Just for fun

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Santa brought you everything you wished for! He was good to me.
I also wish each and every one of you all the best for 2009!!

So while I wait for our clothes to wash (so we can wear them to tomorrow's gathering) I thought I would do this list. Not that it's that interesting but I thought would be fun to see how I do.
If you would like to play along, just copy the list and highlight or underline those things you have done! The ones I have done are BLUE.
100 Things I Have Done.....Or Not.....
1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/World
8. Climbed a mountain-well, part of one anyway
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo-just one line and it was horrible
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russi
a60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Fostered a rescue animal (adopted)

So there you have it, such a boring life I lead.

Good night all.

The time

So Carol mentioned that it would be nice to wrap presents like in my last post but she didn't have the time. Well, if you don't sleep, there is a lot of time for beautifully wrapped gifts. It just depends how crazy you are. LOL

For example, last night was my son's Christmas program, which was great, and we got home just after eight pm. After the boys were in bed I realized tomorrow (today) was Friday, last day of school, the day I promised to send 26 Santa treat boxes to school and a teachers present. I had started the boxes a couple weeks ago and had exactly 10 Santa faces made. So there I was, at 1am, taking pics of my finished product. Because if I'm staying up that late to make 26 5year olds a treat box, I need to share. (oh, Colby did make 3 Santa faces for me, so I can't take credit for it all)

But aren't they cute?? Every piece is made with a punch except the hat. CS colors are pretty straight forward, Blush Blossom, Real Red Whisper White and Basic Black. Great way to use up scraps (and any extra time you thought you had). The boxes were made from a sheet of cs that measured 5.5 x 5.5. Super easy. I thought the black would look good against the white and red but I should have done a blue or something. Oh well, like the 5 year olds care. lol

Here is how I wrapped the teachers gift. I bought a roll of kraft paper from the Buck or Two. (love that stuff) Then made a tag with Real Red cs usine the big shot and a new jumbo pewter eyelet. Used my new crop-a-dile to set it. (love that thing!) I stamped the snowflake in Whisper White and added II embossing powder for a little dazzle. Hope she liked it.

One more done

I love beautiful wrapped gifts! I have my sister-in-laws name for our gift exchange and she wanted dessert bowls. Well, it's hard to wrap a big heavy present beautifully. Plus I still needed to spend a few more bucks to meet the required amount, so I got her some nice earrings. The store I bought them from doesn't have the earrings boxed so I made my own.

The base is Chocolate Chip cardstock and the top is a sheet of pattern paper from the Holiday Treasures pack. For the packageing inside I put some scraps of cardstock through my crimper, scrunched 'em up and put 'em in. I then wrapped the box with the satin ribbon and made a tag with my new punch and stamp set. (which I mutilated)

Yep, you read right. Sometimes I don't like a stamp 100%. Case in point, this stamp.

I wanted a spot to write the persons name on the tag. Usually I just put tape over the spot I don't want inked. But it wasn't working on this stamp, too small an area. I stared at the stamp for a while and realized, I don't NEED the "dear friend" part so I cut it out. Yep, I just got out the knife and preformed a little surgery. I love it this way. But I must say, I do void any kind of warrenty/guarentee this way. Which is fine, I've never had a problem with my SU! stamps.

Well, I'm off to finish treat boxes for Colby's class. I'm using my punches to make santa's to put on the treat box. Just don't ask why I wanted to make 26 of them!

Every time I use

gluedots, I think of Carol. (oh girl, you know why!!) For the rest of you I'll give you a little hint (or the whole story).

Carol was at one of my card classes (she's my biggest fan, bless her heart ;) ) and gave me supreme sh!t for not riping the extra protective paper off where I had already used the dots. Okay, so it was more like she was in total shock that I would leave the 'tail' just hanging there and not keep it neat. But, whatever, every time I reach for my gluedots I think of Carol and smile. (AND IMMEDIATELY RIP THE EXTRA PIECE OFF ) :) You know I love ya girl!!

Anyhoo, enough harrassing. I'm here to share what's been keeping me so darn busy these past few days. Other than a sick family that is.

I actually made 2 of these stationary boxes, one for Colby's teacher and the other for my 6 year penpal. (hope she's not reading this) I used Baja Breeze and Old Olive as my main colors to coordinate with the Green Tea pattern paper. Stamp sets I used were Essence of Love (retired), Pocket Silhouettes, and Fresh Cuts.

The inside has 4 standard size cards, 4 3x3 cards, envelopes, 4 tags, notepad, mailing stamps and a pen. I didn't take individual photos, do you want me to? I just did a group shot, was a little lazy.

I really hope they like them as it took me forever to make these. I have to figure out how to package the one for my penpal so the postal employees don't destroy it before she gets it.

Until next post....

