Happy Coffee Elf and the Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Coffee of the Day - Spiced Pecan

Not only is it Friday (which deserves it's own shout out!), but today is the start of the Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! wooo hoooo and a big Fa La La La La! :)

While I won't have as many projects to share for the hop as I have in the past, I will have several, so I do hope you'll stop back by a few times during the week! you know I love my coffee! so grab a cup of your favorite hot beverage and I'll share my project for today.....

my card starts with several items re-purposed from a recent trip to Starbucks. I took a bag that they give you when you buy one of their delicious treats (yes, I bought one. okay, maybe MORE than one, but I did share with my sons, and it was oh, so YUM!) I cut it apart to use as the bg. and then sprayed it with white Mr. Huey's mist. the little sticks you use to keep the steam/heat from escaping also found its way onto the card.

the adorable happy coffee elf comes from Simply Betty stamps. do you ever wish for a cup that size? I have one that comes close that hubby had specially made for me last Christmas. ;) buttons are from my vintage stash, poinsettia comes from Hobby Lobby, I think, tickets are another stash item, and wonderful ribbons are from Really Reasonable Ribbons. little bell is from Live and Love Crafts. touches with a wink of stella glitter pen and stickles were added.

thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a most amazing weekend! :)

Challenges:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Ch Extra - anything Christmas goes
Choux Choux Paper Art - Visions of Sugar Plums Christmas/winter projects linky party
Cards 4 Galz - Cute Christmas
CRAFT - Christmas
Star Stampz - Christmas Creations
Pile it On - anything Christmas or winter
Crafty Sentiments - Christmas card
{pin}spirational - photo inspiration
Eureka - Christmas is coming
Robyn's Fetish - Christmas card
Hiding in My Craft Room - Christmas colors
Simon Says Stamp Mon - holly jolly stamping
Wags 'n Whiskers - fairies and elves

Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

Coffee of the Day - Gingerbread 

 Welcome to the Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! Look at this amazing list of sponsors! :)

17Turtles	Veronica Zalis	Chris Franco
Add a Little Dazzle	Butterfly Reflections Ink	Color Cast Designs
Create a Smile	Hero Arts	Kraftin' Kimmie
Kreative Kymona	Latina Crafter	Neat & Tangled
Newton's Nook	Pickled Potpourri Designs	Poppystamps
Reverse Confetti	Stamp Academy	Stamp Simply Ribbon Store
STAMPlorations	SugarPea Designs	Sweet 'n Sassy
The Alley Way Stamps	Two Paper Divas	Verve Stamps
Whole Wild World	Your Next Stamp	Paper Smooches

I know there are a lot of stops on this blog hop, but good golly, Miss Molly, you won't lack inspiration for your Christmas gifties, that is for certain! :)

I've been feeling fairly puny lately, but really really really wanted to play along in this hop if I could. lo and behold, The Cutting Cafe came to my rescue with this FABULOUS coffee cup template!!! isn't it wonderful?!?! inside is a little pocket to hold either a gift card or some Starbuck's Via coffees - I haven't decided yet which I am going to give my friend. who knows, maybe BOTH!

papers are from my beloved Basic Grey, this time the Evergreen collection. 'Fa La La' is from a Sizzix die, gold & ivory twine is Maya Road, and poinsettia comes from Hobby Lobby. I cut down a coffee cozy that I had saved from Starbuck's so that it fit perfectly around the card front. it actually slips right over the front and was then adhered. gives a bit more dimension that way. a few sequins were then sprinkled on for that last bit of holiday bling! :)

thanks so much for stopping by! Merry Christmas to you and those you hold dear! :)

