Merry Christmas to you and Happy Freebie Friday!

Hi all! Merry Christmas!! Hope Santa brought you everything you wished for! In case you're wishing for some more stamping stuff, check out my final Freebie Friday finale giveaway for this year: The lucky winner will get

*Stampin'Up!'s new Satin 5/8" ribbon...it's awesome! (will be available in the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog)
*Heart Punch - perfect for Valentines day and all through the year!
*Holiday Best Hostess stamp set

Ready to play? Since this is the last Freebie Friday of the year, I'm extending the deadline to Thursday, December 31st at NOON Pacific Time!! Just leave me a message on this post with your email address or blog URL! You can comment about anything or share any part of your Holiday festivities! Look forward to reading your comments.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a joyful holiday season!

And the stockings were hung...

...on these Christmas cards with care. And mailed off to friends, so they'll soon make it there.

Here's a last batch of Christmas cards I made. Whew...though these ones may be late, the sentiment is the same...wishing you all a Merry Christmas! Aren't these stockings fun? I just made a few of these cards using a die I got in the summertime on clearance! They helped in a pinch since I ran out of cards and whipped these ones up in a hurry!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family!

Come back tomorrow to check out my Christmas Freebie Friday Giveaway! :)

Bye for now...

Wow...it's time for the 50th Freebie Friday drawing!

Hey there folks! It just dawned on me that this week marks the 50th Freebie Friday!! Wow - can you believe it? One more left this year! Well, let's find out who this week's lucky winner is, shall we?

And the winner is... Lucky number 10! That would be MARLA!!!! Congratulations, Marla. I'll be sending you an email soon to get your info.

Thanks all, for playing this week! I hope you'll join me in the last Freebie Friday of the year this Friday.

For the new year, I'll be posting a Freebie Friday on the Last Friday of the month, so stay tuned....keep in mind it's gonna be Stampin'Up!'s Sale-a-bration period and the new Occasions Mini catalog is coming as well, so there may be some goodies from there {wink wink!}

I am gonna keep it short tonight, because I am still finishing up on my holiday preparations. This is probably the most last minute I've been {yikes! working on some New Year's Resolutions to stay on top of things...}

Have a good night and I'll catch up with you guys in a bit!

Happy Birthday, BRO!

Today's my brother's birthday {his name is Richard}, so I thought I'd post a Birthday Greeting for him. My brother and his family live in Birmingham, Alabama where he and his wife, Carrie, own their Crossfit Gym. If you live in the area, you should definitely check it out!

Hope you have a great birthday today, bro! Wish we could be there to celebrate :) Cheers to you!

{I even worked out today in your honor ;) }

Freebie Friday - I love BRADS!

Hi there! How are you guys? I know I've been awfully quiet this week. I guess being busy is a good thing, right? If only I could slow down the clock a bit. Do you guys have those days (or weeks)? I haven't forgotten about today, it's just a little late in coming is all! Now that I've gotten a quick second to catch my breath, I've found some time to write this post! Can you guess what this week's giveaway is? Here's a look: You like? Now, don't you LOVE these BRADS, too? They are Stampin'Up!'s Star Designer Brads and the 5/8" Brads, which would make great embellishments on your crafting projects (in my humble opinion, that is).

Ready to play for these? All you need to do is leave me a comment on this post with your email address or Blog URL so that I can contact you if you win! You have until Sunday, December 20th at NOON, Pacific time. You can comment about anything, or tell me if you are all done with your Holiday gift shopping. I'll be the first to tell you that I am soo not done yet! I feel like this Christmas season is whirling right by so fast!!! This year, I'm definitely in the last minute shopper category. Thank goodness for online shopping and shipping!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Shopping Bag Winner announcement!

Hello there blog peeps! Hope you had a great Monday. Sorry I'm a little late in announcing the Freebie Friday winner today, but time seems to escape me every now and again. I've finally caught up to it....are you ready to find out?

