My Christmas card - I made a bunch of these.

Today has been awfully busy.  We're supposed to be getting some snow tonight, so I wanted to have all of my outside garland hanging on the railings before the snow started to fall.  But first... I had to take all of the lights off of the garland, and replace them with LEDs.  6 strands of lights.  It took awhile, but it's done. 

We also went tree shopping this morning.  My husband loves his real tree smell, so we found a really nice one this morning.  It's in the tree stand, soaking up water, loosening its branches, and leaning rather awkwardly.  We're going to be straightening it before bed.  A couple of years ago it fell over (thankfully before everything was on!) and I'd rather avoid a repeat of that!

I've spent the evening on my blog.  Not this one, the other one.  I'm in the process of upgrading my blog to improve functionality, but you won't see the final product for a bit.  Stay tuned...  

Tonight I give you a photo of our 2008 Christmas cards.  This is not my original design, but I can't give credit to the person who designed the card.  It was received in a card swap in Burlington, and didn't have any identifying information on it.  If you know who the designer is, please tell me so that I can give them credit!!

Until tomorrow... happy stamping! 

My first Christmas card!!

I took a pile of pictures yesterday, and will try and post them in the next day or two.  My house is looking rather pathetic right now as it's half decorated, and a total mess.  We're going to get our tree tomorrow morning, so it will get worse before it gets better as there will be needles in a path between the front door and the living room.  

So, rather than decorate, I'm blogging!  This card came from one of my stamp club members - Trina Ament.  She stamped the snowflakes and the sentiment on acetate, and then added a very cute stamped bird on the front.  The sentiment is stamped on the paper inside the card, and you can't see any adhesive.  I LOVE it!!!

My Christmas cards are finished (well, except for the fact that I still have to write all of them!), and I will post a pic of this year's card this week.  I'm also going to post pics of some of the handmade cards that I receive this holiday season.  I love it when I receive handmade cards, and want to show them off!!!

Happy Decorating!

A Christmas card from 2007...

I'm currently going through iPhoto, looking for my 150 photos that I want to upload to Kodak before the end of the week (150 photos for $15!), when I found this picture.  The card was made last year, for my son's kindergarten teacher.  

It's big!  A full sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock, folded in half.  You can see the brads in the top - there are additional sheets of white cardstock on the inside, so that each child in the class could print their name.  The card has also been scored just below the brads - can't have the kids destroying the card before it gets to the teacher!

The stamps are from It's Snow Time, a retired set but not one that I will easily part with.  The sentiment came from Hugs and Wishes (current).  The base of the card is Brilliant Blue, and the snow was created using Bashful Blue.  

I'm in the process of trying to put up some Christmas decor in my house, as well as finish my Christmas cards.  I'll post some fun pics of current projects once I take them, and they actually come out well!!!  I've got pictures in my iPhoto, but they are either too washed out, or too dark.  I can hardly wait to get my hands on my new digital camera on Christmas morning!

Enjoy!

One more Stamp-A-Stack post...

One last post on our Stamp-A-Stack last Saturday afternoon.  If you would like to see pictures of the three remaining cards, please click here to go to Corrie Birnbaum's blog.  She has posted the cards that she designed for the Stack.  Enjoy!

Here are a couple of pictures of some of our happy participants.  Thanks again to all who came out!!!  

Our first stack next year will be on May 2nd - mark it on your calendar.

I'm off to my son's SpongeBob themed pool birthday party.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Super Cute Snowmen!

As much as I love making cards, I also love looking at and putting together other stamping projects that aren't cards.  These two projects are super cute, and easy to put together.

The first snowman is actually from the retired set It's Snow Time.  It's one of the sets that I cannot bear to part with because I really do love it.  I received this candy holder at our Regional Meeting last September.  It's super easy to make, and can hold just about any small candies.  I would love to be able to give credit to the person that made it but... I can't.  Why?  I can't find this little guy in my house right now.  I have a strong suspicion that Michelle took off with it and it's hiding somewhere.  If I find it, I'll add the creator's name to my blog.

I love the Tic-Tac cover in this project.  The snowman featured here is from Wishing You Cheer, a very cute and inexpensive Christmas set.  This sample came from Laura Robinson, at our last Mega-Meeting in September.  It's too cute!!!

Enjoy!

Clamming around at the Stack

For those of you that have been following my posts over the last couple of days, you'll know that this is the third Stamp-A-Stack card that I'm posting.  I'm going to post a couple of photos of it to ensure that you see how it was constructed.  Full credit for this card goes to Jennifer Tinline - I love this card!!

The main background is Real Red.  This caused me quite a bit of consternation in the days leading up to the Stamp-a-Stack as the paper was on backorder, and I wasn't sure if it was going to arrive in time!!  In the end, I did have the paper and was infinitely grateful that it showed up!  I used Baja Breeze for the inside, as well as some Baja Breeze Prints Designer Series Paper for the front panel.  Mr. Christmas Clam was stamped in Basic Black, on some wonderful Shimmery White paper.  He's layered on Real Red and Chocolate Chip cardstock.  A piece of Real Red grosgrain ribbon adds a nice touch.  He was coloured using markers and blender pens.

Until tomorrow... happy stamping!  

More Stamping & Stacking

Bonjour again!

Welcome to the second of the of the cards that we made at our Christmas stamp-a-stack.  This one is super easy!!! 

