Images from Christmas

I can not believe that Christmas is over and 2008 is coming to a speedy end itself.

I have so much to do this week, but it still feels like I am vacation - needs to be a mind over matter or maybe just being a better steward of my time:^)

Last week was packed full to the brim with activity and fun. The Saturday before Christmas we shopped, Sunday we wrapped and baked, Monday we celebrated with the Dieterlens and mom arrived. Tuesday was that ice storm, cookie baking and a party with friends (thankfully we just had to head across the street, but even that was a little treacherous).

Christmas Eve we baked for Christmas day - and had our traditional fondue. Christmas was Christmas - and over in a blink. We opened, we ate, we played and we relaxed. The day after we shopped.

Saturday we headed to Hardinsburg - and came back Monday evening. I feel tired again just typing all that we did! I will add some additional pictures later and now need to wake my daughter and decide what our day holds.

Camp is Monday - and for those of you who know me well, will not be suprised to know I don't have one project created yet (not even in my head!). The decorations also need to come down - but I do truly hate to do that - I had thought this weekend may be good, but I can't wear myself out before the Colts play! oh, and there still is.....New Years Eve!!

let the celebrating begin...

We did Christmas with my dad on Saturday and today begins a week long time of celebrating the birth of Christ with family and friends - today we are hitting the Japanese Steakhouse - for lunch and I am already starving :^)

However, I have not showered - but our house is looking very clean and yesterday we got thru some of the baking - Serg makes Yugoslav Potica (walnut bread rolls) and Ris made Oreo Truffles

tomorrow is cookie making day - a must have (albeit, dreaded) part of Christmas....

Christmas is coming...

and much too quickly..... :^)

We made nearly 15 acrylic scrapbooks and about 10 candy kabobs this week - and I did 3 batches of Sticky Date Pudding last night - today most of these things will be off to wish a merry Christmas to friends and co-workers.....

how can I still have to much to do?

trees by Tami - candy kabob made by me, but inspired from ones I have seen online (and a heck of a cute - albeit, giant - one at TJ Maxx!)

Are you an Indiana Stampin' Up! demonstrator?

If you are - you are welcome to join my demonstrator group for a great weekend in January for stamping, sharing and business tips!

Simply email me for information - registration will close on January 5, 2009.

The sample is another from Susan - a peppermint frosted marshmallow with an adorable tree toothpick. Simply too cute to eat!

Sale Continues!

Free $15 item
With any $70 or over in merchandise ordered

(you will qualify for free shipping AND any other $15 or under item)
You can combine the 10% off retired set promotion and/or the 20% off catalog sampler promotion and use those sets as part of your $70 order - great time to save.

to qualify for the free merchandise, orders must be sent to me via email with credit/debit or paypal payment.

Offer Expires: Friday Dec 19 9am EST

today's ornament is from my friend Susan!

Christmas Shopping Special!

All orders over $70 sent to me by 12/19 9am EST will qualify for one $15 or under iitem FREE with FREE shipping!

Choose what you need, gifts to give or supplies to finish off those last few craft gifts. Stampin' Up! recommends not ordering any later than 12/16 for Christmas delivery.

Here is one of the Chipboard ornaments from the Holiday Mini - we made them at camp and now it has a place on my tree. They are especially pretty covered in the chunky glitter, but then, glitter makes everything pretty!

Need Help with Christmas Ideas????

http://astore.amazon.com/paperscapes-20

I have been asked on more than a few occassions about things in my home, movies we watch, food I prepare, etc...

I have compiled a site where you can go not only see many of my favorite things - but purchase them too!! It is an Amazon based site - and you still have several days to order and get things in time for Christmas.....

If you are still looking for someone on your list or you need to still suggest gift ideas to someone purchasing for you - may I suggest:

*DVDs - Love Jane Austen, but not all videos do her writings justice - but the ones that do - wow! Enchanted, well, it's Enchanting! I have added some new ones this year, BBC and PBS did a great job on some Jane Austen - and Cranford another English story. We watched Wives and Daughters for the first time this year, but I think it may have been around for a while. Lots to choose from!

