12 Days of Christmas - Day 2!

Hello friends and welcome to day 2 of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration Blog Event brought to you by "The Inspiration Crew".  At the bottom of this post is a list of all the crafty ladies participating in this event. Be sure to visit all the blogs each day for loads of fun Holiday craft ideas.

For this project, I started off with a vintage print treat bag and stamped a cream panel with a seed packet stamp, holly leaves, and sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps and then added some rhinestone holly "berries."  I layered the panel over a panel of patterned paper and finished the bag with some red sequins.

Donna Bowman 

Rachel Kleinman

Ceal Pritchett

Lalo Ik

Barb Murphy

Angi Barrs

Annette Allen

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Susie CraftHappy

Geri Greening

Rachel Izakowicz

Thanks so much for visiting today and have a wonderful day!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1!

Hello friends!  There is a lot going on with this post today so please bear with me as I explain it all!  First of all, this is Day 1 of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration Blog Event brought to you by "The Inspiration Crew."  We’re a group of online crafty friends who love being creative and this time we're doing a 12-day event to provide you with tons of Holiday Inspiration.  

For today's project, I made a card using a wonderful set from The Craft's Meow called Holiday Foundations.  I took a large shipping tag and stamped it with one of the sentiments from the set in the center and then stamped rows of stars from the set in gold on the top and bottom.  I layered the tag onto some music note paper and finished with a gold star clip and some red shimmer ribbon.

Here are the rest of the ladies who will be participating over the next 12 days so I hope you have a chance to visit them and also please stop back here!  

Donna Bowman, Rachel Kleinman, Ceal Pritchett, Lalo Ik, Barb Murphy, Angi Barrs, Annette Allen, Ardyth Percy-Robb, Susie CraftHappy, Geri Greening, and Rachel Izakowicz

The next is a bit of sad news which is that The Craft's Meow store is closing its doors at the end of December. All stamp sets have been marked down by as much as 75%! Stock is limited... once it's gone, it's gone for good, so please shop early for the best selection. All orders of $25 or more will receive a free gift with purchase. Flat rate shipping is $3.00 for all US orders and $12 for all International orders. Please see the store blog for details, or click over to The Craft's Meow store to start shopping!

In honor of our time as designers with The Craft's Meow, past and present designers are getting together today for one final blog hop.  Please visit their blogs for more TCM inspiration and to bid a fond farewell to a great stamp company!  I will miss them!!

Karen Baker
Sharri Seffens
Amy Wanford
Debbie Pamment
Alice Wertz
Mabelle Ramirez-Ortiz
Amy Crockett
Lindsay Amrhein
Nina Brackett
Larissa Heskett
Julie Ranae Murray
Gayatri Murali
Jen Cuthbertson
Jessica Fick
Lin Brandyberry
Angelica Suarez
Iwona Palamountain
Jennie Harper
Michelle Bertuzzi
Jinny Newlin
Deborah Nolan
Elizabeta Kushner
Clare Buswell
Amy Tsuruta
Sarah Martina Parker

Stacey Schafer

Thanks so much for visiting today and have a great day!

A Waltzingmouse Christmas - Day 4!

Hello friends and welcome to the 4th and final day of A Waltzingmouse Christmas!  I hope you've enjoyed all of the holiday creations and that you will find use for all of the wonderful new stamps!  Today we're celebrating Christmas decorations!  

While I was perusing my stash of WMS stamps, I came across the Vintage Banner set and realized they would make great Christmas trees so I decided to make some magnets!  

I stamped both of the largest and a couple of the medium sized trees onto white cardstock and cut them out with the coordinating Spellbinders dies.  To give them some weight, I also cut chipboard backs for all of them and glued them on, sandwiching the pipe cleaner "trunks" in between the layers.  I decorated the trees with some sequins and paper rosettes.  

Before I go, one last photo of my dear... thanks for bearing with me this week as I shared the reason for my absence from crafting for the past few months.  She is such a joy!

Thanks so much for visiting and here are links to the rest of the DT participating today - 

• Anya Schrier
• Becca Feeken
• Edna Morrisedie
• Iwona Palamountain
• Jeanne Jachna
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston
• Karin Akesdotter
• Kelly Schirmer
• Kim Duran
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Renee Lynch
• Sandie Dunne
• Teresa Kline
• Tosha Leyendekker

A Waltzingmouse Christmas - Day 3!

Hello friends and welcome to the third day of A Waltzingmouse Christmas!  I hope you've been enjoying all of the festive creations - I know I sure have!  :)  Today is tag day and I have a couple of different types to share with you.

For my first project, I kept it simple and paired the gorgeous (!!) sentiments from the new Seasonal Flourish set along with some little images from the Seasonal Remedies set on these black and white beauties.  The only flourish I added was a tiny, gold rhinestone to the tip of the crown.  The little cards are approx 2.75x4 and are perfect for gift enclosures or package tags.

For my second project, I started out with a kraft shipping tag and layered some plaid paper over it.  I stamped the paper with the Peace sentiment from Say it Loud - Winter Holiday.  I then stamped a couple of different sized poinsettias from Big Blooms - Poinsettias and layered them on the tag with some foam tape, finishing off the center with some gold pearls.  A fairly easy and dramatic tag for a holiday package!

I'm really having fun with an Amelia-a-Day this week so bear with me again...  :)  Here is a shot I took last weekend when we were out shopping.  It is nice to be off work for now so I can enjoy the holidays and shopping during the day when there are less crowds!  We were at Anthropologie - I love that store! 

