Greetings from Lyn

I love it! And of course Lyn wouldn't send me a card without some Old Olive would she? The simple straight lines are perfect and the striped designer paper sets off the focus snowflake. thanks, Lyn. We have to see who can order more in that new catalog, I can't wait to get that Lovely Letters set to make monagram note paper .............I'm afraid my thank you notes for Christmas presents will be a little late because I want to make them with that set. I hope everyone is making their wish list so we can order on Jan.2!! How exciting. Happy New Year one and all!!!

Beth's Christmas Card

I'm always so pleased to receive a card from one of my addicted friends!! Beth Keene is a terrific stamper who makes sets of cards for all her sisters and her Mom for Christmas.........you just can't imagine how many cards she makes each season! I'm not even sure she can keep track herself. What a nice gift to give ..........and receive! This card uses the set called Block Party which I remember her mentioning was one of her favorites in the catalog this year.........great job with it Beth.

My blogging may be a bit sporadic these next couple of weeks........very busy time for us, but I will pop in now and then. Happy Holidays, L

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! May you all be blessed with health and happiness in the coming year. Thank you for checking my blog..........I will be spending time with family for the next few days. Blessings, Laura

Punch Pals

I've been meaning to share this card with you for a long time. It is the card that Linda Tarolli brought to the Splitcoast Swap in October! I just think it is terrific, meant to make it myself, but never did get the Punch Pals ordered. I'm glad to see that it didn't get retired, for sure I'll buy it for next year. YES, YES my catalog came in the mail yesterday and it is just as wonderful as everyone said it is. My wish list is pretty long! Back to this nice card.......she used basic black and Always Artichoke ink, Artichoke, Real Red, Mellow Moss , Very Vanilla and Dashing Double sided paper. Her accessories are Silver elastic cord, Stampin dimensionals, 2 way glue, Dazling Diamonds, Pencil eraser (how clever for the little dots I guess) square punches and the word window punch. Thank you, Linda for this nice card..........and to everyone out there.........Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. My posting will be a bit sporadic for the next couple of weeks, but I'll be here now and then. May you have a wonderful holiday and thanks for stopping by.

Mary Kay's Christmas card

Thank you Mary Kay, I love it!! It is so nice to have a downline that uses all the stuff that I plan to use and never get around to! Here is chipboard with glitter, my chipboard is pretty much intact on the board it arrived on......one of those things I just don't get to do and it is nice. Blue taffeta ribbon on the Y and a rhinestone bling in the middle of the snowflake. And.....the Bashful Blue and Chocolate chip combination is so "in" right now............great card, Mary Kay. And no my catalog didn't come yesterday either.........if it doesn't come today I'll surely cry.

Sharon's Trees

This is the most beautiful card in real life, not sure it shows up very well on this scan. Sharon Dorn sent this to me and I am so thrilled. She is one of my downline stampers and this is such a gorgeous card that she has created. It is in Bayou Blue and white and of course it is my all time favorite stamp set so she really knows how to please me! Thank you so much, Sharon for letting me share it with all of my good blog friends. And NO, my catalog didn't come today, but I did sneak in to Virginia's room at school and checked out hers for just a few minutes before the concert. I can tell you this much, from what I saw in those few minutes..........it is the best ever! Lovely Letters has my name on it and lots more, I'm afraid. Stay tuned for updates on the catalog!

Emma's Thank you..........

Emma needed to make a thank you card for her church buddy who sent her a lovely Christmas present this week, so she decided a Christmas card with a letter would be a good idea. I think she did a great job and the color combination she chose was a good one, don't you think? My grand-kids certainly take to stamping so easily and I was glad she was thinking to send a thank you.......that isn't as common these days and I think it is so important. She used Jolliest Time of the Year and the words from Hollidays and Wishes........a little black gingham ribbon and there it is! And another subject.........I'm so envious of Virginia, she called and said her new Spring Stampin Up catalog came in the mail today, I hope that means that tomorrow I'll get mine. I can't wait!! Thanks for taking time in your busy holiday schedule to stop by.

Ready for 2008?

