My 2012 Breast Cancer Butterfly

Hi Everyone,
My daughter Sam works in an Oncology office.  Cancer is their life! They spend their days (and many times nights) assisting folks who are involved in their own private war.  Each and everyday the staff of this office leaves their own problems in their cars and walks through the door with smiles and eyes filled with hope for all of the people they will be seeing during the course of their day.  These girls are all special, no matter what their specific job is they all are an important aspect to the well being of the patients.  They are all very aware of all the effects cancer has on the life of their patients.  The office gets involved in all sorts of charity work to help keep cancer research going.  They participate in walks and make donations to charity events. They try to assist, teach and create a community support system. In October (breast cancer awareness month) they get together and have an office luncheon where they all cook or bake something.  These little breaks from the normal day helps to keep them together as group. A little bit of lightness in a stressful situation so to speak.  Last year Sam was on cupcakes and we made really nice toppers for the cupcake display (of course I didn't get a picture).  This year I got a jump on the graphic and I really like the way it looks.  Here is a .png of the graphic. I hope you like it too.

 Can't you just see this on a toothpick coming out of pink and white frosted cupcakes!  I think the girls will love them.  I just hope I didn't make a spelling mistake.  If you catch one please let me know so I can fix it before I go to print!  Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend,
Lysa
EDITED ON 10-11-2012:
Please see this blog post for a link to download the .pdf file of the butterfly.
http://www.lysaandhueyink.blogspot.com/2012/10/breast-cancer-donation-basket-is-done.html

Another Halloween Ornament or Two!

Hi Everyone,
I am clearly obsessed with the Stampin' Up holiday ornament. I rushed home from work each day this week so I could work on them. I have made a total of five so far and am hoping to make more. Many more! On Monday I ran to Joann's for some colored tulle.  All I had was black and I thought some orange would be cool to have around. It was cheap enough at $1.97 per yard so I got some lime green too.  I also picked up some white thinking I might be able to give it a dye job.  We will see how the nylon takes the dye.  I wanted some bright purple but it was not available so I thought my purple Stazon ink might just do the trick. Maybe even a Sharpie marker, that's the fun of crafting - just playing with all the supplies. I have decided on my three themes (bats, pumpkins and skulls) Here is a picture of the second skully:

Sadly, I only had one awesome metal skull for the first one.  If I get to the store I will look in the bead dept. for more because I really liked how the different center piece looks.
Here is a picture of the pumpkin themed one:

Oh I love the traditional black, green and orange. but again, here I want to change out the center piece.  The paper on these two are Stampin' Up digi files from their "Cast a Spell" line. I am so glad I purchased it because I use it over and over.  The bonus is that you can make coordinating embellishments as I did here.  I use DSA2 but any photo editing software will do.  I have had so much fun with this project that I just want to keep going and going and going . . .! I hope you all give these a try and if Halloween isn't your thing Christmas is on the way. Don't you think a Birthday themed one would be awesome? Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting,
Lysa

Halloween 2012, Finding My Crafty MOJO!

Hi Everyone,
Each and every August I go looking for my Halloween mojo. I always start in August because I just love Halloween!  I like to let the anticipation build for weeks.  I am not rushing the holiday, I am just enjoying every moment of the vibe that builds up to the big day.  It's silly I know, but I just love all things Halloween. Starting with the colors, moving through all the crafty goodness, picking a perfect costume, and ending with yummy candy! What's not to like? But true to form, with the pool open and a thermometer that is reading 85 degrees it is a bit hard to catch the "spirit"! So I go a look'n! It's kind of like a seek and you shall find thing.  I know for sure it is out there because the catalog from Costume Express arrived on Monday and I have been seeing little signs here and there around on the internet.  I reworked the craftspace for the fall/winter projects. I knew the mojo was upon me. I was struggling a bit but, once I got all my paper out and placed my fall Stampin' Up order I knew I was good to go.  I have to say I just love, love, love Stampin' Up! My favorite demonstrator to follow is Angie Juda Kennedy, click her to visit her awesome blog:  http://www.mychicnscratch.com
Today she posted a video on youtube that shows how to make an ornament for Christmas that is featured on the front of the Holiday 2012 catalog. Here is a picture:

