Quick altered notepads

Wow what a week.. Today is already Wednesday the 12th.. That means there's only 12 more days till Christmas.. and sooooooo much to do..

I have a friend "Pat".. sometimes she has more faith in me than I have in myself. On Saturday I officially began the journey that will alter the course of the rest of my life. My goal is to loose 134 lbs. An average sized model or a couple small children... if you want to look at it that way... Today Pat & I had a bet.. I guessed that by this afternoon I would have lost 5 lbs.. Pat guessed 8. I told her that if she was right I'd make her a gift tonight.. Well, she has some insightfulness that I don't have because I lost 8.6 lbs. So Pat... I'm a woman of my word... This is for you.
I made 2 covered note pads (the 2nd is for another co-worker who was almost out of paper today... So what the hey... She'll be surprised)... For these I used...

Card Stock.. Soft Sky, Cosmo Cricket Dutchgirl DS Paper (these were the letters as well)
Accessories.. MS white and aqua twill ribbon, rain drops, stickles, bob & ron rub-on's, hemp twine, versa mark & clear embossing powder.

Wow... 8.6 lbs in 5 days.. GO FIGURE :)
Happy Stamping ...

"Bee" Merry

Happy Tuesday... I think my lack of food lately (long story we'll save that for another time) has gone to my head. I decided to work on a few projects for Christmas gifts but this little card has burrowed a hole in my head. I just had to finish it..

This card uses real red & whisper white card stock. Sorry but I'm not sure who made the green & red ds paper.. The bee trio is stamped in black stazon and colored in certainly celery & real red markers. I added a little glitter for that 'wow' effect. The dots & swirl chip board are from maya road. I colored then with red paint and then embossed then with clear embossing powder. Finally I added the "Be Merry" sentiment at the bottom.

This is about as non-traditional as I'm going to get. Check back later this week for a few holiday projects.

Happy Stamping :)

Non-traditional card... take 2

I knew you'd be back.. And I think you'll be pleasantly happy that you did.... Are you ready ???? I absolutely love how this card came out. The coloring is so soft and of course it uses not only 1 of my favorite colors.. "chocolate chip" but is also uses 1 of my favorite holiday images.. a "snow man"..

This card was made using a 51/2" x 11" piece of chocolate card stock so that when it was folded it would be 5 1/2" square.. To make the snowman, I stamped the image in timber stazon on very vanilla card stock and colored with my copic markers and blender pen for the soft subtle coloring. Once my snowman was stamped and colored, I stamped my snowflakes using versa mark and then embossed them with iridescent ice embossing powder. I then distressed around the edges using Tim Holtz distressing walnut ink. How did I make the ice you ask? Crystal Effects. Is this not the cutest.

The sentiment is a Making Memories holiday rub on. Here's the remainder of the recipe..

Card stock.. chocolate chip, soft sky, very vanilla and basic gray figgy pudding
Accessories.. Making Memories rub-on, crystal effects, dimensional pop ups, SUP chocolate wide satin ribbon

Have a fabulous weekend everyone and, Happy Stamping :)

NOTE... whoops sorry.. This snowman is from SweetMissDaisy's.... Whippersnapper Designs... I love them and she's having a new release on January 1st.. :)

A non-traditional christmas challenge

Happy Thursday. I can't believe that after being up since 3 AM (well actually awake since 3, up since 4 to work at 5:30)... I'm actually here at my computer instead of dead tired in bed... I hope your all having a wonderful week...

A couple days ago Lindsay's (Jacksonbelle Embellishments) member companies thread on SCS was getting a big quite. So to spice things up a bit she posted a challenge for us to make "non-traditional" holiday cards... UGH that was a hard one for me but so far I've come up with 2 (you'll need to stop back tomorrow for card #2)... Here's my first attempt.. I made a tag card... The envelope was made with Basic Grey paper. Folded and taped and with my large circle punch punched out the notch..

