Happy New Years!

What an adventure this year has been! Don't you think it is time to celebrate??

We're so excited about our plans for tonight - its a kids and grownups party with good friends of ours here in town. We'll have an early ball drop for the kids, and then they'll settle into pj's, sleeping bags and bunk beds.

Once all the little ones have nodded off, then we'll hang out with our friends, and enjoy one of my favorite new years traditions - champagne. (No worries people, my husband is going to be my designated driver!)

Today I'm baking a cheesecake for dessert, and making loads and loads of mac and cheese for the kidlets dinner.

No matter what your plans are tonight, I wish you a wonderful, joyous and SAFE holiday.

To glam up my CosmoBella, I covered her tank with my black glaze pen, then added a smattering of clear glitter. The Pomtini (oh YUMMY!) has been given a coat of clear glaze pen as well.

I matted my designer paper onto black cardstock, and then traced the edge of it with Sakura Stardust pen. In real life, it has a fun detail to it, which of course, didn't pick up on the camera. In fact, you probably can't even see that there is an extra layer in there at all. Guess you'll have to trust me on that one. *giggle*

See you NEXT YEAR!

2009 Wrap Up

As wonderful at 2009 has been, I always get so excited about the prospects of a new year.

Two Thousand and TEN - I can't believe it!! At the turn of 2000, my husband (then fiance) and I travelled to Paris to visit with friends. It was truly magical to see the Eiffel tower together, in all its twinkling beauty.

In the last ten years, we got married, travelled, bought a house, and had two beautiful, sweet boys.

My sweet hubster works so hard to provide for our family, and to treat the boys and I to all the extras in life. This year, we have a HUGE vacation planned to celebrate our tenth anniversary! It has been so fun to have him home this week, while we are both on vacation...We've watched "old school" movies with the boys like "The Never Ending Story" and "Goonies" its been a blast!

Oh how my life has been blessed. I know that I am truly truly a lucky girl.

I also consider myself SO fortunate to design for three wonderful companies - all of whom have become dear friends. Through my craft, my papercrafting heroes have turned into some of my dearest friends.

I've sifted back through this years blog posts, to select one of my favorite creations from each month.

When I count my blessings, I also count all of YOU that come to visit me each day. Thank you so much for all your kind words! You have no idea how much they can brighten my spirits on some of my more challenging days!

Sew Thankful!

Before you go and pack up all that beautiful Christmas paper that you've got on your desktop - here's a fun idea. Make thank you notes! I have only about a zillion to write, and I've got scraps galore of paper that I still LOVE. I picked a few of my favorites, and sliced and diced, aged and stitched.

I even pulled out a stamp set that I simply HAD to have for Christmas, Signature Christmas but, ahem, somehow never got a chance to use. Bad girl!! But, how smart is this?? The set has a thank you sentiment in the set! Sweet!!

Lucky girl that I am, I received the most amazing sewing machine from my parents for Christmas. Oh my goodness, it is practically s-i-l-e-n-t when I'm working and so stinkin FAST!

Since the boys were more than entertained with a few new Wii games, and worked to my hearts content and quickly made my first sample, then cut all the papers, stitched all the layers and got all the fronts mass produced for another nine cards.

Maybe, just maybe next year, I'll think ahead and have these done in advance? But, somehow, I won't hold my breath!

Supplies used:

Collage Press "Joyride"

October Afternoon "Good Cheer"

PTI Kraft Cardstock, Signature Christmas, Sweet Blush Saddle Stitched Ribbon, Tea Dye Duo,

A sweet little escape....

For me, carding is my little escape from hectic days. And while I'm certainly enjoying the holidays... I'll admit that I've been craving just a few moments to play with MY toys... you know my stamps, ink and markers instead of assembling toys for the boys.

In addition to Legos and Playmobil sets and books, I also found my latest purchase from Stamping Bella in the mail delivery the other day! So exciting! I unpacked it all, and its been patiently waiting.

You'll see in the up close photo a little "something" that I've been doing on a few of my cards that are in progress at the moment. I'm loving adding some stitched detail onto little scrap pieces of cardstock and using them in place of ribbon, or fibres.

I'm over the moon with excitement about the new sewing machine that I got from my parents for Christmas. I can't wait to play with it, and see all the bells and whistles. Although, I must say, I'm also a bit afraid of it. I feel like I really have my Janome down pat... I'm nervous that I won't know *what* to do with the new one.

Okay, I should be running another load of laundry, or baking another batch of cookies... or something. But, instead, here's Bee Mine from Stamping Bella.

This fun paper is WeR Memory Keepers Heart Attack Collection. Cardbase is Paper Trey Ink Pure Poppy, and matted with Kraft Cardstock.

