Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Sara, you are a sweetie!

Oh my gosh, Sara (chicagogirl at SCS) nominated ME for a Kreativ Blogger Award! I can't believe it... I don't know what I did to deserve such an honor, but I am truly humbled by the nomination! Thank you, Sara, you made my day!!!

Here are the rules:
1. the winner may put the logo on their blog
2. put a link to the person that sent you the award
3. nominate 5 blogs
4. put links to their blogs
5. leave a message for your nominee

There are so many blogs that I love and am inspired by that it is very hard to narrow it down to just five choices! Here are my nominees:
1- Sara, of course! (Sara Stamps)
2- Suzanne Dean (Scrap Bitz)
3- Bev (All the Things That I Love)
4- Michelle Rodgers (Stampers Dream Blog)
5- Katharina Frei (Stamping With a Whiff of Joy)

Thanksgiving

I've been busy sanding and refinishing (and re-upholstering) my dining room chairs so they'd look nice for Thanksgiving. Silly me, there's no way I'll have them all done in time, so I'm going to have to throw chair covers over them.

My DS sent this to me. I had to laugh, since we've been on a mission to eat and live a healthier lifestyle. Enjoy!

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare. You can't find it any other time of year but now, so drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's the Holidays!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Pecan. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by:

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Baby Girl Card


Here's the card to go with the gift, below. I had a lot of fun making this one! Last year, in anticipation of Christine's baby being born (in June), I bought a pack of the baby alphabet beads, so I could use them on the card.

This went together fairly quickly (for me!), since I used all pattern paper for the front. I don't know the manufacturer of the paper that says "Sweet baby girl" used for the top, or I'd give credit.

The paper on the bottom says "oh so sweet", which I thought was oh so appropriate for this baby! LOL She really is special. Anyway, I edged the pink plaid paper with a SU scallop punch, tied on the organza ribbon and fastened the "Welcome" label (cut/embossed with Nesties Label die) with sugared brads. The beads were strung on silver thread and tied securely to the brads before they were fastened to the card. Some Prima flowers and Martha Stewart pearls completed it.

Cardstock: Card base- Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Card background- Paper Co. pink
Pattern Paper: Top of card- Unknown, Bottom of card- Me and My Big Ideas, Middle of card- HOTP
Stamp: Alpha stamp- The Little Classic Rubber Stamp Mini's
Ink: VersaMagic "Pixie Dust" chalk ink
Embellies: Flowers- Prima, Sugar brads- OTC, Large pearls- Martha Stewart, Organdy ribbon- gift from Michelle Rodgers at Stamper's Dream


Sweet Baby Girl!



I finally drove down to meet my friend Christine's new baby girl today. Well, she's four months old already, but still new! OMG, she is the sweetest little angel of a baby I have ever seen!!! She smiles and coos, snuggles into your neck when you hold her, and rarely cries, even when she gets her immunizations! AND she's slept through the night since day one!!! Christine knows, and appreciates, just how blessed she is.

So, I had to make a card and a little box for the gift I took. Thanks to the gift box class, the box was a piece of cake! I found that the sturdy glossy white paper used to back the SU Designer Series Paper packets was just the ticket for the bottom of the box. For the top, I needed something heavier than DSP, so I used Core'dinations for the top. Topped it all off with a strip of Old Olive cardstock and ribbon, then a medallion like the one I did before, only I colored the open flower with a pink Copic marker and added a pink rhinestone. Oh, and I edged the white oval with gold EP. ;-)

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Something a Little Different!









Today I went to a gift box class put on by my Stampin' Up! demo (Hi, Rosalie Sweetie!). She showed us how to make a gift card holder, a CD holder, a rectangle box, a square gift box, a tall box and a triangle box. Whew! I had to wait until I got home to put the finishing touches on them, because I'm such a slow poke, and this is what I've done so far. The paper is Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper called Ski Slope. Lots of neat colors and prints in there!

