Check out Spellbinders!

Here is the link for a chance at some goodies:
http://spellbinderspaperarts.com/blog/

A Tim Tag

I have done much crafting while trying to get ready for Christmas but since I just got 2 Tim Holtz sets I had to take time and do something with one of them. This tag uses the Letter to Santa set and I have also used Stampin' Up! Lovely as a Tree. The Merry Christmas is a retired stamp that is also from Stampin' Up! Distress Inks were used for the stamps but I had sprayed the background with various sprays before hand. The numbers come from my chipboard stash that I have had for a long time so I don't remember where I got them. I really like this Santa and plan on using him a lot for next year. I hope you like it.

I don't know how much time I will have on line I just found out my mother and brother are coming Saturday and I still have a lot of things to finish up. Like the 6 x 6 album I am doing for my brother for his Christmas gift.

Free Vintage Clip Art

Here is a wonderful site if you are interested in vintage Santa clip art
http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/vintage-santa-claus-christmas-cards/

A Plant to share

Isn't it pretty! I have had this plant for years and years. It never fails me. I should have mentioned that this is a Christmas Cactus.

Lisa Vollrath Images

Look at these terrific images from Lisa Vollrath. New ones each day.
http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

Todays Cookies

Made these yummy Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies this morning. The top photo shows them all finished and the bottom one shows you before the frosting is added. These need to set a while in order for the frosting to harden. I usually stick them in the freezer before putting them away.

Do you want the recipe???

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 10 oz jar maraschino cherries drained

1/2 cup butter/margarine ( I usually use butter)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspong vanilla

Can Chocolate Fudge frosting

Combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda and set aside

Drain cherries - set aside

In a large mixer bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients and beat until combined.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press down center of each ball with thumb and place a drained cherry in center. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire race. Once cooled frost and enjoy.

More Ornaments

First off I want to say I have not had the time to view blogs but promise I will get there and see everything you have all been doing. Just been trying to get lots of stuff done.

This is my latest project and these are so simple to make and look terrific. Please click on the photo for a better view. You can find the full tutorial at My Paper Haven
Katie Renz is the desinger and please check out the rest of her blog for some terrific projects. Too many great projects not enough time

Christmas Tags

Check out Christmas Cards All Year Round
for their latest challenge. I did these tags using acrylic paints, a little gold metallic and some stickers. I have to add the ribbons and fibers yet but will use these for our grands Christmas gifts.

Christmas Cookies

Here are three different cookies that I made up this morning. Butternut Balls, Cream Cheese Gems and Starlight Mint cookies. Now to get them in the freezer so I don't eat any of them.

Peace Joy & Love

I must tell you that I totally CASE'd this from Vicki at Stamped Smiles. You really need to visit her blog if you haven't already. I love what she did but of course I made several changes. I used my Big Shot to make the Scallop Circles and used retired Stampin' Up! designer Paper. The Big Shot also made the Peace, Joy and Love that I cut apart for use in each circle. I used a gold leafing pen around each scallop.

Vicki has full details on her blog for this.

Holiday Extravaganza Sale

From November 26-December 1, get up to 50% off select Stampin' Up! products. Find the perfect present for all the stampers and paper crafters in your life-or just stock up for yourself! Click on the shopping cart to see these great specials.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Hubby and I will be heading to Virginia to spend it with our oldest son, daughter-in-law and grandson.

A Scrap page

I have blocked out my dear daughter-in-laws face for privacy reasons. I am working a an album for her and our new granddaughter. These photos were from the shower. I am very happy with the way this has turned out so far. I used my Scor-Pal to do the pleat for across the top of the page. All papers are Stampin' Up! and the Designer Paper is Banbury and it goes perfectly with the Certainly Celery and Pink Pirouette cardstock. I used the retired stamp set I'm Here for the feet and hands. I have a scond page but it is not this far along yet. I am not doing the journaling for these pages as I plan to let my daughter-in-law complete them. This page looks so much better IRL. Thanks for looking. Please just clikc on the photo for a close up view. I found out about doing the pleats from the Scor-Pal Yahoo group but unfortunately don't remember who showed this technique.