For the inside I started with a tag of whisper white and sage shadow. The tag I cut free-hand. I then stamped the sentiment and the snowflakes in versa mark and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I then took my sage shadow ink pad and rubbed it all over the tag to give it the sage color. Then I broke out my brand new bottle of glimmer mist and spritzed till I had just enough of the blue. Before it could dry I rubbed the entire tag with a dry washcloth to expose the snowflakes and words. To dry the card I used my embossing gun. I then applied the crystal beads to the center of each snowflake for a little bling. The sage and white Martha Stewart Twill ribbon is tied though a large eyelet. And viola' I was done...

I'll be using this as a gift tag instead of a card.. But it's nice and big.. :)

Please stop over to Linsday's thread on SCS to check out all of the other fun cards... And don't forget... tomorrow I'll be posting my 2nd card..

Happy Stamping :)

Santa's elves have been very busy...

Happy Monday.. I hope you all weathered this first nasty taste of old man winter. It's been heading across the states all weekend and when it finally hit the east coast over night we got lots and lots of ice. Good news is (if you can call it that) I've had a stomach bug, so after being up all night decided I better not go in today. So I was on the sofa most of the day.

Today though was a great mail day.. My bind-it-all along with the accessoriess I ordered on Friday from stampingcottage.com arrived today (excellent price... Free shipping on orders over $50 and super fast shipping.. I highly recommend them). Teresa finally received her elf package I mailed on Wednesday (it's only going about 30-45 minutes away and it took 5 days priority mail to get there. That's our USPS for ya).. And I received not 1 but 2 elf packages today..

My first package was from a secret elf.. No name, just a return address. This package contained blue and magenta micro beads. I can't wait to make some pens with these. A few covered Hershey nuggets and some prima flowers..


My 2nd package was from my Secret Elf. I hosted a Secret Elf (similar to secret santa) on SCS and Lindsay (mustamper) was my partner. She sent me .. An altered can filled with lots of bling, bling (large eyelets, my name, brads, and adhesive gems, stars, drops & hearts), gift tags, 2 altered bottles, 2 scrap books, an altered cd case, and a treat can filled with Hershey kisses. It's awesome. I can't wait to start using everything.

Thank you Lindsay..
Happy Stamping :)

Ornaments... check

• Tree ... check
• Lights ... check
• Ornaments.. check
• Out side lights.. check
• Inside decorations.. check

PHEW... done. I'm finally done decorating and boy does it seem like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. This week's shopping I did mostly on-line so that too has put a rather large dent in my to do list.. YIPEE... Does anyone else feel like we women have a lot to do to make the holiday's complete? WHY do we do all this... Because we love our families..

When I saw this post on Allie Edward's blog I just knew I had to make these adorable ornaments. They were sooo easy... (sorry no stamping at all) Well once I got the hang of getting the rub-on's to adhere to the clear round ball... It was a cinch.. I made 12 which gave me enough to make as a centerpiece for our dining room table and as a large lighted piece for the entertainment center. The hurricane holder on the entrainment center is actually from At Home America. To make this arrangement I started with an extra strand of clear lights, added some 'artificial' sugared cranberries ( My intention was for these to go inside the ornaments.. whoops.. too big for the little hole.. so I impravised) and added some extra snow. All of the ornaments in this piece (the directions for the ornaments themselves are below) say "Merry Christmas". I layered the cranberries, lights and ornaments until the vase was full. The remaining lights I strung around lighting everything up. In the dark.. this is beautiful.

Next came the dining room centerpiece. To make the ornaments I started with clear ornaments I picked up at Mike's. I then rubbed on Bo-Bunny Holiday sayings (Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday's). Then I stuffed the fluffy white snow inside. This was the most time consuming. To do this I made a small funnel and pushed the snow down in with my finger or a pair of needle nose pliers. My finger seemed to work the best. I then put the silver top back on and added some red ribbon for the holder. The basket I picked up today at Mike's for 50% off.. As a matter of fact, so were the ornaments. This made a very cute and inexpensive centerpiece for the dining room.

And finally here's our slim tree. I love it. It's covered in clear and red lights. You can see where I added the adorable angel and snowman primitive garland I picked up at TJ Maxx. It's mostly covered in primitive snowmen and santa's with a few reindeer and balls thrown in for good luck.

So tell us... what is your favorite holiday decorations?

