As Promised - Christmas Cards

Best plans .... you know what they say!  My plan for today was  to stay home and work on Christmas cards.  Well .... didn't happen!  I got an e-mail from a friend this morning asking me if I would come and help out at Christian Missions sorting through our angel gifts we had collected for under-privileged children.  Unfortunately, the way the program was run this year (through Newcomers) was not good.  The gal in charge didn't quite understand how it all worked.  So, some children in the same family were receiving 4-5 packages while others in the family were only receiving 1-2.  And remember - we collected about 85 gifts!  But we got it all sorted out this afternoon - taking from some and giving to others and going to the store to supplement a few.  I think it will all be good and a lot of children will be happy at Christmas.  So that was my afternoon.  My morning was spent on the phone with Social Security trying to sort out my benefits.  I have an appointment next week in Hickory at the Social Security office and hopefully, will get it all sorted out.  I was told to bring my marriage license!  After 37 years, I was a little worried about that one.  But, never fear, my husband is a great one for putting everything in its place and even knowing where it is so he was able to find it. 

After dinner, I found time to make a couple of cards and hopefully, tomorrow, I will make a bunch more!!  I received my first Christmas cards today so I've gotta get cracking!!  It's supposed to be cold here for the next several days - the highs only in the low to mid 40's all week - so it will be good weather to stay inside and get some things done.  I opened the box the Christmas tree was in today and put it up but I haven't done anything else to it!  We got a new tree last week - just a small 5" artificial tree but the best thing is, it is PRE LIT!!  I love it - I don't have to fight with the cords - or with my husband - to put the lights on!!  He was thrilled tonight too when he came to dinner & saw a lit tree.

 

Isn't this adorable?  I CASE'd this from a card that was sent to me last year.   I just used the SU Square Punches for his body and used my Copics to draw on his eyes, nose, etc.  The brown pieces are Early Espresso and Soft Suede punched with the Word Window Punch.

  

This cute little guy is a retired SU stamp - Twigster.  I found the background paper in my stash.  I used my Big Shot and Spellbinders for the circles.  The paper is Poppy Parade (SU Incolor).

It's that busy time of year

Another busy day today - but think most people's calendars get pretty full this time of year.  I'm hoping to stay home tomorrow and work on Christmas cards!!  I went to a Southern Living Luncheon today.  We had 12 ladies there and great food.  We each made something from the Oct, Nov or Dec issue of Southern Living.  Yum!!  We had appetizers - meatballs & bruschetta; 2 salads - a pear and lettuce salad and another one with broccoli, cheese, mayo, cauliflower; potato-onion soup; 2 kinds of bread - Sour Cream Cornbread (my contribution) and Jordan yeast rolls; ham and sweet potatoes.  Then of course we had to finish it off with 2 desserts - a fruit tart and apple cake.  Needless to way, I could have waddled home!!  Luckily, we only have these luncheons every 3 months so we can diet in between.  I made little favors for everyone as seen below.  I used the cute Candy Wrapper Die from the Holiday Mini (it will be carried over after Christmas!)  I put a couple of chocolate nuggets in the box and they looked so cute on the table.

Didn't the table look nice and festive?

She had her tree - and entire house decorated and ready for Christmas.  I haven't even started ....what about you?  After lunch we did a Chinese gift exchange.  I received a set of cocktail plates and holiday napkins.

This evening we met my mom in Mooresville for a Christmas dinner/party with her Blind Association group.  Our family was well represented with mom, my sister, Angela, my sister, Marianne & her husband and me and my hubbie.  My mom is legally blind - she has Retinosa Pigmentosa.  They also did a Chinese Gift Exchange.  Since, I didn't go home after our luncheon to get my gift for the exchange, I used the gift I'd received earlier in the day.  So, when my number came up, the gift was still available, I picked it and hoped no one would "steal" it from me.  Well .... I should have known - my sister, Marianne, stole it!!  So I got to pick another gift.  Unknowingly, I picked the gift she had brought - a cute pair of soft slipper socks with a cute reindeer on them.  When we left, she gave me back my gift - I would use them more than she would.  She just stole it to "get my goat!"

I promise - I'll have some cards to share with you tomorrow!!

WINNERS!

THIS WILL STAY ON TOP UNTIL SUNDAY - STILL WAITING ON SCRAPPERBECKA - IF I DON'T HEAR FROM HER, I WILL DRAW ANOTHER NUMBER SUNDAY.

Welcome to my first Blog Giveaway!!  I was blown away by all the wonderful comments I received in my Blog Hop.  So I decided to do THREE give-aways instead of two!   

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

28 42 36 

Timestamp: 2010-11-30 22:36:18 UTC

Winner of Tag Holder and Tags:  

 CardMonkey said...

Love, love, LOVE your cards! Beautiful and inspirational. I am now a proud follower! Merry Christmas and happy New Year, with all the blessings of good health and prosperity to you and your family.

Winner of Holiday Planner #1: 
scrapperbecka said...
Very cute cards! You did a awesome job! I am now a follower, love your work.