I stamped the image (SU "Friendship Blooms") and sentiment (SU "Best Yet") for the square gift box in Old Olive ink on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White cardstock. You can
really see the subtle sparkle in the close-up photo. It still needed a little more bling, so I adhered a red rhinestone in the center of the flower. The plain and scalloped ovals were cut and embossed with Nestabilities Petite Ovals.

For the triangle box, I just punched out the pattern from a scrap and used a scalloped white circle (Nesties to the rescue again!) behind it. Once again, I thought it needed something extra, so I used a light blue rhinestone in the center of the design. The ribbon is so cool - it's both satin and organdy, with a little silver thrown in for good measure. {Hi, my name is Cindy, and in addition to my stamp addiction, I am also addicted to ribbon. LOL}

The CD holder has a strip of pattern paper cut to look like ribbon, but it is backed by real ribbon as well. The snowflake eyelets, from Eyelet Outlet, have light blue rhinestones added to the center. Yeah, 'tis the season for sparklies!!! I can't help myself! The sentiment was stamped in Night of Navy and cut with a Nestabilities Label One die, then edged with more Night of Navy ink and a gold UniBall pen.


Thursday, November 13, 2008

Card Swap


Being relatively new to stamping & card making, I joined a Stampin' Up! monthly stamp club last April. Within that club, some members have a monthly card swap. I thought that was a neat idea and, after a little thought, I joined last month.....and then promptly forgot. So, last Saturday, I felt like a big dork while everyone gave me their cards, and I had nothing to give back.

As a result, I came home and got to work! We give each swap member two cards, so I had to make 20 (same style) cards. It took me far too long to figure out what I wanted to make. My first idea was a grouping of poinsettias, done with 2-step stamping and cut out. Then I realized how long it would take to make 20, and quickly changed my mind!


This was relatively easy to make, and I think it turned out nicely. I used the Cuttlebug "Textile" folder to emboss 4" x 5¼" Very Vanilla cardstock
. The edges were then inked with Tempting Turquoise Craft ink. The same ink was used to stamp the snowflake images, SU Iridescent Ice EP was sprinkled on while the ink was still wet, and it was then heat embossed. The little silver balls (half spheres) are self adhesive, and a great buy at Michael's. They have them in gold, too. They remind me of the silver dragees we used to decorate Christmas cookies, before they were outlawed in California (grrrrr).

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla and Tempting Turquoise
Stamps: Image- CTMH "Let It Snow" , Sentiment- CTMH "The Beauty of Christmas"
Ink: SU Tempting Turquoise Craft and Not Quite Navy Classic
Embellishments: Ribbon and silver balls- Michael's, SU Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Cuttlebug "Textile" embossing folder

Friday, November 7, 2008

Where did the time go?!


Wow, I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I last made a card! I think I was suffering from withdrawals!!! Anyway, life does sometimes get in the way of things we'd rather be doing, doesn't it? After finishing the costumes, and sending them FedEx overnight (way too much $$$), my husband and I drove to visit my father for a long weekend. Dad has been battling Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma for a number of years, so I take every opportunity that I can to spend time with him. On to brighter things...

This card was made for my BFF Barb's birthday this week. She's the culprit responsible for my card-making addiction. :-D LOL!!! I wanted to do something kind of elegant, so I went with gold heat embossing and gold braid/ribbon combo.

The lovely "Willow with Hot Chocolate" (Whiff of Joy) image was colored with Copic markers and cut out. I stamped SU's Bella Toile background stamp in VersaMark on Bordering Blue cardstock, then heat embossed with gold EP. After cutting it out with my new Mega Nestabilities Curved Rectangle
die (great prices at Paper Dreams!), I inked the edges for more definition and adhered the image using pop dots.

Cardstock- Stampin' Up! Bordering Blue
Pattern Paper- Debbie Mumm "Noah's Ark" stack
Stamps- Image: WoJ "Willow with Hot Chocolate", Background: SU "Bella Toile", Sentiment: Penny Black "Bubbly"
Ink- VersaMark, SU Not Quite Navy
Embellies- Gold EP, gold organdy ribbon, gold metallic braid all from Jo-Ann, Dew Drops by Robin's Nest