Goodbye 2013!

New Years Eve is upon us.  How this year went by so fast I'll never know!  We're all another year older, not sure we're any wiser, but older for sure.  The kids have grown and had milestones of their own.  So now we look forward to 2014, the year where Megan will finally be potty trained (guess how we've been spending our Christmas break!), the year that Logan will learn to play the guitar (Santa brought it, we'll see how interested he really is!), the year that maybe I'll finally get that silhouette (hello jury duty pay!).  Before we say hello to 2014 let's say goodbye to 2013.

Thank you, for stopping by everyday.  Thank you for all the kind words you share.  Thank you for attending classes.  Thank you for supporting my business, a business that wouldn't exist without your support!  Thank you for allowing me to share a little about me and my family and alot about my projects no matter how big, small, elaborate or detailed.  Thank you for a great 2013! 

Thanks for looking, see you next year!!!!

We're Back On Track

So after what seems like the longest December in the history of time (perhaps I'm exaggerating slightly) I think I can confidently say I'm back to blogging on schedule!  Last week when I finally had the chance to sit down and use my new stuff, that's been sitting there staring at me for almost a month, I had nothing!  No creativity! No desire! Nothing!  I wanted to use my new stamps, paper and accessories, but just couldn't find the will.  Stampers block is a very real issue!  I hadn't sat down to stamp in almost a month!  A month!!!  After doing it almost daily for so long and then taking such a long break, a break I blame solely on jury duty, it was hard to get back into the stamping groove.  But I somehow managed it.  Perhaps it was my brain that said, "If you're not going to stamp, there's a sink full of dishes"  that made me work through it.  Whatever it was, I finally stamped this card.  Then the next day whipped out 3 cards in an hour.  So I think whatever was in my way is gone.  Jury duty is done!  Christmas is done! 

 

I'm not sure when banners became so popular, but I've been putting them on everything for a while.  And somehow my banners keep getting bigger.  Then SU put some banner framelits in the Occasions catalog.  I DID NOT use the banner framelits on this card, I won't have them until later today when UPS delivers them :)  So these banners I just cut by hand.  I used the new DSP from the Sale a Bration catalog.  I LOVE this DSP!!!!  The stamp set is new too and from the Occasions Catalog which we can order from in just a few days!!!  I'll have lots more sneak peeks this week, check back!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Carving Up Tags

I've been a bad blogger lately.  I missed Friday's post and almost today.  Jury duty not only sucked the Christmas spirit out of me but also the creativity out of me.  Then there was the shopping, the wrapping, the baking, the hour lost standing in line at the post office and oh yeah and those 2 kids I have running around here somewhere :)  There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.  But here we are, mere hours from Christmas and my kids know it!  But since we are at the doors of Christmas of course there will be baking, of course there will be baked goodies packaged and handed out for gifts, so of course you need custom tags!  This mixer stamp was carved using Stampin' Up! carving stamp set Undefined.  I'm not an expert carver.  This is my 3rd stamp that I've carved....I think....I got the idea, inspiration and tips from Allison at Nice People Stamp.  She really is an expert carver.  I can't believe the amazing stamps she's done.  If you have time head to her website and check it out.  

 

Really the whole tag was cased, I told you I'm lacking creativity!  The boxes I bought (at the dollar store) for my gifts were Pool Party and Real Red, one of my favorite color combos!!  (Really that's why I bought them!)  So my tags were easy, Pool party and Real Red.  I did add some Gold Bakers Twine---coming up in the new Occasions Catalog in January--to add a little sparkle to it. 

Here's my stamp.  I think it came out pretty well.  Even my husband knew it was a mixer so I guess that means it's a win!!!  I still have a ton of baking to do today and tomorrow.  Not to mention the gifts that still need wrapped :)  So I won't be making any promises for the rest of the year for posts :)  But check back, I may surprise you---and myself!  If I don't get to posting in the next 48 hours, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Our Christmas Card

I thought I'd show you today what our Christmas card this year looks like.  I think by now our family and friends should have all received theirs.  I try not to post them until they're mailed.  This year we did a trifold card.  So you'll have to imagine each picture folded into thirds.  For this the front, the first fold is right after the large picture of Logan and Megan, then again between the banner and the picture of Logan.  It's so fun when it's folded!  By the way I love these colors-Pool Party and Real Red! 

