A Pinterest Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was heavily influenced by the ridiculous amount of time I've been spending pinning things on Pinterest.

Valentines for teachers printed from a blog I got a link to from PinterestValentines for classmates with heart-shaped crayons made from a recipe on Pinterest

When Will brought his valentines home, I had a little chuckle because Rachael's mom looks at Pinterest too!

Welcome 2012

This is Salt Fork State Park.

This is a little lake-side cabin at Salt Fork State Park.

This is us celebrating the New Year in a little lake-side cabin at Salt Fork State Park.

Because the weather had been wet and the ground was pretty muddy, we limited our nature walks to the paved trails, like the cart path at the golf course.

In between outdoor adventuring, Will and Soren made spin drums to ring in the New Year.
Alas, Soren fell asleep a little after 9:00 and Will, though he tried his hardest to stay awake, passed out around 11:30.
Nice try, guys.

Happy New Year!

Happy Halloween!

Has it Been a Year Already?

It was hard to go to the Fall Foliage Festival this year without Noodle because Bedford is Noodle's most favorite place. But the awesome folks at MedVet were taking good care of him, so we made the annual pilgrimage. What I look forward to most now is catching up with my wonderfully talented crafting friends.

Debbie Burkey made this ginormous Great Pumpkin. I knew it had to come home with me when I got nervous every time someone else admired it in her booth.
It's pretty impressive, don't you think? You should see it in person.

A couple of years ago, Jill Zieglemeier made two of these hysterical Skully dolls. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I literally had one in my hand and Will let me know that he had to go to the bathroom so I set it down and took Will to find a bathroom. When we got back, both of the Skullys were gone! I was so sad.
This year Jill surprised me with a Skully that she had set aside just for me!
I love being in the Jill V.I.P. Club.

Jill also made this Masquerade Pumpkin.
I love how she's kind of creepy and sweet at the same time.
We did something new this year. After several instances of chickening out at the last minute, Will was finally willing to participate in these cute Tales of Middle Earth plays they put on. Rick and Soren were recruited too! I've seen these Middle Earth people at other events and they always look like lots of fun.

Let the Holiday Crafting Begin

I was browsing Split Coast Stampers and ran across the instructions for these neat pocket hand sanitizer holders.
How fun are these?

Happy Heart Day!

We celebrated another Valentine's Day by spending the weekend at a cabin in Hocking Hills.
There was still just enough snow on the ground to do a little sledding. And everyone enjoyed relaxing afterward by the fire.
Will rediscovered his passion for hot-tubbing.

One of the highlights: a group of seven deer stopped by to visit for a while on Sunday morning.

On the crafting front, I cased these projects from Mary's Stamp Club to make the valentines Will took to school and the cards I sent out.What says love better than owls with big googly eyes?

Me and The Best Dog

Being cooped up in the house during the cold winter months has given Will plenty of opportunity to indulge in one of his favorite hobbies: making crafts and hanging them all over every vertical surface of the house.
This is the front of my fridge:

The sign reads: 'ME AND THE BEST DOG GOING TO THE CIRCUS'.
According to Will, our dog loves the circus.

Stamp It Up!

My super creative friend Mary graciously agreed to put on a Stampin' Up workshop at our house last week. Little did I know I would have the honor of hosting Mary's very first workshop!
She did an awesome job and everyone had a great time stampin' it up.

Mary demonstrated this fun project

And we all got to make this card

Thanks for the fun night of crafting, Mary!

Another Fall Foliage Festival

Once again we made the traditional trip to Bedford, PA for the glorious Fall Foliage Festival.
The weather both weekends was picture perfect and we had tons of fun visiting with our favorite artist friends, watching the antique car parade from Grandma's porch, indulging in the endless choices of comfort food, and reveling in small town American life.

I was excited to see what new creations had sprung from the mind of Jill Zieglemeier- the woman responsible for my favorite Halloween decorations. Some of the creatures that come home with me this year were Party Pumpkin (upper left), Winged Skeleton (center), Walking Stick Skeleton (right), and Skeleton, Pumpkin-Guy, and Hoot Owl (lower left).

Check this out.
Jill made this Bogey Man doll with a head that swivels to reveal 4 faces.
Isn't he neat?

Windy Sunday Afternoon

What to do on a windy Sunday afternoon?

Make a kite out of a paper bag and "fly" it in the back yard, of course!

Thanksgiving Garland

Though this craft does not involve a sweet treat, I love it! What a great twist on the Christmas paper chain. I only wish I had seen it earlier, it would have been a nice activity for the month of November- next year for sure! Click here for the super simple tutorial on Tangled and True.

Get a load of these cuties

For this month's Stampin' Up Club swap, I made Nugget Turkeys (the idea for which I got from Splitcoaststampers and this blog) and 'Happy Harvest' covered peanut butter cups (!).
Obviously I'm a sucker for any craft that involves sweet treats.
The best part is giving them away.

