Jen's Happy Birthday Blog Hop!

If you're looking for my Spring Forward Blog Hop scroll down or click here to go to it.

If you're here for Jen's Happy Birthday Blog Hop - You're in the right place!!!!!!  WAHOOOO!!! :)

I'm so excited to be a part of Jen's blog hop.  I hope many of you know Jen at The Purple Scrapbooker, if not - you really should!!  She's so amazingly talented; I'm so honored that she let me be a part of her Birthday Blog Hop!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!!!!

I hope you are here after visiting Denine at Pumpkin & Spice.  If not, that's OK - just make sure you start at the beginning with Jen at The Purple Scrapbooker (you're not going to want to miss anything)!! :)

When Jen asked if I would be a part of her hop, of course I said YES!  I also asked her a few questions about her favs (favorite treat, favorite movie, etc).  Well, one of her favs is the color purple (of course), but another fav is the movie Steel Magnolias.  So to help Jen celebrate her Birthday, I wanted to make this card **I didn't get into town so Jen won't get this card until next wee; sorry Jen!**  Yes, the flowers are supposed to be Magnolias. :)

The card fits into a legal size envelop (I think it's around a 9x4).  The branch and flowers are from Gypsy Wanderings cut at 2.5.  I cut the flowers out twice so that I could layer them.  I inked one set of flowers (purple around the sides and yellow in the middle) to give a little bit of color; and what is a flower without a little pearl in the middle?! :)   I used an older stamp set for the sentiment and used a MS border punch for the top and bottom of the sentiment.  The butterflies are layered stickers; I just wanted to give the card a little more color and a little something else. :)  Here's a picture of the flowers.  I used homemade pop dots to pop them up a bit and curled the edges of the top layer.  I liked the effect. :)

To help Jen celebrate her Birthday I have a small present for one lucky person.

I loved this little stamp and everyone loves a little bit of bling!!! :)  To be entered, all you need to do is leave a comment (only one comment per person please).  I'll pick a random winner on March 15.  You do NOT have to be a follower friend; but I'd love to have you visit any time!!! :)

Well, now that you've seen my card for Jen's Birthday the next step is to go visit Cheryl at Cards by CG.  You will love what she has in store for you!!!!!!!

If you get lost, here's the line-up:

Jen - www.purplescrapbooker.com

Amber - www.stayingcrafty.blogspot.com

Sarah - www.pinkcricut.com

Star - www.starspaperpassion.blogspot.com

Georgiana - www.carsonscricutcreations.blogspot.com

Tracy - www.craftjunkietoo.com

Denine - www.pumpkinspiceblog.blogspot.com

Celeste - www.ccscards.blogspot.com<---- You are here

Cheryl - www.cardsbycg.blogspot.com  <------ You're next step!

Julie - www.cricutchick.blogspot.com

Jen - www.jenscraftcorner.com

Thanks again for stopping by.  A big thanks to Jen for letting me be a part of her Birthday!!!

A Card and a Shout Out

As a tradition I make a family video every year.  It's just pictures and video footage of our family put together with music.  It helps highlight the last year, showing all of the fun moments we've had.  When I sent a copy of the DVD to my grandparents (love them!!) I sent this card to them:

Part of me wanted to add a PK face to it, but I just couldn't do it; I thought it looked cute just as it is.  The snowman is from Gypsy Wanderings.  I'm not sure how big I cut it at (maybe 4 or 4.5); I just cut it out and didn't pay attention to the size after I cut it. 

I also wanted to give a quick shout out to Amy Jo at Scrapping, Card Making and Living with Fibro.  She's on her way to 75 followers and wanted to do a giveaway when she had that many followers.  I love Amy's style; she's soooooo talented!!  You'll love to get to know her and be inspired by her style; you won't be sorry!  When you visit, tell her I say 'hi'; she's so much fun!!!

Thanks for stopping by; I'm really glad you did!! :)

Believe - yes another card

Sorry this is short!  I've been out of town and won't be back until Wednesday.  We had something come up (family thing).

