Little Yellow Bicycle

Ok, we'll try this again. :)

Here are my November online uploads for this month. The first is the Christmas Magic Card set: all foil and glittery. :)

The second is from their new flocked "Love Letters" product line. A card set for the one you love:

And finally a layout with colors I've been seeing everywhere: yellow, gray, and black. I think it's so sophisticated and dramatic. The damask pattern is a stamp. The real line is pinks and grays and blacks, but I just used the gray and black products in the line and then added some gorgeous Bazzill yellow (note: the damask stamp is embossed with black embossing powder).

Ok, I've bombarded you with enough projects, but don't you love new lines? I can hardly wait for you to see the LYB products for CHA 2009. WHOA! That's all I'm gonna say. LOL!

Feeling Grateful!

This is a great week to feel gratitude with Thanksgiving on Thursday. And I am for many things:

* My children

* My home

* My work opportunities

* Good books

* Warm heater

* Cars that are driving well (at the moment)

* That we can go and eat at relatives' homes that cook WAY better than I ;)

Don't you feel that you could just go on and on with the blessings in your life? I certainly do, and even though I get down and discouraged about life's little hiccups I am happy. I think that's a good thing.

It's been a while since I've posted much work stuff, so I'll bombard you with some now.

The first is a robot stamp from Kim Hughes. Isn't he the cutest? Since I've developed a crush on him I thought I'd make a valentine/love card with him as the focus.

And then I made both a Christmas and Valentine's card set with Little Yellow Bicycle products. The new "Love Lines" from LYB just arrived on my doorstep last week and just running my fingers over the lovely flocked items makes me happy. :) Ok, Blogger is having issues so I'll post those photos later.

So tell me something that makes you happy or that you are grateful for?

And are any of you heading out for Black Friday shopping? I'm hoping!! I've saved up some $$ in the hopes there are some good deals for the things on my list.

If I don't post before Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas Cards

Are you doing them this year? I am "undetermined" at least at this point. I'd like to, but I'm feeling over the top busy. Maybe I'll pop out a digi one and e-mail it to friends and family. LOL! Don't know what I want to do at this point, and postage is getting expensive these days. Remember when stamps were 18 cents or is that before your time?

One thing that makes think I might make cards is getting this kit in the mail:

Cute, huh? How does CK do it? Their kits are just so lovely and full of goodies. You really get a good deal in these kits (but watch the shipping if you're in Alaska--huh, sis!!). ;) My poor sister. She gets reamed on shipping for EVERYTHING! What was she thinking moving clear up to the Great North without me? (Clearly, I miss her terribly!)

If you do make your own cards, do you do photo cards? If so, where do you like to order them from? I'm tempted to use one of the cute templates over at 2Peas to get them done quick and easy, but I'm not sure which photo place has the best deals.

The Gang's All Here!

Here's the photo that the lovely Miss Jessi Stringham took at our luncheon the other day. Isn't it fun to have friends with which you can share the hobby you love? I can't wait 'til Robyn comes up from Souther Utah. And I just learned that one of my favorite designers: Laura Vegas is coming to Utah in December. Suh-weet!! I think we need to plan another lunch for when she comes. :) (Oh, and she's hoping to not see snow--so think "no snow" just for her, please!)

I need to get to work on some online projects. Hopefully I will get them done and can post some later today or later this week. :) I just got the new LYB "Love Letters" product in the mail (and a new release that I can't tell you about--but YUMMY!) I'm hoping to play with some of that new product today. Oh, and I have some product photography to take care of as well. It should be nice and sunny for that today!! It was nearly 60 degrees yesterday--lovely!

What's are on your "to do" list for today?

People are Good!

I have had the most crazy, way-too-busy week; and I was so touched to see a very sweet act of kindness this week. I was at the post office mailing out yet another work package (I think I need a discount of some kind for the amount of mailings I send out). But there were two postal workers at the counter. One was moving people through her line fairly quickly. The other seemed to be spending a great deal of time with one particular individual. When it was nearly my time to reach the counter, I overheard their conversation. The older gentleman was mentally challenged and was dictating a very sweet letter to the postal worker. She was writing it down on a piece of paper to place in an envelope and then mail. I LOVED that she took the time to help him out! I can't think of a better way to do her job then such a sweet act. I was really touched and left the post office grinning merrily. It was a definite uplift to my busy day!

