Please "BEAR" with me!

Hello there!

I am so sorry to have been gone for so long!  I have been dealing with some personal issues and it has required more of my time and energy than originally anticipated.  My Uncle passed away this month and my mom and I are with my Gma (who was his care giver) trying to get all of his affairs in order.

I hope to return home soon and once I do I plan to get my blog up and running strong again.  Please 'bear' with me until then!  I will be back...I promise!

Hope that you all have a safe and happy New Year celebration!

Big, warm bear hugs!

Will be taking a few days off...

We have had a death in the family so I will be taking a few days off.  Thanks for understanding.

I {heart} snowpeople!

   Happy Thursday!!  How are you today?  Doing well, I hope!  I have some snow people projects to share with you today!   I really and truly do {heart} snow people!!  They are just so cute and I love to see all of the different personalities that people create with them!  My MIL has decided to have a snowman Christmas tree this year  so I made her a few snow fellows for her tree.  Here they are a couple of the ones I made:

This little cutie was a project on SCS recently.  He is made up using punches and has a belly full of snow!   He will sparkle and twinkle while hanging from her tree because I added some extra silver glitter to his tummy!

This little guys was made using some scraps from my scrap pile.  He went together really quick and is wearing a scarf made from SU!s new Always Artichoke Seam binding.

I also wanted to share a project that I took to my home school group to make!  We had 30 kids show up to make these and they were a big hit!  I am kicking myself for not getting pictures!  The kids were so cute making these!!  Here is what we made:

We sandwiched a Peppermint patty in between the layers.  I do not know who the original creator of this snow sweetie is, but he is floating around all over the place!  Is that not the cutest little snow guy ever??!  I love him!  He makes me grin every time I look at him!

Finally, I wanted to share a couple of pictures of my daughter who almost turned into a snow person last Friday night!  LOL  Her gymnastics team participated in a night time parade and she got to ride in the float and throw candy to everyone!  It was soooooo cold out!!  It flurried on us while we were watching the parade!  Here she is in the float:

She is the one in the pink hat holding a sign that we made together!  She was so proud of the sign!  Poor kid...I had her bundled up tighter than the kid from A Christmas Story! LOL

It was fun!  She had a great time!

Ok, That is it for me for today!  You can count on seeing some more snow people projects very soon!  I will be back soonest with more to share!  Have a great day!

Christmas snow tags!

   I am back with another quick post for today! :)  Be sure to scroll down if you missed this morning's post!  I was cleaning up from some of my very many messy projects and started piecing together some left overs from three different projects that were just laying around!  I liked the look of them so much that I wound up sitting down and using up all of my scraps to make these little Christmas tags!  Voila'!  I am terrible about keeping every little shred of everything just in case I may be able to use it another day so I was totally thrilled to actually use up some odds and ends and left overs!  Here are my little tags:

Paper: Whisper White, Real Red and Garden Green
Punches: Snowflake, 2.5" Circle and 2.25" Circle (not a SU!)
Extras: Gold cord (retired), Sparkling gem

These were super easy!  I just layered the circles, added the snowflake and gold cord and topped the snowflake with a bit of bling!  These will dress up some Christmas packages rather nicely!

Have a great night!  I will be back tomorrow with some snow folks to share with you!

Another MDS page!

   Hello!  Wow!  It is Wednesday already!  This week is just flying by!  I believe the count down til Christmas is 17 short days away!  Are you ready?!  Not me!!  Not even close!  I am just barely getting around to the thinking about getting ready stage!  LOL

   I have a full day today so I have a brief post this morning, but am going to try to get back later tonight to make another one!   I spent a little while longer fiddling my with My new Digital Studio this morning and put together this page:

These are my girls!  Aren't they beautiful!  I happen to think so! :)  I went totally all out girlie with this page!  All buttons and bows and pink and purple (even though neither of my girls is very 'girlie')!  LOL

Ok, well I am off to conquer the world, yet again!  Hope you have both a productive and meaningful day!  I will be back soonest!   

