Thursday, December 30, 2010

Glitter is Glam!

This week is going WAY too fast!!! We just got back from a couple of days away. Yesterday, we went snow tubing in the mountains. It was so much fun!! My body is revolting, though. I have been eating and drinking wayyyyyy too much. Ugh. It will be nice to get back into my healthy routines. :)

I have a card to share with you today that meets several challenges. I have to say I love how it turned out!




First, I was finally able to do one of Cath's Moxie Fab World challenges. Being off this week gave me the chance to do it. The challenge calls for using glitter in an out of the box manner. I painted a doily with Mod Podge and added German Glass Glitter to it. I love how it looks. IRL, this card is super sparkly! I also used glitter for the flower center. I die cut a circle and glittered that as well. The paper is Pink Paislee, the tulle is Glitz, the flower center is Prima and the rubon is Hambly.

This card also fits Mona Pendleton's CR84FN8 challenge. Here is the inspiration.



Finally, I was inspired by the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 28. This is another challenge I've been dying to do! I can't wait to get my first shipment of stamps to participate in the next one. :)

Well, that's it for now. I have to go and unpack all of the stuff we brought home from our trip.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, December 27, 2010

The Shabby Tea Room #42



I was so excited to receive Debbie's invitation to be the Guest Designer this week at The Shabby Tea Room. I always love the inpiration photos that she chooses and this one was no exception. Full of sweet vintage elements, the baby girl nursery was right up my alley. (Made me wish I had a baby girl!)



I pulled out some of my favorite goodies on this one - My Mind's Eye paper, a Crafty Secrets image, Prima chipboard, scrunched seem binding, vintage trim and vintage buttons.




Be sure to stop by The Shabby Tea Room blog and see what the DT did with the inspiration.

I'm off to create! I'm on a roll. No work for me this week!
Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Day After Christmas

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. We sure did! I haven't had as much to eat and drink, as I did the past couple of days, in a long time! The gym is calling my name. :) We had a wonderful celebration and Ryan was just so thrilled with everything. Seven is a great age at Christmas time! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and our time together is just precious.

I have a couple of things to share today - still Christmas related since I hadn't posted them yet.

This first project are boxes I did for Emma's last week. I decorated them with Webster's Pages Sweet Season papers, stickers, berries and some netting and bloomers. These went to Ryan's teachers. I included gift cards in them.





This next card is based on the December sketch at Emma's. I used some Making Memories Noel papers and a journaling notebook page. The ornament sticker is Basic Grey Jovial and the stamp is My Mind's Eye.



You can find the supply list for my gift boxes and card, as well as the sketch, at the Emma's Blog. While you're over there, be sure to check out Cindy's awesome sale! There are tons of fun things in stock right now!



Thanks so much for stopping by. If you didn't get a chance to read my Christmas post below, please do. I had a wonderful affirmation delivered to my inbox and wanted to share it. It really made me think about the spirit and meaning of Christmas.

Have a wonderful day!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!

It's truly the most wonderful time of the year! All of the preparations are done, the tree is lit and we've settled down to celebrate with our family and friends.

I just started subscribing to the Daily Word. Each day there is a wonderful affirmation in my inbox. I thought today's was wonderful and worth sharing.

Christmas Day
Christ in me is the hope of glory.
On this Christmas morning, what can I offer the reborn Spirit of Christ within me? I can offer eyes that look for the goodness of God in all people. I can offer hands ready to serve in small and large ways. I can offer feet that will walk in the path of peace and light.

On this Christmas morning, I offer the Christ Spirit within me a mind willing to believe in eternal possibilities. I offer a voice that sings of faith, joy, love and oneness. I offer my cooperation in establishing the kingdom of heaven here on earth.

Celebrating today the birth of Jesus, I find in my heart a new willingness to believe that I can do my part in making Christmas not just one day in the year, but a way of living life.

Know the love of Christ ... so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.--Ephesians 3:19




Wishing you all a blessed, peaceful and joyous Christmas! May the spirit of the season live in your heart all year.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Webster's Stamps

I had the chance to play around with the new Webster's stamps some more and I just love them! They are made by Unity and are fabulous quality. The images are awesome, too.

