Getting a Head Start

Good morning everyone! I'm officially on vacation this week (though I do have to go in for a few hours tomorrow to do payroll) and I'm trying to get a "head start" on the New Year. Not that I'm in a hurry or anything - I'm just waaaaaaay behind in my scrapbooking, computer file organization and tax preparation for my stamping business. So last night I started my 2009 digi-scrapbook - and what better place to begin than at the end with the new Christmas photos.

Santa Claus always makes an appearance at my husband's family Christmas and EVERY family member has his or her turn sitting on Santa's lap to open presents. This page is a collage of my husband's parents, my hubby, all of our nieces and nephews on his side (except Andrew who is serving our country in Dubai) and a couple of my sister-in-laws. My favorite photo of the day is the large center photo in this page. My sister-in-law from Texas wanted an outdoor photo with Santa (my son in costume). He unexpectedly grabbed her up and acted as if he were going to dump her over the porch rail into the snow. She was laughing so hard her nose is all wrinkled!

It was a lovely Christmas with his family this year. All of my hubby's siblings were together in the same place for the 1st time in 17 yrs. so I made it a point to get a photo of my in-laws and their children. My DH is in the back row - 3rd from the left. Isn't he cute??? He's getting so gray now I think he should play Santa next year. Look at those rosy cheeks - don't you think he could do it?

Speaking of DH - his birthday is the day after Christmas so in the midst of all that hustle and bustle we always have to remember to celebrate his birthday too. I made this card for him and instead of a birthday cake (he's diabetic), my sister-in-law, Giselle, made him a wonderful, Lebanese breakfast treat called Knefay. It's made with white cheese, semolina and toasted wheat or bread crumbs and baked. While it's still warm you drizzle a little sweetened rose syrup over it. Mmmmmmmm!!!! It's delicious. In fact, I have a piece waiting for me in the kitchen as soon as I finish this post.

I used almost all Stampin'Up! product on this card. The cardstock is Kraft, Chocolate Chip and Bashful Blue. I hope the colors look true on your computer monitor becaue this color combination is really pretty. The stamps are Special Day Background Stamp, Lovely as a Tree, and Itty Bitty Backgrounds all stamped in Chocolate Chip Dye Ink. The ribbon and copper brads were purchased at a local craft store.

Thanks for taking a few minutes of your day to check out my life. I hope your Christmas was as nice as our was and that you enjoyed your day- whatever you were doing and whoever you were with.

Until Next time -

happy stamping.

Jill

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

If you are going to be as busy as I am tomorrow you won't be touching your computer - so thought I'd better get my Christmas Wish out to you today. I hope your day will be filled with love, family, friends, good food, wonderfully wrapped presents and the Spirit of the Living Lord - JESUS.

This past Saturday I hosted a customer appreciation luncheon for all of my wonderfully supportive customers. Out of 14 who said they would be able to make it, 12 attended and I hope had a fun day eating, visiting and getting creative with the make n take project which was this little snowflake candle and gift box. These are very easy to make and make delightful little gifts.

The photos below are just a few that I took at the luncheon.

Our yummy lunch. BBQ, scoops with cheese and spinach dips, cookies, candies and beverages.

Mmmmmm! Don't these look delicious??? My favorites are the no bake peanutbutter & chocolate cookies -Oh - and the SNICKER bars, peppermint chocolate bark and the little gingerbread cookies. The divinity was okay - but I'm not a fan.


This is a photo of 2 of the place settings. Each person received a little thank you gift with a card and blueberry flavored candy cane.


Inside each gift bag was a little snowman figurine. Most were the "sitter" snowmen - aren't they adorable???? I should have gotten one for myself because I think they are so cute - but sadly I didn't think of that until later and by that time they were all gone.



Thanks for visiting today on this rainy Christmas Eve (at least it's rainy in East Peoria, IL). Christmas Blessings to each of you.

Jill

MOONLIT CHRISTMAS

Sorry I haven't been posting lately - I haven't been sloughing off though. I have been busily working away on gifts and cards but couldn't post them because I didn't want the recipients seeing them online before receiving them in person. That's like giving a sweater that 70 people have already worn - just NOT the thing to do!!!! LOL! I THINK I am safe to show this card though as I have sent out my Christmas cards and hopefully the recipient of this one already has it and opened it.