My trees

The first tree is the one in our bedroom. This is my "snowman" tree! Now there are other things on it but it is mainly snowmen - I am building up my collection. I think it is a 6 foot tree and I have one of my Nativity scenes under it.

The second tree is our main one and it is in the family room. This is a 9 foot tree and I have all different types of ornaments on this. The main two themes are Santas and White House Ornaments which I have been collecting for many years. I have yet to put the train under the tree but it will be there soon. This is what I have been busy doing. I also have a tree in my bonus room and the front middle bedroom and I'll get those photos up later. Have a great day and I hope to get back to stamping before long.

A Cookie Recipe

I promised to share some of my favorite recipes and here is the top on my list.

Cranberry Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 Cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup English Toffee bits or almond brickle chips

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips, cranberries, pecans and toffee bits (dough will be stiff) Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-14 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks. Yield: about 6 dozen

SNOW!!!

We had our first and hopefully last snowfall of the season yesterday morning. This is about as deep as it got. Just thought I would share it with you all.

GREAT BLOG CANDY

You really must check out this wonderful blog and the terrific Candy that Debbie is offering. Here is her link:
http://passionforcrafts.blogspot.com/

Partial Inside

I still can't get a good picture so I opened this up some so you can see what I did inside.

Season's Greetings

If you have never visited Jan Tink's blog you really must. This is my take of her latest card. Mine is a Double Accordian Gate Fold which I made using my wonderful Scor-Pal but right now I'm just showing you the front that I could scan. The pics didn't come out very good of the inside so I have to retake. All products here are Stampin' Up! I used the same colors as Jan did Brocade Blue and WW. This card has lots of glitter. Not only did I use Dazzling Diamonds I used some of Stampin' Up! Glitter Fine Cosmo on the trees. I hope to get the other pics up soon.

Quick Christmas Card

Here is a quick card I did this morning for the Challenge on Christmas Cards All Year Round Please check them out if you havent' yet.

This card is all Stampin' Up! products EXCEPT for the Class A Peal Stickers. I love the new Designer Papers and Holiday Treasures is one of my favorites. I used retired stamps on this one except for the A Very Merry Christmas which is in the hostess set Punches Three. Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds were used on the pine spray that comes from the retired set Peaceful Wishes. Several of the punches were used and direct to paper for the edges of the stamped images. I hope you like it.

SNOW BURST

I finally had a chance to make a card for the November Challenge for Christmas Cards Year Round. You had to use 2 ribbons, 2 buttons and two snowflakes. I have a lot of snowflakes stamped on this one so I'm in hopes that will work. This uses the Stampin' Up! set Snow Burst but the let it snow is from a retired set. The cardstock is Pacific Point, Whisper White and Shimmery. Buttons are from my stash and Class A Peal Stickers were placed in the centers of the snowflakes.

Another busy weekend

I spent a good portion of yesterday morning trying to get my bulbs that I had ordered in the spring into the ground. I had ordered 100 daffodils from Brent & Beckys bulbs and they arrived the other day. I must say that I got over half of them in and plan on getting the rest done later this morning after my walk. My knees were killing me last night so I don't know whether I can get them all in today or not. It has really gotten cold so they do need to be in the ground. I have to get my walk in first.

I also have to get to the Post Office today and get my tags mailed off for the swap that I'm in. Might possibly hit Archivers, just depends.

I hope to have something new up later today. It might just be another recipe though. Have a great day all.

Blogger Award

My friend Dot gave me this award, please stop over and visit her at http://doodlesandsuchbydot.blogspot.com/

Thanks Dot!!!

Now for the rules -

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.

2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

4. Put links to their blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

This is difficult because so many great bloggers to chose from.

