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Happy Candy Day

Warning! It is a very long post with lots of pictures. Sorry about this.

Hello and Happy Halloween everybody!  Are you ready for trick-or-treating time? We already prepared a big bowl full of candy for our local kids. And Sergei is all excited about his haunting night. He will be wearing a Darth Vader costume from Star Wars. For three years he was Anakin and now like in the real movie he turned to a bad guy. 🙂

Sergei in his Darth Vader Costume

Because of the National Candy Day (Halloween) I wanted to share with you my last projects made for this holiday. My friends already got them in the mail and now I can show it here!

Emma Cow

Emma Cow

Emma in her Cow Costume (C.C. Designs Stamps) is for my wonderful friend Ida. I also made a milk carton as a treat box. What is a cow without a carton of milk? 🙂 For the card I used SC # 303. I am not quite sure if I like the pleated element of the card… But I needed to add something so the card will not look so plain.

Milk Carton

My next two boxes were made for my dear friend Anna and her little son. Pillow box with Witch Emma (C.C. Designs) is for mama; and cute Hero (Sweet November Stamp) for her son.  For the Gable  box I watched a video-tutorial by Beate. It was so easy to do; Beate really does an amazing job explaining everything so well. Plus she is an incredibly talented crafter! There is also a written tutorial by Regina Andari.

Bewitched Pillow Box

Hero Gable Box

 I also wanted to share a gorgeous card that I got from Ida. First of all, look at this kitty! He is so adorable! I loved the dimension she created! She also embossed the sentiment which gave a very nice texture to the card. I don’t know if you can see on the picture, but she also added some sparkles to the hat buckle. Thank you Ida!

Card from Ida

Card from Ida

Okay, it was a very long post. Thank you so much for making it to the end. Wish you all a spooktacular day!

May the Candy Force be with you, 🙂

Elena

Last Minute Halloween Project

Hello My Friends! Thank you so much to all of you – Jessica, Susan, Leslie, Kerri, Velta, Jane, Ida, Sue, Cindy, Maria – for your comments to my last post. After reading all of them I understood one main thing: I will create because I love doing it; I will give my cards or projects to my friends and people I like and if they will bring a smile to their faces it will bring me back so much joy and happiness which is more important than anything else. 🙂 And I will think about Etsy shop (thank you for this idea Jessica), you never know, right?

Over the past week I have been finishing my crocheting (I know how to crochet flowers now) and working on a new knitting projects (I’m learning how to knit socks).

Today I also finished a project for Sergei’s teacher. It was a last minute Halloween trick or treat basket. I used Sweet November Stamps ( Baby Trick or Treat). For the card I followed Taylored Expressions Sketch and Princess. And for the basket with some sweet goodies inside I decided to play with Pumpkin. I found a great tutorial by Gina K. at Stamp TV for my basket. I hope Sergei’s teacher will like it.

Since it really was a last minute project why not to participate at ATS Wednesday Challenge. I visited blog this morning and was amazed by all of the fabulous Halloween gift ideas! These girls really can help you with inspiration!

Before I finish I wanted to share a funny story about Sergei. On Monday I was volunteering at his classroom. When I was leaving school after my work was done the 5th graders had lunch. I was passing by Sergei’s table and he gave me a weired look. I asked what was wrong. And he looked at me and told:”Mom, why did you put Activia in my lunch box?”  “Because you like yogurt, what is wrong with this one?” (I bought this brand because I had a coupon, usually I by a different name). “But this yogurt is for girls” – Sergei continued. Believe or not I thought it will come up. Did you notice that Activia is advertisedby woman, that i why my kid decided that it is only for girls. (And I guees it has girl’s cooties). I told him:”Oh, just eat it, please. It is just a yogurt.” Maybe whoever who creates commercials should make one with the man, so little boys will not be so confused? What do you think? 🙂

That is all for today. I will be back tomorrow with more Halloween projects that I made for my friends. Thank you so much for sharing some time with me! Have a wonderful day everybody,

Elena

Всем привет!  Сразу же хочу поблагодарить Веру и Евгению за отзывы к моему предыдущему сообщению. Спасибо большое за советы и добрые слова! После прочтения всех комментариев я еще раз сделала вывод для себя: я буду продолжать творить и дарить свои открытки или поделки своим родным, друзьям, людям, которые мне нравятся. И если мне удастся подарить кому-то из них улыбку, то взамен я получу частичку счатья! А ведь это самое главное – дарить и получать радость от дарения! Ведь задумайтесь… Слово “подарок” – давать радость! Здорово, правда?

