Christmas Monday Mailer

It's a new month for Monday Mailers and I decided to switch it up a little bit.  This month I am letting the recipients ask for the type of card they would like to receive.  As for me, I really don't care - just don't need any more Halloween cards!  Becky, who I am sending to, requested Christmas cards.  That's great because I need to get my butt in gear with my own Christmas cards so I can do mine right along with doing hers.  I really tried something different with the first card I sent her.  She should have received it today (or tomorrow) so I figured it would be ok to share it with you.



Front of card

 

View of card opened

I used the DSP from the Holiday Mini, Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler.  The sentiment is from Word Play.  The ribbon is actually vanilla ribbon - I used my dauber to color it.

Here's how I did it using the Sizzix Movers & Shapers Die.  I only wanted to cut half of the ornament out on the fold of my paper.

• I started with a piece of  cardstock 4 1/4" x 11". 
• Score at 2 3/4" & 5 1/2" (or instead of scoring, fold in half; then fold 1/2 back onto itself). 
• Line the cardstock up so the fold is lined up on half of the ornament punch.    

Your "sandwich" will be an acrylic plate on the bottom (I used a long one) and a short acrylic plate on the top.  Run it through the machine and you will have half of the ornament punch!

If you would like to watch a video of this technique, I found one on You Tube.  You can watch it HERE.

I hope some of you took advantage - well, you still can - of the Clearance Sale.  I was putting an order in last night around 8:00 and it took forever to get to the Clearance page.  I think everyone in the country was checking out the great deals!  Stampin' Up made some server optimizations and code changes to enhance the Online Store's performance so now you should notice that Online Store orders will be processed faster.

CLEARANCE RACK BLITZ!

Up to 80% off Stampin Up Clearance Rack items!


From October 5 to October 18, Stampin' Up! is having a Clearance Rack Blitz, where you can purchase great products at amazing prices (up to 80% off!).  All discontinued items are while supplies last, so ORDER NOW! 
 
Click on the button on the left side of my blog to view ALL of the Clearance items!!  The easiest way to make sure you see all the items is to click Show All on the Clearance pages - don't miss anything.
 
I have 2 posts today so scroll down for the second one!

Treasure Chest

I have re-discovered an old recipe that a friend gave me when I was a Girl Scout leader - way back when!!  It is for granola and I have been putting it on my yogurt each morning and wow, is it yummy!  It's great to have something good for you that also tastes good!  If you want to try it, here you go:

GRANOLA ... makes about 6 cups

• 3 Cups Oats
• 1 C shredded coconut
• 1 C chopped nuts
• 1/4 C honey (or more)
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix all together & put in a 13"x9" pan.  Cook @ 350 for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  After cooking, add:

• 2/3 C raisins
• dried fruit

Instead of raisins, I added Craisens.  I bought a big bag at BJ's and also a big bag of mixed dried fruit & nuts.   So, I put a scoop of the granola over my greek yogurt & add an additional handful of dried fruit and that's all there is to it.  Try it & let me know what you think.

I made a little Treasure Chest Box yesterday to hold tags.  It turned out really cute.  Now, I think I'll make one for Christmas tags.

Look On the Bright Side

Found this recently in a forwarded e-mail .... I'm trying to follow this!

For every negative that consumes your happiness,

Affirm two positives that sustain you.

For every "should’ve" you wish you’d done,

Acknowledge something you’re glad you did.

For every loss that has altered your world,

Count from it something you have gained.

For every limit that has ever beset you,

Consider your possibilities.

You can’t always change the way things are,

But you can change the way you wish to see them.

Never stop looking

Here is the last Monday Mailer I received last week.  I really like the size of the card she made!  You can mail it in a business envelope.

My face painting experience turned out pretty good.  I wasn't too sure to begin with though.  My first customer of the day, a little girl about 8 or 9, wanted a butterfly.  So, I painted a butterfly on her cheek.  She looked in the mirror and didn't like it (it wasn't exactly like the one in the picture she had seen), so I offered to do a flower on the other cheek.  When I finished that pretty flower, again she looked in the mirror and pouted.  Her mom told her to say thank you and get up - she started crying and pitching a fit!  It took her mom a little bit to drag her up out of the chair and leave!  What a brat!  It got much better after that though.  My most popular request was a dog face!   After I did one, a lot of the little boys wanted one.  I made black circles around both eyes - coloring one in all the way and colored black spots all over the face.  Then I blacked the tip of the nose and made a red tongue from the bottom lip to the chin! 

