announcing...the December Final Friday Winner!

Hey there friends!  Wow - can you believe we're already at the end of the year?! Crazy how fast time flies!  Well, since today is the last day of the year, that means it's time to announce THE Final Friday Winner of 2010.    Are you guys ready to find out who it is?  First, let me say thank you to all of you that played this month!  Your comments, as always, bring a smile to my face. I appreciate you guys playing and visiting my blog!  It was fun to read about everyone's New Year's plans from all over the world and get a glimpse of who you dear readers are.  I've had the pleasure of getting to know a few of you and look forward to "virtually meeting" more of you out there!  Now....time for the big reveal.  Out of a total of 73 posts, the winner of the last 2010 Final Friday Giveaway is:

Lucky number 9, who happens to be:

Kathy Martin!!!

Woot Woot!  A BIG CONGRATS to you, Kathy!!  I'll be emailing you directly to get your info!!

Thanks again, everyone.  Hope you all have a fabulous last day of the year...be safe and have a fantastic celebration.  I'll catch up with you guys in 2011!

 ** CHEERS TO YOU ALL!!!  **

My favorite cards from 2010

Hi all!  As we reflect back on 2010, I thought I'd share my favorite cards and projects from this year with you:

Hope you enjoyed the look back!  Thanks again to each of you for visiting and letting me share a part of my world with you.  Wish you all a very happy New Year!

quick and cute gift card holder

Hi again.  Since it's almost the end of the year and I haven't posted any projects in a while, I wanted to post something quick and easy AND also giving you guys a teenie tiny sneak peek of some cute things from the upcoming Occasions Mini {fun stuff!}!  Isn't this little envie so cute??!!  I used the good ol' scallop envelope die to create this gift card holder.  Here's a look at the front, too:

To give you more ideas of this cute, all occasion gift card envelope, check out the pics of the Christmas one I created {I know..you're probably saying enough Christmas stuff already!!  But it IS still the holiday season ;)  }

And here's a look at the inside:

Hope you liked that quick little project.  To create this envelope to fit a gift card, you'll need to fold a 6x6 piece of paper in half and then align it on the scallop envelope die so that the paper covers 5 of the scallops on the envelope flap - this is how it gets wide enough to fit your gift card!  Easy peasy and so cute.  Enjoy!  Gotta run for now!!  Toodles ;)

Hello there!

Hi blog friends!!  Hope you guys had a very Merry Christmas!  I know I've been quiet for a few days on the bloggo here, but as I'm sure you all know, time is precious during the holidays so I haven't had many opportunities to post.  I do have a couple of fun announcements to share with you guys:

Year End Blow Out - Guest Designer!!

* Some of you may have noticed on my right side bar that I'll be a guest designer for Dawn Rapsas UStamp With Dawn and FriendsYear End Blowout!!!  Woot Woot!! It's truly an honor!  I have to say that I am blown away by all the creative talent of the entire Design Team Crew from all around the world.  I'm excited to be a part of this amazing event which starts on December 31st and goes through January 19th.  You'll need to sign up on  site link above.  This event will be showcasing Stampin'Up! projects created using 12x12 paper.  The cool thing too is that the color combos showcase every SU color, so not only do you get project ideas, but you'll also get a taste of a variety of color palettes to get your creative juices flowing!!  Just AWESOME. And you'll have the ability to download pdfs of each of the projects for your own personal use.  You don't want to miss this!!!

Paper Crafters Sampler Design Team!

* I'm excited to announce that I've been asked to be part of Melanie Schulenberg's Paper Crafters Sampler Design Team !! Woohoo!  This is a monthly online publication of Stampin'Up! Projects and is such a great resource for your paper crafting ideas.  You can subscribe for each month's edition and download each of the projects and instructions, too.  I've seen the awesome projects the DTs have created in past editions and it's definitely worth the while.  You can check out the site and trial sampler to see what it's all about. Then, if you decide to sign up, you can use referral code PCSRD. :) 

Wowzers!  I have to say I am so excited to be a part of both teams and I am looking forward to pushing my creativity to the limit and make projects that I hope you all will enjoy.  So, my dear friends, there's a lot in store for 2011!  Thanks so much for continuing to pop in for a visit!  I've got a bunch of new ideas I want to try out on the blog here, too, so stay tuned for sure!  By for now.  Have a fantastic day!!