Ok, so I'm sure all of you are sick of my cards being based around the movie 'Polar Express'.  We just love the movie and I love the wonder and amazement in my little boys eyes when the little boy gets the jingle bell.  Such a fun story.  So (of course), here's another card inspired by the movie.

I added some buttons to the bottom right corner, but forgot to take a picture.   The 'Believe' is from Gypsy Wanderings, the jingle bell is from Christmas solution.

Thanks for stopping by!!! :)

Another Deep Breath and Good News

I promised to show these pictures.  These are a FEW of the cards that I sent my little sister!  She's serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and loves to give cards.  Well, I don't have much to give; but I knew I could help with the cards!  I ended up making around 100 different cards for her.  She should have received them (hehehe - she had no idea they were coming)! :)  It's not the best picture, but you get the idea. :)

I also gave a few similar ones to my Mom, hehehe - she didn't know it was coming either! :)

**The hehehe's can also be read as mwahahahaha (evil scientist laugh); either laugh is appropriate!** :)

After all of that fun stuff I can't tell you how frustrated I am.  I was watching my little girl sing during our Church  Christmas party (so cute).  When I got a text from a friend (thanks again - you know who you are) letting me know I had won some blog candy (YEAH!!!!!!)!  So I got home and got online and find out that I won it from the wonderful and talented HoneyB.  You really have to see her - she is AMAZING (click here for her blog)!!!!!!!  As I start reading through I question why in the world did I not see this a few days before.  I'd been doing better at commenting and reading blogs (I was terrible there for a little - sorry - again working on sisters' cards).  I finally figured out that all of the blogs that I had 'followed' over the weekend were not showing up on my reader list.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I ended up going back through the hops that I participated in and that I had hopped along for the ride so that I could re-follow them.  Has anyone else had that happen?!

So I have to say to those I hopped with and those others that I came to visit - I'm sorry!!  I really thought I was following, it just didn't work for some reason. Ok, I think I'm done (for now). :)

Thanks again my wonderful friend (again-you know who you are *LISA*).  Thanks to HoneyB I am so excited for that cartridge (I REALLY wanted it)!!!!!!!!!! :)  I also want to say a BIG THANKS to my new followers friends!!!!  I'm so glad you stop by, and I'd love to see your work!  Ok, I really think I'm done for now. :)  Thanks for stopping by (and listening to my ramblings)!!! :)

Our Little Butterfly

Our little girl just got her pictures back from school this week. She was so excited . . . OK; I admit it, both me and my hubby were excited too (she's our oldest, what do you expect?!)!!!!! We had to send a picture to my parents (oldest grandchild - you know their excited too)! We made a cute card to hold the picture of our beautiful little butterfly!
The butterflies are from Gypsy Wanderings. I can't remember what font I used - sorry!!! The paper was from my scrap box so I'm not sure where the butterfly paper came from. I know - I need to do better at keeping track of stuff like that!! :) Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

Just Because

This card turned out better than I originally hoped! I made it for one of the ladies in my church group. She was helping me with a couple of things and I wanted to give her a card to thank her for everything.
The flower is from Gypsy Wanderings, and again I used some non-brand Stickles. It's a very simple, quick and easy card, but I like it. Thanks so much for stopping by - Now I'm off for more hunting. :) Thanks for the comments too - they really mean a lot to me!!!! :)

I'm Sorry

I need to apologize to all of you!!!!! I feel bad for not visiting and posting for a few days. For those that know a little about me, you know that I love to go hunting with my family. Of course, it is hunting season and that means that the time I would normally spend crafting and blogging is spent hunting (even some of my cleaning time - but I don't complain about that). So - if you only hear from me every once in a while this month you'll know why. I did stay up late (much later than I should have) to make a card for a friend. I was driving home and saw her outside of her business. I stopped by to say hi and she looked so stressed and upset. I made this card for her to let her know that I was thinking of her. I did stamp the inside with my new Pink Stamper stamp with the phrase 'Have a tree-mendous day', but forgot to take a picture. **BIG shout out to Jen @ The Purple Scrapper - LOVE the stamps!!!!!!! As well as to Robyn My Pink Stamper for making such cute stamps!!**
This is my first Z-fold card - what do you think? I liked how it turned out!!! :) The tree is from Gypsy Wanderings. I tried using the non-brand name Stickles on the tree. I like them; I don't own any actual Stickles, but these seem to work just as well as anything I've seen used. Thanks so much for stopping by!!!!