Good morning!  We arrived back home safe and sound to find that it snowed 4" while we were away!  We literally left right before it started and came home 33 hours later to a blanket of snow!  Ah...I guess winter is officially upon us! :)  The visit was really nice, but way too short!  Have I mentioned how much I hate not having my kidd-o closer to home.  He will be home for the holidays though and I am looking very forward to that!

  Ok, so I have been resisting with every fiber of my being, fighting tooth and nail, totally putting off, and strongly avoiding (guess you get my point!) investing in Stampin Up!'s My Digital Studio since it came out!  I am an old dog and do not like change AND am computer challenged on a good day!  It just really didn't seem like a good match for me at all!  Well, when it went on sale recently I thought to myself, "Self, why not?!"  So I broke down and invested in it!  It arrived last night and I installed it all by my one-sie!!  (An amazing thing if you know anything at all about me!)  I got it all set up and played with it for just a few minutes and threw this together! This is a very basic project and could use some matting and the text needs to be tweaked to be bolder, however I am pretty darned pleased and excited by it!!   What a fun toy this is going to be!!!  What do you think about my very first 10 minute digital attempt:

   These are my boys 2 Christmas' ago!  These just happened to be in  the first random picture folder that popped up so I went with it!  I was able to add embellishments and stamps and text and choose the background paper!!  It was really a lot of fun!  I am normally a very hands on person!  I love to 'touch' the textures and 'feel' the colors and layers of everything, but this was so quick and easy!  I think I may just enjoy this after all!

   Hope that you have a wonderful day!  I have a very long list of to do's to try to get accomplished today so I am off!  I will be back soonest though with lots more to share!  

   

The cutest teeny tiny little bags!

   Hey there!   Sunday already!  We are enjoying a quick visit with our son.  The time goes way too quickly though and we will be heading back home too soon!  He lives almost four hours away and I hate it!   We have always been a very close family and it has been really tough having him so far away.  I know that is how life works and it is inevitable that your kids will eventually sprout wings and fly away, but man oh man is it hard.

  I have a quick post to share with you today!  I found these adorable teeny tiny, little, itty bitty bags one day while browsing the interwubz!  (That is what my oldest kiddo calls the net!)  They were on Diana Ball-Seitz's blog and she mentioned that they are a Martha Stuart creation!  Thank you for sharing, Diana!!  They are just so cute!!  They will hold little chocolates or money or other tiny little gifts!  They would also make super cute tree ornaments!!  Lookie:

Here are the measurements. 6 1/2" x 3", score at 1/2", 1", 1 1/2", 3 1/2", 4", 4 1/2" to create the sides, front and back and score to create the bottom at 1"  Just score and fold and use your handy sticky strip to hold it all together.  I am kicking myself for not putting something in the picture for scale cause these guys are tiny!!

   Ok, I am off!  I will be back soonest with some more fun things to share!  Have a wonderful day! 

Candy treat holders!

   Hello!  The weekend is here!  Yay!  We are visiting our son this weekend so my posts will be brief, but I wanted to stop by for a few minutes! :)  How are you?!  Hope you are having a lovely Saturday!

  I have a fun little project to share with you today!  We made these cute Candy bar holders at one of my demonstrator meetings! Thank you Carolyn!! :)   I made these once a while ago for the folks in our soccer league and wound up making about a million of them!   They are really fun to make and soooooo easy!  You can make them for any occasion and Christmas is a perfect excuse to beautifully wrap some wonderful chocolate and share with the people you love!

    Cute trick...to mat your label punch you can punch a second one in a darker or contrasting color and cut it in half and glue it along the outside edges of your stamped image!  Works great and gives your project that little extra something something! :)

    I have to scoot because I have some visiting to do!  Enjoy your Saturday to the fullest and squeeze the people that mean the most to you!  It is really important!  I will stop by tomorrow!  Have a great day!

