Happy New Year!

Thanks so much for all the wonderful words of encouragement you have all given me over the last year. I really appreciate it!

Have a happy and safe New Year's eve - see you here next year!

~chris

Mojo Monday #67 and more CANDY!

The very first challenge I ever did was one of Julee's Mojo Monday sketch challenges. If you get a chance you should check out her blog - Poetic Artistry - she's just amazing! I love doing challenges now and do them as often as I can. I find that it really pushes me to try new things, to think about things from another perspective. This is Julee's sketch challenge this week and in keeping with the program to get ready for Valentine's day, I thought it would be appropriate to use the new Love You Much bundle and the new Raspberry Tart paper from Stampin' Up! The card base is Pretty in Pink and the contrast color is Elegant Eggplant. I colored the stamp with my markers and I like how it turned out.


In culling comments to print and put into the bowl for Friday's blog candy drawing, I discovered that my blogoversary post was post #300 so today I'm going to add two items into the package of candy to celebrate that milestone. Actually, I'm just looking for good reasons to celebrate and that fit the bill just fine! I'm not averaging a post a day for this first year, but there were some days with more than one and some days with none and it will probably continue that way for the next year too. My schedule is sometimes pretty hectic! At any rate, here's the candy additions for today.


There's a bunch of 6x6 designer paper from folks like Papertrey, 7 Gypsies and Basic Grey and a bottle of yellow-orange daisies from Daisy Doodles.

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you all have a very safe and Happy New Year! DH and I are going to keep with our long-time tradition and just stay home and have crab legs and watch a movie. If it's snowy and cold and it's not a red polution day, we may even have a fire in the fireplace. Haven't used the fireplace much lately between polution days and not wanting to take chances with the grandkids, but I do enjoy having one so we'll see how it goes.

Stay safe and warm!

~chris

NMBS26 and today's candy addition

I "blurf" alot of blogs and the NMBS blog (No More Bad Swaps) is one I read regularly. I've never done one of their challenges before, but I thought I'd give this one a try. These are love note size - 3 x 3 and I will make a box for them from a template that you can get by clicking on the link over to the right. I struggled with the monogram trying circles and squares and finally came up with this one. The card base is Pink Pirouette and the dp is Ivory Floral from Paper Adventures. The stamps are from Together Forever for the medallion and Lovely Letters alphabet for the initial, both from Stampin' Up! I used my 2" scallop circle punch for the medallion and a 1 1/4" circle punch for the letter.


Here is today's blog candy addition. I got a couple of these Pearlescent Watercolor paint pads from My Favorite Things and they are wonderful. It's like having Pearl-ex already made into a water color cake for you! No measuring or mixing required. Just wet and paint. The colors are great and very sparkly!



Remember, there will be a new addition to the original candy package every day till Friday so be sure to come back and visit to get some additional chances to win!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

One last xmas card and today's candy addition

This is the card I made for my dh for xmas. The map paper is from Christina Renee from a paper kit called Out to Sea which is ON SALE right now for only $1.75! She has some wonderful designs there and I highly recommend her store and her blog.

My dh is an avid sailor and I like to use sailing and boating images on the cards I make for him. This one is from Winds of Grace. The card base is Always Artichoke and the sentiment is embossed with copper ep.

Now for today's addition to the blog candy! This is a block of patterned paper from Stampin' Up! and it is a hostess benefit in the current catalog so it can't be purchased. You will get it along with all the rest of the candy if you are the lucky winner drawn on Friday, January 2. Just leave me a comment on this post. I will be posting new candy each day until the 2nd, so come back tomorrow and get another chance to win.

I can't tell you how much the words of encouragement mean to me. This blog has become a true source of joy for me and I thank you all for coming and visiting, staying awhile and letting me know that you've been here.

Thanks!

~chris

A Card, a request and some CANDY!

Here's another card using the Love You Much set. I saw a couple of cards with the scalloped envelope on the front and I really wanted to give it a try. What do you think? (Sally, would you like to do this at your party?)