After the festival was over, I still had time to made it to the Open House at the stamp store in town.  It was nice to see a lot of my "Alley" friends there who I hadn't seen in a while.  A couple of them have been real pals and have sent Ashley cards while she has been deployed.  I did a great make-and-take with Karen and watched a good demo about making your own background papers.  I bought the small Scor Pal (for cards).  It was the last one in the store so I was pretty lucky.  Plus, I had a full punch card and got $15 off my purchase!  I'll be keeping this on my desk all the time.  It even comes with a zippered bag!

 

 

Saturday night, we met Marianne and family in downtown Mooresville for a benefit concert.  Harrison & Derek's ex soccer coach plays in the band, Cold Bait & Live Beer.  They were very good.  The venue was rather strange - in the parking lot of Ted's Famous Chicken but it was a benefit to raise money for Kellie Dayton who is the daughter of Ted's Chicken.  She is battling melanoma cancer.

 

Sunday was football watching at Big Al's.  When we got there, the place was packed so we didn't get our usual "lucky" table!  We finally scored a few seats at the bar to watch the game.  It was a nail biter (aren't they all though?) and we ended up losing in the last 32 seconds!  Guess we were due but I was hoping for 4-0 when Ben returned.  We have a bye week this weekend, then Big Ben will return Oct. 17.  Sonny keeps hinting that he'll look for tickets for that game and we would make a road trip to Pittsburgh.  We'll see! 

Fall Festival Face Painting

Just a quick hello tonight.  I went to a seminar today put on by the Golden Boys about exercising as you get older.  Hopefully, it will be the catalyst that gets my butt up and moving!  They held it in the gym area of the YMCA with several doctors speaking.  The bad part was due to the acoustics in a gym, it was very hard to understand everything they said.    Afterwards, Sonny & I did some running around - to Ollie's, WalMart, Walgreens, BJ's ... all the really fun places in town!!  We also went over to Best Buy and I bought my birthday present (about 3 weeks early!)  I have been shopping for a new printer so I could print some off some of the things I do on My Digital Studio and there was an Epson on sale this week at Best Buy.  I came home and set it up but I didn't have the right cable so have to go back to Best Buy tomorrow .... grrrr!

If you are in Sherrills Ford tomorrow and want to get your face painted, come on by the library!  I'll be doing face painting from 11 - 3 during their Fall Festival!  I've never done face painting before, so we'll see how this turns out.  I'm not planning on any real elaborate painting.  Hopefully the kids will be happy with stars, flowers, cameoflage, etc.  Unfortunately, tomorrow is also the open house at our local stamp store in Mooresville that will have to miss.  Just can't do it all I guess.

Headed to bed now - have a wonderful weekend!  It is supposed to be good Fall weather here this weekend!  Temps in the mid to low 70's.  I'm ready to break out the sweaters and sweatshirts!!

Another Sympathy Card

How do you like my new blog banner?  I made it using My Digital Studio!

Well, my guys finally made it home.  They spent Tuesday night in Myrtle Beach.  This was the first time my brother-in-law had seen the Atlantic Ocean!  They took their time driving back on Wednesday - going to South of the Border!  Sonny used to stop their when his family would drive from Pennsylvania to Florida when he was a kid.  He said it used to just be a junk store  - now it is a whole complex with convention center, amusement park, etc.  Their fishing trip was pretty successful.  They didn't catch many fish but Sonny caught the biggest fish he'd ever caught.  They are already planning another trip in the spring.  Of course, we don't know if Jack will come bck to see us or not.  His flight here was pretty rocky with bad weather and lots of delays.  Well, today his flight was scheduled for noon.  They left the house about 9:30 and by 11:00. they hadn't made it very far due to a wreck on I77 - said the interstate was like a parking lot.  They finally arrived at the airport around 11:45 but it was too late.  They would not check Jack in.  American put him on standby and he finally got out on a flight around 4 pm.  He called us about 8:00 tonight and is now stuck in Dallas trying to get a flight to Austin but they are all booked.  I think he is going to have to spend the night in Dallas.  Travel can sometimes be frustrating!