Gee, it sure is pretty! I loved it the minute I saw it. As soon as Angie posted her video I got right to work using the supplies I had on hand to make one. Since all my Halloween paper was at hand I went that route.  Here is what I made:

LOVE IT!!! and now I am onto the next one! I really think this is the piece that helped me find my Halloween 2012 mojo, 'cause from today till the end of October, I am all about HALLOWEEN!
Have a great weekend everyone.  Thanks for visiting and I promise more Halloween mojo is on the way.
Lysa
Just a quick edit to add a pic of my second ornament.  I really enjoyed making these and I am looking forward to a Christmas themed piece.  They are fun to make though a bit long winded but, so worth the effort.  Here is a picture of the one I made for Sam. I think she will love it.

 Enjoy whats left of the weekend, Lysa

Halloween, Already!

Hi Everyone,
Its August 4th! Summer is winding down for us here at the homestead. I know school does not start for another 5 weeks.  Truth be told Rory's new lunch box and backpack are sitting in the kitchen ready to go.  How scary is that? So that scary leads me to . . .  Halloween! yeah my favorite crafty holiday! I have started to see a few things popping up here and there on the blogs and boards I follow.  I have been thinking on a few things for this years treats.  I try to come up with a treat for Rory to take to school and something for Sam and I to take to work. I also try for a little home decor piece to add to my vast collection.  So it seems simple enough when I get started but there is so much crafty goodness floating around that I keep re-focusing on something else.  So this year I am going to simplify! So the first thing is I am NOT going to buy more themed paper. Sitting on my work table is pad after pad, sheet after sheet of Halloween themed paper. True I love it all, and I even saw more that I loved via this years CHA summer previews.  But I am taking a stand.  I will NOT buy anymore Halloween paper no matter how much I love it!! One can clearly see I have issues with Halloween themed paper. Here is a picture of my Halloween stash.

And this does not even show my Halloween scraps!
The second stand I am taking is I will NOT buy any Halloween themed embellies! Nope I am done there too! No more brads, punches, scullys, stamps or stickers.  Here is a picture of my Halloween embellie draw. Which I must tell you does not include my Halloween fabric bin or my Halloween rubber stamps. Yup, this picture does not even show my magnet board that is filled with containers of plastic spiders and brads etc.

 People, you do realize I can duplicate these 2 pictures for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Baby, Wedding, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthday . . . The list goes on and on. I think I need a crafting intervention!  Is there shelving in padded rooms?
OK, back on topic, So this year I thought to simplify I would use 1 color scheme to cross the 3 projects I want to make. So looking at the stash I notice I have a good supply of green (Stampin' up Lucky Limeaid) black and white.  I see a lot of black and white stripes again this year so I am thinking this will be my colors for Halloween 2012. For the work favors I will use Ghirardelli chocolates. Last year Rory and I did pencils for her class.  There were simple, cute and candy free.  I loved them and I am thinking of using them again this year because the kids just get so much candy when they "trick or treat".  So this week end I hope to clear the "cobwebs" and get started on design my work favors.  Last years theme was bats. The tag line was "It's Halloween, Let's all go a little batty" Here a picture from last years post:

I am working on this years.  I had seen the phase "You say wicked like it's a bad thing" I liked it so much I wrote it down in my Halloween Smash book. I think I am headed in that direction.
So off I go to get started and here is a .png of a digi paper I made using my DSA2.  My inspiration came from the new Carta Bella paper line.  I figured since I have committed to not buy any paper I might as well make my own. The image is a Stampin' Up spider from their dark and dreary stamp set. Hope you like it.

Have a great week end everyone!
Lysa