The Night Before Christmas - Papercrafter Style

I was just reading Michelle Zindorf's blog, and she had this poem on it that was sent to her by Arlene Vita:

Twas the night before Christmas, I’m glued to the tree.
I’m wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or inkpads or lace?
Or some stamps, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that’s when I heard him……
“Hi Santa, ” I said
He replied, “You know….good girls should be in their beds”.
“I know I should Santa,and now I’ve been caught.
But I was just so excited to see what you brought.”
“Well, let’s take a look in this room where you work”.
He shook his head quickly, and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
“You’ve got enough crap,
I’ll see you next year!”

Michelle agrees with me that you can NEVER have enough stuff! ~ Lee

RIP Maxine McBride

Sadly, my oldest grandson's great-grandma, Maxine McBride, lost her battle with lung cancer on Thanksgiving with all of her family by her side. Maxine was a blessing to all that knew her. She had just been diagnosed about a month ago after the disease had already spread into her bones.

Nonni, as my grandson always called her, was a wonderful influence on Bailey. She had him stay almost every Saturday night, and then he would go to church with her. She always attended his school and sport functions. When my daughter and his father were divorcing, she was the drop-off site for my grandson to keep the peace. Throughout all of this, my daughter still considered her a wonderful part of the family.

Please join me in sending my prayers to her family as they celebrate her life. She has joined the loves of her life in Heaven; her husband, Nile, and our Almighty Father.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out in blog land! I'll be spending the day with my family, but thought I'd share the card I made for my oldest daughter's family.

I love this adorable turkey from Inkadinkado. He was stamped with black Versafine ink & embossed with black Ranger Superfine Detail EP. After coloring him with chalks to fit the muted tones of the paper, I highlighted the image with a white gel pen and then sprayed with a matte finish. The gel pen was also used for the faux stitching. All of the edges of this unknown design paper were inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink. All of these cute brads with fall designs were from the Target $1 Shop and the ribbon by Martha Stewart Crafts. The leaves were another Target $1 Shop find.

This card fit the following challenges even though they were late: Simon Says Stamp challenge which is to use animals @ http://simonsaysstampchallenge.blogspot.com and the sketch is from http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/

I'll be shopping on Black Friday with my oldest, a tradition that we have been doing together for decades. I'm doing my part to help the economy! LOL My other daughter somehow missed the shopping gene.

Happy Thanksgiving ~ Lee

Way To Go Teen Card

I've been lax on doing cards for the grandkids when they hit milestones in their studies. When I saw a challenge called "Teen Terror" I knew exactly what type of card I needed for my granddaughter.

This is my first try at digi images, but I been wanting to use this "Back-to-School Teen" from Carolyn Bounds at Busy Beauties Boutique (http://www.shophandmade.com/Store/Busybeauties) ever since I won it on the Operation Write Home Blog Hop. My granddaughter raised her grades on her report card, so I thought she deserved a card for encouragement.

All of the design paper is from a Scenic Route Halloween scrapbooking kit. They are just too cute to put away until next Halloween. I got them for a song at Tuesday Mornings, so I didn't feel bad using them for other purposes.

All of the edges of the paper were inked with Tim Holtz' Peeled Paint Distress Ink. The ribbon is American Crafts that is topped with Fiskars Zingz. The digi was colored with colored pencils & blended with a blender pen. The sparkle & glitter part of it is the Magic Scraps glitter I added to the headband, pencil top, shoes & center of the flower. The Way To Go image by Hero Arts was stamped with Top Boss ink & embossed with Embossing Arts glittery bronze EP. I drew the images on the skirt & also on the notebook & added glitter to the stars on the skirt.

I was able to make this card fit numerous challenges. The first is from http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com which was to use a digital image (I forgot to post it on time). I used the http://stampinfortheweekend.blogspot.com sketch for this card. The next is the http://dareu2digistamp.blogspot.com which wants you to use glitter. Next was my original reason to make the card at: http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com which is called, "Teen Terror." Last but not least is the http://cinspirations.blogspot.com which wants "sparkle." One of these days I learn how to write click here & you'll be able to go to their website, but I'm still too new to blogging to know how to do that yet.

