Oh, my aching back!

On Saturday morning, Patryk ended life as I know it by throwing out my back. I cannot get comfortable unless I am flat on my back. It really makes life with 3 kids and a third shift husband complicated, as I cannot lay flat on my back no matter how badly I want to.

I can't even sit in my craft room for extended periods of time, as the wooden chair I sit on starts to bother me after only 15 or 20 minutes. Nonetheless, I still managed to get this page done yesterday for the weekend challenge over at Paper Posies. It is a sketch challenge, and as I tried to complete this on Sunday unsuccessfully, I thought I would post it today. I wasn't able to do the stitching until this morning...the kids wouldn't let me have 2 seconds to myself last night! I loved this sketch so much!

Here's the sketch:

And here's my take:

Paper Loft Dude collection papers, sanded. Mulberry tag: Paperbilities. Random raffia. Acrylic paint applied with the other end of the paintbrush for brown dots. White dots on title accent: gel pen. MM eyelets. American Crafts letter stickers. Heart shaped vellum tag random from my stash. I hand stitched a strand of raffia onto the title accent. Vellum accents are inked.

Maybe I'll get up there again, I'm not sure. All I know is I have to go rest my back...it hurts :( Hope you are all having a better day than I!

A better picture...

So I was going to enter my scary card into the Corrosive Challenge #87, which is to make it Halloween-y (yes, I know, not really a word, but I'm making it one anyway.) I decided I needed a better image than the last one I posted, as the orange gel pen didn't stand out, and here it is. Much better. Off to the craft room for more challenge fun :)

Scariest card contest at s4a begins!

Head on over to sketches4all...the scariest card contest has begun! Here is the sketch you have to work from:

And my take on it. Random papers all from my stash, bat image taken from a free image site online. Metal circle made with MM metal sheet. Font is colored with orange gel pen, and the whole card was inked with orange and black to make it even scarier.

This contest ends on October 30th at midnight, so head over and show us your scary card. The DT will choose 2 winners: 1st place prize is an Echo Park halloween kit, and 2nd place prize is a mini album, stamp, and other random stuff. Hoping to see YOUR card in the gallery!

Exciting happenings at S4A!

Get ready, because tomorrow begins the scariest card contest over at sketches4all!

The sketch will be uploaded on Friday morning, and let me tell you, it is a great sketch! Not only do you have to make a scary card, but you must also add some bling for a little twist! You will have until midnight on October 30th to upload your entry, and trust me, you'll want to enter...up for grabs is an ECHO PARK HAPPY HALLOWEEN KIT for the first place winner!!!!! The DT will pick our 2 faves, and the 2nd place winner will receive a mini album, stamp, and some other random goodies.

One entry per person, so make your card as scary as you can...I can't wait to see the entries, and will post my scary card tomorrow morning once the sketch is revealed.

On to the layout I was able to finish yesterday. I made this one for the Scrap Girl of the Month contest, a.k.a. SGOTM, over at s4a. This is the first challenge in the series, I'm quite behind! Reorganizing my craft room really took a lot more time than I would have liked (but I am almost finished putting together a nice collection of candy, and will probably post on Sunday with the details.) Here is the sketch I worked from:

And here is my take on it:

I don't have close-up pics as I was too busy to get around to it, but let me highlight the fine details: handstitching in the place of the little circles above/below the photo in the sketch, using DMC #930. Doodles added around the photo, and if my scanner was bigger, you'd see the doodled square around the edge of the background paper. All of the paper is from The Paper Loft, the Dude collection. MAMBI rhinestone "delight" word sticker. MM pewter square decorative brad holding a piece of ric-rac. MAMBI We are blessed kit for the heart and sentiment, adhered with pop dots. I loved the background paper so much, I didn't want to hide the flourish/circles at the top. I cut with my Exacto and tucked the other papers behind it.

There, now I can go back to being sick and getting Patryk ready for a recheck appointment for a stye he had in his eye a few weeks back. Later, it's back to the doctors office with Rileigh for a physical, and I end the evening with a PTA meeting. Lovely, funny how it works out to be a busy day when I am feeling under the weather. Such is the life of a mom! Hope you all have a great day!

