WHY WON'T THE PRETTY BIRDS LET ME HUG THEM?

So the back of our land borders a very large pond. Many animals visit us at different times of the year just because of the water. Now it is the turn of the Geese to make their way south by stopping off here at Brambleberry Lane. The only problem with this is every time I go to take their picture they take off on me. And there is not just a couple. On a slow day there is a minimum of 1000 geese at any given time just floating along. In the evening they drop from the sky in droves and the sound could make you loose your hearing it is so loud out there. But we love to watch them every year.


They fly so low over our home and our Choc. Lab is not happy with that fact at all.



It may be a little hard to see here, but this is me getting to close to them this morning and the entire pond lifting off and taking flight. I am not going to hurt them but they won't let me get close enough to tell them that. Growing up I could never understand why the wild animals that lived around our house in the woods didn't want me to hug them. And yes, here in my 30's I am still wondering the same thing. They are so beautiful and all of the animals that travel our back yard are a joy. Well, that is, except for the FOX FAMILY, they can just keep moving on!

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DON'T YOU LOVE NEW PRODUCT?

Well here are some of the new products from 7 Gypsies that arrived here on the door step of Brambleberry Lane. Talk about instant inspiration. I have 4 new book cover sets. I have two shown here. They are a chipboard base so you can put holes in them and use with rings or you could always use ribbons or gaffer tape. The ideas will be endless. And talk about a beautiful start to a homemade Christmas gift. The covers are under $2.00 for a set. Now that is a great price!

How about the wonderful ATC punch that 7 Gypsies puts out. This is a must for anyone that creates ATC art for rounders. The perfect punch for them to hang just right.

And I think this great roll of gaffer tape speaks for it self. Plus the fact that the tape(sticky) is built right in. No adhesive is needed. Just cut and stick. You will love the red and cream combo. There are more of this one to come as well.

Then last but not least this great book cover set. I am loving this one so much. I am picturing the perfect little coffee table book of the families holiday season! Once again less them $2.00...wow!

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WITH PRODUCTS FROM BRAMBLEBERRY LANE!

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY...He Asked Me to Marry Him!

As we all know, woman remember things in a different way. A more accurate way. We know the dates and times that life changing things happen to us. What we where wearing as well as the exact words that other person said are just a few of the details that never escape our minds. I have a problem with memories...I remember it all! It drives people crazy, especially my father. I hear the tone in his voice of wonder how I still can pull up a memory for such a little thing. But today I recall the day Patrick asked me to marry him. Well what he really said was...would you be my wife? It was like it was just yesterday. I can still see the vein in his neck popping and the blood draining from his face. I never saw this man so scared....no scratch that. When I walked up to him to get married he looked at me, instead of saying your beautiful, which I was. He said, "HOLD MY HAND NOW"! Yup, that was the most scared I had ever seen him. Any who, we went to dinner and he refused to sit where I wanted to sit, weird number 1. Then he kept snapping at me all night, weird number 2. Next he would light and then blow out every candle in the house, weird number 3. Then finally he kept pushing me away and walking away from me because he thought I would feel the ring in his pocket. That was weird number 4.

Well of course I said yes. How could I not. I had been dreaming of marrying this man since I was 5. But do you think he remembers what today is? I wonder. I wonder if it all ever crosses his mind like it does mine. Now I am not saying I want him to think about it when he is working on electricity. That is not the shock I would like. But what about when he is driving or having his lunch? Well I remember and I am thankful enough for the both of us!

So any who, here are a bunch of stickers that are new at Brambleberry Lane. I have this new 1 1/4" scalloped punch. It let's me add some more great papers that are out there. I hope you like them all!

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Are You Customer That Wants Free Shipping?

Hi all! I wanted to stop by and show you one of my latest sets of stickers. These are perfect for the lover of winter in your life. They are so much darn fun and you will love them on your envelopes and projects this winter season.

And I hope now one has forgotten....

FREE SHIPPING ON MY NEW ARTFIRE STORE!

Yes, my new Artfire store is up and running. To thank all of my many customers I am giving free shipping as my gift from me to you. So by the stickers and embellishments while they're hot and the shipping is free!

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MY NEW ARTFIRE SHOP IS UP AND RUNNING!

Here are just a couple of sets of my new Holiday Stickers. You all know how much I love finding new papers for new sticker sets. Or some of those great images that really give a fun look to anything you use them on. Well here are just a couple of them. I love the idea of the red and green snowflakes. Sure anyone can picture a white one. But a set of red and green truly jump off the page.

The Gold Holly Leaf set are no exception. They have the feel of the perfect finishing touch. Like they where meant to seal an envelope shut this holiday season.

See these and many more new sets at my NEW SHOP

BRAMBLEBERRY LANE AT ARTFIRE!