As you can see, it was harder to cut out all of the papers than it was to use a digi image. I just used my regular HP printer with white cardstock to print, no special inks. I still haven't worked on resizing them much yet, so I'll let you know if I feel the same way about them after I work with them more!
Lee

Hidden Turkey Card

Since Thanksgiving is approaching so soon, I thought I'd better get some of my Thanksgiving cards posted before it's over.

This card covers a few challenges. The first is the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge: "Turkey Time." Go here to check it out: http://stamptacularsundaychallenge.blogspot.com/ The next is the ABC-Challenge called "H is for hidden" at http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com.

I stamped the images with Black Versafine ink on white cardstock & embossed them with Black Ranger Ultrafine EP. They were colored with colored pencils & blended with a blender stub & Goo Gone. The sentiment was stamped & embossed with Stampendous Carnelian EP. All of the DP is by the Paper Studio & the cardstock pieces are scraps from my stash (yeah! Another card made that helped to get rid some more of that BIG scrap pile!).

The hidden part of the card is the turkey part. He's hidden under the Pilgrims. I just put a Target $1 Shop brad in the top of the center section so you can swing it around to view the turkey. The sentiment, "Do You Know Where Your Turkey Is?" & the turkey Pilgrims are by Westwater Ent. The turkey that's under the Pilgrims is made by DJ Inkers. The ribbon is more from my stash & the brad is from the Target $1 Shop.
Lee

Monday Lunchtime Challenge Sketch 96

It's medallion time again! I admit it, I'm addicted! There's something about stamping multiple images, cutting them out, painting or glittering them and then putting them all together with foam adhesives to make them pop that is so gratifying to me. You can truly say that no two images are the same no matter if you use the same colors or not.
The first card uses the sketch for the Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge at: http://technostamper.blogspot.com/2009/11/monday-lunchtime-sketch-challenge-96.html and fits the Creative Card Crew Challenge #37 which is called "Strings Attached." This challenge is to make a card with some type of string attached & is located at: http://creativecardcrew.blogspot.com/

This beautiful image is the Fall Leaf medallion from Holly Berry House Originals. I just love, love, love these images & could work with them all day! The image was stamped five times on contrasting colors of cardstock with Top Boss Embossing Ink & orange Creative Zoo EP. The bottom image was cut out about an 1/8" outside of the embossed image & the rest were cut as close as possible to the embossed lines.

One nice thing about medallions is that you don't always have to layer them perfectly on top of each others if you don't want to. You can cut out several of the same image part but lay them on top of the previous image slightly askew. This way you can add more colors or more layers.

Back to the card. I was able to add to my collection of Twinkling H20s at the Rubber Stamp Chat's Virtual Convention last month, so I was itching to use them. I painted each layer a different color, and then I added a contrasting highlight color to each layer. After they dried (very quickly), I then layered them on top of each others with foam adhesives. This beautiful DP from The Paper Parachute was what inspired my colors, but I wanted some more bling, so I matted it with this textured metallic cardstock by DCWV. To get some more of the deeper purple into the card, I matted this layer on some unknown textured purple cardstock. I went looking in my stashes to find some ribbon & came across this textured thread, so I glued it onto the edges of the matting to add even more dimension. The CoMotion Happy Thanksgiving sentiment was stamped with Top Boss ink & embossed with Stampendous Pearlized Carnelian EP (my favorite EP color!). All of the edges were inked with Memories Violet ink.

The card still needed something else, so I embossed three brads with EP & put them in the corners. Now, I was finally happy with the card & I hope you are too!

My next card is for the Stamp Something Challenge Blog at: http://stampchallenges.blogspot.com/2009/11/sketch-something-challenge.html

This is another medallion type stamp from Outlines Stamp Co. I just recently found this company, and you can already tell that they are quickly becoming another favorite.

