Happy New Year & a Birthday!

Today was #2's 8th birthday! She wanted to eat at her favorite place, The Sandwich Spot & go play at Bounce a Rama. My hubby took the day off to be with her on her special day. I know that means alot to her. She loves to be with her dad!

Awww aren't they cute!=)
Ok now its almost time to usher in 2013! I can't believe it! To celebrate SU has this cute calendar page as a free download! You can get it by going here & adding item#132962 to your shopping cart.
Well I hope you are having a fun & safe New Years Eve! I hope to be back tomorrow with another sneak peek card.

Black & Gray

I thought it was only fair to give my other favorite SAB stamp set, Vintage Verses a little love. So I inked it up with the big beauty, Swallowtail from the Spring 2013 catalog.

Basic Black, Basic Gray, & a little Summer Starfruit made for a winning combination! Simplicity was definitely my goal with this one. This stamp is so perfect for quick & beautiful cards! I have lots more cards to share so stay tuned...=)

For a Dude

Making guy cards is always a little challenging. I wanted to use the "Feeling Sentimental" Sale-a-Bration set since that is my current favorite. Here is the card I came up with...

I went with a distressed grunge kind of look instead of the soft vintage style. I noticed when I sponged Soft Suede ink on Basic Gray cardstock it looked a little like rusted metal. I also sponged it on the Pool Party to grunge it up. Overall I think it had a pretty good guy vibe going on even with the little touch of ribbon. Hubby gave it his approval so I guess its manly enough. LOL!

Also just an FYI there will be a "His & Hers" Stamp a Stack coming (hopefully) in February! So if you need to stock up on your dude cards this will be a great time to do it! Details to come...

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

SAB 2013

The Christmas tree is down & the messes have tapered down a little so I finally had time to play with my new Sale-a-Bration stamps! I am always a sucker for anything with a vintage look so this stamp set is one of my favorites. Time was limited but I was able to create 2 simple cards with a bit of a vintage feel pretty quickly. I saw a beautiful card by Kerstin Szukala on Stampin Connection so I used that as inspiration.

 I may revisit these designs when I have more time but these will be on their way to bring a little love to a couple of friends. Thanks for stopping by today!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope your homes are filled with the love & laughter of family & friends as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

More Cute Punch Art!

Every year I think I will get better at getting my Christmas cards out early but so far no luck. Its always a mad dash to the post office at the last possible hour but it was funny watching all the other people doing the same thing. Anyway I thought I would share a couple of my favorite cards that went postal today...

    

Of course I sent out a ton of different cards because making too many of one is just no fun for me. I saw the cute dog on Ellen Kemper's blog & added the google eyes & santa hat.

Anyway thanks for taking the time from your busy holiday schedule to stop by!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

 

Oh yeah before I forget, here is a peek at how the Ninja Turtle cake turned out...

So the closets design they had was an Incredible Hulk cake so we went with that. Then I cut the images from the wrapping paper, laminated them, & cut them out again. Stuck them on instead of the Hulk. It worked perfectly & #3 was surprised to see her turtle cake!



Ninja Turtles & Punch Art

Well today we celebrate my baby, #3 turning 7!!! Oh my gosh time just passes way too fast! She wanted a Ninja Turtle birthday. No problem, right???? WRONG! Ninja Turtle party decorations were nowhere to be found but I was definitely not about to tell her that a turtle party was not going to happen. So like any crafty mom, we turned to Pinterest!I saw lots of cute ideas but actually I just decided to have my hubby draw the turtles on green balloons! We did find some wrapping paper so I used that as the table cover. Not too bad for improvising & my little girl was happy!

The cake was another challenge but I think it will be ok, I will share pictures of it later. Ok we have to go take the birthday girl out to lunch but I will leave you with a simple punch art snowman card I made yesterday...

Beautiful Swallowtail

I'm back! Things have been crazy around here! Yesterday was my moms birthday & #2's Nutcracker performances. She looked so pretty in her angel costume. Now we have 4 days until #3's birthday, then Christmas, & #2's birthday! Then on to 2013! #4 will turn 3! =(

It will also be the start of my favorite time of the Stampin Up year SALE-A-BRATION! I have been busy creating a few fun projects with the products that will be available in January so here are a couple of them...

Uses Swallowtail from the Spring catalog & Vintage Verses from the Sale-a-Bration brochure.

Uses the new Dressform framelits & a few other fun new things from the Spring catalog. This was the make n take I brought to our last Demo Stamp n Chat. We always have such a wonderful time together. Actually I have had such a great month at all my stamp meetings & I haven't had time to blog about all of it but I'll be back soon to do that! Hope you had a great weekend!

