Ornament Swap

My Bible study at St. John's is having an ornamet swap. We'll exchange them at a Christmas luncheon. I choose this ornament with a lovely carved nativity after looking at dozens of ornaments. I decided it deserved a special box... but not just any box, an explosion box. Have you seen them? When you lift the top off, the sides of the box fall open (explode) to reveal the contents! I used the envelope die, Seasons of Style dsp and cherry cobbler 12 x 12 cardstoock. Oh and those pretty little sparkley things? They are called Frosted Finishes embellishments. On the inside of the box I used more of the same package of dsp and the Christmas Collectibles stamp set and coordinating punch. I layered the ornaments on old olive and cherry cobbler and the decorative label punch. To hold the ornament I cut a half inch strip of cardstock and glued it into a circle and glued that to the bottom of the box. I really had fun making it:-D

Clean and Simple for Card Ministry

I went with some simpler designs for Card Ministry this time and they turned out lovely! On Dec. 9th, when we meet again we'll be making sympathy cards. I always have such a great time with this wonderful group of ladies!!! I'm so blessed to have made these new friends:) The staff at St. John's United Methodist all sign the cards sent out at weekly staff meetings. They always tell me how much fun they have seeing our creations, which is so very nice to hear. On Sunday, before church, I spoke with a lady who recently received one of our cards from the Ministers and staff. She was so delighted that a group of the congregation made that card for her. This ministry has delighted so many people and given those of us who create for others such a wonderful opportunity for fellowship with each other as well.

Project Details
Stamps	Lovely As A Tree, any birthday greeting
Card Stock & Papers	Midnight Muse 5 ½ x 8 ½  you will get two from one sheet of card stock                           2 ¾ x 4 ¾ to layer behind trees Whisper White 4 x 5 ¼ you will get four from one sheet of card stock (emboss w/ dots)                           2 ½ x 4 ½ to stamp trees on
Ink	Midnight Muse
Accessories	Midnight Muse ribbon
Tools	Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Modern Label and Word Window punches

Project Details
Stamps	Any birthday greeting
Card Stock & Papers	Crumb Cake 5 ½ x 8 ½  you will get two from one sheet of card stock                       3 ¼ x 3 ¼ emboss Very Vanilla 4 x 5 ¼ you will get four from one sheet of card stock Real Red 3 ½ x 3 ½
Ink	Real Red
Accessories	Real Red ribbon
Tools	Elegant Lines embossing folder

Project Details
Stamps	Any birthday greeting
Card Stock & Papers	Rose Red 5 ½ x 8 ½  you will get two from one sheet of card stock Very Vanilla 4 x 5 ¼ you will get four from one sheet of card stock
Ink	Rose Red
Accessories	Elegant Lines embossing folder, Rose Red ribbon
Tools

Stamp Your Art Out!

My local stamp group met today and we had such fun! Two new people came, Peg and Sandra. We're so glad to meet you!! The cards we made are found below.

Stampin up has a huge Holiday SALE coming up November 20 - December 2. We'll be starting it off with a 24 hour doorbuster sale on the 20.

I have been uber busy with church and getting ready for the big Christmas Craft Show Dec. 6-7. Oh and I'm also making a cookbook for my son on Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio. I am want to get it to him for Christmas, but would like to finish it by Nov. 30 because there is a 30% off sale on printing. Stampin' Up will also bind it into a hardback book for me ;-)

Project Details
Stamps	Keepsake Ornaments, En Francais, Gorgeous Grunge, More Merry Messages
Card Stock & Papers	Brushed Gold 2 ½ x 4 ¼ Very Vanilla 4 x 5 ¼                       2 ¼ x 4                       4 x 4 for inside Soft Suede 4 ¼ x 5 ½ card base
Ink	Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Soft Suede ribbon, Basic Jewels Pearls, glue dots, glue, Snail adhesive
Tools	Ornament Framelits, Pretty Print embossing folder, Bow-maker,  Chalk Talk Framelits

Project Details
Stamps	Lovely As A Tree, More Merry Messages
Card Stock & Papers	Night of Navy 4 ¼ x 5 ½ card base Whisper White 2 ¼ x 4                          4 x 4 for inside Brushed Silver 2 x 4
Ink	Night of Navy
Accessories	Whisper White ribbon
Tools	Bow-maker, glue dots, Snail adhesive

Project Details
Stamps	Chalk Talk
Card Stock & Papers	Very Vanilla 2 ½ x 4                       4 x 4 for inside Raspberry Ripple 5 ½ x 4 ¼ card base Print Poetry dsp (rasp. ripple) 1 7/8 x 4 ½ Modern Medley dsp 3 ¼ x 5 ¼                                  2 ¾ x 4 ¾
Ink	Stazon Black
Accessories	Black chevron ribbon, Linen Thread, Raspberry Clay Ripple flower or Raspberry Ripple Dahlias
Tools	Chalk Talk Framelits

There is a reason why my husband calls me Blondie or Lucy.

I had another Lucy episode this morning. I was wiping off the lid of the washer and noticed the inside rim of the basin needed to be wiped off too... Well, you know how the basin part tilts cause that's how the agitation functions? I dropped my clorox wipe down inbetween the basin part and the outside shell. There is no way I can get down in there, I tried. Not too hard because while standing on one leg kinda upside down, I had a vision of me with my arm stuck in the washer. It was a lot like the time I stuck my foot through the bedroom ceiling from the attic. So I'm just going to be quiet and pretend nothing ever happened. If the washer quits working, Patrick will fix it like he always does,he can fix anything.  And if he just happens to find a clorox wipe inside. I'll say, "well I'll be darn, I wonder how that got in there!" Then I will quickly exit stage left!!

Oh and the critter count in the house so far this month is two lizards and three tree frogs. Plus a tree frog in my car yesterday.  Don't even ask.

Creative Crew Design Team - November

I'm on the design team of Stampin' Up! demonstrators on Splitcoast Stampers. I wanted to share my entries for this month. Oh November, the time of sweaters & blue jeans, cocoa & fires, and just about every kind of yummy food you could ever be thankful for! This month the design team was asked to take a trip down memory lane and remember what we have to be thankful for. The DSP/Color Focus was to use Sweater Weather with the colors Chocolate chip, Crushed Curry, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Tangerine Tango. I was so excited to use this paper because I just love it. I couldn't stop at just one card, I made a whole boxed set!

The Creative Focus Was to use KITS. We were to use something with the Pretty Packages line on pages158 & 159 of the main catty or any of the kits or packages in the mini catty. I chose the tag a bag gift boxes because while decorating for our church festival, I loved how they turned out.

For the Holiday focus, we were asked to celebrate national cake day on Nov. 26. I Knew just what I wanted to do! In the tutorial section of Splitcoast, is a cake in a box using a tealight. This one is for my BFF!!

For the Scrapbook focus: The last leg of our journey, we were asked to take that walk down memory lane and share a favorite childhood memory, event, toy, or treat on scrapbook page, mixed media project or with This & That. I just finished my journal. The Seasons of Style This and That is meant to be a type of Christmas planner/organizer. I chose to use a bit of it for that, the calendar and the card list. I titled it Our Christmas Traditions. Instead of using the decor section to plan how to decorate this year, I used it to record how we decked the halls in Christmases through the years. I did the same thing for the section designated for planning the gift wrapping. In the entertainment section, I put all of our favorite holiday recipes. Here are just a few pages to show how I altered the planner organizer.