Thank you so much for visiting today and I hope you have a chance to visit the other DT blogs for some gorgeous inspiration - 

• Anya Schrier
• Becca Feeken
• Edna Morrisedie
• Iwona Palamountain
• Jeanne Jachna
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston
• Karin Akesdotter
• Kelly Schirmer
• Kim Duran
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Renee Lynch
• Sandie Dunne
• Teresa Kline
• Tosha Leyendekker

A Waltzingmouse Christmas - Day 2!

Hello friends and welcome to the second day of our Waltzingmouse Christmas event!  Head over to the WMS blog for the skinny!  Today's "theme" is Christmas cards and I know I can't wait to see what the other fabulous DT ladies created!  I'm certainly not making all of my cards this year but would love some inspiration for next!  :)

I decided to use the new Folk Art Christmas Additions and am just in love with the little bird in the set!  I stamped it twice in red ink and cut them out, popped them up on a sheet of birch tree patterned paper. I stamped one of the sentiments from the set in gold (I realized, too late, that I should have embossed it so it would stand out more), and added a gold star clip. 

Another gratuitous photo of Amelia :)

Thank you so much for visiting today and here are the other DT ladies sharing new projects!  Please take a moment to check out their creations - 

• Anya Schrier
• Becca Feeken
• Edna Morrisedie
• Iwona Palamountain
• Jeanne Jachna
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston
• Karin Akesdotter
• Kelly Schirmer
• Kim Duran
• Lynn Mercurio
• Renee Lynch
• Sandie Dunne
• Teresa Kline
• Tosha Leyendekker

A Waltzingmouse Christmas - Day 1

Hello friends and welcome to "A Waltzingmouse Christmas" - a 4 day event highlighting the new sets available at Waltzingmouse Stamps and some of our older favorites!  Head over to the WMS blog for more information!  

I must say it has been nice to be crafting again - these are the first projects I've made since September when our daughter was born!  At nearly 11 weeks, Amelia is now entertaining herself a bit and napping on a more regular basis so I can get some crafting time in my days.  It is lovely to be back!  

Anyway, on to the festivities at hand... My first project is an embellished postcard tag that I stamped with images and a sentiment from Alpine Christmas.  I saw the postcard and immediately thought of some time I spent in Switzerland a number of years ago and how I long to go back for the Christmas markets.  I stamped and embossed the mountain range using white powder and stamped the little village and trees below.  I finished the tag off with a sentiment from the set and some fabric snowflakes.

For my second project, I used the Little Lanterns set and new coordinating dies!  The dies are fabulous and I can't wait to get the other dies to match my other sets!  I wanted to make something homey so I started with a kraft card base and layered some folksy papers.  I stamped the sentiment from Compliments of the Season and then embossed the lantern in gold.  I finished the card with some vintage buttons.

And, I'd be remiss as a new mother if I didn't post at least one photo of the lady that makes my life complete - Miss Amelia Grace...

Thanks so much for visiting today!  Here are links to the other DT ladies showcasing Alpine Christmas and new dies -

• Anya Schrier
• Becca Feeken
• Edna Morrisedie
• Jeanne Jachna
• Jennifer Holmes
• Julia Aston
• Karin Akesdotter
• Kelly Schirmer
• Kim Duran
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lynn Mercurio
• Renee Lynch
• Sandie Dunne
• Teresa Kline
• Tosha Leyendekker
• 
  

My Greatest Creation (WCMD 2013)

Happy WCMD!  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is World Cardmaking Day, and cardmakers all over the world are creating their hearts out today!  I just may join you all later but right now I'm on baby duty.  While I've really enjoyed crafting, Amelia Grace is, by far, the most wonderful creation I've had any part in in my entire life!  Glen and I are so blessed to have her in our lives - it is an amazing journey every single day!  :)

It is strange to look back at my blog and find that where I used to post nearly every day (or at least multiple times a week) was reduced to about once a week when I was very pregnant to now where I haven't even thought of the blog in about 6 weeks!  Amelia just turned a month old yesterday and the time has flown by!  I can't say I know much about what has happened in the world since we went to the hospital on September 3rd.  But, I know a lot about soothing a crying baby, diapering, breast feeding, and making up words to silly songs to sing to my daughter.

Having Amelia was a miracle.  Though by far not the oldest to ever have a baby, I am 43 and was 39 when we started trying, we knew it may be tough, but had no idea what we were in for.  We suffered through two miscarriages in 2010/2011 and 3 failed IUI and 2 failed IVF treatments in 2011/2012.  After our last IVF in May 2012, we decided to focus our money and energy on purchasing our home, which we did in August last year, and opened our hearts to the possibility of life without children.  Glen and I have such an amazing bond, we were excited to see what that would mean and set about making the home of our dreams.  Well, lo and behold, we found out we were pregnant in January and our whole plan was turned upside down - my craft room still hasn't been unpacked and we diverted money from our "home improvements" bucket to the "creating a nursery" bucket (though I'd say that was the best improvement we could have made...)  

On this WCMD, I may not make a card, but I will be spending it doing what I now love, which is to make this wonderful little girl smile!  I'll be back to crafting one day soon (having her has really inspired the creativity in our home - Glen is writing more music and I have started working on a Project Life album) but in the meantime, I'll be busy with little toys, the smallest clothes I've ever seen, and parlaying my crafty fingers to figure out how to trim her tiny nails (tying little bows are a piece of cake now!)  

Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with Amelia - a little angel sent from heaven to make us laugh and fill our hearts with the most joy we could imagine!