B-Wishes to Joy!

My dear friend Joy over at eP is celebrating her birthday today.
Make sure you send her some special birthday wishes!

Happy Birthday Joy!!!

Say hi to Kona. He is part of a new EXCLUSIVE stamp set by Our Craft Lounge called "Hangin' loose with Kona" over at eP.

~KOOKS~

Another fuchsia

My mom found this fuchsia basket at a greenhouse west of where we live. She bought me one, how sweet of her. The hummingbirds will love me this year. :)

Check out the size of these blooms! And I love that it blooms it two colors.

Let's talk flowers!

It's that time of year around here when the hunt for the perfect flowers starts. You visit all the local greenhouses to see what's new and pick up a few favorites from years past.
I am normally a perennial kinda gal, buy once and enjoy it for years to come, but I do have a few hanging baskets and pots that I place here and there for pops of color.
It never fails that each year I come across at least one new breathtaking flower that I can't bare living without and would give up my first born just to have it, ok maybe not go that far, but the joy they bring is worth almost any price.

For instance, I found this brand new petunia called GLOW FOREST FIRE the other day. It was named for its colors being like that of the colors you see in flames. It TOTALLY lives up to its name. And as evening falls this basket of petunias nearly glows no kidding here. It is truely amazing in color and one I have never seen before. The flower is a peachy pink color with very deep/bright pink to purple center and veining.

WARNING: if you come across this beautiful plant at a greenhouse near you, BUY IT! It's availability is very low.

Another beauty I found today is this trailing fuchsia. There was no name on the tag. It has a deep purple, almost burgandy, center with pink outer pedals. I always have a fuchsia basket to hang by our front porch for the hummingbirds, they love it. Last year a hummingbird went as far as to build a nest in one of my weigela bushes. It was the tiniest thing! I didn't find it till the fall when all the leaves fell off the weigela and of course the nest was unoccupied.

If you are looking for a planted pot idea, here's one. (for FULL SUN, some shade)I got it from one of the greenhouses, I loved how the colors played off each other. I didn't want to pay $25 for the preplanted pot, though very beautiful and much love was put into planting it I am sure, I decided to buy the individual plants for a total of $8, get my hands dirty and plant them myself.
Here's what you will need:

1 superbena purple(out of stock at greenhouse, I substituted burgandy(pictured))

1 laguna trailing sky blue (out of stock at greenhouse, I substituted dark blue(pictured)

1 courtyard buttercream

Make sure you get the trailing kinds, it will make a difference.

Happy Planting!!!

~Kooks~

Holiday ATC Swap

I have come to the conclusion that no matter how hard you try to beat the hussle and bussle of the holiday season, then add in a few unexpected events, you still end up falling short of gaining extra time. So I have learned to just embrace the whole month of December and take its unpredictable days as they come and make the most of each.

Aside from a few gifts left to get, I am ready to focus on a few other things that have fallen' to the end of my list. :)

I joined another ATC swap. Here is my swap. I just received the rest of the swaps yesterday and I was just thrilled to finally see them all.

December Daily Album

Recently some friends of mine have been talking and shared these adorable december daily albums by Ali Edwards. You can see this years’ album by Ali HERE and last years album HERE.
I immediately fell in love with the idea and the size was perfect in every way, but it wasn't until my friend Pine shared her 2008 December Daily Album that I knew I needed to make one of my own for this year.
Here is the front of my December Daily Album:

There is no right or wrong way to make this album. I based the overall size of mine from 6"x6" refills I found in my stash. The completed size is 71/8"x61/8". The front and back are pieces of chipboard covered with cardstock on each side. The inside pages are made from on-hand supplies: 6"x6"(scrapbook) refill pages, manilla folders, chipboard, envelopes, solid color cardstock, and baseball trading card protector sheets cut in various sizes. I found a full 6"x6" tablet of Basic Grey pattern paper which developed the color scheme. I used coordinating solid cardstock and ink (papertrey ocean tides, papertrey ripe avocado, SU cranberry crisp, black, brown and white) I used Papertreys Snowfall and Snowfall Additions stamp sets through out the pages and added numbers to each page using various number stamps and left over scraps. I used my cropadile to punch holes in each page and used 2 rings(found in the office supply area) to hold it all together.
I can't wait till December 1st when I can start filling these pages! Keep an eye on some of my friends blogs as they will be working on their own December Daily Albums! PINE MISH ANG

Inside pages of December Daily Album: (click on pictures to view at a larger scale)

Halloween Cards

Happy Halloween my goolish friends!!!
Today I am sharing two Halloween cards. I started with SU pumpkin pie cs. Added a strip of pattern paper from the Imaginisce-Hallowhimsy collection. Then added a piece of large olive green ric rac ribbon.

I used prisma color pencils/gamsol to color in two Stampendous Ollie & Olivia images. Outlined each with a light grey Tombo marker then layered them on a piece of SU old olive cs. I used mounting tape to adhere the images to the cards which fit nicely on each side of the ric rac so I didn't cause to much bulk for mailing.

Hope your day is spooktacular!!!