Winner of Holiday Planner #2:  Giselle Varela
Giselle said...i love all of your projects. New follower :) the planner is soooooooooooooooooo beautiful!!

Contact me with your mailing address and I will get your goodies in the mail to you!  If I do not hear from you by December 5 (Sunday), I will draw more names.


Congratulations!

Thanksgiving Cards

I'm playing catch up!!  I received two great Thanksgiving cards that I want to share with you.

 

This one is from Margaret.   She stamped the leaves for the background onVanilla cardstock and used the Scallop Punch to scallop the edges.  It is matted on Soft Suede.  The apples in the center are from a retired SU set.   She pricked holes all around the edges of the apples and the sentiment.  Love it!

This masterpiece is from Judy.  She used non SU stamps and embossed the leaf in the center (I think!)  It is just beautiful!

Thanks gals!

I have been working on a couple of calendar pages today for a stamp club that I am in.  We each take two months and make a full page calendar page.  When we get together, we bind them and Leslie usually makes a cover sheet for all of us.  The months I chose this time were January and October.  I had actually almost finished them last week but I wasn't 100% sold on them.  So, today it was back to the drawing board!!  Now, I'm satisfied!

 I am loving this digi-download!  I was able to copy it to my word processing program and make it a little larger.  I paper-pieced his hat and used Flower Soft on his scarf.  Here is a close up:

Here is my October page:

This is actually more digi!  I did a search for free digital paper and found this great plaid and the little tag.  I embossed the paper with SU's Spider Web embossing folder.  I found the Trick or Treat ribbon in my stash and cut it apart and secured it in the corner of the page.  The little ghost is a brad that I have had for about 5 years!  "Spooky" is from SU's Wicked Fun stamp set.  Here is a close up:

 Hope these inspire you today.

Final Days to Sign Up Plus Christmas Cards

If you're considering signing up as a demonstrator during Stampin' Up's great Half-Off Sale, time is running out.  You have until Tuesday - Nov. 30!!  Contact me to get your password and you can sign up on-line!!

I had so much fun yesterday blog hopping!  I visited all the sites on the Christmas Card Blog Hop that I participated in and got so many great ideas!  I appreciate all the people who left wonderful comments about my cards and became followers of my blog.  You inspire me to work harder on being creative!!

So, yesterday and today, I found time to make a few Christmas cards.  I hope you enjoy them.

This is probably my least favorite.  I have just never liked this green color (retired anyway!) but it matched the ribbon and the green leaves (plus I have a bunch of it left over).  I stamped the Cardinal on watercolor paper and used Tombows to color him along with my Aqua Brush.  I cut him out with SU's Top Note Die and matted it with Real Red.  I glued down 2 strips of ribbon on either side of the red strip.  Both the green card and the red strip, I ran through an embossing folder.  The sentiment is a digi stamp and I found.

This is my favorite!!  The snowman and the "Building a Snowman" are digis that I purchased from The Cutting Cafe.  I haven't used digi stamps much but I really loved this one!!  I paper pieced his hat and used Flower Soft on the scarf.  The red ribbon is from Stampin' Up.

This is another digital stamp that I found on the internet.  I colored him my Copics.  The pink ribbon is Stampin' Up.  I dipped the pink brad in glitter after putting Towbow Glue on it.

So which is your favorite?

Christmas Card Blog Hop 2010

Welcome to my Inkie Fingers!  We are so excited to have you join us today.  You may have just come from Courtney's blog or you may be one of my followers or you may have just stumbled here…however you got here, you’ll be very glad you did!  Be sure to take the whole tour! - welcome!   There are about 30 blogs included in the hop and some of them are giving away Blog Candy.   

I decided to make my theme Christmas Trees and used a variety of stamps and folding methods to create three cards for you to enjoy.  The first one uses a retired set from Stampin' Up called Patterned Pines.  I just purchased this set last year and wasn't ready for it to retire!  Oh well, they didn't ask me, did they?  I stamped the trees on white cardstock and then embossed them in copper and cut them out.  The base of the card is Night of Navy with Pear Pizazz and Poppy Parade.  I used the oval Spellbinders dies and my Big Shot for the ovals.  The sentiment ("be merry") is also from a retired set (Warm Words) but there is a very similar set in the current SU catalog (Short & Sweet).

 Here is a close-up of the trees:

 My next Christmas Tree card uses a folding technique that I discovered on someone's blog but do you think I can remember whose it was???  (remembered - it was on Connie's blog!)  I cut out a 5 1/2" circle from Designer Paper with the Circle Scissors Plus (SU - pg 199), cut it in half and then made 3 folds to create the tree shape.  The base card is Crumb Cake and the DSP is retired.  I found this great ribbon in my stash and had to use it!

 Here's a close up of the tree - love that Glimmer Brad from SU's Holiday Mini Catalog!

My next card uses SU's Snow Swirled.  I stamped it on the Bride & Groom DSP and embossed it with Dazzling Diamonds.  I just love the elegance of this card with the pearls.