The lucky winner of the Stampin'Up! reusable grocery bag is... Lucky number 3, who happens to be Kelli! Congrats, Kelli :) Here's what she had to say: I had fun reading all your comments. The majority of you sound like you do make your own cards, as well. There's also some of you that are in a similar boat as me....as in a teenie bit behind in getting them out the door {smile}. We still have some time though. Speaking of, I better try and do some of them tonight! Have a good one!

12 Days of Holiday Sales..on Big Shot Dies!!

Hi all! I am a day late in sharing this with you, but you still have plenty of time to take advantage of this awesome Stampin'Up! sale. It's from now til December 22nd. You can shop 24/7 on my Demonstrator Website, by clicking on the Shop Now button in the upper right corner. Here's a preview of what's on sale. You can view these and get all the details on my Demo site as well.





It's a great time to take advantage of these deals on Big Shot Dies! Have fun shopping! :)

Freebie Friday - Need a shopping bag?

Happy Freebie Friday all! It's a rainy day here in Southern CA. Definitely feels like winter! I'm so glad it's Friday, this week has been quite a crazy one!

For today's Freebie, I thought I would offer another chance at the cute Stampin'Up totes I had offered this past summer. I've found that this is a great little bag to have on hand in your car! Here's a look again at the bag - it's the one in the front pictured below. I'll take another picture of it later and post it, but for now, this will have to do: Isn't it cute?

Ready to play? All you need to do is leave me a comment with your email address or blog URL so I can get a hold of you if you're the lucky winner! You have until Sunday, December 13th at NOON Pacific Time to leave me a comment on this post. You're free to comment on anything, or you can tell me what you do for holiday cards - do you make them? buy them? send any? I would imagine that many of you probably make them, but no worries if you don't! I still have not gotten mine finished and mailed, so I am really running behind!

Look forward to hearing from you. Have a great day!

Sneak Peek and Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 20

Hi there! Happy Thursday! Tonight, not only am I sharing a card I created for Dawn's Raspberry Suite Challenge 20, but I am also giving you a sneak peek of some goodies from the upcoming Occasions Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalog!!! Don't those butterflies look fun? It's a brand new exclusive Stampin'Up! Sizzix Embosslit called Beautiful wings. There are 5 various butterflies in different sizes and textures. You'll love it - the butterflies are gorgeous! And how about that border? It has a matching corner punch, too! This is the Scallop Trim border punch available in the Sale-a-Bration catalog and Scallop Corner punch that's in the Occasions Mini. Lots of fun stuff coming up starting January 5th! More info coming soon...Now, let's take a look at fun colors: The colors I used are SU!'s Chocoloate Chip, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Dusty Durango and one of my favorite retired colors, Baja Breeze. Wanna see the full card?
Here you go. The ribbon is also a new offering in Stampin'Up!'s Occasions mini - 5/8" Satin Ribbon which is soo lovely and beautiful to tie. Pretty much all the supplies are Stampin'Up! on this card, except for the pearl stickers. Here's the recipe for you:

{Hello Beautiful Wings Card}
*Cardstock: Textured Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze {retired}, Dusty Durango, Kraft, Very Vanilla
*Ink: Dusty Durango
*Stamp Set: Hello Again
*Accessories: Scallop Trim Border {in the Sale-a-Bration catalog} and Scallop Trim Corner {in the Occasions Mini}, Beautiful Wings Embosslit {in the Occasions Mini}, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon {Occasions Mini}, half pearl stickers (craft store)

Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping in :)

My 2010 calendar project

Hey there! Just thought I'd share a few pages from the first calendar I made in the MDS program. It's a 12x12 size, and I created the calendar with the intention of giving them as Christmas gifts for some friends and family. Calendars are pretty fun to make because they're quick! I used one picture per month, since this is a scenic calendar, but you have the flexibility to choose your picture layouts and color schemes, so it really is up to you! I went with simple and clean lines, because I thought the scenes were gorgeous on their own. Here's a look:

Stampin'Up! offers professional printing services for the MDS program, so the calendars will be printed on heavy weight quality cardstock and wire bound at the top. I just placed my first order, so I'll keep you posted on how the finished product looks. I'm excited! Can't wait to see how they come out :)

Animal Crackers Winner announcement!