Candy Shoppe Designs "Plastic" challenge

Interesting title, huh? No, you aren't asked to use plastic on your layout...check out their blog to enter your layout demonstrating a faux technique. You could win a great prize pack from their sponsor, Blue Moon Scrapbooking. It's pretty simple, and I'm using my my entry for Melissa's scraplift over at s4a, and in case you missed that post, here it is:

I used faux-doodles, as I'm not a great doodler, from DCWV. I also added some faux stitching around the photo with white gel pen. I just love how this one came out :) For product info, check my original post.

Head on over and enter your own faux technique layout :)

Decluttering makes room for more clutter

Good morning, all! So last night, my next door neighbor came by with some treats for me :) I was quite thrilled, actually, when I realized the possibilities he had opened for me!

He works for a local hardware store, and they were getting rid of wallpaper sample books, and right before he threw them away, he thought of the card I made his other half recently and loaded them up into his car instead. I was THRILLED when I saw them. At the time I didn't really think about what I would do with them, but I realized last night that they would make great altered frame coverings...I could even use wallpaper adhesive to adhere them! SOOO psyched, except he brought over about 20 books. If you haven't seen a wallpaper book before, they are HUGE. Bigger than 12X12, and quite thick and heavy. I can only carry a few of them at once!

Now I get to spend the day rearranging my scrap room to make room for them. This should be interesting, seeing as I just rearranged a month or so ago! I guess I'll have to clear out some stuff...I'm thinking it's time to give away my first blog candy. I am up to almost 20 followers, right? So I will pick out some goodies and post a picture of them when I am finished, probably to be given away when I reach 50 followers. We'll see...I might even make some form of challenge to win them...make you work for your candy!

Off to the scrap room, hope I don't get lost!

Feline Playful's HUGE giveaway!

Um, blog candy? No. This is a blog chocolate cake. The best chocolate cake you'll ever eat. Feline Playful is celebrating 500 followers by giving away this AMAZING prize...get over there and sign up to win! It's sooo easy!

Altered jars: candle holders!

This is my challenge this month over at s4a, and I'm FINALLY getting around to posting my examples! I had fun once I could get to embellishing them...the hardest part is waiting for the layers of Mod Podge to dry!

Here's what you do: start with an old spaghetti sauce/jelly/whatever jar. Obviously, wash it out first, and remove all of the label. Take a piece of tissue paper and adhere to the jar using your favorite decoupage glue (or, try this, a tip from a fellow DT: take regular Elmer's glue and add a bit of water to it until it is as smooth as you want it.) Be careful, as the tissue paper rips when you are brushing over it. I found it easier to adhere the paper in strips, rather than leaving it intact, but this method is great if you want the wrinkles to add a stained glass effect. Smooth out any air bubbles/creases as you go. When it is dry, add another layer of glue. Add a third layer, and then when it is dry you are FINALLY ready to add embellishments :)

On this one, I used spiderweb tissue paper I found at Target, an orange satin ribbon, Stickopotomus letter stickers, and my Stretch Your Imagination Cricut cartridge for the adorable spider.

For this one, I used regular orange tissue paper, a border sticker at the top as I had run out of green ribbon, and the same Cricut cartridge.

Make sure you put down a nice layer of glue before sticking anything to it, and then brush over the top of it when it is down. I found for these silhouette images, pouncing the glue on rather than brushing sticks it down better without having it slide all over the jar. Finish it off with another couple of layers of glue, and you are DONE!

This is too easy! The possibilities are endless. You can make one to match your home decor, make a candle holder for every holiday, or even give as gifts! I have a feeling I won't need to buy anymore holiday candle holders. This was too much fun...I can't wait until it gets dark, when I will insert my tealights and see them in action :)

Lazy Sunday post

Haven't been so tired since Patryk was a newborn! My goodness, I just can't get sleep for the life of me! Yesterday was hubby's and my anniversary, and what a disaster it was. Patryk has had the sniffles for the past few days, and has added coughing fits into the mix. It makes for a miserable night's sleep for him, which makes for a miserable night's sleep for me as well! I feel so disconnected the past couple of days.