 

The back of the card show some pictures throughout the year.  You can see where the folds would be here.  It's broken up pretty well. I always leave a blank spot on my card to write a personal message to each person or family.  I think this is our favorite Christmas card so far!!  The front of the card captures Megan's mischievous yet angelic personality perfectly. 

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

My Penguin Pals

This post is short and sweet!  I've been on jury duty and I was called in for not one but two trials.  It ended yesterday, but my name is still in that 'pool' and I could be called back in at any time until December 31....let's hope not though.  I'm exhausted and haven't had time to get anything done, from stamping to Christmas prep nothing has been done.  Jury duty can suck the Christmas cheer right out of you.  But I'm hoping with the holiday's there's a good chance I won't get called back :)  Finger's crossed!  But for today, I have some sweet little penguin cards to share.

 

They're pretty big, I used the oval framelits and the two largest circle punches for these 'little' guys!  They'll be attached to some chocolate penguins that I bought for the kids teachers for Christmas.  Their little belly's open so we can write a quick message (typing that I know it sounds weird that their 'belly's open' but you know what I mean).  You have to understand that my brain is fried from lawyer jibber jabber and sitting in cold court rooms.  So I'm going to go nap, and then try to regain some of that Christmas cheer that's escaped me somehow..... 

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Quick and Simple

Here are the two cards my customers got to make at my class.  Remember they're not fancy, they're meant to be quick and simple.  But both cards are so much fun and I love them both!!!  The first is a fun winter card.  Perhaps you have snow on the ground where you live!  Here's the perfect card!  The snowman is just 3 punches, 2 circles and a square!  You can add a 4th is you want to decorate his hat like we did but certainly not required!  The big shot makes cutting the letters go quickly so you can mass produce this card in no time!  By the way check out that embossing folder....don't you LOVE IT!!!  It's one of the new Sale a Bration products.  I think I've found my new favorite folder!!!  This card was inspired by this card.  After a long week of jury duty I needed all the help I could get for this class! 

 

The second card is a fun, everyday card.  We all need these!  This card was also inspired from another card, I couldn't find it on my Pintrest board.  I'm begining to wonder if I pinned it at all????  It uses a stamp set that I'm currently in a love/hate relationship with.  It's Regarding Dahlias, I love the samples that I see with it, but I'm just not a huge fan of the flower....though I do LOVE it on this card.  See where my love/hate relationship comes into play :)  I love the little doily peeking out the bottom of the tag!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Light Up The Tree

I had a class over the weekend.  We didn't make a ton of project---just 2 cards.  They weren't complicated or hard, just fun.  It was my end of the year customer appreciation class.  This class is free, I don't charge a fee or require any orders.  It's just a fun morning to stamp and get away from the crazy stores and busy life's at least for a little while.  As always I make small gifts to thank my customers for coming.  This time I used our sweet muslin bags and filled them with packets of hot cocoa and a candy cane.  The muslin bags are so much fun, they're so easy to stamp on and decorate!!!

These bags were inspired by this post by Martha.  So sweet and simple!!!  I used the letter stencils from the banner kit, I just used Garden Green and my stampin' sponge and sponged the color on.  I created a bag with every one's initials.  Then used some candy dots to add some ornaments (or lights) to the tree.  Draw a quick tree trunk and top it with a sparkly star and what a sweet little gift!  

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Tag It

Heather Summers, who is all together one of my favorite stampers ever, had the most brilliant idea on her blog on Monday.  She used MDS to create many Christmas items, card front's, invitations, etc.  But the idea I loved is the tags!  So I took a photo box, it's about 2x3 and filled it with pictures of Logan and Megan from the year.  I'll attach the proper tag to the gift so on Christmas morning they can find the presents with their pictures on it!  Such a cute idea and perfect for little one who can't read yet but want to help hand out gifts.   

I'll send these off to staples to have them printed quickly, then it will just be a quick run through the paper cutter and add some ribbon and they're done.  So simple and quick!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!! 

What's In The Box...Round 2!

Maybe I should create a game show, "What's In The Box!!!"  Last week I shared this box with you and left you for the weekend wondering what WAS in that box.  This time I won't make you wait!  These little gifts I made for Amber's girls for our party last week.  They're so sweet and often help out at classes and meetings.  So I thought they deserved gifts too.  The boxes are 2x2, they tiny cute little boxes :)  I pulled out my Season of Style Journaling tags again.

Quick, cute belly band and the boxes are done.  So what's in them???  I know you're dying to know!