A bag and a box!

   Heeeeeeey!  Happy Friday!  I have some cute things to share with you today!  Both of these will hold lots of little Christmas goodies!  The tutorial for the first one came from Kay Sha's blog.  These little bags are just gorgeous!  She created a wonderful tutorial that she sells.  Here is a Christmas version of this cute bag:

Paper: Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Elements of Style
Ink: Wild Wasabi
Extras: Square Lattice EF and gold brads


   This next project may be one of my all time favorites!!!  It is a simple 2-4-6-8 box with a very special little guy decorating the front!  I found him on Kim's blog and just had to duplicate him.

Side view:

Awwwwwwww!!!!!!

   He was so much fun to make!  I plan to make tons of these cute little guys and put them all over the place! :)  He just makes me smile every time I look at him!

    Have a great day!  I will be back tomorrow with  more stuff to share!

 

Mrs. Claus' Apron

  Hello!  Happy Thursday to you!  How is your week going?  Well, I hope!  We have been super busy with lots of running around!  :)   I have a few projects to share with you over the next few days from my most recent stamp club!  The theme was gift giving so I tried to offer them some projects that they could give as gifts or easily reproduce to give as gifts.  Most of these ideas are CASED and oh so cute!

   This first project just melted my heart!  I found the original here on Patti's blog.  She does such fun projects!  You could add lots of fun things to the little pocket, but it holds a packet of hot chocolate perfectly!  There is enough room to stick in a candy cane too for some added minty goodness!

   Here is Mrs. Claus' apron:

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, So Saffron, Always Artichoke and Whisper White

Punches: 1/2" Circle, 3/4" Circle and Holly Leaves (not SU!)
Extras: Very Vanilla ribbon, Polka Dots EF, Red Gemstone

 Isn't this adorable??!!  I just love it!  You could give it as is or make a bunch and hang them on the Christmas tree!  Thank you for sharing, Patti!

  Ok, I have a ton to do today so I am out of here!  I will be back tomorrow with some more Christmas gift ideas!  Have a great day!

   

More Christmas goodies!

Hello! How is your week  going?   Hope it is going great!  Well, it is official! Today is the first day of the last month of this year!    25 short days til Christmas and 31 days til we ring in a new year!  Wooo Hooo for the new year!! :)  Until then, however, it is time for some holiday spirit!  Bring on the lights and tinsel and cookies!  Let's make some cards and bake some goodies!  Big grin!

This is a card I shamelessly CASED from Jackie Topas!  She is very talented!   She is quite good at crafting outside of the box and always has fun projects to share!  I thought this card was absolutely adorable!  She used the 2 step bird punch to create the fire.  I used the leaves for my garland rather than stamping it though.   Totally cute card!  Thank you for sharing, Jackie!  Here is my version:

Paper: Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Whisper White, Soft Suede and So Saffron
Punches: 2 Step bird punch, Word Window
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Real Red and So Saffron
Extras: Square Lattice EF, Real Red ribbon

  This was a triangular shaped gift that I made for each of my girls!  These were filled with chocolate and waiting for them when they arrived!  The Santa is made from all punches and the hat base is made from a 4" X 11" piece of card stock run through the Big shot.  The trim is made using the scallop border punch and adhered with sticky strip.  The whole thing is held together at the top with a strip of  Always Artichoke seam binding!  Too cute! :)

Santa:
Punches: Round Spiral, Word Window, Flower from 3 punch pack and hole punch
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Basic Black and Blush Blossom

Hat:
Paper: Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White
Extras: Always Artichoke Seam Binding, Petals-A-Plenty EF

These went together super fast and would make great stocking stuffers or little gifts for the mail man or Mr.Brown!  

