How To Cultivate A Home And Heart Of Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. -Psalm 107:1

I know...it's a bit early to start talking about Thanksgiving...Or is it?
Thanksgiving... How do we create or cultivate a home and heart of Thanksgiving? As the season of Thanksgiving approaches we may find ourselves pondering this topic. Actually it has been on my heart alot lately for a number of reasons.
A dear friend discovered in the earlier part of this year she had stage 4 colon cancer.The same friend has been supporting her husband through his own battle with lung cancer this past two years and thier daughter has been having seizures from an unknown cause. Our friends have been an amazing example of "What do I have to be thankful for"? Through the pain, chemo, medical bills, changes the future has brought I witnessed a spirit of joy, Thanksgiving and gratitude. How did they manage to do that? We will be celebrating my friends life this week and saying our last goodbyes...it is on my mind as I prepare a talk to honor her. It won't be easy and yet it won't be hard. We have so many great shared  memories. Her life and legacy are in the lives she touched, sometimes just the simplest of gestures... a hug, a word of truth, an idea for our business teams. She will be sorely missed, I wish it could have been longer and I feel so privileged for having had her in my life.
One thing I loved was visiting her home during seasonal holidays. Her home showed off her love for beauty in the small things whether with people or the beauty within her home.
I found this website a while back, it inspired me. How to Create a Home and Heart Of Thanksgiving
She talks about tangible ways to create a home and heart of Thanksgiving...not just in this season but throughout the year.
I liked this idea from Denise's post:

• Have a visual way to leave encouraging notes and verses for the entire family. Use a chalkboard or whiteboard to write a daily scripture or thankful note.

I already have a cork & whiteboard up so I'm going to add a scripture  and note daily.  I also am going to start a series of Thankful For posts beginning today to remind myself and cultivate gratitude. These are not in order of importance but rather what is most on my heart today.

Do you like my digital paper and font? Here is a link so you can make one too. The one I used today from Shabbyblogsblog, Thank You Keren!Thanks Photobookgirl, I love the font links and digital paper she shared.

As we enter this special season it is my hope and prayer that you and I would take time to count our blessings. If you've had a difficult season could I encourage you to like my dear friend make it a choice to put on a spirit of joy, Thanksgiving and gratitude for whatever you can.

Hosting My First Swap-bot Swap

I swap with Swap-bot! I am so-ooo excited...I am hosting my very first Swap-bot swap! At Swap-bot there are lots of fun Groups to join. I am a member of Over 50 and Proud where the group admins invited us to get some swaps going...I finally took the plunge :) I hope to host lots more this year too so I will keep you posted friends, I'd love to have you join in too.
Since the weather is cooling down I thought an Warm & Fuzzy ATC swap would be great fun. Don't you just love that Warm & Fuzzy feeling? I was thinking about the pleasure we get from those experiences in life...that wonderful "warm & fuzzy" feeling wraps around us and we just wish we could have it forever! Sometimes it is from an experience, sometimes its because we have a new puppy, maybe you just saw your child get married. It may be a cup of tea and warm toast or pie. I get that feeling when I see a new baby... Anyway I think you get my drift...Anything that makes YOU wam and fuzzy. So I look forward to sharing my ATC and my partners too. I hope you will join in the fun too. Stop by and see what we've created and what we may be offering in the future:)

Sweet September BOLD X926

September brings a smile to my face, I love the change of colors, the crisp nights, garden fresh produce, the whirlwind of back to school and planning to celebrate another anniversary with my husband of almost 41 years! The first day of Fall is just one week away and so is our aniversary :)
We'll be savoring the memories of last year's travels around the country as we headed to Vermont, it was magical!
This year we will be celebrating in our fair state of Utah where we have some of our own astonishingly beautiful scenery. Perhaps we'll celebrate our anniversary a week or two later this year... A very exciting opportunity is about to be released and we are truely on fire with anticipation of it's launch. X926 is the code name...Sh-hhh don't tell anyone but the components of this new product and its opportunity will in September of 2013 mark the bold beginning of a momentous era within XANGO and across the MLM landscape!
Did you ever wish you had heard about something when it was still brand new...ground floor? Well I'm telling you now...This is a HUGE opportunity for those who take action now. Do YOU want to learn more? Click Here!

Scrap Club Girls Day

Yesterday was Scrap Club at my dear friend Melanie D's home. Our once a month get togethers are always something I look forward to. What goes on there you might ask...We start out by catching up, quickly shift gears and begin the lovely projects Melanie D has created for us, beg for someone who does not wear thier nails long to help with bow making or other fine detailing then move on to solving world problems, and we sometimes get into debates :) Oh and other times we are hugging each others necks sharing a painful loss or celebrating a beautiful moment like the birth of a new little one. Thats what we women do! Oh yes...this is my blog centered on creativity and perhaps you came to read about THAT!!! Moving right along...
We worked on three card projects all were using the new In Colors. My favorite yesterday was the card we create using the new folder Modern Mosaic  and the new ruffled ribbon collection,the card featured the color Baked Brown Sugar. The bundled set Mosaic Madness is so cute, and I think very useful for all seasons. I'm thinking Christmas :)  I also love the new color Strawberry Slush, really pretty! We used the ink of that color and that paper on another card which we also used the new washi tape on...love it :)

Are you a fan of washi tapes?



My favorite...I love the color and ruffling of this ribbon :)
 

Isn't the new ribbon nice!
 

Happy 4th of July!!