So, I had a little time today and made another sympathy card. 

Cardstock:  Mellow Moss, White, Cherry Cobbler,  retired DSP

Stamp:  Watercolor Trio; Punch Potpourri

Accessories:  Boho Blossoms Punch; Butterfly Punch; Oval Nestabilities, brads

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Mellow Moss

We All Need a Little Sympathy

My club gals want to stock up on sympathy cards so that is what we will be making in October.  Unfortunately, sympathy cards are always needed .... especially at our age.  So, I played around today with a few of my stamp sets and made several sympathy cards.  I'm not sure which ones I'll have them do - I still want to make a few more and use Thoughts and Prayers.  But here's what I came up with today.  Some of them were CASE'd with me changing colors or stamp sets around.

This one uses the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes - a must have stamp set!  The grass is from Inspired By Nature.  I did a new technique with this one.  I don't remember the name but what you do is this:

• Cut a piece of glossy white cardstock the size you want your design.
• Cut 2 pieces of acetate the same size as the glossy white.
• Punch out your moon & mask it where you want it using 1 1/4" circle punch.
• Rub an ink pad over one of the pieces of acetate (I used Marina Mist).  Then put it face down on your glossy paper and rub with your fingers.
• Rub another ink pad (used Blushing Bride) on the other piece of acetate and do the same thing.
• Remove your mask and stamp your image (used Basic Gray).

Another card using Inspired by Nature and the sentiment from Thoughts and Prayers.  The butterfly is a Sizzix Embosslet.

This card was so simple, but I just love the look of it.  I stamped the French background onto the Plum (retired) cardstock and layered it on black.  I stamped the floral image from Elements of Style onto white cardstock.  I always think I have to color the image in, but I really like the simplicity of leaving it white.  The sentiment is again from Teeny Tiny Wishes using the Oval Punch.

This is another favorite of mine!  I stamped the flower images from Just Believe onto the Baja Blue cardstock in Baja Blue, Craft White and Pacific Point (that I first stamped off).  The little white pearls I colored blue with my Copic marker!!  How cool is that .... they match perfectly!

I'm still "batching" it.  Sonny & Jack went to Charleston today and took the ferry over to Ft. Sumter.  They called about 4:00 and said they had decided to drive over to Myrtle Beach since Jack had never been there.  I bet they ate some good seafood tonight!!

Ashley sent out an e-mail today to all her friends chronicle-ing her deployment so far.  The title was "2 weeks down .... 50 to go."  Not that she's counting or anything!  They have 2 docs there, a physician's assistant (with one more to join in October), a dentist, physical therapist, and social worker/mental health provider. Their basic job is to provide day-to-day primary medical care for a battalion of about 400 people.  They will be doing "sick call" for acute problems every morning from 8-10 (including weekends) and will see "routine" appointments in the afternoons.  One provider will be the "duty doctor" every day.  Anything they can't handle will get transferred to the base across the street   where the Combat Support Hospital is located.

Monday Mailers for September

I had a nice day today playing bridge with friends.  I haven't played in about a month.  The morning started out great with me having good cards but after lunch, it went down hill.  Oh well .... I had fun anyway!  After bridge, I was good and went to the "Y" to do a little exercise.  I had a book I wanted to finish so decided it would be a good excuse to get on the stationary bike and finish it.  Then, I went to Target & M's to pick up some items Ashley had requested to perk up her quarters.  I want to give a "shout out" to the nice cashier at M's (Karen).  She made me feel like a celebrity when she told me she enjoyed reading my blog!  Hi Karen! 

I forgot to take a picture of the Monday Mailer I sent to Jana last week but she posted a picture of it today so now I can share it with you.  Our theme this month has been holidays.  I did a couple of Halloween cards, a Thanksgiving card, and a Christmas card.  Here is the Thanksgiving card I sent last week:



French Foilage stamp set



inside of card

I really like this stamp set and needed a good leaves set.  This one (French Foilage) is from the Holiday Mini Catalog (pg 6).  I also used some of the In Colors that I have been neglecting - Concord Crush and Peach Parfait.  The "gratitude" definition comes from Define Your Life.  I used Glossy Effects (or Diamond Glaze) over the Peach leaf after I cut it out. 