Hi blog friends! Hope you all had a great weekend. I think I got some much needed R&R this weekend, so I'm ready to start the work week all bright eyed and bushy tailed (at least for now!). Looks like I got a great response to the Animal Crackers giveaway! I am so glad that a bunch of you played and left me fun comments! You guys ready to find out the winner? This week's lucky winner is... Lucky number 6...who happens to be Robyn W.! Congrats to you Robyn W. and thank you to all of you that played :) Just 3 more weeks left til the end of the year and the last one happens to be on Christmas! That'll be a great present for someone :)

Well, as far as holiday decorating goes, we were able to get the lights up outside the house and I got to put out the wreath on the front door, but our inside of the house has yet to be decorated. I'm hoping to do a little bit each day during the week and finish off by Saturday. On the Christmas card front, I am now officially TOTALLY behind. Let's just say I'm going to have to recruit my helper (dear hubby) to help do some assembling this week.

Have a great day and I'll catch up with you guys later. Toodles!

Wine Tag

I love it when I come across different ways to use the Big Shot dies I have! Today's project is a wine tag I created using the Stampin'Up! exclusive Two Tags Sizzix Bigz Die. Just in time for Holiday gift giving! These tags are perfect to have on hand to throw on a bottle to bring to the many holiday parties of the season. Here's a look at it in full view around the bottle. Not sure if you can tell in these pictures, but my little birdie is all covered up in Dazzling Diamonds glitter to give him some holiday bling! What do you think? Here's another closer view of the tag on the bottle. This is such an easy-peasy project, too! All I need to do now is write who this wine is for and we're good to go! Here's the recipe:

{Two Tags Wine Tag}
All supplies Stampin'Up!
*Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Merry Moments DSP
*Accessories: Stampin'Up exclusive Two Tags Sizzix Bigz Die, Bird and Blooms Sizzlits, Silver brad, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 1 3/8" Circle punch, Scallop Circle punch, Snowflake punch.

It's getting late for me, so off to bed I go! See you guys tomorrow for the Freebie Friday Winner announcement. Bye now :)

Oliver's Christmas Card

I was just playing around with SU!'s My Digital Studio and thought I would try and make a Christmas card for my kitty, Oliver. Since I haven't quite gotten to decorating my house yet this year, this is a picture of Oliver from last Christmas. As you can see - he's a good little helper with the decorations :) I was happily surprised to be able to put this card together so quickly! This is one of the pre-set designer templates in the program, so all I had to do was literally drop the picture in!

I also spent some time creating a calendar this afternoon and that was fun too! I made a scenic one vs. a family picture one. This has scenes from our trip to Croatia last year. Maybe I'll even share a sneak peek of a few pages sometime later this week. Looking at those pictures definitely got me all nostalgic about our trip! If I had only "virtually" met my blogging friends Jane and Nina before we went on our trip last year, I would have made a point to meet them when we were out there! :) One of these days, I'm sure our paths will cross...{right, ladies?}

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend so far. By for now.

Anyone up for Freebie Friday Animal Crackers?

Happy Friday all! It’s a chilly morning here in Southern CA, so it’s beginning to feel like winter at 50 degrees. And, believe it or not, it’s forcasted to be 38 degrees on Sunday! BRRRR!!! Hope you guys had a great week. Big plans for the weekend? I know I need to get going on my Christmas cards so I can send them out next week!

Are you ready for today’s Freebie Friday? If you were wondering what I meant in my blog post title, I was referring to this week’s freebie, which is the Animal Crackers stamp set! It is just too cute! And what yummy animal crackers they are!
All you need to do is leave me a comment on this post by Sunday, December 6th at 12 NOON Pacific time (if you’re viewing this post on Facebook, you need to actually leave the comment on my blog). Please be sure to either leave your email address in the comment or a blog URL so I can contact you :) You can comment on anything or tell me about what you and your family do to decorate/get ready for the holidays. Look forward to reading your comments! Have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today :)

In the Spotlight for Raspberry Suite #19!