Happy Stamping :)

I'm Home

and boy was it a fabulous day in NYC on Saturday.............. Freezing COLD most of the day..... but fabulous none the less.

Here we are on the bus almost to NYC.. YIPEE..

We started out our day in Chinatown, picking up a little jewelry, perfume, purses... HAHAHAHHA.. I was so unprepared.

From there we headed to Little Italy & East Houston Street for a little lunch at Katz's Deli. OMGosh this was the best Ruben I have ever had. Katz's was seen in When Harry Met Sally & Law & Order.

We then headed uptown to where... Where else would 6 gal's go? SEPHORA of course. By now it's 1:30 and we were all a little chilly and tired from walking. How about a cocktail at the View Marriott Marquis? A revolving rooftop restaurant on the 48th floor.. How fun? Can you say Winter Peach Cosmo? YUMMY.... A little pricey but definitely worth it.

So where do we go from here? Well to Central Park. While heading back down to Bryant Park stopping at most of the street vendors look who we found right out side Radio City Music Hall???? The Tin Man.. He was cool...

We ended our day with dinner at Simply Pasta.. YUMMY.. While waiting for the bus we wandered through the vendors at Byrant Park and sat under the heat lamps at the Glacier watching the ice skaters sipping hot cocoa.

Thanks NY for an awesome day.. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR !!!

This has to be one of my favorite photo's from the day. This picture was taken right next to Central Park. Please enlarge it to get a good look. Each window has a beautiful wreath on it.

Just how tiny does this make you feel?

So how many of us are feeling over whelmed, exhausted and like there's just not enough hours in the day to get everything done? MEE TOO.... Christmas is always so exhausting. Shopping, wrapping, gift making, card mailing, tree decorating, parties. PHEW.. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. For the next few weeks I will be around but just not as much as normal. I have so much to get done that that's where I need to focus my energy right now. So keep watching for all of the gifts I have left to make. :)

Happy stamping and...

Happy Holiday's

Happy Everything

Hi there everyone. Happy belated Thanksgiving & Black Friday. Yep, I was up today at 6 and at the mall at 6:30.. Unfortunately all of the stores I wanted to hit were not open yet, so I didn't do as much damage as I could have. I did pick up an Ipod (Merry Christmas to ME) a few BNBW's Wall flowers, did my grocery shopping and I was home by 8:30... YIPEE... I spent the remainder of the day cleaning and getting ready for
NEW YORK CITY...

I'm off to the big city at 6 tomorrow but I wanted to share with you all my favorite moment from yesterday. My uncle kicked my gram's walker up a notch... What do you think of this...
Yes.... Those are deer antlers on grams walker.. We've now named her.. The Maplewood Maniac.. Here's Mom, Gram and my Aunt showcasing her new wheels... (do these 3 look alike or what... that's scary)..
PS... yes, we did take them off before she went home.. But it was a great belly laugh. I hope you all enjoyed your Turkey day just as much...

I'm off to the city tomorrow so I should have some fabulous pictures to share next week. Enjoy your day..

Happy Stamping :)

1 More

... Webster's pages... With a little Elzybell thrown in for good measure.. :)

Happy Wednesday or should I say HUMP day everyone. I can't wait for the weekend. I have finally finished my Christmas list.. That would be making my list and checking it twice.. I've done very little shopping on that list... Oh well, so much for being done by Black Friday. This year I too will be adding to the nation's economy and will be one of those fools out early Friday morning.. YACK.. Or hmmmm... may be I can do most of my shopping online. HMMMMM... I'll have to investigate that one.. :)

So I did it. Straight lines, no distressing, no spritzing, no misting.. Just straight lines with a clean look.. I don't know.. I'll admit, this was a hard one for me. For this card I used...

Stamp Sets.. Ellzybell, PTI Snowflake Serenade, Riveting, Snowflake Spot

Cardstock.. Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla and Webster's pages.

Ink.. Black Stazon, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Grey, Blush

Accessories.. Large circle punch, Soft Sky double stitched ribbon, pewter hodgepodge hardware, ticket punch, frosted lace stickles.

I may go MIA for the next few days. I have 4 advent calendars to make and they'll take a few nights. But when I get back, watch out .. these are going to be gorgeous..