I have had great success under my original domain. But the fees are starting to kill me. Making my creative head be way less creative. I am running both shops for now. But really hope to get all of my wonderful loyal customers over to the new shop.

Plus anyone that mentions this blog post will get FREE SHIPPING on their first brambleberrylane.artfire.com purchase!

So contact me and lets get those stickers, seals and paper embellishments to you right away!

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Happy World Card Day Everyone!

Yeah, she doesn't look like she is celebrating world card day with a happy face on now does she? I am having a ball with the fun daily addition of autumn themed ATC's. I know that this eerie witch may not agree but it is true. She kind of looks like one of my teachers growing up. She has a puss on if you know what I mean. The older women would always say that to you. "What do you have a puss on for"? I think this witch fell on her broom stick. Yes I am laughing at myself right now!

Any who, just a bunch of simple layering hopefully gives you some great ideas on things to create for your own ATC rounder this fall season. Be back with more ideas!

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First of Many Halloween Posts for October!

Hi all! So I am working on my fall rounder for my ATC's. Now I say fall because I want to fill it up with now to Turkey Day! I know you are wondering where the witch went that left her shoe. I added the liquid glass to the shoe. It gave a great patten leather look to the shoe. Then I added the great little pearl stickers to give the look of a real decorated shoe. Oh yeah, she is one stylin witchy woman!

You can really see the depth of the Liquid glass in this picture.

Well I hope this gives you a idea or two for the layering fun of ATC's/ACEO'S. You can not imagine how many things are out there that you can put together to make a fun little piece of art!

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THURSDAYS ATC/ACEO!

The snow is falling on this great little snow man. With the use of some great glass glitter and die cut snowflakes, you really get the feel for the upcoming season. It is all on a ATC/ACEO base card made from some lovely Amy Butler papers. I used some of my favorite bling sticker strips. The stars as the buttons are just cut apart stickers embellishments. The eyes, nose, mouth and stars on the brim of the hat are all sticker embellishments as well. And lets not forget the power of your computer for printing out words to add to your projects. If my stamps don't fit I often like to take advantage of the fonts from my computer. The arms(or should I say sticks) are just some random scraps of brown paper.

But I totally love the pearls dripping down from the top. They lend to the dimension and draw the eye down to the large snowflakes on the bottom. I love double duty for my creativity!

So get out your stash and start creating you scrapalious scrapbookers!

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WHO STOLE THE COOKIE FROM THE COOKIE JAR?

So these are the cookie holders I am making for the Christmas Season Cookie Swap. Any cookie will taste better in this container. What a simple project that make a big statement. And here is what you will need...

We Wish you a Merry Christmas paper set

A paint can unused or even a small box

Ribbon

Fibers

Trim w/ beads

This is so simple. Just cover the can with the paper. Take the ornament paper and cut out the shapes. Next assemble by layering them at different lengths of ribbon. After that I wrapped around the beaded ribbon and finished it off with a bit of white fibers to give it more of a dramatic look.

If you want to step it up you can add a crackle medium or some other time of Liquid glass to give it that old ornament feel. I added the Liquid glass to the dots and other areas and it turned out great.

This is another easy project that you don't have to spend a ton of money to create yet you are giving a really beautiful gift from the heart. Let me know how yours turns out!

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Anyone can feel like a artist after putting together a Artist Trading Card. Here is my Thursday Trading Card for all the world to see. It is such great fun, as I have said before, in a short amount of time to have a great little finished piece. You can mix and match themes and colors and come up with so many great ideas. I love to layer. I like to layer colors, embellishments, papers and inks. Using items that are printed as well as stamped makes for a great combo. Or try using just a single item in a paper. For instance the flowers behind his head. They are cut out of a 12 by 12 and inked on the edges to pop! I added some crackle medium for the lines in the leaf and there is all sorts of fun techniques going on here. Put together all of those things you already know how to do and then add something new you haven't tried and you will love the results!

Well back to creating and to all of the fun of mommy hood.

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TRAVEL LOG FROM SUMMER STARTED

I have been working on a little travel log from our summer outings. Once a week a bunch of us got together and did fun things that the kids would enjoy. Well truth be told, we loved it as well. So many beautiful summer days spent in a park or on a beach. I love giving the kids these memories to build on. The base group was my mom, my sis and her girls and me and my 4. Then others came and went in out of the group as the weeks went on. I truly miss those fun gatherings of family but now we will have this mini album to look back upon it all.

I love these little spiral books with heavy ivory card stock on the inside to mount all of your fun memories to. Now I have been looking in other places and I have found some great sources for ribbon and binding. I love this green. It really goes with the Vintage look. I layered it with a clock and this lovely traveling lady. Between the compass and the letters it does have a old feeling.

Alright, I am back to work to fill the pages with fun and pretty pictures!

