Give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light

Hello everyone! I am up with another blog post for Glitz. This Month it is all about being thankful. I am glad with Christmas coming up lots of people haven't forgotten good ol thanksgiving. I am giving thanks for the little moments in my life my husband and I get to create.




We love going on dates and spending time with each other. This pic was taken at the shoreline waiting for Janes addiction and Alice in Chains to come on. We had a great time. When we were much younger (and kidless) we would do this often. Now we are lucky to get to go to a concert once a year. That just makes me more thankful. What are you thankful for? Make sure to go leave a comment on the Glitz blog for a chance to win a prize pack. Did you know that every month they give away prizes? It pays to leave some love! Not only does it make the designers happy but you could win something cool!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving day!

♥♥♥

Once I figured it out

This week we are highliting the Giant Rhinestones. Love the extra sparkle and bling they bring to my pages.

Finnley is a baby line but it can be used for so much more. This page is all about the big slide at the fair. We had a wonderful time and I decided to go on the big slide as our last ride. It was pretty creepy walking up the steps but even creepier sitting at the top. I was able to snap a pic tho.

Sparkle and bling! Love them. I love the colors in this line too. The mint green is so pretty.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my Glitz page! Till next time!

♥♥♥

Walk away from trouble if ya can

It's that time again... My weekly share for Glitz.

The roller doodles are such fun.

I have been running on empty lately. This page I did awhile back and honestly I havent wanted to create anything in weeks. I made myself play with Raven collection but it literally has taken me days to finish the page. I am still not done! Ack!!! MOJO please come home where ever you are!

♥♥♥


Title: Coward Of The County-Kenny Rogers

Everybody Get Up

Hello all you wonderful people. I have my Glitz weekly page to share with you today. Our theme was first day of school. My kids just went back the 13th of this month. I am soooo happy, they go to bed much earlier and are gone part of the day! LOL! Yes I know that sounds bad but I have 4 children that are at THAT age where they CONSTANTLY fight. Seriously. I am not kidding. Anyway this mama needs a little break from it all to keep my sanity and of course create more pretty stuff! Haha! Anyway here is what I created.

I love the Glitz stamps. Love their new lines. I just love this company to bits. I know I say that a lot, but I really really mean what I say. TRUTH.



♥♥♥

Now hang me up to dry

Hello! More Glitz lovelies to share with you all today. The first was for the Glitz blog. Goes up today. Use grey, aqua and yellow. Sunshine for your soul is perfect for this lil challenge.

I loved taking my kids to the fair this year. We dont get to do those things very often. We are a big family with not a lot of income. As you can imagine my kids tend to eat a lot and the prices of going to something like a fair is really high. Sometimes you just have to tighten that belt and go. We did. They really enjoyed it. This page displays a few pictures of the rides there. We had a pretty great summer this year.

Secondly we have a new Jack up over at Scrap Jacked.

I adore Shanna Noel and knew when we decided to Jack her that it would be super easy. She inspires me constantly with her talent. Love the houses on her layout and of course had to add lots of layers to mine. Used Glitz Finnley collection. Oh and did you know Glitz makes cut files? That big feather... Glitz! I love that darn thing. In the Silhouette store. They also have a mustache and a deer!


Kids are back in school! YAY! I am super happy about that one! Hahaha! They were getting stir crazy. Lots of back to school shopping and money spending though. UGH!

Be back soon with some more lovelies!


♥ ♥ ♥

Sparkles light with yellow icing

Oooh my friends I am super sad that I missed CHA. You see, I had planned to go but ya know life happens. Blah blah blah. BUT I did get to create with the new glitz lines! OOOOO let me tell you I had a blast. They are simply fabulous! I love them all! I didn't have a lot of time to create the 10 pages... I would've liked to add more details but it is what it is. I also was not able to take any pictures! BOOO! Hopefully at some point someone will have a few I can share.

For now here is some of my favorite bits from the new Glitz lines.

OH MY GOODNESS! Swoon worthy

So my friends I took vacation days for CHA but, well, ya know. So I did a bit of destashing, cleaning, and I found a page. This page. It wasn't technically finished. Or so I felt. But when I found it I thought to myself, looks done to me. SO, here ya go.

Lastly I have a page I did for whisker Graphics. I adore this company. The best twine and bitty bags around. I used twine, glassine bag and the new circle stickers.



I gesso'd the circles to mute the colors a bit. I worked with the Basic Grey Mint Julep line. I had been waiting to get my hands on that. SO much mint, navy, and pink. YUM!


SO I had 4 days off and I camped out with the kids in our backyard. Now for those who have been my friends for a while, you know all about this, but for those who are new let me enlighten you. Every year there is a national camp out in your backyard day. Everyone should participate! LOL! I try to every year. So this year it snuck up on me. Good thing is you dont have to do it on the specific day although it would be nice. Anyway this year we did it in July (it is usually June).

Kids had a smashing time. Even tho I ask myself a million times through the whole ordeal "why I do this?" I end the night with a full heart and a smile on my face.

More summer fun to come!

♥♥♥

My lover stands on golden sands

And look at all the beautiful lines comeing out at cha in a few weeks! I must have them all! :)

♥♥♥

A life lived for art is never a life wasted

Hello all! Thank you for visiting my blog! We have lots of great projects for you to be inspired with so enjoy! You also could win a really cool Sunshine In My Soul prize pack! Just leave a comment on each blog and you are entered to win. Now on to the projects. I chose to make a tiny wreath out of die cut feathers.

