I can't wait!!

Until next year!!! Because that is when you can see the January Cupcardstogo Kit! But today I can show you a peek! or two...




Meanwhile... here's a little wish for you, my friends, reading this blog.
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words . . .

May 2009 be the best year of your life!!!

Have a great day and Happy New Year!

Let the Countdown Begin!

So, how are you celebrating the entrance of the new year? Have you already made plans? We haven't made any yet. We usually just stay home and watch movies in comfy PJ's. Of course, this year we may stay in and play with our new Wii.

We'll also be counting even more blessings. We had a scary situation this week, and all is well, except my nerves.

I don't have much to share right now. Today the projects are all made using Piggy Tales product. Here is a little altered doorhanger and card. The stamp is from Stampin Up.




And here's a couple of friendship cards.




The stamps used on the above card are from Stampin Up. The frame is from Frames With A Flourish, butterflies from Dreams du Jour, and sentiment from Best Yet. (You can shop for these stamps at my online store here).

I have oodles of things to work on this week, in between playing with the kids. Here's a little funny... I can't play many of the Wii games because I get extreme motion sickness (so much for Mario Kart), but I don't have a problem at all with the sports. Only sore muscles. But that is a good thing, right?

Have a great day and blessed New Year!

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

Just a little something for the holiday. The photo on the page below is from last year. I love taking photos of these two together. They are quite a pair. The papers are from Dream Street papers. The chipboard tree is from Everlasting Keepsakes.





Oh and about the newspaper interview earlier this week - she DID have her photo posted at the newspaper's online gallery, but not in the paper. Although the little boy beside us in the Santa line had the most adorable photo printed along with the article. I know his mom and grandma were so happy. :)

If you are doing a little bit of online shopping for yourself in the next few days - here's a tempting little offer. Right now Stampin' Up! is offering this Love You Much stamp set, Heart to Heart punch and Candy Cane Designer Series 12x12 papers at a 20% discount! Yep - that's right - twenty percent off! For more info and to shop anytime... go to my store!


Meanwhile - have a safe, peaceful and very Merry Christmas, Y'all!

Santa's Coming!

We went to the mall today around 10:45. It was perfect timing. The line was short. A lady I went to high school with came right behind me with her son. That was fun. While we were chatting, a newspaper reporter asked if she could interview our children. So, she did. They asked why we were there, what we were shopping for and the kids told her what they were asking Santa for. They took photos and said the article would be in tomorrow's paper! I'm hoping they both have their pics in the paper - you just never know how things will work out. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile - I'm heading back out into the wonderful world to buy groceries for our Christmas Eve party. I have a wonderful recipe for cajun dressing. Then I've planned my Christmas Day meal. I love to cook a standing rib roast with mashed potatoes, veggies and a special chocolate praline cake. Yum!

Enjoy your holiday planning!

Happy Friday-before-Christmas, Y'all!!

Now let's get this party started. Last day of school (yeah - no more early-to-school mornings), Friday before Christmas (have you seen the bargains at the mall?) and best of all - just plain old TGIF!

In honor of today - I'm sharing this little video with you. My gift to you - laughter. Enjoy!

'twas the week before Christmas..

..and I'm scrapping fall photos. LOL. I needed to take a breather. In between making Christmas gifts (and waiting for UPS to bring more of certain ingredient for said gifts) and making some Christmas cards... I went to my photo bin and got inspired to create some non-Christmas items.

The first page uses Pink Paislee Spring Fling. I know it's called spring fling, but they also work well for fall. I added some orange bling to the tree and viola - fall paper. :)






The next page uses Pink Paislee's Vintage Moon Collection. This page is about celebrating "being 6" and key things that happened to my dd at that age. There is a few Spring Fling papers on this page, also (remember, I decided it was also a fall paper). The little owl is from Chatterbox, the die cut from Making Memories, and alpha stickers from American Craft.





And last but not least, my Christmas cards. I used Stampin Up Winter Post set for the skaters, and the sentiment is from the Best Yet hostess stamp set. Kraft and Very Vanilla cardstock, Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip ink, and Bella Rose patterned papers. You can shop 24/7 at my Stampin' Up store. Right now they are offering free shipping on order $70 and above.





