Before I get into the little project listed below, I wanted to let everyone know that "Don't Blink" will be temporarily unavailable as of tomorrow and will moving to a new URL shortly. This will be the last post before the move. I will post the new URL on my Facebook page when it is up and ready! Friend me if you want to know when things are running again! Now onto the project...

I wish I could take credit for the idea behind this little project, but I can't. At our Fresh Crops event last month, Barb Carrico-our fabulous vendor from Close To My Heart, came up with this idea for a make & take at the crop. I thought they were adorable and since the onset of Snowmageddon here in Virginia, I made a bunch of them for some of my co-workers. It is a great little project to use up some of your scraps you may have laying around. These little treats are perfect to make with kids who have been bored and looking for something to do besides playing in the snow! Enjoy!

Instructions:

Cut a strip of cardstock that measures 6" x 1.75"

Score at 2.5" from each end. Fold along score lines.

Cut two rectangles from patterned paper that measure 2.25" x 1.75". Mount on either side of the scored lines.

Using a 1.5" circle punch, punch out one of the tags from the file you can download from this post and attach it to one side of the patterned papers with a pop dot.

Using your favorite adhesive, attach a Hershey Nugget or Kiss in the area between the score lines.

Fold ends up at score lines, punch two holes near the top edges. 

Tie a piece of ribbon through the holes.

The cardstock I used for my treats is from Bazzill Basics and the patterned paper is from the Making Memories line "Lovestruck". The tags are my own design.

Download ValentineTreatTags

I know, I know. It's been a long time between posts. Last one was way back in October! Yikes! The 2009 Holiday Season really threw me for a loop. It was the first Thanksgiving and Christmas I had to prepare for while working 40 hours a week. Things that I have done in the past to make the holidays extra special didn't get done. While I'm sure nobody really noticed, it was a tough on me not to have every little decoration out or every cookie recipe baked that I am so used to each year! Made me fee like I wasn't "Super Mom" after all!

So here we are in a new year and I can't believe it's already February. This blog, "Don't Blink," has been weighing heavily on my mind since December-wondering if it is something I should continue, or shut it down. I know my family and friends have enjoyed reading the posts and I enjoy going back looking at the photos and reading the entries. It makes me realize how lucky I am to have such a great family and circle of friends. But lately I have been feeling like I need to use it as platform to not only express my passion for "classic paper art with digital possibilities" (you will see that phrase more in the future), but also to inspire others to nurture their inner artist as well. That being said, I have begun a new chapter in my creative journey and I hope to have things up and running within the next few months. I will keep "Don't Blink" up for now and use it to announce my new blog/website. Until then, here is a little something for all of you digi-scrappers out there. I created this digital scrapbook kit just in time for Valentine's Day. It includes 8 papers, 3 large frames, 1 small frame, 1 journal block, 3 borders, 1 title, 4 fuzzy heart embellishments and 3 heart/circle stickers. Enjoy! 

Please note that this is only the 2nd time I have attached a file(s) to this blog for download. The files are pretty big even when compressed, so I am not sure how long it will take to download (they took a while to upload)! If you have any problems, please contact me!

Warm & Fuzzy Paper

Warm & Fuzzy Embellishments

Warm & Fuzzy Frames

The busy day ended with an evening with friends. Margaret put together a girls night at her place complete with dinner and a few rounds of LCR. To get in the spirit of Halloween, we were all to come in costume. I was never good at coming up with a creative Halloween costume. The best I could do was to have Chris pull out my M&M bag that I made 20 years ago while he was on deployment. The squadron wives put together a Halloween party for the kids...I went as an M&M bag and Dustin (he was 14 months old) was a red M&M.

Little did I know that Margaret was going to be wearing the same costume! It was pretty funny when she opened the door and we were both dressed up in the same bag! Too bad one of us weren't the peanut variety!

Now I hope the girls don't get upset with me for posting these pics. They are a really fun group of women who I love spending time with. There is never a dull moment or lapse in conversation when we all get together. 

Enjoy the costume parade below! We all though Brenda's costume was hysterical. Keep scrolling to see it. Thanks again Maggie for a fun evening!

