Holiday Tags

I like making tags, but my very favorite are definitely Christmas tags! A month or so ago I bought a new Unity Stamp kit called "Tags, Glorious Tags!". Just perfect for me! Here are my first two tag creations with it...

I used the Tags set and also one Close to My Heart stamp that I already had in my stash. Papers are from an older DCWV holiday pack.

Thanks for taking a look...and an early Merry Christmas to you!

Birthday Tag!

We seem to have hit another rash of birthdays in our boys' classes and we've got parties to go to with presents to give! The one great thing I love about that is it gives me a valid reason to spend a little time creating with my stamps and paper! :)  Here's something I pulled together today. A little more complex than what I usually make for an 8 year old boy's gift, but it sure was fun making it!

Products used: Hero Arts - Zig Zag, Crate Paper - Party Day, Unity Stamp Co. - Sweet & Sour Soup, SMAK 4/13 Celebrate the Good Times and some very old My Minds Eye paper and a Creative Memories tag punch. 

Wishing you a fun fall weekend!

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween!

Here's a fun card I made using Unity Stamp Co.'s Bones About Halloween. I had no idea the skeleton was going to be so huge when I ordered this stamp set! I still think the kids will have fun with it when I let them have a chance to stamp with it though. I'm using one of their favorite jokes for this time of the year...

The front

And the inside!

I also used one of my favorite alpha stamp sets from Close to My Heart and used my Silhouette cutter for the banner and frame on the inside. Happy Fall everyone!

Another day...another tag!

There are always more birthday parties for my kids to attend, and for some reason the tag format is so easy for me to throw something together when I want to try out a new stamp. I love this number collage from Unity's May 2013 SMAK set. Perfect for a birthday card or tag, I think! I inked it up and stamped it a few different ways last weekend. Went back and actually made something out of it today. A fun 8th birthday gift tag!

In addition to the number collage, I also used Unity stamps for the sentiment flag - the flag itself is from You Did It itty bitty, and the Happy Birthday fun sentiment is from last year's May SMAK set. The tag and washi were purchased from Pick Your Plum.

Thanks for looking!

Friday!

Friday is here again and I thought I'd post a card I made last week for a friend's birthday on the Friends with Flair board. The sentiment and frame are by Unity Stamp Co. The big flower stamp is by Close to my Heart. The papers are pretty old My Minds Eye (I think.) Thanks for taking a look!

I'm a globetrotter this month!

What a busy month I've had! The kids have kept me on my toes with many practices and performances, including all three being in their "All School Play", which of course in an elementary school is reliant upon the parents doing a lot of volunteer work. I made a bunch of Viking and Celt costumes. Then, my big trip, hitting one of my bucket list items was a visit to Australia! My husband had a business trip down under and of course I HAD to make a vacation out of it. We've been wanting to go there since we were a young, freshly married couple. It's not like you can experience all of Australia in a short week though. It's as big and diverse as the United States actually. We were able to visit both Melbourne and Sydney, which isn't outback-y at all. But still beautiful and loads of fun.

Now this isn't a vacation post, but it is related to Australia...this is an entry in the Helmar Make-A-Tag Challenge! Helmar is an awesome craft and art adhesives company out of Australia. They provided a little tag sketch challenge this month and I seem to have a passion for tags. I just love adding them to handmade cards and scrapbook pages. So I think this one will fit great on some of my vacation scrap pages...

I used the Helmar Scrap Dots to elevate the fun circles over the tag and tape. All the stamps are from Unity Stamp Co, February SMAK kit "Going Places". Just perfect! I also had the opportunity to use my new washi tapes from Pick your Plum (not sure if they design these tapes, or just sell them). It sure is fun to use a whole bunch of fresh scrapbooking supplies! :) Thanks for the inspiration, Helmar!

Also entering this tag in the Moxie Fab Washi Tape Challenge with thanks to another Helmar entry that mentioned it! And of course I'll be sharing it at Unity for FWF next week too!

Valentine

Here's quick post of a simple little stamped valentine's tag I made today. A cute play on words, don't you think?

 The whale stamp is by Unity Stamp Co. and the fun sentiment is pulled together with my own writing and a couple stamps by Stampendous. Happy Valentine's Day!

Best Wishes card

I loved the inspiration picture for the new stamp company, Avery Elle's, January challenge so even though I don't have any of their adorable stamps yet, I decided to go ahead and use the digi stamp they provided to pull together a card.

The inspiration picture they provided is this print sold on Etsy.

Here's the card I made.

I love the deep red umbrella in the inspiration picture, so it's likeness is the focus of my card. I recolored and printed the starburst image from Bella Gypsy (it's in their Bang Boom Kapow kit, which I think has been retired). The sentiment is the digital stamp provided by Avery Elle. Love the pattern. Not sure what occasion to use this card for, but I'll figure something out!

Thanks for taking a look. :)

Bzzzzz! A Recipe Review and Product Recommendation!

A few years ago I got really hooked on coupons and saving money and most of all getting free stuff! Social marketing is so big these days and one of the marketing things I got into was BzzAgent. Fun stuff! It's a model based on word of mouth marketing - when you get into one of their campaigns, you usually get a free product and then you are tasked with trying it out and sharing your opinions with people that you interact with. So, here's my first BzzAgent post on my blog!

Recently I was picked for the Progresso Recipe Starters campaign and I'm really glad!

 I probably would not have tried the Recipe Starters out unless I heard a lot of good things about them from friends. But since I got a can of the Creamy Portabella Mushroom Recipe Starter in the mail I had no excuses! After perusing the Progresso website for recipes, I decided upon the Mushroom Swiss Burgers.

Source: Progresso.com

When you follow the very quick and easy recipe, the burger patties come out pretty runny, and we had a bit of trouble keeping them together once on the grill. However, most of the burgers survived and wow, these were delicious! My husband and I thought they were so flavorful and my daughter gobbled her's down, completely oblivious of the bits of mushroom inside (haha!). This is definitely a recipe we will be repeating, probably tweaking it by adding something to bind the burger better. But the Creamy Portabella Mushroom starter was flavored really well - I used the leftovers on baked potato like a gravy - and I think I will try some of their other recipes too. But why stop there, I liked this so much that I'll be trying some of those other Recipe Starters flavors too!

It's a beautiful life!

Sadly, a childhood friend of mine is currently in the final stage of losing her mom to cancer. The diagnosis is only about a month old and it was too late for treatment. Her family and mom were a big part of my life as I was growing up through elementary school and junior high. Even though I haven't seen any of them for more than 15 years, I feel a real bond with them. For sure, this is a family that embraces all the fun, togetherness and joy in life. So even though right now life is as horrible and painful as it has ever been for them, I know my friend's mom would agree with the sentiment of this card.

Credits: Stamps: Sunny Happy Skies, Tiny Vintage Banners, SMAK 12/11 Make Every Day Count all by Unity Stamp Co.; 
Inks: Close To My Heart; Papers: My Minds Eye

I didn't realize it until I stamped it out, but I LOVE that sentiment! Its part of a stamp that is kind of like a journaling space, part of last December's SMAK kit. I masked off the accounting paper style lines that were next to these words. That balloon is so fun too...I'll have to remember to use it more!

All the stamps are from Unity Stamp Co, and I'm entering it in the current Ippity Chick Challenge, and also sharing it on this weeks Friends With Flair!