Last Chance to Reserve the Stamparatus!

Hi peeps!  We are doing John's family's Christmas today, so I'll be out and about all day, no time for stamping!  But I wanted to give you just a quick reminder that today is the last day to reserve a Stamparatus until it comes out in the new catalog next year!

This nifty little tool will be one you turn to again and again for perfectly-aligned images and clear stamping!  If you haven't reserved yours yet, here are the steps:

1. Log into my webpage (or just click on the picture of the catalog on the right sidebar here on my blog).
2. Click on the SHOP NOW tab at the top.
3. If you haven't already set up an account with me, set one up...there are directions at the top of the page on how to do that...you will need a credit card to reserve the Stamparatus though!
4. Once that's, done, scroll down and on the right, you'll see a picture like the one above that says "Reserve Yours Now" - click on the button below and follow the directions, and you'll be set to receive your very own Stamparatus!

Have a blessed day! 

AYSI166 Sparkle!

Hello, everyone!  It's Friday and time for another As You See It challenge...this week it's a theme challenge:

Oooooh, sparkle!  I saw a very cool fold yesterday at my friend Cindy's blog, so I CASed it for today's card, using lots of glimmer paper and foil:

This is a cool fold, but it is a challenge to photograph!  All the measurements are on her blog, so I won't share them here, and I actually changed the mats a wee little bit!  Here is a top-down view:

And the other two panels as well:

The card base is a piece of Foil Frenzy, and the mats are Berry Burst.  I used some SAB glimmer paper to punch out balloons with SU's balloon punch, and the sentiments are from Happy Birthday Gorgeous, stamped in Berry Burst, Sweet Sugarplum, Bermuda Bay and Mint Macaron.  The stars and confetti are from Paper Pumpkin kits!  I will definitely be using this fold again...it's so cool!

I hope you'll stop by the AYSI blog to check out what the other sparkly creations are, and share yours with us too!  Let's ring in the new year with some sparkle!!!

A few pictures from Christmas day:

And Eden was not happy about wearing her little hat...it stayed on just long enough for Wayne to take a picture!!

 Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Blessed to Call You Friend

Happy Thursday, peeps!  We are hunkering down here in PA, trying to stay warm in the frigid temps we are having!  At least we are not in Erie, which has over 60" of snow....in just a couple of days!  Yikes!  I made a very quick card yesterday using some new goodies I received from my dear friend Martha!  I needed a birthday card for a special friend and these fit the bill perfectly:

I started with some Riding Hood Red ink, stamping my sentiments from Technique Tuesday (So Blessed) over top some florals (Altenew's Beautiful You), which were stamped in Smoky Slate and watercolored with some Crushed Curry ink.  I pulled out some bright papers from Bo Bunny's Kiss the Cook line along with a Coastal Cabana card, and added a retired SU ribbon to fit underneath my stitched oval Very Vanilla panel.  

My only other embellishment was a little enamel dot at the end of "blessed"!!  So cute!  

Thanks so much for popping in today!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new As You See It challenge, too!

Cassidy is on Christmas vacation this week, so we did some creative things yesterday!  She did some beginner origami in school last month, so I got her a little origami kit with projects of three levels of difficulty!  Of course, she had to try all three levels!  These papers not only have the lines printed directly on them for easy folding, they are also printed with patterns and faces as well, and there are stickers you can add for a more realistic effect!  Here's the puppy, which was a beginner:

And of course, we had to do an intermediate (turtle) and the advanced, most of which Grammy did, a giraffe:

It was fun!  She's already planned which ones she's going to do next!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Christmas Shadow Box

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  I hope you had a good holiday...I had my first Christmas dinner in the new kitchen, and I wish I could say that I took a picture of the table, my family, the food, but I was so "in the zone" of cooking and entertaining, that I didn't get a shot!  But we all had a wonderful time....but boy, was I tired afterward!  But it was worth it!