Brenda went as "The Boob Fairy." She bought a 40 DD bra at Target and stuffed it with cotton stuffing. Unfortunately her magic wand didn't do a thing for my M&M's!

Sneak Peak! Fresh Crops will be hosting their final crop of 2009 on November 20-21! Below is a little tease of one of our kits that we will be unveiling! Our kits are first available to those who attend the and once they are gone...they're gone! Our holiday kits go VERY fast! Sign up while there is still room! Go to Fresh Crops to register!

Courthouse Road in Stafford County, Va is a winding country road lined with all sorts of houses...everything from mobile homes to ranches to colonials to a high school. But there is this one structure that has always caught my eye. It is an old barn that looks as though it will fall over any minute. Each season the owner puts some sort of decoration on that reflects that particular season. I have always wanted to photograph it in each of the four seasons. On our way home from Clark's Farm, I had Chris pull over so I can snap a quick pick. I didn't have my digital SLR with me, so it isn't as close-up as I would have liked, but nonetheless, I am happy I finally took the photo! 

It was a beautiful day today and we went to Clark's Farm to pick out our pumpkins this afternoon. Clark's Farm is right down the road from us and this was the second year in a row we bought our pumpkins from them (gotta support the local small businesses!). It's really not a farm...it's more like a family's front lawn...obviously there is no HOA on Courthouse Road in Stafford! About 3 years ago the family that owns the property turned their front and back yard into a "fall festival" with tons of pumpkins, gourds and cider. They also have a petting farm, a few big jumping castles and children's crafts. Not that our kids are into that stuff any more. It was just fun to watch all the little ones enjoy their day!

The place was packed! Not a parking spot to be found! Chris and I made our rounds through the "pumpkin patch" and found two big jack-o-lanterns just waiting to be creatively carved into something special! 

Today was a busy day...so busy that I decided to write a few posts for today in an effort to keep my events for {Project 356} organized in a way that I will understand!

I wanted to send a little something sweet to Olivia & Jonas (my sister's kids) for Halloween. I found an adorable digital kit from The Shabby Shoppe called confection collection: trick or treat that I used to dress up Reese Cups, Hershey Miniatures and lollipops. They turned out soooo cute! I think I need to adopt a classroom so I can make more of them.

I was so excited for today to come. After a long week at work, all I wanted to do was lock myself in my studio and papercraft for the entire day. And that is exactly what I did. 

I know many of you have elementary-school-age kids and they are probably getting all excited for Halloween...fun costumes...classroom parties...trick-or-treating. Oh how I miss the days when my boys were little! I used to love making their costumes every year and sending in special hand-made treats to school. Feeling a little nostalgic, I still wanted to get into the spirit of things. So today I decided I will make special treats with a hand-made flair, I will just pass them out at work! After all, grown-ups like sweet treats, too! I went right to work by pulling out the latest Halloween paper by Making Memories-Spook Alley (that line may sound familiar...I made my wreath out of it), turned on my Cricut machine and pulled out my new Pink Slice machine out of its box. For several hours on this cold fall day I played and this is what I did...

I cut enough paper to make 36 tags to tie around goodie bags. Aren't they cute? I figure if I don't give all the bags away at work, I can pass them out to the cute little trick-or-treaters that come to the door on Halloween! 

As I mentioned before, I used the Spook Alley line by Making Memories. HOWEVER, the circles with the words are my creation. After having this blog for over a year, I FINALLY figured out how to insert a file for you to be able to click on and download! I am so excited to be able to share these with you! Below are two pdf files with the Halloween greetings I created. Print them at home (I printed mine on ivory cardstock) and use a 1.5" circle punch to cut them out (I use the EK Success punches). A faint gray cut line is there for you to line up your punch on. Please let me know if these links works! It is the first time I am doing something like this. If it is successful, there will definitely be more digital downloads in the future!

Download Happyhalloween

Download Trickortreat

It's Homecoming weekend for Colonial Forge! Ryley is all dressed up and ready to go!

He's so goofy!