1. Naomi at http://astampersparadise.blogspot.com/

2. Emily at http://stampingexpressions.blogspot.com/

3. Susan http://www.stampinsusan.com/

4. Vicki at http://www.stampedsmiles.com/

5. Sherri at http://sherrimalone.blogspot.com/

Pink Green Polka Dots & Blossoms

Those are all the item you need for a card for the latest challenge at Christmas Cards Year Round. I have them all here. Everything but the flowers is Stampin' Up! The flowers are from Close to my Heart. I did have to add stickles, you know they can't be glitterless! I used the Designer Paper Sweet Always for the background and for the Build-A-Brad in the center of the flowers. Cardstock is Certainly Celery and Pink Pirouette and the ink is Certainly Celery.

Tag Swap

These are just two of the tags I did for a swap I signed up for. Almost no stamping involved except for the verse. These are actually cocktail napkins and I am pleased with the way they turned out. I hope the ladies who get them like them. The sayings are from Stampin' Up! and the Brown fiber is Stampin' Up! along with the cute clips. On the snowman those fibers are from my very large stash. Do you think they will like them???

FIRECRACKER DESIGNS BY PAMELA

Isn't this just the cutest snowman! This set is called Love Never Melts from FireCracker Designs by Pamela. I did this card for a sketch challenge but did tweek the sketch a bit. Along with the stamp set I used Night of Navy, Real Red and Shimmery cardstock from Stampin' Up! I used the snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder and then smeared White Craft ink over and embossing powder. I used the scallop punch for the nifty verse and smeared white craft along the edges for more "snow" tied Red striped grosgrain ribbon at the top of the panel. The snowmans hat has Chunky Glitter from Stampin' Up! along the brim and I used a red rhinestone at the tip of his cap which is hard to see.

Home Crafted Ornaments

This is one view of a small tree I have put up in my craft room to hold the ornaments that I am making for the holidays. These 3 snowflakes at the fron are made using the Big Shot from Stampin' Up! The ornament at the top is a Chipboard left over from last year. I painted it with Gold Metallic paint and the small snowflake with silver. A close up of this was posted earlier.

Holiday Recipe

I said I was going to share some of my favorite recipes. This one is not cookies but it is the first thing I make for Christmas and then freeze it. I have been making this for many years. My mother used to make this every Christmas - she found it in one of our local newspapers in the 1950's. I don't know the actual date. It was from Mamie Eisenhower (sp)

Mamie's Fudge

Butter a 9 x 13 roasting pan and set aside

Have 12 ounces of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips and 12 ounces of German Chocolate broken into small pieces in a large bowl. Set aside

4 1/2 cups granulated Sugar
1 large can condensed milk
1 pat butter ***
Pinch of Salt
16 ounces of Marshmallow Creme

Bring the above 5 ingredients to a boil in a very large saucepan. Boil for 6 minutes stirring continuously. Pour syrup mixture into bowl with Chocolate and stir well until all the chocolate is melted. You may add nuts if you wish. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

This is not a cheap candy but it really makes a lot. Stores well in the freezer and make a great gift.

Now I need to get the rest of my ingredients so I can get it made. Hope you give it a try.

*** I've been asked about this and I just usually cut about the amount I would use to butter toast, don't ever measure it.

Holiday Gift Tags

Here are a couple of the gift tags that I have been making. These use the initials of a couple of our grandchildren and will go on packages for them. After that they can be hung on their Christmas Trees as ornaments. These chipboard pieces has Stampin' Up! Holiday Treasures Designer Paper on both sides. The back has the contrasting paper. The stars are painted with Gold Metallic Paint then adhered to the base. I also used Crystal Effects along the edges of the stars then sprinkled with Gold Glitter. The Alphas are little wooden pieces that I have had around, painted with red acrylic paint then a coat of Crystal Effects and a generous portion of Dazzling Diamonds. I have these Holly Pieces that I added on each one and fibers from my stash . Hope you like them.