Happy Stamping.. :)

I'm Back

Thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes over the weekend. Your all so sweet. Yes I'm back and I'm stamping... YIPEE :)

Here's how my weekend went..

Thursday.. oral surgery with IV sedation.. Get home.. Get a drink and my new best friends the 'ice pack' and 'pain' medication... Sleep.. Wake up, try to eat because I'm now STARVING.. Fall back to sleep... pain medication.. sleep...

Friday.. Oh I feel better.. Grocery shopping, pack away Halloween decorations... SLEEP for the entire afternoon.. Wake up.. more pain medication.. more sleep

Saturday.. Where the heck did Thursday and Friday go.. run a few errands, OH how I want to sleep.. Can't sleep now I'll never get anything done.. Clean stamp room... Oh the pain.. More pain medication... Back to sleep

Sunday.. OMGosh it's 10:30.. Thank goodness Mom's cooking.. Lay around, shower, head to Mom's for dinner.. Get home... do a little stamping in my clean stamp room.. but now I need more pain killers... and sleep... and then guess what Monday was.. Back to work.. By noon can you guess what I wanted... Hopefully today will be better... :)

Sunday evening I did do a little stamping and I'm pretty pleased with how they came out. I was inspired by Lindsey's Product Spotlight #2.. Webster's pages.. I'm still practicing with my new camera (thanks MOM your da' bomb).. so please forgive the lighting until I figure this out..

Stamps... Whipper Snapper Designs tall & short snowman, PTI Green Thumb

Card Stock... Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme, Very Vanilla, Webster's pages "I love presents... it's a wonderful world"

Ink.. Black Stazon, Mellow Moss, Baroque Burgundy, Grey, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke

Accessories.. Tag punch, antique button, wide vanilla grosgrain ribbon, olive grosgrain ribbon, pearl jewels, pop up dots, a little hemp twine, frosted lace stickles and coffee shop glimmer mist..

Can you tell I'm working on my layering? I still love these primitive/ antique looking cards. When I try clean lines... It just doesn't seem to look right.. Oh well, I guess I've found my groove...

Happy Stamping :)

12 Days of Christmas with Terri Conrad

HO HO HO, Jingle Bells and a Happy Birthday (that is what Frosty said when he came alive ... wasn't it)... Anyone want to play along with the 12 days of Christmas with Terri Conrad (the designer of Webster pages????)... Here's how it goes.. Head on over to Terri Conrad's Blog...
or to Terri Conrad Designs and you too can enjoy the fun :)

Going MIA...

Just for a few days. I wanted to let you know that this morning is finally my oral surgery. I'll be so happy to get this done and over with... See you all in a few days :)

Elyzabelle

I caved.. I caved. OK, caved is a very strong work. I succumbed to my inner most voice but it was SCREAMING at me.. Look how cute she is.. And my little Elzybell is absolutely adorable.. I have to say, shipping was speedy. I ordered them late on Sunday night and I had them on Friday. Not bad if I do say so myself.

I really like how the notes from the singing fish coordinate with the Figgy Pudding circles.

For this card I used.. Going grey, whisper white and Buckaroo Blue SUP card stock with a layer of Basic Grey Figgy Pudding.. Thanks Lindsey. I love this paper..

Elzy was stamped in black stazon and I colored her using buckaroo blue, going grey and close to cocoa. It's hard to see but the snowflake that is embossed in iridescent ice on the buckaroo blue is also embossed on the whisper white. To add a little dimension I sponged a little going grey around the edges of the whisper white. I've also a little frosted lace stickles to the snow and trim on her coat and hat. OMG I love these. It really looks like fluffy snow.. The ribbon is MS twill ribbon and the tag was made using buckaroo blue and whisper white card stock. Happy Holiday's was stamped again in the buckaroo blue and then the entire tag was embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder. The pewter hardware is all hodgepode harware. To finish it off, I added more frosted lace stickles to the circles on the figgy pudding paper. I love the buckaroo blue, grey and white together. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of this color combination..

Well, I better get ready for work... Happy Stamping :)

Do you Believe?

