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! :)

Holiday Gift Giving

Hi there, blog peeps! Happy Saturday! Have you guys started buying gifts for the holidays? I can't believe it's already that time! Well, here's a great gift guide for the crafters in your life {yourself, included, I'm sure - *wink!*}. You can check out the full guide here and you can shop anytime on my Demonstrator Website - just click on the Shop Now button in the upper right corner. There are a lot of great ideas, for all the different groups of people in your life, and a variety of price points so you can stay within your budget! Plus, from now til January 4th, when you spend $50 from this gift giving guide, you also get to pick a Decor Elements piece (valued up to $16.95). What a great deal, huh?! Enjoy the shopping from the comfort of your computer!

I'll be back in a bit....need to work on some chores! Bye for now.

Yay - it's Friday! And it's time for a Freebie!

Hi all! How was your week?! I don't know how it happens, but lately, time just seems to find ways to go faster and faster! Except, of course, when I'm on the freeway. I've been on the road quite a bit this week {literally - on the 405, for you Southern CA locals} and for whatever reason, traffic has been absolutely horrendous! Thankfully, the weekend is almost here! But even more importantly, it's a Freebie Friday! I was trying to figure out what to do this week, and what I ended up doing was a quick little ornament that was inspired by many I've seen on the Splitcoaststamper's website. Here's my version, and this week's giveaway! It's quick and easy, and uses strips of paper, a hatpin and a few embellishments from the Pretties Kit! Hope you like it! (I'll share directions this weekend, when I have a bit more time to put it all together!)

Are you ready to play? All you need to do is leave me a comment with your email address or blog URL (enough info for me to contact you!) by November 22nd, Sunday at noon, Pacific Time. You can comment on anything or you can tell me about something you are thankful for this year. I would love to hear about it. I, personally, am so thankful to you all for keeping me inspired and motivated to keep on creating. I am also so thankful for my dear hubby, my wonderful family, and great friends - old and new. And, of course, my new job ;) Looking back on 2009, I'd say it's been filled with mixed blessings and surprises. And, I am very grateful for it all.

Oh, I also wanted to give a quick shout to my last 2 Freebie Friday winners...I want to apologize to you both for my super tardy delivery of your goodies...I haven't forgotten about you. Let's just say it's been a challenge to get to the Post Office. I will get your goodies to you soon! Thanks for understanding :)

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Bye for now!

Baby Gap Inspired Gift Card Holder

Hi there! In keeping with the Christmas theme and traditional Christmas colors, I thought I'd share a quick and simple Gift Card Holder, inspired by the one from Baby Gap. The 2 samples in the picture above are my remodeled take of the gift card holder style. Here's a look at where the inspiration came from. And here's the inside:
I designed the ribbon closure to secure the gift card closed, and as a biproduct of this design, it turns out that the giftcard can also be adhered to the ribbon using glue dots. Here's a look at the inside:
It's super simple and so cute! I created the Real Red one first, and as you can see, it's cute as is in solid red and an accent ribbon in Old Olive. I then created the snowflake one and stamped the snowflake from the Patterned Pines Hostess Stamp set, and wrapped it up with the Real Red Polka Dot ribbon. Wanna know how I made it? Here are the instructions:

1. You will need to cut a piece of cardstock or DSP to a 9 1/4" x 5". Embellish as desired (ie stamp or leave plain).
2. Score the cardstock at 2 1/2" and 6 1/2" and crease at the score lines.
3. Using your paper trimmer and cutting blade, go back to each of the score lines and cut a half-inch long slit along the score line from 2 1/4" to 2 3/4"
4. Using the Scallop Border punch, punch the border along the edge of one of the flaps (this is the flap that is 2 3/4" from the scoreline).
5. Take your 1/2" or 5/8" ribbon and feed it through the 2 slits you created.
6. Fold your gift card up and assemble it, tying it closed with your ribbon. The finished size of this little project is 4"x5".

{Baby Gap Inspired Gift Card Holder}
All supplies Stampin'Up!
*Cardstock: Real Red, and Whisper White
*Stamp Set: Patterned Pines
*Ink: Real Red Classic Stamp Pad
*Accessories: Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Border punch

Now, go and try it out! It's handy to have on hand for those extra gift cards you may need to give out during the holdiays. Have fun!