Not only did I get a crappy night's sleep, hubby went from his third shift job at 7 yesterday morning right to his parents' house to help his father pour concrete. He returned only to go straight to bed, and then didn't wake until 6:30 at night. I think we spent a total of 30 minutes together, as he had to leave for work at 10:30. :( Late dinner, which makes me CRANKY.

I made him a cake, which I slaved over for hours, only to realize I hadn't gone to the liquor store to get the creme de cacao called for in the recipe...you brush it over the cake layers before frosting it. Of course, the liquor store was closed when I realized this, but the internet saved me! I made my own chocolate liquor! The cake was yummy, even though I didn't have a piece until 10:15.

Oh, how can I forget the best part? My favorite pair of jeans must be trying to tell me to stop all of the crazy baking and sweet eating, as they decided to split from my butt to my knee. MY FAVORITE PAIR!!!!!! Oh well...just means I can go shopping for a new favorite pair.

At least I got to sit down in the craft room! Friday was spent making hubby his card, which he didn't want me to post the inside of (big baby) so I got a shot of the front, made with Reminisce flirt paper, glitter Thickers, and a Basic Grey "&." The inside is cool, but I guess you'll never know. (He doesn't want all of the mushy stuff I wrote to be revealed for the world to see. What a baby.)

I was able to tackle Stacy's scraplift challenge over at s4a, which was nice as I feel lost without a daily challenge to complete. I loved her layout, and thought these pics of my son's first trip to the ocean would be perfect with this paper, Kaisercraft Le Chateau collection. Everything you see here came in a kit from Queenscraps, so it all goes so perfectly (except the title letters...Miss Elizabeth's antique type and Pinkpaislee.)

Stacy's:

And mine:

I have finally put the final layer of Mod Podge on my altered candle holders for my challenge at s4a, and am embellishing this afternoon....stay tuned, I can't wait to post later!

Another great giveaway

Head on over to Get Picky and get ready for one great giveaway! It is full of so many goodies, and their site is so full of inspiration and sketches :)

October DT sketch reveal

Finally, I am able to make this post! What a busy weekend it has been.

Next weekend is our wedding anniversary, but as hubby works 3rd shift 7 days straight, it is hard to find time to celebrate! This past weekend happened to be one of his big 5 nights off weekends (he gets one of those each month, it's great) so we celebrated all weekend long! His parents took the kids out to dinner on Saturday night while we took a drive along the ocean. It was beautiful...we even got to sit and watch a sunset together all alone on the beach. Haven't done that since I was a teenager! Had a delicious dinner at a fancy little Italian restaurant, and headed back to get the kids.

Sunday was even better! We went to my parents' house to help them cut down some trees in preparation for some culvert work, and wouldn't you know, my father offered to take all 3 kids overnight!!!! This marks the first time EVER my son has slept over anyone's house, or even been away from me! It was strange, but nice. We went out for dinner (again, wow, what a treat) and spent some much needed quality alone time ;) Even though I had to get up around the same time (the girls had dentist appointments, so I had to go pick them up and couldn't sleep in), it was nice to be able to wake up and come to terms with the fact I am awake before having kids bouncing all around shouting for my attention!

The kids are back in school, and now I am getting the house ready for winter. People are all about spring cleaning, but seriously, you have to do it in both spring and fall. It's nice to start the winter off fresh and clean, especially since around here, the house is closed up for what feels like endless months! I am not a fan of the winter. It's another gorgeous day here, so I will most likely finish up my fall planting, too. Can't hide inside all day long :)

So I would like to share the DT sketch for this month from s4a...I made it a few days ago, but wasn't allowed to post it until now :) I had fun with it...used Fancy Pants Design Rough & Tumble papers for this. 2 double sided sheets of paper + a pair of scissors = perfectly coordinated embellies! Seeing as my hubby and I were getting ready to head out the door but I needed to get this page done, I wanted to show how simple it is to do a quick page that receives high marks for design. And yes, I turned the sketch *again* I've been doing that a lot lately!

My scanner cut the edges off of the paper, but I just want to point out the awesome arrow/doodle border of this paper. The background paper did the majority of the work for me here...I just had to use my exacto to cut around the cloud and star, tucking the other papers behind it. I used both sides of 2 different sheets of paper to complete the rest. The "oh boy" block is adhered with Pop Dots for dimension, as is the star and journal box. Some papers are inked, and Kaisercraft rubons for the title. The stars in the upper left corner of the photo are hand-drawn with white gel pen. The hidden journal tag is the final touch.