All I can say is....I hope you're in the mood for valentine images, because I picked up a few more. *squeal* so stinkin' cute!!

Glitzy Flake Tutorial

Hi girlies! I've got a quick tutorial for you today showing you how I put together my Glitzy Flakes that I've been having so much fun making lately!

You can use any diecut, or snowflake punch. I've been partial to my new Martha Stewart punch. They are easy, but glue + glitter does happen to = MESSY so please forgive the picture of my gross glitter tray. It is a gluey mess, but that's why I only use that tray for glitter and glue.

To begin, I punched out a snowflake with my MS punch. The type of paper doesn't matter because the Glitzy coverage is so complete you won't see it.

I added a dimensional booster to the center, where I'll later attach my button. The important part here is to NOT remove the covering tape on the top. Leave that little hexagon on top - you'll work around it!

Next, I coat the entire top of the flake with my Mono Tombo Adhesive - remember, this is where you work around the dimensional booster, don't glue over the top of that! I use the applicator on the bottom of the container and just rub all over the surface of the snowflake.

Then, I place it in my little tray (or over a piece of scrap paper) and coat it heavily with Glitzy from The Cat's Pajamas.

Using the either a pen, or my paper piercer, I gently lift out of the glitter pile and... walk away and let it dry. Yes this is hard for me. I want to play with them right away. But, its not a good idea. Trust me here. *giggle*

At this point, I can either use the "glitter pile" to make another flake, or funnel it back into the test tube. I've made a TON of projects with my silver glitzy and still have more than half the tube left. This glitter has amazing coverage!!

Once the glue has dried, you can peel of that top layer of the dimensional booster and apply your button. I use a pre-threaded button rather than fooling with it once it is on top of the snowflake. Here's a quick hint, I think the teeny buttons work best on the center of this sized flake.

I love that once they are dried you can bend and manipulate the "arms" of the snowflake to curl them right up around your button. Personally, I love them as part of a button trio, or added to the top of a ribbon bow. (If I'm doing that, I use a jumbo glue dot, or a dollop of Zip Dry Glue to the top of the ribbon.)

Today, I used my glitzy flake to be the dot on the top of the letter "J" on my gift tag. Now, if I had my act together I'd be able to spend today and tomorrow making tags for all my gifts. But, that is SO not going to happen. I have so much wrapping to do. But at least I got to make one sweet little tag for my niece. I love making things for her, I get to let my love for PINK shine!

This fun paper is Collage Press - Joyride and I'm lovin it! So sweet! I've used this adorable penguin stamp from "Give a Little" as well as the Coolvetica alphabet.

Its a button love thing.....

Have I mentioned that I am fully mesmerized by my new paper from My Minds Eye? I want to use it on EVERYTHING lately. Red, Pink, Ivory, Kraft. ***swoon**

I thought that I'd use my Stamping Bella 'Lil Artist from Christy Croll for a little valentine card. Isn't she just so sweet.

I just need the boy version of her *hint hint Emily and Christy, did you hear that??* because with me as a mom, I bet you are not surprised that my boys are also crafty little artists.

Yes, you'll see that I've button trio-ed my card again today. One large flat, one squareish one, one tiny one with a threaded bow. Latley, its a thing.

I love hunting through my button jar for just the right trio for each card. All my buttons are stored in a candy jar that I purchased at Walmart for $4 and I keep it stocked with all my lovely buttons....

I also added some faux suede ruffled ribbon from Jody. I'd been on such a bender with bows lately that the lovely sueded ribbon had been neglected. But its soooo lovely. You might notice that I also used it on my "Bessie" card yesterday and wrapped it with a bit of jute.

Last week, I was in mad panic, and gasp, nearly ran out of dimensional boosters. What? How can I make a card without a TON of boosters? Luckily, I found ONE sheet in my scrap pile, which got me through a few days till my order arrived!

Lesson learned!! Don't be a dummy like me, be sure to keep them on hand, in multiples. Did you know that Jody offers a stock up special? Order 12 of one kind of sticky product and she'll add the 13th set free? All the details HERE

Ribbons and Bling - What brings you joy?

Good morning everyone!

I hope that you've all had a wonderful weekend with your families and you're ready for the week ahead.

I'm thrilled to say that most of our Christmas presents are wrapped, and we've been filling the house with the tasty smell of Christmas cookies. However, my belly is also quite full of Christmas cookies. I feel a New Years resolution coming on....

It snowed a TON here on Sunday, so I was able to work on a few stamping projects! Hooray, what a unexpected treat. Love that!

Today I have a little Bessie Lulu from Stamping Bella to share with you, I used a lot of my precious Taylors Tiny Twinkles on this card. Do you see that one adorns each individual scallop on her dress?