Still waiting on the UPS man to bring my special ingredient for my gifts. Until then, maybe I'll make some sweets. Have a great week and hope you get all your shopping done.

Do you give a hoot?

..about typos?? Okay - so I'm just playing around with owls today - actually owl stamps and other woodsy things..so excuse my pun. I spent all morning long yesterday trying to create our holiday photo card.... uploaded them to be printed... and then hours later showed hubby and that was when I noticed the typo. I told hubby that half the people getting cards will notice them... the other half won't. Should I still send them out? I thought about stamping a "woops - sorry for the typo" on the back of the photo card. LOL. Let me know what you think.

So back to the owls. I've been playing with one of my new Stampin Up stamp sets. It's called "Owl Together Now" (Item 111534) and it's so fun. My little girl loves them, too. She has an adorable card in progress. If she finishes this week (she's coloring in everything) I'll show a photo.




This card uses Owl Together Now Stamp set with Dream Street papers. The frame is a die cut from Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge. I colored the owl with pastel chalks and a Stampin Up blender pen. See my step by step tutorial for using the chalks with the blender pen called Coloring With Chalks is a Hoot.

Below are some more cards using the owl set.




And guess what!!?? If you love Stampin' Up products, you can order now through December 23 and get FREE SHIPPING on orders over $70! And on top of that, stamps on the retired list are 10% thru December 23. What are you waiting for? It's so easy to shop anytime day or night at My Stampin Up Store!

One one last card - no stamping. This uses Collage Press, October Afternoon and Sassafrass Lass papers. Rub on is Melissa Frances, Twill is Stampin' Up.




The rest of this week will be spent painting. I'm working on some adorable dachsund paintings. One of the buyers just happened to be in Mimi's Cafe in GA last week and saw my painting. Then they wandered onto my ebay auction this week and there it was...perfect timing. I'm customizing it for their little one. I'll post a photo later.

Happy Crafty Holidays

How many of you are making hand-made gift this season? Our theme for our church ladies group last month was focused on making hand-made gifts. One of my friends does a weekly show on the local tv station. She asked me yesterday to come on her show "this week" and show how people can make handmade cards and gift items. I'm going gee, thanks for the advanced notice. I'll let you know how it goes, if I do it.

Here is something I made last week. The focus of this card was recycling. I used vintage sheet music, an old button, and candle-wicking thread. Yes, candlewicking thread. While visiting my parents on Thanksgiving Day, my mom gave me a bag of crafty items. In it was about a dozen packets of candlewicking thread. What is so funny is, I have vague memories of the candlemaking in our home - and I have to tell you - it was eons ago. I can't believe she's kept this all this time. Anyway, some of the other elements are odds and ends from past Lime Tart kits (tag, spiral clip). The papers are Making Memories and Fancy Pants, cardstock from Stampin' Up and Worldwin, and a Melissa Frances Rub On (from my Nov. CupcardsToGo Kit).




And one more card from my new love, Stampin' Up products. I used Whisper White Craft Ink to stamp on the red cardstock. It looks like a rub on, doesn't it. I also inked the card and papers with the white craft pad. To speed up the setting, I used a heat gun. The stamp is from the "Best Yet" hostess gift set. The papers are Bella Rose Designer Papers, the ribbon is Striped Pink Pirouette. The chipboard flowers (On Board Batch of Blooms) were painted white and pink. I punched the red circle from cardstock, stamped on it, and mounted it to the flower. The butterfly stamp is from Dreams Du Jour. I stamped with Riding Hood Red ink and trimmed it.





And just so you know...you can shop anytime day or night at my Stampin' Up store.

It was refreshing to create something non-seasonal.. but can you believe this - I haven't even decided what Christmas cards I'm sending out. That means I have to make some or print some photo cards. Maybe I'll be one of those people who sends them out on December 24 so you may get something from me after Christmas. Anyway - have a wonderful day!

