New Book Review

Just finished up an AWESOME new book, My Stubborn Heart, by a great new author, Becky Wade.
Couldn't put this down. I wasn't expecting to like it too much as contemporary christian fiction kind of bores me. So I was pleasantly surprised to fall in love with this sweet story. I love a clean romance novel :)



Here's what I wrote on amazon:
I went into this book not expecting too much. I'm not a huge fan of contemporary christian fiction (mostly stick to historical fiction) and hadn't heard anything about this author before. Well, this book was AWESOME! Finished it in two days; didn't want to put it down.
The story line was sweet and moved along at a great pace. The characters were well thought out and believable. I found myself rooting for all the people in the book. I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading more by this new author Becky Wade. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys happily-ever-afters, well rounded characters, christian fiction, or contemporary fiction.

I received this book free of charge from Bethany House publishers in exchange for my honest review. LOVED IT :)

Book Review

Recently I was lucky enough to receive The Messenger by Siri Mitchell from Bethany House Publishers. I am SO EXCITED to be able to review the books sent to me.

Here's what I wrote for Amazon about the book:
I'm not a huge fan of Siri Mitchell's writing but was pleasantly surprised with this book. The plot was interesting and moved along at a decent pace. It did drag a bit at the end and I would have liked an epilogue (but that's just me). All in all, nice easy fictional read with no graphic sex scenes. If you like Siri Mitchell's work then I would recommend this as one of the better ones.


Sweet, simple and to the point. 
That's about all I have time for today! 
Thanks for looking! 
AE

remember this.

Hey all. Just stopping by with another card post. This one, once again, uses K&Company die cuts. That little package of them that I purchased at Michael's has given me so many cards! I love that I can get such variety out of them.

Did you know that 'souvenir' means 'to remember' in French? I was thinking about that as I was writing this blog post. I want to remember every little detail about my baby. He's already 3 and a half weeks old! Already starting to look like an infant and not a newborn. I want to remember these times. And cherish them. I think I'll make a baby book as a souvenir of this time! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

air mail.

Hey all! Let's get right to the card.

This is one I created again using up the K&Company die cuts. Just simply attached them to my patterned paper and stitched in place. I added the sentiment with pop dots for some dimension.

I like how this turned out. And the color scheme. It seems vintage and patriotic all at the same time.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

scenic route.

This weekend my grandmother is visiting all the way from Michigan. It's her first time here on the Gulf Coast so we plan on cruising the coast and checking out the sights. I figured I'd share this card because it fits perfectly with our plans!

All the die cuts are from K&Company. It came together really quickly and is a super simple card.

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

just relax.

Hey again! Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Ours was laid back and lazy but really good.

And moving right along to today's card:

Sorry the photo's a bit dark. It was the only one I had of this card and didn't feel like taking another. Anyway, this card came together really quickly because it's basically just die cuts from K&Company. Quick & easy. Always nice to do up a bunch of simple cards to have on hand.

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

weekend love.

Yay! The weekend is here! And even though I have nothing planned it's just always nice to say that the weekend is here. :)

Here's today's card:

I love this color combination. Gray and yellow are so pretty together and the purple is a nice base. The patterned paper is October Afternoon by the way. The glitter looks really good in person. This was originally submitted for the Papercrafts sketch issue and not picked up. Oh well though! Hopefully it will brighten someone's day when I do end up getting it in the mail.

Enjoy the weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

birthday wishes.

Hello again! Here's another cute little reject card for you to enjoy today:

I know... I didn't crop the photo and it's not all that exciting of a background. But I like this card and didn't really feel like taking another picture.

This was for the Papercrafts sketch submission call. I'm thinking that it would be fun to make up a bunch of these with different colored floss as a card set. It was fun to bust out my (dusty) eyelet setter and use up some of the thousands of eyelets I have!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by

AE

i've missed you, blog.

WOW! Has it been forever since I've posted or what?! Way too long. But I recently made 9 cards in two days so I have plenty of fun stuff to share.

Not sure how much time I'll have in the near future to create new things since we just brought our beautiful son home from the hospital!

This our my big chunk of love, Jack:

Here's the latest card. It was a submission reject from CARDS magazine but I am really in love with how it turned out. I think I may just have to get it into the mail pretty soon.

The paper is October Afternoon and the die cuts are K&Company. Not to brag or anything :) but I made the scrunched seam binding myself and like how it looks with this card.