I made the girls they're own little snowman ornament out of the clay (I warned you I was obsessed!!!).  These were really simple!!  Really just balls of clay.  I made them one night and left them to dry.  I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter around their hats, everyone needs a little sparkle!  I'm not done with the clay, not by a long shot.  There's plenty of ideas rolling around my head!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!!

Busy Busy!

Has the holiday rush caught up with you too???  I feel like I'm moving non stop.  Do this, do that.  Why is it that we rush and rush during the holiday season?  Is it because it sneaks up on us?  I saw a card similar to this one on Pintrest....can't find it now though.  I thought it was perfect for the Holidays!  I used the Season of Style Journaling Tags.  There's no stamping on this card, none!  It's such a simple, fun, festive card! 

Sorry about the lighting on the pictures.  I really hate hate hate taking pictures at night.  I really try to use natural light.  But I haven't been home during the day in a week.  That's thanks to my jury duty punishment...I mean privilege and obligation as a US citizen.  I've been on a trial for the past week and really, everyone hates jury duty, it's always an inconvenience, but despite me not being home (at all!) it hasn't been that bad.  At least it's interesting and I'm learning soooo much.  And the other 13 people I'm with are in good spirits and are really nice people so it makes it less excruciating and hey I'm getting paid a whopping $6.25/hour.  Whoohooo! I should be back to taking pictures during the day soon, until then there will be some less than ideal photo opts :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Gifts Galore

I shared yesterday what my gift for our Christmas party was.  Today I'm sharing the rest of the gifts!!  They were all amazing!!  I will never get over how creative these women are!!  I'm so fortunate to be in such great company.  We had a really small party, only 5 of us could attend.  So our gift pile is a little smaller than usual.  But onto the gifts!

 

 Michelle made this wonderful Lap Desk.  The tag reads "Where ever you go enjoy this Lap Desk. It provides you a sturdy surface that works great as you sit on the couch, or floor, or even your bed while watching your favorite show.  Take it with you in the car for long rides or even to create while you are waiting.  Happy Holidays.  Enjoy!"  I love this, Michelle said she would offer a class, I'll be there!

 Next is Karen, I originally opened this gift, but it was stolen from me by Amber.  They're candles (battery operated, vanilla scented) decorated with glitter, shimmery snowflakes.  They sit on a lovely tray, also decorated with glitter and glitz!  It's so beautiful in person, I know why Amber wanted it! 

Amber's gift is next.  I love this project.  There's some fun sneak peeks into the Occasions catalog on this project!  She said she had this frame, with the hooks in them and she embellished it.  She used the burlap ribbon and flowers from a new kit in the Occasions Catalog (January).  It's so pretty and so functional, you could hang keys, jewelry, scissors, really anything from those hooks! 

 

Finally we get to the gift I got to bring home.  I LOVE IT!!  Isn't this Winter Wreath Beautiful!!!??!  Carmelita made this.  There's so much tulle and sparkle on this wreath, it's perfect!!!!  I did hang it on my door-where else would I put it!!??  There was talk at the party that maybe it should be an indoor wreath so it doesn't get dirty, but our front door is pretty sheltered and we have a glass screen door that is in front of the wreath so I think it will be ok. 

Here's a closer look at it.  It has silver glitter paper, rhinestones and everything else I love!!  What's not to love!!!  So there's a look at our gifts this year!  I love them all!  Can't wait until next year!!!!

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

The Making Of The Penguins

I promised on Friday I'd share what was in the box, first though go grab some coffee this is a long (but worth it) post.  Go ahead I'll wait..........oh good you're back!  We've been doing our Christmas party for years, I don't even know how many!  Every year I'm excited about my gift and in the past I've learned to make an extra for me to keep, then it's not so hard parting with the one I made.  We'll this year my grand idea didn't work out as planned so I needed a plan B...then it hit me....my vision....I think there was an actual light bulb above my head!  I was going to use the clay to make ornaments!!!!  WHAT ornaments though?????  Penguins of course!!!  Making penguins is one of my favorite punch art, so why not make it out of clay!!!  I'm so extra excited about my gift this year!!!  Almost giddy!!!

 

So here's what was in the box....two, might I say ADORABLE penguin ornaments!!!  The penguins are made 99% with SU products, the only thing not SU is the little eye hook (or whatever that thing is called) that the twine is hanging from.  So let's go over these sweet little guys in detail....I warned you this would be a loooonnnnng post! 