*Cookbooks - easy peasy Artisian Bread, cupcakes, Aussie favorites and a few Southern Living classics that I use repeatedly

*Art books, music and books that will make you think, laugh and cry. Francine Rivers "Mark of the Lion" series is fantabulous!

To visit the store and get gift ideas go here:
http://astore.amazon.com/paperscapes-20

You can send the link to your hubby with a few hints - make his life a little easier!

a little bit of this and a little bit of that.....

I am going to try to play catch up and get a bunch of stuff up today....

starting with ~a snowman 'bouquet' that were my trades for Achievers Night on Tuesday

and here is a trade I got - will have more of those to show you - from Annette - love the freeze dried snowballs!

And retired sets that I need to go thru and decide which ones to use for January's Retirement Camp - you won't want to miss this last chance to use some of these great stamps

Stampin' Up! posts retiring list today + they have some great specials!*Stampin' Up! is offering 10% off sets on the retiring list from now til Dec 23rd!

*They are also offering FREE shipping on orders over $70 between now and Dec 23rd!

Tuesday special...
*purchase one retiring set (at the 10% off discounted price!)
and get a second (lower priced set) at 40% off the catalog price!!

*purchase TWO retiring sets (at the 10% off discounted price!) and
get TWO more sets (lower priced set) at 50% off the catalog price!!

*All orders over $150 also qualify for hostess benefits (all hostess sets will be retiring) - combined with the free shipping and above specials - now is a great time to buy!
Day 7 special is good til noon EST Dec 10th

Quick Card

Here is a quick card if you are still needing to make your Christmas cards! An added bonus: it uses only white cardstock and scraps of Christmas designer papers! Two stamps - assorted circle punches are you are on your way!!

Retiring list will be out shortly - for great specials on those, make sure to join my email list!

Camp Projects

We ended up doing a total of 8 projects - I will try to get them all posted so you can see what you missed.

This is a fun 3d Bag Tag - I was pleased how it turned out. Using rub ons and the Star Bright kit from the Holiday mini made it one of the quickest projects we did - but looking at it you would never guess!

Christmas Camp!

Oh, what to do! The last camp of the year is tomorrow. My goal for camp is 6 projects (though I seem to have a problem sticking with that number, there is always just 'one' - even 2 or 3 more projects I would like to do).

I have been jotting down Christmas themed projects for well, months. I need to narrow it down - I don't think the ladies coming tomorrow want to do 30 or 40 projects - they might need to go home at some point!

On the list so far - a lovely Christmas cottage card using the Top Note, the two tins I posted this week and this fun little Christmas pick that I came up with all by myself! Oh, that just leaves 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5!!) more spots. Anyone want a Christmas camp part two?!

Look closely at the snowman - he is a styrafoam head on a lollipop stick. Then he is adorned with lots of items from the pretties kit, brads, felt snowflakes, chunky glitter, ribbons, embossing powder and inks. All held together with sticky strip and tombow multi!

off to start hacking away at my list.....

Christmas Stampin!

Tomorrow I begin my Twelve Days of Christmas - stamping version. Discounts, freebies, ideas, and more! Not all offers will be on my website - to see them all - you need to be on my email list. You can easily subscribe in the box on the left of here!

Above are two projects we will be doing at camp this Friday! Hope to see you there - and if you can't make it, then you can always to a camp by mail version!

Festival of Gifts Day Two!

Today's gift idea is a heartfelt way to keep track of time! It is an easy project, no matter which version you choose.

Here is a calendar that I made a few years ago. It is simply a chipboard office clipboard (Stampin' Up! didn't even sell anything similiar then) that I painted vanilla. I used a variety of craft inks to do a collage of designs on it. Tie some coordinating ribbons thru the clip - and it did used to have a stamped image with the year on top of the clip, but that has been lost.