These little coaster calendars are so addictive! I started whipping up a "couple" on Friday and then it would be just one more. They will be cute to include with a set of cards for those people that I usually give all-occasion cards to. The coasters are ordered from American Coasters and I have lots I will be glad to share at a tiny price if you want them. The calendars came from www.vippies.com. Of course you could use post - it notes too if you don't have calendars. Such fun..........give them a try! Enjoy the snow and do lots of stamping while you are homebound!

Cherish Spirelli

Thank heavens for another partial snow day and help from grandchildren! And yes, I got them hooked on spirelli too......it is such fun to change the number of valleys you skip and of course I had to go to pick up some metallic thread in the morning before the big snow came. I found silver, gold and copper to play with. This is the copper with some copper paper behind the white. Night of navy was my choice although Jess made a beautiful one with Sage Shadow and gold and Emma chose Ballet Blue and silver. The possibilities are just endless. Of course I chose the Baroque Motif for mine as a background. And why am I stamping when I should be writing all the cards I already have stamped? Oh well, my intentions are in the right place. Between making those boxes that my friend Dorothy showed me and spirelli, I surely have a good time. I'm going to shop today!!! Christmas is leaping right up there isn't it?

Spirelli madness

Oh my gosh..........this is so much fun! It is called spirelli and I ran across it last night on this blog.....http://rubberstampingdiva.com/ .....you have to try it, her tutorial is wonderful!! I used some gold colored thread I had on hand, but today I'll go to the fabric store and get some gold metallic thread and I think that will show up better. I used Bayou Blue with the scallop punch and spring flower bouquet. The flower one is retiring, so hurry to order it for the center! I'm sorry the scan doesn't do this card justice, I stamped Doodle This with the gold metalic Encore on the designer paper and had it not been time for bed (very, very late) I would have embossed the gold instead. The fun part was the spirelli and I skipped four valleys! You will understand what I mean when you read her blog. Gold metallic paper is behind both the scallop punch and the designer paper. It's time for me to get out of my "la-la land" and get my Christmas shopping done. Time is beginning to run short isn't it? I have packages to get in the mail etc, etc. But then we have a month or so don't we? Thanks for stopping by.

Debbie's Frog

So your job today is to count the punches I used on my froggie??? Large ovals, 1/4" circle,1/2"circle, 13/8" circle, and the horizontal slot one! Isn't he cute? The Lily Pad wheel was his spot to rest on. The words were from Unfrogettable and I used Gable Green, Real Red, Bashful Blue and Glorious Green for the Frog and lily pads. And yes, I cased this completely from my upline, Debbie.

We had a great time tonight at Stamp 10........I was pleased so many came out in spite of the weather forecast. Thank heavens it was only raining and not the sleet they called for. One more day to order without paying the shipping and handling charge........give me a call. I'll be sending in Sue's order Wednesday AM.........remember to check your retired lists, too.

Alcohol trees

You all know this is my favorite stamp set of all times and it seems there is no end to the possibilities it presents!! I used the Flannel background here, then some close to cocoa cardstock and white glossy to stamp the trees in black. This is my version of alcohol ink..........just put a few drops of classic reinker on a piece of glossy cardstock and then put a few drops of alcohol on top and then with a paintbrush , pick it up and paint on the trees. It will dry quite pretty. I then added the gold cord and words from Sincere Salutations. This would also make a nice masculine birthday card, don't you think? Thank heavens they didn't retire my stamp set yet!!!

Christmas Ornaments

Good Monday morning.........I had a little snitch with the computer this morning, hope that isn't the way the whole week will go! Anyway, it looks like we didn't get the sleet and snow we were supposed to get this morning, so on with the stamping.............this idea came to me out of the blue the other night as I was knitting a scarf! Amazing what comes to you at funny times.......I just embossed the Baroque Motif in gold on three different colored cardstocks, and punched with the three sized punches. Peaceful Wishes pine branches across the top in Garden Green and then I used words from Warm Words, they are great little words. I hope the new catalog has more of the little words that fit in those close little spaces, I use them so often. My trusty gold painty pen made the tops for the ornaments and then I just drew in the strings with my black pen. I think this is kind of cute for a quick, simple Christmas card............what do you think?