Tree Ornaments

I pulled out one of the small Christmas trees from the attic so I could hang up some of my newly made ornaments for this year. This is very small and I just have them there until I get out my big tree. Theses are actually going to be gifts for family members but I wanted to show you all. On here I have my Felt Flurries I made from Stampin' Up!, I have my snowment made from directions I got from my friend Beth, I have only one microscope slide ornament so far and two Snowflake Chipboard Ornaments. These are pieces I got last year but didn't get around to doing until now.

The Large chipboard flake was painted with Silver Metallic paint and the small was painted with gold. I then double pop dotted the gold onto the silver. I used Crystal Effects on the gold one then sprinkled with gold glitter. I edged the Silver one with Crystal effects and added Chuncky Silver Glitter from Stampin' Up! I want to make some more of these. Easy and quick. I hope you like them.

Busy, busy, busy

I have been painting this weekend, not crafts but one of our bathrooms. I think it took more time taking things down, taping and prepping that the actual painting. I wish I could say that I really like the color I picked but I don't. It looked good on the chip but I don't like it on the walls. I just have to get used to it because it won't get painted again for a couple of years. I need to get our master bath painted next so I can start decorating for Christmas and doing som of my baking. I promised earlier that I would share some cookie recipes and that will probably start next week. I'll decide which day and post once or twice a week with a new cookie.

I do have some holiday crafts I'm working on and I hope to get that up later today. It needs to dry right now.

SNOWMAN

I happen to really, really love snowmen! My friend Beth did one of these over a month ago and I had to do them. I am finally getting around to it. I still have not added his mittens, I may or may not add them. It was really hard to get a good photo of it so I may try again later.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I am sure you can tell that this is NOT one of my favorite holidays. I put out very few decorations, do have tons of candy to give out to the little ones. It's just I have never been one to do any more for this day.

Now Christmas is a whole nother story! I will be starting to decorate really soon because I put up so many trees and then have to start my baking. I might share some favorite cookie recipes in another week or so along with some pictures of my decorating. I will have a house full over the holidays and really enjoy it even though I'm exhausted by the time it is over. January just seems to be such a let down.

I am working on a couple of items and hope to have something to show you a little later today.

Check out Chocolate Snowflakes

For some free blog candy check out:
http://twisted-chick.blogspot.com/2008/10/chocolate-covered-snowflakes.html

NEW CARD - NEW GRAND

I just completed this card this morning in honor of our new granddaughter that was born on Monday. That is why I have not posted we had to go and be with the family for her birth. Didn't quite make it in time but did get in some hugs, kisses and lovin' before we had to leave. I need to go and do cards for the grandsons now!

This card uses a new set that I got from Pamela Clark at FireCracker Designs by Pamela. Isn't that just the cutest little snowgirl? I really didn't do much to her. She is stamped in StazOn Black using Shimmery cardstock by Stampin' Up! Pop dotted onto Pink Pirouette layered on Real Red. I used Crystal Effects and Chunky Red Glitter on the band and pompom of her hat. Real Red grosgrain ribbon, the Large Oval Punch and the Curly Label Punch were all used.

New Snowman Stamp set

I have been busy working on scrapbook pages but I just this week got my first two stamp sets from Pamela of FireCracker Designs. So I had to stop scrapping and play with at least one of the sets I got. I didn't get a really clear shot of this card so I might try and replace it later. I used Stampin' Up! cardstock Natural White, Night of Navy and Real Red. I also used Stampin' Up! markers, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Chunky Glitter and Dimensionals on Here. I popped the fire and the snowmans scarf for a little extra dimension. The scarf also has Crystal Effects on it. I edited this after scanning the card - much better image but hohum, don't know how to remove the old one so you have them both.

Hope you like it

Blog Candy

Head on over to Denises blog for a chance to win some free blog candy. She is giving away lots of goodies for her anniversary.
http://denisesstampingpage.blogspot.com/

Eastern Blooms

One card but placed two different ways. I happen to prefer it as an accordian but it is also a stair step. All most all Stampin' Up! products, Class A Peel Stickers used in centers of flowers.