This image was stamped & embossed with JoAnn's Ink Essentials Gold EP on some DP from my stash instead of my usual cardstock. The two other layers were stamped on some unknown stash cardstock. Since this image has so much detail, I didn't want to paint or glitter them. These layers were cut out close to the image & layered on the image with foam adhesive. I found some gold braid in my sewing stash that I glued on the image with Aleene's Tacky Glue. The red rhinestones were glued to the centers to resemble tree lights. I have some gorgeous poinsettia lights that I hang at Christmas that reminded me of these stars.
The DP in the background are all from the Paper Studio. These were inked at the edges with cranberry Memories ink. Since I was in my sewing stash, I also found these rickrack trims to accent the mattings. The tree was matted on a gold DCWV textured matstack & the trims were glued on with the Tacky Glue. To add some more eye candy, I added a few extra stars with rhinestones to accent the corners.
This card may look difficult, but it was really easy to cut since most of the edges are straight cuts. Instead of cutting each star out individually, I cut the bottom layers of stars out in a row. This also made the placement much easier. Don't let the look of medallions make you shy away from them. You would be amazed at how quickly you can put them together. ~ Lee

Operation SUCCESS!!!!

WOW! What a day we had yesterday on the Operation Write Home Veteran's Day Blog Hop! I can't believe the number of people that viewed the hop & that left such gracious comments. I especially want to thank all of my fellow bloggers for their awesome designs AND the cards for our heroes!!!!! If everyone that followed the hop sent in just 25 cards to Operation Write Home, can you imagine all of the soldiers that we would be able to serve???? I know from my daughter how much these cards mean to our soldiers. They also can't believe how much total strangers are doing for them even though they don't consider that risking their lifes for us to be that big of a deal.


Well, now for the WINNER of my blog candy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations go to MARY of my scrap happy life!

Please contact me as soon as possible with your address, so I can get the goodies out to you.

Thanks again to everyone that was involved in this hop from the awesome people over at Operation Write Home, the bloggers, the hoppers & most of all; ANYONE that does anything to help a soldier! Also, if you have a family member who is involved with the military in anyway, I also want to thank you!

Operation Write Home Veteran's Day Blog Hop & Blog Candy

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Veteran's Day Blog Hop! This wonderful organization is made up of tons of people that make cards for our soldiers that are serving overseas. My daughter was one of these brave soldiers that was a recipient of the cards that this organization sent for the soldiers to send home for their families. It's not like they could run to a PX & pick up a Christmas or Valentines Day card in the middle of the desert! If you want to know more about this awesome organization, please click on the Operation Write Home logo on my sidebar.

Now for the hop! If you came here from Barbara's blog http://barbarade.blogspot.com/2009/11/operation-write-home.html , then you're at the right spot. If not, go back to the beginning at: http://www.owhhomefrontblog.org/2009/11/owh-veterans-day-bloghop.html I usually try to make several love cards to send in with any cards I send. We always highlight the different holidays, but they need love, birthday, anniversary and other such cards all of the time.

My first card is made with a PSX wolf stamped on white cardstock with Artprint Brown Memories ink. It was the colored with a watered down wash of H20s & highlighted with a white gel pen. The circle frame from Inkadinkado was stamped on cardstock with Top Boss embossing ink & embossed with Detail White EP from Stamp 'n Stuff. These were then placed on top of this Around the Block two-sided card stock following a challenge sketch from Mojo Monday week 112. All of the edges were inked with Sea Brights Pool ink & then I added some flourishes from Autumn Leaves. The sentiment is an oldie but goodie from JRL designs. I topped it with a ribbon & used a white gel pen for some doodles around the edges.

Next is a card made with an awesome stamp from Outlines rubber stamps. I just found out about this company lately, so I'm having a blast with their designs. This image was stamped on card stock with Top Boss embossing ink & embossed with Detail White EP. I stamped the image numerous times so I could layer it to add some dimension. That's a great thing about the OWH cards. You can add all sorts of embellishments (except glitter for safety reasons!) since the soldiers can send their mail home for free. Back to the card. This particular image has five cutout layers, but you could add or subtract to your liking. I just glued them on top of each other after I cut them out instead of using foam adhesives like I usually do. I got out the H20s again to add some more color & then I matted it on some more card stock. This layout was a challenge from Stamping 411 although I didn't use Stampin' Up! products. I put all of it on top of some Paper Studio design paper, added a Martha Stewart ribbon bow, highlighted it with a white gel pen & it's ready to go (after I stamped the inside sentiments which I always do for these cards).