This week has been filled with work, work, and MORE work. It's gotten so bad that I've placed a Post-It note on my monitor, which reads "NO more work!!" I have several deadlines next week and then I'm taking off the week of Thanksgiving. I used to have a day off here and a week off there, but lately I'm working every day and I'm neglecting other things and I don't like that. I think taking a week off will renew my love for this too. LOL! I'm a little burned out this week.

I had the opportunity yesterday to go to lunch with several fabulous girls. Rhonna Farrer invited a bunch of us up to Gardener Village to celebrate her birthday which was a while ago. I met several of the digital designers at 2Peas and several garden girls. In addition, Loni Stevens, Jessi Stringham, and Layle Koncar were there. These are all women that I admire and it was so much fun to meet online friends in person. I feel very blessed!!

Well, I've got loads still to do today so I'd better get moving. It's 5:30 a.m., and I'm trying to get some stuff accomplished before it's light so I can photograph in the sunshine the projects I've completed.

The Thanksgiving purse and notebook set is from my 2Peas Seed from today. You can see more photos and the instructions here. Have a great day!

Ornament Idea

I created these for my 2Peas Chat with Erica Hernandez. Her's can be found here. And this is mine.

I think a really quick way to do these would be to use my Cricut to cut a bunch of circles. That would definitely save on time. :)

Here's a close-up photo:

You can see a different version for a napkin ring under my seed at 2Peas. (NOTE: Erica's ornament has 20 pieces. Mine has 8. So there are lots of ways to do this.) :)

Want to Win a 2Peas Gift Certificate?

It was my turn to hold the Community Contest on their blog today. For today's challenge, I want you to write a note of gratitude to someone that you care about. It could be a letter that you send in the mail, an e-mail that you type, it could be a handmade card to a neighbor. Just find a way to share your feelings with the person that you love. Photograph or scan it, and post it in the 2Peas Gallery. (Be SURE to check the correct challenge box so that it appears in the blog gallery.)

A winner will be randomly selected to win the GC. I sure hope you'll play along.

I created mine using two great digital kits from 2Peas: Woo Hoo (so cute) and the Thankful Printable. Both are fairly inexpensive and so DARLING!!

Here's the tag that I'm going to print out and give my cute hubby for all he does for the kids and I:

Can't wait to see what you come up with. :)

I Know It's Short Notice, But . . .

I'd love to see you submit to my article call at Scrapbook Trends this month. Here's the description:

Stories To Tell: We're Feeling Attached - Sometimes attaching your journaling requires more than just photo tape. Show us a unique way you've attached your journaling to your layout and you might find us attached to your layout!

Send your submissions to submit@scrapbooktrendsmag.com. I'm sure you have some great layouts with unique journaling attachments so send them in so I can see them.

(Note: ST pays in product rather than financial compensation, but the goodie boxes ROCK!)

November

Can you believe it? It's so weird to me that it's already November. Where did the summer and fall go? Thankfully we've had the most beautiful fall weather in Utah this year. In fact, we didn't even need jackets on Halloween night it was so warm. That NEVER happens here.

So what are your plans this month? I need to set aside some cash-ola to hit the Black Friday sales. I rarely get more than 1-2 things, but I love getting up early and getting a good deal and since I'm rarely getting what everyone else wants then I'm not typically fighting any crowds. I haven't seen any leaked Black Friday ads so I'm not sure what I'll be out looking for, but I'm hoping for some good deals for the hubby. He's the hardest to shop for.

I talked to my Mom yesterday about plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now that we're back with family we have to plan which house we're going to for each holiday. I think we'll go to Brett's parents for Thanksgiving and I'll host Christmas. Now that the kids are getting older I like to stay at home rather than go out. Hopefully that will work for everyone, and if not we'll catch the day after those holidays.

I wanted to include at least one project with this post. I always like looking at a photo when I'm blog hopping. LOL!

Here's a layout I did for this month's garden at 2Peas:

I am addicted to those American Crafts circle things. Seriously! Love those puppies. The theme was family this month, and I wanted to document some of the basic things we do as individuals each month. I know that our routines will change as the kids grow older so I wanted to remember. :) You can see this at 2Peas here.

Oh, and save Thursday Night at 8 p.m. CST for a 2Peas class/chat with Erica Hernandez. I'm the teacher's pet for her class, and she's doing a fun holiday project. Hope you guys will pop in and say "hi!" :)