Merry Christmas

I am probably not going to be able to post anything before Christmas so I wanted to get this out for everyone to see:

1 CORINTHIANS 13 - - A CHRISTMAS VERSION -

By an unknown author

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love, I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love, I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

Have you fallen into that? I know I have. So Merry Christmas to you! Do not worry about the small stuff...focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Enjoy!

Unbelievable news

Well, yesterday was our children's musical at church, and I have pictures to post. So I am happily uploading them, getting ready to post, when I see a post from another friend stating that one of our blogging friends has passed away. I could not believe it as I just received a Christmas card from Joanne Johnson
on Saturday! Oh, I am so saddened by this. My heart and prayers go out to the Johnson family at this very difficult time. And Joanne, you will be so missed!

Here are the pictures of the kids. This is the reason I have not been blogging or papercrafting for that matter last week, as I was busy making all of the costumes! But the kids just loved them, so it was all worth it!



In case you cannot tell, the red costume below is a bell.


And I think I was enjoying the production so much, I did not even realize that I did not get a front view picture of the tree!

Paper Craft Planet Day 8

Yes, I know...I've missed a few days of the contest. I have been so busy that I have not had a chance to play but I just had to take a break today from what I have been doing to play along. I just could not resist as today the contest is to use a cow and I just love these images that I have from the Angel Comp. If you cannot read what the first card says...It says "Holy Cow! An' udder birthday?"





ok, back to the grind for me, but I hope everyone has a great weekend! We are going to get our tree tomorrow, so I am really looking forward to that family time!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Have you been following what is going on over at Paper Craft Planet
? They are doing the 12 days of Christmas and everyday, they are going to post some type of card you are supposed to make.
I was a little late in submitting my cards for day one which started yesterday, as I was out with the rest of the crazy shoppers for black Friday.
But I wanted to post the cards anyway, so here they are:
Day 1 - you had to use a bird of any kind:
The first one is a partridge in a pear tree from Impression Obsession


and I could not help myself from making 2 cards for day 1:
This image is from the stampin place


Day 2 - you could use either a turtle or a bird
I chose to use this little turtle who wants to be a reindeer from Stamps4U


Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Oh, I can't stay away

I know, I said I was not going to be posting, and here I am ...posting.
I cannot help myself, I just had to get in on the sketch challenge. I have still been doing cards everyday, just not posting them.
Well, I am posting my sketch challenge card for today!



The image is from Purple Onion designs, and the dp is from a stack that I bought at Joanne's.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I am thankful for you!!!

Quick post for now

Here are a couple more I did yesterday.



This is a similar layout that I used yesterday on the Christmas card below, but I made this one a baby card. The bunny image is from Rubbernecker stamps.



Enjoy your Saturday everyone!
I will be back tomorrow to post a challenge, so stop back to visit me then!

Some more blog surfing

OK, I am spending way too much time tonight on the computer...doing lots of blog surfing, but finding so many wonderful things.
Here is a great story for you:

A Christmas Story

There is something new and exciting...

Go and check out Creative Souls
...you'll be glad you did!

Limited Supply Challenge 194

Happy Friday Everyone!
This card is for today's challenge on Splitcoast. The challenge was to use acrylic stamps, which was easy for me as I love this little snowman! As with many of my acrylic stamps, I cannot remember who it is from though! I know I bought it at ACMoore last year.


Thanks for stopping by!

Blog candy everywhere!

ok, you have to check out Laura's blog, “Wish you were here”
and then also check out Lara's blog “You want the cookie?


So much blog candy! WOW!

Sketch Challenge 202

Here is today's sketch challenge from splitcoast:



I have some birthday cards to send out in the month of December, so I figured I would get a head start on them. Decided to go with my new Snowman stamp from purple onion again. The dp is from Imaginisce. I used the the swiss dot embossing folder for the purple mount, and I paper pieced the party hats on the side. The sentiment was printed from my computer using the Homegrown Fonts from Homegrown Hospitality.
And as you can see, I used stickles on his scarf and ear muffs.

I am off to go craft shopping now, but it is all stuff for my church. So much fun when you get to spend someone else's money! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoying a hot chocolate

I was just getting ready to post this morning when my husband walked in with a hot chocolate and a cream donut for me. He is such a sweetheart.

