My Xmas Advent Calendar.....

So this is the post that many of you have been waiting for....it all started with one little mini muffin tin, some paper, some magnets, some punches, some markers...and of course...some chocolate!!!! I had seen this done before a couple of times and wanted to try it out for myself. So this is how I made it...I cut large circles out of cardboard (using heavy material so it would stand up to lots of touching!!) I used the Big Shot to cut these out. Then I cut the same sized circle out of DSP that was Christmas themed and adhered it to the cardboard circles. I then used little magnets (2 per circle) and stuck them to the back with glue dots.
Then I placed each circle over the muffin tin hole. Now comes the fun part...time to embellish!
Using Christmas Themed Stamp Sets (all from Stampin Up) and Die Cuts for the Big Shot, and punches too...I got busy!!! I also used glitter, brads, paperclips & ribbon, as well as dimentionals to pop each embellished circle. Then I used the Big Shot once again to cut out letters to spell..."Days Till Christmas" and used my 2 Way Glue Pen to adhere them onto the top piece of cardstock and bottom piece of cardstock.

I punched tiny little snowflakes out and freehanded the numbers on them because I didn't want them too big, taking away from all the other goodies on the advent calendar.
So this is the finished product!!! Let me know what you think! All that is really left to do is tie a ribbon to the top to hang it (my neighbor is going to do that tonight for me) and fill with Choc-o-late!! YUM YUM!!! Hope you enjoyed!!!! I am offering this as a class in a couple of weeks if anyone is interested. Cost for the class will be $50.00. What a great way to celebrate the holiday season!!!

MWAH~

This Year's Xmas Cards....

So I found this cutie on SCS and thought I would try my hand at making him!!! It was so fun to make this singing reindeer card and it is probably one of my favorites to date. As you can see, there were alot of punches uses to create this card, as well as a swirl die cut in the Big Shot. I think my elbow now has Puncher-itis from punching all these pieces out, but now they are done. I have done the card in Soft Suede & Rich Razzleberry, using some DSP that is retired for the carol book. I also searched high and low for the most appropriate sentiment and went for a retired one from Peaceful Wishes, just cause it seemed so darn bang on!!! The gals will be making a version of this card at the next Stampers 10 class!

MWAH~

Peaceful Wishes....

Well here are a couple cards I made using the same layout but in different colors. These are once again 5x5 cards ( I love this size!!!) and use the Peaceful Wishes Stamp Set from SU. The first one is done in Kiwi Kiss & Chocolate Chip and the second one is done with Bermuda Bay & Chocolate Chip. Enjoy!!

MWAH~

Christmas IS Coming...And So Is The Inspiration!!!

So this is a little card that I made using a couple of my favorite standby colors...chocolate chip & bashful blue. I used the new Delightful Decorations Stamp Set from SU, along with some bling I purchased somewhere else!!! This is a 5x5 card, using the ticket corner punches to accent the layers and some retired chocolate chip satin ribbon down the side. Very simple and elegant!! Hope you like!!

MWAH~

Announcements & Invitations Coming Your Way...

Well, since my Photoshop CS4 got loaded onto the Mac, I have been busy learning new techniques, along with working in some digital programs.  I have fallen in love with making announcements & invitations with these programs...please leave me some comments to let me know what you think.  I just find these so fun to make and I think they would probably been relatively inexpensive to print.  I am thinking that if I can find a local printer that can give me some decent pricing... I will start selling these custom gems.  Baby showers, baby announcements, save the dates, wedding invitations, wedding thank you's, party invitations....if you dream it, I will build it!!!!

Thanks so much for looking....

~MWAH!

Some Thanksgiving Haha's

With Thanksgiving peaking just around the corner….it makes you reminisce about the things that you are thankful for.  Unfortunately, I don’t know why it takes a holiday for us to actually be thankful for things, non the less, this is always a time that people reflect on their have’s and have not’s in life.  Things like….

• I am thankful that I don’t already have everything I desire…because if I did, I would have nothing in life to look forward to.
  
• I am thankful that I don’t know everything…because it gives me the opportunity to learn.
  
• I am thankful for difficult times…because during these times I will grow stronger.
  
• I am thankful for limitations…because they give me opportunities for improvements.
  

And mostly, I am thankful for my mistakes…because they will teach me valuable lessons.

This year we are very “thankful” to be invited to someone else’s home for the dinners (Yeah God!) and not only one dinner we were asked to be part of, but two!!! (Watch yer elbows!!!) So I thought I would share some Thanksgiving Dinner rules that someone emailed me that might help laugh off some of that turkey you are about to consume…..

10 RULES FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER AT MY HOUSE

1. Don’t get in line asking questions about the food. “Who made the turkey dressing? Is it egg in there? Is the salad fresh? Is the turkey organic or grain fed? Who made the mashed potatoes? What kind of pie is that? Who made it? Ask one more question and I will punch you in your mouth, knocking out all your fronts so you won’t be able to eat anything.

