Not really a Flashback Friday, but I'm calling it that anyway!

In case you didn't know, IT'S FRIDAY!!! Not only is it Friday, but it is the first Friday of our return to school after Christmas Break, which makes it even more precious!!!  I missed my 'kids' and I think they missed me, but WOW! The overabundance of energy and temporary amnesia of all classroom rules and routines really wore me out!  I am so glad that I have a two day break to recover and recharge!  Plus, I am taking a little time this weekend to get some much needed scrapbooking done.  But that's not why I'm here today!

Over Christmas break, I knew I needed to make some thank you cards for my students and others who had so generously shared the holiday spirit with me.  If you read Tuesday's post, you know that most of my break was a mojo free period, but fortunately, I located it before returning to work and finished the cards on Sunday.  I also had a little help from my blogging friend, Heather.  She had the cutest punch art snowman card and when I saw it, I knew that I wanted to do something like that for my 'kids'.  If my post title was a bit confusing (and drawn out), it is because technically I didn't use up any old stash other than some glitter glue.  But I did use a retired stamp set and a TON of whisper white scraps that had been accumulating in a bag to make 30 of these, so I'm calling it a Flashback!

I spent most of the day making these babies! Fussy cutting 30 hats was a job in itself! It ended up being something of an assembly line production, but for whatever reason, what normally would have been tedious was actually relaxing as I watched my girls 'bust a move' with Just Dance as I colored, cut, punched, stamped, and glued.

I stamped the snowflakes in whisper white craft ink on the background and also sponged a little whisper white to make the snow covered ground under the snowman. It's hard to see in the picture, but I added some silver glitter glue to the hat band and put a dot of pink glitter glue in the center of the flower.  I think you can probably figure out the rest!

Well, that's it for me! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and find lots of time to be crafty!!

Card Recipe:  Cardstock-wild wasabi, whisper white, rose red, bashful blue, Stamp Sets- Snow Swirled, Curly Cute, Cold Play (ret), Ink-whisper white, black stazon, Markers-bashful blue, wild wasabi, pumpkin pie, Accessories-3/4", 1", 1 3/8" circle punches, non SU snowflake punch, corner rounder, pink and silver glitter glue from stash, rhinestones

Color Me Beautiful Challenge #14-Holiday Tints and Goodbye...

Hello! I'm running a little behind on today's post, but I do have a good report on my Dad! His carotid surgery yesterday was successful and he is already resting comfortably in his recliner this evening! We knew he was going to be OK when he complained about his clear liquid diet for dinner last night. Seems the ICU unit frowns upon steak and potatoes after major surgery...

On a sad note, I am posting the very last challenge for Color Me Beautiful.  I have really enjoyed being a part of the design team and the ladies are absolutely fabulous!  It has also made me step out of my comfort zone several times as I used colors I don't normally gravitate towards.  The good news is that everyone who plays along this time is a winner (not that you weren't already winners in my book!).  So without further ado, here is the last inspiration photo...

and the lovely Stampin' UP colors...

I fudged the rules just a bit and added quite a lot of silver glitter and shimmer.  I really was drawn to the silver trim on the ribbon and thought my Christmas card needed that special touch.

The swirly tree just cried out for a bright silver star and some silver dazzling details, and my layered snowflake (leftover from my ornaments!) really needed a silver brad to bling it up a bit.  Of course when I was almost done, I just HAD to put a few spritzes of vanilla shimmer over the whole thing! My picture does nothing to show the shimmer and shine that really appears on the card! I could use this baby to guide Santa in for a landing!! Hee!Hee!

I really would love to see you play along with our final challenge and link up your own version of Holiday Tints!  All of the team members have made some amazing things and would love if you popped in for a little visit!!