This is really turning into a long post, so lets get to the BLOG CANDY!!!! If you are a follower that leaves a comment on my post, you will be entered to win this fun package of stamping goodies pictured below to help you get jump started on your OWH cards! You'll even get an Operation Write Home custom stamp for the back of your OWH cards along with a CC rubber heart wreath & a Judith rubber stamp. I'm sure I'll find more stuff to add to this loot! Sorry about the picture quality today. It's really overcast outside, so the flash messed with the colors.

Your next stop on this hop is to Lori's blog, http://lorikins.blogspot.com/2009/11/operation-write-home-blog-hop.html Lori is an awesome lady that usually scrapbooks, but has joined us in making cards to help out the troops. Her mom has just finished her chemotherapy treatments for cancer & is still going strong, God bless her! These awesome ladies recently went to a Rick Springfield concert & had front row seats & backstage passes thanks to her mom's BFF. What an awesome gift! ~ Lee

WOW! Two Cards in One Day!

Gad zeeks! I'm actually listing 2 cards in one day!

The first card uses one of my favorite angel images, at least for now anyway! LOL This Hampton Arts music angel image from 1997 was stamped on white cardstock with TopBoss embossing ink & embossed with an unknown fine silver EP. I colored it with Zig markers & blended it with a Zig blender pen. Since I only had 2 blue markers that matched the DP, I pulled the blues from the darker areas to make the lighter colors. Then came the trusty ol' white gel pen for some highlights. The edges were then inked with Sea Brights Pool ink. After double matting the image, I glued it on top of the DP with an Ad Tech glue runner. I'm really trying hard to use up as many scraps as possible, so I'm unsure of who makes the design papers, but I would guess they may be from the Paper Studio. The stars were also a part of my stash, as well as the silver corner embellishments.

The next card was made for the Mojo Monday challenge #111, but I didn't get it posted in time. This snowman image by Stampendous is called Snow Lights. It is inked with black Versafine ink and embossed with black Ranger Ultra fine EP. The image was colored with Kaisercolor chalks & highlighted with a white gel pen. The lights were coated with Diamond Glaze and left overnight to dry. The next morning, I glued on white Fun Flock to the hat and a mixture of glitters on the snowman. After they dried, I inked the edges with Sea Brights Pool ink, matted the image & glued it on top of Momento Christmas Party DP with an Ad Tech glue runner. All of the bling & ribbons were also from my stash except for the snowflake which is a Target package topper.

Don't forget to stop back here Saturday the 14th for the Operation Write Home Veteran's Day Blog Hop. I will be offering Blog Candy to a follower that comments on my post on Saturday. In addition, there are over 75 blogs involved in the hop, so you may even get lucky on some of the other blogs, too! I already consider myself lucky to be involved with this awesome organization, so click on the Operation Write Home logo on my sidebar if you would like some more information about them, or if you would like to make cards for our heroes overseas. I can speak from experience that the soldiers are very appreciative of these cards. My daughter was one of them! ~ Lee

My Hero!

I wasn't able to post yesterday, but wanted to make sure I saluted all of the veteran's. Since we live so close to numerous military facilities, every day is like Veteran's Day for us. You can't help but say thanks to a complete stranger in uniform when you see them in line at a grocery store or gas station.

If you don't already know, my daughter is a Sgt. in the Colorado Army National Guard 220th MP unit. She reenlisted in 2008 at the largest overseas reenlistment ceremony while she was in Iraq. This is a picture of her at one of Saddam's former palaces where the ceremony was held. I can't help but be VERY proud of her!

I went through a very tramatic divorce in 2001 along with becoming totally disabled. Chelsey was just starting her junior year in high school, & I had her staying with friends because of my circumstances. She had completed two years of JROTC classes at her school, and she decided to continue with this program for another two years. Thanks to her teacher, Sgt. Frank Liesten, she not only decided to enlist, but she attended basic training in the summer between her junior & senior years in high school. She graduated from high school and finished her military training, is an Animal Welfare Officer, owns her own dog training business and has a college degree in criminal justice. She could have taken a very different path, but I couldn't be prouder of the direction she took. She'll always be my hero!