2. If you can’t walk or are missing any limbs, sit you’re ass down until someone makes your plate for you!!! Dinner time is not the time for you to be independent. Nibble on some damn pecans and walnuts to hold you over until someone makes you a plate.

3. If you have kids under the age of twelve, I will escort their little asses to the basement and bring their food down to them. They are not gonna tear my damn house up this year. Tell them that they are not allowed upstairs until it’s time for Uncle Stevie to start telling Family stories about their mommas and papas. If they come upstairs for any reason except for that they are bleeding to death, I will break a foot off in their asses!

4. There is going to be one prayer for Thanksgiving dinner! JUST ONE! We do not care that you are thankful that your 13 year old daughter gave birth to a healthy baby or your nephew just got out of jail. Save that talk for somebody who gives a toot. The time limit for the prayer is one minute. If you are still talking after that one minute is up, you will feel something hard come across your lips and they will be swollen for approximately 20 minutes.

5. Finish everything on your plate before you go up for seconds! If you don’t, you will be cursed out and asked to stay your greedy ass home next year!

6. BRING YOUR OWN TUPPERWARE!! Don’t let me catch you fixing yourself a plate in my good Tupperware knowing damn well that I will never see it again! Furthermore, if you didn’t bring anything over, don’t let me catch you making a plate period or it will be a misunderstanding.

7. What you came with is what you should leave with!! Do not leave my house with anything that doesn’t belong to you. EVERYBODY WILL BE SUBJECTED TO A BODY SEARCH COMING AND GOING OUT OF MY DOMAIN!!!

8. Do not leave your kids so you can go drink & smoke in the garage. This is not a DAYCARE CENTER! There will be a kid-parent roll call every ten minutes. Any parent that is not present at the time of roll call, your child will be put outside until you come and get him or her. After 24 hours, I will call child & family services on you!!

9. BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM BEFORE YOU COME INTO TOWN!! There will be no sleeping over at my house! You are to come and eat dinner and take your ass home or to your hotel room. EVERYBODY GETS KICKED THE HELL OUT AT 11:00 pm. You will get a 15 minute warning bell ring.

10. Last but not least! ONE PLATE PER PERSON!! This is not a soup kitchen. I am not trying to feed your family until Christmas dinner! You will be supervised when you fix your plate. Anything over the appropriate amount will be charged to you before you leave. There will be a cash register at the door. Thanks to Cousin Scottie and his greedy ass family, we now have a credit card machine! So VISA and MASTERCARD are now being accepted. NO FOOD STAMPS OR PUNCH CARDS YET.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Weekend and that you are surrounded by friend & family & fun!

~MWAH!

My New Must Have.....

So after a full day of techniques and tutorials, Sherrie has me hooked on the Copic Airbrush System.  Once you see how this thing works, you are going to pinch every penny you have to invest in it!!! It will take your scrapbooking and stamping to a whole new level!!!! This is the ABS1 System, which is the least expensive on the market.  The creme de la creme is the system with the compressor, you heard right ladies, a compressor! But we have been warned that one should not venture into the garage and take flight with their hubby's sitting on the work bench.  It needs to be a specific compressor or you will blow your copics to pieces...not to mention have a hell of a mess to clean up.  So for now, I think I am going to purchase the starter kit seen to your right!  I am going to purchase mine through Scrapbook Pantry because Crystal was so darn nice to me yesterday!!!!!  They have a full collection of everything Copics because, like I, she loves them too!  This system will get me up and running until I win the lotto so I can purchase the compressor system (that is an add on to what I am going to purchase).

I also had the divine pleasure of sitting next to Miz Allison Cope!!!! Check out her amazing work on her blog So Sketchy! She filled me to the brim with Copic tidbits and I am so happy that I got to meet her! She travelled all the way from Elkford, BC to get Cer-t-fied!!! And she brought along her secret compressor weapon and explained it to Miz Elke and I! Woot woot to Allison!!

So back to the airbrushing system.....I just want to share with all of you that as I watched Sherrie demonstrate the product, I was mesmerized with the fact that this opened a whole new outlet up to me.  Think of all the possibilities this would give me - no more buying colored ribbon - just white - and AIRBRUSH IT!!! Buttons, dewdrops, primas - AIRBRUSH THEM ALL!!! I was holding onto the edge of my seat while she talked about using Copics and the Airbrush System to do all these amazing little projects!!!!

So in closing....if you haven't started your hoarding of these inky little gems, get on it! You will not be sorry!!! And congrats to Tanis once again for winning my blog candy! I can feel her excitement across the world wide web (although she is only in Edmonton and shipping should only take a couple of days at most!).  Tanis does not own any copics to date so I am proud to enable her to that level!

MWAH~