Hi peeps! Happy Thursday! As you guys can probably tell from my lack of postings, I haven't quite figured out a routine yet with the work schedule. So far, work's going well, now it's just trying to juggle the precious free time ( about an hr or 2) each day to do everything I want and need to do!

Anyway, I digress...I'm actually posting about something I'm super excited and honored about! I was so happy to discover I made it in Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Challenge #19! Woohoo! That made my week! Here's a look at all her picks for this round: My card is letter H! You can check out my original post here.

Thanks for stopping by to visit! Have a great night. Yay...tomorrow's Friday! Another Freebie's coming up :)

Bye for now.

The Scallop Border Punch Winner is....

Hey there! Happy Monday all :) It's time to find out who the Freebie Friday winner is! You ready? The winner of the Scallop border punch is...

Lucky number 16, who happens to be Ruth Norton! Congrats, Ruth! Thanks all for playing this week!

There are 4 more weeks left of this year's Freebie Friday giveaways! Hope you all continue to play with me! :) Starting in 2010, I will be changing up my Freebie Friday giveaway to a monthly contest that will be on the Last Friday of the Month. I think this will streamline things for me a little bit, plus, I'll be able to offer bigger giveaways {sound good to you?}. More details to come in the New Year!

Have a great week, all! I'll catch up with you a little later. Toodles!

PS - Just a reminder that today's the last day to take advantage of Stampin'Up!'s Big Sale (up to 50% off on select items and bundles)- you can shop now at my Demonstrator Website.

Cards Blog Button Challenge

Hi peeps! I can't believe it's already Sunday. I'm lamenting the fact that the long weekend is coming to a close. Luckily, this coming week at work is Jeans week, so I've got that going for me. And, I was able to squeeze in a challenge today from the CARDS blog. The criteria is to use at least 5 buttons on a card. I happened to use 6 for good measure {heehee!}. Here's the card I created: I've had the idea of a snow globe for a couple weeks, but just haven't had the time to put the concept on paper. I was also debating on what to put into my snow globe. This challenge sort of led me to do a Christmas Tree with buttons. For the base, I used the Olive Green grosgrain ribbon and then added my buttons on top. To create the globe, I used the Stampin'Up! Sizzix Clear circle Bigz die and also used that for the snow, which I just cut into a wavy slopy pattern. To give my snow a little shimmer, I added some dazzling diamonds glitter on the edges. Here's a look at the side view.
You can see that the inside of the card is basically put together like the front of the card. I just adhered the top together with Tombo glue. The base was cut from the Clear Circle die as well, then I cut the black circle in half and trimmed the top rounded edge off. Here's the recipe:

{Button Christmas Tree Globe Card}
All supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted
*Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red
*Stamp set: Christmas punch, Teeny Tiny Wishes
*Inks: Whisper White Craft Ink Pad, Real Red Classic Ink Pad
*Accessories: Modern Label punch, Sizzix Clear Circl Bigz die, Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Vintage Brads, PTI Buttons, red embroidery floss, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, sponge dauber (for the white shading on the base).

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you guys have a great week!

I'll be announcing the Freebie Friday winner tomorrow morning, so stay tuned. Bye for now.

Happy Post Thanksgiving Freebie Friday!

Hi all! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Did you guys eat as much as I did? I probably need to do some exercise activity today. Since it is "Black Friday", do you have any plans of braving the crowds and going shopping today? I may actually do a bit of that after I do some work of course. Yes, work. Being the newbie that I am, I've got to fulfill some work commitments. But it is what it is. And I am happy and thankful to have a job. Plus, the Retail Therapy afterwards will be fun and will give me some form of exercise for the day :)

So, are you ready for today's Freebie Friday? How about getting punchy? This scallop border punch is awesome - you've probably seen it showcased in a handful of cards I've posted ;)

