My Martha addiction continues...

I can't help it. I LOVE Martha Stewart border punches. I went into Michael's yesterday just looking for ONE corner punch to go with one of the borders I bought a few weeks ago and BAM!--right there in front of me was the border/corner punch snowflake set from the holiday release ON CLEARANCE. Yep, that's right. It was the LAST one on the shelf and it was $4.99. There was NO way I was passing that deal by. I didn't want these punches at Christmas time. Really had no interest. But for $4.99--I think they'll be making their way onto a few cards and layouts this winter ;)

Speaking of Martha punches--here's a little birthday card I gave my mom a few weeks ago using the deep edge lattice punch. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I kinda forgot about making her a card until the last minute. These BG papers saved the day. I just used some Nesties and a couple punches (and of course some QK) and voila! It was done.AND on time.

I'm working away on a BUNCH of projects this week. I've got a layout in the works, some cute Valentines gifts and cards, and a MAJOR reorganization of my digital pics. Along with regular organizing of my scrap room, I'm making picture organization and backup a priority this year.

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend! Tomorrow's my birthday so I'm looking forward to a pampered LONG holiday weekend and some ME time!!!

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Eve last night. Jeff and I spent the night watching hours of DVR'd shows to free up space and we were both crashed on the sofa before midnight. Guess you could say we must be getting old :).

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions, but I woke up this morning with a renewed sense of purpose and direction for this next year. No big changes planned--just more focus on the things that matter most in my life. I intend to make those daily workouts at the gym really count. No more "oh, I'll just do 30 minutes today, I have a lot of things to take care of and can't really spend the time this morning". No more "I have plenty of time next weekend to work on that layout or that mini-album, but right now I have to vacuum". That means-- I have to work on better time management. Who doesn't, right? I think that's where my focus will be this year. Make the most of my time. You don't get it back. You don't get a do-over.

2009 was a turning point in our life. Jeff and I said goodbye to the Army when he retired in November after 20 years and one month of service. It was a stressful year. The transition from military life to the civilian world was a rough ride. It was a risky decision in a poor economy with so many unemployed. Thankfully, he has a new job working for a great bunch of people and we're finally starting to live the life we've dreamed about for so long. One with no fear of deployments, no fear of moving(at least not with just 30 days notice), and no lost time together.

I'm excited for what this new year holds for us. I'm gonna make every second count.

Here's hoping everyone embraces a new fresh start in 2010 and may you all have a productive, prosperous and happy year!

Merry Christmas!

I had a few minutes here to post this little gift card holder I finished just in the nick of time. This is the 'Peppermint' Quickutz mini-album dies from their holiday release this year. The cover is a KI Sheer Delights and the little cocoa mugs are punched from velvet paper with a Martha Stewart punch. All paper is the fabulous SEI WinterSong and I also used QK Sonja, Banana Split, and Nutmeg on the front cover.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

but I don't care because I'm having so much fun inside with my new Quickutz Santa's workshop dies! I just finished up this little mini-album that I'm using as a gift card holder. It's SO perfect for this! I had a lot of fun making this and I'm really glad I decided at the last minute to pick up the add-on dies to these mini-albums. The whole lot of them was ridiculously expensive, but I've got so many ideas for these, I can already tell they're going to get a workout! There are a bunch of super cute ideas in the QK community gallery using these dies as well. If you get a chance, be sure to check them out!

I used more MME glitter paper on this. I'm a little upset with the glitter paper these days. Love the way it looks--hate the way it broke my new paper trimmer. Lesson learned. I'll use my cheap old trimmer from now on with this stuff. I created the little tag on the front with a Nestie die. I used a K&Co rub-on on a piece of vellum(found out rub-ons don't rub on vellum very good at all), backed it with a piece of MME, and then covered it with a piece of transparency. I held the 3 pieces together with the eyelet(no glue involved).It was a real lightbulb moment for me. I've been wanting to make covers for these little mini-albums out of thin clear plastic, but couldn't find plastic thin enough--until I remembered my packages of inkjet printer transparencies!! I'll be dabbling with that soon... One other thing I forgot--the spine of this mini-album was cut from velvet paper. It adds a really pretty texture that isn't captured in these pics. What a cool use for all the velvet paper I have!

Have to run to the post office now to hopefully get these gift cards where they need to go by Christmas day. Wish me luck...

Look at this cute $ stamp!!!

Is this not the cutest little cheap stamp you've ever seen? Well, probably not. There's a lot of really cute $ stamps out there, but most always seem too small to use in card-making as the main image so I tried to work around that with this one.

The reindeer and 'no peeking' are part of a Studio G set from this year and the tree is a single ezmount stamp but I can't remember the manu on this one. I did a masking technique with the tree, colored him in with Prismacolors and added some stickles. The 'do not open til...' stamp came with the Quickutz Jolly giftset from last year. And, of course, another Martha border punch used here, some Nesties, and a CB embossing folder along the top of the card. All paper is MME.

This was the last design I came up with this year for cards and I ended up liking it so much, I churned out about 10 of these one night. I might make these in boxed sets next year to give as gifts. They came together quick and were just fun to make.

Today I'm working on a gift card holder using the new QK Santa's Workshop mini-album dies. Well, if I can get the rest of my Christmas shopping done first... kinda still have to buy the gift card to go in it...

WHEW! It's over!!