 Here is a close-up of the tree and the pearls:

I realized after I did these three cards that most of the things I used were retired.  So, I had to do one more and use a beautiful SU Sizzix Snowflake Die!  I just love the simplicity of this card!!

This card uses Night of Navy for the base card and Cherry Cobbler (one of my favorites!) and Shimmery White card stock.  The navy striped ribbon is included in the Ribbon Bundle in Stampin' Up's Spectacular Sale that is going on right NOW but ends Tuesday, Nov. 30.  Details can be found HERE .

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my Christmas Cards as much as I enjoyed making them.    I will be giving away BLOG CANDY if you leave a comment. And I hope you will come back to visit me or even become a FOLLOWER of my blog!!  Here is my Blog Candy - Holiday Planner and a Tag Pouch for 2 lucky people:

EDITED TO ADD - I'll draw for Blog Candy on Tuesday.  Deadline will be noon EST Tuesday, 11/30.

To continue on the blog hop, visit Holly - 1Crafty Dame!!

Thanksgiving Fun

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.  It's always so nice to be with family and friends.   We had a great day.  We were able to visit with Ashley via "Skype" which was great.  I was worried Mom would not be able to see Ashley on the computer screen but she did and cried while talking to her.  Which started the rest of us crying!  Ashley told us she didn't want any crying while talking to her.  She had already had her Thanksgiving dinner and treated several soldiers for "turkey bowl" football injuries!  I am always thankful for my guests but what I enjoy about having Thanksgiving at my house is that everyone pitches in to help.  My sister, Marianne, and I do most of the cooking, but the others help with setting up the table, fixing beverages and, best of all, the clean-up!!  My sister, Angela, is the best dishwasher there is!! 

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving.

This was Derek (Marianne's oldest) BEFORE dinner!! 

 Angela, Marianne & Me

Angela, Sharon (girlfriend) and my Mom.



 Harrison (Marianne's youngest) lighting the candles before dinner

 I made these the night before and put one at each person's plate.

Ashley surprised me with the table decoration!

Be sure and stop by tomorrow.  I am participating in a Christmas Blog Hop!  I've prepared some great Christmas tree cards for you.  There will be about 34 blogs in the hop so you are sure to get some great ideas for your Christmas cards.  The hop will go live at 10:00 am Saturday.

Happy Thanksgiving 2010



Made with My Digital Studio (which is 50% off right now!!)

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey be plump,

May your potatoes and gravy

Have never a lump.

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize,

And may your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off your thighs!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the friends and family that you will share it with.  I will be missing both my children this Thanksgiving.  I know my daughter-in-law will be cooking a delicious meal for my son and their children in Arizona.  They will be in our thoughts today.  My daughter will be eating her meal in Iraq while protecting our country.  We will talk to her later in the day via Skype.  Her grandmother is coming over early so she can "talk" to her also.  This will be the first time they have talked since Ashley left in August.  We received a beautiful centerpiece for our table yesterday from Ashley.  I was very surprised!  So she will be with us in spirit.

Our Pittsburgh Trip

Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving .... making the pies, thawing the turkey, getting ingredients together for the stuffing?  I've been to the store and gotten most of what I need.  I'm sure I'll be making another run to the store later today (or maybe talk Sonny into it!)  We always have Thanksgiving at my house with me doing most of the salads, veggies, pies and cooking the turkey.  But, Marianne usually comes over a day or two before Thanksgiving and spends the night so we can get started on our preparations.  She makes the sweet potato casserole and dressing each year.  She arrived late yesterday afternoon and we  played in my stamp room most of the night while watching tv (Dancing With the Stars).  She's making calendars and I'm trying to finish up my Thanksgiving cards  I was really pulling for Brandy but she got eliminated last week so my next favorite was Kyle.  I really figured Jennifer Gray would win but I was not pulling for her.  I was pretty sick of hearing her whine and cry every week about her injuries.  But, of course, she was the winner. 

I realized I hadn't shared my pictures from my recent Pittsburgh trip!

Don't these look yummy?  We went shopping down at the Strip District and these were for sale.  Can you believe I didn't even buy anything???

At the Steelers game all decked out in my black and gold.  It was raining a little bit when we first got there but it quit before kickoff.

This is the doormat that is now at my front door!  This is how the Pittsburgh'ers talk!

 Isn't this gorgeous?  This is Franco Harris'  Super Bowl Ring from the 70s!! 

Mr. Rogers!  We went to a History Museum while we were there.  Mr Rogers was from Pittsburgh.  My kids loved his show.

This is how Sonny would like to fix his car up!!  This was actually someone's car and he donated it to the museum.  Ain't it cool?

Sonny at the Consol Energy Center where the Penguins (hockey) play.  Unfortunately they lost in overtime but we had fun anyway!

Details about the On Line Spectacular

Call me with your order OR order on-line HERE

Click HERE for the details of the great sale!!