Recipe:
Stamps: Love You Much, Short & Sweet
Paper: Pretty in Pink, pink dp from SU prints pack, Whisper White, Real Red
Ink: Real Red, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: punches, cuttlebug folder, SU hearts punch, scalloped envelope die and Big Shot

Okay, so tomorrow is my blogoversary and this weekend my blog rolled over 12k hits - so let's celebrate! Here is my plan.


This is the base candy package. Every day starting tomorrow, Monday, December 29, and going till Friday, January 2, I will add one item to this package. You can post one entry per day by leaving me a comment (that's a total of 6 chances to win - counting today). I haven't done it like this before, so hopefully it won't turn into a mess. If you have ever won candy from me before, you know that I usually throw in a few extras anyway and I will probably do that this time too.

Nobody has had any comments on how the blog looks after it's facelift - maybe I'm the only one who can see it the new way? I'm still working on it as I really want to put my own background together and redo the banner so that it is more reflective of my own style. I know that there are some wonderful folks out there who will do a marvelous job of putting these things together for me, but I really am determined to figure this out for myself. I'm a d*(& webmaster for goodness sake, I should be able to do this!

Well I think I've been long winded enough for tonight. I have a thoughts/prayers request for you tonight. Allison (Stampin' When I Can) gave birth to a beautiful baby girl - Avery Judith - on Christmas. Avery has some heart issues and is needing surgery. Please say a few prayers and send some good thoughts towards Canada and keep them in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks. Thanks so much!

~chris

Toto I don't think we're in Kansas anymore ....

Yes, it's really Mudmaven Designs. It's not done yet, this is just a step along the way. What do you think so far? I'm thinking it might be a little too busy looking so I'm going to keep at it. I have lots of digital stuff to play with that I've been collecting to do some digital scrapbooking with, just haven't taught myself how to use it yet. I'll get there though. Feedback, comments and suggestions are really welcome!

Thanks! Blog candy announcement will come tomorrow!

~chris

Love You Much

In between trying to work out the facelift for my blog and recovering from the holidays, I have been playing with my Love You Much set in preparation for some activities in January. Here's my first card ...


Don't like the glitter even though it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Recipe:
Stamps: Love You Much, Best Yet
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy, Parisian Summer
Ink: Bravo Burgundy
Accessories: three heart punch, scalloped circle and edge punches, hodgepodge hardware, ribbon

Blogoversary is Monday so look for some blog candy and (hopefully) a new look! Counter is also approaching 12k so it's double cause for celebration.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

I am so blessed!

I have been stamping for almost two years and I have to tell you - it has been the most amazing experience of my life. I have met so many wonderful people - fellow stampers and demonstrators, customers, blogging buddies and have experienced such a wealth of goodness and kindness that I cannot begin to express to all of them (and you all) how grateful I am. In this season of reflection, I am overwhelmed by gratitude for all these individuals who have entered my life in the last two years. Here's a good example ....


This is from Nicky (Ohh .... Nicky) who I had the good fortune to meet via Tracy's monthly Aloha RAK. Nicky knew that I really liked the stamps made by a local company in her home state of Hawaii and she sent me these two lovelies that I cannot wait to ink up.

Here's a little slideshow of some of the great greetings that I received this holiday season.

Again, I cannot express how grateful I am to the stamping and crafting community. You are all WONDERFUL!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

~chris

Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! For those who celebrate other holidays this time of year, I hope they are all happy and shared with loved ones! Thanks to all of you for your support and kind words over the past year (almost). I can't tell you how much it has meant to me to find so many wonderfully supportive bloggy friends out there!

Thanks again! ~chris

MTSC23 and CC198

I am trying to get in a quick challenge card before things get really crazy. Last chance to create for creation's sake today. I'll be working on gifts and such tonight and tomorrow. This is for Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge and the color challenge on Splitcoast Stampers - orchid opulence, so saffron and cameo coral! Yikes what a combo. I had pulled this dp by Paper Salon out this morning intending to play with it over the holidays and it seemed to fit the bill for today's color challenge. Sentiment is from Unity.