White Christmas

Merry Christmas, blog friends! We were greeted with some snow this morning here in Birmingham, where we're spending Christmas at my brother's house. Hope you and your families are enjoying all the holiday festivities!! I just wanted to pop in a quick post to wish you all a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas to you all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

cookie caddy

Happy Saturday!  My share today is the "cookie caddy" which I made using 2 Box #2 dies.  This is the project that I originally thought would fit my cute little Mini Milk Cartons.  I had already die cut them and was prepping them, when it dawned on me that it looked a little narrower than my Milk Cartons. Sure enough, after measuring, my little carrier wasn't going to fit the cute milk guys, but I couldn't let the project go to waste.  Luckily, I have baked goods on hand (my Christmas cookies that I make) and it turns out, they fit perfectly!!  Hope you like it!

Christmas Pink

Hi all!  Happy Friday!  Just popping in with a quick little post...since I'm still working on my Christmas cards!!  I wanted to do one in pink, so this is what I came up with.  It's clean and simple, with just a touch of bling factor with the glitter and white tinsel.  There's even a teenie sneak peek for you....like that fun embossed border?  Isn't it cool?  It'll be in the upcoming Occasions Mini! Hope you like it!  Bye for now...my cards are calling!

deck the halls with milk cartons and a carrier

Hey there blog peeps!  How's your week going? I am still trying to catch up with the holidays, but they seem to be slipping through my fingers!  So, one thing I'm trying to make sure of is that my blog projects and holiday prep are doing double duty - in that I'll be using these projects for gifts I'll be giving! Today's share is something that I've always wanted to make - the mini milk cartons and carrier.  The milk cartons were my 12th week finale for my 12 Weeks of Christmas Projects Newsletter, and after I had made the four cute cartons, it seemed like they were missing something.  Of course, a carrier was in order! So, I thought it was only fitting to make one.  Now, let me just preface by saying that in my head, I always thought that the Box #2 die would fit the milk cartons, but boy, was I wrong!  {You'll see that project tomorrow...}  I went back to the drawing board and measured out my cartons to come up with the sizing for the carrier pictured above.  Here are a few more photos for you.

Isn't this such a cool little project?  I swear I've admired dozens of these for the longest time, but just hadn't gotten around to making them...does that happen to you guys?

A nice little discovery I made was the functional property that the placement of the stamped image on the carton had.  Notice that it's popped up on the dimensional.  It turns out, this allows for the milk cartons to "clip into" the carrier as you can see in the picture above with the reindeer image over the edge of the carrier.  Pretty nifty!

And here's a look at the pieces for the carrier:

You'll need:

*2 pieces of 5 1/2" x 3 3/4" Cherry Cobbler Cardstock  for the carrier base

*1 piece of 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" Cherry Cobbler Cardstock for the center handle

1. Score the 2 pieces of cardstock at 1" all the way around.  Then cut to the 1" scoreline at the creases along the 3 3/4" edge. 

2. Assemble the base and glue together using the Tombow Multi-Purpose glue.  Set aside to dry.

3. For the 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of cardstock, round the top edges and then punch the handle using the wide oval punch.

4.  Assemble the carrier by placing the handle in between the 2 base boxes and gluing together using the Tombow Glue. 

5.  Embellish the carrier with DSP or cardstock.  I used  2 pieces of 3/4"x 7 1/2" DSP to decorate the base.  Score the pieces at 3 1/2", and then 7 1/16".  for the handle, I cut out 2 pieces of 3 1/4" x 5 1/4" DSP and adhered one piece at a time and punched the handle after adhering each one to the base handle piece, otherwise it gets too hard to punch!

