Last post of the year!

Figured I had better get one last post in before the year is up. I didn't do much stamping this weekend as it has been family time. Took the kids out shopping to spend their Christmas money. Hit the clearence racks.. my favorite places to shop! lol

Emily posted the color challenge way early today so I was able to do some stamping before the year was up. I combined my card with the color challenge, the MFT sketch and a challenge a group of us came up with just to give us a push to stamp this holiday weekend/week.

I pulled out Dino-Mite (as I haven't used it at all and that was one of the 'challenges') from My Favorite Things to use. Stamped him in stazon and watercolored him in with SU inks, Certainly Celery, Real Red and Taken with Teal. I used the retired SU cloud stencil to make taken with teal clouds. I made the clouds cover the entire background cause you know, dinosaurs are pretty tall.. you wouldn't be able to see the ground in the image!

The cupcake, the balloons and the little saying all come from the Dino-Mite set. But I liked the stars from the Icing on the cake (My Favorite Things) and wanted to use them somehow... they are soo perfect for a background with this set. I did add a little bit of yellow stickles to the candle.

stamp set: Dino-Mite, Icing on the Cake from My Favorite Things; Ink: Black stazon, real red, certainly celery, taken with teal; Paper: real red, certainly celery, taken with teal, white; Accs: diminsion, stickles, cloud stencil

I am going to close the 2007 year with a few Christmas cards that I haven't uploaded to SCS yet but am totally in love with.

All three cards use the same image, Thomas Kinkade Village Chirstmas from Cornish Heritage Farms and cardstock is Stampin' Up!. Enjoy the cards.

ink: black stazon; Irredescent Ice embossing powder

ink: black stazon; Irredescent Ice embossing powder

Ink: distress Vintage photo, stickles

Happy New Year and thanks for visiting my blog. Hope to see you all and many more in the following year.

Some exciting news and New Year's Eve party

I've got some exciting news to share. I've been asked to be on My Favorite Things Design team! I accepted of course. I'll be working with a talented bunch of ladies, a few whom I chat with on SCS.

Today's Limited Supply, Jen gave us a list to follow:

Stamps:one stamped image that can be colored, optional: sentiment, optional: an image to ground the main image like an oval, grass, etc.

Paper: any shade of white, 2-3 patterns of designer paper, NO other colored cardstock

Tools: NO specialty tools (No punches, No CB, No Piercer, etc), any coloring tools, sponges OK

Embellishments: one piece of ribbon

I used Hearts Galore from MFT and Sassy Sayings for my sentiment. I needed an anniversary card for this weekend and thought that the stamp in this set would be perfect. I stamped in black stazon and used distress reinkers to color with. Thank goodness we could sponge! lol I sponged on some distress inks around the image and the main card itself.

I used two different designer papers and a little bit of ribbon. Layout came from the Cardmaker's Sketchbook and is 5x5.

stamps: Hearts Galore, Sassy Sayings - My Favorite Things; paper: white, dp; ink: black stazon, distress inks; accs: distress reinkers, aquapainter, ribbon, sponge

Now where does a New Years Eve party come in to play when we are still a few days away from that? Our local library holds a New Years Eve party for the kids, usually on New Years Eve but they are closed then this year.

The kids get to make a craft (they made a pop up card with the numbers 2008 on the inside. At the left is Benjamin putting glitter on his number!) a noise maker, have a snack and then count down to noon.

Some times they have balloons filled with confetti attached to strings and the kids pop them when they count down. This year they filled a 'paper' sheet with confetti/balloons and attached that to the ceiling. The children's librarian pulled a string through the sheet and it ripped open over top of the kids.

I love this picture as I caught the balloons falling. That is my oldest, Carmen, holding the little one right in the middle. They all ended up with confetti in their hair but i think we actually left it all in the library this year! (we are usually picking up confetti at home the next few days after the party!)