I created the main image for this card some time ago - maybe even last year (I am old now and can't remember things as well as I used to) - but did not use it for the card I was making. When it came time to mail my Christmas cards this year I found I was short 22 cards. I don't know how that could possibly be the case because it seems like all I had been making was Christmas Cards since October - but it was true - I still needed 22 cards and QUICK! So I looked through my file of cards - these are the ones I make when the mood strikes and then file away for future use - and was fortunate to find about 12 Christmas cards I had made throughout the years at classes/workshops etc. These would definitely come in handy THIS year but I still needed to make 10 cards and I only had one afternoon to do it. WHAT TO DO?????

I have a "junk" drawer in my studio that holds all the bits and pieces of things I've colored, created etc that are usable but were not used on the project I created it for. This image was in that drawer and would be perfect for a quick card.

To create the background I tore a large post it note to form "snow" and laid it across the bottom of a piece of WHISPER WHITE cardstock. Then I punched a circle (also from a post-it note) and placed it just above the snow to form a moon. Once the post-its were in place I brayered the exposed cardstock in NOT QUITE NAVY then sponged around the edges of the sky in NIGHT OF NAVY. The trees are from the SU! LOVELY AS A TREE stamp set and are stamped in MEMENTO TUXEDO BLACK ink. I added STARDUST STICKLES to make the snow sparkle and used a SU!SIGNO WHITE GEL PEN to create the falling snow. The image was layered onto a base of VERY VANILLA cardstock which was created using a SPELLBINDERS SCALLOPED RECTANGLE NESTABILITIES and then layered onto a piece of SU! NIGHT OF NAVY cardstock. The cardbase is SU!VERY VANILLA cardstock and is embossed using the BIGSHOT and a the CUTTLEBUG SWISS DOTS embossing folder. SU! NIGHT OF NAVY organdy ribbon (retired) and a snowflake button add the finishing touch.

Thanks for being patient and hanging in with me while I took a short break from posting. My New Years resolution is to create and post 2-3 projects a week. I hope I can keep to that schedule.

As always -
thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog. I know you are all busy with your own lives and projects so I really do appreciate your show of support when you visit and comment on mine.

Until next time -
Happy Stamping!
Jill

DECEMBER BIRTHDAY

One of my nephews turned 10 on the 11th of December and today was his party so of course I had to make a card - I couldn't have done it weeks ago - it HAD to be this morning, the day of the party. (I also had to buy the gift today - it also couldn't have been purchased earlier!) So anyway, as I looked through my kajillion stamps and stamp sets it occurred to me - not for the first time either - that I don't own ANY stamps that work well for those masculine tween cards. I have the SU! Fishy Friends set which make really cute cards - but only if you're an adult or under the age of 7. 10 year old boys would find them just a way bit babyish - especially THIS 10 year old. So what to do????

Thankfully it's winter and snowmen are great for winter cards no matter how old or young you might be. A year or so ago I made a Christmas card using an adorable snowman stamp from WHIPPER SNAPPER. His arms are spread wide and I strung a string of plastic mini tree lights from hand to hand. I love this little guy - he's just toooo cute. I wanted to use this stamp for Tony's bday card so I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink on SU!Whisper White cardstock and colored him with alcohol based markers.




Then I cut off his arms (OH NO!) and reattached them so they could hold a birthday cake complete with candles. I told Tony the snowman had to be really careful not to get the flames to close to his body and face or he would melt. Without even looking down at the card in his hand, his response was to say matter of factly "that's why he's all covered up." I loved it!!!! Not only did he "get it", his response also showed me that he really took the time to look at the card I made for him. How many 10 year old boys care as much about the card as they do the present????


RECIPE:
Whipper Snapper Snowman Stamp
Birthday Cake Stamp (unknown mfr)
Very Vanilla cardstock
More Mustard Cardstock
Whisper White Cardstock
Designer Papers sponged in Close to Cocoa
Copic Markers
Buttons
Twine


Thanks for visiting -
Until Next time -
Happy Stamping.

Jill

THE STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF

I'm apparently OBSESSED with stamping. Does anyone else out there dream about designs for cards???? I hope someone says yes - because I don't really want to think I'm the only one that's gone off the deep end.

I dreamed THIS card last night - or at least I dreamed PART of it. What I could remember when I woke this morning was the stamped image across the bottom, the layout and that it was Navy Blue and White layers. I couldn't remember th main image or any other accents. The card in the dream also had piercing in various places -- but when I started putting this together decided it really didn't work with punched holes all over it.