Happy Monday. I hope everyone thoroughly enjoyed your weekend and for those of us who "Fell Back" with Daylight Savings time.. That extra hour of yesterday. I personally chose to use mine as ... sleep.. something I haven't had enough of lately.. It felt sooooooo good...

Yesterday was my sister's birthday (She and Allie Edwards share that special day... Happy Birthday to both of you :) ... so I spent my morning making her a 'name frame'... to go along with her birthday gift. I like how they came out.

I apologize for the glare on this one from the sun.. But I prefer to use natural lighting when using my camera. It helps the pictures to come out better...

The frames I picked up in Walmart for $2 or $3 each. I used Cosmo Cricket DS paper and Fancy Pants DS papers.. (I will double check later today to make sure I have them correct).. All tags were punched using by Sizzlet tag punch on my Cuttlebug. The blue tags are Buckaroo Blue and the red are Cranberry Crisp.

All lettering was done with rub-on's. I specifically used different fonts to give it an eclectic look... I then stamped snowflakes on the tags and DS paper's using my snowflake serenade stamp set in brown stazon, close to cocoa and buckaroo blue. I aged the tags using a little of my 'coffee shop' glimmer mist and Tim Holtz walnut stain. It's a little hard to see but I embossed snowflakes on the buckaroo blue paper with iridescent ice embossing powder. My intent was to add a little shimmer. The hardware is either hodge podge hardware, large pewter brads or from MM.. Ribbons include Martha Stewart chocolate sheer ribbon, SUP blue double stitched, vanilla wide grosgrain, chocolate wide grosgrain, burgundy grosgrain and gold sheer ribbons.

I have to give a quick shout out.. I'm so thrilled this morning. I am awed by the talent I am surrounded by on a daily basis. I soak up all of the fabulous inspiration from each and every one of you. On almost a daily basis I quickly check out the blogs on my blogroll... So when one of these all inspiring women comment on my blog.. I feel deeply honored. Debbie Olson (Thinking Inking) commented on my fall cards. Thank you Debbie.. You made my day... :)

Teresa's walking 60 miles

For what you may ask? The Breast Cancer 3 day (60 mile) walk in Phoenix Arizona benefiting Susan B Komen for the Cure...

Please head on over to Teresa's blog... to give her a shout out of encouragement. She's going to need it. She's hoping to check her blog daily if her blackberry holds out... :)

You can let her know I sent ya...

I love Fall

On Tuesday a little 'DDSS' happy mail came with my name on it from my Bis Sis... There were some Karen Foster fall flowers, fall wood signs and a package of Bo-Bunny clips.. I knew immediately what I would do with the wood signs.. I guess you could call it... a little mojo.

I made 3 cards to use each of the 3 signs each one has the same basic design... I just love FALL...

They are each made using a 5 1/2" x 11 " piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock. This makes a nice 5 1/2" square card. I like this size.

The images from Autumn Harvest are stamped in brown stazon on very vanilla so that the colors didn't bleed when I colored them with my Stampin' Up and Copic marker in various fall colors. I then stamped the leaves on the background of the pumpkin pie in pumpkin pie and distressed the edges with my favorite Tim Holtz walnut distressing ink. The layering is in chocolate chip & true thyme. To add a little dimension I stamped my canvas in creamy caramel on the very vanilla and then with close to cocoa distressed the edges.


The only differences in the cards was how I applied the signs.

Card #1 was applied using Martha Stewart chocolate stain ribbon...
Card #2 uses Cosmo Cricket ribbon with a large pewter SUP eyelet.
Card #3 uses rust Martha Stewart Ribbon..
I used my crop a dile to punch all of the holes in the wood signs and it was a breeze...

Can you believe that November is here.. Christmas is just 8 weeks (may be even less) away and soon it'll be a New Year. Boy how this year has flown by.

Happy Stampin'

Happy Halloween..

Happy Halloween......

My friends have been so wonderful to me the past few weeks and I've received a few RAKS that I'd love to share with you. You know you are truly loved when your friends care enough to send the very best.. that is something from their heart...


This is from the very best DDSS in the whole world. I apologize to all of my other DDSS big sis's but you have huge shoes to fill because Deb is the BEST... And in case you're wondering just how big these shoes are.. Well here you go... LOL

Love ya' Deb !!!