Thanks to Ashley for making a banner for me. :)

Yesterday's sketch challenge on Splitcoast was to have a circle at the top of your card. I was drawing a blank so I actually went and did dishes! *gasp* But doing dishes was very theraputic as I came up with an idea. I remembered the Safari stamps I had gotten from Rubbernecker and how a few of them are already in circles!!

So I inked up my rhino in black stazon and proceeded to watercolor him with Prismacolor watercolor pencils (that hubby got me for Christmas). The sky and trees are all done with Prismacolor markers. I had found the paper at Joanns, it looks just like Rhino skin! The happy Birthday saying is from set of My Favorite Things.

Stamps: Rhino in a Circle - Rubbernecker, happy birthday from MFT; Paper: white, dp, black; Ink: Black stazon; Accs: Prismacolor watercolor pencils, Prismacolor markers

Today's challenge was a rerun. Using Stazon. I only own Black stazon so far and love it. It is the best ink to watercolor with. Lucky for me I had already stamped and watercolored an image and it was laying on my table. What a motive to get it on a finished card!

I decided to do the My Favorite Things sketch for this week too. When I was coloring the image I had it in my head to make her out in a snow storm taking the dog to the bathroom. (I can thank my brother and his family for the inspiration as they just got the same dog as the stamp this past week and had been talking about taking him out to go potty and how close to the ground he is, etc!)

Using liquid applique, I applied it to my card and covered the poor little doggie's legs and his nose! I think she has been out in the snow for some time now as her umbrella is getting covered too! I stippled some white craft ink on the sky and added some white embossing powder to it.

Image was colored with my Christmas present, Prismacolor Watercolor pencils! I also used some Prismacolor Markers (my hubby had to have them for a college art class 12-13 yrs ago and they still work great!) too. The sky was brayerd on using Michelle's tips. I used Bashful blue and Not quite navy. Snowflakes are embossed in clear on the panel and in versamark on the card front.

Stamps: Rain or Shine, Snowflakes from Baby, It's cold outside, saying from Essential Sentiments; Paper: Green, yellow, white; Ink: Black stazon, bashful blue, not quite navy, versamark; Accs: liquid applique, corner punch, clear embossing powder, twill tape, dimenisions, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, Prismacolor markers

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

So here i sit on Christmas morning updating my blog! Crazy, huh? lol Thought i'd share the rest of the purses with you plus i changed the first one just a bit. I also got in the color challenge last night as my Sister-in-law's birthday is today and I needed a card.

First her Christmas birthday card as the color challenge was two shades of green and red. I also combined the Featured Stamper and try new technique in with the color challenge card! whew.

I used two sets from My Favorite Things, Icing on the Cake and Setting the stage.

stamp sets: Icing on the cake, Setting the stage - My favorite things; paper: Green galore, Glorious green, real red; Ink: green galore, glorious green; Accs: brads, corner round punch

Just found out I won some blog candy!! Can you tell I'm pretty excited? lol

Now onto the other purses I made for my girls and my niece.

Middle daughter loves flamingos and pink poodles. Lined with flamingo material.

I had to add these to Carmen's purse since everyone else is getting appliques on theirs!

For my youngest... pink and butterflies! Butterfly was traced from a chipboard butterfly! Used fabric glue to attach it.

This one is for my only (2 yr old) niece. The flower is also from a flower chipboard. Funny story on this one as Carmen, my oldest, thinks this purse is hers so she is the one that came up with the idea to add the flower! lol She even made three little flowers for the back pocket. When i was all done with the purse, she wanted to take it into her room already! I had to come up with some excuse why she couldn't have it yet!! Can't wait to see her face when the little one opens it up instead of her! lol

Merry Christmas again. Can't wait to hear wait all you got. ( I got prismacolor watercolor pencils!! I guessed when hubby brought out the gift to put under the tree so he gave them to me last night! Hey, it was after 12 so technically it was Christmas!!! lol)

My first love

Before I found stamping, I had another love. Sewing! It was my first love for a very long time and still holds a part of my heart. I couldn't really tell you what I have more of though, stamping supplies or sewing supplies! I own both a Viking Husqvarna sewing machine and a Viking Husqvarna serger. I collect material, sewing feet, thread, etc like collect stamps! What can I say? When you fall in love, you fall in love forever!