Tomorrow night is our December Stamp 10 meeting..........hope to see many of you there. I'm hoping we have escaped the ice and sleet and will all be ready to get out for the evening. Thanks for checking in today, sorry I was late with my posting!

Peaceful Wishes

One of my favorite Christmas stamp sets that came out last year. You can't see it very well, but the card opens about half way under the red square and there are words inside. Yes, it is Old Olive, Real Red and white. This is pretty simple, but sometimes that is best! I've had some response to my free shipping offer and hopefully more of you will take me up on this. It's a good time to stock up on some of our papers and check the Retirement list to see what you can't live without. Stamp 10 people will meet on Tuesday night for Sue Knickerbocker's party........I'm really excited about the projects for that. Watch your e-mail for a list of punches etc. that you will want to bring to make the evening go smoother. See you then. Thanks for peeking in.

Gift card holder

This is really a quick card............fold up from the bottom and down from the top, each side of the bottom piece is glued down with tape so the card is secure. A little piece of white is taped to the underside of the top flap and torn to look a bit like snow. I used three stamp sets here, Print Pattern background, Lovely as a Tree and The Snowflake Spot. The trees and snowflake are embossed in white on Bashful Blue. No words, but there is room on the inside if you wanted to add them. More snow here today, but it looks quite gentle this morning! Stop by again soon. Don't forget that I am offering free shipping this week for all Stampin' Up orders, my early Christmas present to you all. This offer is good through December 12. Just give me a call.

Sidekick Sayings

I'm really grateful for a "snow day" off from school so my Grandchildren could come and help me catch up on some Christmas preparations here at my house. We made some more cards.........I always cut too many for my Christmas Stamp a Stack so I will have them for myself to send.........have I made them up yet? No, that was one of the projects today. Matt did this one for me and I think he did a great job. Garden Green with Bravo Burgundy under the white cardstock. The words came from Warm Words and a little Pomegranate ribbon to set that off. We also strung the garland and moved furniture so we can bring the tree inside (when it dries off!) Of course it would have been smart to have brought it inside when they delivered it, but no I left it on the front deck to get bombarded with snow last night. The kids are excited to think of skiing soon! It certainly makes one think of Christmas to have all this beautiful white stuff.......I was glad not to have to venture out of the house all day! Thanks for stopping by and happy shoveling if you live in this area!!

Holy Triptych

I have received my first Christmas card and it was thrilling to have it be a Stampin' Up card from one of my dear friends! Judy Tinker made this for me and it is beautiful..........the background is Bravo Burgundy, then white and then she embossed the gold on Always Artichoke and carefully cut that out. The figures are stamped on vellum and colored on the back..........thanks Judy for such a pretty card and a job very well done. I love this new set this year, one of the many I ordered from the Holiday Mini. I must get busy and get some cards in the mail. Snowy, snowy day today with many schools closed all over the area!! It certainly looks a lot like Christmas!

Mirrored Lovely as a Tree

My most "favoritest" stamp set escaped the Retirement list once more! And by the way you can find the list at www.stampinup.com now, and can order all of the month of December. I'll be sending an order by December 12 to make sure it comes before Christmas for those of you who want to give that special Stampin' Up gift. But back to the card this morning..........such a simple technique, another from this month's class, the mirror tech. Stamp with basic Black ink on your white cardstock and then stamp again on a cello bag and quickly rub that bag onto the white cardstock directly under the first stronger stamp. I colored with pastels, but any coloring technique works well as long as you color lighter on the mirror part. I used the words from the set Peaceful Wishes, another favorite that escaped that Retirement list! Brocade Blue is the color I mounted the white card on.

An update on the "Support the Troops" gathering on Saturday.........a great day! Several came to the studio and packed boxes for four of our local men in Iraq. We added Andy Hutson to our list and were so happy to have so many wonderful goodies along with lots of cards to send. The group plans to meet again on Saturday January 5 to pack more boxes. Thank you to all who responded in so many ways. I'm sure these boxes will be happily received. Judy talked to her son-in-law recently and he said the first boxes were wonderful!! A great way for us to thank these young men and women, I think.