Good morning, ladies…

Welcome to this week’s Pile It On challenge! This week we are challenging you to use Flowers and Flourishes on your project (along with at least one other challenge). This one should be VERY easy since who doesnt love flowers or flourishes?! I can not believe that this will be my last month with the Pile It On ‘09 design team — it has truly been a blast and I thank you all for taking the time to support us and our passion for designing. I especially hope that we were able to inspire you to continue to create beauty with your own hands!

My card was created using my new absolute favorite paper pack from My Mind’s Eye, Andrea Victoria. I am so in love with mustard yellow and gray right now! The weird part is that this is a very trendy color combo right now and I remember at the beginning of the year, reading a fashion magazine that listed it as 2009’s new “black…” how do they predict this stuff!! Anyhow, the Limelight Paper Craft challenge was to use their sketch, as well as your favorite patterned paper — so needless to say, it wasnt tough to choose from my favorite paper pack! It is gorgeous!

Hope you all will join us this week and the rest of the weeks to come before the new year! Take some time away from the busyness to relax and enjoy some creating — it will do you good!

Here are the challenges that I used on this week’s card:

Today I threw my lovely sister in law a Baby Shower! It is my very first shower that I have thrown and I definitely had a blast! I really wanted to make this one super special since it is baby #4 and it may be the last… I guess, we never really know, do we! Anyhow, I did a ton of research and found some great and inspirational Baby Showers! I will share a list of links later in the post, along with our menu.

They dont know if this is going to be a boy or girl (crossing our fingers for a girl!) so I went with a Purple, Blue and Green color theme. Peacock feathers were my initial inspiration, but I never ended up using any in the decor — mind you, I had them, just forgot to use them! Woops! I wanted the shower to be elegant, so I had some fresh flowers, crystal glasses and we even had it outside; what a blessing to have warm weather the week of Thanksgiving! Ever seen anyone use POTS as elegant decor? Well, my dear friend, Karen came up with this great idea to use them to hold the Cotton Candy Cones and the Champagne… all it took where a few extra strands of ribbon and voila! Beautiful!

I couldn’t pick just a few photos to show you, so I placed them in a slideshow below … Enjoy!

The Menu:

Lemon Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies
Cafe Mocha Creme Sticks
Cotton Candy in Paper Cones
Cherry Cordials
Grape Mike N Ikes
Blueberry Candy Canes
Sugar Plums
Champagne with Raspbrries
Sparkling Cider with Raspberries

Inspirational & Helpful Baby Shower Sites:

• Lolliblog – Sugar Spice and Everything Nice
• Hostess {with the Mostess}
• Shower Games A to Z
• Create My Event

Thanks for taking a peak at all of the fun I had this weekend! Now off to get into the Thanksgiving spirit!

Many Blessings to you and yours!

Have you seen the deal of the month!! Buy two get one free NOW… click HERE

I know that I have been missing in action lately… it has truly been busy around here and I believe it is only the beginning of the busyness! In 3 weeks we will be moving into a new apartment. We currently rent a one bedroom apartment that has been perfect for the two of us the last three years –but we are now quickly outgrowing it! Next upgrade is the two bedroom apartment, that just so happens to be located just across the street :) Looking forward to the easy move!

Now for the fun part! The main reason we need more room is because of all of our art stuff that is just gushing out of the sides of our kitchen! The 2nd bedroom will officially be the Art Room. No, not the scraproom… because it isnt just mine and it isnt just for scrapping! It is also for my handsome hubby who enjoys painting and collaging.  So here I am day-dreaming of the way I want our room to be.

INSPIRATIONAL — PEACEFUL — CREATIVE

These are the main words that come to mind and in this post I will share a few of my favorite scrap rooms that I have found to be extremely inspirational for our future art room! — Also, see the fabric above by Amy Butler that is the inspiration for the room colors :)

Karen Russell — Vintage Style

Liz’s Yellow Haven — Bright and Bold

Lisa Brown — Clean & Simple

The Posy Studio — Cute & Aclectic

For more inspirational scrap rooms, check out Jeanette’s list of Studios that Inspire. Hope you are having as much fun as I am! I cant believe how excited and inspired I feel right now… there are some amazing ladies out there!

***PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW POSTS! THIS POST WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP THROUGH NOVEMBER***

I am BEYOND EXCITED for this month’s amazing deal from Close To My Heart!

We’ve never done a promotion like this so close to the holidays! This promotion—buy two stamp sets, get one free—is a singular opportunity to make gift giving more fun and more affordable. Tell your friends, your family—you might even want to tell Santa Claus! **Please note that there is NO LIMIT and that the free item (or items) will be the lowest-priced stamp sets of the entire order, regardless of the value of other stamp sets purchased.

Since I am so excited, I am going to throw in some more extra goodness as my holiday gift to you! If you make a purchase on my website from November 1st through November 26th (Thanksgiving Day), I will enter you into a drawing to win a $20.00 Gift Certificate (Redeemable through me at anytime!).

GO HERE to place an order now! And don’t forget to create a fun Christmas Wish List for yourself and send your loved ones my way as well (they will be entered to win too!) The WINNER will be posted here on November 27th and notified via email within the following two days. *Interested in simply purchasing a gift certificate for someone?? Simply email me at Ames33@gmail.com and I will give you more information!

Good luck and Have fun making your list!