Every year I always make my girls Christmas dresses. Well, this year I was unable to do that BUT... I am making each of them and my niece a Jean Purse. I have finished one so far and only have 3 left to do. (of course now I have to do at least one of them while the girls are asleep since school is out for Christmas!)

Each purse is made from a pair of Jeans that had torn knees and are too small for my son. The handles come from the legs and are lined with the same material that is lining the bag. I only serged the belt to keep it from fraying. Each purse will be different as each pair of jeans is different. I'm also lining them to what each likes.

Here is one purse that I finished today for my oldest. Of course I had to buy that material to line the purse when I saw it. (sorry, buckeyes)

For more detailed directions, please see Jean Book Bag as that is what i followed. If you have any questions on what I did or may have done different then her (as i don't always follow sewing directions to the tee), please ask away. I will do my best to help.

Call me crazy but i'm thinking of making a few up to sell. They are too cute and I can't wait to finish the other three.

Flaky Family and Belly Band

What a title! lol Whew, today is the last day of school until next year. So I have been busy working on gifts (the name frame in the post below), cards for middle school teachers, 25 hot chocolate ice cream cones w/tags, 2 bus driver gifts and a Christmas card for a principal! And I got it all done with time to spare!

Yesterday's Ways To Use It was to use wrapping supplies. I still needed to wrap the name frame, so I decided to use tissue paper. I stamped on the tissue paper with star fish from Rubbernecker in two different colors. I then made a "belly band" and keeping in with the Fish theme, I made a scene. Fish are colored in with watercolor pencils.

Stamps: Fish from Rubbernecker; Paper: Tissue paper, white; Inks: black stazon, blue bayou, groovy guava; Acces: watercolor pencils


The elementary principal is retiring in Jan. He has been the principal ever since I was in third grade! We all love him dearly and we deeply miss him. He has a special bond with each kid at the school. But with mine... well that is a different story. You may remember a post where I had a picture of my oldest all in blue and yellow and the rest in red/gray? Yes, my daughter who loves Michigan also loved to torture the principal as he is a big Ohio State fan! He in turn loves to torture her and anyone else that maybe a Michigan fan.

So for his Christmas card this year, I decided to use Flaky Friends and stamping an extra snowman, cutting him out and adding him to the 'family', I had a family picture to give him! Can you pick out our oldest?? lol She wouldn't even look at the card this morning when I was showing her because she saw the red and gray cardstock!! I had to point out the snowmen and of course she liked the blue/yellow one!

I colored them in using markers on watercolor paper, took some color off with the aquapainter. Added stickles here and there just to give some of a sparkle and used mini scallop scissors to give a little texture. So I had this much done when I decided to check the Limited Supply challenge and see if I could use the image on a card some how within the guidelines.

Well Jen wanted us to look in our own gallery, take a card and simplify it. So I looked found this one My Flaky Friends. Perfect as the time was close to midnight if not later and I didn't want a complicated card as I wanted my image to be the focal point.

So I just layered it and added the strip at the bottom without any other layers or shapes or brads. Even left off the snowflake background stamp.

So here is my Flaky Family:

Stamp set: Flaky Friends, Merry Merry Christmas; Paper: Real Red, Going Gray, watercolor; Ink: black stazon; Acces: markers, stickles, scallop scissors

Today I have to work on sewing some Christmas gifts for my girls. So stay tuned for that post.

Stamping blood

"Mom, you have stamping blood. So we have stamping blood. That is why we want to stamp too" - 8 yr old Allison

Of course this is said when I have other things to do (start dinner, do dishes, etc) then help my 5 yr old and 8 yr old stamp!! (help is cut cardstock, stamp image, etc)

Kids, gotta love them!