For Shaylin

I took some time to make a card for my sister today. (seeing I didn't have energy to clean anything) I found this cool tutorial on making a medallion and thought I would try it. It was actually quite easy. Of course because it's for a girl, I had to add some bling!! I used the Bella Rose pp, such beautiful colors.
I used the stamp from So Many Sayings but cut around the main image instead of punching with the scallop punch. Then put it on dimensionals.
I mounted the medallion I punched out onto a slightly larger circle and also put it on dimensionals. Looks so neat! Lastly I added the Chocolate satin ribbon for a little something. Hope she likes it.
I also spent some time today sewing these flannel blankets for the new arrival. Isn't that first one super girly cute??
Well that's what I thought, then I started sewing it and noticed this....

Flu anyone??

So the flu bug is making it's way round my house this week. Colby started on the weekend, then Carter and me yesterday and today. Oh how I hate the flu, but it passes quickly.
But on a good note is that my sister FINALLY gave birth to her new baby girl Saturday evening. Shaylin Rihanne. Beautiful baby!! I went to see her by myself on Saturday evening, I didn't want to take the boys and worry about passing the flu on. Hopefully this weekend I'll go to her place, with some finished flannel blankets and her card that I'm still working on.
Hope you're all okay and no bugs are flying around.
Until next time...

Thankgoodness it's Friday

Yes, I admit it, I love that it is finally Friday. It's been a very long week over here.
Here is another Christmas card I made, this one was for a workshop I did last week. We used Snow Swirled stamp set, Kiwi Kiss, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White cardstock/ink and pp from Holiday Treasures. I added dazzling diamonds to the tree.
Here is a birthday card I made for my friend Susie. I used Pocket Silhouettes and a retired set I don't remember the name of. The pp is from the BellaRose pack. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the butterflies and the ribbon is SU!'s striped Riding Hood Red ribbon. (yummy)

From our Christmas card class

Just thought I would share the cards we made at the card classes I held. I had cut an extra set of cards just in case of a creative booboo so I had some extras to use up for myself.

The first one is using the Home for Christmas stamp set from the mini catalog. We stamped it with Night of Navy ink on Whisper White cardstock. The strip of pattern paper is from the Ski Slope pack also found in the mini catalog.

The "Merry Christmas" is from the All Holidays stamp set stamped in Whisper White.

So here is the card I made with the "extras". Of course I had to switch it up a bit. I stamped with Night of Navy in craft ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder (so it's a little lighter). Colored the bow with Real Red marker. And the sentiment is a hostess level 1 set, Best Yet.

This card used the Scandinavian Season set which is just beautiful. I've seen some pretty amazing work done using this set. We stamped it in versamark and then embossed with silver embossing powder. Colored in part of the image using Baja Breeze ink on a blender pen. Added some glitter with using the 2-way glue pen. Mounted onto Riding Hood Red cardstock and added some Riding Hood Red striped ribbon. The Merry & Bright sentiment is from To You and Yours stamp set and the pp is from the Ski Slope pack.
I did the tree the same way on my "extra" card but moved the ribbon and added a felt snowflake.
This next card was hard to photo. It is so pretty IRL. As I was taking pic's of my cards I said to Dwight, "Some women are so crazy about having a good photo they actually have a photo booth set up for taking pics of their cards." So he replys with, "I'll remind you you said that when you're in my garage building a photo box". To which I reply "Sorry honey, but I never said I WASN'T crazy." I'm sure the garage door is locked now. lol
So here is the card, super simple. Used heat & stick powder to adhere the dazzling diamonds to the Very Vanilla cardstock. Layerd with some brushed gold cardstock and added the sentiment with gold embossing powder. The ribbon is Vanilla taffeta (loving the taffeta!) This card is so sparklely.

This card is made using To You and Yours (another favorite). The pp is from the Holiday Tresures pack. Stamped the sentiment on Whisper White, then punched it out and adhered to the Riding Hood Red cardstock. Notice the taffeta ribbon again? Told you I love it. This is the Riding Hood Red and it has white edges, so pretty.
And lastly we did another masking card this year. I actually made one square and one round. I like the round one much better. I just cut a circle in a piece of scrap cardstock and used that as a mask. Then we sponged the inside with Brocade Blue, stamped the smaller snowflakes 1 or 2 times on scrap paper then onto the cardstock. The large snowflakes were stamped full strength. The sentiment is from All Holidays stamped in Riding Hood Red (so have to stock up with that color), and of course the taffeta ribbon.
So, now are you sorry you missed my card class?? I'll forgive you, there is always next year, right?
Have a great day all, and remember, 24 sleeps till santa comes....

Finally!

Got it done! But I can't seem to get a good picture of it. It really does look better in real life. The boys are so excited to start. The envelopes I made using the big shot and in there are activities that we'll be doing that day. ie. baking cookies, taboganning, game night, movie night and so forth. The small tags have a number on the front and on the back it says to pick a box from under the tree. I'll have boxes of goodies under there. (I'm almost finished making those) I just don't know how I'll keep Carter from opening them all in one day. lol

Here is a shot of those ornaments I was talking about. I tried to photograph them every which way and this is the best I could get. And I didn't want to take each one individually. These are the Trinkets on Board ornaments from the mini catalog. The look really nice and it's all diecut for you. The chipboard AND the pattern paper. Love it! Hoping to use the rest on some cards.