The months are vanilla cardstock that I ran thru the printer to make grids on. Each month is stamped with an alphabet and images that 'go' with the month. I printed tiny pictures of family members and placed them as additional designs on the months of their birthdays (and moms in May, Dads in June, group pictures in Dec - you get the idea). It is a very inexpensive gift - and most of you likely have all that you need already tucked away in your craft corner!


Stampin' Up! carries a variety of calendars as well. This version (again not a recent project as you can tell by the long ago retired stamps!) is my favorite because when the year is over it pulls double duty! It is a great 6 x 6 double calendar. As you can see from the photos, you stamp the months and pages and it stands on your desk.

Once the year is over, you can pull out the perforated pages and add them to your 6x6 scrapbook! It is like getting two gifts in one!

Today's special is all calendar related.....

*Purchase a minimum of $50 'calendar products' (see list below) and get any Designer Series Paper FREE!

Calendar products include:

*Pg 167 of catalog - Birthday calendar, Days to Remember Calendars

*Pg 180 On Board Clipboards

*Holiday Mini Create a Calendar

This offer is good in the US only and expires Sunday Nov 23

Tonight is Stamp a Stack - paper is cut, Christmas MP3's ready.....

here are the cards the ladies will be doing

Festival of Gifts Week - Idea number one!

Today's gift idea is easy, easily adaptable - AND uses bits and pieces - making it very simple to complete several in one sitting. You will have seen the sample before - as it is part of my Countdown to Christmas classes - and now you can order a very inexpensive kit to make your own version at home.

I made mine a home decor piece on an 12x12 canvas. It is Christmas themed, but you could make them for any season or simply an all year round variety (it would be a great gift to a loved one to do one for each season!).

But, you can adapt the idea and do it on a piece of 12x12 cardstock for a fantastic scrapbook page or even scrapbook cover.

I made one for a fellow demonstrator in California - she used the Country Living kit (available thru me for a limited time) and made a similiar version. Here's hers with that ~

But lest you think I came up with the idea all on my own - nope, I adapted it from this page of the current Stampin' Up! catalog.

Now thru Thanksgiving I will have kits for you to make my Christmas version at home on your own. (the top sample). Included in this kit is:

*all the cardstock and paper that you need

*stamped/punched images (ready for you to watercolor)

*clips, pretties, filigree brads, hodepodge, brads, buttons, felt snowflakes

*ribbon

*Instructions emailed to you with close up pictures to re-create your own. You will need: adhesive, sticky strip, assorted inks for coloring, white acrylic paint and whatever you choose to mount it on (cardstock or canvas)

The cost of this kit is just $14 - that includes postage if you need it mailed to you! Orders taken thru the 25th only!

see you back here tomorrow with another idea and another kit!

Deadlines, Festival of Gifts and More!

Next week I will be hosting this year's festival of gift ideas right here on this very site! I will have some new things to show and even pull out some past favorites - giving you ideas that you can use to whip up some quick, but heartfelt (and very nice - no plastic canvas in site!) gifts for those you will be shopping for!

Here is a sneak peak at one of the projects -a large winter tote! Along with each project, there will be a special on select items that you will need to use to make the gifts! Watch Monday for items used in this tote - in addition - those who purchase on those days will get instructions and emailed samples to help you in your re-creating them!

Also - tomorrow is the last day to take advantage of the FREE rub on offer!

And - today is the last day to reserve your ink pad storage rack.

See posts below for details.

Get some FREE Rub-Ons!

Purchase the Stampin' Up! rub-on special ($20 in merchandise and then any rub ons at 20% off)

For every $20 + 2 rubons you purchase - get ONE additional rub on package for FREE!

Everyone who orders more than $55 in merchandise will go into a drawing for a Christmas packet of rub-ons, drawing will be held on Nov 16th.

When you purchase either the Country Living kit or my rub-on special, you will be entered in the drawing twice!

Ink Pad wall storage units!

You asked, you got it!

For a limited time only, my husband will be making these wall units to hold Stampin' Up! ink pads (although since our pads are large - most ink pads should fit!).

The units hold 60 pads and have quite a lot of room on the top to store assorted accessories.

