Happy New Year!

I am still alive and relatively healthy. Been mired in family issues and spending lots of time with grandchildren who are so generous with their colds! I'll be back soon, promise!

Happy, Happy New Year to all my bloggy buddies and thank you so much for making this such a great year for me. MWAH!

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Priorities

There are only so many hours in a day and only so much energy this old lady has to spread across them. I'm taking a bit of a break until next week to dedicate time to family stuff. Hope you all understand, blogging has to take a bit of a back seat for a couple of days!

Merry Christmas and thank you so much - all of you - for being so wonderfully supportive of this little effort of mine for the last two years.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

The best laid plans .....

Needless to say, things have not gone the way I planned this week. Tomorrow though - I'll be back with the blogoversary stuff! I am not answering the phone or checking my email until I get it done!

See you then!

In the meantime - some eye candy - check out what I got in the mail from Curt today:


I'm thinking that I might need to put up a slideshow of all the wonderful works of art that I received this xmas - next week maybe.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Couple more cards

I needed some more gift card holders and I also really wanted to play with the new HA rubbah in the house and my new xmas embossing folders, so ....


Totally wiped tonight, heading to bed to get rested up for vacation! See you tomorrow with deets on the blogoversary blog candy and how to win it!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Some all occasion cards

I thought I'd take a break from winter/xmas cards and make some for other occasions. I saw some new Hero Arts stamps online yesterday and went crazy and HAD to get them. You all know how that is, right? DH was with me (at a certain big box scrapbooking store with the initial "A") and as we were walking around the store I noticed him looking all over like he's looking for someone. He leans over and says "Besides one other kid being dragged around by his mother, there are no other males in this store!" I had to laugh. I feel the same way at West Marine!

Anyway, here's a couple of the cards and I'll have a couple more tomorrow. I still need to make some more gift card holders too. I am taking the week off from the office (mostly anyways) and so hope to get a good bit of straightening up done in here - the blogoversary blog candy pile continues to grow!


The top card uses one of the new HA stamps. The middle card uses the new Vintage Vogue set from SU (this one is destined to become a favorite of mine). The background was stamped using a champagne dazzle Versamark pad and the new Very Vintage wheel from SU, but you can't really see the subtle glitter in the photo. The bottom card also has the wheel stamped in the background on the card base and also embossed in gold on the lace strip (cut with a new MS deep cut edge punch). The sentiments on the top two cards are also from a new SU set called Well Scripted (I just love the font used on these). Card stocks used are Handsome Hunter, Not Quite Navy and Soft Suede with Rose Red, Very Vanilla and white.

Thanks for visiting.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Monday night fun on Wednesday!

Well a grand time was had last night and I think we all got some creating done. I don't have pix of all of the cards that were made, but here's a little peek at a few. Diane and Sabrina both made more than one, but I only grabbed pix of one each from them. I've asked Santa for a new camera for Christmas and I think that I've been a pretty good girl this year, so hopefully there will be one under the tree next week and I will be able to get better pictures!




I love the creative energy that is generated when we get together! I am still building the blog candy pile and I have the sketch ready and will post it all on Sunday, so be sure to stop back and visit. So much to do, so little time ......

Thanks for visiting today!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Next it will be split pea soup spouting ....

I feel like my head is spinning around and around! DS has a birthday on Friday and that means that Xmas is one week later - guess who hasn't started doing her shopping yet? Luckily, I make much of what I give and I do have a bit of a dent in that, although not all done by any means! As much as I love this time of year, it does get a bit hectic, especially now that we have 5 little ones around! It really makes it so much more fun when you have them and their excitement to keep things lively.

Some members of the Dinamite Stampers group got together at a restaurant on Monday night, ate some great food and then proceeded to entertain our fellow patrons by making some cards! I was in charge of one of the make and takes and I decided to make a card using a technique I learned HERE. Here's our card:



And we also swapped cards. Here's mine:

Here's all the other wonderful ones (we made a Valentine version of the first project as our 2nd make and take too - yum! (Thanks Bernadette!)








The blog candy pile is growing and I will be putting up a sketch challenge on Sunday - one card, one entry. I'm not sure yet if there will be two winners or just one, depends on how much more the pile grows between now and Monday! The Monday night gals are coming over tonight - YAY - since I was busy on Monday we're getting together tonight. It's been a couple of weeks since we were able to get together so I am really looking forward to it. Maybe there will be some cards to show off tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting today.

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Kaboodle Doodle Challenge #20 - Sparkling Winter

Well, it's time for a new challenge on the Kaboodle Doodle Challenge blog. This round we're illustrating "Sparkling Winter" and for me, growing up in NW Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey, winter always meant SNOW! Here's my card:

Be sure to hop over to Kaboodle Doodle and check out the cards made by the other design team members. We're also looking for some new design team members and you can find the details of that design team call right HERE.

Well this was the weekend for our darling grandchildren to come over and help grandma and grandpa trim the tree. Here they are (except for Justice who mostly napped through the actual trimming part and really didn't want to have his picture taken):


They did a wonderful job and grandma and grandpa are very thankful for all their hard work!

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit today. I have had to turn comment verification back on as I have been getting more and more spam comments. Sorry about that, but I hope it won't stop you from letting me know that you stopped by for a visit!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Indulging my inner grunge

I saw this card while blurfing today and really liked it. When I sat down to play with the concept, I decided I wanted to grunge it up a bit. Maybe it was the papers, maybe it was the day I had .... whatever, this is the result.


I'm struggling with my craft room - too much stuff! I know when it gets to the point where I can't find what I need and when I finally find it I turn around and then lose it again, it's time to CLEAN HOUSE! Comes at a bit of a good time too as the old blogoversary is coming up and I need some fun bloggy candy to give away. So coming soon right here on this very blog, some celebratory candy and hopefully a cleaner craft room!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Following in the master's footsteps ....