Pacific Point, Shimmery and Baja Breeze cardstock used, Basic Brown and Pacific Point inks along with the Stampin' Up! set Eastern Blooms. I also used Stampin' Up! 1 inch circle punch and the trio flower punch.

Have a great weekend! I'm off to the fair today.

WSC63

I haven't done a Challenge in quite a while so I decided it was time to try and get at least one done. This is for Beate's Challenge and I hope it is not too far off what her sketch looks like. I have all Stampin' Up! products here. The base card is Riding Hood Red, which happens to be one of the new "In Colors", layered with Ski Slope one of the terrific Designer Papers that appears in the Holiday Mini. The stamp set I decided on was Uppsy Daisy which happens to be very popular. This was stamped in Riding Hood Red on Shimmery Cardstock then I punched the desired area out with the new 1 3/4" Circle Punch that can be found on page 188 in the current idea book and catalog along with all the terrific punches Stampin' Up! carries. I sponged the stamped piece with Riding Hood Red, then Close to Cocoa before using dimiensionals to mount it on a piece of 3 x 3 Textured Pink Pirouette, also a new "In Color" that I had punched with the Scallop Edge Punch. I also used the Scallop Edge Punch on the piece of Close to Cocoa that was mounted on a strip of Shimmery Cardstock. I used the piercer from the Crafters Tool Kit along the edge of the Cocoa Scallop piece. The Double Striped Riding Hood Red Grosgrain Ribbon was knotted then run under the main stamped piece. I used the Large Square Punch on a piece of Pink Pirouette and then cut it in half, sponged with both Riding Hood Red and Close to Cocoa, mounted them on the edges and added two pearls from the Pretties Kit. To finish the whole piece off I used Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds on the large flower.

Have you Clicked today?

Just a gentle reminder if you haven't already done it click on the pink ribbon to the right.

Stampin' Up! Felt Flurries

I'll take a break from the trees for right now and show you some of the tree ornaments I've been making with Big and Little Felt Flurries. These also use the Build-A-Brads that I finally broke down and purchased. I love those brads really easy to use and add so much pop. I also used Silver Cord and of course added Diamond Stickles. Ski Slope Designer Paper was used in the Build-A-Brads. I think these will be a little gift for family and friends that stop over during the holidays.

In order for the brads to work I had to use my pliers and remove some of the prongs as they were to long and showed.

Another Tree Card

I am loving doing these! I did this one using some retired Stampin' Up! Designer paper that I had left over from last year. I also used the retired Star punch, I think this shape is perfect for these trees. The Seasons Greetings comes from Stampin' Up! Rub-ons Word Flurries and the bling happens to be Class A Peel Stickers by Stampendous! Red Grosgrain from Stampin' Up!

3 D Cards

I just came across this and loved it. So I had to do 2 of them. Here is the first one. This is done with all Stampin' Up! products, the Star Punch is retired now though. Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive are the cardstock used. Ski Slope is the Designer Paper. I also used Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Word Window Punch, To You & Yours stamp set, Double Stripe Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon. Hope you like this one. I will put the second one up later.

You will find this at:

http://jacsscrappin.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-origami-christmas-tree-cards.html

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

I have the link on my side bar up top right now. Please click on it each day. Remember that this cancer is not strictly a womans disease. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to have a couple of new cards up later today.

Check out these Stamps!

Check out the great stamp sets on sale at FirecrackerdesignsbyPamela! Just click on the link below.
http://www.safesecurestore.com/stores/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=firecrackerdesignsbypamela

HOLIDAY PLACE CARD HOLDERS

Aren't these just too cute! I got the idea for them from:

http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.com/

You really need to stop at their great Christmas site for wonderful ideas.

For these two I used Stampin' Up! Ski Slope Designer Paper, Real Red and Baja Breeze Striped Ribbon, Build-a-brads and Little Felt Flurries. Of course office clips and I had to throw on some Stickles to the felt flurries. Let me know what you think.

