Hilary Kanwischer

Fragrance...

Tonight my home was fragrant, I had lit a few McCall's Country Canning Candles to fill my home with their delicious aroma which I LOVE.  My favorite, "Cabin Scents", brought me right back to Vermont.  Don't you just love scented candles?  What would my home be without them?  It just wouldn't be home as far as I'm concerned.  Something else that's fragrant....the new kit from Cupcard's {to go}.  And get this...it's titled, "Fragrance"!  It's beautiful!  I had sooooo much fun with this kit, I really did.  I think I used just about every square inch of it to put into my cards.  I'm into layering now.  Imagine that...I've changed my style yet again.  It's fun to mix things up a bit, but this time I think I may have actually found my niche.  I don't have a link to the Design Team's gallery yet, but as soon as I have one, I'll post it here so you can check out the other amazing designs the DT has come up with.  But for now, I hope you enjoy the cards I made for you.

My sketch card...

This is my step-by-step card, and as soon as I get the link for you, I'll show you how to make it.

and my last card...

I hope you enjoyed them!  Now if you'd like to get your hands on this sweet "fragrant" kit, they go on sale tonight August 27 at 6pm California time.  They're going online a few days early because Sonda is taking a much deserved vacation, so any kit ordered after August 30th, will not be shipped till September 16th. So get yours the minute they are available.  :)

Have a wonderful day everyone and thanks so much for stopping by.  :)

This little niece of mine...

Deserves her own little spotlight.  As many of you may know, per all my Facebook updates, I spent the better part of last week up in Vermont for a "family reunion" of sorts.  Actually, my Uncle passed away last year so this year was the big dedication of his bench at the 7th tee at the Middlebury Golf Club, (the 7th tee is where he shot his hole-in-one in 2008), so it was the perfect spot.  Anyway, my sister Heather and her littlest, Rebekah, came up for the weekend and to my surprise, little Becca-boo let me shoot some photos of her at the Inn we stayed at.  Is she not the sweetest little thing ever???  She just turned 2 and she has the personality that comes with it.  She would make these funny little faces, and every time I would take a picture, she would run over and want to see it.  After seeing herself in my camera...it was all giggles after that.  Enjoy!

and would you just look at this face...

They just don't make 'em like this anymore...I love her sooooooo!

I have taken over 500 photos while in Vermont this past week so be sure to check on my Facebook page soo for one HUGE collection of photos.  :)  Thanks for stopping by.  :)

The sweet smell of Fragrance...

Oh it's getting to be that time again and by that I mean the monthly reveal of the newest Cupcards {to go} kit and it's aptly titled, "Fragrance" and wait till you see the gorgeous colors and prints of the September kit. It's BEAUTIFUL!!!  And as always we like to tempt you just a teeny bit to keep you coming back for more.  You have stumbled upon another blog hop, so if you started here, make sure you head on over to the Cupcards home page and start hoppin' from there.  Leave a little comment below and you'll be entered to win some of the prizes that Sonda has so graciously set aside, but to win...you need to leave a comment on everyones blog.  The easiest way to do it is to start from the homepage.  When you are finished here....HOP on over to Sonda's blog and leave a comment there as well.  Happy Hopping!!!!  Here's my peek....

 

Have fun hoppin' everyone and Good Luck!!!  ;)

Home for the Holidays...

My latest project finds me "Home for the Holidays" in this sweet wall hanging made for Creative Charms.  I painted a piece of wood white then covered it with papers and chipboard embellishments from Basic Grey's "Eskimo Kisses" line, (which I love, love, love sooooo much), then topped it with a pink bottle brush tree from Melissa Frances and the "Winter" kit, from Creative Charms.  I also used plenty of their Gradient Pearl Stickers, to embellish the roof lines and windows of the little houses. I hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week.  :)

Banner's and Pop's...oh my!

Well I guess I'm in full-on Halloween mode now and I'm not just saying that because it's one of my favorite Holidays of the year, but maybe because it's the start of slightly-cooler days and longer nights, or maybe it's because I love to decorate with spooky things all over my home and dress my kids up in goulish costumes and pick pumpkins at the patch, but maybe...just maybe it's because THIS issue of Scrapbooks etc, arrived in my mailbox yesterday, (take a peek)... 

 

And inside I found not 1 but 2 of my projects!  Yeah!!!  Oh what a thrill beyond thrill to be published in what I consider to be The BEST Scrapbooking Magazine on the market.  I LOVE this magazine, seriously folks, it has to be the longest subscription to any magazine I have ever had and never would've thought in a million years I'd be IN IT!!!  So I'm a little excited.  :)  The first project I had done for them was a "Boo" banner, and what fun it was to create this.  I used all sorts of items for this project, banner chipboard, papers from My Mind's Eye, velvet spiderwebs, painted wooden fences, rusty bells, crochet trims, button, gingham ribbon, wire, and of course...little itty-bitty 6 legged clay spiders, (yes, I said 6 legs), that makes them not so creepy.  Anyway here's my banner...

And you can click on the image to make it bigger...

 

here are a few close-ups for you...

 

The chipboard above was painted black and covered with Crystal Lacquer.  Now I don't know why it looks kinda funny in my picture but in real life, it's totally black, smooth and glossy.  

 

 

And do you all remember this little guy?