Love this collection and this wreath is super easy. So easy in fact I made a video... Check it out!



(like this video? They are only gonna get better! Why not subscribe to my channel!)


Now for more chances to win go leave a comment on the other girls blogs too (dont forget to leave one here!)!

Jaime Warren – http://jaimewarren.typepad.com/
Karine Cazenave – http://karinecazenave.typepad.com/
Karola Witczak – http://www.karolakraftuje.blogspot.com/
Lea Lawson – http://leascupcakesandsunshine.blogspot.com/
Leica Forrest - http://www.10-4livingoutloud.typepad.com/
Lisa Andrews – http://lisaandrews.blogspot.com/
Magda Mizera – http://www.magdamizera.blogspot.com/
Marie Ramirez - http://www.absosweetmarie.blogspot.com/ <----you are here

Mou Saha – http://collagecollagecollage.blogspot.com/
Noel Culbertson – http://paperpassionpixels.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Bryan – http://www.stephaniemakes.blogspot.com/
Glitz Design Blog – http://glitzitnow.com/blog



♥ ♥ ♥

On a Perfect Summer Day

My first blog post is up for the Glitz Design Blog. I always enjoy creating with Glitz products. Love Uncharted. I really cant get enough of this line. Our theme was to play with the peek a boos.


The peekaboos are so versatile. I used my ampersands for part of my title and the frame as the focus of my layout. I also wanted to draw attention to my picture of the cupcakes so I used a little throw away frame that came with the film strip. I loved it and thought it made my photo pop. So don't throw those bits away they work great to draw attention to a photo or be made into a little embellishment.





I love creating for this company...I think I have said that a lot but I can't help it, it's true!

As a little added bonus here is the recipe for the cherry cupcakes I made in the pic above. I added peanuts and chopped cherries to the filling. I was going for a "big Cherry" candy cupcake.

BIG CHERRY CUPCAKES ( A compilation of a few different recipes.)

Cupcakes
1½ cup flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup sugar
8 tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
½ cup buttermilk
¾ cup Coca-Cola
¼ tsp maraschino cherry juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
Maraschino cherries, stemless

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together and set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine the sugar and butter and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg until incorporated.
4. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, Coke, maraschino cherry juice, and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
5. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture on low speed, alternately with the liquid ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners.
6. Insert 1 maraschino cherry in the middle of each cupcake and cover with batter.
7. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cherry Frosting: (if piling this on real high like mine, you will probably want to double)
2 sticks salted butter, softened
10 oz jar maraschino cherries
4 cups powdered sugar


In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and four tablespoons of maraschino cherry juice from the jar until smooth. Slowly add four cups of powdered sugar and beat on low until barely mixed.


Gradually increase mixer speed and beat on medium high about a minute. Add some coarsely chopped cherries (I used half the jar–you could use more or less to suit your taste). Beat on medium high for another minute or so until frosting is light and fluffy. If frosting is too thick, add more cherry juice and beat just a bit longer.


Generously frost your cupcakes and place in the refrigerator until well chilled (about an hour)

I added a chocolate ganache as a filling...

Ingredients
8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
Directions
Cook the chocolate chips, heavy cream, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.

I leave out the coffee because I hate coffee lol!


Just a little instagram share with ya.

Cheeries from the flea market... Only 1.50 a lb! Sooo delish too.

Took the kids to the school carnival and snapped this pic of the clown. I thought she looked really neat and I love how this pic came out. I couldn't even see my phone when I took it because it was so sunny out.

My super silly son. We were at the dollar tree. He makes me giggle.

Scrap space bits.

Thanks for stopping by and thank you for leaving me love on the Glitz blog and here! I appreciate it sooo much!


♥♥♥

Do the Harlem Shake

Many pages to share. So lets get on with it.

This one is made for the Whisker Graphics blog. Used their goodie bags for the background and but the black and white chevron for the boarder of the photo. I also used divine twine and one of their tags. Love those darn bags and Glitz! LOL!

Lots and lots of Glitz. It has been really cool to give myself a goal of using up my stuff. I mean I am trying really hard to use it all. Yes I can have a little here or there left but I want to use the majority of the things I buy. ESPECIALLY the paper. I mean I have tons of paper sitting in my crafty cottage from years back. I go through it every year and either throw it out or give it to the kids. This does not stop me from buying more. Soooo I have semi learned my lesson and am now on the right path. Or so I hope. I have been doing this a long time and it has taken me a long time to see the light lol! I mean dont get me wrong it is a given to use the crap you buy, right? But actually doing that is a whole nother story!

I am trying to be a good blogger. I like my posts short and sweet. With the new laptop it should be easier. Or so I thought. It isnt. I seem to not wanna lug it out. My phone is simple. Instagram is simple. BLogger is not. SO much thought. Effort. Spelling and grammer. Ah yes, I am a lazy american. Thank you for noticing! HAHA! I will not apologize. It is who I am. I will try to change tho. I will say more... Maybe.


and in other news...The new scrapjacked is posted. I will post my take soon. I really hate windows 8. Anyone else? Oh and we made a few Harlem Shake videos. Check them out and have a laugh. :)





Oh and today's my birthday!

♥♥♥