Well, that's it for me tonight!  The girls and I are going to get some much needed cleaning done tomorrow so we can start decorating for Christmas.  I'll be back on Sunday with my Beside the Sea project for ABAC that doubles as a little Christmas gift!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-primrose petals, baja breeze, crumb cake, sahara sand, Ink-rose red, Stamp Set-Snow Swirled, Accessories-snow flurry die, silver glimmer brad, rose red seam binding, silver dazzling details, vanilla shimmer smooch spritz

Flashback Friday-Merry Monday #4

I am on quite the roll with the Christmas cards!! I hate to admit, but I'm actually enjoying this!  I thought being limited to two packs of DSP would drive me batty, but it has actually made things easier.  Of course, there is still the temptation to dig into one of the newer packs...must be strong...

Today's card is based on sketch #4 from Merry Monday.  Sorry for the shadowy pictures... I waited a bit to long to try and take pictures outside...

and I even decorated the inside!!

My next project is making a 6x6 Christmas album.  I'm thinking that will just about finish off my Merry Moments paper (sniff...).  Only a few more days before my July preorder for the Holiday goodies!!!!

Well, that's it for me today! Another busy weekend with little time for craftiness... good thing there's still over a month of summer vacation left!  Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-real red, very vanilla, Merry Moments DSP (ret), Ink-real red, chocolate chip, soft suede, Stamp Sets- Snow Swirled, Tags Til Christmas, Accessories- petals a plenty folder, ornament punch, photo corner punch (ret), decorative label punch

One Hot Gift Card Holder

With the holidays quickly approaching, I'm always looking for quick and easy gifts to make that can be a gift on their own, or  dress up something I've bought.  This month, my club ladies decided they wanted gift ideas for their projects, so this was a great way to get some of my projects finished while teaching others some fun new techniques.  I found the cutest *FREE* mug template at Mirkwood Designs and while I saw a sample where the mug held a hot cocoa mix packet, I thought using this as a gift card holder would make it a more versatile gift. Just a little stamping to decorate the front of the mug, adding adhesive to the bottom and side  of the flap, then adding a 'tea tag' for effect, was all that it took to make this sweet little gift card holder.

I think this ended up being the favorite project of our club meeting, since we all seem to give gift cards! And in case any of you fellow Starbuckaholics (you know who you are...) are drooling over my gift card, I regret to inform you that this is empty... Isn't that such a sad situation as winter approaches???  Maybe Santa will stash a new one in my stocking this year!  Although since I discovered a local coffee shop in a nearby town, he might surprise me with a gift card from there instead.  After all, I've been pretty good this year.  Well... there was that one time...

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, Ink-soft suede, old olive, Stamp Set- Snow Swirled, Too Terrific Tags (ret), Accessories-template, large tag punch, white bakers twine

A start on Christmas cards

Hello, my name is Margaret and I am a procrastinator...but I can change, if I have to, I guess...
They say that the first step to overcoming a bad habit is to admit that you have one. While I know that my procrastinating can sometimes cause added stress and the occasional 'dropping the ball', I have to be honest and say that some of my best work comes when under pressure. While working my way through college, I loved my job at Big Lots (an eclectic discount retail chain).  Each day when I came in, it was a different area of the store, a special task, or customer service that awaited me.  I loved the challenge of adjusting to my new duties and although most of my coworkers thought I was crazy, I loved difficult customers. Not nasty, hateful customers, but people that came in the door knowing that they probably weren't going to be pleased. I loved the look of pure shock and awe when I would help them with their concerns and offer suggestions they hadn't considered.  This was not a job I could plan for; it was fly by the seat of my pants and I LOVED it.

If you're still with me, you are probably wondering just what this has to do with paper crafting. My point, and I do have one, is that while I do have to keep my procrastinating in check in most areas, there are other times that the impulsive response is the best.  This is how I create my Christmas cards.  I will look through idea books, surf online, and browse the craft stores, but in the end some of my best cards come at the last minute trying to get just a few more greetings in the mail before the big day.  I like to think that at these times I'm not nitpicking my creativity and it thanks me by giving it's best efforts.

I wasn't planning on making a Christmas card this week, but then I saw the sketch at Sketches By Carly and thought about the stamp set Gift Givers, which hasn't seen much ink yet, a card began to form.  It is not at all like most Christmas cards I create, but I really love how it turned out! I even managed to use some Spice Cake DSP on this!!

