Ack! Late posting!

Oh, if my life were only to slow down a bit - just enough so I can stop and smell the roses occasionally and also get my blog posts done on time!  I know you all know what I mean!

The Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge for this week is Christmas in July.  I was actually wondering where the Christmas in July tradition came from, so I looked it up on the internet - there really doesn't seem to be a single clear answer, but a lot of interesting ideas as to its origins.  Anyway, if you're like me, you need to start early on cards, decorations, and gifts for Christmas.  So what better way than to get started 5 months early?

I made a banner - I've done several similar ones over the years, and I used some of the leftover banner pieces to make a card.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!  Lots of hugs to you!

Blog Hop Winner(s)

Hi everybody!  Sorry I'm a little slow getting this posted, but I was away with my son for his college orientation this week.  He's attending Virginia Tech this fall, which is in a hilly part of the state, and I was so tired from all that walking around campus for two straight days.  Whew!  I am so out of shape!  But we had a nice time, and I am so excited to see him get out there and spread his wings!

We had so many entries for our blog hop to celebrate The Outlawz 2000 Member Party recently!  Wow!  It was a bit of a daunting task to figure out the winner.  I wrote down all the names of those who commented on the blog hop post, and also wrote down all those who joined as new members.  When I counted them all up, we had 180 "entries" for the prize.  Then I used random.org to pick a number from 1 to 180, and the winner was 125, which coincided with Shalana!  We already announced Shalana as the winner over on The Outlawz, but of course I wanted to make the announcement here as well.

Since we had so many entries, I wanted to give out a couple of small prize packages myself.  One will go to Shalana, in addition to the digis she won, so I need you to message me your mailing address over on The Outlawz.

The next two were also selected using random.org:
Patti J
V (I think this is for "Veronica")

If you three ladies can please message me your mailing address over on The Outlawz, I will get your prize in the mail to you.  I think you will really like what I pick out for you!

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to participate in the blog hop, and I really appreciate all your kind words and comments, and a special thanks to those who decided to follow my blog.  Many big hugs to each of you, and I hope you will visit again!

Loving Nature!

My very favorite thing!  Nature!  This week's Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge over at The Outlawz is to make a project that focuses on nature, with no people.  Well, that's easy for me, because I really don't like people images on my cards - I prefer birds, animals, and flowers. 

I decided on this beautiful hummingbird from A Day for Daisies and tried to do a little rainbow-ish coloring with my Copics, then put it on a background from Webster's Pages, along with some old flowers from my stash and a gorgeous strip of gold lace that I got from somewhere that I can't remember.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you find time to put a little nature in your day!  Big hugs!

It's In the Bag

Who doesn't love a nice gift bag? I think gift bags are one of the best inventions ever. But they can be terribly expensive if you guy the pretty, pre-decorated ones. Why not make your own? Our challenge this week over at The Outlawz for the Saturday Paper a la Mode group is to make a birthday gift bag.

I used a little bag that I got when I purchased something in a store, and repurposed it to a cute little birthday bag. It had a design on the front and back, so I cut out large rectangles of the green paper to cover up the designs. then I added some trims and gems and a cute little birthday card that I made using a digi from A day for Daisies. Voila - now I've got a sweet little bag.

I wasn't thinking of my daughter at the time, but her birthday is this week. She will be a whopping 27 years old! Where did the time go??? She is afraid of clowns, so I made her this cute one with red hair (she says she wants a red-headed baby someday) and lots of yellow (her favorite color). She's already seen it and thinks it is awesomely cute, so one small step toward breaking her clown phobia.



Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you get inspired to make a gift bag of your own. Stop by the challenge and look at all the other inspiration!

Big hugs to you!