home!

Thank you for praying for my mom's surgery! She came through it so much better than we ever expected. I brought her home today. To her own home ... where my sister is holed up with the flu! At least my mom had a flu shot. Her physician didn't seem concerned her being around my sister ... I did ask! Anyway, thank you so much for remembering her. She still has some medical tests and treatments ahead, but the outlook is very positive!!

Wow!

Christmas was awesome! Even though I was very sick on Christmas eve, it was still awesome! The kids had a blast, nothing needs to be exchanged, and that's a major accomplishment. Oh ... I should warn you ... my son got a camera, which means more silly pictures like the one above.

My mom is having surgery tomorrow, so I wanted to post a few things since I'll be offline for at least a few days. Please, if you think about it, pray for her surgery and treatment/recovery. This will be her third surgery since October, and it's not been a fun holiday for her. Hopefully this will be the last surgery she has to endure.


Sell-a-Bration begins January 1. This is the time SU! says Thank You to all the great stamping customers for your business during the previous year. For every $50 purchase, you can choose a FREE stamp set. Wow! All my stamp clubbers should have a SAB catalog by now, if not, let me know asap. The Winter mini catalog is current now and I LOVE the Carte Postale stamp set. It's just gorgeous. Here are a few samples for you to drool over ... then call me and let me know which SAB sets you'd like to earn!

Carte Postale © SU! 1990-2006

Simply K © SU! 1990-2006

Simply K is one of the new Simply Sent Kits offered by Stampin' Up! These kits are amazing because they contain everything you need to make the cards shown. Each kit is unique in it's focus, and I especially love the technique kits that have a couple of goodies like watercolor crayons or markers which allows you to try them out before you make a committment to purchasing an entire set. Totally cool idea.

Happy Harmony © SU! 1990-2006

Happy Harmony is one of the new SAB sets only available in January and February {for free -- remember!}. I really like the fonts used and how script is mixed with print. Very current.

This last one just makes me happy! I can't wait to get my hand on this Big Blossom stamp. I can imagine using it over and over and over -- kiss it with another stamp and create a whole new flower image. Marvelous!

Big Blossom © SU! 1990-2006

Finally, since I'll be offline for a bit I'll leave you with some of my favorite blogs/sites to visit {in no particular order} :
SplitCoast Stampers
2peas
Donna Downey
Ali Edwards
Kelli Crowe
Wendy Smedley
Thinking Out Loud
Wild Rose Stamper
Paper Trufflez

Happy Stampin'

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

This is the last card I post until after the holidays. I wish you all the Merriest Christmas and Happy Holidays! Blessings to you and your families!

all images SU! © 1990-2006 card by Deanna Kemp

This card is made using brushed silver paper and then heat embossing snowflakes with silver ep. Isn't that gorgeous?

Christmas!!!

Oh my ... it's so close! So much to do... and worse of all I have the cruds. Stuffy head, runny nose, hoarse, etc., etc ... Ok, enough of that, here are our cards for today -- really cute ones too.

all images SU! © 1990-2006 card by Julie Calligaro

Santa looks like he is jumping out of an oversize suit, and he is always so jolly! The card uses Holiday Tag Team and All Year Cheer. I love the buckle!

All images SU! © 1990-2006 card by Rita Kadamian

Not knowing the actual dimensions of this card, I can't be sure ... but it looks like the perfect gift card holder to me. The pierced top edge is a nice touch, and I really like using a corner rounder for flaps. And, by making the holder similar to an envelope, you don't need anything else, tie if off with a nice ribbon and it's done.

2007 Resolutions

This is a great idea. If you are a scrapbooker, or if you plan to begin in the new year, Fiskers is offering 31 daily emails with tips, tricks and inspiration in January to get your 2007 resolutions off to a good start. Click here to sign up:
Fiskers Resolutions

Holiday Print

This is a stamp that I love to hate! I can never figure out how to use it ... except maybe as a background, then most of the words are covered up. Anyway, Lora Howell found a great way to stamp with this image. It looks like she used glossy cardstock and a crayon to mask the word PEACE, then brayered over with a spectrum pad. Once the ink dries, buff off the crayon. The word PEACE also has also been glittered.

Check this out

Check this out, samples on scrapbooking.com made with Stampin' Up! images. Here is a scrapbook page made with Cold Play, but there is more at this link:

http://scrapbooking.com/cgi-bin/Phase_2/article.pl?serial=38982

You'll find a second scrapbook page and a candle with tag for great ideas to case!

{case = copy and share everything}

Do you realize?