Here are a couple of cards that I finished. I have been using the new Webster's Christmas lines a lot lately, so I decided to pull out last year's Winter's Wings line. The colors are so soft and pretty! Here's the first card.




I used Spellbinders Labels 8 for the base of the tag which I added the stamped birdcage and sentiment to. I traced the sentiment with gold stickles. The tag was added with foam adhesive and I tied a small bow from the new netting for the top.

This next card is the same design. I stamped the sentiment twice, in different colors, and cut out the words which I adhered with foam adhesive over the original words. Again, I added the stickles for more bling.




Here they are side by side.



These colors make me happy!

Speaking of happy, I'm done with work until January 3, so you KNOW I'm one happy girl!! I finally finished my cards, so now I just need to start wrapping and shop for all of the parties, meals, etc. that will need to be cooked in the next few days. Very exciting!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. :)

Monday, December 20, 2010

Last Minute Gift Ideas

Well, my Kitchenaid mixer got a workout this weekend! I made 12 batches of cookies and baked seven loaves of pumpkin bread. Yum!! I've already given a bunch away, but the rest are here waiting to be eaten. I'm trying to be good, but... :)

I also made some gifts to give some people at work. I love making chocolate covered pretzles because they are so easy. Just melt, dip and sprinkle! Usually I put them in cellophane bags, but this year, these mason jars were on sale so I scooped up a few. I'm glad I did. The added ribbon, berries and flowers really dressed them up.




The poinsettias, flower center and leaves are Prima. I goth the berries at ACM, also on sale. I tied the ribbon on the jar and hot glued everything else on.



Can't wait to give these away!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. :)

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Less Than a Week...

We are less than a week away from Christmas and what do I have to do? All of my baking, all of my wrapping and mail most of my cards. I still have a couple of things left to pick up. Plus, I have to work next week and plan for a little get together. Sigh...I promised myself I wouldn't get all stressed this year. Breathe, breathe. :)

Have you been following the 12 Days of Christmas Around the World on the Prima blog? Well, yesterday was my day. We are sharing our holiday traditions and if you go to the BLOG HERE you can read about mine.

One of the fun things about Christmas Eve is that it's Fran's birthday. We always celebrate at my SIL's house. Here's a page about it.



I used papers from several older lines. The green paper is from Jack and Jill and the light pink is from Annalee. I added some flowers and chipboard. The chipboard letters were colored with Copic markers to match the paper.



That's about it for today. I'm off to the store to pick up my baking supplies. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Webster's Tags

I can't believe we're getting so close to Christmas! I'm almost done my shopping. I ordered my cards and I'm getting ready to start baking. Unfortunately, we've all been sick. Ryan had the stomach flu this weekend. And now a nasty cold/sinus thing is killing me. Ugh.
I have a couple of things to share today. First up are the tags that I created for the Week of Winter Wonderland at Webster's. I love making tags! I used the Waiting for Santa line for this one. All of the directions can be found for each one HERE.









I used so many bits and pieces of Webster's Goodies on them. It was really fun making them. The tags themselves were cut with a Papertrey Die.

I was really excited last week to get my hands on the new Spring Market line by Webster's. The colors are so vibrant and the images are really pretty. Here is a card I made with it.




I love the little bird. And aren't those flowers pretty? Let's just say there are a lot more where those came from! Spring Market is a late season release and will be available in January.

Here is the layout I made. It has a totally different look, even though I used the same line. The photo is of an amazing Farmer's Market I went to in Maui. They were cutting the pineapples open right there and I got the best guacamole ever! Sigh....I wish I could shop there everyday!



Well, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

CR84FN #7



***If you are looking for the Winter Wonderland Blog Hop it is in the next post.***

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Last week I participated in Mona Pendleton's CR84FN challenge, and lucky me, I was picked to be this week's guest designer. :) This week's color combo is so pretty and the inspiration pictures are just lovely.



Here is the card that I made to go along with it.





I decided to go with a non-traditional holiday card. I pulled out my Papertrey goodies for this one. The wreath is stamped with Wreath for All Seasons. I used Dark Chocolate and Melonberry Inks. The sentiment comes from Holiday Button Bits. I embossed some Kraft cardstock and mounted the banner onto it. Then, I added some scrunched seam binding and a Prima flower. I added Platinum Stickles to both the flower and the berries on the wreath.