I was SO flippin relieved yesterday to be out from under the Christmas card-making stress!! I promise promise promise I am going to start earlier next year. I hate when scrappin becomes a chore instead of a fun outlet and that's what it's been the past week. Yesterday Jeff and I ran around for 8 hours running errands, Christmas shopping, going to lunch, checking out some fun new toys and shopping for ourselves(of course) and it was a fun day! The most exciting part of all?? My new ATG714 gun arrived on my doorstep!! I am absolutely IN LOVE. It's ugly as sin but truly a thing of beauty!!

Anyhoo-- here's another one entirely done with die-cuts. I used QK Holiday for 'Peace' , Nesties Label One, and Sizzix holiday dies. I partially embossed with a CB folder and I can't say enough good things about those little half-beads Recollections brand from Michael's. They're cheap and they stick!

I'm off to play with my new tape runner now...only wish I would've bought it sooner to use on all these cards...

Just a quick post today...

I'm not opposed to using untraditional Christmas colors which is probably why I was drawn to this year's MME stack at Michael's. I must've looked at it on 5 or 6 different trips (of course, picking up all those new Martha Stewart punches each time) and decided finally to just buy it. I've used a good bit of it and thought it was perfect for a card for my 6 yr old niece. She's a tomboy at heart but still loves all things pink and girly(it's a weird mix, for sure) so I think she'll like this. She LOVES getting mail so it could be brown,black, and blue and she probably wouldn't care!

No stamping on this one. My real love lies with die-cuts anyway...shhhhhh...don't tell anyone...

I used the QK retro bird, moxie, and the new santa's workshop alpha and label die. The peppermint candies are a Martha punch.

I didn't finish my cards yesterday. I still have 10 more left. Ugh. I'll be working most of the weekend, but the weather is completely nasty here so it's the perfect time to hole up in my scraproom.

I have more die-cut goodness to share tomorrow...

Indecision is a killer...

I'm running out of time to finish my Christmas cards and I promised myself I'm not doing this again. ever. No, of course I'll keep making Christmas cards(Jeff would completely flip out if I sent out store-bought cards instead of using the ever-growing and slightly obnoxious stash), but I'm never going to leave it so last minute again. Yeah, right.

I thought I had it all figured out too. I made 5 different designs this year with the intent of just knocking them out after the hard part of coming up with the design was over. Then, after I started knocking them out, I realized I like some WAY more than others and had decisions to make as to who gets which card, that person saves my cards, that one doesn't, etc., etc.,etc.

This card today I've decided is not one of my favorites, but I invested the time last night in recreating 3 more of them and so-- they will be mailed. I was inspired for this one on this blog here although I don't think I did it justice. Loved the MME paper she used though and I really wanted to use my new MS deep edge punch.

You might be asking why I'd bother to share a card on here that I'm just not 100% crazy about?? Probably because I'm stubborn like that and again--I invested the time to make it so I thought I'd share it (the good, the bad, and the ugly). I've seen a lot of chatter lately about people not wanting to continue this hobby because of feelings that their work is not "good enough" and maybe I felt the need to show that sometimes not everything you make is your favorite, but maybe somebody somewhere out there WILL be inspired by what you've created.

So why not share it?

More cards to come in the next few days. I'm still busy working away on them. Hope to be finished tomorrow...

A little Dasher elegance...

This has got to be my all-time favorite reindeer stamp EVER. I thought last year's SU Winter Post set had the cutest reindeer ever, but no, I was wrong. They did it again--only better. All of the papers on this one are MME Signature Christmas. Dasher was stamped in Versamark and embossed in Powder Keg's Honeycomb ep. Some of the other accessories I used are Nesties, MS flourish and lattice border punches, snowflake and branch punches, and the gorgeous QK Harvest alpha. This one doesn't take too much time to complete and that's a very good thing since I've got to make 5 or 6 more of these in the next day or so.

Gotta run--too many cards to make, not enough time...

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Reminds me of the mean guy on Frosty the Snowman, but that's what I've been lately. Too busy. We had an AMAZING weekend in Annapolis. I never thought Jeff's company holiday party would be that much fun. Oh yikes. There had to have been over 400 people partying at the Westin Annapolis until all hours of the night last Saturday. I feel sorry for anyone staying there that wasn't involved in that party. The live band rockin' into the early hours must've been heard all the way to the top floor. Crazy, crazy good time!

So, I haven't had a whole lot of time for making Christmas cards this year and that really bums me out! I've bought a TON of fun Christmas scrapbook stuff the past few months and I'm finding that a lot of it will have to wait until next year's cards. I think I might just get started on Christmas cards for the troops next year so I can use this stash AND make sure I have time to donate to this oh-so-awesome cause!

BUT--here's one of the 6 or 7 designs I've come up with this year. This was a little time consuming, a little frustrating, but definitely worth it in the end. Love how it turned out(but I only made 2 of them due to the time involved)

Here's the details:
the snowman stamp is Inkadinkado stamped in VF onyx black on a piece of SEI Winter Song pp, fun flocked on the hat, colored with Prismas on the scarf and then coated in Diamond Glaze, fringe on the scarf embossed with Powder Keg ep and an embossing pen, little half-pearls from Michael's added as buttons and then cut out and pop-dotted.

All of the pp is SEI and I used the Martha Stewart icicle border punch and an EK Success flourish border punch and the HSN cuttlebug snowflake flourish embossing folder.

The "Merry Christmas" is an Inkadinkado stamp in Cat's Eye ink and then embossed with UTEE.

Hope you're taking it easy during the stressful holiday ramp-up and accomplishing all that you want to!