Firecrackers and picnics, barbeques with smoky scents~ the family dog running through the yard.. lots of children splashing about while adults gather to tell stories of the past and present! Of course it also creates a "reason" to craft...As if we crazy crafty folks NEED a reason LOL!

Today I thought I'd share a few fun crafty things... Some of my cards...

I love this big "foamie" Flag stamp!

This tiny flag stamp is really fun to use with the "colored marker technique.

Two old favorites, corregated paper and dot alphabet stamps :)

 

 4th of July and food just go hand in hand...

Look at this yummy looking pie...mmmm!

 

Mmmm! Watermelon! Au Natural

 

or gussied up!

How does your family celebrate?

Whatever your plans are...Wishing you all a safe and Happy July 4th! Thinking about the many freedoms we enjoy I hope to always remember they were not "free" but were the efforts of many men and women, boys and girls who came before us and paved the way for us in this land we love. May we always be known as "The Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave"!

 

New To Me...New to You?

It's been a whole week I have been on the road traveling. My craft room recieved a much needed straightening before I headed out and of course while getting things back in thier places I came across a few items I had squirreled away.
Today I wanted to talk about a few of these products... they are/were new to me...perhaps they are new to you too.
Each of these products have special qualities that intrigue me. Some I have been using already and some are products I really want to try out. I'm hoping all of you, my friends will share too so please jump in and share your experiences with these products too :)

So first I'll share a favorite new to me product...The Stampin Up diagonal plate that fits the Simply Scored board. I bought it quite a while back but it just sat on the shelf until one day a few weeks ago I was in need of a specific sized envelope..."How do you go about making a custom envelope" you might ask? Well that led to the project share below... a post from several weeks ago.


 I posted a project, Simply Scored Custom Envelope Tutorial . It used the diagonal plate to teach a very useful project...the custom sized envelope. There are lots of fun things that can be done with this diagonal plate but this is by far the most helpful thing ever!

Next is a product I bought just because...you know what I'm talking about..."I have a coupon for 50% off and I'm not leaving the store until I pick something new!"
I picked the Gelatos because I a swap friend made mention this product...it was new to me so I had to pick some up. I haven't played with these as yet but I found a few places where others shared thier experiences...maybe this week?? Each of these projects sounds fun and I'm excited to play with them!

Gelato's~ A Product Review
Coloring Fabric With Gelatos
Any Occasion Card With Gelatos



I saw a video a while back and it was showing how to make your own custom sized glue dots. It used a product called Scrap Happy Sheer Glue. Some of the fun things you can use these custom sized glue dots for are making your own rosettes.
http://www.scrapitgirl.net/index.php/tag/scrap-happy-sheer-glue/

This sounds like another fun product! Around the holidays I'm always wishing I had just the right rosette or other specialty pin or jewelry. This product seems to be just the ticket for creating those pieces!

Well for now I have enough to experiment with so I'm off to the craft room...dear craftroom I've missed you so!

Embellishment Heaven

Don't you just love embellishments for your scrapbook and cardmaking! Ever since I started crafting with paper I have been collecting to have just the "right" embellishment for this or that project. It used to be a shoe box then it grew to a drawer and by and by it turned into a bank of drawers! Eek, how to get those fabulous embellies under control??? I think

I found the perfect solution, especially for my flatter embelishments...in fact I have opened those "Embelishments" storage drawers more frequently in the past 2-3 months than ever :)

So what is it??? ATC's my friends ;)

Embellies include: Eyelets, brads, flower punch and bird punch.

Embellies include: Doiley, flowers, pearls, add ribbon.

Embellies include: Rhinestones, scrap paper & butterfly punch.

 

Collage is fun! Old book pages, magazine clippings, snippets of this and that are so-ooo perfect for an ATC. Not only that, but rub-ons, specialty brads, small die cut designs, flowers and buttons are simply divine!

Snips of this and that of wonderful prints, solids

and textures..my paper collection is probably double my embellishment collection, LOL. Ok, so what CAN we do with our  abundance of paper...create homemade embellishments! Well here are just a few  great ideas for turning those "old" scraps into your own "new"embellies.

•  Die Cut Flowers
• Paper Bow Ribbon
• Rosettes
• Pinwheels

My dear friend and favorite Stampin Up demonstrator Melanie Diane Sibson used several of these ideas in a past workshop. Take a look at my finished piece by clicking the topic above.
Other great embellishments you could make yourself...

Here is a fun and simple Ribbon Flower Medallion using a fav quote in the center of the flower...such a cute idea for you favorite sister, niece, mom friend or grandma :)

How about a clever use for turning ribbon or lace into a flower embellishment...I found a fun tutorial for making a ribbon flower recently and just had to give it a try, so thank you to Charity Hassel for your Ribbon Flower Tutorial. Super simple! I found that her recommendation to use stiff ribbon was "right on". My stiff lace, approximately 5/8" wide which had detailed edges, made a very nice ribbon flower.  

How about all those fabric scraps? Awww... don't tell me you don't have any!! This adorable idea came from Portobellopixie.

Next a fun idea from Heidi VanLarr called Paper Bow Ribbon. Think of how much of that scrap paper we could finally get used up if we just put a create a bow for all those fun fabulous cards we make. I tried my hand at this technique and although I didn't quite "follow" her directions it was so simple I was able to follow it visually without a hitch.

And finally a clever idea on reducing the problem of storage from our friends over at Tip Junkie, digital embellishments and scrapbooking. Take a look at all thier cute digital ideas... potentially  we could reduce my need for more storage. I'll think on that one some more...

 

 Since this topic deserves multiple posts of my blog I hope you'll check back soon, better yet "Follow Me".