A Few Christmas Thank Yous...

It's been too terribly long, and the sad truth is, that I haven't been crafting very much lately. We've both been busy with work and Christmas shopping (so glad that's over) that in my down time I just want to sleep.

But now hopefully most of the rushing around is over. We'll be moving toward getting ready for our ski trip in February..and with our new camera we should have some nice pictures for you to follow along at home.

But since Christmas is over, I was in need of a few thank you cards..so here we go...

Jonathan did most of this one...I had to help save it a little, but it's mostly his idea. I've been looking for a good use for the reindeer paper, and I think he's found it.

I distressed the edges on all the paper. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I apologize for the yellow-ness...it's overcast today and that's the best I could do. I'm really happy with this one too..it's simple, but doesn't look unfinished.

More edge distressing..I really like it.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a good Christmas (I had to work, and was super sick) and is going to have a good New Year's (I have to work..doesn't really seem fair does it..).
I have some Christmas photos and a birthday card or two heading this way, so be on the look out.

Jessica

Christmas Beasties 2010

So I haven't managed to do anything crafty lately, but I have managed to take pictures of my fur-babies for our Christmas card this year.

Oliver did pretty amazing! Once he figured out he was getting treats..he was all for sitting still.

And he didn't mind the Santa hat that much.

Adorable!



Bean also did fairly well.

He loves treats. He was eating one here..

Aster did not like it at all.

But I managed to get a few decent shots. He was interested while it was his brother's turn..but when his number came up, he was having none of it.

Chippy is always the most difficult.

19 pounds of cat, it's difficult to make him do what you want. Since he can't smell he is not food motivated.

I think our Christmas cards are going to be pretty cute this year. Look for them coming to a mail box near you...in the next few weeks.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season.

Jessica

Thanksgiving 2010

So we had a lot of fun on Thanksgiving. We ate way way too much food.

Grandpa and Curt eating.

Brittany reacting very well to the fact that Katie doesn't drink soda.

My cousins Sarah and Brittany.

My cousin Grace, and uncle Pat.

Brother Matt and Oliver.

Katie refusing a picture.

Katie and Ollie.

Tula and Daisy came over too.

But this is always how it ends up. Even the Vegan ate too much.

We went over to my older sister Amy's house later that night..for more wonderful food. We were so stuffed!

Hope everyone else had a great holiday.

Jessica

A Purple and Yellow Birthday Card

I intended to get this post up yesterday, but I was busy shopping. So I'm doing it today.

My mom's birthday was yesterday, so I made her a card.

The paper is the Razzleberry Lemonade series by Stampin Up, and it's retired. But I love it, so I bought some on clearance. The "image" I made with 2 stamps from a set I don't know the name of. but it has the dragonflies and the little dot things. I stamped the dot things in Crushed Curry and Peach Parfait first, then the dragonflies in Rich Razzleberry. I sponged the edges with Crushed Curry.

I don't think you can tell, but then I used thick embossing powder to give it that glass look. I didn't break it, but it still looks cool.

Here's the inside.

I was pretty happy with how it came out. We took her out to lunch, and my little brother even showed up.

We're so ready for Thanksgiving weekend. We only have 2 to go to this year, lunch at my mom's and dinner at my sister's. Turkey Coma here we come!

Jessica

First Christmas Card of the Season

It's the first Christmas card of the season. Woot!

It's a Fluffles card, and the pictures are taken with the new camera we just bought (The Canon Rebel T2i...love it!)

I used a lot of this paper last year, but I just love it so much. The solid color cardstock is from Stampin Up, and I used a Cuttlebug dye for the snowflakes.

You can't tell, but the ornaments are glazed with a glaze pen (go figure), so they're sort of shiny.

I kept the same sort of theme on the inside. The sentiment is from a Christmas Set from All That Scraps.

I hope everyone is gearing up for Turkey Day. We've got 2 to go to..so we'll definitely be in turkey comas. We're planning on setting up and trimming our Christmas tree next weekend, since we both get 4 day weekends. I'm sure we'll have lots of help from the furbabies, and lots of pictures.

Jessica

A Crazy Thing Happened

I apologize for the new layout, something went crazy and my background (that I loved) went away. So I'm using this as a temporary fix until I find something new and awesome!

Jessica

A Fall Foliage Birthday Card

Today I have a birthday card I've been working on for the past few days. It's for Jonathan's dad. Jonathan had the original idea "leaves or something" and I ran with it. When it comes to cards for his family I generally make him get involved. He helped choose the colors and the paper, he even signed his own name inside, which doesn't always happen.

I'm really pleased with how this one turned out, and I'm a little sad to see it go.


All the paper is from Stampin Up. I used the Gypsy and Cricut to cut out the leaves. The Gypsy has a search function so I was able to see all the leaves I already had on my cartridges, this saved me tons of time. I used the Gypsy to arrange my mat so I could cut all the different leaves at one time..also a time saver.
I used Ranger Distress ink to distress every piece of paper to within an inch of it's life...but I like what it adds to the card.