Allison (Stampin' When I Can) put up this gem on her blog the other day. I ruminated about what it might be like in paper and she promptly posted this wonderful sample. I finally came out of the deep freeze and made this one:


I am into gift card holders this season for some reason. They're fun!

A friend of mine is graduating from Naropa Institute this weekend (way to go Jill) and so I made this card for her:


It is above zero here now - YAY - but anything below 70 is still cold as far as I'm concerned! The grandkids are coming for dinner tonight and it's going to be that all time comfort food, chicken and dumplings, for us. Gotta keep those babies warmed up!

Thanks for visiting today!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Just wait till you see what the mailman brought me!

I received THE most wonderful surprise in the mail from my good bloggy buddy Curt. Take a look at these pix and believe me they just don't do this wonderful gift justice:

Here's the beautiful box

Here's the box openedHere's the marvelous card he enclosed along with a wonderful note

Here's the awesome cards that were in the boxHere's a close up of the elegant gift cards and tags

Curt is a fantastic card maker and photographer and his coloring on his cards is just outstanding. If you have never visited his blog - Curt's World - I urge you to go and visit and see his great cards and photographs. Leave him a little bloggy love and tell him that you saw his gorgeous creation on my blog.

I recently sent him an extra set of Koh-i-noor pencils that I had and this was his way of thanking me. I DEFINITELY got the better end of this exchange! These cards are so sparkly irl and the box is just so very elegant! Thank you, thank you, thank you Curt for this wonderful gift. You are a true gem!

Totally crazy around here the past few days. Lots of very cold weather and snow and more in the forecast. We may actually see freezing my the weekend - YAY - a heat wave! DH calked up all the new windows and it is quite a bit warmer now, but when it gets below zero, nothing that requires me to be outside is a good thing. Gotta go to work, but other than that, I'm in hunkering mode. Maybe I'll actually get some stuff made - ya think? Mr. Brown brought me some goodies that need my attention for sure!

Thanks for visiting. Blogoversary coming up and I'm still trying to figure out a good way to celebrate. I think it will definitely have to involve blog candy, but I'm also thinking that it might be time to have a sketch challenge blog candy. What do you think?

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

I actually did some challenges!

Maybe the mojo is back to stay - maybe ... I actually completed two cards for SCS challenges last night. The first is another gift card holder like the one from the other day except I glammed it up a bit for the color challenge. The second is for yesterday's sketch challenge.




My little Snowmen image is a digital stamp from Whimsie Doodles as is the sentiment. I colored it with my Koh-i-noor pencils and oms. Paper is Not Quite Navy and Bella Blue from SU. More of my bead department bling too. Papers in the gift card are Soft Suede, black, vanilla and gold metallic. Stamp set is Gifts of Christmas from SU. It doesn't show up well in the photo, but the image is embossed in gold.

Thanks for visiting today!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Another snowman!

I've seen this color combo all over the place and when I received my Jolly by Golly paper yesterday, I just had to make a card.


Snowman is from pcCrafters. Card stock is Garden Green and Pretty in Pink with ribbon to match. The brads are Certainly Celery (I think anyway). You can't really see it, but I put the dp through the Big Shot using the Final Press embossing folder from SU and it has a very nice texture to it!

Thanks for visiting today. Less than a month till my blogoversary - still waiting for some ideas on how to celebrate .....

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

More gift tags

Here's some more samples of some of the gift tags I made for our class on Saturday!


The tags are mostly die cuts, but some are just cut free form and some using punches. Images are scrapbook kit elements, printed graphics and stamped images. I am really looking forward to this class and I think that the gals attending are going to have a great time making gift card holders and gift tags!

Thanks for visiting today!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

November Christmas Card Challenge

I missed last month's challenge - life just got in the way! I didn't want to miss this month - our final month - and Tracy posed a good one for us. We needed to do a OSW using a 6x6 piece of patterned paper based on this challenge from Verve Stamp's oh-so-talented Julee Tilman (Poetic Artistry). I ended up making my own as I wanted to keep with the snowflake thing going on here and couldn't find any paper with Rose Red snowflakes. Making your own patterned paper guarantees that your papers will all match and besides - it's fun!

Here's my cards:

Snowmen are one of my most favorite winter time images and these cuties all come from pcCrafters. They are pre-colored graphics that you can print out on your printer and size however you want. Cut, punch and mount any way you want too. The Sentiment is from SU from a set called Happy Winter from a couple of years ago. Card stock used includes Rose Red, Old Olive and Brilliant Blue (rapidly becoming a fave winter color for me).

Thanks for visiting! Tracy will be posting all the challenge entries so hop on over to her blog and visit and see what all the other gals have submitted - they are always great!

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Cards for Soldiers

I stamp with some really wonderful gals, and tomorrow we are having an event to make cards for some of our soldiers. This will be the third year for this event and we will be making cards and also writing personal messages in each card. In the process of trying to decide on a design, I made quite a few cards, the first two are samples of cards I decided not to use and the last two are the ones I will be using tomorrow.


The inspiration for this card came from Wendy of Wickedly Wonderful Creations - her absolutely stunning card is HERE.


I'm still working on projects for the Gift Card Holders and Christmas Gift Tags class on December 4 - that is going to be one FUN class! I'll show you some more previews of those projects through the week this week.

I hope all my US bloggy buddies had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday - we had a great time, ate way too much and will probably be eating turkey until well into next week! Thanks for visiting today!

~chris

A Proud member of The Lime Light
Come visit us and see what we've been up to.
Design Team Member - Kaboodle Doodles
If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.