Thank you for stopping by!

Hope everyone has a great week

AE

happy halloween!

Happy Halloween to you all! Just stopping in to say HI and hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday!

These are a couple more of the huge batch of Halloween cards that I made a while back to send to friends and family. I love the spiderweb patterned paper! I added silver stickles to the center of the webs, it looks really cute in real life!

Enjoy this beautiful Fall holiday!

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

soaring by.

Hello, people! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Mine went by much too quickly, of course!

Here's a card that I created a very long time ago and just never got around to posting it.

I still am not in love with it. It was my first use of Bird Watching Additions from PTI. But it's cute enough.

I really do have way too many cards just sitting around my craft cave. I need to start mailing out a few every couple days or so just to get through the whole bunch!

Well, hope everyone has a great start to the week!

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

told you there were more...

Hello again! Here is that card I promised. It's one of the bajillion that I made with this layout. But it will be the last one that I post here. Promise!

I really like these colors together. One of the papers is October Afternoon, one is PTI, and the other two are just from my scrap bag. It's so full.... I need to find another layout that will use up some of those scraps!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

AE

another post? so soon?!

Yes! I AM back with another post and no, it hasn't been a whole month since the last post! Shocking, yes, I know! :)

This is a super quick card that is a great way to use up those scraps! I was inspired by a card in the holiday issue of Papercrafts. Then put my own spin on it and here it is!

I think I've made a bajillion of these in different colors and with different sentiments. I'm sure I'll be posting more soon! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

Halloweenie Time!

Hey everyone! I've been such a bad blogger lately. Life has been crazy and busy, as I'm sure everyone can relate to! Here are just a few of the bazillion different Halloween cards I made.

I just love Halloween and Autumn and all things orange! Haha :)

Each card is just a little bit different. But they were so quick and easy to make! I cheated and got a patterned paper from my local scrapbooking store that had all these cute little circle images on it. I just cut them all out and made little tags.

The tags I adhered to the card fronts on top of some other fun patterned papers. Just embellished each a teensy bit differently and VIOLA! All done!

Hope you all are in a fun Halloween kind of mood now! Let's eat candy! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

mini missing you.

Hey again! This card is a mini at 2.75 x 4 inches but it packs a cute, little punch.

All the paper and stamps are from Papertrey Ink. I really like the color combo of Simply Chartreuse, Plum Pudding, and Kraft.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

AE

christmas in sept.

Hello, blog world! Here are two Christmas cards that were publishing rejects:

This first one is very simple. Heat embossing on Scarlet Jewel cardstock and some simple half circles sewn on the side. Not my favorite so no biggie that it didn't make the cut.

This second one though I really like. The colors are fun and different for a Christmas card. That patterned paper is from October Afternoon's Thrift Shop line. (Still in love with that whole line!) The stamp is a wooden one and it took many, many tries to get it lined up perfectly. I love the impression rubber gives but clear stamps are SO much easier to line up!

That's all I have for today. Hope everyone had a safe and fun Labor Day! Onto the rest of the month!

Thanks for stopping by:

AE

flower power.

Hey again! Take a look at this fun little flower that I made with some thrift store lace and patterned paper. I just looped the lace across the back and taped it into place. Super easy and it looks like petals! This is a skinny little 3x5.5 card so it will still fit in a standard A2 envelope.

Hope you like this super quick and easy little number!

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

thinking of you.

Here's one of my new favorite color combos. It's Scarlet Jewel, yellow, gray and teal. Sounds random, I know, but I just love how it all came together on this card. The patterned paper is October Afternoon and I stitched a border around it after I stamped the flourish in black on the left side. The frame and sentiment is PTI's Fillable Frames. My favorite one!

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

roses.

Hey all! I know it's been forever since I've been around. Busy with life!

But here's a card I made a while back and wanted to share with you. The rose is stamped and embossed in white and looks gorgeous in person. The three leaves are stamped in green onto white cardstock and also heat embossed. I found the lace at a thrift store for super cheap!

Thanks for stopping by!

AE

happy day.

Today's a happy day for me. So I figured I'd share this happy card with you.

The stamps are from Papertrey and are heat embossed. It looks gorgeous in person. That cute patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye. Added some sewing for an extra detail.

I like that this card packs a punch but is still pretty flat for mailing.

That's it for me today. Short and sweet.

Thanks for stopping by!

AE