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SNOWFLAKE BOX AND CHRISTMAS CARD

Well here I go again with one of my new favorite things to use when creating. I have a tone of clothing patterns. When you look at things for a different use it can really turn out great. Many times with backgrounds it is very hard to find just he right paper. Especially for someone that loves to use tans, ivory, and cream and they don't exist to your liking. Patterns to the rescue. It is totally thin. It wrinkles perfectly and it adds a great addition of dimension to your project. And don't get me started on the way it takes ink.

On this snowflake gift box, I used some fabulous die cut snowflakes to decorate with. And here is how simple it was...

1. Put glue on the areas that I wanted the pattern paper to stick to.
2. Scrunched up the pattern paper then partially smoothe it over the areas with the glue
3. If you did not tear enough off just add a small piece to cover the box(it all melts together and you can not see the patched areas, plus it adds a great color effect.)
4. I took a brown ink pad and and gently went over the paper to only highlight the wrinkles.
5. Glue down the snowflakes making sure to go off the edges with them (this gives a much more pleasing and natural look.)

Make a matching tag and tie it on!

You now have a great simple gift box for the holiday season. I think packaging is key to a wonderful present. Simple backed goods can be brought up to a whole new level with great packaging. Below you can see close up the great effect you get from using the clothing pattern paper.

This next card as well was so simple, but with adding the music paper as garland you get something a little extra special. I cut out all of the card stock and inked the edges. Next I die cut the tree and added some glue where I wanted the garland to stick down. Gave a little "back and forth fold" to the music paper and held it down a minute until the glue dried a bit. So simple and so pretty. Hard to see in the picture but I added some great crackle to the star to stand out more. And there you have it. Another simple and fun card made in minutes. The longest part of this one is the crackle dry time.

The cardstock for both projects can be found at BRAMBLEBERRY LANE!

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BEGINNING OF SCHOOL MEANS A EMPTY NEST!

For months I thought about how much work I could get done all by myself. I planned out my days and shopping trips that would be peaceful and without fighting or asking me for something. Well, they all started school this week and I have lost my hearing from all the SILENCE. First of all my Lab is not the best company when you hold up your latest paper creation and ask her what she thinks. At least when I asked my youngest the answer would always be..."pretty mommy"! My husband still has time off and he just keeps asking me questions and talking about generators. So what does this all mean? I MISS MY KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, I know, it will get better soon. But all of my babies off to school is not as much fun as I thought it would be. So to my beautiful babies, all four of you, you are deeply missed and the best moment of my day now is the minute you walk off that bus. I love you all, and I am so proud of the four of you. You will all do great this year I am sure of it!

Alright, I am off to make a handy dandy little first day of school mini book!

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FALL INTO THIS TREE BANNER...SO SIMPLE!

Hello all of my Scrapalicious friends! I have been taking apart this fabulous tree album that Maya road created and turning it into a Autumn Banner, and you can to.

I have simply taken the wonderful little tree and covered it with some great Cosmo Cricket paper. I love these papers with there warm colors, they truly give the feel of falling leaves and warm apple pie. I punched leaves out of the coordinating papers to adhere to the trees. After inking the edges of all the papers, (this truly finishes off what ever you are working on) I started putting it all together.

Using Rangers great Crackle medium, I covered some of the leaves, which really gave a great veining affect. And other leaves I covered with the clear coat so they had dimension. Next, I didn't have the proper size letters for the word "FALL". So I printed them off the computer, cut them out, and covered them with a clear coat. This is a simple way to get what you want and easily make it look great.

With the addition of some great black and white ribbon, (that I added brown ink to) I strung it all together to hang. So what do you all think? So simple to do and you will love the result. Just pick your favorite fall papers and make it all your own. Hey I am picturing some great winter colors, with a snow bird in the tree... Oh no I need to take apart another book now!

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Fair Season In Full Swing!

So this is how our day at the fair started. With me trying to buckle the boys into the stroller when Logan grabbed the camera and took a picture of me. Now I know what the two of them see all the time. Boy is my smile crocked.


From the boys getting to explore a old train car to Patrick on the big giant slide, fun was overflowing everywhere.

They loved riding the motorcycles as well as the spin they took me on. We went on the teacup ride and Logan found it very amusing to spin mommy round and round.

They totally love riding together on everything!

Logan wanted to have his picture taken with this cow so bad but was a bit afraid of getting to close.

Then there where the ducks. Logan has not stopped talking about them. He wants one so bad. I tried to explain the entire thing about them not staying that size forever. Then little Noah decided to inform his big brother that there was no mommy in with the chicks and it all went south fast. Once again Noah's horns came out at the worst moment!

Everyone had fun. Now it is on to this weeks fair in our town. We are dropping off all of the kids entries today. The food will be judged as well as the things they created. Big hopes for lots of ribbons. I don't know where they get their creativity from!

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