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Friday the 13th Freebie Friday Winner

Happy Monday, all! Ready to start off the week? I'm ready - it's the start of week #3 for me at the new jobbie job! WooHoo! Half way to a month already {heehee}. Well, enough of my random morning chatter...let's find out who the winner of the treat holder is! Drumroll please. The lucky winner is... Lucky number 4, who happens to be Aubri!! Congrats, Aubri! Thanks all for playing!

I'll catch up with you guys in a bit. Off to work I go.

Christmas Cheer PPA challenge

Hi all! Are you enjoying your weekend? I'm trying to enjoy every bit of mine...and catch up with all the household chores and errands that have seemed to pile up during the past week. {How does that happen?!} Well, amidst all of that, I found a quick second to create a card for the PPA Challenge 16 this week, which is a Theme Challenge for Christmas Cheer. As you can probably tell from my blog postings these last few weeks, I've been mostly creating cards with Christmas Cheer in mind! So, along those lines, here's the card I created for the challenge:
I LOVE the real red cardstock and the polka dot grosgrain ribbon. They scream Christmas to me :) ...in a happy way, of course. The Snowflake punch has also been one of my favorites for this season, embellished with some sort of button. For this card, I threaded the corduroy button with a sliver of the real red cardstock. The only stamping on the card is the "Christmas Cheer" postage stamp, from the Christmas Punch stamp set, so this card is pretty quick to put together! Here's the recipe:

{Christmas Cheer Card}
All supplies Stampin'Up!
*Stamp Set: Christmas Punch
*Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Merry Moments DSP, and Christmas Cocoa DSP
*Ink: Real Red Classic Ink
*Accessories: Jumbo Snowflake, Scallop Square, and Scallop Border punches; Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon, Kiwi Kiss corduroy button {retired}, Button Latte button, Linen Thread, dimensionals (to pop up the scallop squares)

What do you think? Hope you like it!

Since I've been MIA most of this past week, I have a backlog of things I'd like to post, so I will try and catch up on some of these this week. Plus, for tomorrow, I'll be announcing the Freebie Friday winner. Til then, I'm gonna say bye for now.

Thanks so much for visiting me today!

Happy Freebie Friday the 13th!

Hello blog peeps! Hope you all had a good week. Me? I've been a busy girl still adjusting to my new schedule. Boy, has it been a busy one! {I didn't even realize it was a Friday the 13th until I heard it on the news this morning!!}So, sorry for the lack of posting this week. One great development this week is that I've found a carpool buddy, so that does help with the commute factor by a LOT. Once things get settled down, I'll try to post more often. For now, let's get on with this week's Freebie Friday, shall we? Here's a full view: It's a 2 Tag Treat holder! This idea was shared by a fellow demonstrator and I thought it was just too cute! This week's winner will get this Treat Holder and a kit to make 3 more (kit includes 6 tags, ribbon, 6 buttons, twine, 3 cello bags, 3snowflake punched images). The treat holder is made from the 2 Tags Bigz die and actually uses 2 of the wider tags on the die. Super easy peasy! Very simple to assemble - just crease the 2 tags, and adhere the bottom flaps together with Sticky Strip to create the base. Then, weave the ribbon through the pre-punched hole at the top of the tag, tie it off with a button and twine, and the holder is assembled! All you need to do is put the treat in, {you'll get the treat in the sample, and you can supply the remaining 3 ;) }
Here's the side view of the Treat Holder - it's got 2 Snickers for you!

Are you ready to play? All you need to do is leave me a comment with your email address or blog URL (enough info for me to contact you!) by November 15th, Sunday at noon, Pacific Time. You can comment on anything or you can tell me about any Thanksgiving traditions you have. Looking forward to reading your comments and finding out more about you!

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great day! Bye for now.

Time to announce the winner...