Сегодня я показываю вам небольшой подарок из серии на скорую руку. По времени со всем не успевала и вот так по-быстрому сделала открытку и корзиночку к предстоящему празднику Halloween. Корзинка и открытка уже на столе у Сережиной учительницы – надеюсь, что ей понравится. Сережка весь вечер крутился у мoего стола вчера, пока я работала над этим мини-проектиком.

Для корзинки я использовала мастер-класс с очень полезного сайта Stamp TV. Как всегда не обошлось и без симпатичненьких ребятишек от магазина ATS (Sweet November Stamps). Т.к. придумывалось и создавлось все в последнюю минуту, то решила поучавствовать в конкурсе на блоге ATS Wednesday Challenge. Может в этот раз мне повезет, хотя главное не победа, а участие!

Напоследок хочу рассказать вам исмешную историю про Сережу. В понедельник я ходила в школу помогать его учительнице. Получилось так, что время когда я закончила свою работу совпало по времени с ланчем для пятиклашек. В общем иду я к выходу и прохожу мимо Сережиного столика. Сережа меня одарил очень странным взглядом. Что-то не то… “Мама, почему ты мне положила Активию в сумку для ланча?” (Активия – название йогурта). “Но ведь это йогурт, я ничего не вижу в этом плохого” – ответила я. “Мама, этот йогурт только для девочек!” Честно сказать, я ожидала такого ответа. Дело в том, что по телевидению очень часто показывают рекламу этого продукта, и конечно же его рекламирует женщина. (Обычно я покупаю другой йогурт, но просто у меня была скидка-купон именно на Активию) В общем мой ребенок решил, что мальчикам этот йогурт противопаказан! “Съешь его, пожалуйста. Это просто йогурт!”  – ответила я своему привереде. Думаю, что производителям данного молочного продукта нужно запустить парочку роликов и с мужчинами! А то ввводят в заблуждение мужские слои населения! 😉

Вот теперь все! Спасибо, что остановились и разделили со мной свое время! Всего вам добрго и до новых встреч,

Лена

School Survival Kit

Hello My Friends! Thank you so much for your kind comments from my previous post. Really, you made me feel so good! 🙂

Today I have a very special project to share. Sergei and me made it for my friend’s son who starts Kindergarten this coming Thursday. When Sergei started his school we lived in Richmond, VA. He had the best teacher ever! Her name was Mrs. Gusky. On the first day at school she gave all her young students a School Survival Kit. I really liked that idea! And I decided to do the same for Sam (my friend’s son).

We created a card using one of the stamps from ATC store. For the layout I chose SC #243 ; very cute layout. And of course what a school without backpack. I followed this great tutorail by Mary Arima from Splitcoastampers forum. Inside we put all the supplies for the Survival Kit. Sergei wrote explanations of each item and we put it in the pocket. If you are interested that is what we used:

– Cotton ball: To remind you that this room is full of kind words and warm feelings;

– Star: To remind you to shine and always try your best:

– Penny: To remind you that you are valuable and special;

– Eraser: To remind you everyone makes mistakes. That’s OK, we learn by our errors;

– Happy Face Stickers: to remind you that smile is so important;

– Gum: to remind you to stick with it;

– Rubber Band; to remind to stretch yourself to learn.

I hope Sam will like it and we wishing him a wonderful year!

That is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Hugs and smiles,

Elena

Candy Cane Lala Box

Hello and Happy Wednesday! Each Wednesday means it is time for the La-La Land Weekly Challenge. This week is hosted by incredibly talented Kim. She would love to see what everyone can do with stamps besides using them on cards. So the challenge for this week is ANYTHING BUT A CARD.

