Snow Man Gift Card Holder--Gettin' Punchy!

Here is one of the gift-card holder projects that we'll be working on this coming Friday. I think that I used a total of 9 punches to create our snowball-throwing snowman. My inspiration for the snowman comes from Andrea Walford, a very creative stamper in the great north of Canada. The Charlie Brown-like Christmas tree is my own creation. I think it's pretty easy to tell that I used the large SU snowflake punch for the tree and the snowman's arms.

We'll also create a more general gift-card holder and envelope! If you have the following please bring them along:

Adhesive, Scissors, Signo White Gel Pen

Punches: Round Tab, Ticket Corner, Jumbo Snowflake, Circle Punches: 1 1/4", 1", 3/4", 1/2",Slit Punch, and Crop-a-dile (For buttons, eyes, and mouth)

I'll supply everything else and snacks! Hope to see you this Friday 6-9:30 pm.

Holiday Preparations, Volleyball and Puppies!

What a great holiday season! My friend Cheri and I are preparaing for a craft fair in a few weeks and I am beginning to appreciate how many items will be needed for a respectable showing and a 6-foot table. Though this is new to me as a crafter, I have spent many a wonderful hour perusing craft tables during the holiday season! My absolute FAV is the Melbourne Lutheran Church of the Redeemer Craft Fair. So many beautifully handmade gifts and ornaments! I look forward to it every fall!! Here's what I've been working on so far: Hand-decorated recipe boxes, pocket calendars, ornaments, packages of gift tags, greeting cards and holiday cards, popcorn and candy gift items, gift bags, and Christmas Wreaths.
Using my ornament punch and transparency sheets, I was able to make my own stencil. I used Stampin' Up stamp pads in In-colors and in traditional red and green colors to make a few card sets.
Here we are in craft creations central (In other words, things are getting a little cluttered around here!) where I've been working on my Christmas wreaths. These are in copper and brown-tones.

"Life is Good" is rather a family motto for us (and the brand name of our favorite comfy tee-shirts) so I could not resist this Decor Element (Actually two!) for our dining room, where many a wonderful and lively family dinner has taken place!

I love our Definitely Decorative Baroque Medallions between my "Beach Cottage" and the Dining Room. If I only had more wallspace.........

Volleyball!

How fun it is to go to the girls' volleyball games. Here is Emma, 9, (middle) all set at her rec league match. Emma is a "go for it" girl and has a great bump and serve. Emma is not afraid to put those knee pads to use either!

Here is Abby, 13 ,serving for her middle school team, the Jackson Heights Bobcats JV, county champions last year and undefeated so far this year. Abby has a great serve, bump, and is a great setter! She is fearless, consistent and solid! Abby also plays rec league volleyball! Both girls are fortunate to have terrific coaches!!

As Promised......Puppies!

Yesterday, we visited with our daughter, Darla, her husband Kevin, and daughter Riley! We visited, cooked, carved, and played with Lucy (LuLu) the chocolicious Chocolate Lab, Ollie, their 1 1/2 year old Yorkie, and Daisy, their new Yorkie puppy. The family was also puppy-sitting Daisy's brother, Dewey, and Bongo, Daisy and Dewey's daddy. You can imagine all of the fun!!

TWO-TOO CUTE!!

A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!!

My "Beach Cottage" Stamping Room

Hi, Everyone!

First off, let me say "Congratulations and Happy Stamping!" to Linda Williamson (confetti, small horns, and streamers, please) for winning this month's Blog Candy as shown below! Linda is my stamping/Hilton Head beaching and reading around the pool/part-time golf widow friend from South Carolina! Linda and her husband, Bruce, visited us recently and was the inspiration for my previous blog!!

And Here It Is! Ta-Daaaaaa!!

I've always longed for a stamping area in my wonderful stamping storage area where I could actually work and be close to my treasure trove of fun SU stamping stuff! At present, I would end up in the dining room because a 2x2 work space just didn't work for me! Now I have my work area and as you can see, I'm putting it to good use!! I can't wait to have my stamping buddies over this Friday evening for the Grand Opening!

Below is my version of the Snow Globe (on the back of the Mini-Cat)! Mine, of course, has a Florida snowman on some rad waves!

I'm still loving the shimmery platinum paint and teamed it up with Dazzling Diamonds for another Christmas card idea. (Instead of one or two different cards this year, I'm planning on 6-8 different designs! There are just too many possibilities to confine it to just a couple of designs!

Here are the Patterned Pines from the Mini-Cat Level One Hostess Set. I love the adorable little poinsietta stamp!

Here's my 2x2 former work space turned into my little gallery! I'm making Halloween candy/cash holders for the 6 little grand-goblins! Love that window sheet from the Night and Day DSP and the Twick or Tweet characters are just the best and most fun!!

Here is my initial projct (well actually the second attempt) using my new space! It is a View Master card that I cased from Splitcoast Stampers. My version is a bit different as it is an actual fold-out card and instead of the notched circle I decided to put my die-cut large scallop circle to good use! What I love most is that all of the embellishments, except for the texts and brad, are from the Simply Scrappin' Petal Party! Just peel and stick! We may use this project for our Make 'n Take on Friday!

Revisiting Some Old Favorites!

Good Friends....
are like your favorite stamp sets! You can keep returning to them for enjoyment! It just doesn't get any better than sharing time with wonderful friends! (Especially if they share your love of stamping!!) Life is Good!





Last week, our friends, Bruce and Linda, from SC were visiting the area, and so on golf day for the guys, Linda and I got together for a wonderful & relaxed afternoon of stamping. We had enjoyed using several of my retired sets, Blossoms Abound and Cute as a Bug, when we stamped with my sister-in-law, Cindy, in Hilton Head in 2008! Out came my favorites, Lavender Lace, Always Artichoke and Lovely Lilac, along with blender pens for our afternoon of fun. We used the Fast Flowers Stampin' Around Wheel for a Fast Finish for the envelopes.


Abbey's 13th Birthday!

Here's the card I created for Abbey, who LOVES anything with zebra stripes! I used my Classic Black stamp pad to ink the die-cut letters for the envelope. They had previously been an assortment of pastels. I used white acrylic paint to jazz up the letters!


I can't resist! I'm also including some pictures of the fab birthday desserts we enjoyed at Bangkok Square, Abbey's favorite sushi restaurant. It was such fun celebrating with Abbey! (I'll bet I can find some color inspirations there too! Hmmmm....Real Red and So Saffron, Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel......)





(Just in case you're near UCF and want to try one (or more) of these, they are:


Mango/Guava Cheesecake and Mousse Cream, Bananas Tempura, & Chocolate Bombe'!)

It's time for Blog Candy!! Here is the Blog Candy for our

next drawing! It includes:

• A Pumpkin Pie Classic Stamp Pad (Just in time for Fall, Halloween, & Thanksgiving cards and gifts!


• A Versa Marker pen--Great for heat embossing and water mark patterns!


• 3 Mini-Stamps: BFF :) , Stamped with Care, & A Shamrock/Lucky You stamp.


• Samples of the In-Color Polka Dot Ribbon--All 6 yummy colors!

Be sure to leave a comment and/or become a follower for my blog to be entered. The drawing will take place on October 4th at the Fun Stampin' Sunday Open House! You do not have to be present to win!