The Happy Birthday stamp is from Hobby Lobby, or somewhere like it. The camera didn't really pick it up (big surprise there) but I used just a hint of yellow Glimmer Mist to spritz the leaves..they just looked so plain.

I had a few extra leaves to use in the inside, but otherwise it's blank.

I'm currently working on the first Christmas card of the season, and I hope to be able to finish it tomorrow, but we'll see.

I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Jessica

A Flower Card

I just have a quick post today.

I've been slacking in the card making department, but I did finally finish our New England Vacation scrapbook..a year later, which is just sad. But anyway, it's done. So now I'll be moving on to our Year 2 of marriage book, I've done a couple of pages already, so I'm up to Christmas of last year, so I'm really only 11 months behind...geeze.

But I do have a card for today. It started out as an experiment in a brayer technique for the background, but it turned out ok, so I went ahead and made it into a card.

The background used to be white, and I used a brayer to layer on 2 different colors. I stamped the flowers, then the reeds. I stamped off some of the ink on the reeds to a scrap piece of paper so they'd be lighter. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. All the ink and paper, and even the ribbon are from Stampin Up.

Here's a different view. I put the jewels on the top with my iRock, which is a totally awesome tool.

The inside is blank, since I don't really know what I'd use this card for. It sort of falls into the category of just sending a nice note to someone. I suppose it could be a birthday card too..maybe.

Anyway, it's finally Friday. We've got a few things to do, like puppy class for Oliver. But hopefully we're going to stick close to home..and maybe get all this Halloween stuff put away. Maybe.



Jessica

Dad's Birthday Card

So, today is my Dad's birthday. We took him out to dinner last night and all went to the Ray-Pec football game. It was senior night, which means that all the seniors get recognized and get to walk on the field with their parents.

I made him a birthday card, and since my camera batter was charged before we left last night, I took some pictures of it.

I picked a bunch of black and white paper up last time I went paper shopping (which was a very long time ago) And I thought the simple black and white would be good on a dad card. The music notes are from one of my Cuttlebug embossing folders. I sponged the raised part with black ink to give it that kind of old-ish look.

I just kept the inside simple too, stamped Happy Birthday and signed it.

We had a good time. Today is full of things to do. I slept all morning, which was great. And a bit later we have Oliver's puppy class, then we're going up to Weston to see Jonathan's parents and carve pumpkins. Oliver is going with us, so that will be interesting. I'm sure I'll have some cool pumpkin carving pictures tomorrow. I'll be taking the pictures since we all know how I feel about pumpkins.

Hope you are all enjoying your Saturday.

Jessica

Bath Time

I regret to inform you that this post has nothing to do with scrapbooking. I have a card to show you, but my camera battery is dead.

Anyway, so we get a lot of inquiries about what Oliver looks like when he's not fluffy. He's pretty fluffy all the time, but I'm sure we're approaching his "puppy uglies" where he'll loose his baby coat and grow his full adult coat...which if he's anything like his parents, he'll still be super fluffy.
After the RenFest he was pretty dirty, so we gave him a bath. I'm not going to say he liked it, but he was only 4 1/2 pounds, so he couldn't put up much of a fight.

This is Oliver before..cute and fluffy.


And Oliver after..drowned rat..and less happy.

He took the whole thing pretty well. But he hates to be brushed, so we made the mistake of letting him air dry, so he got lots of loose mats, so he had to be brushed. Needless to say we won't make that mistake again.

He looks so sad.

We dried him off with a couple of towels, he was trying to eat them, it was pretty funny.

Hopefully in the next day or two I'll have some card posts. My Halloween cards went out in the mail on Wednesday. So I guess it's time to start thinking about Christmas cards. I'm on day #2 of my 4 day weekend, and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm getting ready to go up to my room and do a little crafting right now.

Hope everyone is having a good Friday.

Jessica

Halloween Costumes 2010

It's that time of year again. The time of year when I torture my animals for my enjoyment. Actually it's not that bad..and they don't suffer (that much). Well, this year we didn't get new costumes, and it was way too hard to get all 4 of them in a shot together, but it was fun anyway.

Bean took it the best last year, but I guess he'd forgotten.

He was definitely sorry for whatever he'd done to deserve this.

But quickly forgot and did his trick for a kitty crunchy.

Chippy kept trying to back up out of the bandanna.

We actually got a good shot of him this year. We didn't pester him too long, I feel bad for Chippy cat and that Oliver loves him so much...which translates into bites and scratches.

Aster has the least complicated costume of all, and he throws the biggest fit.

I think this is a pirouette or something.

And his pathetic attempt at escape. He drags is back legs around, even though there is no reason he can't use them. The second Jon took off the skirt he was over that gate and up those stairs so fast if you were to blink, you'd miss it.

Oliver handled it the best this year. He didn't mind wearing his lobster suit, he just didn't like the hood part over his head, he kept shaking it off.

He's a vicious lobster.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday. It's my Monday, so I am not, but I get a 4 day weekend full of activities next weekend, so I'm looking forward to that.

Jessica