I usually like to create little boxes or gift items. But this time when I really needed it, my MOJO decided to leave me. After thinking and searching online I stopped on creating a box. I found this idea on very-very beautiful blog by Anita Hagen, where she gave a link to the template. Since I needed a card and box at the same time, I decided to attach card to the lid of the box.

Candy Cane Lala Box

Candy Cane Lala Box

As you can see I chose Candy Cane Lala for the main character of card. It is very appropriate for Christmas and was perfect for me! I will give this box to Sergei’s teacher with some yummy candy inside. Hope she will like it.

Box Open

Box Open

Are you ready for making anything but a card? Please be sure to stop at La-La Land Crafts blog for even more creative ideas! We can’t wait to see what you can do!

Sergei will have a Christmas party tomorrow at his class. We are bringing 30 peanut-butter sandwiches in a shape of snowman, mitten, and stocking. I used cookie cutter to cut the bread, lots of cutting was yesterday.

I don’t know if I will be posting tomorrow, but I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

May joy and happiness snow on you, may the bells jingle for you and may Santa be extra good to you! Merry Christmas!

Enjoy the holiday season,

Elena

Good News and Christmas Card

Warning! It is a very long post, but you don’t need to read it all…

Hello! Thank you so much for browsing through my blog today! As you saw already it will be a very long post… but I couldn’t not share some good news with you. On Monday I had an interview for my citizenship status, and I passed it! It was not as hard as I was imagining, maybe because I was preparing for almost three months.

I don’t remember if I told you before or not, but each Thursday I visit Sergei’s classroom as a volunteer. This time my visit was so special. Sergei’s Teacher and his class prepared for me a Big Surprise – little celebration party in honor of my citizenship test. All of the kids sang a National anthem for me (they were even wearing white, red and blue clothes). When they were singing it I had “goose bumps” all over me, it’s so touching. After that Sergei’s Teacher (who is a very nice lady) gave me a gift in a very beautiful box (I will show pictures below this entry). Inside the box there was a Christmas ornament. Isn’t it so sweet? Now our Christmas tree will have a very special decoration that I will always remember where it came from and what was the reason. Then they showed me a table that was arranged for celebration. Kids brought cookies; Jell-O treats in a shape of American flag. And last but not least all of the kids made a flag out of paper, where red stripes were their paper hand’s, lots of them. That was another very heart touching moments. I am very thankful for this, I felt so special at that time.

Gift from Class

Gift from Class

Christmas Ornament

Christmas Ornament

 

Flag made by Kids

Flag made by Kids

If you read all of this, thank you so much for taking your time. Now to the card and little box. Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch inspired me for this card; finally I made it on time. Thank you Mercy!

As you can see I chose cute boy Trevor holding his ornaments from C.C. Designs. I decided to pick two different DP from My Minds Eye and Basic Grey; thought that they would match well.

Trevor wishes you Happy Holidays

Trevor wishes you Happy Holidays

I also wanted to participate in Color Throwdown Challenge for the first time. Hope that my card will count. I tried to use all of the colors from this week’s color palette. At least Trevor’s outfit has it. 🙂

Since I had a card why not creating a box. The idea of this box belongs to Andrea Walford who has a great tutorial how to make.

Gift Box

Gift Box

I think that is all for today! Thank again for taking your time and reading it. Thank you for leaving your kind comments!

Have a fantastic day everybody,

 Elena

La-La Land Thank you Challenge

Hello and welcome to the La-La Land Weekly Challenge. The theme of this week is “We are thankful for you”, just in time for Thanksgiving. It means that you need to make a Thank you card or project. With the THANKFUL challenge this week, Irina has this awesome blog candy to give away randomly to one lucky person. 

Blog Candy at La-La Land blog

Blog Candy at La-La Land blog

Want to learn more about how you can get in on the fun? Just visit our La-La Land Crafts blog HERE and find out how you can qualify for the blog candy and a chance to be one of our TOP 3!

I chose Sweet Rosie stamp. I love Rosie’s apron, it reminds me of so many good memories from my childhood. Everyone probably had in their lives a special person who will make the most delicious cookies or buns, anything that will bring a smell of home I would say. And of course what’s a cozy kitchen without an apron?