Through stamping I have met a few close friends and this card is from one that I cherish most.. Alex Moldonado.. This was the card that sparked our friendship. I just loved her coloring of the pooch. From this card has sparked a true friendship. I will save this forever.. :)



This card came from Linda the coordinator of our Central NY get together. For all of her hard work I altered a candy corn scented candle for her. This was the card she sent as a Thank you... How sweet was that... I love this color combination..

Thanks everyone for the Happy Mail.. In this age of computers we forget how it makes people feel when we open our mailboxes to find something other than a bill...

I seem to have lost my.. Mojo..

I don't know what's happened to me. My mojo is gone.. G-O-N-E gone. Between my dang darn'it tooth, my up coming oral surgery, work, dr's appointment's and today's trip to the vampire for 9 vials of blood (I'm starting to wonder if she left me with any).. My mojo has completely disappeared. I'm exhausted and not happy with anything I create. With that being said.. Thanks for listening. Some time we just need to vent a little. I'm wondering if that lab technician .. you know the one who had to stick me twice today and left a big o'le black sore bruise on the side of my arm may have acutually sucked my mojo out of me by mistake. She certainly didn't get much blood the first time. :( It's official.. I'm sad...

The good news is.. I did make this card last week using my new Stem Silhouettes set from the Holiday Mini catalog. Sorry it seems to be a little dark. If I get a good picture of it tomorrow with my 'crappy' camera (can you hear me MOM !!!!) I'll swap out the picture. In the mean time.. This card uses...

Stamp Set... Stem Silhouette's
Card Stock.. Ruby Red, Very Vanilla & ?? DS paper
Ink.. Creamy Caramel & Ruby Red
Accessories.. Martha Stewart Putty Twill Ribbon

The other good news is ... Have you checked out Gina K's blog lately? She's rolling out a new blog and new webstore on the first. I'm very excited. She's also looking for guest designers (Alex and Teresa.. hint hint).. Please go check her out.

So, if you happen to see my mojo.. Please ask it to come home. I miss it, my stamps miss it.. Were lonely with out it.. Or, if you can send me a little mojo.. I'd be very happy.. :) Ok, I'm off to pout now. Poor Me...

My shoebox swap... And more ramblings...

Happy Friday.... At least it's not Freaky Friday.. LOL.. Is everyone ready for Halloween??? Not me.. My fool proof plan for not eating all of the Halloween candy before Halloween is to buy it at the last minute.. So tonight... I'm off to hunt down Halloween candy..

Last Friday I woke up in a panic.. I hated my Shoebox Swap.. So I emailed Teresa back and forth..Do I switch.. Do I not.. DO I switch.. (You get the picture).. My delima was that it wasn't Stampin' Up.. So at the last minute. I switched.. Please dear God.. Please let them like this one..

I really wanted to do something with the new Basic Grey. I love this color. I just have difficulty matching it with other colors.. This is what I came up with...

Card Stock... Basic Grey, Sage Shadow, Buckaroo Blue, Very Vanilla

Stamp set.. Fabulous Flowers, En' Francis and All Holiday's

Ink... Basic Grey & Sage Shadow

Ribbon... Blue double stitched..

Accessories.. Paper Punch, Hodgepodge Hardware, Pop up glue dots, glue, glitter...

As a side note.. the gal's were sad they weren't playing with the House Mouse.. Oh, don't get me wrong.. They were very happy with this card.. But they were sad they missed out on the House Mouse..

On a lighter note.. Have you ever walked into a store and felt like you died and went to heaven? That was me Wednesday when I walked into TJ Maxx. Anyone who knows me knows that I love anything primitive.. Check out the two different holiday garland's I found..

This one is snowmen and the other is angels. Both are about 6 feet long and I just had to have them. Guess how much they were... $9.99 each.. Yep.. I died and went to heaven...

This one is the angels..

Hope everyone has a stampalicious weekend. The weather is calling for rain, rain, rain so I think I'll spend tomorrow in the kitchen. Now that I have the extra freezer I think I'll make a batch of broccoli cheddar bacon soup and split pea with ham. A couple nice smooth soups for when I have my oral surgery in a couple weeks.. YACK..

