Hanna The Elf Catcher

This will just be a quick update on the news of the day.

Up first, for the Hanna Stamps challenge, I used a Hanna that has a star in her hand. I swap out the star for things that are funner, at least to me. Hanna has held turkeys, Halloween candy, you name it. She is a busy girl. For this card she caught one of Santa's elves. The elf is really a stamp from Amuse, the rest are Hanna Stamps. The paper is Basic Grey.

Seth got notice today that he got into Student Council at school. It's a pretty big feat as lots of kids applied and few made it. I have no idea how they pick who gets onto the Council, but he is so very happy.

Noah woke up with a swollen face. He said he felt okay so Scott gave him benadryl and sent him to school. The doctors office starts answering the phones at 8 AM so I called as soon as I could to get him to the doctor. Turns out they had an 8:30 appointment. So, I literally threw Seth out of the house, homework undone, to stand out for the bus by himself while we hoped another neighbor parent would come along soon. I called a neighbor on the way out of the neighborhood to get Noah and said "Seth is standing on the corner with a clipboard and homework. Can you get there soon, and help him finish his homework?!" Oh my goodness. This is why I am always telling him not to put his homework off. Emergencies happen!

The doctor thinks it is poison ivy again. Noah's face was totally swollen and

his eyes were like slits. We got him some meds and some rest and a good lunch and he felt well enough to finish the afternoon at school.

The kids are counting down the hours till they can Trick or Treat. I even painted my nails green like Seth did. Seth is the Wicked Witch and Noah is Obi Wan Kenobi. I am supposed to wear pink and be Glinda so Seth is disturbed by my green nails. But the green was too sparkly for me to resist! Why should my son be the only one with pretty nails on Halloween?!

Penguin Love

This is the card I made for the sketch challenge at SplitCoast today. The penguins are from Memory Box, the Eskimo from Stampin Up, Polar Pals set, and the quote and igloo from Amuse. Next week I will have tons more to show you from Hanna Stamps as new sets will be coming out and I will have a lot to show for Release Week.

I am thinking of trying to vote early as the polls will be packed on Election Day. I am trying to decide if I want to stand in line early or on Tuesday when everyone in the neighborhood will be at the polls as well. As a child, my parents always took us kids with them to vote on Election Day, so it was clear as adults we wouldl grow up and be voters as well. My dad always joked about voting early and often. This year I can do one of those things!

Seth recently mentioned to me that he wanted to be baptized. I told him he was baptized as a baby, as we Methodists are prone to do. He said he knew that, but he wanted to be baptized "under water" or full immersion. I will have to check into that. I am sure there is some Methodist church around with a tank, but I can't think of any. It was an odd sort of out of the blue request. But one I am more than happy to help him with. I wonder what brought this on. I don't rememeber any church or home discussions about this subject.

Stinkin' Cute!

Is it wrong to be in love with one of your creations? I recently bought a few stamps from Amuse. Mainly because they have some of the sweetest little sentiment stamps. I am sucker for sentiments. Oh sure, I love cute images like everyone else. But it is having the perfect words to go with the stamps that I truly love.

I got this igloo stamp from Amuse along with the sentiment. I couldn't resist adding the penguins to the set. This was simple, easy and adorable. It makes me wonder why I am knocking myself out to make such complicated cards all the time.

The laundry is back under control, the kids are in school, and I had breakfast today. Life is in order once again. It is a little cool out but I plan to put on my warm coat and brave the chill for a lunch out with my friend Candice.

Respite

We are back from the trip down south, and warn out.

The Friday Hanna Challenge was to create a Hanna and use snowflakes. I made an obvious choice and used the new Ski Bunny set. I couldn't post it before we left, but it is ready to be shown now. What you really can't see is that I used glitter on the ends of the skis and the bottom of Hanna. This card sparkles in real life!


Scott took his laptop with him on vacation, although this may be the first vacation that the boys were on it more than he was. They were happily together looking up whatever it is that interested them in that moment, but as soon as I got my camera out Seth made a sour face. Why? Because he can, that's why.