I've used a ton of stitching here, and I must say that anytime that I can use more than one type or ribbon on a card, I'm a happy girl. I've got faux suede ruffled ribbon, gingham and some jute twine to boot. ...Sigh... Love that.

Amidst all the crazy of preparations the next few days, I hope that you get to find some time to do something that brings you JOY this week. For me, its been baking with the boys and spending some time snuggled up with my sweet hubby watching movies with a fire in the fireplace. He's been a workin fool the last few months, and finally we're enjoying nights where he's not occupied with a conference call and I don't have only paper to keep me company. Love that too.

Stitched up Pink and Pumpkin

Today we're celebrating my sweet friend Dana's birthday! Happy Birthday Dana!!!

And since I have Stamping Bella to thank for introducing me to Karen who introduced me to Dana, of course, its a Stamping Bella card to celebrate!

There are several of us today posting birthday wishes for Dana - and as pumpkin is her favorite color - you'll see that in all of our cards today.

Now, to make a card that's a little bit Dana and a little bit me, it needs some pink in there too! I did some stash diving to put together just the right mix of happy to celebrate!

You'll also see that I combined the Stamping Bella Faux or Sew challenge this week. I've got LOTS of sewing here on my card, including the circular zig-zagger on the main panel. Always a tricky move!

Don't forget to swing by Blogabella to see all the other submissions for this week, and of course, leave a comment for your chance at Bella Bucks!!

And, be sure to visit all the other girls helping to celebrate with DANA today. You'll find more cards from:

Karen Motz - http://paperplayhouse.blogspot.com/
Janet Rossi - http://corrosivecreationsbyjanet.blogspot.com/
Wendy Bond - http://www.bondgirlbliss.typepad.com/
Nancy McKinney - http://cardworthy.blogspot.com/
Chalene Austin - http://willowandpaisley.typepad.com/
Michelle Leishman - http://micheldesigns.blogspot.com/
Joanne Basile - http://stampedbyhand.blogspot.com/

Missing my postman....

Right now, I'm seriously missing our old post man. He was such a great guy, would always have a wave for the kids, and just magically knew to never ring the doorbell during prime napping hours. Rick cheerfully delivered our mail with a smile, no matter the weather.

He's been assigned a new route this year, and I'm just plain sad about it. I always knew that my letters and packages were in his good care, or deposited at my front door, and ahem, not left laying on the lawn!! Seriously? Apparently, now I have to scan the front lawn for errant packages, in case that is where they have been left. So. Not. Cool.

So, last year, I created this card for my good pal the mailman at Christmas time. I must say, that this was seriously one of my favorite creations ever, I made it for last Decembers Dirty Dozen Gallery.

Be sure to head on over to Splitcoast Stampers to welcome the latest Dirty Girls and check out the gorgeous creations in the December Gallery. Its always a jaw-dropping experience!! Psst. You'll only be able to open that link if you're a fan club member...and if you aren't already a member, what are you waiting for... I love that place!

Who's that Girl Hop!

We've got a special little surprise today from My Favorite Things! This month's VIP Kit is going to be available three weeks before the release!

If you didn't come here from my very sweet friend Christna's blog, then take a moment to jump up to Kim's blog so that you don't miss any of the eye candy!

As always, the VIP Kit contains the latest, otherwise unreleased Who's That Girl and this month, it is "Chick Flick!" I must say that I'm loving these BFF's with their popcorn bowl.

Now honestly, you won't want to miss up the chance to pick up this fun kit from MFT, which is available today only! And there are only kits available, so if you want to treat yourself to a little extra something in your stocking... you'd better hurry!

The kit is a huge value for $34.50 including the Chick Flick Set, Chick Flick Ribbon Nest, Chick Flick Baby Braddies, Popcorn Boxes (5) PLUS receive a FREE Clearly Sentimental About Chocolate stamp set that will be released on 1/6/10.

Ahhh, chick flicks with a friend. Seriously, don't you love to indulge in those movies. When my husband travels, I always allow myself a few chick flicks, think "Confessions of a Shopaholic" or "The Proposal" my sweet friend Jody calls them "Stamping Movies!"

My BFF's are dressed for comfort (and lots of popcorn eating) in their Lulus (love that store) and to go with the girly girly theme, I added one of my new stick pins - you'll be seeing more of them, I'm stuck! *giggle*

I'm warning you, this new paper, is my latest addiction from My Minds Eye, be prepared to see a lot of it from me in the weeks to come!

I hope you have a blast hopping along tonight! The next stop on the hop is Cindy Haffner. I'll meet you over there to see what she's been up to, because if I know one thing, its that it will be amazing!!

A sketchy TCP Tuesday

Its TCP Tuesday again and this week Jen is our hostess and she whipped up a FUN sketch for us to work with!