Thanks for visiting! Look for the blog candy celebration to begin next week to celebrate my blogoversary!

~chris

Snowflake card

I saw this card by stampandweave on Splitcoast Stampers and immediately grabbed the snowflakes I had cut but didn't have any idea what to do with. Here's my card. I love this snowflake die!


Thanks for visiting.

~chris

Inspired calendars

I made these for my upline/downline/sideline xmas gathering last weekend. I saw them on Allison's wonderful blog on this post. If you have never visited her blog, you really need to check it out. Fantastic cards and great resources! Papers and stamps are SU although some of the stamp sets are now retired (Season by Season and Ornamentals). They were really fun to make and once I decided on the basic design for each season it was pretty easy to cut and put together 10 over the course of two evenings. The hard part for me is always deciding what and where I want things to go.


I've got a couple more calendar projects that will be gifted next week and so I can post them here. Thanks for visiting!

~chris

This one's for Jennifer ...

I got an email from my friend Jennifer with a url to an ornament that she thought I might be daring enough to make. I don't have any qualms at all about putting my Big Kick through it's paces, so here it is! As a result of this little challenge, I am now officially switching from Mt. Dew to this really great Green Tea by Xing. Green and black tea with honey and some with Pomegranate or Mango! Not as much sugar or calories, but still with that nice bit of caffiene that keeps me on my toes!

These cans are nice and tall (little under 7.5 inches) and are standard can size around (about 9.5 inches) so they make a very nice size sheet that fits easily through the big shot with only minor trimming required. I used the snowflake die and cut two snowflakes from two matching cans. I'm going to try doing it with different cans this weekend and see how they turn out. I used my crop-a-dile to put an eyelet in the center to hold the two together securely. I attached the little poinsietta like flowers in the center (well they started out in the center but I was in a hurry to get to work and they kind of shifted a little) using crystal effects - which I have found holds just about anything together. I even used it to tack down some mischievous formica in my downstairs bathroom! I had fun with this and was very pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. It's much more sparkly than I thought it would be. I need to find something that comes in gold colored aluminum lined cans though - anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks for visiting! I have a calendar project to post this weekend based on some that I've seen over the last week or so that I made up as gifts for my upline/downline/sideline gals.

Blogoversary is also rapidly approaching! Watch for a chance for some candy coming your way.

~chris

This week's sketch challenge #207

I somehow managed to fit in a challenge this week! I'm still in Christmas card mode though! Hope to put away all the xmas stamps next week and start making some stuff with my new SU stamps!


Recipe:
Paper: Handsome Hunter, Whisper White, gold metallic
Stamps: Christmas Classics (SU), Merry Christmas (HA)
Ink: versamark
Accessories: gold ep, ribbon, cb embossing folder

Thanks for visiting. I'm hoping to do some baking (along with the shopping, cooking, cleaning etc.) this weekend. Maybe Kael will come and help grandma bake cookies?

~chris

33 years ago today ....

On this day 33 years ago, Aaron Matthew Fennimore was born. My baby is 33 years old today. I know he'll hate being called "my baby" but he is and always will be. He is the light of my life and I am so proud of him! Happy Birthday Aaron!


Love,
mom

For my Personal Stash

I found this dp for 1/2 price at Mike's and made a couple of these to go in my personal card stash. Hoping to have them all in the mail tomorrow!

Recipe:
Paper: Always Artichoke, Apricot Appeal, Ruby Red, The Paper Company dp
Stamps: Hero Arts - Merry Christmas
Ink: versamark
Accessories: brads, gold ep, ribbon

Its a really hectic time right now, but I will try to keep up and share the doings around here with you. My blogoversary is rapidly approaching and I'm working on my redesign. I know I had instructions somewhere for how to make a three column blog but, like many things, I can't put my hands on it at the moment! I'm also putting together a nice pile of goodies for blog candy too!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

BVI Flower Slideshow

Well, I've started the re-design of this blog in celebration of my 1st anniversary blogging. It will be a slow and changing process over the next couple of weeks, but hopefully it will be a nicer viewing experience and you'll enjoy your visits. Here is the slideshow of the gorgeous flowers we saw in the British Virgin Islands. There were so many beautiful things and I wish we could have photographed everything, but alas. We did get these flower pictures though and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Thanks for visiting. Hope to be back later with some cards to show you. It's Monday and so Sabrina is coming over to play and that always results in some fun projects!

