Chocolate Roses

Hi! I'm posting later than usual - for this week anyway! But I've been busy working and housework this morning. My grandma is coming in to town today - in fact she's already here! My mom called about an hour ago wanting to know if the little man was still up. He wasn't but he should be very soon! It's been awhile since my grandma has seen him so I know she'll be surprised at how big he is.

She is flying out tomorrow to go spend Thanksgiving with my uncle and his family. Since I saw the limited supplies challenge at SCS was a chocolate theme one, I decided to make a wrapped chocolate bar for my fifth grey and red creation. Pretty basic and simple. I chose the base for my "white chocolate" color requirement and the embossing made me think of all the decorative molds you can get for chocolate. I colored my rose using my Prismacolors and baby oil. Pretty happy with how it turned out. The bonus part is that I added some Hot Cocoa card scents at the end so my treat smells as yummy as it looks!!

Have a great weekend and I'll see ya'll around the blogsphere!!

Thanks so much for coming back today to check out my fourth card featuring grey and red in honor Diabetes Awareness Month. I've so enjoyed hearing from each of you and your stories that you've shared.

I was going to create my card for today's post last night, but ended up working instead. So when I went in this morning, I was thinking I was either going to use Rain or Shine from MFT or Live Your Dream from Stampin Up. I even came in to the computer to look up the What's Up Wednesday Challenge. But when I went back in and sat down, I just got pulled into a completely different direction.

I have had this stamp for years and I think it's a quote we all have seen before. It is very true I believe and it just called to me. Such beautiful typography needs beautiful paper so I dug into my paper stash. My red today is not a bright red but more muted, almost burgundy in nature. I think the paper might be Anna Griffin but I could be wrong. I embossed the sentiment using Versamark, Basic Grey ink and clear embossing powder. That was the "hardest" part of the card? Are you like me and just in awe every time you emboss? It never gets old watching it turn. I remember the FIRST time I saw embossing: I was in college and one my roommates was an art major and she embossed something using OUR STOVE!!! I remember thinking she was crazy and watching her carefully just in case she set the place on fire!

I hope you are warmer where you are than here. A cold front blew in and it's FREEZING!! I mean, it's like 47 degrees outside, but that's cold here!!! I am going to run and start a load of laundry and curl my hair. I am subbing in my friend's Keno group tonight. Wish me luck that I win ... preferably the CASH PRIZE!!

Have a beautiful day!! All of the stamping friends that visit me each day, your praise and support are parts of MY BEAUTIFUL DAY!!

Something Warm

Thanks for coming back today, my third day of Diabetes Awareness. Did you know that 8% (that's 23.6 million) of the American population deals with this chronic disease every day? It's challenge day for the Pink Papery Studios DT gals and it was my week. I challenged everyone to use red and grey in their creations. Please go see what they've been up to - you'll find all the links in my sidebar!! We'd love to have you join in too!!

Today I have a little treat to share with you. I like to call these "sussies" - they are just little tokens of affection or appreciation that you give to those you care about. I think it's always so nice to just surprise people with something nice. I am a giver who has a budget that doesn't allow me to give extravagant gifts. But I am also a believer in it's not the "cost" of something that touches people.....it's the fact that you CARED. And I give freely, with no expectation of anything in return.....which means when I give, I don't want people to feel bad because they may not have something to give in return. That's why sussies are so great: they aren't so expensive that they'll make someone feel bad (or worse, obligated to return the favor) but they let someone know that they are SPECIAL - and that's an awesome thing to be able to do.

As Christmas approaches, there are even more people that I want to give to this holiday. When I was teaching, I always loved to give little sussies to my teacher friends at Christmas. I taught high school so that was a lot of teachers. This is a perfect little sussie to give when you have lots of names on your list. You can get 6 packets in a box of cocoa mix, add a little prettiness to it and it's such a nice treat for the receiver. As a past teacher, I can tell you that this - or anything like it - will be so appreciated: it's either the beginning of the day and you get a warm, fuzzy all day long or it's the end of the day and it's a perfect pick-me-up to carry you on home and into the evening. What a nice treat to have as a take-home prezzie when you have a holiday party or guests stop by unexpected. Hide one is a neighbor's mailbox. Leave one on the co-workers desk or a basket to put by the microwave at the church for all the staff. I will be making more of these!

I just used my Nestabilities for the all the layers. Some quick and simple stamping, tie a ribbon, use a little sticky strip and it's done. I finished it off with some stickles in the scallops, on the ground to represent snow and even have some drifting down on the sweet little bunny (perhaps you can see it glisten in the first photo?)

My image is from a set called Be Merry at Pink Papery Studios. The new site is almost ready and Amy plans to make it live this weekend!!

Have a beautiful day and I'll see you tomorrow!!

It's Always with You & a Terrific Treat

I know that diabetes is something my family thinks about a lot but from the comments yesterday, it's affecting so many of you too. From yesterday's post: November is Diabetes Awareness Month. My grandfather was a diabetic for years and my mom was diagnosed several years ago. The Diabetes Association uses the colors grey and red for their awareness colors. The grey represents the drudgery of dealing with diabetes every day and the red represents the multiple blood tests that a diabetic performs each day. To spread awareness of the disease, I'm featuring grey and red projects all week!

I used CPS91 as my sketch for this card. I was going to use my bird from the Always set, but he wasn't in the box nor was he right out on my desk. I wonder where he flew off to? Some lace, a vintage button and a distressed flower are my little details. I love how this card has a modern feel with the polka dots and vintage flair with the lace and button. I just noticed that the word "hope" is kinda in the center on my card. Couldn't done it better if I'd planned it that way!!

I really want to spread the awareness of diabetes and I'm hoping you'll help me! So I'm gonna offer up a Terrific Treat as a bribe (which I said I would never do, but hey, decisions can be changed.. I've just decided to do this as I'm typing this post so I don't have a picture right at this moment to share with you, but I'll work on that later tonight.

How to win my Terrific Treat?

1. Post a link on your blog to THIS POST (one entry)

2. Create along with me by uploading your grey and red creation to your blog. Leave a link here

so I can come see it (one entry)

3. Bonus entries for sharing the link on any message boards you frequent and for subscribing to

my blog and for sending your card to someone with diabetes.

4. You can take the Diabetes Risk Test HERE. It doesn't take very long and is a really neat way

to see what risk factors you may have if any.