We’re here and we have a resident bear!

Hi everyone, just wanted to post a quick note and say hi! We’re moved in and trying to unpack and get settled. We love the new house. It’s still very surreal and feels like we are on vacation. It’s just beautiful and I will share pics soon. We don’t have Internet yet and will be a couple weeks longer until we get it. I feel so disconnected without it. I’m doing this post via my iPhone.

Nika is doing awesome and already adjusted to the new house. She transitioned beautifully and has been sleeping well, yahoo!!

Oh, about the bear…we met him yesterday at dusk, out in our back yard. There was a family of deer out in the pasture all looking in the same direction so we looked too. There he was sniffing around and pawing in the dirt! He hung out there poking around for a good half hour. Then it got too dark for us to see him. How crazy is that?!?!

So exciting! Hope you are doing well and I will chat with you soon. XOOXO- Cathy

Friday Freebie - party hats, flower paper & elephants!

It’s Friday…and also moving day for me!! I’m so excited yet tired at the same time. It’s been a busy week with no crafting fun. I can’t wait to make something. Hopefully this weekend I can sneak in a little something while unpacking. For today’s freebie finds I’ve got 3 fun places for you to get your freebies.

Scrapbooks etc magazine has 6 very cool birthday party themed papers for you to download. Most of these would be great for non b-day stuff too.

• Flower paper
• Birthday hats & presents paper
• Green circle paper
• Multicolor circle paper
• Blue circle paper
• Orange Striped paper

Over at the Fisk-a-Teers site you can go download some super cute party hats designed by Katie Pertiet.

And just because I thought these were way too cute…you can download this adorable elephant paper/mini kit from Little Dreamer Designs!

Have a great weekend. XOOXO ~ Cathy

Halloween ATC sneek peeks

I’m participating in my very 1st ATC swap. There are 15 of us and the theme is Halloween. I made my batch of cards last week. If you would like to see a sneak peek of the cards you can see them here on Lisa’s site. I’m not posting them yet since I know some of the people participating read my blog and I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Anyway…I have made some extras of these cards if you would like to trade let me know {email or leave a comment} I’ll send you one. XOOXO

Michaels 40% off coupon

This is only good for a few days, but just in case you need one…here’s a printable 40% off coupon for Michaels. Happy Shopping!! XOOXO

Print the coupon

We’re home…and packing up to move!

We had 4 fun-filled, yet relaxing days at the beach. It was so great!! Nika loved being there too. Here’s some pics from our trip. We discovered this really cool 1,000 acre u-pick farm near the house. Lots of wonderful berries, lavender and all kinds of other goodness. You can read about the farm and see more pics here. Here’s little Nika playing in the berry fields. She loves going to the u-pick farms.

Here’s the view from the front of the house at Sunset.

I really liked how purply {is that a word?} the sky and clouds looked at Sunset.

There were a lot of birds flying-in and flying-by too. I suppose migration is already starting. It was really neat to see so many birds every where. Oh, there were the cutest family of quails that would come by every evening and peck around out back in the yard. I wanted to get a photo but they would scramble away as soon as I opened the door. Pictured below is a small flock of the many geese that stopped over for a rest.

The move is finally happening!! I may not be posting much this week since we are packing up the house to move this Friday. We still have a lot to do and too many things to pack. Hope you have a great week. XOOXO

Friday Freebie - 2009 CD calendar templates

Hello and Happy Friday!! I found this great CD calendar template at Designs by Krista. This would make for a great little Christmas present. The freebie is on her blog under the September 14th post. It’s takes a while to download but is really worth it. All you need to do is download the freebie, add some photos and pop the calendar into an empty CD case! You’ll have a useful homemade present to give someone.

Get the Friday Freebie!

Going to the beach house…wish you were here!

We’re packing up this morning {not to move} but to head over to the beach house. We’re going to spend a few days at the beach and rest-up before our big house move which will be the following weekend. There’s no Internet set-up at the house, but I will have my iPhone and can get emails. I’ve scheduled a few blog posts to go up while I’m away…lots of fun freebies. I thought I’d share a photo of what we get to enjoy from our view.

I love a purple sunset with a snow topped mountain in the background. The water lying beneath all coupled with the fresh crisp ocean air. Ahh….wish you were here! XOOXO ~ Cathy

Friday Freebie - Tweet tweet…for bird lovers

I’m posting this one early as I think it’s expiring soon. Today’s freebie finds are from Digital Scrapbooking. These are super cute!! You can download backgrounds, elements, quick page, and an alpha all for free! Digital Scrapbooking does swap out their freebies so grab em quick.

Get the Freebies!