Another Big SU Sale!

There are some great new items on the Clearance Rack!

2013 Sneak Peek!

I am so excited about all the beautiful products coming in January! I got a few of my pre-order things & just had to make something! December is full of birthdays for us so I went with that theme.

 

Can you spot all the newbies?
Here is the run down...from the 2013 Spring catalog I used the Collage Curios stamp set, Oval Framelits, & Paper Doilies! The yummy DSP & Button are Free items from the 2013 Sale-a-Bration promo! The Happy Birthday sentiment is a single stamp called Beautiful Birthday & its located in the current catalog. Thanks for stopping by! Hope you're having a great weekend!

Hope to see you there!

Cricut Time Again

The girls wanted to make cards for their Pop Pop's birthday & of course they wanted to pull out the Cricut. This time they used the Create a Critter cartridge. 

This time the process went much quicker. #2 chose the dinosaur with a volcano. I cut the pieces & off she went. She completed her card with no help from me! #3 chose a crocodile & she wanted balloons tied to his tail.She only needed a little help with that. Thanks for taking a peek, the girls are very excited to share their cards with you! They get so tickled to read all your comments! =)

Thanksgiving, Winner, Card, & Sale!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a small Thanksgiving at our house. My husband is usually on call so most of the time we don't go anywhere or have anyone over but this year we had my grandparents & my uncle join us! On Christmas we have my whole family over for breakfast & thats always fun too! But it was nice to visit with them without having to divide my attention between everyone. My grandmother talked about her childhood memories & that was so precious to me. She told us how she & my great grandmother consulted Emily Post's book of etiquette when she was invited to dinner at a friends for the first time. How I wish those beautiful qualities of being a lady & a gentlemen still existed in todays society.

Anyway....on to the winner of a prize package for supporting Dawn's efforts to raise money to help those in NJ, JACKIE was the only one that submitted a comment so she will be getting a prize pack! Congrats Jackie please contact me with your address by Nov 28th to claim your prizes!

Ok on to some actual stamping...

I am so excited about the new Spring catalog! It is FULL of fresh, fun, trendy products! They have some of the cutest sample projects in there too! My mojo has been mia ever since the water damage & my craftroom had to be torn up but I find sometimes to get the wheels turning again its good to case something you like. Soooo I turned to the new Spring catalog & found a super cute butterfly card on page 13. Of course I don't have the new mini butterfly punch yet so I had to improvise. I will definitely be casing this card again once I get all the new goodies but it was fun creating with what I had on hand for now. Plus it got me stamping after what feels like forever, LOL!
Well I have got to get back to the little ones...Thanks for stopping by & I hope you are enjoying your day!

REMINDER: Select SU Products are still available at up to 50% off until Nov 28th!

CLICK TO SEE WHATS ON SALE!

Technique Tuesday Projects

This week we had our last Technique Tuesday of the year! We have had such a wonderful year stamping together! Many new friendships have blossomed & I truly treasure each of the wonderful ladies that come stamp with me every month. I especially love seeing them caring & sharing with each other. This is the #1 reason I am so passionate about stamping. Its all about building & strengthening relationships! Don't get me wrong I LOVE creating fun paper crafting projects but the reason behind why I do it is all about connecting with friends, new & old. Paper crafting transcends age, gender, education, skill level, etc.. Just about anyone can do it! We can all connect over something as simple as paper & ink to build meaningful relationships that will last a lifetime.

Ok on to the 2 projects we made...

I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peek at the 2013 Sale-a-Brations brochure (SQUEAL!) & I really loved the little pockets they created with the Scalloped Envelope die so I used that as one of our projects. I did try to put a gift card inside but the fit is super snug unless you made a belly band instead of sealing up the flaps. Otherwise its perfect to slip a little cash & a note in to!

Today I was hoping to work on some other projects but unfortunately we had a yucky toilet over flow that affected our master bath & seeped through the wall in to my craft room =(. Thankfully nothing was ruined except the floors & walls which will be cut out over the weekend. It also went in to the air vent so we have no heater until its replaced. Brrr. I know this is seriously not a big deal when people on the east coast are dealing with real disasters, loss, & freezing temperatures. My prayers are with those families. We had a meeting with our insurance adjuster today & the good news is they are going to cover the repairs! So hopefully I will be able to access some of my craft stuff in the mean time. My hubbys is a mitigation contractor so hopefully things run smoothly & the repairs are done quickly but I know that is not always the case. I guess I will have to just pull out a few of my favorite things so I may be working with limited supplies but it should be a fun challenge! Ok I think thats all for now. Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a great weekend!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OMGosh! I almost forgot to tell you about the SU Black Friday Sale!! It actually will run Nov 19th- 28th with special door busters on Nov 19th & 28th! Some items up to 50% OFF!!!
Contact me to place your order!