Do you realize that today is December 20? Only 5 days until Christmas morning!! Wow - I've got to get busy finishing up my menus and wrapping. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

I thought I'd post two more cards today. Of course, unless you are hand delivering your cards, it's almost too late to start making them now. But ... ideas are always fun to have, right?

all images SU! © 1990-2006 by Brenda Weaver

This is a serene card using Lovely as a Tree and All Year Cheer. I especially like the highlights of snow on the branches and the subtle tearing at the bottom of the card.

all images SU! © 1990-2006 by Keri Stoodley

I chuckled when I saw this card - it's so great - who doesn't eat too much candy at Christmas? It's also a simple card to reproduce. The stamp sets are All Wrapped Up and Merry. The gingham ribbon brings it all together. Great card!

Frosty fun

all images SU! © 1990-2006 by Sandra Kenly

Frosty is my favorite snowman stamp -- I also like Cold Play -- but Frosty just looks so content. On this sample, frosty was stamped then cut out and adhered to the card for a bit of dimension. Love the bright red & green scarf too - great job!

Lovely as a Tree

all images SU! © 1990-2006 by Maria Flores

It's Snow Fun

all images SU! © 1990-2006 by Ann Tibbles

Solemn Stillness:

all images SU! © 1990-2006 by Jennifer Wakefield

For a little fun

Because it's almost Christmas, I'll let you watch me dance in my elf suit:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=bf5cf8fdd74099ddedc97aaG06121712
Pretty funny, huh?

Today's card is sort of a technique. I used scraps to stamp an image and added the color with a rubber brayer. Directions follow...

all images SU! © 1990-2006

I used leftover pieces of glossy cardstock. You can see that each strip is a different width, so don't worry about measuring first. If you haven't played with glossy cs, you're missing a real treat. It's very versatile and produces some neat effects.

• take several leftover pieces of glossy cardstock - In this sample I used 3 strips - don't worry about the sizes, we'll trim it down later.
• adhere the back of cardstock to your work area with repositional adhesive to keep it stationary while stamping, leaving a slight gap between each strip of cardstock.
• load a rubber brayer with ink - I used an autumn spectrum pad and brayer over the glossy cardstock
• ink image with black ink and stamp on cs - use a steady hand so the image does not blur.
• remove the stamped pieces of cardstock from your work area and trim as desired to even borders on the sides, top and bottom.
• mount onto a second piece of cardstock - this sample uses black - then mount onto your card. Finis!

What I really like about this method is that I am able to utilize small strips and pieces of cardstock that would never be large enough for an entire stamped image. And the effect is nice.

personalizing candles for gifts

In stamp club we have made personalized candles by stamping on tissue paper - they are perfect gifts, or party decorations. Rochelle Wick, a very talented stamper, has taken the candle gift one step further by printing a photo on tissue paper. I love the way her children personalized the back of the candle. Totally adorable gift idea ... see if you agree ...

The directions are similar for stamping or printing on tissue paper. The following instructions are from Rochelle:

• Tape a piece of tissue paper to printer paper {or iron tissue onto freezer paper}
• Print out the picture
• Let ink dry for a minute or two
• Carefully remove printed tissue paper off of printer/freezer paper
• Cut down the tissue to the size needed
• Wrap it around the candle
• Wrap wax paper around the tissue tightly
• Use the heat gun and gently melt the image into the candle.
  

You can view Rochelle's gallery here: www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/shutterbug2124

brayering

all images SU! © 1990-2006

This is one of my favorite cards from last winter, using the ever-present Snowflakes stamp set. As with most cards, it is more beautiful in person, but still well worth sharing here. I used a brayer for the blue ink on shimmery white paper, which gave it the look of denim. A very nice touch. Here are the directions:

• Stamp Snowflake image in Versamark on Shimmery White cardstock
• Heat emboss Snowflake with Clear embossing powder {ep}
• Repeat stamping and embossing with the phrase
• Ink rubber brayer well with Brocade Blue ink and brayer over the Shimmery cardstock until you are satisfied with the coverage -- ink will cover your image at least partially
• With a soft cloth or paper towel, buff images to remove ink and reveal stamping.

That's it. A beautiful card. If you are making several cards, do it assembly line: stamp & sprinkle all images with ep, then emboss all images, and finally brayer and wipe. I find I can turn out more cards by taking each step and doing the cards in bulk rather than trying to complete one card at a time.

watercolor effect

I'm posting this card for Thursday's example {yes, a bit early, but I have to shop ... remember my post the other day? I'm making headway, but still far, far behind.}

This card illustrates how a simple card can be enhanced by a technique. There are no layers to this Christmas card. Which means no cutting, adhesive or matting -- all of which make cards beautiful, but take time and effort. On to the directions:

• Using Natural White cardstock {which is slightly heavier than white} spritz it moderately with water,


• ink the image and stamp allowing the ink to run freely over the paper.


• After the paper dries - and you can use a heat gun if you're impatient like me : ) - stamp the same image again, slightly offset from the first.

Voila! You have a beautiful card that mimics watercoloring. It's great fun.