The cost of the units is $65. If you need it shipped to you, add another $17. Of course, you are more than welcome to pick it up at no cost.

He will begin assembling them on Saturday, so if your name is in before then, yours will be in the first bunch!

Christmas Supplies club!!

Here are two fun decorations that we will be making at camp this Friday. There is space in both sessions if you want to come!

You can also get a camp to go - images will be stamped and all paper/embellishments sent to you - along with emailed instructions with photos of the completed projects. Cost is $20 which includes postage. We are making 7 projects!

Also - a limited one time purchase club is available. This club will include lots of Christmas inspired items for your upcoming craft making.

Cost of the Club is just $20 (+ $5 if you need it mailed to you). I will be ordering it by the end of this week, so you should have it the week or so before Thanksgiving. Here is what you get and the quantities:

*Holiday Treasures Designer Series Paper
1/2 sheet of each design
*Frosty Day Designer Series Paper
1/2 sheet of each design
*Ski Slopes Designer Series Paper
1/2 sheet of each design
*Alpine Ribbons
1 yards each design
*Riding Hood Red (candy cane!) striped grosgrain
1 yard
*Pretties Kit
1/10th of a kit
*Satin Ribbon - Kiwi/Vanilla
1 yard
*Taffeta Riding Hood Red
1 yard
*Designer Buttons
1/3 of packet

I will only be ordering one club, so get your spot soon!

Twigster 2 Go!

November's Class to Go features the stamp set from the Holiday Mini - Mr. Twigster.

Included in your $27 class fee is the STAMP SET, the paper, ribbon and other consumable products (for the hot chocolate gift set, you will need to provide your own marshmallows, mix and cups) to complete the four projects shown above. Instructions will be emailed to you with pictures of the projects.

If you live outside Indiana, there is a $5 postage charge to get the things to you. If you do live in Indy, you can elect to instead take this class as part of my Countdown to Christmas Holiday Extravaganza event - details for that are found by clicking the link above with my Class Schedule!

Country Living Kit now available - 15% off this weekend only!

November is here, time flies! This month is my birthday month - so I will be mixing up some of my own birthday specials to go along with Stampin' Up!'s birthday specials! Here is the first one...

Once again Stampin' Up! has partnered with Country Living magazine to bring you a fabulous holiday kit. All of you will love it, but for those of you who have not tried a whole lot of stamping - this kit has so much in it, that you can't sit down and feel like you can't create because you need some more supplies.

It has stamps, paper, adhesive, inks (even a refill!), ribbons, brads, glitters, chipboard - a slew of stuff. The December issue of Country Living will even have ideas on how to use your kit!

This weekend only - order the kit thru me and get 15% off the $49.95 price! It would make a great gift. You will need to contact me to get the discount, the online shopping feature isn't set up to take those:^)

Off to a football tournament.....

Sale ends today - Camp is next week!

you have just a few hours left to take advantage of the Birthday Sale! See yesterday's post.

Here is another project from November Camp - it's next Friday!

24 Hour Sale - nearly 40% off stamp sets!

Time is running out on Stampin' Up!'s birthday special promotion! You can click on the box on the left to see the information directly on their site. For 24 hours only - I am going to double your discount - meaning you can pick up one, two or even all of these fun sets for nearly 40% off!

To qualify for the 20% discount, you need to spend $20 on non-discounted items. Between now and noon tomorrow, you can purchase $30 and get an additional 10% off the sale price - or go all the way and spend $40 and get an additional TWENTY percent of the sale prices shown above.

If you are wondering how low those prices go - here are some of them -

You can get Time to Party (reg $16.95) for just $10.85.

Crazy for Cupcakes (reg 23.95) would only be 15.33.

Big Bold Birthday (reg 27.95) is $17.89

and the deal of the day....

Bitty Birthday is just 8.29!

To get you in the mood - here are some fun cupcakes. The bottom shot is from Stampin' Up! the lovely cupcake in the Big Shot box is from one of my favorite stamping friends, Susan. Cupcake ~ cute, box ~ cute, idea ~simply fab!