Challenges:
Crafty Sentiments - Christmas
Going Gray with Scrap Creations - Holiday/Christmas
Loves Rubber Stamps - Winter or Christmas
TTCRD - Anything Goes
Jellypark - ribbons or bows
Crafty Boots - Christmas
Get Creative - Christmas
My Craft Spot - Shaped Christmas Card
Pile it On - Anything Goes Christmas or Holidays
Craft-Dee BowZ - anything goes with a handmade bow
Stamp and Create - Christmas
Ooh La La - Christmas
Crazy Ch - Christmas
Come and Get It - Merry Christmas
Red Carpet Studio - "Elf" (here goes, this is one of our fave movies! Fa La La - "The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear." " I'm singing. I'm in a store, and I'm siiiiiingiiiiing! I'm in a store, and I'm siiiiiingiiiiing!" coffee - "You did it! Congratulations! World's best cup of coffee! Great job, everybody!" )
Robyn's Fetish - Christmas Cards
That Craft Place - Christmas
Christmas Cards All Year Round - any Christmas card goes not square or rectangle
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Ch Extra - anything Christmas goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - anything goes w/patterned paper
Lia Stampz - add metallic or sparkle (sequins, poinsettia w/gold bead center, and twine is also gold metallic)
Seemacrafts - Christmas
The Craft Garden - Christmas
Hiding in My Craft Room - Christmas Colors
A Crafty Mess - Anything Goes/Traditional Holiday Colors
CRAFT - Christmas
Delightful Ch - twinkle, twinkle: add something sparkly (sequins, poinsettia w/gold bead center, and twine is also gold metallic)
Crafters Cafe - Christmas
Simon Says Wed Ch - Bling it On (sequins, poinsettia w/gold bead center, and twine is also gold metallic)

Coffee Addicts, I mean, Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! ;)

Coffee of the Day - Vanilla Biscotti

I am soooooooo excited to be taking part in this great blog hop of fellow coffee addicts, I mean, aficionados! tee hee! I do enjoy a proper cup of tea, don't get me wrong, but there is nothing quite like a big hot cup o' joe to make my heart go pitter pat! :)

You will see so many fabulous projects on this hop, so be sure your cup is filled to the brim. I'll be more than happy to give you a refill while you are here!

I had big intentions of making several projects for today, but a wicked fever had other designs on my time. so instead I have only one card to show......

I used the great coffee sentiment from Deep Red Stamps, stamped onto watercolor paper. gelatos and clear shine Mr. Huey's spray mist were then used to add color. I love using the clear shine mist rather than water for the beautiful sparkle it adds!

papers are Basic Grey Spice Market, flower is Petaloo, burlap ribbon is by May Arts, seam tape ribbon and border punch are SU!, and buttons are from my stash. you know how much I love to re-purpose my Starbucks coffee goodies! they add such a fun touch to this card! :)

We were also asked to answer the following questions:

1. When did you start drinking coffee? my dad introduced me to this lovely concoction called 'coffee milk' when I was a little girl. funny, it's still the way I drink my coffee, only now I call it a 'latte'! ;)
2. What is favorite brand (you can name up to three). when I am out, I pretty much only drink Starbucks. at home, our fave company is called 'The Coffee Fool'. they have the most delightful flavors in decaf! we get them through Amazon. 
3. What is the most amazing coffee that you had? what I make in my French coffee press. it is really the very best for making coffee. even beats the Keurig. 
4. If I don't drink my needed coffee, I will...not be a happy camper, so let's just not go there, okay? ;)

thanks so much for stopping by!

Challenges:
Fresh Brewed Designs - lots of lattes
Inkspirational - beverages/drinks
Snarky Stampers - D is for Distressing
Alphabet Ch - Q is for Quadruple (4 buttons)
Brown Sugar - anything goes
Docerela Creations - anything stamped goes
Sister Act - any card goes
Crafty Ribbons - anything goes with buttons & ribbons
Red Rubber Inspirationals - focus on the stamping
Simon Says Wed. - anything goes

Oh yes, I do love Coffee!

Get up off the floor, yes, it's 2 posts in one day!

My radiation poisoning symptoms are back in full throttle, so I'm not sleeping all that well. that means I can sit in my craft room and make cards deep in the night - pretty much the only positive thing about the whole mess! ;) Last night I got 2 cards made, and they actually look fairly decent once the sun comes up, too! ha! That also means I'm on my 2nd pot of coffee - whoa nelly! Gingerbread this time. sadly, I'm almost out of this flavor. sigh...... and it's so tasty, too.