Sweet Rosie

Sweet Rosie

The choice of the DP (Bo-Bunny) was inspired by my favorite Cupcake Inspiration Challenge. I really loved the fall rich colors, and I hope that colors of the card are close to the yummy cupcake composition.

For the layout I chose MOJO Monday sketch from last week. Sometimes I am a “slowpoke” on challenges, but better late than never.

I also made a little box to go with a card (you can find template here). Good way to express yourself and give a little something to the person that you are thankful for. As for me I’m thankful for my life, my son, my family, my friends!

Gift idea

I hope that you will join us this week too and tell us what are you thankful for. We are looking forward for your beautiful creations!

For now I will say good-bye and see you next time. Have a splendid day,

Elena

Life is Good!

Hello! Today I am very excited to show you a project that was inspired by Irina. When I saw her stunning matchbox holder I said to myself that I need to try it too. And here is what I came up with. Of course mine is not as beautiful, but I liked it… Irina helped me with the measurements, I am very thankful for this to her. I also stopped at Kristen’s blog, she has a great tutorial how to do Box with 4 Drawers. Isn’t it is amazing when talented crafters share their talent with others? Thank you Kristen!

For the main character of my card I chose adorable image from La-La Land Crafts – Hot Cocoa Whiskers. Possibilities of this stamp are endless. You can always pretend Whiskers and Chick drink cocoa, tea, coffee, or maybe apple cider. You never know what is in the cup, right?

Hot Cocoa

The layout of the card is Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch challenge. Mercy an her Muses brings so much joy and lots of fun with this challenge! Thank you to all of you!

I have never made Easel card, so it was a good chance to do it. Especially that Crazy4Challenges blog has a challenge – Easel card. You can find wonderful instructions here. They are so easy to follow and I am sure that I will make another card with the same technique.

Matchbox Holder

Matchbox Holder

I also added some zigzag stitching to one of the elements of the card. Then I saw that Krafting Kimmie’s blog has a challenge Stitch It Up… Why now to join it too? Hope I’m not too late for this.

Back Side of The Box

Back Side of The Box

And last but not least Challenge at Three Clovers Designs. This week Kerry has Bird or Bug theme. Do you think baby chicken counts as a bird? I will keep my fingers crossed that it does. 🙂

Wow! That was a long post… Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving me your kind comments.

Remember life is good, no matter what. Of course it would be better if I would have a friend next door to share cup of tea with… But I’m lucky enough to have good blogging friends who are a part of my life!

Enjoy your day,

Elena

Supplies: card stock SU, cereal box as a card board, KI Compnay DP, Hot Cocoa Whiskers from La-L a Land Crafts, sentiment from Verve (Life is Good), another sentiment from The Greeting Farm, ribbon (was in designer package from Irina), dew drops, brads, buttons SU, sewing machine, circle punch

P.S. To make drawers handles I used a brad, then button, and also added a little washer for some heights.

Farm Fresh Friday

Hello!  Thank you for stopping by today! It is time for Farm Fresh Friday! Before I will start talking about this week’s project I would like to thank you everybody who participated in the last Sew Simple Challenge. I liked all of the cards, and believe me picking a winner was a hard job! But lucky me we have Jessica who helped a lot!

Back to this week’s challenge. And it is a sketch by our incredibly talented Jessica! When I looked at this sketch I saw a frame. And here it is a faux wood frame (you can find a great tutorial at Splitcoaststampers) with cute little Trick or Treaters (stamp set Spooktacular from The Greeting Farm)! I tried to create a scene like they are standing on the stairs, but I am not great at it. So are my poor sponging skills. But I really had so much fun with this card! Would you like to play with us this week? Please stop at The Greeting Farm blog fore more fabulous samples that will surely inspire you to join us this week!

Halloween 

I have two more projects to show. Since I made a card for Halloween how about making a treat box. Once again I followed tutorial at Splitcoaststampers called Triangle Box.