My friend, Cindy, is having her family Thanksgiving tomorrow and has really gone all out with her decorating to make her home and her table beautiful. One of the things she wanted to do was create name cards for each place setting using Stampin'Up! Sweet Treat Cups. She looked online and found a few ideas then chose bits and pieces from each one to create some adorable Tom Turkey Place Card Sweet Treats. She also added the name tab as a pull tab to release the candy so her guests wouldn't destroy all of her hardwork when it came time to eat the candy.

My version is basically the same as Cindy's. The only changes are the addition of designer paper to the front of the place card and the "stitching" to give it a homespun look. Hers have bigger eyes too - which I prefer - but since I didn't have the big eyes I used the little ones. Isn't he cute??????

Thanks for visiting -

Until next time -

Happy Stamping!

Jill

POINSETTIAS, HOLLY SPRIGS & GOLD

I'm still trying to decide on a design for my Christmas cards this year and spent HOURS this morning putting this together. I had remembered seeing a card online a few weeks ago that used a poinsettia stamp and this Holly Embossing folder together and thought it was beautiful. So I found my poinsettia stamp, embossing folder, gold embossing powder, heat gun and went to work.

My first attempt was on a 4.25"x5.5" vanilla cardstock base. I stamped the poinsettia's in Versarmark and heat embossed with the detail gold embossing powder. I added tiny gold half beads to the centers and made sure they would stay in place by adding a drop of crystal lacquer to the top. I remembered the card I had seen used the MS branch punch to punch little gold branches - but I didn't have any gold paper and since I am home with a sore throat today really didn't want to go out to the store to get some. Did you know you can MAKE YOUR OWN GOLD METALLIC PAPER???? All you have to do is take a piece of white cardstock, stamp your versarmark inkpad all over the surface, apply gold embossing powder and heat. I made just enough to punch about 8 branches and added those to the Poinsettias. I layed the flowers in place in the corner of the embossed cardstock, and while it was very pretty in it's monochromatic theme and simplicity - it still needed something to make it a "WOW" card. So I tried ribbon, then heated ribbon, then a greeting - and decided it just wasn't working so I should start over.

I saved the Poinsettias - after all that work I wasn't about to pitch them. I decided I should try a larger card base so I could have a larger canvas to work with - and after a couple more "FAILURES" came up with this as my end result. I wish the photo looked as elegant as the card does in real life - but the metallic portions of the card reflect the color of the walls and overhead light so that they look orange in the photo. In reality, the gold embossed metallic branches and Poinsettias appear several shades darker than the River Rock cardstock and blend beautifully.

I'm still thinking I might add a ribbon across the bottom of the embossed cardstock and tie a bow in the right-hand corner.

Hope you enjoyed the card and the babble -

thanks for visiting

and until next time -

Happy Stamping!

Jill

SNOWFLAKES AND DOUBLE BOWS

For those of you who came to last night's technique's class, you can stop reading now - unless you just like to read my chitter-chatter. If that's the case keep reading - otherwise today's post will simply be a review for you.

For some of the rest of you - you might have seen these ideas recently as you've been browsing through different blogs and websites - as both have been posted as tutorials recently. But I liked the ideas and techniques so much I had to try them out myself and I have to tell you - I LOVE them both.

The first project is a card using the 'MAGIC SNOWFLAKE' technique which uses glossy cardstock, white craft ink and white embossing powder. The mottled background was created using rubbing alcohol and SU! Soft Sky and Not Quite Navy reinkers. The really NEAT thing about this technique is that you create the background OVER the embossed image of the snowflake. The cardstock is Not Quite Navy and Chocolate Chip layered on Chocolate Chip and white polka dot designer paper. The double bow was created with the BOW EASY.


The second project is a LUMINARY. This was quick and easy to make and looks beautiful with the flameless tealight glowing from the vellum windows. I have plans to make several and either line the top of my piano or set in among evergreen boughs in my bow window. I'm soooooo getting in the mood for Christmas decorating now. LOL!


I used Bordering Blue Cardstock for this and randomly stamped one of the snowflakes from a retired set all over in Craft White Ink. The trees are from the Season of Joy stamp set and are stamped in Bordering Blue Ink and accented with Stickles. I used the beautiful scalloped border punch from Martha Stewart to create the topper and added a snowflake button for some dimension. Looking at it now - it still needs a little extra ooomph. I think I might go back and add some liquid applique or flower soft to make snow along the branches and maybe make a second tree and pop it up on dimensionals.

I'm off for now -
hope to be back in a day or two with another Christmas project or two to share.

Until then -
Happy Fall Y'all.
Jill