Country Living Holiday Collection

Invite the warmth and coziness of the holidays into your home with Stampin' Up!'s Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit. This kit has everything you need to create beautiful handcrafted ornaments.

* Holiday Collection stamp set
* Die-cut chipboard and Designer Series paper
* Card stock
* Ribbon and cord
* Pretties Kit brads
* Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter
* Adhesives
* Classic Stampin' Spots

Create dazzling ornaments and memories that will last a lifetime! Contact me TODAY to place your order because this offer is only good through December 31, or while supplies last. To shop online, click here, be sure to click on the shop now button in the top right corner. Or, call or email me with your order.

Sorry for the silence

So sorry about the long silence but November turned out to be very busy. We had a couple of dog fight issues with Aristotle. We drove to Texas for Thanksgiving and spent a week visiting with family and friends. (and totally realizing that we miss living there and really want to go back) We no sooner got home and I fell ill with what turned out to be bronchitis but felt like I was on my death bed.

But finally things are back to normal. The house is decorated and ready for Christmas and I'm in Christmas knitting mode.

I tried to finish as much as possible to take with me to Texas so save on shipping costs. All of the purchased gifts made the trip with us but only one handknit was ready to go in time. I made a pair of toeless socks for my mother.


She and my sister are easy to make socks for because we all have the same size foot. (which is why I'm modeling these socks) I really think mom is going to love these because she always says she breathes through her feet and is always cutting the toes off her socks.

I'm currently working on a pair of socks for my sister which will hopefully be done tonight or tomorrow. I'll have pictures of those as soon as they are done.

I've got a couple more posts to make today and tomorrow so be on the lookout.

Some Papercrafting updates

I have been really bad about posting on a regular basis lately and I promise that will be one of my New Year's Resolutions! I must be a better blogger.

I really don't have all that much in the way of an update to the happenings of life, it's been mostly dull. I've been playing a lot of World of Warcraft lately. The only excitement around was last Friday when Aristotle got in a fight with one of his doggy friends. Nobody really knows what happened and the other dog-mommy insists that it just happens sometimes and we shouldn't worry. We still feel bad and insist on paying half of her vet bills.

So, there you have it, that's really the only exciting thing that has happened since the last time I posted. Let's get on to some papercrafting news.

If you remember my last post I mentioned that we went to a wedding in Sedona. It was a really lovely wedding of a dear knitting friend. I promised you I would post a picture of the gift I made for them, and I certainly don't want to disappoint! Without further ado, here is the set of Thank You cards and box I made.





She had a totally DIY wedding and it was beautiful. I just wanted to make sure that after it was all done that she could relax. So, I used her invitations as a starting point in figuring out a color scheme and set out to make the Thank You cards. In the end, I think it turned out great, the box fit all 40 cards and envelopes perfectly. The best part....she loved them! (and I did save her time just like I had hoped since she didn't have to make them herself)

In other news, my sister's birthday was November 7th. Since I'm no there to take her out to give her a gift, I sent along this card/gift card holder.





That's pretty much all I have for now...but get ready as there are some big plans for some virtual classes coming to my blog soon.

1st Annual Pumpkin Carving

First let me say I am sorry that there hasn't been much posting going on around here lately, but I've been a little distracted. Not that it's all that good of a reason but the hubby and I have started playing World of Warcraft again. The last week hubby was off for vacation and since we couldn't afford to go anywhere we kind of holed up at home and played a lot of WoW.

Last weekend, to kick off vacation we initiated a new tradition in our household. Growing up my family never carved pumpkins and it just sounded like so much fun that we decided to start a new tradition. So while out shopping I found the perfect little pumpkin and this is what we came up with.....

Pre-carving drawing:


cleaning out the pumpkin:



(obviously NOT my favorite part and never again to be my job)

And finally, the end result:



And, the biggest reason I haven't been around this past week...the reason for the vacation...


We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Wednesday. And our 4th year together on Thursday.

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I promise not to be gone so long again. Next time I'll tell you about our trip to Sedona for a friend's wedding!

World Card Making Day 2008

I'm posting a bit late I know (yesterday was World Card Making Day), I got sidetracked yesterday appliance shopping. But I didn't want any of you to miss out on taking advantage of this great deal from Stampin' Up.



This offer is only good until Oct. 11th, so don't let it pass you by. Online ordering is available through my website at www.kelleyerickson.stampinup.net Once there just click on the shop now button under my name in the top right corner, or give me a call and I'll be happy to help you.


I'll be back with pictures as soon as I figure out where my camera charger is hiding.

SP12 Final Package

I got my final package this week from my SP12 partner Katja from Finland! Thank you so much! You have no idea how nice it was to get something fun in the mail with all this other stuff going on around the house.

Look at the picture on the box, isn't that pretty? It was kind of late at night when I took the photos so sorry about the flash.


And look at the goodies! I can't wait to try and find the perfect pattern to use with the yarns.

There are 2 skeins of Novita Luxus Wind and 2 skeins of Novita Malibu. Katja also sent along some Finnish candies that my husband is loving and some Finnish chocolate that I will have to share with him. Unfortunately I didn't get to the mail fast enough and so it sat in the mailbox melting until we got it. (nothing a short stint in the fridge can't fix!)

Thanks again Katja, you have been such a wonderful SP partner and I really do hope that we can continue our friendship!


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For those of you wondering about the house, have no fear, I will be making another post soon with all the updates.

Minor tragedy on the homefront

The day seemed to be pretty normal, you could even say we were having a good day. Hubby is home for a couple of weeks rather than travelling so we have been enjoying our afternoons together. (he has to work on eastern time)

We had just gotten home from picking up a Craigslist find and were settling in for the evening getting ready to cook dinner and doing a bit of laundry. Hubby started dinner and went to take the trash out while I started some laundry. Hubby came in from the garage and as he rounded the corner into the living room he started yelling. The pot on the stove was on fire! He tried to put it out as I came running and he saw it wasn't going to stop he yelled for me to call 911.

Everyone is ok, we got all the animals out of the house and over to the neighbors but not before I freaked out. I was on the phone while he was searching for the animals and he couldn't find Ellie...thats when I freaked. I wouldn't know what to do if I'd lost one of the animals. As soon as I saw that she was ok I stopped crying and collected myself.

So what once looked like this:


Now looks like this: (angle is different)


and the oven is in the back yard for now


We were the talk of the neighborhood tonight, one family even brought out their grandmother in her wheelchair to stare at us. Talk about humiliating! Thankfully the neighbors were home to take the animals for us until the fire department left and we got a bit of initial clean up done. Tomorrow we start the heavy duty cleaning going through each room and washing EVERYTHING!

The firemen probably thought I was crazy because as soon as we walked back in the house I gasped...the first thing I thought was "damn, I have to repaint the whole kitchen!" To me it looks devastating, but I know it could have been so much worse. I just can't let myself think of if that had happened.