Male Teacher gift

No challenge card for me today as i have been working on Teacher gifts for Christmas. DD#2 has a male teacher this year. Infact we had him for DD#1 when he was a student teacher so it has been fun having him as a 'real' teacher. Since we had him a few years ago, he got some stamped goodies from us then as his student teaching ended right at Christmas break (he planned that good as he walked away with lots of Christmas goodies). So this year I had to come up with something else for him and hope that I wasn't duplicating what we had given him a few years ago.

I went with a name frame (that I usually do at the end of the year cause I always forget at Christmas time!) for him. He loves fishing and Nascar but I don't have any racing stamps so I went with Fish. And where else to get goofy fish that would be perfect for a third grade male teacher name frame?? Rubbernecker!!

I stamped the seaweed on watercolor paper a few times and using distress reinkers, watercolored in the whole scene and then cut it out completely. I even put stickles on the rocks. When I placed it in the frame, I put dimensionals all on it as I wanted it to be sticking out some to give depth.

Each fish was also stamped on watercolor paper and watercolored with distress reinkers. I had to throw in the pink fish as my daughter loves pink and by now, everyone in the class knows it too! lol The pink fish even has Cotton Candy stickles on for that little bling that every girl should wear. I added google eyes to the big fish up at the top and put him on 3 dimensions so he is really sticking out. He is after that poor little worm, whom has crystal effects on him to make him look waxy. I wanted the hook to look like it was actually going through the letter so I cut slits in the paper and pushed the hook through! I then added a thin layer of Crystal effects to the hook and line.





Stamps: Fish/seaweed - Rubbernecker, SU Headlines, Misc Alphabet; Paper: Brocade blue, white, watercolor; Ink: Black stazon, Distress reinkers; Acces: cyrstal effects, stickles, google eyes, dimensions

Call me crazy

So Yesterday I decided to brave the masses and go CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!! Yes, I hadn't started yet and of course didn't even scrape the surface yesterday! Call me crazy!!

I did manage to do the color challenge before I left though! Interesting colors; Wild Wasabi, Elegant Eggplant and So Saffron.

I'm still not done with my Christmas cards (man, am I running behind or what this year?!!) so I pulled out "Baby's It's Cold Outside" from My Favorite Things. Watercolored my image and did Dazzling Diamond Dust on it. (After I distressed it. I love to distress) Embossed the big snowflake onto the Eggplant with the Iredescent Ice too. This card is so sparkly in real life. I love it!

Stamp Set: Baby It's Cold Outside; Paper: Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi; Ink: Black, Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi; Acces: so saffron marker, hodgepodge, Iredescent Ice Embossing powder, ribbon

Dazzling diamonds, 2 hr delay, sick kid!

Well maybe not in that order. Oldest decided she wanted a day off school (don't know why as Christmas break starts next week) so she got sick yesterday. And with all the snow and ice we got, the school was on a 2 hr delay this morning (I think they should have canceled, can't see the roads)

Okay, so maybe it's not a lot of snow, a few inches, but it is enough to inspire me for today's challenge on Splitcoast. Today we had to try Dazzling Diamond Dust.

So I pulled out my favorite winter scene, Thomas Kinkade Village Christmas by Cornish Heritage Farms. I don't like to add a lot of color when I use this stamp so I went with a black and white card.

Using black stazon, I stamped the image and highlighted the windows with summer sun marker. Using versamark, I inked up the entire image and poured on some Iredescent Ice embossing powder. So hard to capture the sparkly in the picture but it is there!

stamps: Thomas Kinkade Village Christmas - Cornish Heritage Farm; paper: black, white; ink: black stazon, Acces: summer sun marker, Iredescent Ice embossing powder, photo corner punch, brad

And the winner is....