Ok, we have a ton of errands to run so I have to scoot!  I will be back tomorrow with even more Christmas goodies to share! :)  Have a super day!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Hello!  Can you believe that tomorrow is the first day of December?!  I am in awe that Christmas is a mere 26 days away!!  Yikes!!  Time to get busy, busy, busy!!  I for one must admit though that I am looking very forward to this year coming to an end and starting a fresh new one!  Seems like this has been a very rough year for a lot of folks and I would like it to be over!  So on that note...31 days and counting! LOL

I have some Christmas eye candy to share today! These are all things that we did last month at my Stamp Club! The theme (obviously!) was Christmas!  I found this first card on Naomi's blog and fell in love with it!  I just thought it was so cute!   She does great work!

Paper: Crumb Cake, Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Punches: Curly Label, 1 1/4" Circle, 1" Circle, flower from 3 Punch set and bow from Beary Girl Sizzlet and Modern Label (door handle base)
Extras: Gold Brad

The next card design was borrowed  as well.  I saw it on a blog but the person wasn't sure where it originated either.  If it is yours originally please let me know!  The one I saw was a card, but we turned ours into a postcard to be a little different!  Here is the version we made:

The back side:

Stamps: Winter Post and Lovely as a Tree
Paper: Crumb Cake and Glossy White
Ink: Pacific Point, Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Basic Black
Extras: White Gel pen, Brayer and sponges

  I just love both of these stamp sets!  They both just scream Christmas to me!  You can expect to see lots more of them from me in the upcoming weeks! :)  I have oodles to do today so I will end here, but I will be back tomorrow with a few more projects from my October Stamp Club (Christmas in October!)

  Have a wonderful day!  Big inky hug!

Cute purse!

Monday already?!  Hey there!  How are you?  Doing well, I hope!  Today I have a cute bag to share with you!  I purchased the pattern from Becky Robert's and it makes the best little gift!  It goes together very smoothly and is really fun to make!  I have made two so far and plan to make a bunch more!  They hold all kinds of fun things including a bunch of chocolate!  You can completely change the look and feel of the bag by just changing the colors too!  You can use any DSP to dress it up and of course the more bling the better!  Here is one of the bags I made:

  I have a long list of to do's to get  'to done' today so I am off to get busy!  Have a great Monday and I will be back tomorrow with some Christmas-y stuff to share! :)

Baby showers, costumes and whiskers...Oh My!

  Hello there! Hope you are having a good weekend! Since I have been MIA I missed out on sharing lots of photos with you, so that is what today's post is all about! :)

  This first one is of a baby shower card that I made for a friend.  The baby is made entirely from Stampin Up! punches!   He is not my original design.  I found him one day while blurfing (blog surfing) and stock piled him away in my ideas folder.  If he belongs to you please let me know so I can label him yours!

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Marina Mist, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip
Punches: 1 3/4" Circle, Word Window, 1/2" Circle, Heart to Heart Extra Large, Hole Punch, Scalloped Border and Crop-A-Dial
Extras: Very Vanilla ribbon

   Since I missed Halloween with you guys I thought I would share some of our costumes etc with you!  This first picture is of Frankenstein's fingers!  Yum!  They are Nutter Butters with white chocolate melted and spread over them and a licorice hunk for the finger nail!  Aren't they cute and yummy too!

This little flapper is my youngest daughter!  She was so cute all dressed up!

This giant Whopie cushion is my youngest son!  All inflated and ready to go!

The lovely bumble bee is my oldest daughter!

And I was a mouse!  I even had a homemade pink tail tied every few inches with ribbon but who wants a giant picture of their tail on the internet! LOL

Next I thought I would share some photos of some of our furry babies with you!  We are all animal lovers in my house so we have several!  My oldest daughter is quite a whiz with a camera and she snapped all but the last one of these:

This is Sable:

This is Bear (the angry chihuahua!)

This is Zoe!

This is Rooster the Cat!

I took this one and it is of our furry grand-pups! They belong to my oldest son and soon to be D-I-L!

   Well, that is all I have for today!  I will be back tomorrow with a more craft related post! :)  Have a wonderful evening!