Another Simple Thank You

This is a very, very simple Thank You card.  Like I said, my card box is empty and needs to be filled up again. 

It's hard to see, but the cream colored background paper actually come embossed.  I get it at a local paper store (LOVE IT).  The phrase is from Gypsy Wanderings, the flower paper is from my scratch box. :)  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Turned Gypsy Red and White challenge

Chris over at Turned Gypsy has a challenge going on right now.  The challenge is to make a Christmas card using just Red and White.  One of my favorite things about Christmas (other than the true meaning of the holiday) comes from the movie 'The Polar Express'.  The main point of the movie is to always 'Believe'!  It's one of my favorite words because it works for any time of year, but has a special meaning for me for Christmas.  Of course my first Christmas card for the year had to have the word 'Believe'. :)

The word 'believe' is from Gypsy Wanderings.  The frames are also from Gypsy Wanders and I did put one of them through the Cuttlebug.  Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

More Than Favors challenge

Paula at More Than Favors has a challenge going right now.  The challenge is to use Pink, Black, Gray, and White.  As I was thinking about what type of card to make, I found out that one my friends lost her Father-in-law.  I wanted to make a card for her and this is what came to mind.

I used Gypsy Wanderings for the branch and pink flowers. The white parts of the flowers are just some white Prima flowers I had.  I'm not sure where the stamp is from (sorry)!!

Grateful - Challenges

I was over at Made by Momo looking at the challenge that she has going on right now.  Momo's challenge was to make a card 'just because'.  The first thing that came to my mind was to send a card to my Grandpa and Grandma.  I decided that I wanted to let them know how grateful I am to have them in my life; I love being the oldest (and I think favorite) grandchild.  My Grandparents' house is surrounded by trees, and this time of year the leaves on all of the trees would be changing; I always loved the colors!!!!  While creating this card I found Card Creations & More by C; she has a challenge going on right now. Her challenge is to use ribbon and bling.  PERFECT!!!!!

I tried a new method I'd seen for the ribbon.  I usually just leave it flat, but I've seen quite a few people layering it like I did.  I like it a lot! :)  The phrase and the cut out leaf are from Gypsy Wanderings.  I used the shadow of the cut out leaf duplicated it, flipped it and welded it together to create the shape card.  I put the orange piece of paper behind the patterned one through my Cuttlebug and then painted it with a little glitter paint.  I, of course, added a little bit of bling. :)

Baby Card - More Than Favors Challenge

Paula over at More Than Favors has a Wacky Wednesday Challenge for readers to create something themed around BABY!!!  YEAH!  I have a few friends that are pregnant and I had needed to make a few cards for them - so two birds with one stone. :)

I think I like the one on the right better (layout wise), it seemed a little cuter to me.  I used Gypsy Wanderings for all of the cuts.  The patterned paper is from a stack I found at Big Lots a long time ago.  Thanks so much for stopping by!!

My little pumkins

I am terribly behind on my scrapbooking/family history!!!  So when Serenity Scrappers challenged followers to make a 12x12 layout with buttons and bows I had to jump on the bandwagon.  I also saw that Always Crafting was challenging readers to use bling, buttons, and brads by using one, two or all three items on a project - I knew my 12x12 would work for that as well.  These are older pics, but they needed to be in a book!!  I hope you don't mind the blurred faces and journaling - I just try to protect my little ones. :)

The font used for the layout is from the Mickey Font and the pumpkins where cut from Gypsy Wanderings.

Xyron technique - Card for Sis

I had a question on how to do the Xyron technique with glitter like I did in my last post and the dress in the card below.  So really quick (with pics since I don't have a camera) I'll go through how easy it is.