I was tagged by Leigh so now I have to give you 7 random facts about me. (this should be interesting-not) So anyway, here goes:

1. My watercolor pencil crayons are sorted by color and shade.

2. I want to go skydiving.

3. I joined Curves almost 3 months ago.

4. I've lost a total of 13 inches since joining Curves.

5. I love high heels but never wear them anymore.

6. I would love to get a tattoo.

7. I have never been able to drink an entire can of Coke (355ml) in less than an hour. Usually takes me a few hours to finish one IF I do.

So there you have it. Now I'm supposed to tag 7 friends but I don't know that many that have blogs, so if you're reading this and have a blog, consider yourself tagged!

Now I'm off to make a birthday card for a friend.

It's not just silly anymore...

it's driving me crazy! My advent tree that is. It worked so well in my head and now I just cannot get it to come to life. Why does that happen? Oh well, I've restarted it again and hopefully this time it will work out or I'm off to buy those chocolate ones from the store. ;)
On a good note, I've found many templates to make boxes for under the tree.

Great day!

Card class #2 went very well today. THANKS ladies!! I think we all had fun and the cards seemed to be a hit. I'm hoping to offer an all occasions card class in February '09, so stay tuned.

I learned a little trick a few days ago I thought I would pass on to you. Over the years I've heard of a few ways to sharpen punches. Wax paper, tin foil or sand paper seemed to be the norm. But would you believe the best thing to use is a soda can?? Just cut the top and bottom off, then cut down the side to make it flat. Next, just put it into your punch, and punch away a few times. Then use a little wax paper to lubricate it. Wa-la, good as new. I tried it tonight, worked wonders.

Alright, I'm off to finish that silly advent tree...

For SALE

5 kids!!
okay, so not really, as 3 of them are not mine. hehehehe
Why must they fight so much?? And why is nap time so short??
Anyhoo, whatcha all up to? I've been working on an advent calendar. Well not so much a calendar as a tree. Hopfully I'll finish it today or tomorrow. (probably Friday in all reality) I'll post pics of it when I'm done.
I have a card class on Saturday, one girl cancelled so I have room for one more. Same cards as last week.

I ordered the Tinkets on board ornaments kit from the mini catalog when it first came out. I finally got them all put together and hanging in my room. What a lot of work, but I think they look great. Don't know what kind of a picture I can get but I'll try tonight when it's dark outside.

Well enjoy the day and I'll be back hopefully tomorrow.

Last batch

Kendra Ellison created this card using the Big Shot. Love how she cut up the die cut.
This cute little snowman card was made by Megan Austin.
Here is another card made by the talented Judith Burns. Love the color combo!

Eve-Marie Beaudoin Made this gorgeous card, another color combo I'm lovin'.
This cute pink card is made by Allison Bos.
I love the look of the jumbo eyelets on this card created by Karen Reinert.
These next two cards don't have a name on the back. Simple cards, but quick and cute.
Fran Bosse also made this beautiful card using the Scandinavian Season set. Love it!!
This Kindness card has no name either. Love that pattern paper she used.
Alysabeth Johnston is the artist behind this card. Great color combo and I love the collage look.
This Season's Greetings was created by Carmen Bodnarek.
And last of all, but not least, this super cute card by Evelyn Wood. I think I'll need that set.

Some more, wouldn't let me do it all in one post

Don't you just love this little sock monkey made by Ingrid Pedersen. I ordered the mini clips once I saw how cute they were.
Love the bright colors on this card by Irma Syganiec.
Hearfelt Thanks by Jenny Jones.
Totally love these flowers by Joanne Murray.
I wasn't sure about this set but I've seen some beautiful cards made with it. No name on this one either.
Love how Heather Laser made her own background pattern paper on this card. I'm going to be asking for directions on how to do this for sure!
Lori Greig created this very whimsical card.
I love the colors and design on this beautiful card made by Lois Froese.
This is a great Christmas card made by Kim Bjorklund.

44 days until Christmas

At least if I counted right it is. Have you started shopping? Are you done? We have only started and I'm hoping to head to the big city in the next few weeks to finish. Anyway, have a few more cards to share from the swaps.

*also, I have 2 spots left in this Saturday's card class

I really love the design of this card, but not too keen on the black, I'm thinking blues for this would be beautiful. Unfortunatly there is no name on this one.

Sarah Dryburgh created this cool little window card.

This is a cute 'enjoy' card that I would love to CASE one day was made by Lauren Mitchell.

Leah Sumner made this cute Snow Swirled card.

I love love love this card using the Always set. No name on this one either, but it's one of my fav's from this swap.