TFL, and stay tuned for more creations today. I know I'll be busy clearing stuff out and planting, but I need a crafty break!

Accomplishments come with boo-boos

I guess being up in the craft room when Patryk is playing in his room may not be the best idea...today he silently snuck to the stairs, and of course I was oblivious, lost in "the zone." You know what I'm talking about. I was promptly snapped out of "the zone" by the sounds of my son rolling down the stairs. He was fine, so that was a plus, but what a SCARE!

Oh well, I really had fun with today's page. I decided to do Mel's scraplift challenge over at s4u, and I incorporated the weekly challenge from Scrap That Baby!, which was to showcase a baby part...in this case, Patryk's ice blue eyes.

Here's Mel's layout I lifted (notice I turned it again...it's a thing for the week I guess...)

And here's mine.

Papers are all My Mind's Eye, from the Complete Boy paper pad, distressed with my old Heidi Swapp paper distresser. I don't even remember the last time I used this, as I've been partial to sanding, but something is to be said about the way the paper acts as you run the razor blade edge across it...I just love it. As you can see, I tried to incorporate the doodles from Mel's layout in mine, and while the doodle around the entire layout is hand drawn, the squiggles are DCWV Rub on Doodles - Toys in black. They are so fun, I even have them in white! Speaking of white, I used white gel pen to do faux stitching on the photo, and how cool are those buttons? Don't know where they came from, but there were two of them and it was perfect! I used a K&Co Brenda Walton Small Wonders Boy epoxy sticker on the buttons. I am not certain, but I think the die cuts came out of a scrapbook die cut kit in the dollar section at Target. For the title, I doodled the heart and "those", and used glitter Thickers for the rest. I am in love with these glitter Thickers (oh, and this title is a good way to use up all of the b's LOL) In the bottom right is a Making Memories definition sticker, I just felt like it wanted to be there :) Ribbons are all random from my stash, I know the tan one with the polka dots came from a Queenscraps kit I won...just loved that kit!

Hope you like it! Hubby is working tonight, so I think I'll be up in the craft room when I wrap up here on the computer, get another layout in before dinner. We'll see though...I'm hungry now! Early dinner? Who knows.

Goal setting, goal schmetting...

I shouldn't post goals anymore...I shouldn't say "I'm going to do **fill-in-the-blank**." It NEVER. GETS. DONE. Today was no different...I say, "Oh, I think I'm going to go attack those candle holders..."

I go through all of my tissue paper, and there are NO fall colors to SPEAK OF. I have come up with an idea to use what I have, and will attempt tomorrow, but it took me quite a bit to come up with the idea, so it wasn't able to happen. It hit me at dinner, the most inopportune time. Tonight was also open house for my 5th grader. Oh well...I made a card in the brief hour I had to spend up there, I didn't want to do nothing!

I made this for the Corrosive Challenge blog's challenge, to use turquoise, red, and pink together. The red really threw me off! I liked how it turned out though. I used the Sassy Lil' Sketches Oct sketch #1, a card sketch.

As you can see, I've turned the sketch. Provo Craft handmade paper that I've been sitting on for a while (*ahem* like 11 years) combined with turquoise cardstock inked around the edges. Basic Grey clear stamps. American Crafts ribbon. Rubons of an unknown source, as it seems the identifying info has been discarded or lost in my alpha drawer (yes, I have an alpha drawer...I am a ridiculous hoarder!) Simple and quick.

Let's see if tomorrow I can...oh wait, no more goal setting publicly. I forgot...

Wednesday....

is off to a great start! I received a link to the gallery containing my family photo shoot that took place a few weeks ago, and I almost cried when I looked at them! It was like we had perfect stunt doubles, there is no way these pics represent us!

