Trees, glorious trees!

What is your favorite holiday tradition?  Decorating? Caroling?  Opening stockings?  I have many, but I really love getting and decorating the Christmas Tree.  It is so fun to bundle up with the fam and find the perfect tree to cut down.  We love drinking the warm cocoa or coffee in the cold winter air and the smell of that fresh pine scent!  My lungs feel clearer just thinking about it!  Then of course taking that tree home, strapped to the roof of our car, when I see other's doing the same I just get giddy. Finally, decorating the tree is the best part yet.  I love unwrapping each ornament from the box and remembering where/when it came from, usually in the stocking from Santa on a specific year, the ornament representing something special.  When we are all done, it is oh-so-wonderful to see that glorious, glittering tree!

Today's card is of some of those beloved holiday trees.  It has that traditional Christmas feeling with the reds and greens and the bright and fun washi tape makes a great accent.  I love DP for the trees, the variety of greens like you might see in real life but also the little bits of color that look like decorations.  And of course the sparkle that really does make you feel like you want to, "be merry!"  This card was fairly easy to create with the paper piecing and die cutting.  The stamps are from Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest & Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum.

Thanks for stopping.  Whatever holidays you celebrate, I hope they are merry!

PRIZES!

My fave time of the month is  (NO, not that time!!!) when one of my fave stamp companies does a release and gives away prizes.  I always cling to a hope that I will win one of the fabulous new sets and if not, it was totally worth it and I will buy them all one day!  bwa-ha-hahahahaha! :)  So with out further ado, here is the hop for today over at Paper Smooches.  Check it out, maybe you will win!

Come back later and check out my post for today with some Holiday goodness!

It's all about Elephants

Yep today that is what you get, Elephants!  I adore elephants and have a small figurine collection of them from different countries.  As is appropriate the color scheme is GREY with pink and either yellow or green.  I think these bright colors totally offset the grey and are super fun.  So let me introduce you to today's cards....

The first card is for a girlfriend and her husband.  He has been on dialysis for some time but he finally got a kidney transplant ON THANKSGIVING!  Talk about something to be thankful for!!!!  I am so excited for them and hope this makes their lives just a little bit easier.  Some of our other friends are getting together and purchasing a meal service to give them some breathing room while he is still in the hospital and adapt to this change.  The news seemed so big that the word huge and the elephant seemed appropriate! :)

Supplies for this card include Lawn Fawn stamps Interlocking Backdrops (oh so trendy!) and Quinn's ABC's.  The elephant stamp is from Inky Antics Honey Pop Collection.  I love the bright pink and green against the grey, it just feels happy!  I also used a fun tag and that means I can participate in this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge #46, Using Tags (not the goal but happy it worked out!).

Next I have a baby shower card for one of my daughter's pre-k teachers.  She is having her first child and much to the family's surprise it is going to be a girl (I guess there are a lot of boys in the family).  So of course they are excited.  I asked her sister what her colors would be and she said she found a cute combo of grey, white, yellow and hot pink.  I wouldn't have dreamed of putting these colors together, but they really do work!  And of course that allowed me to keep with my grey elephant theme. :)

The stamps used here are, again, the Inky Antics elephant and the Sentiment from Paper Smooches Word Salad Set.  I LOVE this sentiment set!  And of course this worked out with the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge photo!  I obviously substituted pink for the red, but these colors, patterns and textures are perfect for the challenge.

So.....CONGRATULATIONS to these wonderful people, they deserve the best! :)

Missing You

Not much to report today, just want to get this card up before the deadline.  This is for the Paper Smooches SPARKS sketch challenge found here.  Here is the sketch and here is the card.

I found these super fun bookmarks at a store and all I could think was how cute they would look on a card! Yes, I have a one track mind! :)  I have two more, one is a thumbs up and one is an I love you, will save those for later. I wanted to use them with this sentiment and hearts from Paper Smooches Word Salad set.  I liked using mostly blue thinking it kinds represents that sad feeling of being blue because you miss the person so much.  But the bright red and pinks along with the bling balance it out.  What do you think and who are you missing?

Thanks for stopping!  Happy early Thanksgiving!

Putting the Spring back in Autumn

Hello all.  Not much to report today.  I just wanted to share a birthday card I made for a friend.  I hope she likes it.  The object for me was to put the Spring back into Autumn!  It is so cold and dreary here in Seattle, that I thought a little sunshine would be perfect for her birthday.  Also want to point out the fun washi tape with the hearts (LOVE)!  What girl wouldn't like these sweet hearts?  And using the trendy tape is so fun!

Of course I used the little fawn from the Paper Smooches Happy Camper Set.  I also used part of a sentiment from Word Salad, I cut off the word "belated" so that it would just read birthday wishes.   And of course it can't be spring with out the little button sun.

Happy Birthday to you Gen!  Hope you have a marvelous day!

True Confessions of a Stampaholic- 1st Edition

Hellooooooooooo!  How have you been?  I hope you are enjoying the beginning of the holiday season as we are about to be in full swing.  I am good.  I am busy.  So much to do, work, school, mommy, wife... I am trying to start making my holiday cards, but I don't know how many I'll get done.

Which reminds me, I have a confession to make...after my daughter's birthday...(I don't know if I can say it)...I bought pre-made thank you cards...ARG!  There you have it, you've heard me confess my deepest, darkest secret!  Sigh.  I just didn't have time to make them.  It just seems wrong and shameful...the HORROR!  Once you make your own cards, people come to expect them and more importantly, you expect it of yourself.  Well, that is it for today's edition of True Confessions of a Stampaholic, if you want more dirt on me you'll have to come back another day. :)  Actually, there were a few folks that got homemade cards.  They were randomly lucky, as the box of cards I bought was about 5 short, so I did have to make a few.

And that brings us to today's post...the first card I am showing is what I made for those 5 lucky people.  AND...it is one of two cards for this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge!  Oh how I've missed this challenge. This weeks challenge is "Dust 'em off", aka use something that hasn't been used in a while.  For the first card the item I used is an old school scallop square punch.  This punch is a pain in the tuck-us to use, which is why it is dusty, but it is still a good shape, so giving the old gal a chance to come out of the closet. I used Lawn Fawn stamps from the sets, Gnome Sweet Gnome and Bon Voyage, the butterflies and mushrooms are from Paper Smooches Spring Groves set and finally, the sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I have a second card for the challenge too.  I used my newest beloved Lawn Fawn set Making Frosty Friends.  I just love these snow folk, so darn cute!  For the "dust 'em off" part in this one I used acetate for the window.  I rarely use acetate, not sure why, just don't but thought this was the perfect opportunity.  I like the dimension it gives the card.  Probably there should be something behind the window, but I couldn't think of what.  Any suggestions?


That is about it for today.  I wasn't going to miss another Lawnscaping Challenge deadline so I had to get this post up.  Thanks for stopping and reading it!