More Thanksgiving Cards... for Apron Strings Designs

Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away, and I thought I'd take a break from my pie-making and such to show you a few more Thankskgiving-y thank you cards I created for Apron Strings Designs.  Hope you have a wonderful holiday and lots of time with family and loved ones!

Thanksgiving-y Thank You Card

November, with so much gratitude in the air, is a great time to catch up on all those thank you's you owe to the people who have lent a hand throughout the year. I created this warm and cozy thank you card with the lovely Autumn Melody stack from DCWV, one of the big sponsors for ScrapbookUSA Expo. If you've ever been to the Expo before, you know their booth is the one to hit early -- they have crazy deals on all their great paper and a ton of cute home decor.

I used a stamp set from Close to My Heart for the sentiment, embossing the leaves in gold.

Time for Giving Thanks!

Ah, Thanksgiving!  I love this time of year -- all the warmth and love and gratitude we share with each other so freely.

I'm thankful today that I get to share a pretty layout with more pretty product from a great sponsor of the ScrapbookUSA Expo. I'm using more of the Autumn Melody stack from DCWV -- the same stack I used to make my banner for the blog hop.

For my first project, I got to play with the gorgeous Autumn Melody stack from DCWV.  I love these coordinating stacks -- they make it so easy to put together beautiful projects.  For this layout I cut a lot of hexagons from 8 different patterned papers, then used the coordinating cardstock matstack to create some photo mats.  The "Give Thanks" label is a cut out from the same stack.  I added a few buttons and some stamped leaves (using a Close to My Heart stamp), and finished off the layout with some ribbon and orange chipboard numbers from October Afternoon.  I can't wait to take some great pictures this Thanksgiving to fill up this layout!

ScrapbookUSA Expo Blog Hop!

I have some more exciting news to share!  I've been asked to join the Design Team for the ScrapbookUSA Expo.  Twice a year for the last 6 years, my crafty friends and I have gotten together at the ScrapbookUSA Expo for a day of awesome scrapbooking deals, silly games and prizes, and lots and lots of scrapbooking. I love it!  There are such good deals to be had that I end up getting nearly all my supplies during that twice a year spree.  So I was delighted when I was chosen for their first-ever design team.  To introduce all the great designers on the team and to the great ScrapbookUSA Expo blog, we're having a blog hop!

For my project, I created a simple banner to dress up my entry way.  A banner like this is so simple to make, but really makes an impact.  I just cut the 4.25"x6.25" sheets from the DCWV Autumn Melody matstack in half, then snipped a V shape into the bottom of each to create the pennant shape.  I sewed them end to end to create the banner, then embellished just a couple of the pennants.  The "Give Thanks" label is from the same DCWV stack, and the acorn and leaf shapes are from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.

So, here is the plan - between now and Wednesday November 7th at midnight, visit each of our blogs. Leave a comment at each blog, and each time you comment you will be entered to win 2 of DCWV’s brand spankin’ new Christmas 4X5 pads!  With Christmas just around the corner these would certainly come in handy! If you comment on each of their blogs (as well as here at our homebase) you will be entered 8 times!

So make sure you start at The Original Scrapbook USA Expo blog, and then visit each of these awesome designers!

Heather

Andrea

Ange

Tomi Ann <--you are="are" here="here" p="p">

Wendi

Kassi

Jennifer

My Thanksgiving Chalkboard Wall

I am literally giddy over how this project turned out. I've been wanting to turn my entry wall into a big chalkboard for a long time -- I even bought the paint and supplies a year ago to do it -- but I was chicken. I didn't know if it would turn out well, or be too dark, or whatever. But I had this idea for what I wanted to do for Thanksgiving, so last weekend I just took a deep breath and went for it.

 And here's the result!

For Thanksgiving, everyone in our family (or even just visitors to our home) is listing one thing they're thankful for each day, for me to add to the wall.  This is just our list so far -- I can wait to see how it looks by Thanksgiving!

 I made dark grey chalkboard paint using this formula from Martha Stewart.  It was very easy, but it did use a LOT more paint than I expected -- I was scraping out every drop of my quart of paint to finish this little wall.

I also did a little reorganizing with the accessories for the season.

PS - If you'd like to see what this wall looked like by Thanksgiving, I've posted it here.

Fun news and a free download!

Several months ago I attended a guinea pig class at the Creating Keepsakes headquarters here in Utah (they were trying out their new classes for this year's conventions and asked for volunteers.  Um, yes, please!).  I met a lot of the really lovely women who create the magazine, including Megan Hoeppner, who was teaching the class.  She saw my doodling and, to my extreme excitement, asked if I would create something for the magazine!  A couple of months after that I got my assignment:  use the Zentangle pens from Sakura to create some fun Christmas doodles that readers from the magazine can download.

Then I had to wait a looooooooooong time.  But the November/December issue of Creating Keepsakes came out today, which means I can share my cool doodles with you and send you over to their site to download the high res images.  I'm just going to show you one here, but head on over to the CK site because there are two whole pages of adorable Christmas doodles!  I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them!

As seen in the Nov/Dec 2012 of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Mixed Media -- I Am Not Afraid...

The last few months have been really difficult for me, but also a time of a lot of learning and really beautiful blessings.  I've had this quote from Louisa May Alcott in my mind quite a bit and decided to turn it into a visual reminder I could see every day.

Around the sides of the canvas I wrote some of the scriptures that have given me strength and courage.  This one is from Psalms 27:14.

I love how forgiving mixed media is.  I redid that bottom row of text three times in three very different ways, because it just was not coming out right, but I love the end result.  Now as I pass this little sign on my front hall table every morning, I'm reminded that God allows storms into our lives so that we can learn to "sail our ship."  And I try to trust that God is directing the winds to blow me right home to Him.