A Homespun Christmas Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to A Homespun Christmas Blog Hop. Thank you so much for hopping with us, we hope this hop provides lots of inspiration on gifts to make for the holiday season. If you've come by from Kristy's blog then you're in the right place. If you've just happened upon my blog today you're not going to want to miss a thing so head over to the beginning and start at Christine's blog.

We have 2 sponsors for this blog hop.

The first sponsor is Scraptastical Kreations, she is offering a $20 Gift Certificate to her store. To be eligible to win the Gift Certificate please go to her Facebook fanpage and like the page (if you’re not a fan already) and also leave a comment on the fan page. 

The second sponsor is Hot Berry Designs she is also offering a $20 Gift Certificate to her store. To be eligible to win the Gift Certificate please go to her Facebook fanpage and like the page (if you’re not a fan already) and also leave a comment on the fan page.

For my Homespun project I made a wreath to hang on a front door. I took an inexpensive artificial balsam wreath, made paper roses and hot glued them on. I also added a bit of artificial baby's breath, some gold balls and a touch of gold ribbon swirled throughout. It's finished off with a nice big sheer ribbon bow. I love this one so much I may just keep it hanging on my door!

Here it is prettying up my front door.

Can you Eye Spy someone peeking out the door??

My husband being funny and holding up Zander for a photo op.

The wreath is from Christmas Tree Shops

Flower cutting files from Scraptastical Kreations - Elegant Florals, Flower #2

Ribbons - C&G, Christmas Tree Shops

Gold balls - Hobby Lobby

Here's the full line up in case you get lost along the way:

Christine

Kristy

Nancy **you are here**

Cathie

Charity

Vanessa

Suzanne

Katie

Elicia

Leslie

I must now send you over to the lovely and talented Cathie.

I hope you have enjoyed the hop and we've inspired you in some way.

~there's always a story!

Nancy :)

Win A Cameo!!!

Do you want to win a Silhouette Cameo, or know someone that would love to win one?? Here is your chance to get in on the Silhouette Cameo Raffle!! Tickets are only $5 each, with a max of 5 entries per person. Ticket number(s) will be sent via email once payment is confirmed! Drawing will be held via video on December 15th! There are a limited number of tickets being sold and they're going fast!! Get yours before they're gone!!!

Purchase your ticket here: http://www.scraptasticalkreations.com/item_370/Silhouette-Cameo-Raffle.htm

A Sweet Christmas

Today I have a sweet card featuring a very adorable moose from Scraptastical Kreations (original artwork by Kristi W). I have a special sweet someone in mind to recieve this card for Christmas!

Scraptastical Kreations - Cherry Moose-mas

Peachy Keen -  PKSC 11

Paper - Recollections, American Crafts

White Gelly Roll Pen

Cat's Eye inks

Really Reasonable Ribbon

Random Bling

I'm entering this into :

CCC Challenge #6 - Christmas Cards

Thanks for stopping by today!!

~there's always a story!

Nancy :)

Shaped Snowman Card

Today I have a fun little shaped snowman card to share. He's from Scraptastical Kreations file "Polar Fun". I embossed him with snowflakes and added a bit of bling and bells to fancy him up. Cute!

I'm entering him into:

RSC #13 - Black and White Cards

CCC #6 - Christmas Cards

ME4Y - Shaped Cards

Thanks for stopping by today!

~there's always a story!

Nancy :)

Bah Humbug!

RCS #12 - Famous Movie Pets Layout Challenge

This has to be one of my all time favorite pictures of our cat, Zander. My son put this toy over his head and as you can tell by the look on his face he didn't seem to appreciate it much. He's really a good sport and let's us put all kinds of stuff on him lol, however, his face in this picture is just priceless. I thought "Bah Humbug" made the perfect caption, lol. 

Paper - Cloud 9 Design Seasonal

Scraptastical Kreations cutting files - Fancy Frames, Border Set

Random rick rack ribbon and button

Cameo

Thanks for stopping by!

~there's always a story!

Nancy :)

It's Turkey Time!!!

If you're looking for the Thankful Hop click here or scroll down (if you scroll down you can check out my really cute turkey ;)

When I saw this file in the Silhouette store it cracked me up and I just couldn't resist. Isn't he just the cutest thing?? Once I had him all put together he looked like he needed something so I added the "Give Thanks" banner and tail feathers with cut files from Scraptastical Kreations. He stands about 6" tall.

Scraptastical Kreations cut files- "Turkey Time" & "Banner Blitz"

Paper - Recollections, DCWV, Oriental Trading

Timeless Twine

Googly eyes, Oriental Trading

3D Turkey Silhouette file

Cameo

I'm entering this into Cameo Creations - Anything Thanksgiving Challenge

Thanks for stopping by today!

~there's always a story!

Nancy :)

Thankful Blog Hop November 10, 2012

Welcome to Day 1 of The Thankful Blog Hop. If you happened upon my page today and would like to start from the beginning head over to Melanie's blog for the full lineup. If you came over from Kristy's page you're in the right place!

This is the time of year we really reflect on what we have to be thankful for. One of those things I am thankful for is scrapbooking and all the crafts, supplies and people that go along with it. A very talented group has gathered today and tomorrow to share projects that all have the word ‘thank’ on them.