Morning all! Hope you guys had fab weekend. I love the weekends and I'm glad I got to catch up a little and relax. But, here we are again - already Monday! The good news is, it's time to find out who our winner is for this Freebie Friday Joy Frame. So, without further adieu, the lucky winner this week is.. Lucky number 6, who happens to be Martha! Congrats, Martha! Please send me an email with your contact info, so I can get your goodie over to you.

Thanks everyone for playing! I'll catch up with you guys a little later on...have a great day!

Moxie Fab Plum Crazy Challenge

Hi blog peeps! I needed my challenge fix for the week, so I thought I'd play in Moxie Fab's Plum Crazy Challenge. Yay! There've been a couple things I've wanted to try with cards - 1) doing some sort of ruffle, and 2) making a ribbon rosette, so I decided I'd incorporate both things in one card. Not to mention, plum is not in my typical color palette for cards, so that was fun experimenting too. I think the finished card is growing on me, but I wasn't sure if the purple and plum colors I picked totally go together. Maybe my eyes have adjusted to the color scheme :) Here's another angle of the card. I think what pulls it together is the black background and ribbon. I have to say I love the saddle stitched ribbon! I think the combination of that and the Finial Press embossing folder, and rosette dress up the card a notch. So what do you think? These colors remind me of a cool fall day. Here's a close up of the rosette: The rosette is actually 2 parts, the middle of the flower is the ribbon twisted into a flower shape by starting at the center and working your way out in a circle. I used sticky strip on cardstock as a base to adhere the flower as I went around. Then, when I got to the size I wanted, I tucked the end piece under to hide it. Next, I snipped the cardstock base closely around the circle so you don't actually see the cardstock it's mounted on. For the petals - that's where my ruffles come in. I stitched one edge of the ribbon and then gathered it to create the ruffle. Then I used sticky strip to adhere the ruffle around the bottom of the rosette cardstock. Voila!

Don't look to close at the text on the leaves...I actually punched the leaves out of the food section in the newspaper, so I think the text snippets are about a recipe involving polenta. Funny, huh? Anyway, I've also been intrigued with the use of text as patterned backgrounds, so I thought I'd give it a whirl and use resources I already had. Here's the card recipe:

{Razzleberry Rosette Card}
All supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted:
*Cardstock: Textured Basic Black, Lovely Lavender cardstock
*Stamp sets: Teeny Tiny Wishes
*Accessories: Top Note Bigz die, Finial Press embossing folder, Razzleberry Grosgrain ribbon, Black Saddle Stitched Grosgrain ribbon {PTI}, crystals {from the local craft store}, sticky strip, hot glue gun (to adhere the flower onto the card)

Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

Weekend Update

Hey there. How are you guys doing this weekend? Well, I'm happy to say I'm having a relaxing afternoon, after an already busy start of the weekend. This morning was Sandy Hancock's Quarterly Demonstrator meeting at the Spaghetti Factory, which is in Duarte, CA. For those of you not local to the area, that's about 50 miles from my house. So, I got to start off my weekend with more driving! It was well worth it though. I definitely came back with lots of great ideas, and I was even asked to share some ideas for the Holidays. Here are a couple pictures of my display table {if you're a regular to my blog, you'll probably recognize a couple of things - wink}. Notice the wreath on the left? It's made out of 3 different Stampin'Up! ribbons tied around a Chipboard skeleton {It's the On Board Batch of Blooms chipboard pack in the SU! catalog}. I'll be posting the details of how I made this wreath sometime this week, so check back soon!
These are the swaps I made for the meeting - which I had shared on this post. I've really taken a liking to the pink Christmas card this season. Can you tell? So, that's a quick look at my table. I'll share more pictures from the meeting in my posts this week as well :)

Now, I want to share something non-stamping with you guys. Did I tell you guys how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband, who also loves to cook? Well, here's the dish we had last night - it was scrumptious!
It's Michael's Scallop Salad topped with parmesan slices, which had homemade croutons, and some yummy veggies - corn, red bell pepper, radish, and avocado. And he made his own dressing, too - a nice vinegarette with a splash of lemon juice. It truly was delish!

