Christmas Cards

Just wanted to give you a look at my other Christmas cards for 2011.  Maybe they will give you a jump on 2012!!!

Making just 10 cards per month in 2012 would make it really easy to have enough cards for next Christmas!  Just a thought for all of you card makers!

JAI - Fancy Packaging

I was catching up on the blog world today and I came across this post from Just Add Ink!  And I immediately thought of my packages from this year.

Here they are!  We always use Stampin Up's packing paper from the shipments that I receive for our wrapping.  It's cheap (free) and I always have some on hand and it's just so cute!  Then I usually add some cute ribbon to each package.  I love to use real ribbon!  It goes so well with the kraft paper that we wrap in.

Then this year, I saw an idea on Pinterest...and it was decided that I would add a little black and white picture to each package.  This was great for a few reasons.  #1 - It just looks SO CUTE!  And #2 - Brooke was easily able to hand out packages to everyone.  She can't read, but she can recognize who is in the picture and hand that present to that person!

I loved this idea and think I will continue for next year!

Merry Christmas!

If you are coming to my cardmaking event on Saturday...here's a preview of one of the cards you will be making!

I love to make my cards cute and simple!  And if you are making 20+ cards for Christmas, you want them to be so simple that you don't get overwhelmed making them!

This card is the perfect one if you are looking to duplicate a card fast!

I started this card with a Lucky Limeade cardstock base.  I love this new color from SU!  I then took a strip of First Edition Specialty DSP and embossed the Simple Snowflake stamp on it with Cherry Cobbler EP!  LOVE IT!  I then used a sponge and Chocolate Chip ink to distress the DSP a little.

A few 1" circles punched in Cherry Cobbler and the "merry Christmas" sentiment from the stamp set Petite Pairs stamped in Cherry Cobbler and this card is DONE!

So cute and so simple!!!

Elephant Cards

Well it's been a while since I've posted but I figured that since it's December 1st, it's a good time to get in the groove again and try to post atleast 5 times a week!  Wouldn't you all just love that??!!!

I never got to show you all the thank you notes that I made for after Noah was born.  I had 4 different designs that I created and I just loved them all.  Elephants were the theme for his room!  I might have to show you the other crafty sides of me in posts to come.

Hope you enjoy these quick and easy cards!  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Where have you been Kim???

Last time you all heard from me, I looked like this...

 And now I have this...

Noah Samuel...born August 11th!  You can read more about him and how the family is adjusting on my family blog: http://www.therydenfamily.blogspot.com/.

And be prepared...I spent the morning with Jinny and now I'm feeling a little bit of a crafting bug (which I haven't really felt since Noah was born).  9pm and both my kiddos will be in bed and you could be seeing a crafty post from me soon!

Echo Park Love

If you all have been reading my blog for any amount of time you have probably heard that I love Echo Park Paper Company. After Stampin Up, they are probably my most favorite! :)

Here's a layout that I did about my little Brooke before a family event. She was so cute just waiting there for Daddy to cool down the car and get her carseat ready. Adorable!

I thought this little bee tag was appropriate because I sometimes call her BE. Her name is Brooke Elizabeth...it just fits!

I also love this tape that comes in the Smashbook line from K&Company! I like it a lot. Ha ha! You have seen me use it before on this layout. And you will probably see it again and again!

The color in this picture is kinda off. But I just wanted to showcase the cute stickers that come with every single kit! So adorable!

Hope you liked my layout! Thanks for stopping by!

June Club Layout

I haven't blogged in SO LONG! I have been running, running, running...doing something every single morning with my little girl and by the time the afternoon blogging time comes around, I'm ready for a nap! But today we are staying at home all day and I plan to whip this house into shape a little bit more than it already it! YAY! So I will be blogging too! WOO HOO!

This is the page that we did for club in June. The hostess wanted to do a little painting. So I thought that painting with reinkers would be fun!

We started this page by creating the background. Just a little Early Espresso reinker and a paintbrush around the edges of the cardstock. Then we squeezed the Tempting Turquoise reinker bottle right over the paper to get the spotted effect. I thought that this would be a perfect layout for decorating Easter Eggs.

We used the Playdate DSP that is now retired. I love that set of paper and sticker embellishments!

I saw a challenge on someone's blog that challenged people to use 10 DSP's on one layout. I tried really hard to use all 12 that are available from Stampin Up in this pack and I think I succeed!

Hope you enjoy the layout and I can't wait to come back and show you a few more things that I've been creating! Look for atleast one more post today!

Happy 4th of July!

We received this card in the mail this week from my Mother-in-Law. Since she doesn't have a blog, I thought I would enter it in a challenge for her!

I saw Friday's Mashup Challenge and just had to get this card in. The challenge was to use the colors: red, white and blue, create a patriotic themed card OR do both and mash it up!

She did both on this card and I just LOVE it! Don't you??!!

Sketches in Thyme - Open Challenge

***I didn't get thos posted before the deadline last night because blogger wasn't working. But I thought I would share it anyway!***

I liked the sketch that Tiffany used this week and since it's an open challenge at Sketches in Thyme this week, I decided to use it too!

Here's my layout...

I love these papers that I got while I was out at Archiver's last week! They are all from My Mind's Eye! Love it!

That piece of tape that says, "I really, really, really, really like this." is part of the new Smash book line from K & Company. So much fun to use! You will see it on a few other layouts I will be showing you soon!

I just love all of the polka dots on this page. So cute!

Sketchy Thursdays 6.23

I just loved this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch. Check out my take on it...

I used a scrapbook kit from Alphabet Soup and the little alphabet and number stickers came from Pink Paislee. So cute!

This layout is all about Noah's ultrasounds at 28 weeks. We are at 31 weeks now and I get an ultrasound every single week...YAY!! More pictures to scrapbook!

We are doing Noah's room with elephants. Don't you just love this elephant?!!

Isn't he such a cutie?!!!