To win this fun must-have punch, all you have to do is leave me a comment on this blog post with your name and email address or blog url - enough for me to contact you! You have until Sunday, November 29th at 12 NOON Pacific Time. Feel free to comment about anything, or tell me what your favorite Thanksgiving dish is. For me, I'd have to say it's the stuffing. My mother-in-law's recipe is so delish! We've got plenty of leftovers, so I'll probably be having more of that this weekend :)

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day! If you want to stay home and shop online, don't forget you can get lots of awesome Stampin'Up! stuff on sale til November 30th! You can go to my Demonstrator Website here, then click on the Shop Now button, and you'll be good to go!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi all! Just wanted to take a quick sec to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving :) This is the Thanksgiving card I made last year - an oldie, but a goodie. Enjoy your day!

So Thankful!

Since it's Thanksgiving week, I thought I'd share a few things I'm thankful for. Get ready, this is a long post...

Let's start off with this - You know what I love about blogging? It's all the great friends you meet in the blogosphere. From the friends that I've come to know who've left me fun and sweet comments as well as the friends I've discovered through my own blurfing, commenting, and blog following.

This post of mine is quite tardy on a few fronts - first, I want to say I am so grateful for getting 2 awards from my blogging friends Jane and Winter! I'm so glad I've met them online. They both are so sweet, super creative and have awesome blogs! Jane is a friend from Zagreb, Croatia, who's given me a Smile Award! This award is for people that make you smile - and I totally appreciate it {the funny thing is, SHE totally makes me smile!}. :)

For this award, I'm supposed to tell you 5 things about me and also nominate 5 people that make me smile.

Here are my 5 things about me.

1. I was born in the Philippines and moved to the US when I was 4 years old, and have lived in Southern California ever since.
2. I was a psychobiology major at UCLA, but I am not doing anything related to the field (however, the current company I work for is in Healthcare, so while it's a little bit of a stretch, you could say it's kind of related).
3. My new job is 6 miles away from my parent's house where I grew up. On the flip side, it's also 55 miles away from where I live now.
4. I've run 3 marathons so far and hope to run another one next year. I really need to start training for it!
5. My favorite author is Jane Austen, and my all time favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. I've read many other books I've enjoyed since then, but I always seem to go back to that book.

Now for 5 blogging friends that I'm tagging for this award...always the hard part to narrow these down, cuz there are lots of blogs that bring a smile to my face! I wouldn't be surprised if they have already gotten this award too, ! :) Ladies - thanks for your talents and inspiration :) No pressure to do this - it's all for fun, so do it if you can!

1. ~amy~
2. Savitri
3. Heather
4. Susan
5. Wendy

I was also lucky to get the Over The Top Blog Award from Winter. She's got such a fun blog too! She's one very talented gal. You gotta check her blog out if you haven't already. For this award, I'm supposed to answer this list of questions using one word. So, here's even more information about me (I know, it's a little information overload today)...

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your hair? Dark
3. Your mother? Cheerful
4. Your father? Strong
5. Your favorite food? Steak
6. Your dream last night? Blank
7. Your favorite drink? Wine
8. Your dream/goal? Happiness
9. What room are you in? Computer
10. Your hobby? Papercrafts
11. Your fear? Abandonment
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Fulfilled
13. Where were you last night? Friends
14. Something that you aren't? Tall
15. Muffins? Okay
16. Wish list item? Stamps
17. Where did you grow up? California
18. Last thing you did? Laundry
19. What are you wearing? Jeans
20. Your TV? On
21. Your Pets? Cat
22. Friends? Lots
23. Your life? Happy
24. Your mood? Balanced
25. Missing Someone? Bro
26. Vehicle? Garage
27. Something your not wearing? shoes
28. Your favorite store? JCrew
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Weeks
32. Your best friend? Michael
33. One place that I go to over and over? Mall
34. Facebook? Yes
35. Favorite place to eat? Home

Now, here are 5 more people I'm nominating for this award. I enjoy their blogs and think it'd be fun to find out more about them! (Again, no pressure ladies..play if you have the time and if you want to!)