Crafty Treats

I got a lot of use out of my 'Batty For You' stamp set this year. I was thinking of my Card Club buddies when I filled and decorated the tin for Will's teacher. I made a batch of yummy Black Cat Cookies and wrapped some of them up for the kids in Will's class. I made a few cards to send the boys' Halloween pictures to the family. And I couldn't resist making a few of these Witch Hats I found on Split Coast Stampers- there are Reece's mini-peanut butter cups inside, People! So fun.

Another Fall Foliage Festival Weekend

So it's the first weekend of October and that means we pack up the car and make the annual trip to Bedford for the Fall Foliage Festival.
That means:

Soren's first long car trip

Will's first pony ride
(Grandpa: "William, do you want to ride a pony?" Will: "Sure, what's a pony?")

Decorating pumpkins with Grandma

Catching up with my favorite crafters and getting a few new Halloween decorations.

Frank by Jill Zieglemeier

Headless Witch by Jill Zieglemeier

Witch Pin Cushion by Debbie Burkey

The best thing about the Fall Foliage Festival is that it lasts 2 weekends, so next weekend we'll be back for more. Yippee!

Wedding of the Year

We just got back from Charleston, where one of my oldest and dearest friends, Honor, married her sweetheart of a bazillion years, Ned. It was a truly breathtaking wedding- if Martha Stewart and Southern Living Magazine got together to throw a wedding, it couldn't top this wedding. Since I was in the wedding, it was hard to take pictures, but Rick snapped this one of Honor coming down the aisle with her dad. Isn't she beautiful? Note her dad's seersucker suit- I love the South.

I've known Honor since high school and even though I'm not one of those people who is especially good at keeping in touch, we have managed it somehow. It probably helps that our birthdays are exactly 1 week apart, so at least once a year we take time to catch up. (Thanks, Honor, for always turning 29 again a week before I do).

Our paths crossed again in Boston, where we both lived after college. That's where I met Ned. Even though I think Honor was a little in denial, it was clear that Ned had it bad for Honor. You could tell by the way he looked at her when he thought no one was watching. His eyes were so full of love and adoration. It was very sweet and romantic.

Then there was the year that my amazing she-woman friend ran the Boston Marathon. She called me and asked if I would jump in and run the last 6 miles of the race with her for moral support. I thought we had a good plan. I got all geared up, went early to a spot in front of the Dunkin' Donuts right after Heartbreak Hill, schmoozed the policeman who was posted there to make sure people didn't jump into the race, and waited.
And waited.
And somehow we missed each other. When I spoke to her later, she said that she got past the place we were supposed to meet, realized she had missed me, and burst into tears (oof- break my heart). Luckily, Ned just happened to be at a Marathon Party about a block down the course. He spotted Honor, jumped into the race (I have no idea what footwear he had on or how many drinks he had had), and saved the day knight-in-shining-armor style. I'm certainly not trying to take credit for them getting together, but when Honor called me a few years later and told me they decided to give their relationship a go, I turned to Rick and said, "I knew it!".

She picked fabulous colors for her wedding: Tiffany blue and espresso. I couldn't help but go into crafting overdrive.

A CD cover I made for a mix of 'Laid Back Love Songs for the Breezy Bride to Be'

A little photo album













A smash book passed around the bridesmaids luncheon













The wedding guest book
(Thanks for your help, Leah)

Here Comes Monkey Cottontail

I got my Easter cards done just in the nick of time to at least get them postmarked before Easter.

The little carrot boxes were my Card Club project for this month. I have to confess that I borrowed the idea from my fabulously crafty friend Mary's blog. It was a nice excuse to blow the dust off of my Cricut die-cutter.

Happy Easter, Everybody!
I hope the Bunny is good to you

Card Club

Last week was Card Club. It was exactly what I needed to crawl out of hibernation and socialize with the girls for an evening.

This is the card I made for last month's club (which I had to miss because my whole family had been struck by a horrible gastroenteritis that was something like a biblical plague). It's a Shaker Card with heart shaped confetti. It was for February, after all.

This is the card I made for this month. I couldn't resist the purse stickers when I saw them here.

Hooray for Valentine Treats!

Happy Saint Valentine's Day Everybody!

My mom, who thanks to me is the newest Stampin' Up rookie to join the ranks, made these cards and sent them to us. I'm so proud!

I made these little treat bags for the folks at work. I'm such a sucker for fun seasonal food and I found these Valentine Peeps at Target.
Say it with me now-
"Hooray for Peeps!"

Christmas Crafting

I finally made one of those neat stationary boxes. I made it for my Aunt Ann for Christmas (she's my neatest aunt). It was too cold to take it outside for pictures, so I did my best with a sunny window.