And, yes, I had the cupcake for breakfast, it was delish! Starting the day of with a pink frosted cupcake - that is a good thing!

happy pumpkin 24 hour sale, starts 2morrow!

circa 1995

circa 1967

check back first thing in the morning for a fabulous sale!

Back to work - + shipping advice and a tv spot!

We enjoyed a lovely fall break last week and now it is back to work. Ug - I do love my job, but sometimes I need some motivation! I seem to be catching a cold, too, which doesn't help!

I worked on some things this morning and will have an email hopefully to you all by Thursday. There are more selections for the upcoming Christmas Countdown classes - and some samples for camp next week. There are just too many projects - anyone interested in another Camp?! We could do Nov .5 Camp!

Until then, you defintely will enjoy this:

Shelli is the president of Stampin' Up! (and the founder) - she is very creative and so much fun to watch. In person is always better, but hey, this works too!

She has some great ideas for decorating your holiday tables!

Now, a bit of shipping info.... I needed to mail one of the punch racks. They are not heavy, but a little awkward in size. I didn't have a box, so I thought I would take it to the local UPS store.

She measured it and told me it would be about $14 for the box and I asked what the total would be - she said estimating it - probably around $24. I asked if that was ground. She said no, that is the box and the packing. What?? No thanks, I will find my own box and pack it myself.

I told her I would bring it back but wanted to let the recipient (Hi Jill!) know an estimate. She measures it all and told me it would be about $17 for ground.

Serg got one box and then another - which was a perfect fit. I wrapped it all back up and took it back to the UPS store. It was raining so Karisa took it in, I parked and went in to pay. Same UPS lady - likely suprised to see me - because she quoted Karisa $27. I told her I had just been in and that she had estimated $17. She gives me a long story about the box being bigger than she would have expected, yada yada. I asked her to jot down the measurements - she did - ON the box. I told her I would take it to the Post Office, she told me to expect to pay more than $66 there. I wasn't nice, but that is just ridiculous.

We ended up calling DHL - using the measurements Ms UPS Store wrote on the box, they said it should be about $17 - $19. I did take it there. Guess what. The measurements were actually LARGER than the box - Ms DHL asked who measured it.

It was just under $15 to send it DHL. So, if you live in Indy and need to ship - I would highly recommend them! Hope your rack arrives safely, Jill!

Upcoming Christmas Projects!

Starting in just a few days - will be this year's version of countdown to Christmas.

This year I have twisted it up a bit and have several dates with several projects -


You can choose which days and which projects - most of the projects are quick enough that you can actually make TWO at each class.


Need a scrapbook and a calendar - pick those for a class.


How about a stationary filled portfolio and a snowflake tote bag? Do those at the next.

Decide you could use a couple more scrapbooks? No problem, make them both at the last class!

Shown here is one of the scrapbooks available to choose. I don't have any 'stuff' in it yet - but will be putting older Christmas pictures as well as our favorite recipes that are must haves at Christmas.

The projects can all be gifts - or you can keep them for yourself - or make one for both!

Most projects can be purchased To Go and several can be adapted to do at your house if you want an in home workshop!

For samples and pricing, see my class schedule link above. I am not done - there are 3 or 4 more selections coming.

Take Note!

I have added the updated information on the four ways to get your Acrylic Scrapbook - a truly wonderfully fun project that you (or the lucky one you gift it to!) will treasure forever. Scroll down just a bit to get the details.

Updates have also been made to my class list (see the links above!)

Don't miss the giveaway below!

Just a quick one..

We just returned from a fun afternoon of lunch and watching the Colts game with friends (by the way, welcome back boys - today they looked like the team we have come to love!) - in the 80 degree weather - and have to leave momentarily for the golf team end of season banquet.

Sometimes you just know your life is good:)

Here are more samples from Sept camp - sorry if you missed it - it was a good one! Don't forget - you can always get the camp in the mail option!

coming up this week will be:

*first offering of projects and prices for the Holiday Gift classes that will take place in November and December

*items going up on my boutique and retired sets pages

'see' you Monday!