I picked the old fashion way. "Hey, mom (on msn), pick a number between 1-29" LOL


And she picked #26 which is......


BishopsMommie! She said " likes: very cool sets and gallery is filled with great ideas--sometimes I draw a black when I get my sets home.dislikes: there not enough of them, i know i know there coming--cant wait to see them--that turtle is sooooooo cute and the reindeer."

Your contact info has been passed onto Treehouse Stamps and they should get ahold of you for your address!

Thanks to everyone that visited and left comments on my blog. I hope you become a regular visitor as you never know what will be happening in my house that is worth sharing with you!

Don't forget!!

Blog candy ends tomorrow morning at 7 est. See here: http://ambersantics.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-candy.html for more details

Let it snow, let it snow

It's been snowing all day, now it's freezing rain. Fun stuff! lol I am busy signing Christmas cards (I know, little late for mailing in time, huh? But i am passing these out at my church so I'm good)

No stamping today unless i need extra cards and then I'll just case myself!

Yesterday's Splitcoaststampers challenge was Limited Supply. We were suppose to use white card base and couple of small layers of color cardstock, maybe an embellishment or two and maybe some piercing or punches.

I love white base cards so I made three. Well I made two and then forced myself to finish the last one! lol It just wasn't turing out like I wanted it to.

Stamp set: Snowball Fight - Treehous Stamps; Ink: black; Paper: white, red, certainly celery; Acces: markers, stickles, ribbon

Stamp set: Dog from Rubbernecker, saying from My Favorite Things; Ink: Distress inks; Paper: white, green, brown; Acces: brads, aquapainter, stickles

This is the one i made myself finish. Yes, I know the elephant is cut off! I had actually stamped this side first but then decided I didn't like it in this color so I turned it over (magic paper, remember!) and stamped him in gray and cut my paper to fit him. Then before I put the card together I flipped him back over to this side and liked what I saw!! lol

Stamp sets: Elephant from Rubbernecker, misc saying; Paper: white, brown; Ink: distress ink; Acces: word window punch

Dipped Gingersnaps

Tonight I am going to a Christmas cookie exchange party. I have to take 3 dozen cookies and hopefully come home with 3 dozen cookies! We also have to decorate a container that we will trade and use to carry our cookies home. (Guess what I am doing today? Decorating my container!)

I had to make my most asked for cookies for the party. Dipped Gingersnaps! I usually make 3-4 batches of them during the holiday season. So what you say? Well... each recipe is suppose to make 14 dozen cookies!!! This is my SECOND batch so far!! And the first batch (103 cookies, yes, I counted) didn't even get dipped! lol

So I thought I would share the recipe with you and maybe it will become a family favorite for you too. (If not, it makes good gifts for your friends and family!)

The recipe comes from Taste of Home Dec/Jan '97 issue.

Dipped Gingersnaps

2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups oil, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup molasses, 4 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking soda, 1 tablespoon ginger, 2 teaspoon cinnamon,

1 teaspoon salt, Additional sugar, 2 packages vanilla baking chips*,

1/4 cup shortening

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and oil; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in molasses. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape into 3/4 in balls** and roll in sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until cookie springs back when touched lightly. Remove to wire racks to cool. Melt chips with shortening in a small saucepan over low heat. Dip the cookis halfway; shake off excess. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets to harden.

Yield: about 14 1/2 dozen

*I use white chocolate bark too.

** The Pampered Chef cookie scoop is WONDERFUL for this as your hands get really messy!

Here is the finished results (obviously not all of them, they wouldn't all fit!). Don't they look yummy? They are soooo soft and chewie. They are even good not dipped! Let me know if you try them and what you think.

A dog's Christmas?

Boy what a day! My camera is still on the fritz when it comes to downloading. The only way right now I can download is to take the little card out and stick it in my hubby's computer. Download on to his thumb drive and then take that drive back to my computer and download everything. Talk about the long way around just so I can upload my creations! (and it really stinks if I don't have anything done before he leaves for work because then I have to wait until he gets home and of course today he pulled a long day!!)