We will be having our Christmas with John's family on Saturday, and we do a Pollyanna gift exchange.  I got my niece; she and her husband just bought a house and she asked for wall decor, so I thought an 8x8" Christmas shadow box would be a nice gift; her walls are dark gray, so that gave me a starting point; I used papers from Photoplay's Luke 2 6x6 pad and a plethora of stamps, embellishments and embossing:

Here's a little closer view; I should have photographed it before I put it behind the glass, LOL!  If you have any questions about any of the stamps or products, shoot me an email!  I was asked about the sizes of the squares; the DSP squares are 1 7/8" and the mats are 2" square.  My background is 8" square and I leave a border of 5/8" around each outer edge.  Hope that is helpful!

As usual, Cassidy did not want to have her picture taken at church on Christmas eve, but Mommy put her foot down and she gave me this cheesy grin, posing in front of one of our poinsettia trees:

Five minutes before, she had been quite wound up:

Well, it was Christmas eve, after all!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Have a Blessed Christmas!

"So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." 

 Luke 2:16-20

Wishing everyone a happy, blessed Christmas holiday!  I'll be celebrating with my family, so I'll see you in a couple of days!

Bella and Friends Birthday

Happy Saturday, everyone!  I have a crazy busy day today, so this will be quick!  My "baby" sister Gail's birthday was yesterday...being born so close to Christmas always brings back memories of her coming home from the hospital on Christmas day and being laid in a clothesbasket while we ate dinner at my grandmother's!  She was a wonderful present to our family!  She LOVES dogs and has rescued several, so when I got this Bella and Friends stamp, I thought it would be fun to use it for her card:

I stamped the image in Stazon ink on watercolor paper and just used an aquapainter and some reinkers to color it in!  The background paper is from Naturally Eclectic and Flirty Flamingo adds a nice pop of color to it!

The sentiment is from Better Together, which is a highly-underrated stamp set; there are great sentiments there for both and outside and inside of a card!  I highly recommend it!

Thanks for popping in...now off to make cole slaw, egg casserole, taco dip and fruit cup!  Hope your plans are going well!  Have a wonderful day and be blessed!

FMS318 and MM270 Vintage Santa

Happy Friday, everyone!  I know most people are done making Christmas cards, but I am still in the swing of it....saving them for next year, LOL!  My friend Peggy showed me some cards she made using this Rubber Stampede vintage Santa, and she graciously allowed me to borrow him!  I had some already stamped and when I saw the Freshly Made Sketches sketch for this week, I thought one would work perfectly!  He fits the Merry Monday Tic-Tac-Toe challenge as well!

For the Tic-Tac-Toe, I chose the left column of stamping, diecut and red!  So here we go:

I used some Graphic 45 St Nicholas papers for my background and mat, which was diecut with a Lil Inker Stitched Rectangle die.  I also diecut some berries from Naturals Cream cardstock, then added some Antique Silver glitter from Martha Stewart.  The burlap ribbon came from a gift and was a perfect rustic match!  I also added some glitter around the edge of my Santa image, although it is a challenge to see it!

I love the details in this image!  Thanks for popping in!

Over the weekend, Dana's half-brother and his new wife stopped by for lunch on their way from Key West to New Jersey!  They surprised Cassidy with a ukelele!  She wanted to play guitar and they thought this would be a good way to get her started!  Unfortunately, I didn't get one single picture of them together!!!  

We'll see how it goes...maybe she and Eden can have a duet, LOL!

