Happy Birthday!

Tonight we are celebrating one more birthday in our family. Rick will be....well lets just say he's getting old enough that birthdays are starting to hit hard! Last night I had a brilliant idea - nothing like waiting til the last minute, huh? - to invite his sisters and their families over for a surprise celebration. hopefully they will arrive here just before he gets home - teehee - I think even Emma kept this one a surprise!

Anyway this is the card I made for him. It didn't turn out quite like I expected but I had no time to go back and fix it up, you know with needing to clean up the house after a week of mad stamping, and cooking a dinner for 15 on a day's notice. All I can say is thank goodness for oblivious husbands who walk by dining room tables in the dark, not noticing the three bowls of dip. And thank goodness too for cold New England nights and old houses with unheated pantrys! hehe

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

One More Sneak Peek!

This card uses a Sweet Sunday Sketch from waaay back in November. Sometimes I enjoy taking other people's designs and making them my own and this was one such card. I used the Sweet Shop DSP from the upcoming Occasions Mini - available starting January 4th and the coordinating Jelly Bean Brads also from the Occasions Mini! I love this paper, the white polka dots are dry embossed and the other pages have some of my current favorite colors. I am even liking Pool Party once again!

Thanks for stopping by today. Stay warm I hear its about to get really cold outside!

A Trillion Gazillion Thank-You's!

Is that a real number? According to Emma it sure is and this year I need that many Thank You cards when I return to school on Tuesday! I couldn't think of a better way to use my scraps and left overs from this year's Holiday Mini-Catalog. I am always sad to see some of the items in these mini's retire. I will miss the Holly Berry Designer Series Paper and the Stocking Punch the most. This was a fabulous grouping of items.

However I am also looking ahead to a great Occasion's Mini Catalog - ready to go "live" on Wednesday! As you might have noticed from my previous posts this week, I have been trying out some of those new items and stamps. I love the new dies, and the Sweet Shop Product Suite is hands down my new favorite - I might even order the coordinating sticker sheets!

Anyway - that's my post for today. Best Wishes to everyone for a Healthy and Happy New Year!

Printer's Tray Club

Join me this year in a series of classes to decorate your favorite Printer's Tray or Shadow Box. This first class will take place on Saturday February 4th @ 1:00 and will feature a Valentine's Theme. I am planning for Easter, Patriotic, Fall and Holiday classes to follow. This design leaves plenty of room for you to customize with your favorite photos or mementos. All materials are included in the class fee. Contact me for more information.

January Stamp A Stack

Here are the samples for January's Card Club. The first is called Be My Valentine. It uses the PS I Love You stamp set from the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog and will be available on January 4th. I used a combination of Pink Pirouette, Calypso Coral and Chocolate Chip. Who would have thought that Calypso Coral would coordinate so nicely with a Pink and Chocolate combination?

The second card is called Be Mine and features the Hearts Collection of Stampin' Up!s new Framelit Dies. I used the little girl from Greeting Card Kids, a much under used favorite from the current Idea Book and Catalog. It features the new Blushing Bride Smooch Spritz, Silver Waffle Paper, and Vintage Glass Glitter. I thought she was cute with the Soft Suede card base, but this might not be everyone's cup of tea so participants may choose between the Soft Suede or a Pink Pirouette Base.

The last card I called Love. This card uses the Framelits Hearts also, along with some punches and many of the images from the PS I Love You stamps set, as well as the Candy Conversations A la Carte Stamp from the upcoming Mini, and the Outlined Occasions Stamp Set from this year's Sale-A-Bration Catalog - available January 24th - March 31st.

My 2012 Monthly Card Club will resume on Thursday January 12th and will run the 2nd Thursday of each month. This year's club will feature 3 cards each month and attendees will Stamp A Stack of 3 of each version for a total of 9 cards. Class starts at 6:30pm and will be taking place in the Play Room at Life's Memories and More. Call or email me to reserve your space!

Come back soon for an upcoming Valentine Project and more information about this year's Sale-A-Bration!

Happy Hanukkah and Peace on Earth

I needed a Hanukkah card this week, but sadly there are no Hanukkah Stamps in my stash of stamps, so I used the Peace on Earth greeting from my Peaceful Season stamp set (retired) and the flourish from this year's Pines and Boughs to create a blue and silver shimmery card. Gotta love that Glimmer Paper - Hope they like it!

Happy Birthday Zoey!

I managed squeeze in a little time to stamp this morning getting ready for Zoey's 4th Birthday, and made two banners, one for her birthday cake and a holiday banner that her parents could keep after. The cake banner was stamped using the candy piece from my Jolly Bingo Bits stamps set in Wild Wasabi and Real Red Classic Ink and the snowflakes were cut from the Norther Flurries Sizzlet Strip Die. I used a combination of white baker's twine and silver tinsel trim (retired SU)with white organdy ribbon from my stash.

For the holiday banner I used Holly Berry Boquet DSP, Stocking Accents Die and the Stocking Builder Punch. The snowflakes were cut from silver glimmer paper, and I added some crystal snowflakes (from my stash) and Mini-Jingle Bells. I finished the whole thing off with Champagne Glitter - wish you could see it on the snowflakes, it looks great IRL!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Holiday Clearance Rack

This is something worth checking out - lots of great items - ribbon, card stock, punches, dies, and 3-D items, a personal favorite of mine! I have my list made...Holiday Keepsake Boxes, Design A House, Gusseted Envelopes, Punches! Can't wait for that box to come in, it's going to be like Christmas!

You can shop by visiting the clearance rack at the online store. Don't forget to add me as your Demonstrator to get the preferred pricing.

Candy Cane Lane Gift Set

Here is a fun gift set I made using Stampin' Up!s Candy Cane Lane Simply Scrappin' Kit. These kits make it super easy and quick to make scrapbook pages, but they are great for other projects as well. The tag box is not my original idea, but came from Lisa Young's Splitcoast Stamper's Gallery.

Have a great day!

Snow Much Bling!

Hi Bloggy Friends!I've been missing for awhile, but I haven't stopped stamping. Things have been busy around here, but I'm back! Today I wanted to share these cute snowman cards I made recently as Thank You's. It was inspired by a card that Joni Maki made. You can view her blog here: Stampin' Joni Presents I love the Glimmer Paper tags - a little of that stuff really does go a long way - and the Baja Breeze Glass Glitter. Can you believe I have had this in my stash for almost a year, and it's the first time I broke it out?

I will try to make it back in the next few days to post some more holiday goodies that I have been working on. Don't forget to stop by during Christmas Vacation, when I will be posting some samples made from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog and Sale-A-Bration!

Enjoy your holiday season!

You've Been Boo'd

Have you ever been BOO'd? Weeks ago someone (not really sure who...or am I?) began Boo-ing at work. Okay it was me, but I couldn't make it obvious so I left a store bought bag (shh don't tell the Stampin' Up! fairies - I mean what respectable stamper leaves a treat for someone in a store bought bag??) it finally came around and I walked into my office yesterday to find a bag of treats waiting for me...who snuck those in there when I wasn't looking I wonder?? Anyway I think there is only one person left who hasn't been BOO'd - so at this point in the game, I think it's okay to make it obvious that the last Boo was left by me and is this not the cutest bat you have ever laid eyes on? I wish I could take the credit for all this awesomeness, but the original design came from the fabulous Shelli Gardner....Do you think they'll ever figure out who left the first??

Gearing Up For a SPOOKY Halloween!

Today I worked on Thank You cards for my customers this month, along with a few for some very thoughtful volunteers who helped me get ready for our Fall Festival at school this coming week. I have lots of Halloween projects I am trying to wrap up including a sweet little black crow who's just waiting for a Halloween costume - can crows even be considered sweet? Well maybe just this one as soon as I am finished with him!

All About R-einkers

I am so excited to share these fun cards with you at my Stamp Club this month! Each of them is made using Stampin' Up! Re-inkers with different techniques. I still have time to prep for more people if you would like to join in!

Candle Boxes completed!

Back in you June you may have viewed a picture of a box I had designed to be used as a wedding favor - sized just right to hold a Yankee Candle Votive. Today I finally finished all 96 of these little babies - Sorry Kim I am keeping two - Rick and Emma deserve a treat for entertaining themselves for the past two days :) If you missed June's post, you can view it here! It was hours worth of work, but I loved every minute of it - and I hope Kim and Pat like these little boxes as much as I do!

I put together a brief tutorial with the measurements and directions - cut on the solid lines and score on the dotted lines (except for the error!) please don't mind my horrible writing, and take note of the error on the box top where it's noted to score and not cut! I added a picture of a cut box top to help.





Thanks for stopping by today - GO PATS!

Beau Chateau

I have had this package of die cuts called Side Notes (#122379 $5.95) from the Belle Chateau Product Suite since July and just opened them this past weekend. Can you believe that I held onto these little darlings for this long? I needed a quick Birthday card the other day and these worked to make a perfect collage on the top of this card. I quickly put them together with a piece of Beau Chateau designer paper, a quick punch, a few pearls and a spritz of Log Cabin and Vanilla Smooch, and I was good to go....I think the recipient loved it too - well.... who wouldn't?

FREE Big Shots!

Join Stampin' Up! as a Demonstrator during the month of October and receive your choice of a FREE Big Shot or $100 in Stampin' Up! Products in additional to all the fun supplies you can choose for your Kit!

Not sure you want to commit to a business? A Demonstrator Kit is also a great way to build your personal Stamp and Paper Craft Supplies at a fabulous price. For only $175 you will receive $375 worth of Stampin' Up! Products of your choice plus business supplies, a one time discount of 30% off of you next Stampin' Up! Order, access to our exclusive Stampin' Connection Demonstrator Only Website that is full of great stamping, scrapbooking and paper crafting ideas, and a free subscription to Stampin' Success - Stampin' Up!'s monthly publication for demonstrators only. Contact me today to learn more about joining my team!