Today's challenge was Monochromatic cards. I have never done any (that I'm aware of!) but have always wanted to try. I also wanted to play with the dogs from Rubbernecker. I used my dog as my color guide and since I wanted him brown, I went with shades of brown!

I used old paper distress embossing powder on the tree (yes, it is different than regular embossing powder. After you emboss and it cools, you gently rub off to release crystals to 'distress') And instead of using a versamark pad for the embossing powder, I used the Distress embossing ink. OMG! That pad smelled wonderful.. like cinnamon! I've never had a pad smell that good before. (maybe that's why i did so much embossing on this card!!)

Snowflakes and snow is all white embossing powder, with the snow cover white craft ink that had been stippled on. (I finally got my first ever stipple brush from Rubbernecker ! I've been using kid's paintbrushes for stipple brushes! lol)

To make the icicles, i traced the doghouse with crystal effects (on wax paper) and then sprinkled crystal effects on it. After it dried, i peeled it off and stuck it on the dog house.

Dog house, dog and stocking are stamped in distress ink and then watercolored with distress ink. The dog house is on dimensions and the dog is attached to the main frame to give the entire Shadowbox card more of a 3-D'sh look. I even added a touch of crystal effects to the dog's nose to give it that wet look!

Stamps: dog, dog house, stocking, tree -Rubbernecker; ink: distress ink; acces: distress embossing powder, white embossing powder, brad, crystal effects

I've been wanting to try Debbie Olsen's sketch that she came up with for Lisa's birthday bash at CHF. I wasn't able to do it then but yesterday was the right time. I wish Lisa's birthday had been tons earlier in the month as i love this card as my Christmas card! Oh, wait.. I'm not done making Christmas cards so I guess i can still use this idea!!

I went with Cranberry Crisp as my color. I stamped the image in that wonderful smelling distress embossing ink (k, so I just wanted to take a whif again!!) and then into Cranberry Crisp. I sprinkled clear embossing powder over it and heated. The rest is pretty simple, cutting it out, layering, making the notched edge with the circle punch, adding ribbon. After I was all done, I went back with yellow stickles for the windows and any other lights. Also added crystal stickles to the ground for the snow.

Stamps: Thomas Kinkade Village Christmas by Cornish Heritage Farms; ink: Cranberry crisp, distress embossing ink; paper: Cranberry crisp, white; Acces: stickles, clear embossing powder, ribbon, circle punch

Don't forget to check out my blog candy below. They are now offering free shipping to Canada on $40.00 or more!! woo hoo

Blog Candy!

In celebration of The TreeHouse Stamps opening their doors last night, they are giving away some stamp sets! To get your name in the drawing, please visit their site http://www.treehousestamps.com/ and then come back here and leave me a comment stating likes, dislikes, suggestions, etc about the site. (Have an idea for a stamp set? Jot that down too)

Don't forget to leave an email address so I can contact you for your info. I will be drawing a name Sunday morning.

Also check out some of the other members of the Treehouse stamps Design team as they are giving away a set too!! (just more of a chance winning)

Just announced: FREE shipping to CANADA on orders of $40.00 or more!! woo hoo It's not up on the site yet but we were just informed of this change.

More Christmas gifts

My kids go to our local library for Storytime every week until they are old enough to go to school. (The storytime starts at age 2!) They get a few stories read to them, get do a craft and then have a snack. The children librarians are out of this world so to thank them, so I whipped the following up as their Christmas gifts. They both got the same thing.

I covered the photo frame in the paper and then made a Toile Rose using Roses In Winter. I used sticky red tape to hold the paper and frame together.

I had to show both candles but at different views. Still used Roses In Winter. They were in awe on how i was able to stamp on a curve shape! lol I told them the secret ingredient.. TISSUE PAPER!! I forgot to take a picture of the top of the candle, I had burnt it down til I was able to put a votive in it.

