Sincere Apologies

Hi everyone!  I just wanted to pop in real quick today.  I just wanted to let you know I'm "still around" lol.  Seriously though, I wanted to apologize for not posting on my blog (or visiting your blogs) very much over the last month or so.  I do really miss visiting each of your blogs and wish I had time to share some of the many projects I've been working on.  But that's going to have to wait for just a bit longer.  I hope you understand & will keep an eye out for future posts.


For those of you that don't know, my sister is getting married in a couple of weeks.  In addition to the many duties & appointments I've had to run to as Matron of Honor - she's had quite a list of projects she's wanted me to work on too.  So I've been quite busy there.  It's pretty time consuming, but lots of fun!  After the wedding, I hope to be sharing all of the wedding projects with you. 

Wedding Projects "Sneak Peek"

 Be sure to check out the "Sneak Peek" on the left though - Don't you just love that gorgeous SNS Thank You stamp?!
and how awesome does the brides' name look on the Spellbinder ribbon?! (More on this & other wedding stuff later!)


I've also been working on some fun new Sparkle N Sprinkle projects too.  I have a handful of great all occasion projects as well as a really fun seasonal idea that will be coming your way.  So you can look forward to those too! 
 

And on the general home front / personal side, even though we're just about 4 weeks into the new school year now; we're still trying to adjust to that at my house.  Since my daughter has now moved up to a new school since she started middle school; now the entire family has a new  schedule we've been trying to get in sync with.  It hasn't been easy since our school district runs the middle school kids on the same schedule as the high school.  Now she has to be up at 5:30 in morning - I think that''s a pretty early / tough schedule for someone as young as her!  We're doing our best to help her adjust though.

Well, that's the nutshell version of what's been going on around here & why I've been a bit absent from blogland so much.  I sure hope all has been well with each of you and that you've had some time to create some fun things yourself!  I really look forward to seeing them sometime soon!! Thanks again for bearing with me and for taking time to read this. I always appreciate your taking the time to visit!!!

Until next time,

***Julie***

PS - Don't forget, there's still time to enter SNS's Creative Challenge for this month!  Some great digital images up for grabs; so be sure to join the fun!!

Farewell to Summer (SNS Sept. Challenge too!)

It was a pretty busy August around my place: lots of back to school preparations & shopping - end of summer day trips & activities we wanted to squeeze in  - project days to work on more of my sisters wedding projects while we still had opportunities (she's a teacher too).  We try to cram sooo much into those last precious days of summer, but it's kind of like an annual ritual at this point.  And it goes so fast!  Does your family have any end of summer rituals??

For us, the final celebration of summer comes Labor Day weekend.  For years my entire extended family (which really I consider my immediate family) goes to a nearby lake.  We picnic, swim, fish, bike ride, walk the dogs, you name it.  It's the perfect final blow out for summer & we had such an amazing time doing it all together.

So......since we've given summer it's official send off; it's time to think fall.  So I thought I'd give you a little fall inspiration.  And also give you a little inspiration for this month Creative Challenge too!

This month's Challenge is "Anything goes with Glitter, Embossing Powder, and/or Flocking"

I decided to take the ANYTHING part quite literally and made this adorable fall notepad.  Even a plain old notepad looks beautiful with a bit of Sparkle N Sprinkle!

I thought this would be something really nice to give to someone that will be hosting Thanksgiving.  With all the preparations that can go into getting ready for Thanksgiving; what hard working hostess wouldn't love a beautiful little notebook to keep track of all of her shopping & to do lists for all the preparations.  (And it's so perfectly pretty with it's SNS touches of course!)

The beautiful Basket of Apples is from Set 474 - Fall Harvest and is colored with Copic markers.

To make the saying pop off of the printed paper; I used White Detail embossing powder.  And warm & sparkly accents were added in two places by adding a strip of Sparkling Coffee Sparkle N Soft (glittery flocking) between the printed papers and also on the brads.

While I designed it with Thanksgiving in mind; it certainly would be a lovely little gift for so many other occasions/people too -  how about for a teacher's gift (apple for the teacher?) or for a friend at church?  There's so many other great ideas I'd bet you can come up with.

So I hope you enjoyed today's project.  Don't forget to let me know what you think.  And don't forget to join in on the fun for this month's challenge too!  We always look forward to see what you come up with!

Until next time,

***Julie***