• Papers
• Elements
• Quick Page
• Alpha

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for more fun freebie finds! XOOXO

Show & Tell - Look who is 8 card

Here’s the birthday card I made for Kelsey. Surprisingly the idea and card came together real quick. I’ve already packed up all my favorite patterned paper and wound-up using a paper pack that came with one of my card magazines. I have never used any of these free paper packs before and was going to give them to the kids. Now that I’ve used one…I rather like it! I love how the card came out.

Thanks for stopping by today! XOOXO

I got to meet one of my blogging friends!!

I had a fun last-minute outing yesterday afternoon. I got to meet one of my online friends, the super sweet Scrappy Catz Lisa!! She was here in Seattle all the way from Memphis, TN. How cool is that? I’ve been friends with Lisa since the beginning of this year. We have a lot of craftiness in common and hangout in many of the same places online. It was so fun to meet her in person. When I went to pick her up she was just as I had imagined too. She’s one of those people that you just enjoy being around. We had a fun afternoon together. We went to Snoqualmie Falls and did a little touristy shopping. We also stopped by my new house and Lisa met my honey, Vlad. Little Nika couldn’t get enough of her. Nika wanted Lisa to carry her and hold hands. It was really cute!

I’ve met a few of my online friends and all of them have been fabulous people. Very cool how the Internet can bring people together from all over the world. I love that about blogging!

Thank you Lisa for spending your afternoon with Nika and me. It was so great to get to know you better! You’re just as fabulous in-person as you are online. XOOXO

50% off Michaels coupon

You don’t see 50% off coupons for Michaels often!! Here’s a printable one good until this Saturday September 20th. Happy Shopping!!

Print the coupon

Delicate mess…and the annual bath!

I’m a slow packer, at least when it comes to packing up my craft room. I keep finding things I lost or forgot I had. Then I get side tracked and start messing around. You know how that goes, right? My craft room is a delicate mess! That’s what I told my honey while packing last night. Not sure where that came from. Probably the wine that I had to drink in order to stay focused and not play around. I’m not a very good crafter while drinking, LOL. Finally…we are REALLY getting ready to move into our new place. I spent most of the weekend packing up the house.

I’m still squeezing in some crafty goodness too. Here’s some things I’m working on this week.

• Putting together a big crafty birthday package for Kelsey
• Finishing my Halloween ATCs and making a little present for the swap host
• Oh…gotta make a special ATC for this talented funny guy too

Here’s some fun pics I wanted to share of me and my other girl, Parker P. She’s getting her annual bath in these photos. Miss Parker will be moving to our new place too!! Woohoo, can’t wait.

Ok, enough procrastinating and rambling, I’m gonna go pack some more. Chat with you soon. XOOXO

Be your own fabric designer and design some wrapping paper too!!

Have you heard about Spoonflower? They’re a new company that lets you design your own fabric and have it custom-printed by the yard. I’m not much of a sewer, but this sounds really cool. Here’s a great interview that Diane Gilleland had with the founder. There’s a Flickr Spoonflower group that you can check out too. Really cute stuff!!

There’s also places that will print your own designs on wrapping paper! I suppose if it were a small package you can print your design at home on your own printer. However having it on a big roll would be fun. Here’s one place I found. You can google {custom printed gift wrap} and find lots of places that offer this service.

Just a couple of interesting things I came across while surfing around. Hope you are having a great weekend! XOOXO ~ Cathy

Friday Freebie - awesome layered PSD files

Hello Friday!! It’s not often I come across good layered PSD files for digi scrapping that I like. I love the ones I found for todays freebie find. This freebie is designed by Karen Maggie from Studio Girls ScrapbookGraphics. You get 2 awesome layered PSD files and 18 png files to play with…love the big bracket frame on this!!

Get the Friday Freebie

Happy Friday my friends. XOOXO ~ Cathy

Show & Tell - USSR paper bag album

I’m making this paper bag album for the monthly Scrap-a-latte club that I attend. I really didn’t care for the travel theme for this months paper selections. I’m not much of a theme scrapper. I actually like the paper a lot now that I’ve cut it up and smeared distress ink all over it. I’m still working on the album and will be adding journaling and inserts into the album pockets. This album has pictures of my husband from when he was in preschool and elementary school back in the USSR. I love these photos and really enjoy hearing about what his life was like back then. I thought these pics were perfect for a little mini album.

I used 2 lunch-sized paper bags for this album which gave me 6 pages, not counting the front and back covers. You can see more of my paper bag albums here and get more info on how I make these. Thanks for stopping by today! XOOXO

Products used

• Patterned paper {DCWV}
• Lunch sacks {purchased from the the grocery store}
• Distress Ink {Ranger}
• Mesh {FibaTape}
• Die cut elements {Basic Grey}
• Adhesive {Herma & Ultimate Glue}
• Letters {Basic Grey, Forester & DCWV}
• Journaling prompt cards {K&Co}
• Fibers {Really Reasonable Ribbon}