Mmmmmm....encased meats!

So even though we only live about 40 miles outside of Chicago, I feel like we never take advantage of all the city has to offer, especially when the weather gets super cold here. Yesterday we bundled up and decided it would be a good day to drive in and do a little Christmas shopping. Our first stop was a store I haven't been to in years, Uncle Fun



















It's a cool little store jam packed with fun little dime store store goodies and such. We loaded up on stocking stuffers like robots, smoking monkies and skull keychains. We were able to pass up the rubber chickens though :)




















I was able to talk Bob into stopping at Windy City Scrapbooking for a few minutes. I walked out with one piece of lace cardstock...that's it! I was quite proud of myself but I honestly felt like I have one of everything at home right now so I was able to restrain myself.

We were starving at this point so we went to Hot Doug's the sausage superstore and encased meats emporium :) If you live in the midwest you know that encased meats are a vital part of our lives here. Our friends Megan and Jim introduced me to Hot Doug's a couple of weeks ago so I knew I had to take Bob there.
























I had a wild mushroom and cognac turkey sausage with a yummy cranberry mustard and Bob had an artichoke and Kalamata chicken sausage...yummmmmm-o! They have delicious duck fat (I know, duck fat eeewwwwww, but they are so good!) fries but alas those are only served on Friday and Saturday....maybe next time :)

The Cape & Crown Are Back

Several months ago I sent Mugsy's cape & crown out into the world so they could be modeled by as many pugs as possible. After a trip to England they made it back stateside but were delayed for several months in Pennsylvania but are now on the move again. This week they made it to NY where the fabulous Vivian played supermodel

























and the super cute Rupert































The royal attire is now on it's way to Canada where more pics will be taken :)

So a week later...

I am finally getting around to updating my blog! Things were just a little hectic this week with Thanksgiving and the craziness of working retail this time of year, but I am back on track now.
Things are pretty quiet here this morning. Pixie is quietly chewing on a toy
























at least she was until she became camera shy all of a sudden


















Mugsy is begging for treats and being all cute :)

























We put up our tree on Thanksgiving. We really wanted a live tree, but a certain somebody (Pixie) would probably have eaten it so we went with a fake one. She keeps eyeing it so I am just waiting to come home from work to find it stripped of ornamanets!


























The postman brought some fun stuff in the mail this week...the December My Favorite Memories kit came on Wednesday and I had a chance to play around with it a little this morning. It is full of Love Elsie, ki Pop Culture and fun bright goodies, this one is going to be fuuuuuun!

























I ordered a bunch of punchinella after getting some in November's Label Tulip kit. Such cool stuff, it is a ribbon that is left over after sequins are punched out...who knew?!





















If you want some yourself, I ordered it here. They had fast shipping and even sent extra goodies since the shipping charge was less than what they charged me.

For some reason I decided I needed (not just wanted, needed!) cowboy boots so I ordered these ultra fab ones that came last week...I wore them to work the day after Thanksgiving and a customer tried to buy them off me as I was working, people never cease to amaze me! I gave her the website address where I bought them and completed my shift with my boots intact :)

Eeeeek! Monsters!

and bracelets, and buttons oh my! I updated my Etsy Shop with all kinds of goodies this morning...so many perfect stocking stuffers :]

Projects Galore!

I feel like it's been forever since I posted any new stuff so here we go....there's going to be a ton so get comfortable :]

First off...the second round of the My Favorite memories projects for November. I have to thank my friend Sarah for the gift bag idea, she taught us how to make them at the very first Chicagoland Craft Collective meeting that I went to










































Now on to some Label Tulip...what a fun kit this month, it was the first time I got my hands on some of the KI Lace cardstock, love, love, love it!!






























One of our challenges this month was to lift the talented Jennifer Pebbles, at first I thought it was going to be limiting to lift someone else, but Ireally love how this turned out

























Last, but certainly not least, the new Category Stories challenge is up and it's all about warmth. We were warmed by the generosity of The Paper Pixie this month, she provided us with fab-o kits that were just perfect for this challenge.







Whew! I think that is it for now :)

Pip Pip Hooray

Over at Pug Village there is a mascot named Pip who has been making the rounds from member to member....yesterday we had the pleasure of hosting Pip at our house :)

Pip arrives



















hanging out with some Oh Grrrs!

















rolling around in a pile of Thickers



















Since I had to work yesterday, Pip got to go to Pier 1 with me

a zen moment
























mmmmmmm....chocolate!


















self portrait with Pip :)

Why the $1 Spot at Target rocks....

because that's where I picked up Pixie's newest piece of clothing :] Granted it was in the $2.50 section of the $1 Spot, but well worth it none-the-less! They have all kinds of cute Christmas stuff for the furkids so go check it out!

























I finished my Lo for the next Category Stories challenge and can post a small sneak peek...











...and because the gals over at the
Label Tulip forums are so darn cute trying to figure out what is in the next kit here is one last sneaky peek...I mean it, this is the last one :]

Label Tulip sneaks...

I came home yesterday to find the November Label Tulip kit waiting for me on the front porch...I am so excited to get this kit as it has the product I have been eagerly awaiting ever since CHA, the Ki Lace Cardstock






















....so of course the first LO I did I had to use it :]

















Then I played around with some of the other goodies in the box
















































Such a fun kit!

Who wants to win a printer?!

Just head over to
Craft Critique to check out all of the details,seriously, this is very cool :)

A challenge for you...

So my friend
Amber has a cool challenge blog here and was nice enough to ask me to be the guest designer this month :] It's all about using music as an inspiration for your layouts and my challenge was to create a layout using repetition of words, here is my take on the challenge

























I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with, she gives away some great goodies too so you should definitely play along.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas! The November My Favorite Memories kit is full of all kinds of goodies to scrap your holiday photos. I know, I know...ugh Christmas already! I totally felt the same way when I got the kit, but once I started working with it I started to get into the holiday spirit and had a lot of fun with it :] I *love* the blue mixed with the traditional red and green...here are a couple of LOs
My new fave. holiday scrapping item is the Rhonna file folder, too cool!








































































I am not usually fond of making cards, but I had fun with these...it was hard to make something so simple as I like my embellies!!































I am off to finish cooking dinner, Bob is grilling steaks and i'm making baked sweet potatoes...mmmmmmm!!!

Absolutely Fabulous!

So the newest Category Stories challenge is up today and it is "fabulous"! We have a fabulous guest designer Kristina Contes and are giving away a fabulous kit courtesy of Big Sis over at Scrap In Style TV....we can't wait to see what kind of fabulous stuff you come up with. Here is my take on the challenge...























...and here is a fabulous video for some inspiration :]