My friend, Jenna (if you live in the Portland, OR area, she is highly recommended...email me for deets if you are interested in a session of your own), an old high school friend, met us in Prescott Park in Portsmouth, NH while she was here for our class reunion, and took our pictures. How she was able to take me, normally makeup-less in sweatpants, covered in baby boogers and food, my husband, normally wearing ripped up jeans and an old paint-covered tshirt, and my children, with disheveled hair and covered in God-knows-what, and make us look like a family of supermodels. It amazes me! Here are some of my favorites (and it was hard not to post all 27 pictures, as they are all so great! Not to mention the image size is astounding and blogger doesn't really like a bunch of huge files!)

The whole Foss fam: Hubby, me, Andraia (11 in a month), Patryk (3 in a month), and Rileigh (8)

Hubs and I

The kiddos (this was a tough one as Patryk didn't want to sit still for long!)

Andraia and I being goofy

Patryk and I

Rileigh's turn to be goofy

Jenna's signature jumping shot...the kids were excited for this one!

Hope you like them, and just know that if you ran into me on the street, there is no WAY I would look like this, unless I've had time to do my makeup and straighten my normally unruly, curly hair. I would be unrecognizable if all you knew of me were these pics! Off to the craft room to make those candles I've been talking about...about time, right?

Billie's Scrappetique giveaway

Check out Billie's Scrappetique for a fantastic giveaway! Go to her blog to find out how, and see all of the fun stuff she's giving away...she's a pretty talented papercrafter, and I was glad to find her out there in blog-land!

My quick card

Happy birthday, Cari! I'll be bringing this over this evening, accompanied by an apple pie square :)

Made this for the Clearly Delightful challenge, which was to use a Doodle Pantry image and ribbon on the card. I used SEI Claire papers and ribbon, and used one of the Doodle Pantry's freebie images colored in with colored pencil. My Little Shoebox letter stickers complete the card! TFL!

Quick layout...

I wanted to get this posted before I had to pick up my 11 year old from homework helpers at school, and then it's back to the craft room. It's been nice to go back to "normal" challenges now that the sketch-a-thon is over, it was hard to keep up with all of the action!

I chose to do this sketch from Sketches in Thyme, and it was quick and easy!

Here's what I did with it (drool over those glitter encrusted Thickers!)

Paper is all Kaisercraft Le Chateau, title is glitter Thickers. Die cuts are Kaisercraft Le Chatueau.

Hope to have a card posted later as it's my BFF's birthday today :)

Recovering from disaster...

I scrapped yesterday, just a little bit. I was quite excited, as I just received blog candy I won in the mail from the s4u blog, a kit from Queen Scraps featuring the wonderful Kaisercraft Le Chateau Collection. I was working with a Liz Qualman sketch that I just loved, and as I placed the 3rd and final picture, my cell phone rang. In my "free" time (ha, what a joke), I am an apartment manager for a couple of local landlords. One of them was calling me as he was outside in my driveway in the pouring rain, and wanted me to hurry to the door. He was basically being a little baby...but whatever. I ran down and opened the door, and let him in to receive the keys to a newly vacant unit so that I could begin showing it. We talked for *maybe* 3 minutes, but he had to leave, and I returned upstairs to find.....THIS. (I should mention that as I began walking up the stairs, I could hear my 2 year old terror of a son running for his life into his room, so I suspected there was some foul play...)

So, I've printed out a new picture (as you can see that he has scribbled all over his face >:-/) and plan to use various embellishments to hide the other oopsies. HOPEFULLY I can make it work.

When I lost all motivation for that, I decided to work with a sketch-a-thon sketch instead. The sketch-a-thon officially ends on Monday, so I wanted to to try to complete the last few assignments. I loved this sketch, and couldn't wait to play with it!

Here's the sketch:

...and here's what I did:

Please note the outfit: so 80's! Legwarmers, suede boots, sequin coat...my mom even helped me spray pink in my hair!

Papers: MAMBI Coastal Culture. MM foam flourish stamp. White Blossom sparkle stickers for title. Prima flowers with buttons in the middle, along with handmade flowers. Kaisercraft Le Chateau die cut journal spot affixed to layout with Pop Dots.

So today, it is off to fix the screwed up layout! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: head over to s4u and check out my altered item challenge. This month, it is an altered candle holder, and with the holidays coming up, each candle you make to decorate your house with or give away as a gift for Christmas is an entry into my RAK drawing!