In addition to seeing a lot of awesome creations, there is some blog candy available too. If you comment on everyone’s bloghop post you will be entered to win the goodies. You don’t have to become a follower of the ‘Afternoon Scrapper’ blog too, but it would be great if you did. The prize is a mix of paper, stickers, mists, stencils stickers and more as pictured here:

We all have so much to be thankful for every day yet sometimes with the hustle and bustle of life we tend to look past what's truly important. Living in NJ and seeing what so many people are going through all along the east coast from the recent hurricane and Nor'easter has given me a new appreciation for all we have.

With that new appreciation in mind I decided to make up this "be thankful" board. Every day of the month of November we can write down something we are thankful for that day. I discovered the inspiration for my project here and thought it was such a fabulous idea I had to make my own. 

I made the board about half the size of the original. First, I took a 12" x 12 1/2" piece of chipboard and adhered a piece of wood grain look paper. Since I was making my board smaller than my inspiration I needed to overlap my envelopes to be able to keep them a decent size and still have 30 of them.

 I made up these pockets with my Cameo, altering a Silhouette file to make it work for my needs. Then I made a pattern of the front of the envelope and cut out pieces from coordinating papers and taped them on. The pocket size is about 2 1/4" x 3", the back flap is 3 1/8" x 3". 

I scored them at 3/4" in from the left side then taped that section of the back pocket to the board to create a "hinge". The hinge is folded behind for the first envelope on each row to hide it.

The cards for the inserts are 2 3/4" x 4". I scored them at 2", folded in half and slipped them into the envelope.  

This gives us 4 sides to write on. I'm hoping to use these cards for 4 years, being able to look back at what we've written over the years will make this project even more special and probably give us a good chuckle or two.

You can see how the envelopes lift up on that "hinge" to access the one below. The numbers were cut on my Cameo and glued on.

 I made 2 holes on the top, tapped in some grommets, threaded a ribbon through, put a wooden bead on each end and tied the ribbon into a knot for hanging. Ta da!

The leaves and flourish are cut files from Scraptastical Kreations. 

Papers are DCWV, Cloud 9 Designs and The Paper Studio

Really Reasonable Ribbon

Zig glue pen

ATG tape gun

Cameo

I have some blog candy for you also! Please stop by my Facebook page and leave me a comment, 1 winner will be randomly chosen from all comments on Monday Nov,12. I'd love it also if you "liked" my FB page and followed my blog but that's not necessary to win. Here's the fabulous prize up for grabs:

6 yards of Autumn-like ribbon

I'm your last stop on the hop for today. I hope you've been inspired by the fabulous projects you've seen along the way! And remember to come back tomorrow starting with Melanie again for more fabulous creations!

~there's always a story

Nancy :)

Santa I Believe

My inspiration for this layout came from a challenge over at RCS. Their challenge this week is to create a clean and simple layout. I like doing challenges that have me create something in a way I normally wouldn't, this is one of those challenges. I seem to feel a layout isn't "finished" until there is a lot on the page, lol, so I had a hard time figuring out what to put on here that I liked, was clean and simple, and looked finished. I picked out a paper that had a stamped image already on it and added just a touch of color with Prisma pencils to Santa and his sack, and a touch of sparkle to the snow around the chimney. I'm really liking the way this one came out! 

Papers from DCWV

Really Reasonable Ribbon

Prisma Color pencils

Stickles

Cameo

I'm entering this into:

RCS #10- Clean and Simple Layouts

Creative Cutting Challenge #5 - Christmas Not a Card

Thanks for stopping by today!

~there's always a story

Nancy :)

Autumn Greetings

I'm sharing a card I made using a fun stamping technique I've been wanting to try for a while. I'm really pleased with this so I have a feeling you'll be seeing this technique from me again, lol :) 

The tag is from Scraptastical Kreations "Label It, Tag It, Frame It". I used Kraft cardstock, a piece of random colored card stock from my stash,  a flourish stamp that I picked up at Target forever ago, and the "Autumn Greetings" is a Peachy Keen. Oops, I don't remember which ink I used, I tried a few different ones until I found the color I Iiked, it's a Tim Holtz distress ink just not sure of which color I used. The ribbon is from Oriental Trading.

I'm linking this up to:

ME4Y weekly card challenge

thanks for stopping by!

~there's always a story

Nancy :)

CANDY!!!

RCS #9: Pumpkins and Halloween

One last Halloween project from me. I kind of feel a bit jipped with Halloween this year with Sandy wreaking havoc on us! I guess since we're trick-or-treating on Monday Nov 5 I'm allowed to still create some Halloween goodies, lol.

For this cute card  I used Peachy Keen Stamps, various scraps from my stash, white Gelly Roll pen, Zig markers, Oriental Trading ribbon, flower button from The Paper Studio.

Thanks for stopping by today!

~there's always a story
Nancy :)

November Scraptastical Kreations DT Challenge

Color Challenge!

Welcome to the next DT Challenge from Scraptastical Kreations. This month we have an autumn themed color challenge. Using the palette below create any project and share with us on the 

SK fan page 

SK group page

or

SK Blog

The fantastic prize you could win:

Here's my project for a bit of inspiration:

I've made a fun fall arrangement almost completely out of paper!

Scraptastical Kreations Garden Splendor Flowers 2 & 7, Fancy Florals

McGill stamen punch

Silhouette 3D Bushel Basket

mini pinecones

Oriental Trading ribbon

Floral wire, tape and styrofoam

Cameo

For more inspiration stop by the SK blog! Thanks for stopping by today, I hope I've inspired you in some way!

~there's always a story

Nancy :)