As soon as Noah is done for the day/in for the night he strips down to his underwear. He may not want to be on the internet for all to see in his boxers, but that is just how he is.



While we were in Kentucky we went to a place called Kentucky Down Under. It is a place with an Australian theme owned by an Australian lady. It is part zoo, part education. The kids loved it. What Noah dearly loved was the birds that come and eat out of your hands once you enter their aviary. Fortunately, only one of us got pooped on. Unfortunately that was me! I apparently had some in my hair and whoever was working came over right away to clean it up. I glad not be the sqeamish sort.

We also made the mandatory visit to the Louisville Slugger Museum, despite the fact none of us are baseball players or even slightly interested in baseball. The museum was interesting and as parents, we all know how we do what makes the kids happy. This is one of those things they wanted to see. Only God knows why. I made them pose in front of the big bat out front and in the carved glove inside. I am a mom, it's what I do.

Out on a Limb

SplitCoast has their Wednesday Sketch Challenge in full swing and I am offering up for your interest my entry. The stamps are all from Ppapertrey Ink. I used their Out on a Limb set as well as a bird from Birds of a Feather. The quote says " The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you." I wasn't sure when to stp adding embellishments to this card. I hope I stopped before I totally went overboard. I think the card is tasteful, not tacky.

It will likely be several days before I blog again. The kids have Fall Break from school for the next few days and we are headed out to a weekend get away with them. We decided to go to Louisville and see the Louisville Slugger factory and check out Mammoth Caves. Scott is more interested in the caves than I am, but I am a good sport. Plus the kids have never been to see them. Well, at least not that they can remember. Noah is very excited about the get away. This is definitely a trip we planned with his interests in mind.

Years ago Scott and I drove to Florida and he told me as soon as we left the house that we were driving with a destination in mind and not stopping to lollygag along the way. That lasted all of two hours until we got to Kentucky and he started to see ads for Mammoth Cave. He started to tell me how he'd always wanted to go and his parents would never stop, whine, whine, whine. So we stopped and he was very happy. My revenge came on the way home when I made him take a detour to Plains, Georgia. We liked both side trips enough that we have returned to both of those places and even have a beautiful photo of Jimmy Carter holding a baby Noah.

I don't know what is up with blogger, but I seem to have lost the ability to make paragraphs. Yes, I do know where they are needed, I just cannot seem to make them happen. It's an odd blogging quirk. Sometimes I can make paragraphs, sometimes not.

Crafty Day

I made this card for the color challenge on SplitCoast today, The challenge colors are Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip and a Pink color. I stayed mostly with pink and chocolate chip with just a touch of the Kiwi. I made my own charm with a small "button" from Buttons Galore, colored with a heart (sorry for the shine). I added some bling and colored with copics, and Voila! There you have it!

The stamp is called Crafty and is from the Stampotique line, designed by Daniel Torrance. I just love his style. This is one of my birthday stamps that I bought on my trip to PaperTrix in Nashville, IN. I love the unique styling of Torrance stamps.

Today there is not much happening except for my overwhelming need to do laundry. I was going to meet a friend for lunch, but she has a sick child, so we are rescheduling. It is a beautiful fall day here and the weather is a bit cooler than we are used to. It makes we want to bake and drink hot chocolate. I hope your day is cozy and warm as well.

It's a Glorious Day!

I am so sorry for the prolonged absence. You know I try very hard to update daily or every other day at least. I wish I could tell you I have been off doing the most fun things, ever. When in truth, I have been at home, caring for the family and quietly crafting. My camera card can be read by the computer once again and I can show you what I have done.



First up today is from the Pizza Box challenege at SplitCoast a few weeks ago. Since I learned to make these little boxes with just a few folds, I cannot stop. I really love these and anything tiny that gets given at Christmas will be given in these and tied with a bow.