Here's the third one, I told you I made a spare for me to keep!  I wanted to keep the pink one, but I was out voted by the rest of my family!  They all wanted the blue one :)  They're all stinkin' cute though!!!!!  The penguins are made completely of the Simply Pressed Clay.  The parts that aren't white I dyed with our reinkers, I used Melon Mambo for the pink one, Bermuda Bay for the blue one and Summer Starfruit for the yellow one.  For their beaks and feet I use Pumpkin Pie reinker.  For the penguins bodies I used staz on-I'm about to admit something here...I don't own a black SU ink pad.....I use Staz On for all my black stamping.  So I only had staz on reinker.  Now when you're dying clay.....and using staz on reinker......WEAR GLOVES!  I can't stress that enough.  My fingers were black for days!!!!!

They're so cute when they hang!!!!  For their eyes I color rhinestones with a black permanent marker.  I used the large rhinestones for the top of their hat and the Silver Glass Glitter for the brim on the hat.  These penguins just keep getting cuter!!!!!     

They're not huge by any means.  They're perfect ornament size and they're so light!!!!  Our clay is fantastic---I was a fan before but now I'm in love with the clay!!!!  The penguins measure about 2x3 and about 1 inch deep (if you count the beak).  The little hooks are just screwed into the hats, after they dried. 

I took pictures while making them, it took about 2 days total. They took a little longer than I thought to dry.  Here's part of the process.  I worked quickly with the bodies and scarves and stuck them together before the clay was dry so that the clay would 'mold' together and hold them together.  No glue involved in these steps.  I did get the beak and the feet onto the blue penguin, but later decided I would glue them on.  The feet I made using the smallest of the heart framelits.  I rolled out the orange clay like cookie dough and used the framelit like a cookie cutter to cut the hearts out.  I laid it all on wax paper to dry and left it for the night. 

The next morning I picked them up, they're backs weren't completely dry so I flipped them over and let them finish drying.  :)  Molding them I didn't find too hard.  The bodies are just circle, I rolled the clay into a ball and gently pressed it into flat circles.  The hats I did in a similar way, I made an oval though, pressed it out and then shaped it into a hat, just take your time.  The scarves I rolled out a 'snake' then pressed it flat.  They're simple shapes, just take your time :) 

Once they were dry, I used my tombow glue to glue on the feet, beaks, eyes and the ball on the top of the hat.  Let it dry....lots of drying time.  Once that was dry I used Crystal Effects to add the glitter to the brim of the hats.  They can't lay flat anymore, at least not until the crystal effects dried, so I pulled out rolls of washi tape for them to rest on. 

Finally the last step was adding the hook and twine.  It worked perfectly and I couldn't be more pleased with the final result!!!!  There's a good chance you'll see lots more clay creations from me soon!!!!  This was sooooo much fun and I still have a ton of clay left.  A little goes a very long way.  The clay is only $6.95 it's a fantastic investment!!!!!  Local stampers if you're interested in a class on using the clay, email me or leave a comment.  If there's interest I'll do a class.  It was sooooo much fun!!!!!     

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

What's In The Box???

Tonight is our annual Christmas Party with our group of demos here, our Ladybug Party!  Every year we make 1 gift, bring it wrapped to the party and then exchange gift, white elephant style.  In past years there's been lots of stealing gifts.  It's always so much fun!  We begin with a potluck dinner.  The company is always great the presents are fantastic---these ladies are amazingly creative.  This year I'm sure it will be no different.  Here's my gift....what's in the box????  Well you'll have to come back on Monday to see what's in it---believe me it's worth the stop!!!!  I normally don't create my gift wrapping, some years my gifts have been too big for it.  But this year, I have a small gift, the box was so easy to make!!!

I hear all the time "How do you make boxes?" "I could never do that!" Boxes are super simple and anyone can do it!  When I make my boxes I figure out how big it needs to be first.  Not how high, just length and width.  For this box I needed a 5 x 3 1/2 inch box. I knew I wanted it to be 1 1/2 inches tall, so I added 3 to each side, my cardstock needs to be 8 x 6 1/2, score at 1 1/2 on all sides.  That's it!  Cut tabs and assemble your box!  Really THAT'S IT!  For my lid, I only wanted 1 inch on each side, I wanted a little of the Bermuda Bay box to show underneath.  So my measurements were 7 x 5 1/2 score at 1 inch on all sides.  Assemble the lid the same way.  (TIP: With the glimmer paper I had to use a glue gun to hold the sides together, if you've ever used it you'll know the it's challenging to get that glimmer paper to stick!).  For the bow I used the bow die-there's a million uses for that die!!!  Remember to stop by on Monday to see 'what's in the box?'.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Found This!