If your paper warps you can iron it to smooth out the paper fibers. Or, you can put a heavy book on the papers as they dry. Just make a stack and put a dictionary on top.

Happy Stampin'

Tags anyone?

Today the theme is Tags. What? You didn't know we had daily themes? Well ... we really don't ... but today a theme works so we can pretend it's been that way all along, right? Our first card is made with Holiday Tag Team stamp set. The Holiday Tag Team stamps are perfectly sized for cards or tags. The images are outline for coloring, or leaving as is. It's a good set to have on hand for the holidays.

all images SU! © 1995-2006 card by Lisa Silver

After you make all the lovely cards, you'll need tags for the gifts too. Here is a simple, quick tag you can make. I believe the snow is made by tearing scrap pieces of paper. The stamp set used is Flaky Friends.

all images SU! © 1995-2006 tag by Glenda Dopking.

Now, I realize I promised photos of my son's band concert. I have only one good photo uploaded, and it was emailed to me by my friend Sherry. I promise to post at least one more later ... I know you're dying to see them, lol! In this photo are our local homeschoolers who are in the band. I believe there are 30 total band members, coming from the surrounding area. The band is made up of homeschoolers, private schoolers and public schoolers who do not have a band program at their school. It's a wonderful opportunity for the kids, and the instructors are top notch. Very impressive. I'm so glad we begin this first year and didn't wait.

My son plays percussion - at present that means snare drum and bells, although he did play the bass drum and a tom-tom in the concert too. He is loving every minute of band. It's so great to see {ahem ... and hear} him practicing every day. He is on the back row, second from the right.

I've got to shop!

Today! I've got to shop for Christmas ...this is the first day I've had with no doctor appointments {for my mom} so I'm going to make the most of it. I've done no shopping yet; none, zip, nada ... zero! My tree looks so lonely with it's skinny little trunk exposed. It needs gifts to fill up the empty space. The good news is that I mailed out most of my Christmas cards yesterday - woot!

For those who have asked, my mother is doing better. She still can't walk without assistance, she isn't eating well and she is terribly worried about the next surgery coming up on Dec. 29. But compared to the last 2 1/2 months of nightmare ... she is better. Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to remember her in the months ahead.

Now ... on to our cards for today!

all images SU! © 1995-2006

Holiday Tag Team by SU! demo Phyllis Wittenbach.

all images SU! © 1995-2006

Sew Seasonal by SU! demo Rebecca Urias.

I hope to have some photos posted later today of my son's Christmas Concert. He is in a beginner band and they preformed last night for the very first time. It was lovely!

Penguins anyone?

all images SU! © 1995-2006

Adorable! This card is made w/ Riveting Hostess set, Linen background and the new SU! Oval Punches -- small & large. Isn't it adorable?? The card is an original design by SU! demo Connie Babbert.

Organized?

ummm ... ok, if you really know me, you know I am not organized in any way, shape, or form. Tonight I found this really cool site: OrganizedScrapbooks.com. Now, it may not help me organize myself, however, I found some good articles and I am now hopeful my scrap/stamp/paper/craft stash will benefit. Here is an article that I found particularly interesting: Make It: Hanging File Folders for 12 x 12 sheets.



Pretty cool. Maybe my New Year's resolution should be to organize my craft stash?
Nah ...

Scroll to the next post for today's Christmas card ideas!

2 weeks 'til Christmas!

all images SU! © 1995-2006

... well almost, 15 days to be exact. I've got to get my Santa thinking cap on! Today's cards are Wow cards for sure. I love the sewing effect on the first card, especially since I don't sew! I like having the option of faux sewing, lol.

The next card is very interesting. A lot of thought went into designing this one. Just look at all those different alphabet stamp sizes. Great job!

all images SU! © 1995-2006

Simply Scrappin'

all images SU! © 1995-2006

The Simply Scrappin' kits by SU! make great card kits too. You can get up to 60 cards from one kit -- amazing! Today's card is from the Christmas Simply Scrappin' kit. Don't ya love it?

I think it's very modern.

2 peas

Woot! I'm at 103 in the Stamping Top 50! Thanks for those clicks!!

Hop on over to 2peas for the Card Sketch Friday -- it's my sketch. {don't worry Christmas Cards are included in this post ... keep scrolling ...}

Ok, I have to be honest here -- it's not that good of a sketch. See, I forgot that I had volunteered to post it today. Then I was called in to work, which I don't normally do on Fridays. So, here I am sitting at work, being a good employee and 'bing' an email arrives reminding me today is my day! Yikes!!