I really love that SU started carrying Dazzling Details.  I love this stuff for snow! I also have recently started an addiction to Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. Almost all of my 'girly' cards get a few shots of this awesome stuff!

Card Recipe: Cardstock- very vanilla, pool party, Spice Cake DSP, Ink-basic gray, pool party, island indigo, blush blossom, Stamp Sets-Gift Givers, Snow Swirled, Tags So Much (ret.-colored only sentiment), Accessories-vanilla shimmer smooch spritz, dazzling details, very vanilla seam binding, scallop circle punch, 2 3/8 scallop circle punch

I also wanted to share a picture from the Louisville Regional Event.  Several ladies from our team, The Crafty SisTAHs, went together.  This is such a wonderful group of ladies and we had a great day together. I'm in the back row wearing pink!

I'll share some pics of swaps in my next post!!

Snow Swirled

Here is another card from our most recent stampin' club. This is a really simple card that has such an elegant look!

It's hard to see in the picture, but we added some dazzling details to the snowflakes on the tree.

Card Recipe: Cardstock-cherry cobbler, wild wasabi, very vanilla, Holly Berry Bouquet dsp, Ink-chocolate chip, wild wasabi, soft suede (distressing), Stamp Set-Snow Swirled, Accessories-decorative label punch, dazzling details, dimensionals, chocolate chip satin ribbon

Swirls and Pearls

Today my husband decided to go to Home Depot and run some errands and both girls wanted to go with him (crazy right?!). So, I have the house all to myself and can craft and blog to my heart's content!  I checked out this week's challenge at Simply Stampin' Challenge and they are challenging everyone to create using swirls and pearls. How fun is this!!  I immediately thought of one of my favorite Christmas stamp sets and dug around in my supplies til I found some retired DSP that I thought would look good with the image I wanted.  Generally my cards are very clean and simple. There are a few reasons for this. I like to mail most of my cards and heavy, lumpy cards don't mail so well. I also find that the more I try to add to my initial idea, the less I like it. But the main reason is because I share my crafting table with the rest of the family at mealtime.  But, today, my house is empty and I can get a little more involved!

I used the stamp set Snow Swirled and stamped the tree with VersaMark then covered with gold embossing powder. I haven't heat embossed in a little while and have to admit that I still get a little giddy as the powder goes from tiny crystals to liquid gold! The little snowflakes on the tree were the perfect location for my pearls.  I sponged all of the edges with soft suede ink. I love the aged look it adds. 

Wondering about my ribbon? It is the chocolate chip scallop dots ribbon (dot side down). I also spritzed the card with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. It's difficult to see in the picture, but this gives the card such a soft,pearly, shimmer. I also put a few snowflakes on the inside to dress it up a little.

I am also entering this for Simply Stampin's DT call.  There are some incredible crafters submitting creations so wish me luck!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-ruby red (ret.), old olive, very vanilla, Holiday Treasures DSP (ret.), Ink-VersaMark, soft suede, ruby red (ret.), Stamp Set-Snow Swirled, Accessories-gold embossing powder, heat gun, chocolate chip scallop dots ribbon, basic pearls, decorative label punch, dimentionals, sponge daubers, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz.

Finally...an ornament!

This is the third card from my punch class showing how to use the ornament punch in a variety of ways. Although I showed two other ways to make things from this punch, I love using it for the obvious purpose-making an ornament.  I found this sketch over a year ago from Page Maps (LOVE this site!!) and made a few cards last Christmas using it. It is a pretty easy sketch, but looks so pretty and festive!

You can't really tell from the picture, but the candy cane striped paper is all glittery and pretty! All of the DSP is from the new Holly Berry Bouquet in the Holiday mini.  There are lots of pretty prints and glittery papers in this set! Many can be used for all occasions, not just winter and Christmas.

Card Recipe:Cardstock-chocolate chip, very vanilla, Holly Berry Bouquet, Ink- chocolate chip, Stamp Set-Snow Swirled (sentiment), Accessories-ornament punch, linen thread, scallop trim border punch