I'm still here and in the mood for love!

Hi All,

I know, it's been a loooong time since I've posted. I haven't had anyone yell at me to give me a kickstart!

I have to say, I am soooo happy the holidays are over. My house is back to normal and very happy that with packing up the Christmas decorations, it also got my hubby motivated to clean up the garage! It's been a huge mess since we moved 7 months ago. Crazy. So, now we can actually fit a car into the garage - not that we do.

OK, I've been busy with getting some swaps cleared off my white board. I am happy to report, it's a plain white board again. I am hosting two monthly card swaps, I've made a couple of other things for swaps but one of my resolutions this year is to not sign up for a swap unless the project is already made. So I haven't told dcorder that I am joining her Hugs & Kisses swap, but I have made a pretty ATC for it. I'm also going to join her PaperTrey Ink ATC swap, too, but I have to wait for the stamps arrive. OK so this the ATC I made for the Hugs & Kisses swap.

I started with a Pale Plum base. I used my new Forever My Love stamps by See D's for the sentiment and the corner adornments. Using the scallop punch from SU! I punched out of the beautiful paper that I can't remember the name of the pack, but it coordinates with the Carte Postale stamp set. Anyway, sooo romantic. I've been hoarding it since I got it, so it was time I got into it. Then I stamped the circle with my PaperTrey Ink circles border stamp and topped with a prima flower and brad.

I used my husband's camera, it's a bit better of a picture, but the colors aren't represented well. But it is really pretty, if I say so myself. This was a stretch for me anyway, since I am not one for Valentine's day. But I love romance and that's what this little ATC shouts out for me.

On Vacation

Hi Everyone,

I do hope that everyone had an enjoyable Christmas. My kids sure did!! We had a great time yesterday with family and friends. We ended the day with a movie... the new National Treasure movie. Absolutely loved it!

I'm on vacation this week so I have high hopes to get some cards done and some swaps done and maybe some samples for my LSS. I am now on the Design Team for my LSS and I am so thankful for that and am looking forward to teaching classes!!

Anyway, so today I successfully stay in my pajamas all day! Whooo-hooo!!! I have wanted a pajama day for a long time now. I sat down and only managed to get a couple of cards made. I was perusing the pages of the new Stampin' Up! catalog (love it!) and I saw the cutest card in there and just had to make it. Of course, I didn't have the decorative paper on hand that was used in the sample, so I used some this yummy Tres Jolie paper I had picked up awhile back when my friend and I went to Recollections. I'm sure you've seen the paper before. But this is the card. I hope you like it!

As you can see, Santa didn't bring me a new camera for Christmas. Oh well, maybe some other time. OK the card... I used SU! Be Happy stamp set, apricot appeal & very vanilla card stock, Adorable Paisley and "Baby" (Boy) Clover Tres Jolie paper by My Minds Eye, mellow moss and apricot appeal stampin' pads, ivory ribbon and SU! scallop punch. The one in the catalog is really cute and I liked my take on the sample, too. I hope you do, too.

I love Christmas!

I found these questions on Toni's blog (Moved to the Mountains) and thought I'd post them here to share.

Colored lights or white lights on your house or not at all? No, can't get hubby to do it.

Hot chocolate or Egg Nog? Oh, both!

What's your favorite holiday dish? Tamales!

Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wraps them.

Do you hang mistletoe? No.

When do you put up your decorations? The weekend following Thanksgiving, or the weekend after that.

What's your favorite holiday tradition? I don't think I have one.

What's on the top of your tree? A beautiful lighted Angel.

Do you have a nativity displayed through the holidays? Yes - it's crystal.

Candy Canes, traditional or flavored? Or Chocolate Covered Cherries? Traditional candy canes. Don't like chocolate covered cherries, too sweet.

What's your favorite holiday goodie to make and share? Handmade cards and orange-cranberry bread. I love to make Banana Nut roll, but it's too time consuming.

What's your favorite Christmas song? I have so many, but I think my top 5 are: I Want a Hippotamus for Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock (Jimmy somebody), Feliz Navidad (Jose Feliciano), The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole), and a song by the Carpenters that I don't know what it's called. Oh! One more... Have a Holly Jolly Christmas (Burl Ives). Yes, I love the old ones!!!

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, we open one gift.

Is there a special ornament or Christmas decoration that you wouldn't feel like Christmas without? Hmmm - I guess it would have to be the ornaments my sister has given me.

Do you take neighbor gifts/treats to anyone, everyone, a select few? A select few of neighbors.