Wait until you see how fabulous these R..

We all know that at each an every moment we are completely surrounded by so much TALENT .. But I have to say... On Saturday there was so much talent in that room that it was over-flowing out the doors and into the street. The only way anyone could have left Saturday's get together without being inspired would be if they were dead.. And trust me... Every single person in that room was living and breathing... Thank goodness... LOL Here are my favorite 'non' card projects from Saturday.. Enjoy the inspiration.

I was very fortunate to be at table 3 with Judy.. She is such an inspiration. This "Fantasy Box" was her swap for the day. This looks difficult but when you sit down, read the instructions a couple times, and set all of your supplies out in front of you. It's really not as bad as it seems..

Here's a link to the instructions for the box.. Thank you Stubby Stampers.

This is the folded completed box.

And this is what the box looks like when it's unfolded.. Judy pre-folded the inside 4 boxes for us but we made the top & bottom. These boxes are pretty much identical to Kristina's origami boxes.. just on a smaller scale. What I loved about this project was the colors. The red, light tan and vanilla were superb.

And finally... here's a sneak peek into how the box folds in on it's self. You can see in the above open photo that there's 1 small strip that is not decorate. This is basically the 'flap' for lack of a better term... that folds the box together. When you put the top and bottom on it.. Viola'.. I showed this to my BFF on Sunday and she was shocked when she opened it. I'm thinking of using this for my mom's birthday present in November and filling each box with a little bling bling.. You know mother's always love Jewelry.


Kim.. You are such a genus.. I love these ornaments. These are definitely on my holiday to-do list.. They may even end up being gift tags... Who knows.. You can take this idea and just go with it..

Kim used the Big On Christmas stamp set... With a little dashing designer series paper.. If you want to pick up these tins for CHEEEEEP.... (I know it's spelt 'ea' p ... but these are so cheep I'm chirping)... Creativexpress.. 3 tins for $1.. that's .33 cents each.. Add a little snow... punch a hole with your crop-a-dile for the ribbon and Viola.. I just love these.. (jumping up and down)..

This is the same thing.. I was just trying to show you the snow a little better...

And now we have our 'ghoulish.. nugget boxes'.. I believe these may be band-aid containers.. But I may be incorrect..

And when you open it... Look what pops out at you... I spider. This is the cutest.. Of course their Hershey nuggets wrapped in designer series paper.

And last but by no means least.. a post-it-note holder that looks like one of my favorite things... A purse.. Using what else.. Coasters. The holes were made using a crop-a dile and the closure held on with Velcro. What an idea..

Here's what the inside looks like..

I hope your all inspired to make something other than a card today..

Have a wonderful Thursday. I'm off to the oral surgeon later :( I know I've mentioned many times in the past about a tooth problem I'm having.. Hopefully we can finally do something about it.. :)

Happy Stamping !!!

My favorite cards..

Hey everyone.. Hope your week is going swell... Tonight's late edition is of my favorite cards from Saturday's get together .. I apologize ahead of time that I won't be able to give you the recipes of each item.. But you can use them for 'inspiration'...





This is the matching envelope to the attached card... How cute is that???












This card was made by Michelle (flaxychick) using a My Favorite Things stamp set. To make this card, we stamped the images onto the card stock and the designer paper, cut out the dresses and then adhered them the card.. Now the gal's have designer dresses. Michelle colored the images with prisma pencils.




This card was made by my friend Teresa. Isn't is gorgeous? It's a trifold card. The image was adhered to the front of the card using pop up glue dots. Teresa's initial plan was to make these into pins using crystal effects and then pin the tree to the card. What an idea... WOW..



This card was made by Gayla.. What I love about it is that the tree is made with... photo corner punches.. Click on the image to enlarge it and you can really see what I'm talking about.









And last but not least.. Moose You.. Is he not the cutest? This is the outside of the card. The 'moose' is stamped on the inside of a 3x3 card with the front of the card cut into a frame.






Here's the inside showing the sentiment.. Moose You.. I love that..

Stay tuned tomorrow night for my favorite... anything but a card... Trust me.. Your gonna love these.