Back to work!

I had a great time with my Club Scrap friends on Saturday! Unfortunately Joe was feeling terrible so I ended up coming home Saturday evening. I got quite a few scrapbook layouts done even added a few photos to about 4 of them. I still have my journaling to complete but all in all it was so much fun.

The top photo is the cabin we used for scrapping while there were two other cabins for sleeping. The bottom photo is one I took before I left and everyone is busy working on their projects.

Goodbye again......

Only for a couple of days. I'm going to CAMP!!!! Yes I am but I'm not camping out. I am getting together with some scrapbooking friends from Club Scrap and we are having a Ladies Weekend! I'll be leaving tomorrow morning early and won't be home until Sunday middle afternoon or so. We have rented Cabins at New Hope Camp & Conference Center in Chapel Hill, NC and are going to play, play, play!!!!

I think I'm packing almost everything I own to take along, at least it feels like it. I know I have packed all my punches and lots of so far unused Club Scrap Kits to work on this weekend. Even if I only get the layouts done I'll feel good. I'm sure to buy a couple more Kits from our great FFC'er Laurie Bennett. If you want more information about Club Scrap please go to the right side of my blog and click on their site.

Pam has set this whole thing up and I believe there are going to be 11 of us and I'm sure we will have a ball. I understand that there is a Michaels and an AC Moore close by the camp so we might just have to take a quick trip if we run out of something. I understand our food is going to be tops and I'll report back on that when I return. I have alrady packed plenty of chocolate to take along, water, tea and who knows what else I'll pick up to snack on.

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope to have lots to show you when I return on Sunday.

Quick Card

This scanned crooked but I hope you can see it okay. I used Shimmery and Real Red cardstock and stamped the image from A Wish for Peace multiple times. Merry Christmas is from A Cardinal Christmas. I also cut the main tree out and pop dotted it in the center. I have a litte glitz on it and may add more to some of the trees. Ticket Corner punch was also used. All products Stampin' Up! except for the glitter glue.

I've been tagged.....

With this one I'm supposed to tell 6 things about me that you might not know.
1. I've been a hobby Stampin' Up! demo since March 2000

2. I've been married to the same lucky guy - Joe - for 42 years, I don't know how that happened since I'm only 30!!!!

3. We have 2 grandsons, 1 great-grandson and will be having our first granddaughter within the next two weeks.

4. I am also very much into genealogy but spend so much time stamping and scrapping that genealogy has fallen behind.

5. I really really love Daylilies, Azaleas and any flower that comes back.

6 I think Christmas is my favorite holiday. I start decorating around the middle of November and used to put up 7 trees. That was when we had a much bigger house. Now if I can squeeze 4 trees in I'm lucky. My mom and brother come up from Florida and many in the family come to my house and visit so she can see everyone.

I'm going to leave this as an open TAG. If you can please post 6 things about you that your fellow bloggers might be interested in knowing. Also please take the time and visit my fellow bloggers that I have listed to the right of my page. Manny, many good ideas from them all. Thanks for stopping by.

More on Our Trip

Since I don't have time right now to do a project I thought I would give you a couple of photos. The first photo is Joe standing under Bridal Veil Falls in North Carolina. The falls I really wanted we couldn't stop at due to construction. This one was nice but not very big.

The second photo is one of both of us at the top of Whiteside Mountain trail. I took the "easy" way up and had to stop several times. I am what you might say out of shape. It was a beautiful view and well worth the walk.

Big problem today is Joe can hardly walk. He has done something to his back and we are soon heading to the doctors. I doubt I'll get much done today.

I'm Here!!!

We ended up going away for the long weekend instead of having company here. I have lots of photos that I took so I'll be doing some scrap pages over the weekend. Joe & I took our first trip to Alabama to visit his nephew and family. We had a very good trip, beautiful weather and then stopped off in the mountains of North Carolina for a couple of days before getting home.