~chris

Some xmas cards

Cheryl (Mochamama - God and I on the Railroad Tracks) introduced me to a company called PC Crafters. They sell digital images that are really wonderful! If you want to see what can really be done with these images, be sure to visit Cheryl's blog as she is the absolute master and recently was featured on their website. Cheryl is wonderfully talented and makes some of the most gorgeous cards. Go visit her blog, you'll be glad you did.

Here's my first attempts at incorporating their images into cards. You know how much I love snowmen and they have so many great snowman images. I hope to make more cards, but this is what I've done so far. I made six of each design and it was really a lot of fun. I also used some of their images to decorate some gift bags that I gave to my downline friends at lunch today. I will be featuring the project I made for them later this week here on my blog.



Thanks for visiting. The grandkids were here yesterday and helped us decorate our tree. Kelly took some pictures and I'm hoping to get a few from him to put up here and show you. It was so much fun. I hope that this will become a new tradition. Now that they are old enough to help and also to understand where some of the ornaments came from, it is really so nice.

~chris

Masculine Christmas Card

I absolutely love these Winter Birds from Inkadinkado. You've seen a couple of cards using the owl and here's one of the other birds. The dp is retired Stampin' Up! and I thought it was just perfect for this card. The metallic blue paper embossed really well and you will probably see a couple more as I embossed with white, glittery gold and silver too!

Recipe:
Stamps: Winter Birds from Inkadinkado
Paper: Basic Gray, So Saffron, retired SU dp, Choc. Chip
Ink: Choc. Chip, versamark
Accessories: punches, gold ep

Busy weekend - putting up the tree with some help from the grandkids and tomorrow my downline group is getting together for our annual Christmas lunch! I'll have some pix of my projects for that after the lunch - don't want to spoil the surprise!

Thanks for visiting! Blogoversary coming up soon - think it warrants some candy?

~chris

Just the sketch this time

I loved this week's sketch challenge so much I made a second card just using the sketch challenge. I had the shank buttons and thought they would make a perfect accent for this card. I'm kind of wishing I had done more with the old olive panel, but maybe the next one!


Recipe:
Stamps: Heard from the Heart
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Choc. Chip, Whisper White, Holiday Treasures dp
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: punches, buttons

Thanks so much for visiting! I'm going to put up a slideshow of some of the flower pix from the BVI trip tomorrow so be sure to come back and check it out!

~chris

Combined Challenge

Finally got a chance to sit down and make some cards. Here's one I made combining this week's sketch and color challenges:


It was great to make a card after over a week away. I really miss it when I'm away. I did do some knitting on the boat, but card making was out of the question.

Recipe:
Stamps: Spotlight on Christmas
Paper: Taken With Teal, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, unknown dp
Ink: Riding Hood Red
Accessories: punches, bling

I'm getting ready for a last minute xmas card making workshop next week and I hope to have some samples to post here over the next day or two. Thanks for stopping by!

~chris

Still trying to get back into the groove!

I am hopeful that between yesterdays great color challenge and today's great sketch challenge my mojo will return enough that I can get a card made! In the meantime, here's another photo from our trip. I have a lot of flower pix too and I'm hoping to incorporate some of them into a blog redesign to celebrate my blogoversary later this month. I can't begin to tell you how beautiful it was in the British Virgin Islands this time of year. The water was every color of blue and green imaginable and the sunsets were incredible.


Thanks for visiting!

~chris

The best laid plans ....

