A 30 Thirty Sucks! Gift

Our friend Nikki recently turned 30. While I truly believe that my life started at 30, everyone poked fun at me turning 30 and we all poke fun at others turning 30...Nikki's 30th wasn't any different. Ok, except that she celebrated hers this weekend (together with Halloween).

I wanted to do something fun and different. For Dallas' 40th we made the May Your 30's R.I.P. flower bouquet. For Steph's 30th we made her a survival kit (the blog didn't exist yet, I guess I need to put some pictures together to make a post about it). 30 Sucks it was!! Here is how it started...

Get it? Thirty Sucks!

Not so fancy looking. I admit it! 

Let's add some finishing touches and see what you think.

 Still not done, but getting closer! You can see her party invitation in the background.

Nikki came to work on Friday dressed as an ear of corn. I, of course, had to roll with it. There are lots of cute cuts on the Smiley Cards cartridge, but they aren't necessarily a cut you are going to use everyday! Thanks Nikki for giving me a reason to cut this...

I think he is CUTE!!!!!!!

So here is the end result for Nikki's 30 sucks gift. 30 Suckers in a basket made all cutsie!

 I put the corn cob on a popsicle stick and added him to the basket.  Nikki loves ice cream *what girl doesn't* so it was a great time to use the ice cream cone cut.

Nikki~ It has been my experience that 30 doesn't suck. That is truly when my life started! It had some bumps (and always will) But I know so much more about myself now and things are working out just great!!! Sure, there are parts that aren't ideal, but you can make the best of it and live each day to the fullest or you can complain about it and be unhappy. I choose to make the best of it (even if people disagree with my/our choices) and hope you will choose to the make the best of  it too! You are a strong and beautiful woman. Your dreams are waiting for you and no one but you can pursue them! (just be sure to send a post card now and then!) I am grateful I have been blessed with the opportunity to call you my friend! xoxo

I hope the same for my blogger friends. Life truly is what you make of it. There are people I know that aren't happy if they aren't complaining. That takes too much work and gains you a reputation. Surround yourself with happy people that don't create drama and your world can be a wonderful place to be!

~Til next time ~ Jen

I am linking up here -- Please visit them and see the other great ideas in blog world!!!!









 

 

Coloring the Blog World Pink for Cure!

Today I am linking up to the Artsy Girl Connection. Marilyn is having a blog hop party and it is all about pink, hope, faith, courage, awareness, etc in hopes of growing awareness around breast cancer. Please follow the link at the bottom of this post to see more posts and the others that are participating!

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Breast Cancer is a fight for all. Friends, family and acquaintances all fight in some way! Support groups are needed and can be amazing! More than one person in my circle of friends and family have been part of the breast cancer fight. Keep Calm and Fight On! You don't have to do it alone!!!

My Great Aunt had breast cancer. To memorialize her fight with breast cancer her daughters and granddaughters got these tattoos. (designed by one of the granddaughters) {heart}

I found the following tattoos on Pinterest....

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My Grandma also had breast cancer. She was told she wouldn't get to see her three kids grow up. She proved those doctors WRONG! She lived to see her Granddaughters grow up to be 28 and 32. GO GRANDMA!! My Grandma was definitely a fighter and had been all her life.


Here is a photo of my Grandparents, my Mom, my Aunt and my Uncle from 1967

The day we celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary

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They even danced on this day! It was quite a sweet moment.

Grandma had fought for a lifetime (against one thing or another). 3 months after this picture was taken Grandma didn't have the strength to fight anymore. She sure did prove those doctors wrong though. Like I said before, she was told she wouldn't see her kids grow up. She not only watched them grow up, she watched her Granddaughters grow up and she celebrated her 60th wedding anniversary! Perhaps the stubborn trait I have inherited isn't a bad thing!

A pair of Grandma's ear rings...

I made a card for breast cancer awareness.

The inside says "Don't forget to get your hooters checked."

The picture of the inside was blurry or I would have shared it.

There are plenty of facts and statistics out there. I know they are included in some of the blog posts that are part of the hop. It isn't something to take lightly. Keep Calm, fight on and get your hooters checked!

Supporting The Fighters

Admiring The Survivors

Honoring the Taken

{hugs, kisses to my taken, my survivors and my fighters. i do know and love people in all three categories}

Please visit The Artsy Girl Connection for PROJECT PINK!!!

I am also linking up here   

xoxo Jen

Liebster Blog Award

It might be a dreary Saturday morning out there, but blog awards always brighten the day! My friend Geri from Sister #5 Designs awarded me with the Liebster Blog Award! The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word meaning clean, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome!


Thanks so much Geri!!!! You rock and I am honored that you included me in your choices! Geri has a full time job that doesn't show off her creative talents. She has started her blog and is also selling items at a consignment shop to help satisfy the creative side of her. Her true passion is decorating her house, sewing and creating new ways to use old things. She loves yard sales, flea markets and consignment shops.
To keep this award going pass it along to other new and deserving blogs. The recipient must now recognize five other bloggers with less than 200 followers that have stood out in the crowd.


The rules for the Liebster Award are:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2.Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and Paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!


So here are my 5 blogs in no particular order:


Rhiannon at My Handcrafted Home. Rhiannon loves all types of crafting, redoing furniture and baking. Wait until you see all her ideas!