Stamps used: Roses In Winter; Ink: Cranberry Crisp, Always Artichoke, Blue Bayou

Snazzy Snowman

TreeHouse Stamps is releasing their frist two sets tonight at 8! Here is a card using one of their images from the set Winter Memories.

I only used the snowman. My snowflakes are from SU set Merry & Bright and saying is from Rubbernecker. I stamped SU Flannel background in Brocade blue to add some texture. Snowman is colored in with markers and then outlined scarf and hat in glitter gel pen.

I love these colors together. I have to tell you how I came about them. Yesterday I was ironing my husbands clothes for work. He had picked out a blue dress shirt and brown dress pants. Looking at them i thought "Hey, that is Brocade Blue and Chocolate chip! Those colors would look good together on a card so that's what I did!

Pumpkin Mousse?

While that does sound yummy, I'm afraid the only Pumpkin Mousse recipe I have for you is the a sneak peek of a Pumpkin MOOSE card i made! Yes, I said pumpkin MOOSE. Now why would I pick pumpkin to color a moose?? Well I didn't but Emily on SCS did for today's color challenge called Rosey Celery.

I had just gotten my Treehouse images yesterday so I figured i would see how the color combo looked on the moose. (note: I did start this card at 4 am as little one had fallen asleep way early last night so she woke up around 2:30am and was wide awake until 5am!! So please forgive me if the color combo didn't turn out just right! lol)

So here is a sneak peek as these stamps have not been released to the public... soon though, very soon.

Watercolored the moose in pumpkin, used certainly celery marker and rose red marker on his scarf. Embossed Rubbernecker snowflake in clear on the rose red cardstock. Used Cornish Heritage Farms "Ribbons" set to make my faux ribbon as I thought I had certainly celery ribbon but I am all out.. guess what will be on my next order! Used mini scallop scissors on the layers and the circle punch for the words. Wording is on dimensions.

I then added some liquid applique on the moose and under him to make it look like he is out in the snow. I also added some to his snowball. Heated to make it puff up. But before I heated it, I pour on some iridescent ice embossing powder over top of the liquid applique. Why you ask? The embossing powder helps the raised liquid applique to keeps it shape and not get 'squished' when touched/mailed etc!

Stamp sets: Treehouse stamps, Rubbernecker snowflake, Cornish Heritage Farms "Ribbons"; paper: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, white; Ink: black, versamark, pumpkin pie; Acces: liquid applique, embossing powder, dimensionals, mini scallop scissors, markers

Another sneak peek of some more stamps being released from TreeHouse stamps very soon. The snowman and wording. Used markers on the snowman, liquid applique with embossing powder, clear embossed snowflakes and faux ribbon. Also put crystal effects on his buttons.

Stamp sets: Treehouse stamps, Rubbernecker snowflake, Cornish Heritage Farms "Ribbons"; paper: Real Red, Certainly Celery, white; Ink: black, versamark; Acces: liquid applique, embossing powder, dimensionals, mini scallop scissors, markers, crystal effects

Hubby's card order

Hubby asked for Christmas cards to give to his co-workers and his boss/business associate. I wanted to come up with something I could mass produce so after looking through my favorites gallery on Splitcoaststampers and looking at other blogs, I went with the following.

Lovely as a Tree! Awesome set. Makes great cards for any time of occasion. There are quite a few different views of this card on SCS so I can't give credit to a certain person but all those that have made the same card on SCS! I did do three different versions of the same idea. The main tree has stickles on it.

My mask is just a granola bar box that I had cut out an oval in with my coluzzle. Lightly sponge in Handsome Hunter or River Rock (hubby likes the ones with River Rock the best) and then stamp the trees before removing the mask.