This is just a simple card that I made with the City of David stamp from Lizzie Anne Designs. I used black ep for the image and also for the sentiment. To color the sky, I just used a watercolor crayon and my aqua painter.


This next card was made using the "Kids at play" set from SU, and the little snowman and sentiment are from Homegrown Hospitality. The idea in my head was way better than the card turned out, but I guess that happens to all of us!


And lastly, this is a stamp that I just received in the mail from
Purple Onion Designs
. This particular stamp was created by Stephanie Ackerman, a person who I think has so much talent to share!


Thanks so much for stopping by...cannot tell you how much I appreciate it!

Christmas Gala - Favor

Working on some things for our women's Bible study Christmas Gala. This is going to be the favor They asked me to make a magnet of some kind...and they have a very limited budget, so this is simply a chipboard coaster that I spray painted black, I printed the scripture Luke 2:11 and stamped the City of David using my stamp from Lizzi Anne Designs. I stamped the city in "not quite navy" from SU and I really like it as opposed to using black. The paper in the background is from Tinkering Ink. After I glued the paper onto the chipboard, I also covered it with acetate, to help it last longer since it will probably be placed on peoples refrigerator's and kitchens can be messy sometimes. Then I just added a little bow on top and a magnet to the back.
I will be showing this to the planning committee tomorrow, and if they like them, I will be making 600 of them! :)



Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Monday!
Oh, just wanted to mention that we had our first snowfall last night. Yuck!

Chipboard coasters

I have to go this week to purchase some more chipboard coasters and was wondering if anyone is interested in purchasing any? You can only buy them by the case which is a crazy amount of coasters! Anyway, if you would be interested, the price will be 6.25 and that will include shipping. They come in sleeves of 100 (so, price per sleeve is 6.25). They are 4x4 white chipboard coasters.
Just email me if you are interested...

Thanks, Have a great day!

New Sketch Challenge

Well, have you been to the Papercraft Planet site? So much going on there! Seems like I am doing nothing but cleaning out my email now with all of the updates I am receiving from PCP! Anyway, they are having a sketch challenge on Saturdays and of course I got sucked right into that...love love love sketch challenges!
So, here is my submission:



The cardstock used on all of these cards is wild wasabi for the base, real red, and whisper white. The images are all rub on's that I purchased at ACMoore.
Here are 2 more I made just to use up the rub on's.





Lots to work on today. I have to make 20 sets of coasters for the boutique where I sell my stuff. That is 80 coasters that I need to get done today!

Hope you have a super Saturday!

LSC193 - Fun with shapes

Today's limited supply challenge on splitcoast was to use a rectangle and a circle in your card and the only embellishment is ribbon.
The background paper is from Scenic Route, and the flower paper is from Paper Pizzaz.
The butterfly stamp and the sentiment are from SU's set "Flight of the Butterfly" and the flower stamp is an acrylic stamp that I cannot remember the name of the company.



Can you believe it is Friday already? Hope everyone has fun this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

WT191 - cutting corners

This is for todays splitcoast challenge which was to use a corner punch of any kind.
The dp is from Cosmo Cricket.



Off to enjoy lunch with a friend...hope you are enjoying your day!

2nd post for today!

Managed to get some more stamping done today, so here is another Christmas card to show you.
Card base is Wild Wasabi. The scalloped cardstock is cameo coral. The tree dp is My Minds Eye, and the tri color dp is Fancypants. The angel image is from Unity, and the Peace word is cut out using the sizzix die from SU (I cut all of the words apart, so I have Peace, Love, Joy, and Hope).
I did use a glitter pen to go over the angel and also outline the corner punches...I wish you could see it in the picture because it looks so pretty!



Well, thanks for looking!

sc201 - Christmas in the heart

This is for todays sketch challenge on splitcoast.
The image is actually from Fancypants...it was a 12x12 sheet of different Christmas images. The poinsettia in the background is from SU "Christ is Born". I stamped it on dp and then embossed it with red glittery embossing powder.
The dp is from a pack of paper I picked up at Joanne's.




Thanks for looking!

