Three Things

Three things that are making me smile today:

A bowl of pompoms. After finding my pompom makers in the drawer, I set out to make just a few and ended up with a whole bowl full. The girls found these incredibly exciting.

Warm, fuzzy socks. It is getting really cold and these socks always do the trick to keep my feet warm. Plus, they are really fun.

My craft corner. It is not pretty, and it is a total disaster right now, but I am so happy to have a place where I can pursue my hobbies. I would be such a wreck if I did not have this spot to be creative and recharge.

What is making you smile today?

Crochet Christmas Star Garland

Last year I bought some Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Red Sparkle for next to nothing from a Christmas clearance bin. What to make with sparkly red yarn, I thought. Well, after perusing my usual sources of inspiration - blogs, Pinterest, pattern books - I decided to make stars and then string them together to make a garland.

Over the past year I have been crocheting these stars - a few here and there in between other projects. I even spent some time in the car while we were on vacation making them.

The star pattern I used can be found here.

When I had a good bunch made I simply crocheted a long chain and attached the stars.

I am going to see how this garland looks strung on the Christmas tree or I may hang it on my barn board wall art in the living room. I'll have to see where it looks best.

I have wanted to add a little crochet goodness to my holiday decorations and this garland is a great start.

What do you think?

Card of the Week: Christmas Cards (1)

I have a few Christmas cards to show you today. I used the 6x6 paper pad from Simple Stories and the coordinating chipboard stickers to make these cards.

Making these cards has really put me in the mood for Christmas. I am really looking forward to the holidays this year - the gatherings, the food, the gifts, the decorating. Can't wait to enjoy this magical time of year with my family.

I'll have a few more cards to show you next week, and every week until Christmas. I've got a lot of pretty paper to work with which is providing me with lots of inspiration.

Thanks for stopping in and I hope all your holiday preparations are going well.

A Lesson Learned....

I have learned a very valuable lesson....the hard way, but isn't that how it goes?

Last week I mentioned that I had gone to a scrapbooking garage sale - referring to it as 'the happiest place on earth' - and eluded to all the fantastic deals I had scored.

Sadly that was not the case when I looked, or in this case, smelled closer.

Over the weekend I went to unpack my sale purchases, looking forward to sorting through all the pretty paper and embellishments while smugly noting how cheap I had got this product for and how much money I had saved.

Unfortunately when I opened the first bag of paper I was overcome by the horrific smell of cigarette smoke. Yuck! If there is one smell that I can not stand it is cigarette smoke. I instantly got a headache. Frantically I ripped open the other bags of paper and bag after bag the smell was there. Some smoker, with fantastic taste in scrapbooking paper and supplies, had brought their wares to the sale and I must have bought it all. After smelling each piece of paper and embellishment package, I ended up with a big pile of pretty but smelly product that I needed to throw in the garbage.

I was in tears, what I had thought was such an incredible deal was a total waste - of time and money. I was not happy.

What was worse, was that I had bought a lot of Christmas product at the sale with the intention of making cards, and now I was back to square one with no Christmas papers to work with.

I hated throwing out all this product, but there was no way I could possibly use it in my own albums or for cards to sell in my shop. Crafty Cucumber cards are not smelly.

It was then and there that I declared that I would steer clear of scrapbooking garage sales in the future. It is not a deal if I have to throw more than half of what I bought in the garbage. And the risk of buying something smelly is not worth the cheap price either. Buyer beware I guess...and a valuable lesson learned by me.

But there is a happy ending to this story. While I was at work on the weekend, Steve and the girls went to one of the local scrapbook stores and bought me two whole lines of Christmas paper to replace what I had to toss. And at the same time I popped out to another local scrapbook store on my lunch hour and bought two other Christmas lines (luckily we both bought different stuff). Needless to say, I now have lots of Christmas paper - new, not smelly, and ready for some card making.

My new Christmas paper! I am so excited to start working with you.

With all this going on, plus regular life stuff, I did not get any cards made just yet. But my supplies are stocked and ready...so as I said last week, Let the Christmas Card Making Begin.... ...

Three Thankful Cards

Today is another Make It Monday over at The Memory Nest. What a great way to start off the week.

There are three parts to the challenge this time around - a thankful theme, using triangles, and using this color combination.

Here are the three cards that I made. The paper and embellishments are from the Happy Harvest line by Doodlebug Designs.

Just a note on this first card: I left the journalling block on the front of this card blank so that when I actually use it, I can write a specific message on the front. Nothing is better than a detailed and personalized thank you so why not put it front and center.

I love the bold patterns and the bright colors. Finding ways to include triangles on all three cards was actually a little easier than I thought it would be - for the first two cards I just put them in to fill in some empty space and add a little detail, and for the third card I went with a full out triangle design that was a little tricky to cut but looks so sharp.

Think you're up for this thankful, triangle, color challenge? Head on over to The Memory Nest and link up your creations. 

Thank you for stopping by. Happy Monday.

Best Afternoon Ever

As I have been looking back through my 2013 pictures and deciding which ones to scrap, I have tried to include pictures from both big events/holidays and from everyday life. When I came across the picture on this layout - of my girls crafting at the dining room table with me - I knew it was one of those 'everyday moments' that I needed to include in my album. This rings especially true now that both girls are in school full time and afternoons like this one happen less often.

There is a lot going on in the photo - lots of colors, the cluttered table - so I was happy to find the patterned paper with all the colorful triangles on it. This paper is from Pebbles Inc. and I think it works perfectly with the picture. To keep the pattern from overpowering the page, I used a small amount. The green hounds tooth patterned paper is simply the back side of the triangle paper - a strange combo if you ask me, but hey, it worked well on this page. 

All the embellishments are from my stash - again, lots of rummaging around while I was working on this page.

I am so glad to have this page to add to my album. It captures a memory that I will treasure always - a normal afternoon crafting with my girls, the best afternoon ever.

What about you - are you a big events scrapper, or do you include 'everyday moments' in your albums?

Card of the Week: Let the Christmas Card Making Begin

Well the time has come, the time to start making Christmas cards. I am really looking forward to getting at it this year.

I have two cards to show you today:

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Echo Park; Cardstock: Bazzill; Border Punch: Fiskars; Snowflake: purchased from and cut with Silhouette; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots, 3D Foam Squares

My Christmas stash was really sparse after all the Christmas layouts that I have done lately, but lucky for me I was at a Scrapbooking Garage Sale (otherwise known as "The Happiest Place on Earth") this weekend and scored some incredible deals on Christmas products.

Let the Christmas card making begin....