All of the stamps on this card come from the Snow Swirled set.  I have used Old Olive as the main card base, and then added layers of Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White.  The largest snowflake is stamped using Elegant Eggplant ink, while the second largest snowflake and the sentiment were stamped in Night of Navy.  The smallest snowflake was stamped in Old Olive.  

It's difficult to see, but there are some Dazzling Diamonds in the centres of the snowflakes.

Enjoy! 

Stamp-A-Stacking

Hi all!  Wow - it's been 10 days since I've posted anything.  Having a stamp-a-stack and getting a nasty cold will do that to you.  I'm feeling pretty under the weather this afternoon, but this doesn't require a lot of movement on my part, and Michelle is currently engrossed in Cinderella.

These cards are one of the designs that we had at our Stamp-A-Stack.  It's a little more complicated that some of the other cards that were there, but everyone seemed to like the cards.  The stamps used are both current hostess sets - Best Yet and Deer Friends.  I've also used some Holiday Treasures Designer Series Paper, and some Riding Hood Red & Baja Breeze cardstock and ribbon.

The card is designed and punched in such a way that when you open up the card, you can still see the deer/tree as they are adhered to the inside of the card.  

Stay tuned for tomorrow when you'll get to see another one of our stack cards.  And you really will because I'm about to write tomorrow's post!

More Scrappy Pages

Yesterday I promised you the second set of scrappy pages from this week's upcoming club nights.  Once again, I'm having Blogger loading issues (somewhere around Christmas I'll switch my blog and hopefully some of this is taken care of!!!), so I have the separate page photos instead of a layout that shows both side by side.  

The second set of pages from this week's Scrapbook club look like this:

These pages were created using the Summer Home Simply Scrappin' Kit, and I've added my crazy letter.  I'm about two thirds of the way through the A-Z book, and I'm really hoping that this club helps me with my own pages!!!  They've been a bit neglected of late.

Happy Scrappin!  I'm off to chop paper for next weekend's Stamp-A-Stack!

Scrapbook club - it's finally here!

Today's entry in my crazy stamping blog has very little to do with stamping - it's all about scrapbooking!  My scrapbooking clubs meet this coming week for the first time, and today I'm sharing one of the layouts that we'll be putting together. 

 I'd love to show you a picture of the pages side by side, but Blogger is being very picky this morning and it won't upload the photo!  Picture these two beside each other and you'll get the idea.

Each participant will be using a Simply Scrappin' kit of their choice, allowing them to personalize their album.  I've chosen to start this club using the Summer Home kit.  This month's layouts are fairly simple, with little in the way of embellishments.  It won't stay this way forever though...

Until tomorrow, happy stamping and scrapbooking!

Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit

Stampin' Up! has teamed up with Country Living magazine to create a wonderful stamping kit for the upcoming holiday season.  The kit contains everything that you need to create beautiful handcrafted ornaments and tags.  Click here to see the kit on the Stampin' Up! website.  I have taken a photograph of my kit as well to give you an idea of what it contains.  

The cost to purchase this kit is $58.95 (+ ship and tax), with a retail value of over $90!  Everything is included to create the ornaments and tags including ribbon, silver cord, adhesive, stamps, dimensionals, ink, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, rhinestone brads from the Pretties kit, chipboard, Whisper White cardstock, and Designer Series Paper (both die-cut and full sheets).

Let me know if you would like to order this amazing kit for the holiday season!!!

Happy stamping!

A wonderful RAK!

I recently received this RAK card from a demonstrator (Laura Robinson) who is three levels above me in my Stampin' Up! demonstrator line.  I LOVE the c0lours on the card, and I love the opening!!!  She used her Big Shot and Top Note Bigz die to cut the More Mustard cardstock, and then added an image from the Flowers for all Seasons set, and a sentiment from the Garden Whimsy set.  The best part of all?  Laura used her Curvy Label punch to punch out the image, co-ordinating it with the card!! 

Thanks Laura for a gorgeous card!!!  I love it!

A Fall Flair Thank-You

I was at a fun workshop a week ago, and we made this nice fall Thank-You card using the very cool chalkboard technique.  

Because we're in the middle of the fall, I thought that I would try the chalkboard technique on Chocolate Chip cardstock, using Whisper White craft ink and some Earth Elements paper.  I love the look of the colour on the Chocolate Chip cardstock!!!  My only regret is that I don't have the Very Vanilla craft ink as it would have looked stunning against the cardstock.  I need to add that to my list of "needs".

The stamps used on the card are from the Fall Flair hostess set, and the sentiment is from Wonderful words (stamped in Chocolate Chip).  I added a little bit of hemp twine to help with the rustic feel of the card.

Enjoy!!

Phew! Hallowe'en's finally over!!

As much as I love Hallowe'en, I can honestly say that I'm glad that it's over.  I have too much candy in the house (and I'm eating it as fast as the kids), too many yucky pumpkins (13 of them!) on my porch, and I need a change of scenery.  Good thing the Christmas season is upon us!!  

But... before I completely wrap up the season and stuff it back into my orange Rubbermaid container in the basement, I want to share a couple of pictures and a link to another site.

The first is of my kids, just before they tore through the neighbourhood with their

 friends.  The second is of one of the best pumpkins that we saw last night.  It's not one of ours, but it made us laugh!

Chris went out as Indiana Jones, Brendan was Super Mario, and Michelle was the world's cutest pink flamingo!!!

Finally... to see what Stampin' Up! employees did for Hallowe'en, click here to go to Kristina Werner's blog.  Watch the video at the end... it's a hoot!

Happy stamping!