Started the day with all the best intentions of getting things done and am just too wiped out. Here's a shot from our first day out, off the stern towards the sunset. I downloaded all of our pix from the camera, but have not had a chance to go through them all yet.


Didn't get a card made, didn't even get all the laundry done - YIKES. Yesterday I was strolling in the surf of Trellis Bay and tonight I'm looking out my window at 2" (and still coming) of SNOW! Oh well, tomorrow is another day and hopefully I will get back into the groove.

Thanks for visiting and for hanging in there with me while I was away! You guys totally ROCK!

~chris

I'm Back!

We got in late last night and I'm spending today doing laundry and learning how to walk on dry land again! I'm happy to report that I DID NOT get sunburned and I DID learn how to snorkel! Hope to be back later with a couple of pix (won't bore you with too many I promise) and maybe even a card! I've missed everyone and I'll be trying to catch up with all my blurfing too!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Some Christmas Cards

I've started making a few Christmas cards. I will probably not make lots of one design, but make a couple of lots of designs. These are both pretty straightforward and easy made with the snowflake from the Holiday Collection and a sentiment from All Holidays. Everything is Stampin' Up! except the CB embossing folder (but I used it in the Big Shot!). I'm really liking the big bold snowflake from that Holiday Collection set. It fits so perfectly in the scallop circle punch and I love how SU coordinates their stamps so well with their punches.



We're almost home. Hopefully, I will have always remembered to put on my sun screen so I will not be totally lobstered when I get home.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Birthday on Board!

One of our fellow sailors this week is celebrating his 50th birthday. I made this card for him. I love the boat on this stamp and all the nautical pictures in the border.

Recipe:
Stamps: Set Sail, unknown birthday stamp, Weathered bg
Paper: Baja Breeze, Naturals Ivory, Choc. Chip
Ink: Choc. Chip
Accessories: brads, punch

Only two more days on the water and then we'll be getting ready to head home. We are staying at a hotel in Tortola on Saturday night and flying out on Sunday. See you all soon!

Thanks for visiting.

~chris

Love Notes

I put together a package for my step-mom for her birthday and I'm sure she has it by now so I'm going to share part of it here. These were love notes (3x3) that I made to go in a scalloped envelope die box. Didn't get a picture of them in the box because I was dashing to make it to the post office in time. I made 4 of each design for a total of 20. They are all Christmas themed and I thought she could use them to attach to packages to give them a hand made touch.


Paper is mostly SU but some Bo Bunny dp. Stamps are SU from Snow Swirled and Holiday Trinkets with words from set I don't have the name of.

Thanks so much for visiting!

~chris

Happy Tuesday!

I pulled this paper out of the pad and just had it sitting on my desk for the longest while. I love the colors and the design, but I just didn't know what to do with it. I didn't want to cover up the wonderful paper and I didn't want to use an image that would take away from it either. I settled for some nice words from Unity.


Recipe:
Stamps: Unity
Paper: Baja Breeze - SU, Dark Choc. PTI, Basic Grey dp (of course I can't remember which collection) and Whisper White
Ink: Baja Breeze, Choc. Chip
Accessories: Nestabilities

Thanks for visiting. We are somewhere in the Carribean at the moment and I will have pix and deets right here when we get back!

~chris

Another Owl Card

HAPPY DECEMBER!

Some of you may remember my owl adventures last spring. Click here here to see the post about that. Unfortunately, the nest is now gone and Harold and Maude will be nesting elsewhere this spring. I love owls. I think they are beautiful birds and so when I saw this stamp I knew I had to have it. You will probably see it here a few more times, at least!


Recipe:
Stamps: Inkadinkado Winter Birds, Sentiment from Brother Sister Design Studio
Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White, DCWV Winter Mat Stack dp
Ink: Pacific Point, versamark
Accessories: brads, ribbon scrap, oval nesties

We're out on the water today (at least we're supposed to be). Thanks for hanging in here with me while I am out and about on my very first vacation from work where they CANNOT call me or email me! Yikes!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris