Punch Art

Here are the Snowmen and Santas that we made with my niece & nephew last week. In the middle is Peppermint Patties. We used punches, tape and glue. I found a lot of ideas in Splitcoast Stampers gallery but just made it work with what we had. I think I like the way the snowmen turned out a little better...

Yard Gnome or Tree Topper?

Here is a picture of our Christmas Tree this year. Our star topper broke so I stuck this tall red tree thing on top to be funny & it grew on us! My daughter thought it looked like a goblin hat. It reminded me of a yard gnome and made me chuckle every time I walked past it for the first few days. What do you think?

BUM

OK, so I've been a bum about blogging! Sorry, it gets really busy at our house at holiday time. We have been working on lots of kids holiday projects this year now that my daughter is really having fun doing them.

Last week we went to a Friends house and made glass ball ornaments and cut-out cookies. Tuesday we went to a friends house and made 6 different kids crafts- she had 16 kids there! she is brave. Yesterday We had my niece and nephew over to make some punch Santas and Snowmen. Today we are finishing our teacher and friend gifts for the pre-school class.

I will have lots to post once I find the photos! I will post soon, but please expect some slacking :)

Countdown to Christmas Calendar

My daughter kept asking how long until she could open her presents. We do our own stocking stuffers, not Santa and we have a lot of fun thinking of things that the others would really like to get to open. So she keeps wondering when, "When can I open my presents, Mom?"

So we(I) decided to make our own countdown to Christmas calendar and use things we already had around the house. I had seen the ones where people used cookie sheets and magnets, but we didn't have any extra cookie sheets around.

I did have this thing I bought at an antique store one time that I used as a tray in our guest room. Our guests wouldn't miss it. It was an old tray that was painted, roughed up and made as a magnetic board that came with wine corks cut in half and glued to magnets. I lost those magnets a long time ago. Really cute just never used it as that.

Anyway, I thought it would make a great calendar for us. I cut all of the letters and numbers out on the Cricut and glued them together and put them on magnets I found here and there. I punched the scalloped circles out of vellum so you could see thru them. The brown and green circles are out of Stampin Up paper. The big Snowflakes were cut on the Cricut and the smaller ones I used a punch. The black ribbon that is on the top was there when I bought it, so we went with it.

It took two days, it's mostly done and I am fairly happy with it. I haven't heard when, when do we open presents mom, because she changes the number everyday :)

Elephant Birthday Card

This is a card I made for a little girl's 1st Birthday. The super cute Elephant paper is by Basic Grey. I stamped the cupcake image on vellum and then colored it in with Prisma Colored Pencils.

Hot Linking

Ok, So I've seen some people talking about Hot Linking on their blogs recently and I wasn't really sure what to think of it all. I am fairly new to blogging and have never heard of it before, I am wondering if I am doing something wrong already! LOL. Well, I'm pretty sure that I am not after reading more about it. I believe that they are mainly warning everyone about blog etiquette and being aware of illegally using others bandwidth. You can read more for yourself at: http://www.webweaver.nu/html-tips/hotlinking.shtml



When blogging(& in life), please remember to play fair, what comes around goes around.

It's Your Special Day

Here is the gift card holder/card that I ended up giving to my sister for her birthday. This is the same pattern as the Seriously one below. The finished size is 4.25 square. There is a pattern for this over at: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=400019

Both of the patterned papers are by American Crafts. The blue is Baja Breeze by SU. The sentiment stamps are all part of the Birthday Wishes set by Scrappy Cat. The mini cupcake is from a $ Studio G set at Michael's. I colored it in with Prisma Colored Pencils. The black paper is misc. I Inked the edges with Black Versafine to age it a little.

Goals for 2009 - Blogwise

I have two goals for the upcoming year to improve my blog. *The first one is to learn more about coloring images so they look more "natural"(or just normal in my case). *The second one is how to properly light my photos simply, at home.

I think I may have found one of my answers! I Googled Copic Markers today to find out where to buy them and add it to my Christmas list. I came across a few that looked good, some were online shops, some were retail stores and then I found it, I LIKE MARKERS. she is the Copic/coloring queen. You should go & check out her blog over at: www.ilikemarkers.blogspot.com. I will add a link to my sidebar too.

If anyone knows about any good lighting sites or tutorials I would appreciate the help.

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Maybe these will be my November/December goals and I will have to come up with new ones for 2009 :] LOL!

Seriously? TLC196

The Monday challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers is Try a New Technique, this week was a Pop-Up Gift Card Holder. I really needed a gift card holder today too! My sister's birthday was Saturday and I was out of town. This year I bought her a gift card and needed something fun to put it in, plus a card. This is a two for one deal really!

I decided to use the stamps that I just won from My Favorite Things(see below). I am really happy with how it turned out, but my sister is in her upper 30's and I thought this one might seem too teen for her :) I am making her a another one that will fit her better. I really love the card and gift holder together! I will post the one for my sister after it's done.

I stamped the image with Black Versafine on Whisper White paper. I paper pieced the flowered part of the shirt and colored the rest with Prisma Colored Pencils. The flower Rhinestones are by Marcella and the rest are misc. Ribbon is from the $ section somewhere. Base card is Kraft and the brown is Chocolate Chip. Thanks For Looking!

I Won Some Blog Candy!

I was following the Blog Hop over at My Favorite Things last Wednesday and left my comment on the last Design Team Member's blog and then found out I won! It was a new stamp set they just released. Here is a link to their site: http://www.mftstamps.com/blog/

It came in the mail today and I am soooo excited because I never win anything! Isn't this set young & fun?

I am working on the challenge over at Splitcoast Stamper's and will post what I come up with.

Scrapbook Retreat!

Hey, I'm heading out to middle of the woods in northern Minnesota to do some scrapbooking with my cousins and my sister-in-law! I will post something new when I get back, maybe even a scrapbook page or two :)

Sketch Challenge 203

Here is this weeks Sketch Challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. Here is my take on it. It was a fun one to try!

I used Chocolate Chip for the base card. The designers papers are from the Ski Slope paper pack by Stampin Up. The blue is Baja Breeze by SU. I inked most of the edges in brown and drew the faux stitched lines with a ruler and a black marker. I punched the snowflakes out of Cottonwood paper and a punch by EK Success. The Rhinestones are misc brands. The Believe stamp is by Stampendous, stamped in Black Versafine. The Dove is part of the "To You & Yours" set by SU. I added Stickles to the tail for some sparkle but it wasn't enough, so I added Diamond Dust Glitter when the Stickles was still wet. Now it sparkles! TFL!

Samartian's Purse

My daughter & I have volunteered at our church collecting shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child for the past 3 years. Operation Christmas Child is part of Samaritan's Purse, started by Franklin Graham, I believe back the 70's. It is so EASY! And so hard to imagine that children around the world may have never received a gift before, this could be the only gift in they see in their childhood. I have been filling shoe boxes for a long time and thought it would be good to get my daughter involved so she could realize that not all kids get gifts like we do in America.

Here is a link to their website and more info: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

I just love the feeling that you get when you help someone else! It usually does more for you than for the other person :)

This is a photo Sophia manning the table.

Blog Candy

Kristen over at Scrap Creations is giving away some fun Blog Candy!! You can find her here:
http://scrap-creations1.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-candy-martha-stewart-whipper.html

Merry Christmas Card

I made this card for Beate's Weekend Challenge #66.

This Snow globe stamp is from the $ section at Michael's(along with the Merry Christmas). I stamped it on Whisper White and colored it with Prisma Colored Pencils, then added Stickles to the snow to make it sparkle. I stamped the Kraft card stock with Versamark Ink and then rubbed it with Gold Pearl-Ex. The designer paper is Foxy Flowers by Stemma. Greenish and red are misc. The Brown that was used is Chocolate Chip. The white mini snowflakes are actually nail art I found on clearance somewhere. TFL!

Christmas Already?

Yep! It is at my house :) I am a Christmas dork. I have been listening to Christmas Music for the past couple months, my daughter & I (and my DH when we couldn't reach something) put up our first tree this weekend. I say "first" because we usually put up two or three of them. I have this cool old silver 50's one that we decorate all funky & fun and we have a traditional one we got from my father-in-law. It seems that every year we decorate the traditional one a little different. Some years we make it red and green, some years we make it bright and funky and some years we put all of the handmade and personalized ornaments on it. This year it looks like a little of everything! My daughter is five now & she kind of took over the decorating. It may not be perfectly balanced out, but it sure was fun to see her get so excited and be so proud of her work!

Do you have any favorite holiday albums that you listen too? One of my favorites has been Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas album from 1994. I don't even know if she has a new one & I don't have any of her other albums, but I really enjoy this one!

I hope you all can find the joy in preparing for the upcoming holidays too.

Find Joy Card

This is a card I put together the other day based on a sketch I saw in The Stampers Sampler Magazine. I used Cottonwood for the base card, Chocolate Chip for the brown accents and misc for the red and blue. I found this stamp at Big Lots for $2 and stamped it two times in Black Versafine ink. I punched out the girls with my CM circle punches and the scalloped circles are punched with my 1.5" scalloped punch by Marvy Uchida. The Find Joy stamp is from a set by Stampin Up set called Polka Dots and Paisley. I used my Threading Waters punch by Fiskars for the "wave" on the left side and lined it up so that you can just see the edge. I drew the dashed line around the outside to look like faux stitching with a thin marker and a ruler. The awesome Pinwheel paper is by Daisyd's. TFL!!

Second Craft Sale Photos

Here are some photos from the second craft sale that I was in. My mother joined me this time with her awesome photo cards! Thanks for hangin' with me mom :)

I sold the most Paperclip Bookmarks, M & M jars as Thank Yous, Holiday Gift Tags and Gift Card Holders. I found some tips from Kerry somewhere in her blog over at: http://crafts.peteandkerry.com/labels/Altered%20Stuff.html about things that worked at her craft sales. It definitely helped having things at different heights. We bought this card rack and the verdict is still out about it. LOL! It was supposed to fit my mother's cards and it was the wrong size, but we found out after we paid rush shipping to get it here in time for the sale!

