Valentine Greetings

I have been playing with the Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit die in the Occasions mini catalog and just discovered that you can use the full heart punch with the embosslit and it leaves a scallop rim. Here I cut two, on in pink and one in red and applied the red one to cardstock with dotto and then punched the heart out and the layered the two. I love it when I can use a tool in an unexpected way. Thanks for stopping by.

Love You Much

Good afternoon! I just got an email from a friend who had checked out my class schedule at http://stampthenightaway.stampinup.net/ and noticed I am having an Open House on Friday Jan 1 at which I will have tons of Sneak Peaks from the Occasions Mini and the Sale-a-bration catalogs. The funny thing was that I sent her an email about this but she didn't get it, so if you live in or around Harrisburg, Illinois, you are invited to my Open House on Jan 1. Just email to RSVP and drop by anytime between 1:00 and 5:00 pm.

Now on to today's sneak peak, this is a card made with very little stamping, just the sentiment is stamped from the Well Scripted set. The rest of the card is made from the beautiful papers from the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack, that's right we got Paper Stacks in the new catalog! You get 48 sheets total, 2 each of 24 double sided designs(12x12). I also used a Sending Love Epoxy Brad on the flower that I cut out of the DP and popped up. The inspiration for this card came from the blog of a very talented stamper named Heather and I have lost her blog so I don't know how to tell you to get there, sorry.

Love Bandit

Today I have a Valentine card using the set Love Bandit from the Occasions Mini which you can order from starting Jan 5. I also used Sending Love Specialty DP which is gorgeous, each sheet has one side that is glittery. This paper coordinates with Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, and Very Vanilla which are the perfect colors for Valentine cards. I also used three other new items, the Scallop edge punch, scallop corner punch, and the pink and red cord buttons.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Baby Jesus

I know I have posted several "family" things lately but I had to post this one. My husband is in a choir at our church made up of older people, all the way up to age 94 which is awesome in itself that they perform even a few songs. Christmas they put on an awesome presentation of music and drama. My friend, Sharon, who also stamps with me is the choir director of the "Oldies But Goodies" and she asked if Baby Dalton could play Baby Jesus. I was not prepared for how I was touched by God through this, I have to confess that I have not been in the Christmas "spirit" this year, I just couldn't get into buying gifts and baking and all the gatherings and just the everything that goes along with the season. And to be quite honest, it wasn't because I was so focused on the real meaning of Christmas either but after seeing this performance and seeing Baby Dalton in his role in it(all he did was sleep!) I suddenly realized how Mary must have felt knowing that her child would take on the sin of the whole world, even her sin. I have to say that I left there with a whole new outlook.

Also in the photo with Baby Dalton is Tiffany and Matt Businaro and Jim Collins.

Happy Birthday

Good evening! Today I have a "sneak peak" card using a new punch from the Occasions catalog, the Extra Large 2 Step Bird. You get the bird, the wing and the branch in one punch and then you can punch again to get the color variation. I LOVE all the new punches and the new style, not only are they ergonomically friendly but they also fold up for storage. I used the set Well Scripted for the sentiment, don't you just love the swirly font!

Rag Purses

I have a couple more bags to share with you today. This is one I made for Shelby for Christmas and she loved it. It is smaller than the one I posted yesterday and the next one is even smaller. I made it for Sadie and since she doesn't really carry a purse she is using it to take her lunch for school. I let them choose the fabric and now they want to go the Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's just to look at all the fabric.
Check back tomorrow for the start of my sneak peak's from the Occasion and Sale-a-Bration catalogs.

Rag Purse and Blog Candy Winner

I am so glad to be able to blog again, I still have some problems but I have figured out a temporary fix. I have an appointment with a computer company to figure out what is going on with my computer but in the meantime he told me how to get my photos to upload using just the memory card. Today I am sharing a purse I made for a friend for Christmas. I used the scallop square die to cut the blocks and sewed them together. I love how this turned out and would love to make one for myself, if I ever get time. I have orders for three more so I probably won't get to mine any time soon.
Now on to the blog candy, since there were only five comments, I had one of the kids draw a winner, and she drew "Lynn". Lynn, choose what you want from the SU catalog which you can view on line if you don't have one, and email me your list(I will pay shipping and taxes!) of $25.00 worth of merchandise along with your shipping address and I will have that sent to you. Thanks for stopping by.

Camera Problems Solved(maybe)

I may have got my camera problems solved, not totally sure but I have certainly spent a good deal of time working on it. I updated some things on my computer a couple weeks ago and I guess that was when my problems started. But anyway, I was able to post today and so I wanted to wish all my faithful blogging friends a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. We have had such a wonderful day today just spending time with family, the girls awoke at 4:30 and were ready to come downstairs to see if Santa had come. Of course they woke everyone in the house with squeals of excitement so we opened gifts and then I went back to bed for a little while and Toy stayed up with the girls and helped unpackage and get everything ready to play with. We lost our power for a little while and the girls had to come wake me to tell me that bit of news so it has been a long but wonderful day.
Here is a video of my 6 year old, Sadie, who is in Kindergarten in her Christmas performance at
school. She is in the fourth row, third from the right with a maroon dress, and very active as usual.