I spent some time this week cleaning off my stamping desk.  I know that I 'claim' to do that often but it really gets messy and things get lost and I have nothing to do with it ;) There's always scraps of paper, pens, random stamps that need to find their home and so many more things.  Well this card was found in that organized chaos.  This was going to be one of the cards we did at my gift card holder class last month, but I decided to do a different card.  It's a really fun card though, and I love the 'merry' in the silver!

When you open the card, there's a spot for the gift card.  It fits perfectly!  I used some circle punches folded in half to use as the 'holder' of this card.  If you were going to mail this or hand it out, I would make sure to use a glue dot on each circle to anchor that gift card down. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

This Is It!

Of course this is not the end of all MDS projects, but it's the end of my favorite Disney pages.  I didn't quite know how I was going to scrapbook the Electrical Parade pictures.  They're bright and unique.  I color matched everything on this page.  All the blocks are color matched to the lights in the parade.  I wanted to page to be as bright as the parade was! 

Fireworks at Disney World are always amazing.  The castle lit up at night is another wonderful sight to see!  Fortunately the two nights that we saw the Magic Kingdom Fireworks it didn't rain :) This page is super simple.  But it doesn't need to be fancy or elaborate to be special!  Remember when you're MDSing every page is unique and special, it doesn't matter how many embellishments you have on there, it's your page, made with love!!!

Finally our travel shots, there was lots of waiting at the airport.  They were ready to go!!!  They were great travelers though!!!  They loved having their own suitcases (filled with toys and books).  We were all exhausted on the plane ride home :) 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Two Double Pages

I don't normally work in double page layouts.  I would really rather do one page at a time :)  However.....sometimes you have to do a double page layout.  Our princess pictures really needed one.  I wanted the pictures to be a good size and fitting them all on one page made them too small.  This double page layout is so pretty, elegant and fun!!! 

The princesses were all so nice, I don't know which was Logan's favorite.  He did get really shy as soon as we got up to each one.  He had so many questions for all of them, but was a little star struck when it was his turn :)

The second double page layout I did in this book is one from the Logan and Megan's camera.  There were so many pictures to choose from.  Logan and Megan loved being able to take their own pictures.  It was so much fun to look through them too.  Megan took a lot of pictures at the stores at Downtown Disney while sitting in her stroller so there's lots of shots of the toys and other lower displays. 

There's lots of close up face shots :)  I think they enjoyed being goofy with each other.  In the end we do love these pictures and it was so fun to see how Logan and Megan experienced Disney World.   I have one more post with the last of the pages tomorrow then we'll move on to lots of stamped projects! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Let's Finish Up Disney

I hope you're not sick of all my Disney World pages yet.  Good news though, including this post, there's two more posts of our Disney trip to share!  I already have the printed album in hand and it's lovely!  I'm so pleased with it!!!  I hope you've enjoyed all the pages too.  My Digital Studio is really an amazing program.  I never ever ever considered myself a scrapbooker but with MDS I am!!!  That's pretty exciting!!  Back to the pages.  Fantasmic at the Studios is one of our favorite shows.  It's an incredible show, if you're planning a trip to WDW, make sure you add this on your must do list.  Dan and I must have seen it dozens of times when we worked there, Dan probably more, he used to work it!  Even after seeing it all, being able to recite it and know what's going to happen it's still exciting!    I can't remember if I've shared this one or not, if so sorry, if not here it is! 

 

Back to Magic Kingdom now, the rest of the pages will be from this park.  We literally walked into Magic Kingdom right when the parade was starting and were able to get seats right on the street!  How exciting for the kids!!! 

Dumbo was one of Megan's favorite rides.  I think we rode Dumbo about 3 or 4 times!  There was never a line, we were able to walk right on!  I do love this page, I think this was CASED from Pintrest.  I love the colors and all the banners and flags, so cute!!! 

The last page, for today anyway, is the Carousel.  Another ride we did more than once.  On one of our rides we rode with one of Cinderella's step sisters!!!  How fun!!!  There's an error on this page, I'm not going to point it out.  I didn't realize until printing, but fortunately for me it was cut off on the page.  ALWAYS check your bleed areas and make sure nothing important will get cut off.  Luckily it was just my mistake that got cut off :) 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!!!