Thank you gift

Just a quick post to show a small thank you gift I made for a few people at church. When my mother in law passed away, they were kind enough to bring over meals for my family, so I just wanted to say thank you with this little gift. It is a loaf of banana bread.
The paper is all from October Afternoon...I paperpieced the house on the tag, and stamped the tree with the matching October Afternoon stamp.
The sentiment on the tag is from Inkadinkado, and the sentiment on the card is from Unity.




Thanks for looking...and if you have not voted yet...get out there and vote!

And the lucky winner is....

Joanne (Stamps4sanity) said...

Congrats on the hits! I know what you mean. Im crawling to my 10,000 too! lol Your cards are really sweet...



Thank you so much to everyone who played along. Sorry you could not all win because I really do appreciate all of your kind comments!
And Joanne, congrats to you also as I see you have hit your 10k mark! Just email me your address and I will pop the box in the mail for you!

LSC192 - and Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to those of you who celebrate!

The splitcoast challenge for today was to "disguise" a stamp and make it into something else. Well, I will apologize for my card today as right now it is 12:51 am and I am delirious. I just wanted to do the challenge before going to sleep as I have a busy day tomorrow and would not have been able to participate....so this is as good as it gets:



I made my snowman stamp into a clown and the birthday cake stamp from SU into his clown hat. Even though I think the card is ridiculous...it is still making me laugh. I guess I really am tired!

Have a great day, and a safe Halloween!

SC200 - Happy Holidays

Well, Roxi said today's sketch was easy, and if you ask me...
easy = fun!

This card was made with SU real red and wasabi green, and the dp is from cosmo cricket.
The image and sentiment are from the Angel Comp.
But now that I am looking at the picture of the card, I am wishing I would have used the cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder on the white part. Oh well, too late...not taking the card apart!



Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

I love this paper

** Just a reminder to enter for the blog candy below.

I have a thing for harlequin so when I saw this paper by 7gypies...I had to have it. It is flocked...wish you could see it in the picture. But I only bought 1 sheet! What was I thinking! The images on the first 2 cards are actually Christmas tags that I bought last year from Target during the after Christmas sales. I just thought they were cute and I knew I could use them. Recognize the "Joy" sentiment? It is from SU's Illuminations, but it is stamped on shrinky dinks with stazon and then baked in the oven, which turns it into this really cute little plastic disc.





This next card is for a neighbor that just had baby number 5.



Thanks for stopping by!

Time to replenish the stash

Well, I did not realize how low I had gotten on my birthday cards...so, luckily, I had this paper from Paper Addiction
. Isn't that the perfect name for a business? I know I am totally addicted to paper! Anyway, this paper is from the Imaginisce line...All Kinds of Happy.
It is really nice 2 sided paper which made these cards so easy to do. No Stamping, just used the 2 sides to put the cards together.





This next card was made using paper from S.E.I....Dill Blossom. Again this is a 2 sided paper which makes things so easy. I used one side for the background. Then I cut a frame and some flowers using my sizzix dies...stamped on the dp and embossed with clear ep powder.



This next card was made with dp from Target. I also used my SU linen stamp to stamp on white cardstock in close to cocoa and then stamped the leaf with craft close to cocoa and added a glittery embossing powder.



Last week, or was it the week before? Not sure, but at some point Splitcoast had a technique posted for this stand up card. I never got around to posting it, so here it is.



Still with me?
Well, I have finally made it to 10,000+ hits! I am laughing as I type this because I have watched other blogs soar in such a short amount of time and I had to crawl every step of the way to get to 10k. And it is quite possible that 9,900 of them were me checking to see if anyone had visited me! LOL!
But, for those who have, THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping to make me feel like my population of friends has grown! Wouldn't it be fun if we could all get together?

But, since we cannot, in order to show my appreciation, here is the blog candy:



There are lots of cute Christmas papers, 2 Papertrey boxes, 2 Papertrey tins, velvet ribbon, sizzix stamps, rubons, a whole stack of chipboard coasters, etc.

Just leave a comment and I will pick the winner Sunday night!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Brrrr

wow, has the weather changed quickly. Although, we are not getting the snow that I am hearing about in other parts of the states, so I cannot complain!
Today's challenge on splitcoast was to use a one word sentiment on the outside of your card. You also had to use pink in the card. So, here is mine:

The "Brrr" is from Homegrown Hospitality



The inside of the card says "Stay warm and have fun this winter" which is from the Angel Comp.
The bear image is from High Hopes.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day everyone!