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHATS ON SALE!!!!

Time For Prizes!!!

FYI: This is a long post but please read through the end for a chance to help those effected by hurricane Sandy PLUS you can enter to WIN BIG!**

Oh my gosh look what arrived today...21 pounds of paper crafting goodness all thanks to Paper Crafts Magazine's World Card Making Day contest! Huge thanks to all the gals over there that were active in choosing the winning cards! I am honored, blessed & so very grateful to have been one of the ones chosen.

You would have thought it was Christmas with me & the girls squealing over all this fabulousness!
Of course as soon as we were done looking the girls are asking if the can use this & have that...they are now making cards with one of the adorable stamp sets we received. So while they were occupied I went to check my email & found a very touching one from Dawn (U Stamp with Dawn & Friends).  Dawn lives in New Jersey & I am sure everyone knows about the devestation the hurricane caused the east coast. Anyway Dawn & her family are ok but of course looking for ways to help their community & those that lost everything. Here is one of the ways you can help Dawn help those in need...
Beginning today - Nov 14th thru Nov 22nd Dawn will put aside $10 for every membership payment for the brand new "UStamp with Dawn and Friends!! Wrapping Up The Holidays 2012" towards the purchase of BLANKETS!! Dawn will personally be purchasing and delivering all the blankets. Of course the more paying members we have join us the more blankets can be bought!!

Help "Warm Up NJ" while you learn creative ways for Wrappping Up The Holidays!!

HURRY YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW!!

First Project Suite posted Friday, Nov 23rd

20 Days of Creative FUN!!

40+ Project Suites including downloadable PDF's

Live Chats

Prizes

Member Gallery to share YOUR creations

and MORE!!

Click the BLINKIE below to join for ONLY $24.95!!

***$10 of membership fee will be allocated for the purchase of blankets Nov 14 - Nov 22***

Final Dollars Raised and Blanket Total will be posted along with shopping and delivery photos and video!!

AND to thank you for joining "U Stamp Wrapping Up the Holidays"by Nov 22 how about a chance to win some prizes of your own!

 

Here is how to enter...

#1 Sign Up for U Stamp Wrapping Up The Holidays!

#2 Add me as a friend on the Wrapping Up The Holidays site!

#3 Leave a comment here saying that you completed steps 1 & 2.

 OR

#1 Place an SU Order (On Line, Email or by Phone) with me by Nov 23rd.  I will be sending 100% of my demo income to Dawn to help buy more blankets!

#2 Leave a comment here saying you completed step # 1

 

I will choose 2 winners on Nov 23rd!  One Grand Prize Winner & One First Place Winner. Winners will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected.

**Please know that I can only ship to US addresses.**

 

Thanks for taking the time to read through this post & for helping those in need. =)

 

Whats Up?

Here is an update on current SU promotions!

FREE INK!
offer expires December 16, 2012

Promotion Details:
Hostesses who hold a minimum $450 party during the promotion period will receive a FREE collection of Classic Stampin Pads--they can choose from Brights, Subtles, or Regals--a $49.95 value! Plus, the free ink is in addition to the regular hostess benefits--INK-redible!

New demonstrators who join the Stampin' Up! family during the promotion period will received a FREE collection of Classic Stampin Pads--they can choose from Brights, Subtles, or Regals! It's INK-redible!

New Single Stamps Available!
Assortment 1
Assortment 2
Seasonal Sayings
Word Play
Perfectly Penned

Up Coming Events:
Nov 13th Technique Tuesday
Dec 4th SU Christmas Party!
Dec 11th Downline Training
2013
Jan 4th Card Buffet
Jan 18th Sale a Bration Kick Off!
Feb 19th Technique Tuesday

Ok on to a bit of eye candy! Here is the second project I designed for U Stamp Technique Boutique event!

If you would like the full tutorial for this project & many others head over there to sign up!

TGIF!

Just a quick post since I am busy getting ready for the very last Stamp a Stack of the year! Wow how time flies! Anyway on to my simple card...

With so many things going on this time of year I am really gravitating toward these type of cards, simple & quick but still pretty! Thanks for stopping by today & I hope you have a great weekend!

November 10 Stamp a Stack!

Well here they all are! Unfortunately since I was running behind you don't have much time to choose which ones you'd like to make so if you are attend the class this Saturday please send me your picks by tomorrow  evening so I can start preparing the kits.