Is your big meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning or Christmas afternoon? I guess Christmas afternoon. But what I would give to have one more Christmas morning at Grandma & Grandpa's house!

How do you decorate your tree? Hubby and the kids do it. I hand out the ornaments. And we listen to Nat King Cole.

Snow? Love it? Dread it? Tolerate it? Love it for the first one, tolerate it after that, dread the ice storms.

Do you remember a favorite gift? My most favorite gift was a blow dryer my sister gave me when I was young.

Do you have a family get-together during the holidays with extended family? Yes, my in-laws.

What's the most important thing that you must do each Christmas season? Drive around to see the "pretty lights."

Do you bake Christmas cookies? Sometimes.

Do you leave cookies and milk for Santa? Yes

Share a favorite Christmas memory. Going to Grandma & Grandpa's house. All the kids running around having a great time. Tons and tons of family all over the place and Grandma's cooking!

I didn't win - but I entered a contest

Hi all! I hope your Thanksgiving was good. I've been busy with swaps and recipe cards and such.

I entered a card contest that Page Maps was hosting. I didn't win, but I am just proud of me that I tried. I usually chicken out. Like, I was working on submitting my work to be on a design team and I stopped. I chickened out.

This is the card I made for the contest. If you'd like to see the winners, go to Page Maps, the link is listed in my favorites. I hope you like my card. I used Basic Grey paper as my base. I used Sage Shadow to compliment the beautiful paper. The gorgeous "medallion" stamp is a new See D's stamp I just got. My sentiment is from Everyday Flexible Phrases - it's tiny, but I liked it.

I also used my Christmas Village my hubby gave me a few years ago to stage my card. I thought it looked pretty.

Feeling a little under the weather?

I am hosting a monthly card swap that has been a lot of fun and a little challenging. Each person in the group is given a month they host. They supply each of the participants with stamped images and decorative paper and the others make their own creations with these supplies.

House Mouse stamps are a challenge to me! They are so detailed that they are bit intimidating. Here's a card I CASE'd from Toni who is such a major talented stamper - she's on the Design Team for My Favorite Things and The Cat's Pajama's. I could only dream of being good enough to be on a design team! I hope you like it and Toni, I hope I did you proud.

I used chocolate chip (is there any other color??) as my base. The front pocket was covered with the great decorative paper the November hostess sent along. The image is House Mouse and this stamp is so sweet, it's bound to make anyone feeling a bit under the weather a little better. I used my tag punch and then using a part of the dots stamp from the oval borders from Paper Trey Ink added a bit of detail. The pull out card has a get well message that I wrote. Finishing it off with ribbon since we know I've got a TON of it!!

I hope you enjoy it!

And yes, I've asked Santa for a new camera that has a close up mode on it.

Snowman Swap

I recently hosted a Snowman Card swap and boy was it a success!! I am sooo happy with everyone's cards. It's obvious that everyone worked very hard on their cards. I want to share the card I made with you.

My base, of course, is Whisper White. The next layer is this beautiful color Bazzil cardstock that I have no idea what the color is. The image is Penny Black. I put only about half the cardstock in the snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder and ran that through. I used my Coluzzle envelope template to scallop the edge. I stamped the image on Whisper White with Staz-On black then used my prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I matted it on this paper from Creative Memories that I have had for a long time. I loved the pink. Then before I assembled the card, I lightly rubbed Lumiere pearly paint over the snowflakes. Then I used Everyday Flexible Phrases and the word window punch to create the greeting. I topped it off with this great ribbon from my ribbon shopping spree.

I hope you like it!

And the winner is...

I know, I know. I'm late. This has been a very difficult decision! Jami, you helped me remember when I was at Beach Court Elementary School, how we got to dress in our costumes and have parties and parade around the school grounds... I haven't thought about that in years!! Karin, of course I remember the fish stew! Do you remember when Mom tried to make a cheese souffle and it was just as salty as Theresa's icing!!! Jan, my heart goes out to and your fond memories of your Boo. Laurie - the birth of your baby... all your stories were quite touching. So the only way this could be done is by writing down names and randomly drawing from hat!

And the winner is.... Jodene!! Congratulations!!!! Please email me your address so I can send you your candy. My email is stampedbym@yahoo.com

Stay tuned - there are still plenty of chances for blog candy. In fact, everyone else that commented for blog candy, please email me your address so I can send you a little something. Everyone except Karin. I already know your address!!