I own both a 1.5" Xyron as well as a 5" one (they were on sale so I figured why not).  For this one I used my little Xyron.

 You place the item that you would like to glitter into the machine (if it's called that).  Make sure your item is face down.

 After it goes through and you've torn it off I like to press it down with a boning tool or a credit card to make sure none of the sticky comes off of it.  Make sure you go around the edges too! You can see the back side of the sticker below and you might notice the lines where I went over it (I still needed to do a little more).

After you've gone over it you can separate the backing from the front part and you'll have your sticky image.  Oh, a little shiny. :)  Obviously I didn't go over the top of the dress to well, you can see the little bit of bubbling. 

 Once sticky - glitter away!!!!!  I go old school with the paper behind the image.  I don't have money to purchase any fancy gadgets that help reduce the mess.  If anyone knows of any, I'm all ears!!!! :)

One of the best things I've found was Glossy Accents.  I purchased this at Roberts (when I lived in Utah), but I'm sure you can find it at any craft store - and I know you can find it online.  I love this because you put it over the glittered image and it makes it stand out a little, but it dries clear so you can see the glitter without the mess! (YEAH - no glitter in the bottom of an envelope.) Below you'll see it right after I put it on the dress.

 After the Glossy Accents dries you can place the image on your card. TA-DA!!!!!

 This little card was made using the equipment above, but I also used Gypsy Wanderings for the dress and Ashlyn's Alphabet for the frame.  The sentiment was a stamp I got a long time ago (sorry - I didn't keep track of names), and the bling is from Basic Grey.  This card is going to my little sister.  She recently made a decision to go on a mission for my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).  She will be leaving in November and I can't even tell you how proud I am to be her older sister!!!!!!!!  I really wanted to make something special for her, so this was perfect.  Love you Stevie!!!

You're the best - Challenges

Long story short - I was trying to create a cute card for a lady in my church group.  I was blog surfing (like I always do when in need of inspiration) and I two awesome blogs had different challenges.  Made by Momo challenged everyone to use black, white and only one other color; that got my brain going.  Then I went to another fav - Cricut Cardz Challenge blog.  They are challenging everyone to use a scalloped shape.  After those two, this is what I came up with; I hope my friend likes it.

The scallops are from Ashlyn's Alphabet and the shoe is from Gypsy Wanderings.  I put the red paper through the Cuttle Bug along with the white one.  I used the Xyron technique for the glitter and topped it off with Glossy Accents to really stand out.  The stamp is from a set I purchased a while ago at Roberts, I'm sorry I don't know the name of the set.  Thanks for stopping by!! :)

Wooden Block

I helped some of the ladies in my area with these wooden blocks.  We had a great time, although it was a lot of work.  Most of the ladies made it so that each block just had one letter, I cheated and made it so that the word 'Family' fit onto one block.  I loved helping the ladies do this, they really seemed to enjoy themselves.  Well, this is my creation.  The picture didn't turn out the best, but you can still get the idea.  I used scrap patterned paper for the background.  I inked the edges and modge podged it to the block.  'Family' is cut from Gypsy Wanderings.  I really liked it!!  Thanks for looking!

Well, such is life . . .

It's been a tough week.  I received a call on Tuesday from my boss with some upsetting news.  Upper management had made a decision that they will no longer have any employees working from home (which is me).  What can I say - when it rains, it pours!!!  Very upsetting news!  Thank heaven my Hubby is the bread winner, but this means that we're going to be cutting down on our extra spending.  **Translation - Celeste doesn't get any new carts for a while!!!!!**  :(

I can't be too upset, I thought it would happen eventually I just hoped I would have more time.  It is hard for me to accept, and my boss had a hard time too.  I have been her assistant for the last 5 plus years.  We work AMAZINGLY together!  She is one of my best friends!!!  I wanted to give her a card to thank her for being such a great boss, but more importantly, my friend!  She's one of those people that touches your heart and soul!! 

This card was made from some paper I got at a local paper/envelope store and scraps.  The word 'friends' is from Gypsy Wanderings and the flower and dragonfly is from Home Decor.