture of them, but I neglected to take one! We were having too much fun. The waterfall was at the entrance to the Lodges we stayed at.

This is Bob and Dad on the front porch of the lodge. It has 4 bedrooms, each with a private bath. My sisters Rene' and Roxi were both able to come, along with their families. My kids/spouses stayed in a 2 bedroom lodge just around the corner. It was really fun to all be together.

We all drove down on Friday morning and met in Springfield, MO to eat lunch at Lambert's Cafe - home of the throwed rolls. From there, we drove onto Branson and checked into the lodge. Once settled, we made a quick trip to the grocery store and bought all the fixin's for a big taco dinner! The next morning, Parker worked his magic chef abilities and turned much of the leftovers into a scrambled egg bake, along with sausage and toast. Then it was off to play!

Our first stop was The Track to ride go carts. There were several tracks and all 15 of us rode them (although not all at the same time). We REALLY are a competitive family! There was much bumping and rubbing, as well as a few spin outs (helped along by others!). After a quick lunch, most of us rode the Ducks. This is a fun way to see the sites of a location, both land and sea. We ate dinner at McFarlain's in the Imax theatre where all the waiters sang Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad. Afterwards, we all attended the Jim Stafford Show. He's as funny as always (remember the song "I don't like spiders and snakes"). His son and daughter also performed. Then it was back to the lodge where we watched the ending to the UT/South Caroline football game (go VOLS!).

Early Sunday, we all went our separate ways. Bob and I, along with Parker/Amanda and Peyton/Mark, drove back to KC to catch our plane. We had a lively trip home, full of laughter and sharing. It was great that we could all be together to celebrate with Mom and Dad. Happy Anniversary!

Vicki's Pocket-full book

Here's my pages in Vicki's book for this month.

Here's the tag out of the pocket. The back has a quote about love from I Corinthians.

And here's the back of the page with a copy of a vintage postcard image.

Stamp Room

When I was in Europe last year, I bought quite a bit of paper. I carted the tube on and off the bus each day, swearing it got heavier as the trip went on (could be because I kept buying paper!). Once I got home, the sheets were laid out on top of a table in the basement and promptly forgotten about. I've found that I need to "see" things to remember to use them. The sheets of paper have all been rolled up and placed into a basket I bought last weekend.

I have the same issue with my stamps. Years ago when I first started stamping, I bought an adjustable shelf to house them. My husband then made me two more. Here's what they look like today.Of course, this is a SMALL part of my stamp collection, but I do use them more if I'm seeing them. Here's a pix of another wall in my stamp room - full of iris carts.

This is an addition to my growing collection of "doodle" flowers, going in this months calendar journal.

Christy's Pocket-FULL

Christy's book is small and made up of blank canvas pages, already formed with a pocket. I painted it first with blue acrylic paint, then gesso'd a diamond stencil on top. I added accents with sharpie markers, glued on a ghost flower image (colored with Sharpies), and clipped on a dragonfly.
The back is fuzzy rub-ons - too fun! As you can tell, I'm still into floral themes.
For the tag in the pocket, I used my Club Scrap stencil again along with Color Mists. I think the finished piece looks very calming. The front is the reverse stencil, while the back is the opposite.

Friendship Basket

Our church passes around a Friendship Basket between families. We received it last week - full of snacks to enjoy during "football time in Tennesseeeeeee". Here's what I put together for the next family: a yummy quart jar full of the mixin's for peanut butter/M&M cookies, some chili seasonings, a fall themed dish towel, a couple of candles (cinnamon stick flavored), and an Autumn Angel from the Willow Tree collection.

I also put new ribbon on the basket that coordinates with the monogramed card I made. I used my new circle stamps and punch from Papertrey Ink.

Its nice to be back home after being gone for a few weeks. My sister continues to improve. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.