1. Melissa S
2. LeAnne P
3. Tara B
4. Rochelle G
5. Rachel S

Thank YOU all, for dropping by my corner of the world. Hope to get to know you better!

Save BIG on Stampin'Up!'s HUGE SALE

How cool is that?! Get ready for the holidays and shop from now til November 30th! All from the comfort of your very own computer. No crowds, no line...Just visit my Demonstrator website and click the Shop Now button in the upper right corner. Here's a sneak peek at some of the savings...30%-50% off! Stampin'Up! has even packaged some great card and stamping bundles, too! You gotta check it out. To sweeten the deal, if you place an order of $50 (before tax) or more from my Demonstrator site anytime this week until November 30th, I'll send you a Dasher Stamp ($8.95 value) for FREE! This will be mailed to you from me on December 5th. Happy Shopping!

Announcing last week's Freebie Friday Winner

Hi peeps! Hope you had a good Monday. I'm just now getting around to announcing last week's Freebie Friday winner...you ready? The odds were pretty good for winning the ornament..1 out of 7 isn't bad at all. So, without further adieu, the lucky winner is...
Thanks all for playing! One more weekend in November and then we're down to December! Wow. I can't believe we're almost to the end of the year. Hope you come and play with me the rest of the year - there's some fun stuff coming. :)

In th meantime, hope you have a great night!

Double Challenge Card Time

Hi again! I know, it's my second post today. But, I figured, I may as well take advantage of the time, right? It's been such a precious commodity lately! Anyway, I love doing challenges, so when I saw I could do 2 in one today, I got pretty excited about it! The card I created combines Dawn Mc Vey's Raspberry Suite Challenge 19 and the Pals Paper Arts Challenge 17. Here's a look at the color and card sketches: For the colors, I used Stampin'Up!'s Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and Mauve Mist. Now, here's a look at the sketch:
Love the clean lines of this layout by Margaret Moody! Here's a look at my full card: I used the Petal Pizazz stamp set for the four colored flowers - it's a set I haven't used in a little while, so it was nice to bring it off the shelf! :) The embossed background is one of the Sizzix Texturz plates that I also got a while back at a craft show. I thought the swirly background fit in with Dawn's swirly flourish in the Color Challenge photo. What do you think? Hope you like it! Here are the details:

{Four Color Petal Pizazz Card}
All Supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted:
*Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and Mauve Mist
*Stamp Set: Petal Pizazz
*Ink Pads: Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and Mauve Mist
*Accessories: Scallop Square, 1 1/4" Square, and Modern Label punches, Vintage Brads, Rhinestone stickers {craft store}, Sizzix Texurz Embossing plate.

Thanks for popping by!

Holiday Welcome

Hi there! Hope you're enjoying your Sunday so far. I am really cherishing my weekends now, since I'm finding that I don't have much down time during the week! I'm realizing that papercrafting is truly such a relaxing activity to me, that now that I don't have as much time for it, I'm sort of going through some crafting withdrawal. Who knew?! Well, luckily, after doing a bunch of chores and errands yesterday, I got the chance to do some blurfing, and was inspired to create this card! I love all the house themed cards I'm seeing on blogs and websites and things, so I wanted to create a door card. And, you all know how I love the snowflake punch, so imagine how excited I got when I discovered it can be a wreath, too! Isn't this door fun? Can you believe there's no stamping involved - just all kinds of fun papercrafting! Here's a full view: I made my snowy door by using a sponge dauber and the Frost White Shimmer Paint. My door knob is from the 5/16" Jumbo brads. Here's a close up of the wreath - it's just 2 punched out snowflakes from the Merry Moments DSP - I picked the pattern that had 2 different greens on both sides. And, of course, I had to put a button in the center. I think it finishes it off - what do you think? Here's the recipe:

{Holiday Welcome Door Card}
All supplies Stampin'Up!
*Cardstock: Real Red, Merry Moments DSP
*Accessories: Jumbo Snowflake punch, White Taffeta ribbon, Playground button, Linen Thread, Jumbo Brad, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Sponge Dauber

Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by! :)