I finally know how to use my camera....

I have a group of wonderful friends who I scrapbook with every once in awhile...we try to do it monthly but sometimes it turns out every-other month. And whenever we can do it is great, because it sets aside a night to catch up on my scrapbooking. If we can stop chatting long enough to actually get something done, ha ha.

Here's a page I did of Samantha choosing a pumpkin at Fall City Farms (see photos from that day a few posts down.) I've had this little scarecrow embellishment for a long time so I finally was able to use it!





This was my favorite page but I actually got 5 pages done last night, I'm feeling productive. I didn't go to bed until 2am so I'm also feeling tired. But it was worth it!

I'm still figuring out the best way to take pictures of my scrapbook pages...they can be tough because of the size. I am getting better at photographing my cards though...I recently took a digital photography class and I learned so much about my camera! My husband bought me an amazing DSLR camera two years ago for photographing my cards and my kids and I'm ashamed to say it's been mostly on the auto setting until now. I've made it a goal to learn how to use my camera and I'm having a lot of fun! I can already tell my photos are turning out a lot better. The only problem now is I want more lenses. I didn't know what I was missing before and now I want a wide-angle lense and a 50mm lense. Santa are you reading this?? :)

busy

This is a crazy busy time of year for me. I have several birthdays and holidays and anniversaries all within 8 weeks..... Phillips birthday, Halloween, Ethan's Birthday, Nephew Carsons Birthday, Sisters birthday, Thanksgiving, Anniversary, Christmas. Oh and then my birthday is in early January a few days after New Years. By then I'm too pooped to celebrate anymore so I usually just treat myself to a nice spa pedicure and a dinner out with my husband. ;)

Here are a few picts of the kiddies in their Halloween costumes and Ethan at his 7th Birthday Party...that's me in the corner sticking out my tongue, not sure why I'm doing that! ha ha. And that's my Mom in the middle...my parents drove all the way to Washington from Utah to come to my son's birthday. What an awesome Grandma and Grandpa my kids have!







Thanksgiving is around the corner and I always reflect on my blessings this time of year. We all have struggles...I'm no exception, but I know that overall I'm very lucky. I have an awesome family and a very supportive group of friends...and that makes all the difference! The economy has been tough on a lot of people we know this year and my husband went through his own unemployment phase for a few months this summer. Luckily he is employed again and is enjoying his new job. My thoughts go out to you who are dealing with similar struggles! This has been a trying year for many but we will all get through it. Happy early Thanksgiving!

orange

Today I'm showing cards with a lot of ORANGE. I love orange, and naturally this is a great time of year to make orange cards! I picked up some new Halloween papers from my LSS yesterday and immediately had to play...here are a few....




Supplies used: Fright Night stamp and Basic Grey Scary Cat / Eerie patterned paper.





Supplies used: Hallow's Eve stamp set and Basic Grey Jack-o-Lantern / Eerie patterned paper.


I have another Halloween/Orange card on the Lizzie Anne company blog today! I am definitely on an orange-kick (notice my husbands birthday card below was mostly orange too.) Orange orange orange.

Happy Halloween!

happy birthday phillip

Today is my husband Phillip's birthday and it's a big one....it's his 40th Birthday!!! Whoo hoo! This is the card I made for him. It has girlie stuff on it like buttons and ribbon and a flourish but it's done in a masculine way...don't you think? (Plus he'd expect me to give him something girlie anyways.)





I used a bunch of different stamps on this one....a flourish from Fanciful Flourishes, the star from Something to Crow About, and the celebrate sentiment is from Everyday Sayings. I think he'll like it. I had a giant cookie sent to him at work today too with "Happy 40th Birthday!" on it...I'm a little worried that he's going to be embarrassed that I gave away his age, ha ha. 40 is the new 30 anyways. :)



I haven't talked a ton about my hubby on my blog so it's time to introduce him. I was lucky enough to marry a computer geek. Phillip is the powerhouse behind our online shopping cart and web presence...it's safe to say that without Phillip there would be no Lizzie Anne. Phillip has always been such an awesome support to me in both my personal life and my business life. He watches the kids so I can go to tradeshows. He'll make dinner if he gets home in time. He does his own laundry. He updates my software. He is a fan of Lizzie Anne Designs on Facebook. That means a lot! :) He's always been an awesome guy but he's grown better with age. Those of you who have been married at least 10 years know what I'm talking about. I'm lucky to have a guy like him. And he's cute too.

Happy 40th Birthday Phillip!!!

pie season

I officially declare Fall "pie season." It is the only time of year I bake pies. And I have to say, I make a good apple pie (ask my husband!) It's fun...I have all the pie making stuff. The flour sifter, the butter-chopper thingie, the pampered chef pie mat (for measuring and rolling out the crust,) a great pie dish my husband bought me for Christmas one year (no hints from him there!) and even a special pie-making rolling pin...one side is concave so you can roll the piecrust into the sides of the pie dish. It's an absolute shame that I don't make pies more often with all the pie gear I have. But that's because I refuse to use store-bought crusts so it takes forever. It takes me half-an-hour just to clean the flour that seems to get everywhere out of the cracks in the table and on the floor. Therefore my family looks forward to pie season every year, and it makes it all that more special.