My card uses another one of the cute cupcake photos from Cupcake Inspiration Challenges. in fact, this is the one that first caught my eye so that I knew I wanted to play along. it's just so ME! :)

The image comes from Milk Coffee. it is the very first image I ever bought from this fun store. papers are Basic Grey Fiction. the button is vintage. twine is just regular household twine. not sure who the mfg. of the flower is.... sorry. the coffee cozy and swizzle stick/hole clogger-upper thingy both come from Starbucks the great and powerful, most wonderful of all coffee shops. I haven't been to one since before Christmas, but I know in my heart of hearts that they are still out there, making cup after cup of delicious lattes and frapps for people to quench their happy little palettes.

Challenges:
Loves Rubber Stamps - anything goes
Great Impressions - going green
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Twisted Tuesday - spring into green
Make it Monday - anything goes
One Crazy Stamper - anything goes
Melonheadz - going green
Basic Grey - anything goes with BG
Card Makin' Mamas - green
Digi Haven - green
Simply Create Too - St. Patrick's Day or use mostly green
Stamping with the Dragon - anything goes
Crafts 4 Eternity - bingo:  flowers, green, layers
Crafters Cafe - green or St. Patrick's Day
Simon Says Stamp - a bit of green
Inky Impressions - St. Patrick's Day or green

Some fun new digis!

Coffee of the Day - Vanilla Biscotti (yep, it's coffee!)

A happy Saturday morning to all of you! I wanted to share some cards with you today from 2 companies whose digis I am really enjoying. Digital stamping is really taking the crafting world by storm! I don't know that I will ever fully give up my regular stamps, because there are some things I just can't do with a digi. But these are quite fun to play with! I hope you give it a try if you haven't yet. And if you have, please check out these companies! fun stuff to be found!

The first card is from a company called The Stamping Boutique. This is the same one that sells the Latte Princess stamp you have seen before (and will most certainly see again!!) Tracey has drawn more Latte Ladies, so be sure to go see them. They are such fun!!! This card uses the "Let's Bee Friends" digi. I love this one! The coloring is all watercolors. Coal shimmerz was painted on the bees, pink shimmerz was painted on the rectangle border and Primas. Paper is Basic Grey Lemonade. this card just makes me happy!

This next card is for my hubby and son, Ryan. They do not like spiders. I mean they DO NOT LIKE spiders. anything spiders. so when they saw my card from the other day, their first reactions were BOTH, "but it has a spider on it". couldn't get beyond that. AT ALL!!! :D So this card is the ANTI-spider card. giggles! Ryan liked it much much better. He even smiled when he saw it. too funny! I used some of my famous coffee paper for the card base. The paper is from Daisy Hill. But then you get to this amazingly cute little bear from Ildi Co. Don't you wanna just sit beside him and give him a huge hug? I kept the card simple so the focus would be on him. Hopefully it will make someone smile just a little. A challenge blog will be starting up on the 17th, so be sure to check it out! I am also honored to be a Guest Designer with them for the month of November, so that will be quite exciting!

Now to share with you my last little goodie for the day. Yesterday David took me to Starbuck's for not just a Pumpkin Spice Frap, but for the Pumpkin scone, too!!!!! :) talk about a bonus day! I took this picture while I was in the restroom. Dave was mortified I took a pic in there. Even after I told him what it was all about, he just rolled his eyes. I don't think he gets it. ;) but I do think he puts up with a lot!!!! :D enjoy!

So have you been to Starbucks today?

Just checking'!!!! ;)
you know it's only the most popular day EVER in the history of Starbuck's for the year! :D well, maybe not really, but if it isn't - IT SHOULD BE!!!!!!

I can say with a most joyous heart that I have had my Pumpkin Spice Frap today, along with a delicious Pumpkin Scone, and I am singing happy songs......... (be glad you aren't too close! tee hee hee!!!) (and no, it isn't 'Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater' either!)

and hubby bought me some amazing Pumpkin Spice coffee from World Market yesterday...... isn't he just the greatest?!?!

Fall has officially begun in northeast Ohio!

(but more cool news is to come later this evening....... have you figured it out yet?)