GDP118 Just A Note

Happy Thursday, peeps!  I was able to stamp a little bit yesterday after I ran all my errands (but my stamp room looks like a cyclone hit it--MUST do a clean-up) and made a little card for a customer using the Global Design Project sketch:

I have not used this particular pattern of Pick a Pattern DSP, but Cassidy was stamping something for her teacher yesterday (which she wouldn't let me photograph!) and I tried to get her to use it, but she didn't like that there was a paint palette on it, so I just decided to use it myself.  She did use the Crafting Forever stamp set, so I thought while it was out, I'd use it too:

I stamped the three images and did a little coloring on each one, either with an aquapainter and ink, or a marker, then cut them out and mounted them on a stitched circle.  I added some Pick a Pattern washi tape and some retired Strawberry Slush baker's twine, then added a sentiment from Better Together, stamped and embossed in white:

The whole thing was mounted on a Crumb Cake card base.  I love this sketch, I am sure I'll be using it again!

So even though I didn't get a picture of the front of the card Cass made for her teacher, I did snag a couple of her during the creative process:

This girl LOVES markers and loves to color in backgrounds!  And although it was supposed to be a Christmas card, I am sure no one would begrudge her this sweet card, especially when you're told you're the best teacher in the WORLD!

And I hope you, my best blogger friends in the world, have a blessed day!

SIP130 Say No to Christmas Baby Card

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  It's time for another Stamp Ink Paper challenge, and this week, it's "Say No to Christmas"!

I needed a special baby card for a friend, so it was a perfect challenge for me!  I used the CAS(E) This Sketch sketch as well:

I had some pretty vintage papers from Graphic 45, so I chose a warm gold color and stamped a baby buggy from a "no-name" stamp company (my label says C9 but I can't find it on line anywhere!) in Delightful Dijon ink and partially diecut it with a stitched circle die:

I mounted it on a Very Vanilla panel that had been embossed with SU's Falling Petals embossing folder, and then added a little seam binding bow and a banner that reads It's a Boy and It's a Girl, because, yes, she is grandmother to twins!

Simple, easy and fun!  Now I know there are other occasions you might need for a card beside Christmas, so take a few minutes from your holiday chores to stamp something and share it with us at SIP!  We can't wait to see what you create!

Cassidy, Dana and I took a few minutes on Sunday afternoon to play with November's Paper Pumpkin:

We thought it was funny that the leaves on my stocking created a shadow on Cassidy's cheek!  It's also funny that I made my stocking go one way and they made theirs go the other!!  Oh well, that's the fun of it!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

MTS207 Wintery Birthday

Happy Monday, peeps!  I feel like I haven't been in my stamp room for ages; in reality, it's only been a couple of days but those couple of days were spent frantically trying to finish up our kitchen for company yesterday as well as Christmas dinner next week!  I am happy to say we are about 95% finished!  Then we will start working on the bedroom upstairs, I can't wait to get that finished so I can get back into my Sleepnumber bed!!!  Anyway, I made a quick card, almost no stamping, for an upcoming winter birthday!  It used the sketch from Match the Sketch:

I just got a sweet little 6x6 tablet called Winter Wonderland by Simple Stories, and they had these cute little retro winter-themed images, so I just cut them out, sponged the edges and added a diecut sled and a little birthday tag:

Aren't these little images cute?

 

The large sled was cut from Wood Textures DSP using a Simon Says Stamp die; sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs Mini Tag Sentiments:

So happy you popped in today--be sure to come back tomorrow for a Stamp Ink Paper challenge creation!

SO.....I managed to get one decent picture of the almost-finished kitchen:

This table will be replaced by a 7' wooden trestle table that I have been saving for years!!  I had a harder time photographing the other side of the room because of the light, but you can see our sliding glass door which looks out on the woods and field:

Cassidy thinks it's a great area for crafting, and I am looking forward to having my stamping friends over soon!

If you turn 180 degrees, we go right into the living room; we took out the wall separating the two rooms, and it makes such an incredible difference!  Our living room space is still basically the same (small), but with the hardwood floors and a large area between the kitchen table and the couch, we can push back the furniture to make room for more chairs and guests!!  I love that I can look across the kitchen and see my family, enjoying the Eagles game (yay, they won!) AND my new Christmas tree!  

The hard work and inconvenience was so worth the wait!  Thanks for popping in today; enjoy your day and be blessed!