The Price of Gas this week was...

$1.69 per gallon! Congrats to:

TerryG said...
Everything looks so awesome and ymmy! And I think that you probably gave $1.69 for gas..

Leave me a message so I can contact you for mailing info and I'll send your magazine to you. Thanks, girls, for playing. My sister guessed right, too, but she wouldn't post it on the blog so she didn't get to play.

So, how much is gas this week in your area? I didn't even shop the prices. I was pumping and looked across the street and it was the same price there. Nice, huh.

I've been playing this morning with my new Winter Post stamp set from Stampin Up! I just love this set. I also have a new ribbon love. The striped red/cream ribbon I used on these cards is also from Stampin Up! It's 1 1/4" wide and the roll comes with TEN YARDS! It's so soft and easy to use.





I used the Best Yet (phrases) set for the Christmas greeting. The patterned papers are the Bella Rose Designer Papers - all availabe from Stampin Up!.




On this card I used an embossing folder from Provocraft and my Cuttlebug for the swirls. The metal plate is Hodgepodge Hardware (Vanilla) from Stampin Up! Don't you just love the striped ribbon? It's called "Riding Hood Red/Very Vanilla" it's 1 1/4" and there are 10 yards on a spool - all for $8.95. You can shop ANYTIME at my store.






The deer on this card is from the Winter Post stamp set. The border frame stamp is from Frames With a Flourish. Brad is from the Hodgepodge Hardware and felt flower is the Accents and Elements Flower Fusion. (All from Stampin Up!) Who knew that had such yummy embellishments!

On another topic - I went with some ladies this week to see the movie "Australia". Oh. My. Stars. I loved this movie. It's long... so if you go - don't take your potty break until after the first kiss. Can you believe that we're planning to go back next week? Yeah - it's that good. (or maybe it's just the leading man we want to see again?)

Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend! I'm happy it's Friday.

One Dollar and Sixty Nine Cents

I had some ladies over yesterday to make these cute little bags and the yummies.



We used Christmas Cheer stamps by Kim Hughes from Cornish Heritage Farms. We cut the tags with the Cricut and them dry embossed the dots with the Cuttlebug. None of the ladies had ever done anything like this before and loved it! I also showed them how to heat emboss with gold powder on metallic tags. The bags in the photo are glassine bags with a self-adhesive closure, but we also used zip lock bags and punched holes in the tops (above the zip lip).

Want a recipe for one of the goodies? This was a recipe we used at one of my Pampered Chef parties. Just substitute the PC tools for what you have.

Festive Winter Crunch Bark
Source: The Pampered Chef

1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1 cup salted cashews, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 pounds white chocolate wafers
2 cups crispy rice cereal

Line Stoneware Bar Pan with Parchment Paper, allowing about 6 inches to extend over long sides of Pan. To toast coconut, place coconut in Large Micro-Cooker. Microwave on MEDIUM 3 to 4 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring every minute.

Coarsely chop cashews with Food Chopper. Combine coconut and cashews in Small Batter Bowl. Place chocolate in Large Micro-Cooker. Microwave on MEDIUM 3 to 4 minutes, stirring every minute with Mix 'N Scraper, until chocolate is melted and smooth.

Stir in cereal and half of coconut mixture, mixing until all ingredients are well coated. Spread evenly over bottom of rectangle pan using Large Spreader. Sprinkle with remaining coconut mixture; gently pressing into chocolate.

Refrigerate 15 to 20 minutes or until set. Bring edges of Parchment Paper up over bark and break into 2 inch pieces. Yields 32 pieces.

Want to play a guessing game?

Okay...so.. while I was out yesterday I bought something that was one dollar and sixty nine cents. Want to guess what it was? It's something that we depend on quite often. I'll give you a hint....it's not coffee. If you want to play, put your guess in the comments section. I'll draw from those that get it right and I'm giving away a copy of the Nov/December issue of Paper Crafts magazine. I know - a bit late, but it's a great copy.



Leave your comment by Thursday, Dec. 4 at midnight CST and I'll draw a name on Friday.