So, I take a break, thumb through my online gallery to hopefully find a card I didn't case from someone else ... and make a quick sketch. Anyway, go take a look -- maybe 2peas will let me do another one someday if I didn't screw up this one too badly. The Card Sketch is here: http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?gallery=1&cmd=display&layout_id=1038901 for Dec. 8 is in the gallery. My card example is here: http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?gallery=1&cmd=display&layout_id=1038905

Now, on to our Christmas Card examples for today:

all images SU! © 1995-2006

'tis the season

A few more cards today ... and at the end decorating the tree. The first card uses the Tag set for Hostesses. I haven't used this on any holiday cards, but it I really like the blue. I couldn't decide what color to use, so I passed over the set ... now that I see it here, I may throw together a few last minute cards.

all images SU! © 1995-2006

City of David, again. Lovely, simple set. I couldn't imagine all the possibilites when I looked at this set in the catalog. I am constantly amazed when I see the creative talent of some ladies {and a few men here and there}. I've seen some really nice cards made with this set.

On a more commerical note, have you done your shopping yet? Not me. I haven't even started! And, I won't start until at least next week ... not good. Life has been so hectic that I haven't even begun to think about what to buy for gifts this year. I may opt for the always sized perfectly gift card! If I were a snowman, it looks like gift giving would be easy:

{she looks pretty excited, doesn't she?}

all images SU! © 1995-2006

At least we did put our tree up before Thanksgiving. We've never had it up so early, but since the big meal was here this year, we thought it might be nice to have a few decorations too. I am so glad we did! I haven't stopped running since, and I'm not really sure the tree would have gotten up.

... of course, it's a wonder the tree made it up at all as you can imagine from this photo:

and this one:

Do I need to tell you who the entertainer is in our family? Didn't think so.

Happy Stampin'!

back to normal?

Well, maybe not back to "normal", but back! My mother's surgery went well. She is now home resting. Thank you for remembering her. She has one more surgery coming up at the end of December, then hopefully, she can get her life close to what it was like before all the surgeries!

Today's card is from Rochelle Wick. You can view her gallery on SCS here: www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/shutterbug2124

all images SU! © 1995-2006

last one ... promise!

Sorry, I found one - oops, two -- more things I wanted to share. This is such a wonderful idea :

... wish I had thought of it! I found the image at Kidley , where it said the picture came from an old Notebook magazine. So totally cool for advent, or anytime. I may have to make one even though we're already into the advent season.

And, take a look at this site for Christmas Gift ideas -- LM 30 Gifts in 30 Days. Some really good ideas here, plus they look like such fun to make. Ok, that's it. I'll stop now -- have a great evening!!!

a few more things ...

Here are a few more Christmas items to share ... since I won't be posting Monday due to my mom's surgery. Also remember that you can go back to look at any of the older posts and card ideas by clicking on archives or at the end of this page click on "older posts" to find previous postings.

all images SU! © 1995-2006

Below, is another sneak preview. This set is from the Winter Mini catalog -- and if you are in my stamp clubs, you should have a catalog in your mailbox soon! I love this set, Carte Postale. It's so lovely.

all images SU! © 1995-2006

another set of cards : )

all images SU! © 1995-2006

Two more cards for today. The first one uses a Hostess set A is for Adorable, Print Pattern and a signo Gel Pen for dimension. Isn't that a neat effect?

The second card uses Flaky Friends, Linen background, and the uber-cool stitched grosgrain ribbon -- which will continue to be available even though it isn't in the big Idea Book & Catalog.

On another subject, I would appreciate prayers for my mother. She fell in September and fractured 2 vertebrae in her back that kept her hospitalized & in rehab for 2 months. Last week we learned that she has another vertebrae "gone bad" and needs more surgery. The surgery is Monday morning. She also has a third surgery coming up on Dec. 29 which will be even more intense than the back surgeries. So, any and all prayers will be most appreciated!! Thank you!

Sneak a peek

... at one of the samples made with the 2007 Sell-a-Bration sets. I can't wait for January! E-mail me if you want more sneak peeks!!!

all images SU! © 1995-2007

Ho, Ho, Ho!

It's almost time for Santa ... have you made your lists? Stampin' Up! is offering a 50% discount on 6 stamp sets during December with a $30 or more order. One of the cards posted earlier was from the set Sketch It, which is one that is being offered at 50% off. Contact your favorite consultant for the details ... smile ... if you didn't receive an email from me with the information, be sure to contact me with your information so I can get you on my email list.

Guess why I love this Santa card? Yep, it's the paisley background. Love it! I've got to order that stamp. The retired paisley was a favorite of mine, and I was really sad to see it go ... but with time, I have come to love this one even more. I suppose it is because it has texture like a paisley fabric. I think Santa might even look good with a little print in his red suit!

all images SU! © 1995-2006

The next cards are ones I wanted to share so you would have many selections for crafting your holiday cards. Joy is done in non-traditional colors of blue, yellow and brown. While Flakey Friends is more standard with blues, greens and reds. Don't you like the little mittens as an embellishment with the snow theme?

all images SU! © 1995-2006

Well, have a happy day. I'm off to do school work!