We spent yesterday walking up Whiteside Mountain and let me tell you I learned ( like I didn't already know it) how out of shape I am. I had to stop and catch my breath several times before continuing on the hike. Good thing we took the easy trail. The site at the top was well worth it and I can't wait to start scrapping our trip. We also saw several waterfalls but the main one I wanted to get photos of was closed - Dry Falls. They are doing construction on the parking area and believe me there is no place else to park there. We were both ready to head home today, unfortunately Joe apparently did something to his leg and he had a horrible nights sleep. He is in much better physical shape then me so I am surprised. I hope he is feeling better soon.

Now I have to face a ton of laundry before I can even think of playing. I actually have a scrapbooking get together this weekend with a group of ladies at a "camp" Should be fun but I'm behind in getting stuff together.

Hope to get something quick posted a little later. I have lots of blogs to catch up on so if I haven't left you a comment in a while I will soon.

Away from computer

Just thought I would stop in and let you know that I'm not going to be around to post more cards again until next week. We have family coming so its busy, busy, busy time. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you again next week.

Cool New Use for Scallop Edge Punch

I made this using the new technique on www.Splitcoaststampers.com

Using the Scallop Edge Punch and a piece of cardstock cut 2 3/4 x 2 3/4. Punch each side making sure you have about the same abount of space on each side of the punch. Punch Away. I decorated it with my image but there are many ways to use this. Winter Post and Snow Swirled are the Stampin' Up! sets that I used along with Night of Navy, Whisper White cardstock and Prestwick Designer Paper. I also had to use some of the pearls from the Pretties Kit in the center of the scallop circle punch and on each corner of the medallion. Stickles also used on Scallop Circle.

A Card for a friend

A friend of mine has had some very bad news and I wanted to send her a card. I did this one with the new Stampin' Up! sets Inspired by Nature and Uppsy Daisy. Colors I decided on were Rose Red, Very Vanilla cardstock. Rose Red, Basic Brown and Always Artichoke inks and Close to Cocoa marker. I also used Paper Piercer, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds and Chocolate Grosgrain ribbon. I hope she likes it.

Another Color Challenge Card

Here is another card for the challenge posted http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.com/

Check them out as this challenge runs through the month of October.

This is my second card for the Colored Christmas Challenge and it uses Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip cardstock and Chocolate Chip Designer Paper all by Stampin' Up! The images are from the Stampin' Up! set Nature Silhouettes and the verse is from A Wish for Peace. I only added a little bling to this one by way of a few tiny pearls on the side. Hope you like it.

Nature Silhouettes

I just recently got this set and finally got a chance to play with it. I combined it with two other sets for this card. Lovely As a Tree, stamped several times in Handsome Hunter then tore the top off and sponged around edges with Basic Brown. I stamped the deer from Nature Silhouettes in Basic brown and then cut it out, first and probably last time for doing that ;-) He is double popped and then placed on the card. The sentiment is from A Wish for Peace from the new Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog. We could sure use Peace in this world now! I also used Crystal Stickles on the main tree behind the stag. That wonderful new Alpine Ribbon is placed behind the sentiment. The photo is not very good. I really need to find a better place to get my pictures.

Hope you like it!

Another card for the Bling Challenge

I did this one using the Bright Bulb Stampin' Around Wheel and Punches Three stamp set from Stampin' Up! Only thing I kind of got the punched piece a wee bit off center. Lots of glitter added here using Crystal Stickles. I made it like a package with the ribbon. I also used the Wide Oval punch for layering.

Challenges

Here is my second card to go with the challenges that were posted by Deanne and Tamara. Please check out there blog for more information on this challenge.

This one is the Happy Bling Challenge. This card has no stamping but I used 2 Cuttlebug embossing folders. The holly one was colored using Stampin' Up! Marker Handsome Hunter. I edged the card with my gold leafing pen and added my favorite Class A-Peal Stickers to both embossed images. I also used Stickles to the left side of each leaf. I didn't add a saying on this one yet and not sure I will. Hope you like it