Yes, I know it is so close to Christmas, but my crafty side is already yearning to work with valentines paper and adornments. So, I took a few hours break from Christmas preparations to stamp up a little love - TCP style.

My sweet little rocket from Puppy Love just needed something as I looked at it stamped and colored on the page... and guess what it was.... my "faux-poxy" treatment from yesterday's tree card. (I told you, I get stuck on things...and go on a little jag....but if you come here a lot, you already figured that out!)

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, be sure to scroll down to see my trees from yesterday's post!

I also was brave, and added stickles to the trails of the rocket and then once the Diamond Glaze driect, I added it to the two hearts on the rocket.

You see, normally, stickles just scare me. I always make a mess with them, smear them across my card etc. However, since I had to set the card aside to let the glaze dry, I figured I could safely add stickles, and then back away from the card. (This is where the hard part is for me, I can't fiddle with it while it dries, or else surely, I'll destroy it in the process. And sadly, the fiddling and preening my cards is usually significant...)

Don't forget to swing on over to Alma's place to add your sketchy sample to the guestbook for YOUR chance to get swanky! Oh my goodness. While I was linking up this post, I saw the most amazing sample from Alma of a wreath made entirely of buttons!!! You've got to check it out!

Snow Fun...

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Ours was wonderful, but wowza do I need a weekend to recover from my weekend...

So, I picked up a white glittered chipboard alphabet at Michael's a few weeks ago, and I've been dying to make a card with it...I tell you, I've been bit by the glitter bug lately hey? Thanks for indulging me! I've got the glittered alpha, silver glitter on the trees and a shiny snow effect by adding clear glitter to my liquid applique before "puffing" it.

To adorn my trees, I added my silver glitzy glitter to the trees using a glue pen, and then once that was dry, I coated each of the trees with Diamond Glaze for a fun effect that I'm calling "faux-poxy" I love all those fun epoxy charms that you see in the store, but I never know how I'd incorporate them into a project, so I always leave them behind... and spend my money on paper or ribbon.

So I instead, I mimicked that effect by adding a heavy coat of glaze. I just love the extra dimension and shine.

I added the tiny sentiment banner "let it" Using my Karen Foster snap stamps (boy, I haven't put those to use in ages!) This sweet three little trees image is from Stamping Bella. This patterned paper, which I totally adore is the Joyride Collection from Collage Press.

This week's Bellariffic challenge is "Faux or Sew" - if you love your sewing machine (like I do!) or if you're super brave and would venture to actually sew with a needle and thread on your project then sew it up! If per chance that's not your bag, you can add handmade charm to your project with faux sewing! Submit your stitched project to Emily by Thursday of this week to be included in this week's Bellariffic Friday!

Blinged Out Lollypops!

This week's Bellariffic Challenge was to add some bling to your project! How fun because I was just wishing I had a Christmas Lollypop stamp, and decided that I'd simply turn one of them into a party girl!

Her dress has a silver sash, and has been given a few coats of clear glaze pen to make it satiny.

I also added lots of my favorite Glitzy to some strips of scor tape to add some sparkle to my patterned papers. You'll also see a **teeny** row of half pearls just above the ribbon (below the apron lace punch) and of course, its not possible for me to make anything this week that doesn't have a glitter snowflake!

I also had a fun find... black glaze pen = Mary Janes!

I hope that you had a lot of fun adding bling to a Stamping Bella project this week. I can hardly wait to see what all the Babes came up with for this challenge! Be sure to stop by Blogabella today to see it all! I'm about ready to start stalking my post-lady for my goodies from last week's launch. Did you buy anything? I've got a LOT of new Bella love on order, and I can't HARDLY WAIT. Really.. Sleep. Is. Overrated.

More snowflakes, and a few fun details....

Just a quick little post for you today....

I'm working on some upcoming deadlines, and fulfilling some etsy orders too... so in the meantime, how about some more snowflakes to keep you company?

I've got a project all ready to be photographed for this week's Bellariffic Friday Challenge. I'm hoping the light cooperates with my plans...

Don't forget to send your BLING'ed out creation to Emily by Thursday at 5pm. You'll find all the details on Blogabella!

You may have noticed that I added a c-box over on the side bar for any of you that have any questions. I get questions in the comments sometimes and there isn't really a great way to respond, so be sure to add your questions to the C-box and I'll write you back! ;-)

By the way, I owe responses to two of you that emailed me one with a ribbon question and another question about Copic colors on my Shake it Bear Card. I'll take care of that Thursday - promise!!

Oh, and FUN news that I can't believe I didn't mentioned yet! My "achoo!" card was selected as one of the honorable mentions by Nichole at Paper Trey Ink last week. Was I ever TICKLED pink!