 

He's in there too!  :)  This was actually one of my first clay lollipops that I made.  I guess you can say that he's the one that "started it all" for me.  I was hooked after making him and they are soooo much fun to create.  :)  

Well seriously....thankyou soooo much for letting me get excited about a couple of projects.  I think I may get started in creating a few more spooky creations for you.  Maybe it'll bring Fall a little quicker here down South.  I don't know about you'all but we've had the hottest summer we've ever had down here and I'm ready for a little dip in the temperatures.  :)

Have a good night!

PS....email me if you'd like specific instructions on those luminaries below, or remember to check the newest issue of Create & Decorate for Kathleen's photos and instructions.  :)

A Random pick...

Well tonight is the night I promised you all who entered a winner.  I can never actually "pick" a winner myself, I have to have someone else do it because I'm such a baby and would end up probably sending you ALL a prize because I just feel to bad to leave everyone else out.  SO....I had random generator pick a number for you and here it is.....Poster number 3!!

So that means the winner of the Simply Handmade Magazine is......

Send me an email with your mailing address and I'll get that out to you right away.  :)  Thankyou all sooooo much and I'm really sorry I can't give you all a copy.  Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself.

 

 Oh....and please check back tomorrow, I have an exciting post to show you.  :)  I've been waiting patiently to post this and it seems that I can now, so hurry back!  :)

Creepy Luminaries...

When I went to my mailbox the other day, I was instantly excited to see the new issue of Create & Decorate sitting right there for me.  I have bought this magazine for years but have never subscribed until I started seeing work in there from one of my favorite designer's, Kathleen Paneitz, and knew it was time to actually subscribe.  I've always been a fan of her work and her blog....Have you seen it????  I've told her that when we finally move out to Colorado I want her to teach me how to garden.  Spoil yourself today and take a peek at some of the most AMAZING flower photos you will ever see and I promise you...you will not be disappointed.  :)  Which brings me to my project for the day, when I was flipping through the magazine I came across these ultra-spooky and creepy luminaries and thought, "I LOVE THESE", even more so when I saw the name of the designer, and I said, "Of course, Kathleen made these".  :)  I really do love her style when it comes to papercrafting, it's sooooo right up my alley.  SO...I HAD to make these, down to the last detail.  The only difference between mine and hers is I used smooth-sided Mason Jars because I didn't seem to have any Yankee Candle jars that I could recycle, (fabulous idea by the way), so I thought these would work, then I simply spray painted the tops black.  So, I hope you enjoy these luminaries and when I turned them on when the sun went down nothing looked more spooky than these  :)   I can't wait to display them this Fall!  ;)  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

and here's a cool little pic of the inside of one of the luminaries...

 

Awesome huh?  Thanks again Kathleen for never-ending inspiration!  :)

 

So....I think I promised you all a little CONTEST????  I have been slowly purging my craft room, I really have way too much stuff and it's getting hard to find things, and I thought that since we are slowly approaching the Holiday Season, what better way to kick it off then to send one lucky "poster" a copy of Simply Handmade, this is the December issue of last year.  So...all you need to do is leave a comment below, and I'll pick a winner on Monday night, and send this copy to one of you!!  ;) 

 

(I promise you all, the copy I send you is brand-new!).  ;)  Good luck!

 

Punch me...

I have found myself recently becoming an addict of layering.  I have seen so much of it lately, that I had to give it a shot myself.  I have sooooooo many punches, (just like each of you I'm sure), that I sometimes get discouraged when I look at that huge basket of punch after punch, it gets overwhelming.  Well the other day, I finally dug some of them out and played around for a while.  And the result???  I'm actually happy with the way they turned out.  I wasn't sure if at first it was my style, but I think, the more I look at them, the more I like them....so you may just be seeing more of this "layering" from me in the future.  :)  I hope you enjoy!  

 

 

 

Don't you just love those sweet golden glitter letters too???  Those are from American Crafts of course.  I swear I could own every single alphabet they carry and I'd still be wanting more!!   

I'm very excited for this Saturday too...after I get off work, (which will be Saturday morning), I will be driving up to Orlando to pick up my daughter Courtney, whose been at camp for 3 weeks. She's ready to come home and I miss her terribly.  So check back then...I have another "holiday" project to share with you and I might just be having a little giveaway!  Remember those????  So don't be a stranger!!

See you all then and thanks so much for stopping by.  

Riptide...

Hoooray!  The August kit from Cupcard's {to go}, is now available!  What a fun, fun kit this was, it made me want to pack the car and head to the beach, (it's only about a 20 minute drive for me, which has me wondering why I don't go more often).  :)  Anyway, the kit is called, "Riptide", enough said, but you won't want to find yourself actually stuck in one while you're swimming, but you WILL want to find yourself drowning in all the goodness this sweet little kit has to offer.  :)  Check out the FABULOUS Design Team Gallery here, for ton's of inspiration.  Here are my designs for the month.  :)

 

want to make this next card?  Just click here for step-by-step instructions.

 

 

Want to see the sketch of the month and all the other sketch cards that go with it?  Just click here.  Here is mine:

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed them, these kits normally sell out so be sure to stop on by and pick one up!  Also....the winners for the blog hop are posted on the blog on the link above so be sure to check it out...(you may just be a winner).  :)  Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by.  :)