Camera Problems

I haven't completely quit blogging...I have had all kinds of computer/camera problems. It started when I got a message about an update for one of the programs already on my computer. I went ahead and gave permission for the update but when I tried to load photos on from my camera, nothing was there. I have done everything I know to fix the problem so I now am "in line" for customer service which I was told could take as long as 3-5 days. I am very frustrated right now but there is nothing I can do but wait.

Twelve Days of Savings

These might be the most exciting 12 days of December with select Big Shot dies and vinyl sheets for the Big Shot on sale! The 12 Days of Holiday Sales begin today and runs through December 22.

Some of the items introduced in this sale are new colors of Décor Elements vinyl sheets. There are 18 new colors to choose from, and they make great projects when you use them with Big Shot dies. Consider pairing the Clear Décor Elements vinyl sheets with the Tulipe Bigz die to create an etched-like design on a vase. Or use the Decorative Accent Bigz dies with the Old Olive Décor Element vinyl sheets to enhance a frame. The combination of Big Shot dies and Décor Elements vinyl sheets is sure to take your creativity to a new level!

Tell your husband!!! Shop now --- sale is only until Dec. 22nd!

Click here to view the Big Shot Specials list!

Punch Sneak Peak

I haven't shown you a card in a few days so I thought I would share one of the cards we are making tomorrow at my last Stamp-a-Stack of the season. I used one of the new punches that will be available Jan. 5 from the Sale-a-bration catalog. Not only a new punch but a new design, they are awesome...they fold up for easier storage and they are even easier to punch than the old style. Also new to the Occasions catalog which will be available on Jan. 5 will be clear mount stamps, these are still made of the rubber as before but can be mounted on clear blocks. The wood mounted stamps will still be available as well. I think you will be really impressed with the Occasions catalog.

Christmas Greetings

Today I am sharing another craft show item, these are chocolate covered pretzels. I just found these bags for homemade pretzels, they are by Wilton and you get 20 for about $2.00. Shelby usually takes enough "little somethings" to school for every person who works at her school for Christmas. I send her off with a box of goodies and she goes around the school handing them out so I thought this would be perfect for her to give.

Peppermint Fancy Favors

Hope you had a good weekend, mine was so busy it seemed like a blur. Yesterday I had a booth at a Craft and Wine Tasting event. I am not sure if it was the wine or the crafts so many were interested in but the crowds lasted the whole event. I will share some of my best selling items over the next few days. These little boxes were definitely a hot item. I saw the idea on Patty Bennett's blog. They are made using the thick window sheets item number 114324 in the SU catalog. I cut them with the fancy favor die and then trimmed 1/2 inch from the flap that overlaps on the side of the box. Next I ran them back through the Big Shot inside an embossing folder, turned the box around and embossed the other end. I used sticky strip as the adhesive. Be careful as you bend the score lines on the bottom of the box, bend just enough to form the box since the plastic will weaken if you bend too many times. I used Riding Hood Red(retired) striped grosgrain ribbon and filled with peppermints. My plan was to use any leftovers from the craft fair as gifts for the girls to give to teachers, crossing guards, office workers, and Sunday School workers but I had so little leftovers I will have to get busy making more. My girls were also in a musical presentation at church last night so I had to rush home and "pretty" them up for that. I'll share pictures of them maybe tomorrow.

Three Little Angels...Not!!

These are my three Little Angels(almost). The brown hair is Shelby age 11, the baldie is Dalton age 6 months, and the blondie is Sadie age 6. I wanted to make them an ornament for the Christmas tree and this is what I came up. I used all SU punches, the full heart is the gown, the butterfly cut in half is the wings, the 1 inch circle is the head, the 1 inch circle cut in half is the bangs, the wide oval cut in half is the rest of the hair, and the heart to heart punch is the arms. I sponged all the pieces with Pink Pirouette ink. Notice they don't have halos, they are too mean to wear halos!

Ruddy Treat Holders

Good afternoon, I am slowly getting my Christmas tree up, a few lights outside and my fireplace decorated...still so much to do. I made a bunch of these little Rudolph treat holders for the girls to give to their classmates at school, 60 to be exact! The good ting is they are quick and easy...I used the snack size Hershey bars and built Rudolph around them. I used a 4x4 piece of Chocolate chip card stock, scored at 1 1/4,1 1/2, 2 3/4, and 3 inches. For the antlers I used a part of the snowflake in Close to Cocoa and the hair 4 scallops from the scallop circle punch. The eyes and nose is made from 1/2 and 1/4 inch circle punches. Thanks for stopping by.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

I love the thoughts of a white Christmas but after that I don't mind if we have no more snow. I like to get enough snow for the girls to build snowman a couple times a year but then that's enough. For today's card I used Baja Breeze(my favorite retired color) with Rose Red. I had never used this combination before but I really like how it turned out. The snowflake is from Serene Snowflakes, I embossed it on Rose Red and cut it our. The DP is also retired. Thanks for stopping by.