Stamp sets: SU Lovely As a Tree, Merry Christmas text from Rubbernecker; Paper: white; Ink: Handsome Hunter; Acces: stickles, mask, sponge

So my almost 90 yr old Grandma came up for a short visit this past week. She hadn't ever met my two youngest kids. Jorden, the toddler, wanted nothing to do with her until the last day! lol I thought I would share one of the pictures that we took of Grandma with her Great-Grandkids. Yes, these are all mine!!

from l to r: Allison, Jorden, Grandma (GG to the kids), Benjamin and Carmen

Another christmas card

I was able to squeeze in not one but two cards for today's Featured Stamper on Splitcoaststampers. Another dear friend was chosen as todays stamper.

Here is one of the cards I made today for the challenge. I kept the same stamp sets except for the sentiment. Charlene versamarked her trees and used pastels. I versamarked my trees on glossy then embossed them in clear. Once embossed, I brayered brocade blue and not quite navy overtop of the trees. When I was all done, I wiped off the trees so they could "shine" through the blue. I distressed my layers instead of using a punch on the corners.

Hubby saw this card and now wants me to make these for his Christmas cards instead of the ones I have already made for him! lol (I will post those tomorrow)

Stamp sets: Lovely as a Tree, Linen, Merry Merry Christmas; Paper: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Glossy; Ink: versamark, brocade blue, not quite navy; Accs: clear embossing powder, distresser tool, ribbon, brads


Carmen made a card too for today's featured stamper. She even did faux stitching! I think someone is after my job!

Stamp sets: Simply Said, Wonderful Words II, Everyday Flexible Phrases; Paper: white, purple; Peacock embossing powder

Snow Day and Roses in Winter!

Yesterday was our second snow day of the school year. (we only have 3 left before we'll have to make up days at the end of the school year) This time I got some pictures of the kids in the snow. I even went out and threw a couple snowballs. So with all the kids home, I didn't get a chance to stamp until evening (and then so did everyone else want to stamp!!). My middle daughter, Allie, did make a really cute card but that will have to be for another post as I still need to take a picture of it.

So I thought i'd share our snow day pictures instead.

Typical boy, has to throw snowballs at everyone including the person with the camera! He had just thrown the snowball when i snapped this!

Little miss Jorden wouldn't look at the camera at all so Ben decided to pose with her. ummm I don't think she wanted that either! lol I love the picture.

My kids, what can I say. I hope Mister Snowman's finger doesn't stay stuck in his nose!

I still have Roses in Winter, the true Roses in Winter!! lol (I'll never get rid of that stamp set!) I just had to take a picture of my poor roses barely alive in the mid of winter! Crazy, i tell you but what an awesome picture if I say so myself.

New stamp company coming to town

Ashley Bowen and Kristen Edwards have teamed up together to start their own line of stamps called The Treehouse. They ran a design team call last weekend and I figured I had nothing to lose by applying.

Yesterday while checking my email, there was a note from Ashley. I really thought it was a "I'm sorry, you didn't make the team. Here is who did." So I started reading it and this is what it said: "Thank you for taking the time to apply for the Treehouse Stamps Design Team. We are very excited to let you know that you have been selected as 1 of the 5 design team members!"

I about fell out of my chair!! I made the Design Team!!! The rest of the design team and their splitcoast galleries are listed on the side. Their blogs are listed in my blogroll.

Demo stamp camp

So last night was Demo stamp camp. We had our 3-d Christmas gift exchange. Pictured below is what i got. Thank you to Becky Gibson for an awesome present! I am going to cookie exchange party next week and we are suppose to bring a decorated container to swap. Guess what I'll be making???!!

This is the card that Becky made to go with her gift.

Isn't this gorgeous?? I love the paper on this box. And wait until you see what Becky did to the side.

Isn't this the cutest?? I love how she dressed it up with the scallop edge and ribbon.

But my gift wasn't done!! Look what she put inside the box!! (of course it was layed ontop of tissue paper but I took that out to get a better picture.) Frosty is used on the bookmark.