So, why do I digress about my husband's food? Well, my ultimate goal is to create a cookbook of his original recipes and publish it using the My Digital Studio! Now, if I get my act together, I can take pictures and put out say a dozen of his recipes to start with. Call it my pet project :) Since I haven't really photographed much food, it'll be good practice for me. So, on occasion, I may share some more of my hubby's creations with you on the good ol' blog :)

Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoy your weekend! I'll catch up with you guys later. Ciao!

More Freebie Friday JOY!

Yay!!! It's FRIDAY! Whew! Glad to have made it through the week. Especially because I'm excited to share this Freebie with you - it's a fun gift idea for the Holidays! I am still filled with JOY and I captured it in this Holiday Frame {heehee}. I was a busy little bee last weekend trying to come up with some Holiday Decor ideas. I'll actually be sharing this project along with other Holiday Decor ideas at my demonstrator table tomorrow at the Spaghetti Factory meeting. So...for you demos planning to attend Sandy Hancock's meeting on November 7th, here's a sneak peek at what you'll see :) Here's a full view of the frame.
Like it? Hope so! I got the frames at Ikea and they come in a 2 pack and fit a 5"x5" picture. This would be a great project to make and give to hostesses, friends, teachers, etc. Plus, it's got the home made touch, so it makes it that much more special :)

Wanna win this frame? Here's what you need to do to play for this Freebie Friday giveaway - leave me a comment on this post with your email address or blog URL by 12 NOON, Pacific Time, on Sunday, November 8th. You can comment about anything or tell me about one memorable occasion in your life that brought you great JOY :) Can't wait to read about what you guys have to say!

Also, please note that I moved up the deadline time so I can pick a winner on Sunday and post who the lucky person is on my blog on Monday, November 9th.

Be sure to come back and see if you won! Have a great weekend!

Greetings!

Hello there blog peeps! I really am still here, it's just been a little bit of a challenge for me to squeeze in some blog posts with the new work schedule and all. So, just wanted to let you know that it may take me a couple of weeks before I can get into a regular groove and carve out time to create my posts and all that good stuff. Hope you can bear with me! In the meantime, are you wondering what the stamped pieces are for in the picture above? These, dear friends, are for the card front trades I created for this weekend's Demonstrator meeting at the Spaghetti Factory. It's a slight take on my Melon Mambo Christmas card I made, only this time, it's in ornament form. And here are a few more I hung up on a mini Christmas tree. {Sorry about the lighting - I photographed these at night in a spot that didn't have the best lighting in the house}.
What do you think? This ornament card is a great one to mass produce, because all the components are pretty easy and straightforward to put together. For the snow, I first cut the circles using the Clear Circle Bigz die, then I ran it through the Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder. Next, I drew the template for the curvy snow shape and then just cut and traced it onto the circles I embossed (2 snowy slopes fit on a circle). Here's the full recipe.

{Melon Mambo Pine Tree Ornament}
All supplies Stampin'Up!
*Stamp Sets: Patterned Pines, For All You Do, Grateful Greetings
*Cardstock: Blush Blossom, Whisper White
*Inks: Melon Mambo Classic Stamp Pad
*Accessories: SU Clear Circle Sizzix Bigz die, Tab Punch, Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon

Hope you like it! Thanks for visiting! Stay tuned for Freebie Friday...bye for now :)

Freebie Friday Winner and First day update

Good evening, blog friends! I know I'm getting to the Freebie Friday Winner announcement a little late today, but it's all for good reason - today was my first day of my new job and I had to make sure I got out of the house on time this morning, so didn't get a chance to post. Hope you guys understand. :)

So, here I am after my first day of the new job, excited and ready to share who the winner of the Joy Banner is. Are you guys ready? The lucky winner of the Joy Banner, is: who happens to be Kara! Congrats Kara! Thanks all for playing in another week of Freebie Friday...there's only 8 more left this year. Wow! Can you believe it? I am so glad you all have played with me so far :) It looks like my blog is coming up on a big milestone before the year's up, so stay tuned... :)

On the job front, I had a great first day! My commute was manageable and I am really excited about my job :) I'll keep you guys posted. Sidenote - I drive past the Ellison Corporate Headquarters (parent company of Sizzix) on my way to work! That's kind of fun :)

Have a great day!