{Deck The Halls with Jolly Bingo Bits Milk Carton and Carrier}

*Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits

*Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke

*Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Deck The Halls DSP

*Accessories: Mini Milk Carton Bigz L Die, 1" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Wide Oval punch, corner rounder punch, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Library Clips; {non SU!} - jingle bells and baker's twine

Enjoy! This adorable carrier and milk carton packaging are great for any holiday or occasion, so have fun decorating these cute little treats year round!  It's definitely worth the try to make these...so cute and easy!

Bye for now!

My Punchy Penguin!

Hi all!  Let me introduce you to my cute little friend - Punchy Santa Penguin!  I've been admiring all the cute penguins I've been seeing, and it's been a couple years now since I introduced you to this top note penguin, who ended up being my 2008 Christmas Card!  So I thought it was time for me to come up with a new penguin buddy. Consider my new punchy penguin his cousin - they have the same mouth! Now here's a look at the full card for you:

He's so cute and easy to make!! Let's start with his Santa Hat - I used the 2 1/2" circle punch to shape his hat - I cut a partial circle from the corner of the cardstock, about 1/2" in, then I punched another partial circle roughly about 1 1/2" in from the corner - you can eyeball the shape until it looks like a Santa Hat!  The white trim of the hat is the Word Window punch and the ball at the top is the flower from the Itty Bitty Punches. His body is punched out of the 2 1/2" circle punch, and his arns are the bird wing from the Extra Large 2 step Bird Punch.  For his face - I used the heart punch, then used the 2 medium circles from the Owl Punch.  His beak was punched from the small oval punch {which I then folded in half} and his feet are from the Modern Label Punch.  So easy peasy!  Hope you like him.  Here's the recipe for you:

{Punchy Santa Penguin}

*Stamp Set: Curly Cute

*Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie

*Inks: Real Red Classic Ink Pad

*Accessories: Northern Flurry Decorative Strip die, Tinsel Trim, Petals-a-plenty embossing folder, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, Itty Bitty Punch, 2 Step Bird Punch, Owl Punch, Modern Label Punch, Full Heart Extra Large Punch, Small Oval Punch

I'd love to hear what you think!  Thanks for coming by to visit. Have a great day!

Season's Greetings...California style!

Hi all! Blogging from the iPhone today. I'm without my camera, but thanks to the handy dandy iPhone, I took a few pictures from the Holiday firework show we went to yesterday in Manhattan Beach. It was awesome! Here's a couple more photos of the finale and the pretty beach and pier at dusk - we couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day! It got up to 80 degrees in the day, and it was a nice 65 degrees in the evening. It was a perfect way to celebrate the holiday festivities, California style.










Hope you have a fantastic day! Thanks for dropping in for a visit ;)

happy happy JOY JOY

Hey bloggie peeps!  Hope you're enjoying your weekend.  Can you believe it's back to 80 degrees F in Southern CA?  The weather has been just topsy turvy hot and cold here!  Anyway, I've got some JOY to share with you today - that is...a JOY banner!  I actually made a large Joy banner that I shared in my 12 Weeks of Christmas Newsletter, and this is banner was made out of the smaller pennant die cuts.  So, I was able to make 2 banners out of my Pennant XL die cuts.  If you want to see my large banner, you've still got a chance...this coming week is my LAST week of my 12 Weeks of Christmas Series and it will also have ALL the links to my 12 Weeks of Christmas Newsletters.  Interested in signing up for my Newsletter?  You can do that in the right column of my blog.

Now back to the banner...here's a full view of it:

Can you tell I'm infatuated with this Jolly Holiday paper?  I've used quite a bit of it in my holiday projects!  Love it!  This little pennant banner was a lot of fun to make and it's so cute and dainty sized, too.  I'm thinking about bringing it to the office to decorate my cube :)  The scallop circles I used are also from the pennant die.  It takes 2 of the scallop circles to create these accordion scallop flowers.  Then I stamped my "JOY" using the Broadsheet Alphabet letters, which have such fun vintage-y letters.  I punched them out using the 1 1/4" circle punch, and layered that onto a 1 3/8" circle in Cherry Cobbler.  Now, I do have to say it was a little tricky to adhere the letters onto my accordian flowers.  I ended up glue gunning the letters onto the flower and then onto the pennants to make sure they stayed.  You can use the Tombow Multi-purpose glue as well, but you definitely need to place something on top of the letters and scallop flower while it dries, so that the glue bonds to both surfaces.  Here's the recipe for you:

{Mini Joy Pennant Banner}

*Stamps: Broadsheet Alphabet

*Cardstock: Jolly Holiday DSP, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

*Inks: Cherry Cobbler

*Accessories: Pennant Bigz XL die, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" Circle Punches, Deck the Halls and Candy Cane Designer Buttons, eyelets; non-SU! - jingle bells and baker's twine

Santa Hat sneaky peeky!

Hey there peeps!  I've got a quick share today with a sneak peek from the upcoming Stampin'Up! Occasions Mini catalog.  How do you like my little Santa Hat?  Isn't it cute?  It was inspired by a few Santa hats I've seen, with a little twist.  Are you wondering what I used to make this adorable little ornament favor?  That's the sneaky peeky part...it's a new die in the upcoming mini catalog called Petal Cone Bigz L die.  Oh, and a teenie tiny sneaky peeky is the white ball at the top of Santa's hat - that's from the Fun Flowers Bigz L die.  Here's a look at the full hat for you...

That  Petal Cone die is such a fun one, don't cha think?  The fact that it can morph into a Santa hat in the winter shows how versatile it can be.  I can't wait to play with this cute packaging a little more and seeing what I can come up with...I'm sure you guys can come up with lots of creative uses for this die!  I don't know if you can tell I made a boo boo.  I had extra snowflakes punched out and thought this was Whisper White, but turns out, it's Very Vanilla!  Oh well.  The rest of my Santa hat trim is in Whisper White, embossed in Petals a plenty to give it that festive puffy texture.  Here's the recipe for ya:

{Santa Hat petal cone}

*Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Very Vanilla

*Accessories: Tasteful Trim Bigz XL Die, Petal Cone Bigz L die, Petals a Plenty Embossing Folder, Fun Flowers Bigz L die, Snowflake punch, Basic Rhinestones; Baker's Twine {non-SU!}

Hope you like it!  Thanks for popping in ;)

can you guess what's inside?

Hi all!  I love this packaging box that I originally saw Claudia Lapos create.  Such clever packaging!  I first posted a version of this box during Halloween here.  I had to bring it back for the holidays, since it's a perfect fit for these hand soaps...and make such a great little holiday gift!

It's such a fun box to make and really easy at that too!  The instructions in the link above apply for the tall box, but instead of 7"x 10 1/2", you'll want to cut the piece to 10 1/2" x 10 1/2".

And here's a look at the pretty soap that fits in it - I know it doesn't look like it'll fit, but trust me, it's as snug as a bug! ;)

Enjoy and have a great day!  Thanks for popping by!

Jolly Holiday Cookin'

Hi blog friends!  How are you guys doing?  All done with the holiday shopping and crafting?  I'm halfway done, although am behind on my cards...yikes!  I wanted to finish them all by this weekend, but now it's looking like I'm going to have to dig deep and focus this weekend to crank them all out.  Anyway, in the meantime, I've been playing with the Jolly Holiday paper {as I'm sure you guys have noticed} and used one of my scraps to play with this apron die from Taylored Expressions, which is just so darn cute!  When I first saw it, it was one of those crafty things I just HAD to have.  I'm sure you crafters out there can relate, right?  {wink!} I created a simple card using Crumb Cake as a base.  Just had to share with you guys - I used the pocket die to make these fun pockets, too, and embellished with the flower punch from the Itty Bitty Punches set.  Hope you like it! 

Oh, and I also wanted to share a fun greeting I received from my October Final Friday Winner - Rosa from Italy!

She sent me this fun digital postcard of her town in Viterbo, Italy - how charming does this place look!!! Too cute.  Thank you so much, Rosa!  You guys can check out her blog and the layout she made with her giveaway here.

Now, back to cutting cardstock for my Christmas cards, then off to bed for me.  Ciao for now! :)