Sunday Morning In Upstate New York

We woke up at 2:02 am to no power. Lucky for Pat and I, our new bedroom linens are so warm. before we new it both boys(the two little ones) climbed in until morning to stay warm. But we where so happy to wake up to this beautiful scene in our backyard.

The geese are above the trees trying to land on the water down back. The entire family has been sitting with our nose pressed against the window waiting to see the snow drop and the beauty we are so lucky to see in our own backyard.

Hopefully we don't have too many down branches with so many leaves left on the trees.

Oh and this last one is my wonderful little student of the month for the month of October. He loves to rub it into his sister and brothers that he has had that honor 4 years running now. I am not the bumper sticker kind of mom, but I am a blogger mom so here is my cyber bumper sticker....MY KID IS STUDENT OF THE MONTH!

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SUNDAY FAMILY FUN!

As the crack of the first shovel is heard and the snowball is lobed over home plate, well that is the way to spend our Sunday of family fun. There is nothing better then getting your turn up at bat. I am always the official photographer. But when it is your turn and you don't know if you are going to get wet from snow or smack the snowball hard enough so everyone else does, the thrill

is huge!

Here our the fans waiting for their turn up to bat!

All of this snow arrived this weekend and buried us again after we just got a large amount melted!

Josh makes a great pitcher!

And Mr Noah always gets board between innings!

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AmyLynn

I LOVE GRAPHIC 45 PAPER!

So as it goes here in the North East we have snow again. We have been very lucky and missed most of it. But last night it hit with a bang. As I was watching Pat out the window plowing, I turned to my left and there in my paper stacks was a pretty paper sticking out from Graphic 45. And oh the thoughts that went from one side of my snow filled brain to the other. Then it hit me, lets make a little wearable from this pretty paper and so I did. I went to my trusty stack of washers and pulled out the perfect size for the clock that I had my eye on in the center of the paper. It all was down hill from there. I punched, cut, burnished, glued, dried and finished off with a layer or two of Diamond Glaze. And there you go, this pretty paper will be around my neck or should I say around Morgans because she already has her eye on it.

So that is part of my paper mission this year. Add all of these beautiful papers into my everyday life. I love creating new and fun projects like this, don't you!

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HANDMAKING CHRISTMAS!

Well I was thinking, and I figured I should start showing everyone some of the handmade items that I have created for this holiday season. As many of you know, I have totally branched out from just scrapbooking with the beautiful papers that I have in my stash. No matter if it is a stack of vintage music books or some great new Cosmo paper, I am trying to use it rather then stash it. So lets start with this years Kitchen Tree. I try to make this something new and fun every year. And if it is a crazy year I resort to using a bunch of my antique cookie cutters to adorn it.



This year I have used my die cutting fun to create some great ornaments that could have been around 50 years ago. I have been sorting all of the different ideas I have seen and kept running into past holidays that paper ornaments where used. So I pulled out some of my "fine" glitter. This is so easy to do with any die cutting system that you have. Or drop me a line and I can get you some of these fun shapes. So I cut them and lined with a little glue so you could still see to the old music sheets once the glitter and glue dried. And that was it. I added a couple of Candy Canes and there you are. A Kitchen Christmas tree that makes people say..." you made all of those ornaments yourself?" I love answering yes to that question.

So tonight's homework is to create something for your holiday home this year. You will really enjoy making and decorating with your own handmade ornaments!

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NEW CHRISTMAS CHIPBOARD ALBUM

Oh my gosh I love this new album. It is made up of a Santa Hat, Christmas Tree, Mitten, Ornament, Snowman and a Gingerbread Man! And it is only $2.50!!!! This chipboard album would make a great quick little Christmas gift to make or just give as is. But the other thought I am working on is each one being a super special gift tag. Oh yeah, they would be perfect as a gift tag.


You can find it at either http://www.brambleberrylane.artfire.com or http://www.brambleberrylane.etsy.com

So many ideas you could use for this set just get working. There isn't much time left to Christmas. I think I am going to make a album with the kids with this. It can showcase our cookie making night. I love brag books that I can take with me. This over all measures approx. 7 x 7. But truly every page is a different size. For instance the snowman at his largest point width wise is 3 1/2 x 6 3/4" tall. So they do vary. I hope you really enjoy this set!

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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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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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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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More White Chipboard Fun with Frames

I just can't stop the fun with fabulous chipboard shapes. Here is my latest entry into the world of embellishments. They are chipboard frames. I started out with white but I am also going to offer them in solid cardstock as well so that people have options. They have perfect holes for brads to connect them to your project. I love adding demention to a project and with this set of 16 it will be easy for you to do.

I have also had some new keys that I am working on and they will be fun too. I am also going to be making up packages. Maybe you don't want 16 of one thing but 4 of one plus 4 of a bunch of others would be a better configuration. So keep an eye out for those great little starter packages coming your way.

Has it been cold where you all are? It surley has been here. I am totally missing being able to visit with my family with all the weird weather we have been having. The kids have gotten in a bunch of snow time which is grand. Have you sat on a sled in years? I did the other day and I must say it was so funny. Walking back up the hill was a adventure and it makes you feel young. Or maybe that was just the fact that my face was frozen. As you see here, Pat and Noah enjoyed it all as well!

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