Jesus

 

Skates

 

Reindeer

 

Ornament

 

Bird

 

Christmas Stamp a Stack #3

Nov 10th 11:30 am                                     

5 card designs available! You will choose which cards & how many of each you want to stamp!
Class Fee: $30 for 15 cards Add an additional set of 5 cards for just $5!

*Please bring your adhesive, scissors, dimensionals, & liquid glue*

SAS Card 4

Well its been one of those days when you feel like you are walking on a tight rope while juggling & balancing a stack of plates on your head & you have had no formal training on how to do any of those things. LOL!  Anyway I was able to finish one card today! Tonight I need to finish up my tutorial for my second U Stamp project so I'm not sure I will get to finish the last card but we shall see.

I really love this ice skate stamp so glad it arrived today!
Thanks for stopping by! I will be back with the last SAS card tomorrow...

Nov SAS Card 3

Unfortunately Stampin Up was backed up with shipping due to the crazy one day sale last week & I haven't received the stamps I had hoped to use for the rest of the Stamp a Stack samples. They will not arrive until next week so I've had to change my plan a bit. Anyway here is card #3 for our November Stamp a Stack.

I love this little reindeer & I used a little glitter paper to give him a big Rudolph nose! Hopefully everything will arrive tomorrow & I will have time to make the last 2 cards, otherwise I have a couple on standby just in case. So either way I will be back tomorrow with the last 2 cards! See you then...=)

U Stamp Holidays!

I hoped to be back before today but I have had so many things going on I didn't have a chance to finish up the projects I wanted to post. Hopefully gaining an hour today will help. LOL! Anyway I do have my first project for U Stamp Technique Boutique to share!

The techniques I used on this project were stamping on candles & faux snow. This was a fun project! Hope you head over & check out all the other fabulous projects the other talented U Stamp designers have prepared for you!
Thanks for stopping by today!

Perfectly Simple!

I know everyone is pressed for time during the holidays so I wanted to create something that was very quick & easy  but also beautiful! Yes, I think I'm convinced that if you put that fabulous tulle ribbon on anything it will be stunning! LOL!
Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Cardstock-Very Vanilla
Ink- Cherry Cobbler & Old Olive
Accessories- Champagne Glimmer Paper & Cherry Cobbler Tulle Ribbon
Dies- Scentsational Seasons (Star)

Razzleberry Christmas SAS

Just a quick post of Card #2 for our next Stamp a Stack!

FYI: The branch is retired (Peaceful Wishes) but you can use the tree from Lovely as a Tree or I think there is a set in the Holiday catalog that has a pine branch.

November SAS Card 1

Time is just flying by! I can't believe the last Stamp a Stack of the year is just a few days away. I have fallen a bit behind on a few projects so I will be working fervently to catch up. It doesn't help that I have been dealing with a neck injury & a big personal situation but praise God all is improving! God is so good! He has been so amazingly faithful & ever present in everything that has been going on. I have seen God move like I never have before. It has been absolutely awesome to see God take a bad situation that satin meant to destroy someone & watch God take that & work it out for His glory! I am so blessed to have been able to have been used by God to speak life to that situation & watch God work. Ok on to the first card for our November 10th Stamp a Stack!

I'm not sure all the glitter shows up but this card is nice & sparkly! Thanks for stopping by & I will be back with more soon!

Big Winner!!!!

I am SO excited & grateful to have been chosen by Paper Crafts magazine as one of the winners of the World Card Making Day contest! I have to thank God for blessing me with such a fun & fullfilling creative outlet & a group of some of the most amazing stamping friends a girl could ask for! Here is the link to the big announcement http://www.papercraftsconnection.com/blog/2012/10/world-card-making-day-contest-winners-thank-you/
I'm so honored that my card will be feautured in the March/April issue of Paper Crafts magazine! Once the issue is on newstands I can post a photo but until then its under wraps Lol! I actually entered 2 cards, one was 100% SU & the other was a  mixture of stuff I had on hand. I rarely create with anything that isn't SU but I went out of my comfort zone & gave it a try. Since that card wasn't a winner I can give you a peek at it!

I tried to get a faux copic look using my SU markers & I thought it came out pretty good! Thanks for stopping by & hope you have a chance to take advantage of the SU stamp sale happening TODAY ONLY!!

Yes All Stamps!

Oh wow am I dreaming!!! Woo Hoo Happy Birthday to me! I hope you have a chance to check a few of those beautiful sets off your wish list too! Contact me Today to place an order or for more details!!