Here's a little Fall pie card I made with images from the November Monthly Mix set...A Harvest of Memories. What kind of pie is that you ask? It's an apple pie. Though I really like pumpkin and pecan pie too. :)

pumpkin patch

I've been waiting for the perfect day to take my daughter to the pumpkin patch and today was it...the sun was out, it was warm-ish, and we're not sick. ;) I had my good camera with me and there is nothing like driving around in the country/farmland in Autumn.

We stopped at the Fall City Farms pumpkin patch. The pumpkin house was adorable! Look at these gorgeous photos...

downtime

I have been sick with the flu the past few days (along with my kids) and if there is anything good you can say about having the flu is that it makes you put your normal day-to-day tasks aside and take a break. I spent some time in my craft room organizing papers and going through embellishments and playing with the new December Mix set...Christmas Wishes. Here are two cards I made...



I love this little Partridge in a Pear tree card...and I "paired" it (ha ha) with the pear image that is in the November / Something to Crow About set. I just stamped a little row of pears in the background. The patterned paper is Basic Grey.



This little Holiday Cheer card features the little hanging row of ornaments and the Holiday Cheer sentiment. These stamps are good for smaller cards....this card is 4.25x4.25 square. We always put a good assortment of stamp sizes in our sets...and I've noticed that I tend to go small while Meridith goes kind of medium and Joslyn goes big. Ha ha! We're a good combination. I think my love of small images started back when I used to own my scrapbooking store and we carried a lot of A Muse stamps (still love A Muse!) Little cards are fun.

Here's a closeup of the hanging ornaments...I put a little glitter on there too...




Here's a Halloween scrapbook page I made the other day while scrapbooking at my friend Rebecca's house...it's of the little trip to Disneyland my son and I took at the beginning of October. Disneyland at Halloweentime is really fun...I loved the decorations! Unfortunately I think this where we got the flu too...my son was the first family member to go down with it a few days after we got home. I still love Fall but yeah, not so much loving flu season.

more new release stamps....

I'm really having fun playing with all our new release stamps. I've successfully avoided cleaning the house to make all the cards and tags above...completely worth a dirty house, I must say!





Here's the second tag I mentioned yesterday...featuring the igloo from Way Up North. When I designed this set, I really wanted it to be different from other "North Pole" stamp sets out there...and I thought an igloo dressed up in Holiday lights and garb would be just the thing to make it stand out! I love this image...I am planning on using it when I start my Christmas card mass-producing. (I usually choose a few favorite images and make about 5 cards per image.)



...see how cute that big tag looks on a gift bag?! As an afterthought, I stamped some of our new flourishes on the bag and that looks cute too (you can see it in the top group photo.)

This next card makes me smile because I've been wanting a sleigh bell stamp for a long time. When I talked to Katie (this set is part of the Katie Jane Collection) about designing the Christmas Magic stamp set, I specifically asked for a sleigh bell. It reminds me of The Polar Express...my favorite Christmas movie! I paired it with some Fanciful Flourishes.



All these new stamps will be available tomorrow...and you will find them right here in the New Release section!

Now that I've done so many Holiday cards I will probably go back to Halloween for a bit (don't you love this time of year?! ha ha.) I just returned from a trip to Disneyland with my son and it was decorated up Halloween-style...I have so many great photos! I feel a scrapbooking session coming on soon!

stamp release time....yippee!

We just revealed our first two stamp sets over on our company blog...go see it here! And make sure to leave a comment there because we're giving away those two sets to one lucky winner. We'll be showing two more sets tomorrow, and then the sets are officially available on Friday.

Stamp release time is always such a reward for our efforts...we just love seeing what our design team is doing with the images that we worked so hard to design. And we love reading the comments from our customers too!







Here's a tag I made with our new Fanciful Flourishes set. I'm loving these new flourishes...I can tell this will be a WELL USED stamp set. I paired it with the bird image from Love and Joy Labels. I've really been into making tags lately...I have another one to show tomorrow. I love the idea of putting a big beautiful tag on top of a present. It really dresses it up. You almost don't need fancy wrapping paper if you have a beautiful tag. I also love to put big tags on homemade gifts...cookies wrapped up in cellophane with a big tag looks adorable.

I'll be back tomorrow with more sneak peek samples!

halloween tree part 2

Last year, I made this really cute Halloween Tree for my table. I pulled it out this year and have been adding to it...we've had a lot of really cute new Halloween stamps so my tree needed an update!

Here are some of the new ornaments...


This one features our Mummy single.









These three images are from the Hallow's Eve stamp set...





This crow image is from the September Monthly Mix set...Something to Crow About.


I love Halloween decorations!