Mandi at Mandi being crafty. Mandi is a SAHM and an Army Wife. She lives in a home with all males *including the dog. She says her blog is to share her attempts at being crafty, but I think she does a good job!!!


Nancy at Flat Rock Cabin. Nancy loves to sew, paint, knit, crochet, decorate and cook. She has plenty of tasting looking things on her blog. *the edible kind and the eye candy kind.


Dawn at Simply Dawn 53. Dawn loves to craft, she thinks she has narrowed down her favorites to scrapbooking, sewing and crocheting. Yep! I visit her for her papercrafting ideas!


Cindy at Art, Books, Tea. Cindy is a writer. She enjoys cats and on her blog she shares the things that inspire her in hopes of inspiring others. Cindy is my escape from my crafting madness!


Congratulations Girls!!!
Please visit these talented ladies and give them some blog love!

How do you Pinterest? (or don't you?)

Hi Everyone! We've made it another day closer to the weekend! My friend Mandi over at Mandi Being Crafty has been doing a series called "What I am loving on Pinterest". I thought I would give her a shout out today and show you what I am loving on Pinterest. When you are done here I hope you will go visit Mandi and give her some blog love. She has some GREAT projects and ideas over there!!!!


Here's SOME of what I've pinned this week. If you have no idea what we are talking about, you are either the sane one OR you are missing out on lots of ideas (and another way to totally blow some time--maybe that is why some of those projects didn't get finished.)

Isn't this just a sweet sweet picture?

(it seems to have been pinned without a place of origin, or I would have given credit)

The witch is----IN. Made me chuckle!

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We have a Charlie Brown tree. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Dr. Seuss, going to have to fine one of these. (this one shown as being found in a google search)

I love paper and stamps so this seems like a no brainer doesn't it?

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finally, some words of wisdom. I think it is so true! There are times/events that weren't the most pleasant, but they definitely molded me into who I am today!

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Are you part of the Pinterest Craze?

Here's my Pinterest link.

Please leave a comment letting me know you were here and don't forget to visit Mandi!
I am also linking up here


 

Until we meet again ~jen

Eat More Ham!

The Halloween mess scraps and supplies are put away. Out of sight out of mind right? At least for now. I do have a stack of cards sitting here waiting for me to mail them. I don't understand why they don't jump right into those envelopes and address themselves.  Oh well.

Some of our wonderful friends and family are already asking Christmas cards. (I do like how they think ahead!! That means if I am rushed it is MY fault) Before I started on Christmas cards I HAD to make some turkey cards!  That I did! I will also be making more because the ones that I had been working on are all gone. YAY ME!!!!!! The turkeys or is it turkies, no one seems to be able to tell me. This is how they started!

The cuts are from Create A Critter! Love that cartridge!!!! Now let's take a look at the finished ones shall we?

Cute huh? The stamp on the envelope is from Lawn Fawn, as is the inside sentiment. The inside says Happy Turkey Day. You can see that stamp in this post. His sign was cut from the Walk In My Garden cartridge.

Eat More Ham was stamped with my new Martha Stewart Crafts custom stamp setting kit.

(image from Google Images search)

I was all excited about this product at the store the night I bought it.  I then brought it home and wondered if I had made a foolish purchase. It definitely wasn't foolish. I made my own stamp, that can't be foolish! I have two other stamps ready to go. One of them is for the Halloween cards that are STILL sitting here outside of their envelopes! :)

Here are the turkeys/turkies again. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Do you like? I hope you will leave a comment. I love reading them all and if you are set up so I can reply back I do my very best to reply to comments if I am able! Thanks again everyone! I am linking up to these parties! I hope you will visit them too!!!!!

Happy Birthday - butterfly card

Short and sweet today. Perhaps that could lead to a two post day (that would rock!) I made a birthday card for a friend's niece. It went through a couple phases. I am sharing two of them with you.

The first picture has the truer color. Which way do you prefer? The little jewel is currently on the butterfly, but it just might end up without either one. Please weigh in on the matter! Thanks for linking. I am linking up at the following places. Please stop over and share some blog love with them too!

Thanks for stopping by ~jen

Geocaching adventures

Today was a fun day. We met a friend of ours for breakfast and then hit up a local craft show. Lots of good stuff and plenty of great ideas. I sure hope Jim retains it better than I do. :) We made a couple small purchases. I will share the purchases in a different post.

I have mentioned before that like to geocache. We took advantage of this beautiful fall day and did just that. It was a great day for a walk on a local trail (with a meander into the woods). I thought I would share some of the pictures from our couple mile journey!

The view as we started out the trail!

Gnome home?

 Bittersweet is so so so pretty! 

Coming up on the dam!

Sometimes the fun of geocaching is finding other treasures! Today the treasures came in the form of old insulators! Jim's eye spotted them and Jim's back carried almost all of them back out of here. (Thanks Babe!)

SUCCESS! We found the cache! Here is what it looked like.

Once we walked back out the trail, we were on a photo journey. On our journey we had the chance to see this train. We very much enjoyed our Saturday together! If you haven't heard about geocaching and want to know more you can go here and learn more.

Thanks again for stopping by! Off to enjoy some chicken nuggets, fries, lemonade and college football! Life is definitely good!

I am linking up to Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing Newbie party. I hope you will stop over and give some blog love to the other folks there!!
~Jen and Jim