It was so much fun to play along. I love Mona's color combos. They are so inspiring!
Be sure to stop by HER BLOG to see the challenge and to play along.

Have a great day! And thanks for visiting.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Winter Winderland Blog Hop




Hi and welcome to the next stop on the Webster's Pages Winter Wonderland Blog Hop. It has been such an exciting week at Inspire Me! The class projects have been incredible. I'm so exicited to share this card with you, today. I used the new Merry Christmas Home stamps on them.



The tree was stamped on the cardstock and colored with colored pencils. I used some netting and twine to wrap around the card and cut the flowers from the patterned paper. I added Stickles to the image, too, which gave it even more glitz!



I have a set of the new stamps to give away today. Just leave a comment! And be sure to continue on to Hilde's blog. Each comment you leave on the Blog Hop posts today is another chance to win a stamp set!

Be sure to join us for the culminating chat at Inspire Me on Monday, December 13 at 9 PM Eastern Standard Time. We will be announcing the winners of the stamp sets then.

Thanks so much for stopping by and happy hopping!!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A Few Things Prima

It has been a crazy week so far. I've been up and out the door so early and have been super busy. On a good note, things start slowing down a bit tomorrow, but on a bad note, I'm starting to feel sick. Please send me some 'Stay Well' vibes!!

I have a couple of things to share today. First up is my page for Prima's Build a Page sketch. It's a really fun one. You can see it HERE along with all of the DT pages.




This was Ryan sending his 'Dear Santa' letter last year. The Road Trip papers actually worked perfectly as they had a bunch of 'air mail' letter motifs. I added some flowers and cut the swirls with my Silhouette (that I'm finally learning how to use!)




This next page is one that I love, not necessarily because of the design, but because of the photos. As you may know, Ryan is an only child. I often worry about whether he'll be lonlely once we're gone, but coming from a large Irish family, I doubt it. He is one of 9 cousins and they are all very close! This summer we all went to Disney World together. We met my SIL's family at the airport. Her four kids are closest in age to Ryan and when they saw him they yelled, 'Ryan!!!!!!!!' and came running over. I got these pictures as they were hugging him, so excited to be with him.




It made my heart feel so happy, knowing that he's so close with them. I know they'll always have each other!



I used a Donna Downey canvas sheet on the background along with lots of flowers and crystals. I journaled on the Annalee chipboard canvas.




That's it for today. If you haven't spent any time at the Prima blog, be sure to hop over. We are all sharing layouts about how we celebrate the holidays. Being that the team is from all over the world, the stories are quite interesting!

And, don't forget about the Week of Winter Wonderland going on at Inspire Me! The class projects posted so far have been amazing! Mine goes up tomorrow! Be sure to come back here on Friday for the Webster's blog hop. We will be showcasing the new stamps!

Have a great day!

Monday, December 6, 2010

December Daily

Happy Monday! We had a really productive weekend around here. One of the reasons is because Ryan's strep was back, so we were relegated to the house! He's on meds now and bounced right back, but in the meantime I got a WHOLE lot of decorating and cooking done.
Today I have a really fun project to share. I think it's one of my all time favorites! I finally tried my hand at a December Daily. I've never done it before, so I thought I'd give it a shot.




I got the idea for my album when I saw the Making Memories Noel Advent Calendar kit. You're supposed to hang these sweet envelopes like a banner using a big piece of tulle. Instead of creating the Advent Calendar, I used the set to create my album.




The envelopes, chipboard numbers and tags were perfect. I used a Tim Holtz Grungebook as the base of my album. Then, I created the insde of the album using various papers, journaling pages and the envelopes themselves.





The envelopes on each page will hold small photos for each day. On them I'll write snippets about the holiday season. I love that my memories will be tucked away in the envelopes. I tied it all together using the tulle and adding some tags to it.



I have my album displayed in the dining room and it looks like a decoration itself!
Here are a couple of the inside pages:





The rest of the album and my supply list can all be found at the Emma's Blog.

I also wanted to remind you of all of the fun things going on at Inspire Me this week. It's the Week of Winter Wonderland. There are going to be some amazing classes, giveaways and lots of fun. So stop by!

Thanks for visiting today!