For Tegan and all my blogging buddies!

I just wanted to apologize for not posting in like - FOREVER! The tasks of daily life have taken over and I have not been able to get a grasp on things. There is no need to worry though - everything is fine, we are just super busy! I am hoping that I will become more efficient at multi-tasking and get the things that have piled up accomplished so I can get back to crafting. Thanks for bearing with me.

So for being such wonderful blogging buddies and for checking in, I wanted to share a few of the cards that I had made over my very long hiatus, but was just not able to post them. If you want the specifics on any of them just shoot me an email and will will get back to you - I promise.

For your viewing pleasure:

You can find my "Simple Thank You" card on SCS - HERE.

You can find my "Praying For You" card on SCS - HERE.

You can find my "Birthday Wish" card on SCS - HERE.

You can find my "You're So Sweet" card on SCS - HERE.

You can find my "For the Bride" card on SCS - HERE.

Thanks again for sticking with me!

Christmas Card

As promised a Christmas card. It's not the one I am sending out. I am still having a little bit of trouble getting back into the groove of card-making that I took the safe route and order a few picture cards to send out just in case. I am glad I did because I have tried to come up with a few, but nothing I have made seems to be the one. Here is one that I made last month for the flood swap I was in. I love this card, but it is too much like the one I sent out last year (card) to be this year's Christmas Card. Maybe I will use it in a couple of years. Enjoy!!

You can find my "Swirly Tree" card on SCS - HERE.

Stamps: Snow Swirled

Paper: Old Olive and Whisper White

Inks: Old Olive

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon,

Rhinestones and adhesive

Lots of FUN!

I know - two post in one day - AMAZING, but I just couldn't help but to share of week of holiday festivities with you all. We started on Monday by digging out all of the holiday decorations from the basement, Tuesday we put the up the tree - just the tree no decorating that day, Wednesday we put on the lights and ornaments and Thursday was the garland and a few decoration around the house. It was nice spreading it out the whole week. We played Christmas music and enjoyed an hour of decorating each night. Here are a few pictures from the fun!

This is my favorite, a view of what the tree sees. Brad was being creative with the picture taking.

Our fun did not end on Thursday, but on continued on. Friday night we met up with my Dad, Step-mom, my brother's boy Hayden and my step-sister's daughter Coralynn for a ride on the Polar Express! We all boarded the train and the kids dressed in their pajamas. We had hot chocolate and enjoy a ride on the train where they told the story and had a few musical numbers to go along with the fun. Santa even visited each cabin! It was so much fun.

We finished out festivities last night with watching the movie "The Polar Express" in front of a nice warm fire in the fireplace. It was a week full of so much fun and so many exciting memories!

A really late Halloween Card

I know Halloween is long gone and you are probably thinking "Hey Mandy - Where's the Christmas Cards?", but I assure you that I will have some on the way real soon. I just wanted to share this cute Halloween card I made for this year. I just adore the cute critters in the Booglie Eyes stamp set. I am so glad that I picked it up right before they retired it. I was hesitant, but I thought that the kids would enjoy using it for their Halloween treats in the future if I didn't like to use it. Oh boy was I surprised when I found out that I enjoyed seeing those critters come to life on cards. Needless to say, I have yet to let the kiddies play with it! Enjoy!!

You can find my "Creepy Critters Halloween" card on SCS - HERE.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Booglie Eyes

Paper: Crushed Curry, Basic Black, Going Gray and Whisper White

Inks: Crushed Curry, Basic Black, Going Gray, Lavender Lace,

Only Orange and Old Olive

Accessories: Circle Punches, Blender Pen and adhesive

Silhouette Cards

So I thought that it was about time to upload a few more cards. These are cards all using the Upsy Daisy stamp set from Stampin' Up! I love this set! When I first got it I really didn't care for it, but now that I have played with it quite a few times it has made it's way onto my favorites list.

You can find my "Blue Flower Silhouette" card on SCS - HERE.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Upsy Daisy

Paper: Baja Blue, Basic Black, Going Gray,

Whisper White and DSP

Inks: Baja Blue

Accessories: Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch,

dimensionals and adhesive

You can find my "Scallop Circle Silhouette" card on SCS - HERE.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Upsy Daisy

Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, and DSP

Inks: Close to Cocoa

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, Circle Punches, White Gel Pen,

dimensionals and adhesive

You can find my "Thinking of You Silhouette" card on SCS - HERE.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Upsy Daisy

Paper: Kraft, More Mustard, Very Vanilla and DSP

Inks: Chocolate Chip and More Mustard

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Brad, dimensionals and adhesive

Hope you enjoyed the cards! Now that all of my wedding obligations are complete I should be able to get back to crafting - we shall see. You never know what will happen during this busy time of year, but I will definitely be back in the New Year - if not sooner!

Here are a few cards - FINALLY!

I thought that since I had a few minutes to spare this morning and since Ben is coloring I would post a few cards I made a while back. I got the Lots of 'Bots stamp from Stampin' Up! such a long time ago and made a bunch of cards for birthday's with this cute little guy! Here are 3 LONG overdue cards for you all!

You can find my "Birthday 'Bot 1" card on SCS - HERE.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Lots of 'Bots

Paper: Going Gray, Real Red, Whisper White and DSP

Inks: Basic Black, Real Red, Bashful Blue and So Saffron

Accessories: Bashful Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Brad, Blender Pen,

dimensionals and adhesive

You can find my "Birthday 'Bot 2" card on SCS - HERE.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Lots of 'Bots

Paper: Going Gray, Basic Black, Whisper White and DSP

Inks: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise and So Saffron

Accessories: Blender Pen, dimensionals and adhesive

You can find my "Birthday 'Bot 3" card on SCS - HERE.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Lots of 'Bots

Paper: Going Gray, Whisper White and DSP

Inks: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red and So Saffron

Accessories: Riding Hood Red Striped Ribbon, Blender Pen,

Brads and adhesive

Halloween Fun!

Here are a few pictures from Halloween. The kids dressed up and went Trick-or-Treating in their costumes. Alexa was a cute bunny and Ben wanted to be a Scuba Diver. They looked so cute in their costumes! Ben was a little under the weather, but we dressed him up and let him go to a few houses for treats. They also had some time with Dad carving a little pumpkin. They had so much fun!

Alexa was sent to the Principal's office!

Today I got word that Alexa was sent to the Principal's Office - oh the horror! Come to find out there was a wonderful reason for it. She was selected to be a member of the "Principal's Club". From the brief explanation I got - it was for being respectful to others, being helpful, polite and an all-around great student - I think it is like getting "Student of the Month" for her grade. She was so excited about it and she got the honor of visiting with the Principal this morning. She received a certificate, a candy bar and an invitation for lunch at a later time. She was elated and so proud and we were proud of her too! I wish I could of been there when they called her name at the assembly - I am sure the look on her face was priceless! I am so glad that her first trip to the Principal's Office was for a positive reason - my next thought is "Boy, Ben has big shoes to fill" the poor thing!

Looking for something to do?

I came across this list a while back and thought that I would try to tackle everything on the list everyday. I was surprised that I didn't have to try very hard to accomplish any of the items listed, although the "cook something" sometimes failed me - but don't we all have days when we don't want to do that?

Pumpkin Patch

Today I took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch after school. Alexa was to go on a Field Trip with her class on Tuesday and Ben was to go last Tuesday with his class, but the weather did not cooperate on either of those days. So with the sun out today, I thought we better go or we may not be able to this season. We grabbed our boots and off we went!

Here's a picture of the kids discussing that the pumpkin is yellow - not orange! Alexa's friend Maddie came along too!