Trick Or Treat

And here is my last one. Love this girl. Her name is Megan. She reminds me of my sister when she was small. I was like a Nanny for her till certain age. And sometimes she will stay just like this, and since I was an older sister she was always right because little ones are always right! At least that is what they think. 😉

you are amazing

Talking about little ones. Sometimes I miss that time when Sergei was 3-4 years old… I mean time when they speak very cute, when they discover something new with a big surprise on their face. Of course each moment of our kids growing is very precious, but I still miss my Sergei when he was a baby. Here is picture of  him (I was looking through the pictures yesterday and saw it, that is what brought back these memories)…

My Baby

Sergei and Puzzles (when he was 4)

Wow! Another long post… Just wanted to thank you that you find time to read. Thank you much for your comments today!

Hugs,

Elena

P.S. Almost forgot to tell that TGF has Fall DT Call. For all of the details how to apply please read here. On my personal note working with Marie and Jessica is always a great pleasure. Even though I never met them in real life but I have the best impressions about these wonderful ladies. I never felt any pressure or anything like this; always felt that I am very important for this team; none of my projects were missed, I always heard a Thank and compliment about cards I made; if I had a question I always had an answer right away; what I like about Marie the best is that she always does what she says. I am not trying to advertise The Greeting Farm, these words come from my heart. I just wanted to share my experience with you. 🙂

3-D Projects with Artful INKables

Hello to Everybody! Today I have  two projects to show you. Earlier in my posts I mentioned about using Twilight related stamps (Into the Moonlight and Fictionally Inspired) from Artful INKables in different ways. Here is what I came up with.

Dazzled

 

For the first project I decided to decorate a chocolate bar and make a pull treat holder. You can find an excellent explanation and idea of how to make it at Splitcoaststampers forum. It is pretty easy to do, and you can give a sweet treat to somebody that you love in a unique and fun package.

Dazzled_2

 

The second project is a gift box. I would like to thank Kelly for sharing the template and inspiration for the box. Her blog is so beautiful, and all her art work is amazing! I thought why not to use this chess image and put a different sentiment on the label (I masked the original saying on the stamp  using masking tape, then removed the tape, and stamped the image; after that I stamped a word For You inside the label) . I think that this can be a great gift for a man or any person who likes to play chess.

For You

I hope that you liked it. Thank you so much for stopping by today and leaving your very appreciated comments!

Have a fantastic day,

Elena

For You-2

Cards from friends and more…

Hello and happy Monday! I have so much to show you today, sorry about this. First of all, I want to share two cards that I got on my birthday (it was last Thursday). The first card is from my friend Anna. Just look at this precious Anya (she knew I heart this girl); I was very-very happy to see this card in my mail plus lots of paper goodies! Thank you, Anna!

Card from Anna

Card from Anna

Second card is from Rita, I was surprised and amazed when I got a package from her. Her card is gorgeous!!! The picture doesn’t really show the beauty of the rose! All of the sparkles, dimension, soft colors… Rita also sent me a very nice gift  – a scented candle. Thank you so much, Rita!

Card from Rita

Card from Rita

There was another surprise  – a call from my friend Ida. We met each other through the blogs. Still remember when I wrote heran  e-mail with my question about Prismacolor pencils. She explained everything I was asking and that is how our relationship began. Of course I was a bit nervous on the phone, embarrassed of my terrible accent. I hope she could understand me a little bit. Thank you for calling me, Ida.

Since I started to talk about birthdays, I decided to make something related to this theme. The first one is a gift box for a teenage girl. I used a stamp Music in My Heart from Artful INKables. What you can put inside? T-shirt, favorite CD, candy or Ipod!  The idea of this box is taken from the magazine Papercrafts (latest issue), they have a very nice explanation and template.

Gift Box

Gift Box

Inspiration for the bottle hanger came after visiting Bev’s blog. Oh, I’m always very exited visiting her blog. She has beautiful crafts to share! Thank you so much Bev for sharing your creativity and making our paper craft world beautiful!  There is a tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers for making this hanging treat box by Christina. Very easy to understand and so much fun to make! Why did I also want to make it? I thought that if I have a Genie stamp (from Artful INKables), then I need to have a bottle for Genie to come out of!

Bottle treat Box

Bottle treat Box

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I always appreciate your time and comments!

Wish you a very wonderful day!

Elena