How funny is it that I used to be known (among scrappy friends) for hand stitching on layouts? Not anymore.

Stitching was one of those things that I felt completed a layout. Now its…chalk…buttons…flowers…?

I still love stitching. This paper stocking definitely needed a little something extra.

Silver bells come in handy too.

I’m enjoying the season and spending lots of time with family.  As of this afternoon, my kiddos are officially out of school for Christmas Break.

Fun will be had by all…especially with more cookie baking happening tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

xoxo, Christie

This little garland is hanging in my living room right now.

It was very easy to make…for the life of me I cannot remember the line of scrapbook paper I used (I purchased the paper in 2009). I love this Halloween paper because all six sweet Halloween images were on one sheet of 12″ x 12″ paper.

I simply cut out the images, chalked the edges and then backed each image with black cardstock.

I punched a couple holes at the top of each image and strung them together with orange ribbon.

Once I hung the garland on the wall, I weaved a leaf garland and some black mesh through the orange ribbon.

Not the most creative thing in the world but I like it.

Simple and fun!

If you recognize this Halloween paper line…please clue me in (I’m hopeless). Thanks!

xoxo, Christie

I love October!

I’m so glad it’s here. I love to see the trees change colors, the cooler weather, the holiday preparations.

Halloween is definitely one of my Favorite Holidays. The kids get so excited about costumes and decorating the house…what’s not to love?

Speaking of Halloween…

When I received my design team supplies from Graphic 45 there was a brown gift bag tucked in from Pennsylvania Bag Company.

Each member was asked to design a Halloween treat bag, this is what I came up with.

I used the new Graphic 45 Core Impressions paper by, Core’dinations to create the pumpkins. I spritzed the pumkins with Fiery Fiesta Shimmerz Vibez to turn to tan embossed paper a little more orange. You can’t really tell in this photo but there are embossed clocks all over the pumpkins.

I hope that you have a fantastic week!

xoxo, Christie

Remember the fabric flowers I made last month?

If you want some of your very own

visit

TheScrappyGourmet.com

or

CLICK HERE

My adorable, sweet friend Courtney is moving away.

She’s leaving Idaho and heading to Washington.

Courtney is the one crafty friend that I have made while living in Idaho.

We bonded immediately.

Last night, Courtney stopped by my house.

She gave me this beautiful personalized, handmade quilt.

Ah.Maze.Ing!

Courtney is fabulous!

And I will miss her more than words.

It hurts to think about.

So, for now I won’t.

She leaves Friday.

And Thursday I will help her pack.

Look, she even added little yo-yo’s!

Courtney said that it needed “embellishments”.

She knows how much I love embellishements.

I love you Courtney.

I am going to miss you so much.

Thank you for this beautiful quilt

and for the gift of your friendship.

Honeysuckle Periwinkle (or Vinca) has to be one of the most fun flowers for children.

It was for me.

And it is for my children.

***My sweet sister, Vanessa brought to my attention that these flowers are not honeysuckle, they’re Vinca.  Oops.

They grew in my Grandma Wolfe’s front yard, around her cherry tree, my cousins told me they were called Honeysuckle, I believed them…and have been calling them honeysuckle every since.

A little link about Periwinkle (Vinca): HERE

While we were in California couple weeks ago, I took some photos of my kids walking through Bidwell Park.  The honeysuckle Vinca was in bloom everywhere and it quickly became the center of attention in my photographs.

I loved how the photos turned out, and wanted to showcase them in a different way…

This is where the Fancy Pants frame comes into play:

I purchased this Fancy Pants frame at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique, during last year’s National Scrapbook Day Crop.  I know, I know, it took me a full year to actually play with it.

What came as a surprise to me was that the background is acrylic.  I simply bought it for the shadowbox factor.  Can you believe that this frame sat in my craft room for a year, boldly stating that it was acrylic and I never noticed?  Yes, I’m a little daft don’t you think?

When I brought out my honeysuckle Vinca photos to play with, I finally felt inspired to use my Fancy Pants frame.

Here’s what I came up with:

I didn’t use any paper….just some Making Memories Vintage Finding’s embellishments, some Prima flowers and a few other misc. embellishments.  The whole thing came together in about an hour.  And I love the acrylic background.

Here’s a look at a few details:

I love Easter.

Easter is a day filled with family, love, and to remembrance of the resurrection.

And of course…a few hidden eggs might find their way into Izabelle and Parker’s Easter Buckets.

May be you be blessed with love, friendship and family today and everyday.

I tried to take some close-up photo of the tags I made for the G45 Chandelier.  I’m almost thinking that I need to remove the tags to take individual photos.

These photos will do for now, I guess.

I hope that you’re all having a fabulous Monday!

xoxo, Christie

Earlier in the week my mom, my sister and I invited some lovely women over for a baby shower.  My sister-in-law, Kristin’s baby shower!

I made a simple banner for Kristin’s shower using the Making Memories Just Chillin‘ Line. The banner came together really quickly:

My mom and I also put together  a little diaper cake for Kristin:

It was our first time making one, and I can say that it seem as though it would’ve been a lot harder making one alone.  It was nice to have four hands instead of two, especially when were were putting rubber bands around rolled up diapers and tying ribbon.

We made little roses out of wash cloths:

I loved the monkey on the top…Kristin is decorating the baby’s room in a Jungle Theme.

Here’s some of the goodies we made:

Cherry Chip Cupcakes…

White Chocolate Peanut butter Krispie Cookies (yum):

Sweet and Salty Popcorn (made with sugar, butter & vanilla…ooo la la):

We had tons of fun!  I think Kristin liked it to…

You can barely see her baby bump in this photo (it’s hiding behind her knees).  That’s my nephew in there!

I created this little “Joy” Garland for the Paradise Scrapbook Boutique Gift Workshop.

Although, now I wish that I would’ve put some glitter on the red “JOY” letters.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Right?

I used the New Bo Bunny St. Nick Collection.

I created something similar last Christmas using Graphic 45 and Making Memories.

I just love this new Bo Bunny paper and HAD to use it.

I think Karen at PSB might have a few more “Joy Garland” kits available.

If you’re interested Karen’s contact information is HERE.

If you do decided that you want a Joy Garland and there actually are some left…

Please, for the love of all things good, add some glitter to the red letters.

I promise, you won’t be sorry.

I love close-ups!

Here’s wishing you a very, very merry Christmas season.

Don’t forget about Blog, Bid, Hope.  There’s still a few more hours left…