Today's challenge was to use Twinking H2O's to add shine to your creation, so I added H2O's to the dress.. I am so sorry you can't see all the shimmer through the computer. Just believe me when I tell you how gorgeous it really is. The paper is from Basic Grey and the moose is Ballet Sophie from Hanna Stamps. The proceeds from this stamp go to a foundation to support children with cancer. It's a stinkin' cute stamp and supports a great cause. What could be better?


For the Hanna Stamps weekly challenge I made an ATC card. I used the Ski Bunny set and "hung" the mittens on a brad next to the hot cocoa. The paper is from Prism and the felt snowflakes are from Hero Arts.


I have been home cleaning and nesting and making lots of Homemade Granola. I'll post a picture of that in a day or two along with the recipe. I hope you all had a great weekend, too. I'd love to know what everyone else is up to as well.

A Big Bunch Of Nothing

I am very sorry for the delay in postings, but our computer modem has not been able to stay on for any length of time. My husband finally fixed the problem and now I have access again! Man, I have missed the outside world. I did have a birthday while I was away. Seth stacked up the stamps I purchased for my present. I know, you can't really see them well, but I promise to use them and post my cards and such so you can see what I got.

Always the helpful child, here Seth poses holding my birthday present purse. It is stinkin' cute in real life. As for Noah, he does not care much about the festivities until its time for cake and ice cream. Scott surprised me with an ice cream cake from Oberweiss. Mmmmm

I have made some cards but need to spend some time cleaning up my camera photos and cleaning my desk so I can post them. Soccer season is almost over for Noah and I am so excited! He is on one of the worst teams in the league, doesn't like his coach, isn't having fun and is torturing me by his constant whining. His first tournament game is tonight and I am so hoping his team loses and he is done for the season. If they win, they play again on Saturday.

Seth and I are going to Stamp Camp tonight so we will miss the game. The only nice thing I can say about soccer is that the weather has been great for all the games.

Road Trippin'

Despite the fact I woke up and ran out the door to hit the road yesterday, I still had time to make card for a SCS challenge before I left town. Amazing , eh? Yes, I have my priorities in order!

This card was made with a lot of different Hanna Stamps sets that I stamped and cut out and made into the little collage scene you see here. I used more sets than I can keep track of, the bird is from the Cats set, the pumpkins are from a Thanksgiving set, the jack o' lantern is from a Fall set. The apples are from a tecaher set. The leaves are from yet another Fall set.You get the idea, it was a lot of thought.

Todays SCS Challenge is to make something with monograms. This is for my friend Alla. Her husband is Alex and their four kids have names that start with the letter A as well. Not exciting, I know, but it works great for its intended useage. The border and letter stamps are from Papertrey Ink.

While I still had the rental car I decided to go to Nashville, IN yesterday and do some shopping at my favorite stamp store ever, PaperTrix. Why put miles on my car when I can put them on someone else's? I bought way too much and wrapped them up as a little birthday present to myself. Won't I be excited when I open my package tomorrow? I love when I get just what I want!

I'd love to show you photos from the beautiful artist community that is Nashville, but it was a bit rainy, cold and wet, so I did not take any photos. I simply did my shopping and got back on the road again. Maybe if you are nice I'll show you what I got in a day or two.

Disruptions

I have to post this photo, Seth will hate it. This was taken when we were waiting to see the coal mine at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I am only able to get intermittent computer connection to the internet, so this will be a quick post. I don't know why we have been having problems staying connected, but it has been going on a for a few days now and I am really tired of it.

Do you remember these machines from childhood? Scott and I were surprised to see they are still in various places in Chicago. They had them at the zoo and at the museum. Sadly, though, none at Wicked. Can you imagine? Instead of $1.50 they would have $5.00, and nothing at Wicked is that cheap! Seth got a train molded from black plastic from the machine.
We ate at the overpriced Rainforest Cafe, and the kids posed with the tree frog, Cha Cha. They still seem to love these mascot like walking stuffed animals. I do find them less creepy than clowns.

Someone backed into my van in a parking lot last week and the van is now in the shop. I do have a rental car, but didn't feel like going anywhere today. I stayed home and dipped some Nutter Butter cookies in white chocolate and read the paper and did some laundry. I even cleaned up the house a bit. Not having the internet has been a great thing for the household chore list.