Who woulda thought it?

3-0! 3-0! 3-0! Who would have thought this is where the Steelers would be after three weeks of football?  Well believe it friends, because the Steelers stayed undefeated by knocking down the previously undefeated Bucs 38-13.   The Steelers were doing so well that the Bucs fans started leaving around halftime. By the fourth quarter, the Tampa Bay Stadium might as well have been Heinz Field as Steelers fans vastly outnumbered Bucs fans at this point.  The Steelers are only one of two teams that are 3-0.  The Ravens are the only team standing in our way of going undefeated without Big Ben. They are 2-1 after coming off a close victory today against the Browns.  This means that if we want to keep the lead in the division, we must beat the Ravens next week in Pittsburgh. After that, it's the bye week when Ben is finally allowed to come back.

During the game, I actually got a message on my cell from Ashley!  She was listening to the game through her computer!  Modern technology - gotta love it!

I had some time yesterday to make a few things.  My brother-in-law flew in yesterday from Texas.  We were supposed to pick him up at the airport at 5:30 but his plane was delayed and it ended up being 7:15 before he got in.  So, that gave me the whole day to be creative!

I followed a tutorial on Splitcoast to make this card:

I cut the circle our with my Nestabilities and also cut the green polka dot frame out with the Nesties.  The tree is cut from the retired Sweet Pea DSP.  I tore the grass from Old Olive cardstock and a piece of green from the DSP.  The blue DSP is some really old SU paper that I found in my scraps.  The directions called for the blue paper to actually be on the inside back of the card but I needed to cover up my tape so changed it up a little.  The piece on the bottom is accordian folded so the card can stand up. 

I also made these cute luggage tags.  I picked up these little tags somewhere - I think CKC and used some vellum tags on them.  I love making these flowers!

I'm "batching" it for a couple of days.  Sonny and Jack (brother in law) left today after the game to do some fishing down at Cooper Santee (SC).  Hopefully, they'll come home with a bunch of fish!

Fall Preview

This is a picture of Ashley and the Hug Lady of Killeen before she left for Iraq!

Today I finished up a lot of odds and ends of projects and made a couple of new things while I was at it.  All while I was watching some of the new shows that debuted this week.  When I got the Sept. 17 issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine, they had a run-down of all the new fall shows.  There were a lot that sounded pretty good to me (for a change!)  So our DVR has been doing double-time.  We have a DVR downstairs that records shows Sonny & I watch together ... and some he watches without me and I have a DVR in my craft room that I record all my shows.  So far, here are my takes on the ones I have watched:

• Dancing With the Stars - not new show but surprised that it was Hasselhoff who went home - I thought surely it would be Margaret Cho!  But wasn't Jennifer Grey something?
•  Chase - I think I am going to like it, verdict is still out.
• Lone Star - recorded but haven't watched it yet - waiting for Sonny to watch it with me because I think he will like it.
• Glee -  I didn't watch it last year but spent this summer catching up since they rebroadcast all the episodes.
• Raising Hope - Thumbs Down - only watched about 10 minutes before erasing.
• Running Wilde - Thumbs Down - I so wanted to like this one because Keri Russell went to high school with Ashley in Coppell.  But, only made it through about 20 minutes before deleting.
• The Whole Truth - I really liked this one.  I think Sonny would like it if he would give it a chance but it's one I recorded upstairs.  It's by Jerry Bruckheimer and has Maura Tierney (from ER) and Rob Morrow in it.
• The Defenders - Nope - not for me - too much James Bond, spy stuff for me.

So that's all I've watched so far.  I know I spend entirely too much time watching tv!  I've been pretty lost this week though during the day.  I've watched As The World Turns (soap opera) for more years than I care to admit and it has been canceled.  The last show was last Friday but I didn't watch it until Tuesday.  I just couldn't bear it.  Now I don't watch any soaps.  First they canceled Guiding Light and then As the World Turns .... what's a girl to do?

Here's a cute little Grandma's Brag Book I made today.  It is accordian folded and goes into a little plastic box.  I got the kit this summer at CKC.