Harvest frame

Tonight marks the beginning of Sukkot, a jewish Holiday celebrating different things including the Harvest.
I made this little wreath for my friends who invited us to celebrate the 1st night of the holiday with them.
I turned it more into a frame by adding a prayer in hebrew that has to do with Sukkot in the middle (hard to see in the pic).
I used all SVGCuts.com files, except the fruits that I made myself by hand. I started with the Laurel Wreath (that I stretched to 11X11), then because it's a Harvest celebration (some people refer to it as the jewish Thanksgiving) I included details of Fall like the mums, the pumpkins, the maple and oak leaves, and the fruits at the top.

Then at the bottom are 2 things very specific to this Holiday: a lulav and an etrog. I won't go too much into details but those are things used for prayers and celebrations. The lulav is a little bunch of certains tree branches including palms and myrtle, and the etrog is a fruit from the citrus family, kind of like a giant lemon.
I used various files for my branches (including a cornstalk turned into a palm... ;-)) and made my lemon by hand.

Because I didn't know if this was gonna be hung outside (and we are in Florida so the heat and humidity are still very much here) I used a hot glue gun to attach my little decorations.
Because I turned it into a frame I didn't prop things forward too much, and just folded some of the leaves forward as much as possible.

If it didn't take me that long I would definitely make another one for my own home... ;-)
As always clicking on the pic will open larger pictures. :-)

ETA: My wreath tied for 3rd place in the challenge! :-D

A card for the papercrafting supplies' hoarder...

Come on, admit it, I am sure there are quite a few like me around here... You buy nice embellishements or papers that you neatly put away and keep for "that special project"... ;-)
Problem is, said special project somehow never arrives... and sometimes you even forget you have all those things.... *shame* I think it's a classic newbie mistake, but sometimes it just carries on for years afterwards!... ;-D

The other day I was trying to clean up and reorganize a little bit my papercrafting supplies (I'm running out of room in my little corner there!) and I realized what a horrible hoarder I have been (and I've only started all this 3 years ago)!!
It's nothing new unfortunately, I like my beautiful Prima flowers in glass jars on my desk, I look at them and it makes me happy  *sigh* so I don't dare using lots of them... LOL

I already took the resolution a few months back to not buy any stamps till the end of the year,  but I need to be better at using my stash of paper and various embellishments before getting new ones!... so today I made a card with my hidden treasures!... ;-)
I think I've had this cool butterfly paper for over a year... The only "new" thing here are the nestabilities/shapeabilities used for the card shape and the butterflies... I used some Crayola glitter glue in place of Stickles, and I plunged right into my stash of rhinestones and brads... The butterflies are 2 layers, the one underneath being blue vellum, foam tape in the middle (one of the things I don't hoard, I go through a lot of this stuff! ;-))...

I challenge you to go through your stuff and re-discover hidden treasures and make a card with it (or several!)  The added bonus: a cleaner craft desk... And it's almost like getting new stuff since you didn't remember you had it! LOL

Blog award...

My evil twin Bee (yes, you know, the other one... the funny one over there at http://beeshiveofdrama.blogspot.com/ , gave me this cute award of a "blog with a cherry on top".

Now the rules are as follow:

1- Thank whoever sent you this award.
Thank You Bee! :-D I'd like to give it right back to you because you sure crack me up... ;-) And you have a heart big like that... :-D <3

2- Put the award on your blog.

3- Tell everyone 3 things that you love.
Well you already know that obviously I love papercrafting and my family and chocolate, but who doesn't?... ;-)

So here goes:
* I love falling asleep to the sound of torrential rain.
* My favorite sound is my kid's laughs.
* I am obsessed with clouds. (I think one day I'll get into an accident because of that...)

4- Post a picture you love:

This was my 1st cat, Koba. Once during a vacation in the mountain, when I was 6 or 7 years old, my Dad decided to take the cat with us on a hike. He put her in his backpack and off we went. When we reached our destination he let her loose, and took this incredible picture!! This was long before the days of digital photography, or photo editing!... This is one of my favorite picture ever. I will have to scrapbook it one day... :-D

5- Pass this award on to 5 blogs you love.

Good thing we have to keep it at 5 because it could go on for a while.... but this means I have to narrow it down....
* http://www.modpaperie.blogspot.com/  I recently "met" Thienly and I was instantly under the charm of her amazing creativity and warm personality... :-D
* www.svgcuts.com/blog  Leo and Mary are just made of awesome. They are crazy creative and just so nice!... <3 They certainly put a cherry on top of everything they do, wether it is customer service or creating svg files...
* http://www.acreativemint.typepad.com/  Leslie has such an eye for color and for seeing the beauty in mundane objects around her. Her pictures always put a big smile on my face and make me sigh from happiness. :-)
* http://www.understandblue.blogspot.com/  Lydia has a passion for the color blue just like me, and delights me with stories about her 2 crazy cats, and her great creativity. Plus she totally cracks me up... ;-)
* http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/  Stephanie just amazes me with her strenght in adversity and how she is able to see the little parcels of joys sprinkled all over her life despite the hardships...

And that's it! :-)

In the spotlight: Soul Scrappers

http://www.soul-scrappers.ning.com/

Soul scrappers is a new online community created by my friend Erika (the stampin' mama). If you don't know Erika, she is famous for her beautiful and inspired scrapbook pages (among other things like her crazy dreadlocks, LOL) where she share personal facts, thoughts, and dreams...
This is not your typical scrapbooking about your last vacation at Disney World... ;-) (not that there is anything wrong about that too by the way!! ;-)) It's all about the personal journey behind the page, about finding and celebrating you and what matters to you...
So if you're up for some different scrapbooking, and are looking for inspiration and connection with others like you, check it out at:   http://www.soul-scrappers.ning.com/