I am in Recovery

My antibiotics are kicking in and I feel somewhat better, just weak and tired. I rested a lot yesterday, as best as I could. I really wanted someone to come over and feed me a hot meal. I was dreaming of chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes. Comfort food I could gorge on and then carry me off to sleep. My friend Rebecca has the best mom ever, lovingly called Nana by the rest of us. I was wishing she was my neighbor so she could take care of me. (Yes, I know, very self centered of me, but that's what an illness can do to you.) I even tried shutting my eyes and wishing real hard, and clicking my heels together threee times, but I couldn't seem to send ESP messages to Nana across the miles.

You remember that we went to Chicago last weekend? I made the boys pose in the giant kangaroo belly. Someday they will hate me. Actually we drove straight to Chicago with no stops at all. When we pulled off the interstate to eat Seth said from the back of the van "Throw my shoes to me, will you?" What? Yes, In the midst of Scott and I packing up the van for the trip, Seth had climbed in without shoes and had none to wear. I made him put on my tennis shoes and go into the restaurant, flopping like clown shoes the whole way. Thankfully we found a Payless shoe store down the street. He just thought surely we would think to pack his shoes for him! In reality you could never pack that child's shoes, he has so many pairs and changes them with his mood each day.
I made this for Hanna Stamps. It is a button from a company called Buttons Galore. I stamped the ballerina Sophie Moose on it and colored it with copics. It meets two Friday Challenge requirements, it is a button and it has pink on it. One of the challenges was to use buttons in your creation.

This is just a billboard from Chicago. It struck my fancy so I took a photo of it. It's sort of how I like to think I live my life, very happily to the beat of my own drummer.

Okay, back to lay down now.

Don't Eat the Chocolate

As much as I want a big ol box of chocolate, the unfortunate truth is that this one is made of paper and is completely non edible. I used the chocolate from the Hanna set Sweet Celebrations and paper pieced it to be placed in the bear's lap. The bear is a new Hanna set called Vintage Toys. The quote is from Michaels. The paper is from a pack of DCWV.

You know how it starts, with a runny nose. Then the head aches started. I thought it must be sinuses. Now my ear hurts. Really hurts. It is possibly from all the drainage in my head. I called the doc and he'll see me at noon, and until then I am sitting here quietly, trying hard not to poke my eardrum out and release the built up pain that is in my head. It's harder than you would think, given the amouynt of pain I am in.

I have to be better for the Hanna release party tonight at SCS at 9PM. Maybe the doc will write me a note so I can have an excucsed absence. I am not eligible to win any of the prizes that will be given away, so it is more important that you be there than me. I have a feeling the Desogn Team will carry on in my absence if the need arises.

First in Flight

This weekend we went to Chicago and spent the day at the Museum of Science and Industry.* They have a replica of the plane the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, and it looked surprisingly close to thsi one! Well, except that theirs was fabric and you had to lay down rather than sit. I'd love to fly laying down, actually. You could pretend to be Superman at takeoff and sleep the rest of your trip in comfort. I guess adding seats may not have been such a fabulous idea after all.

The stamp is from the new Hanna Stamps set, Vintage Toys. It is a stinkin' cute set! I have seen some ideas made with the teddy bear in the set and I can't wait to ink that stamp up. Some of the paper is from SU, but the rest are scraps. I made this for the sketch challenge at SCS today.

I hope to see you at SCS for the Release Party tomorrow night at 9PM EST.

*The most boring museum ever, and my husband's favorite. When I was a kid I remember walking through a big plastic replica of a heart and seeing babies in jars. Scott remembers seeing slices of a person, preserved so you can see what you look like inside. Those were closed for renovation so we didn't get to gross our kids out. Seeing the more disgusting items and being a bit freaked out is a childhood rite of passage. That means we have to go back. (I don't want to!) Scott was a physics major in college so science is his favorite thing. For me? Leave me at the Art Institute and pick me up next week.