This sale was SO much better than the last one! I'm glad I did one more this year. Let me know if you have any questions and TFL!

Gift Tags

Here are some gift tags I made for the last craft sale. I sold them 12 for $3. The ones stamped in Green had 3 ea of 4 stamp designs and the ones stamped in red had 4 ea of 3 stamp designs. I tried to make a cute topper for them too!

Sorry, some of these photos are so bad I tried to hurry up and take them before I had to pack for the craft sale and the lighting was terrible!.

The To: & From: stamps are from a clear $ set st Michael's. The other cute stamps are a clear set I got at Joann's by KI Memories, Winter Icons. The Kraft & Cottonwood card stock was punched with my Square scallop Marvy Uchida Punch(The purple one). Most of the card stock I matted with was misc, but the blue is from the Ski Slope pack by Stampin Up new this year. TFL!

Another Craft Sale!

If you're in the Minneapolis metro area, I am in another craft sale with my mother Saturday Novemebr 8th from 9-4. It's at the Maple Grove Community Center here's a link: http://www.ci.maple-grove.mn.us/

Birthday Card for my Grandma

Here is a card I made for my Grandma's birthday. I'm not even sure how old she is(I'm terrible LOL!). I saw this layout on someones blog, but my computer crashed and I can't remember who it was, I'm sorry. I love how simple it is, but it still packs a punch!

The base card is Whisper White, then I used Kraft paper I punched with my Fiskars Threading Waters punch. The green is Kiwi Kiss, the blue is the new SU In-color, brown is Chocolate chip and the red is Misc.

I stamped the dotted circle with a stamp from Think Happy Thoughts and the cupcake is from a $ clear set. I colored it with Prisma Colored pencils. The Birthday Wishes stamp is part of Birthday Wishes set by Scrappy Cat. TFL!

Snowman Soup

Here is my version of Snowman Soup I made for the last craft sale. I am making another batch for this weekend's(Nov. 8th) craft sale too! Here is a link if you live in the Minneapolis area: http://www.ci.maple-grove.mn.us/#

It comes with a pack of Hot Chocolate, a Candy Cane and some Mini Marshmallows. On the back is the cute poem.

I found the free snowman circle template from Nichole Heady over at Papertrey Ink: http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2007/10/1-snowflake-ser.html about half way down is the free download link and you can print your own. Thanks Nichole!

Clean Towels

Maybe everyone in the world knows this but me. My husband was complaining of our towels being kinda smelly. I'd have to somewhat agree, but I wash them all of the time so I didn't know why. Then I read on my washer lid to use HOT water and the HEAVY cycle! This is probably so obvious, but I like to throw it all in one load, put in warm water, medium cycle and let her rip! I try to get it all done and get on to the next thing as soon as I can and not worry about colors bleeding. So, anyway hot water does the trick! I have been told you should do this with your sheets also to get the dust mites out. Good luck, maybe this will help some other slow to learn laundry person :)

Another Christmas Card

Here is another set of Christmas Cards I made for my craft sale.

These are made on Kraft card stock. The blue is SU new in-color blue. Ribbon is American Crafts. The tree stamp is by Savvy Stamps. Sentiment stamp is by A Muse. Other paper is misc. I added red Stickles to the tree for some sparkle.

BOOT-ilicious Card

Here is a card I made for Sunflower Studio's FRIGHTFULLY DELIGHTFUL FREAKY FRIDAY CHALLENGE - #4 SKETCH CHALLENGE and here is the link:http://www.sunflowerstudio.typepad.com/

I got a page of these stamped images from a friend a couple of weeks ago and wasn't sure what to do with them. I used my Prisma Colored Pencils and cut them out and put Diamond Glaze and glitter on them and let them dry. The Edges kind of curled up which I love!

More details to come....

SCS Sketch Challenge #200

Here is sketch challenge#200 from Splitcoast Stampers. This is a link to all of their sketch challenges. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41. Sometimes I love to have a new sketch to work from, otherwise a lot of my cards start to look the same. Kinda like my scrapbook :) I Cram as many photos as I can on a page and they pretty much end up being in the same place. Well, every Wednesday over at Splitcoast they have a new layout if you want to work with it. Here is my take on it.

I cut the awesome planes out of some paper I just got at Crafts Direct, it's by Creative Imaginations, which I popped up on foam dots for dimension. The lighter blue at the top and the red strip are SU's new "in-colors". The rest of the paper is misc. The stamp is a clear $ set from Michael's. TFL!

Welcome Christmas into your Heart

This is another one of the cards I came up with for my craft sale. I really like the new Heard From the Heart stamp set by Stampin Up and wanted to find ways to use them.

This is made on Kraft card stock, the burgundy is from Joann's, the awesome Santa paper is Peppermint Twist Ol' Saint Nick by K&Company, Ribbon is American Crafts, I cut the two hearts out on my Cricut with the Tags, Bags, Boxes & more set and it cuts a little slit where I tied the ribbon onto. I stamped the message with Black Versafine ink. I used a snowflake punch that I have had around for a while and glued it to the heart. I popped up the heart on dimensionals. TFL!