Don't forget to stop back on Saturday, the 14th, for my post on the Operation Write Home Veteran's Day Blog Hop. You can click on their link on my sidebar for more information about this wonderful organization. I'll be offering some awesome blog candy to one of my followers that leaves a comment that day, so make sure you don't forget to stop back! There's over 75 blogs involved in the hop, so you won't be disappointed. ~ Lee

Creative Cuts & More Our Favorite Recipes Blog Hop

Over at Diecut Diva's blog, they're having a recipe blog hop. If you want to win a Creative Cuts & More 8 x 8 Treasured Families Recipe Kit, you have to play. Just go on over to: http://www.diecutdiva.com/ to see how to play!

Here's the recipes for some tasty appetizers that I take to potlucks or parties:

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Sweet & Sour Little Smokies

Package of Little Smokies (or hotdogs cut into chunks)

Jar of Chili Sauce (I use Heinz) Small Jar of Grape Jelly

Put the chili sauce and grape jelly into a saucepan and stir often.

Heat until warm. Add smokies or hotdogs.

Serve hot or place all ingredients in a crockpot.

I place toothpicks beside the crockpot on a buffet line.

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Kerry's Beau Monde Dip

1 Cup Sour Cream

1 Cup Mayonaise (Hellman's or Best Foods work best)

1 Tablespoon Beau Monde (I use Spice Island)

1 Tablespoon Dill Weed

Mix all ingredients together.

Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour

before serving to blend flavors together.

Serve with raw vegetables.

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Enjoy! ~ Lee

My First Outlines Ornament!

Welcome everyone! I decided it was time to get started on my personal Christmas cards, since I've been working to get Christmas, love, thinking of you & more cards ready to ship out to Operation Write Home. As you should know by now, I love medallions & Christmas is such a great time for them.

I mainly use Holly Berry House medallion stamps, but recently a friend in one of my groups introduced me to Outlines stamp company. Rut roh!!! They have some absolutely gorgeous medallions along with some other really awesome mandalas, Christmas trees & ornaments & tons of other stamps that you can go nuts with the bling! These stamps have made me really think outside of the box on my medallion creations. I usually just pop up layers, but I decided to do something a bit different this time.

The design was stamped & embossed on six different coordinating colors of cardstock that matched this gorgeous design paper from the Paper Studio. Here we go with some more non-traditional Christmas colors again! I like to use the lighter colored embossing powders (or metallics) on my medallions to give them more of a pop. Next, the layers were cut out with very sharp detail scissors & a craft knife. When I was playing with the layers, I decided to cut out the inside of one of the layers & go from there to make it less bulky. I really liked the effect it gives. After deciding on the placement of the layers, I used my glue pen to put glitter on some highlighted spots on the designs. I was going to add rhinestones, but decided to just use glitter on this as you can see in the photo. To finish off the design, I put foam adhesives between the layers to give it dimension. This was matted on an oval of dimesional cardstock, and then I added some little snowflakes to give it even more of a Christmas feel. I tied on a ribbon and here's the result! No challenge today, but it was still fun to do.

Lee

Card Recipe:

Rubber - Outlines Ornament I159

White Pigment Ink - Tsukineko

White Ultrafine Embossing Powder - Copper Kate

Glitter - Magic Scraps

Cardstock - Paperbilities

Design Paper - The Paper Studio

Ribbon - Hobby Lobby

Snowflakes - Hobby Lobby

Grandkids Halloween 2009

Well, here they are...my youngest grandkids in their Halloween costumes! Can you tell that my Sully (aka Durricula as he says) is a bit dramatic! And poor Pooh Bear Bradley couldn't find his honey pot, so he had to settle for a bottle of milk! Bailey was with his dad this year & Chloe's had to go to New Mexico for a funeral, so we just had these two. I think they're adorable!

Lee