Oh, and I am slowing making my way to 10,000 hits. Finally! I have had to crawl the entire way but I am so grateful to those of you who do stop by to visit, so I will be posting some blog candy soon. Thank you so much!

Sketch Challenge 199

Thanks to everyone for the kind words regarding my mother in law and also my mother. My mother has come home from the hospital and is doing well.
I am off to Canada again today to help my father in law with some more things. He wants to clean out all of her stuff because I guess the reminders are just too much for him.

I just received a couple of new stamps in the mail from High Hopes and thought one of them fit perfectly for today's sketch challenge. Felt so good to make a few cards again. I only have time to post one today.
The dp is from Imaginisce which I purchased from Paper Addiction
...you should take a look at the great deals they have!



Thank you so much for stopping by!

There is a new Angel in Heaven

I want to thank everyone who has prayed for my family during this time. My mother in law has gone home to be with the Lord as of this morning. I am so thankful for the time God gave us together to say Goodbye. She is going to be deeply missed by so many.
But I am not done with you yet my friends as last night while I was at my father in laws, I received a call from my sister to let me know my mom is in the hospital. I am sure she is going to be ok, but here I go again asking for more prayers! I just returned home from Canada about an hour ago, and now I am off to see my mom!

Love and blessings to you all for stopping in to visit me!

will be back soon

Sorry I have been absent for a while. We were gone for a couple of days to be with my mother in law at the hospital. She was doing better, but the doctor called my husband yesterday to say that Pat had started bleeding internally on Friday, and they could not find where she was bleeding from...so she thought we should come because they did not think she was going to make it much longer. I do not understand all of the medical stuff, but they were giving her blood and it was not helping. The doctor said her count was 15...whatever that means, but when we got there...the doctor came in to say that she was actually embarrassed because she could not explain the count as it was now 1.1 which is right where it should be. Hmmmm...she does not have to explain it to me...I know prayer works! :)
So I am actually heading back up for a few more days to help my father in law with things and give him a little break. He is exhausted to say the least.
While I was there, I did see some of the cards that you have sent, and they are all so very pretty!
Thank you so much!
I will be back soon!

Love and blessings to you,
Sandy

Snow Much Fun!

ok, corny, I know...I just could not resist. I mentioned in my last post that I recieved some stamped images from Catherine, and that I would post what I did with them, so here they are!



DP is from a stack I purchased at Joanne's, also used the snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder and the sentiment is from the dollar bin at ACMoore. I used my Jellyroll pen to color in the snowmen so that the snow would sparkle. Watercolor crayons were used to color the rest.



This DP is from Debbie Mumm - Harvest and Holiday collection. The snowmen were colored the exact same way, jellyroll pen and watercolor crayons.



This dp is also from Debbie Mumm. I cut out one of the trees and popped it up on some dots and did the same for the little snowman. And again, colored him the same way as the others.

Aren't they adorable?? I just loved those images, so Catherine, thanks snow much! (teehee)

I love them all and cannot decide which is my favorite!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Monday!

World Card Making Day

In honor of today's "celebration", I would like to share a card with you. This is not a card that I made, but one I received from a very sweet friend. I received this card from Catherine
and I cannot tell you what a nice surprise it was. It is such a pretty card, and it did indeed make me smile. She also sent some stamped images, which I just adored. I decided not to share them with you just yet as I plan on using them this week and I will post the cards once I have finished.
Thank you again Catherine and I pray that God will bless you beyond measure for the kindness you have shown to so many people!

more Faithbooking

So here I go again, pretending to be a scrapbooker. The women from our church are having another get together for a new mom this Friday and one of the gifts we always give the new moms is a Faithbook for the new baby. Many of the women will submit a scripture to be used and I will add a different one to each page. I am not a scrapbooker so they are never an easy task for me, but I have managed to make each book different, and am usually pleased for the most part with the outcome. Here are a few pages of the one I am working on for this Friday:























So, if you wonder what I am up to...just picture me at my craft table, bag of peppermint patties at my side with paper scraps flying everywhere and glue stuck to my fingers, ribbon rolling around on the floor,... you get the picture!
Will post more pages tomorrow...thanks for stopping by!