Middle of the Week.

Wednesday is here again. We were at a potluck last night & helped with crafts & decorations for the church. What a great family time! Doing projects & putting up Christmas trees. I've been doing a lot of reading & getting inspired to put a lot of *thought* into Christmas. Not just frantically running around trying to get through Christmas, but savoring the days. Enjoying the moments. Making time for traditions. It'll be a hard one this year with Daddy gone for the whole holiday time, but we'll have our little Christmas on the 22nd. We'll savor the time we do have. What are your traditions? I was reading the comments on another blog on Christmas traditions & I loved all the fabulous ideas. So I ask you.... what are your family traditions? Old ones and new ones you hope to create this season?
We open one gift on Christmas Eve (usually new PJs to slip on for the night), Christmas morning we open stockings & have a big breakfast & then usually take off for a long family walk. Once we get back home we open the gifts under the tree & then savor the afternoon's quietness. Kids playing, playing games, sipping hot cocoa. We have a advent quilt that gets hung on the wall (I'll have to take a photo to share with you) and inside each "house" is a slip of paper for each child. It's a clue to where they can find their "treat" for the day. They love it. They study their little clue and then run off in glee in search for the goodie that day. I typically just have a little treat in the actual house, but with three of them now there's not too much room. LOL. I put in a few clues last year and they LOVED those days when the house had paper inside & they knew they got to search for their treat. So this year I think I'll do that for each day. A little more planning on my part, but sure do love to see those smiles! We also have a Christmas Eve service that we attend and have a big Chocolate Fondue at Grandma's house. Mmmmmm. Lots of Christmas baking. Christmas Shoeboxes. Trip to Vernon to visit my family. Silver Star Mountain. Drive to view Christmas lights. I love this season. I read about picking someone who is less fortunate and making them feel loved the whole month through. I guess like a secret santa. A card in the mail. Some goodies. A gift. Makes us realize how blessed we are and how we can make a difference in someone's life.
Enjoy the season. It's here :)

Stamp Set - Season of Joy, Snow Burst
Paper - Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Creamy Caramel
Ink - Vanilla Craft, Bravo Burgundy, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa
Other - burgundy grosgrain ribbon, burgundy eyelets, stampin' dimensionals, punch.
Here's another attempt at a *brown* Christmas Card. I cut out the tree and popped it up. I sure do like this stamp set :)
Merry Christmas!
.j.

"Tis the Season....

We had a great family weekend, despite all our kiddos having coughs & sniffles, we really did have a great weekend. I even had some time to stamp with my girls yesterday so I will be able to show you some cards this week :) yeah. I'm hoping to get my Christmas cards DONE this week so I can mail out that first week in December. With the business of the month, I like to get those outta the way first. PLUS... then people can enjoy them a bit longer :)

After holding out on this past mini catalog from Stampin' Up!.... I caved! I had my eye on Seasons of Joy & Snow Burst but fought the URGE! Well of course a customer ordered BOTH of these sets (thank-you Debbie! LOL) and once there were in my hands I NEEEEEEEEDED them. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Well, those yummy sets arrived on Friday & I got to play with them. What a fun set. I saw a challenge about using browns for Christmas... very interesting. I thought I'd add in Bravo Burgundy as it has a browny-feel to it as well. Here's the recipe to start:

Stamps - Seasons of Joy
Paper - Whisper White, Bravo Burgundy, Brushed Gold, Chocolate Chip
Ink - Vanilla Craft, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Other - Wine Organdy Ribbon, Stampin' Dimentionals, Photo Corner Punch
I really took my time with this card (you wouldn't want to make 50 of them!). I started by stamping my white strip with Bravo Burgundy & the flower. Then I thought it would look cool if I could POP the PETALS. So I restamped on another sheet of paper and cut out allllll those petals :) I took a sponge and used Creamy Caramel & Close to Cocoa to *age* the whisper white cardstock and placed that on my stamped Chocolate Chip card base. I love the craft vanilla pad. It's so warm. The corner photo punch was another new item in my box of goodies this week. HOW EASY is that handy punch -- love it! I finished it off with a side bow. I'm happy with how it turned out. One of those cards that I didn't really have in my head... just played & this is what evolved.
We put the Christmas tree up last night (hubby is gone for Christmas so we wanted to get some festivities in while he was home... *sniff, sniff*) -- did you know there's only 4 shopping weekends left until Christmas. I love Christmas!!!
have a happy day!
.j.

OK, last one Marie :)

I decided to play with ONE more card for Marie's Challenge (see what happens when there's yummy prizes! LOL). Here's my card (this one measures 4.5 square):

Stamps - Peaceful Wishes, Canvas & All Year Cheer (3 maybe? my sets are all mixed up!)
Paper - Baroque Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla
Ink - Palette Noir Black, Markers (close to cocoa, always artichoke, baroque burgundy), Versamark
Other - White Vanilla Grosgrain, Glassy Glaze EP (3 coats), Eyelets
Here's a close up again of the technique:

How many Christmas Cards do you all make & send out in a season?
have a happy day!
.j.

A Challenge & Christmas #6

And the Christmas cards KEEP ON COMING! :) Marie posts a challenge every other week and I love participating in them. For her most recent challenge, click here. She mixed it up a bit this time & instead of posting a sketch, she posted a *challenge*... one of my FAVORITE techniques - cracked glass. Seeing as I was on the Christmas trend, I thought I'd keep within my *theme*. So here's my card!

Stamps - Solemn Stillness, Weathered
Ink - Palette Black Noir, Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke
Paper - Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Basic Grey DS Paper
Accessories - Vintage Brads, True Thyme stitched ribbon, Cuttlebug Snowflake, Dazzling Diamonds, Air Art Tool, Close to Cocoa Marker, Glassy Glaze, Sewing Machine.
Here's a Close up of the "cracked glass" image:

I have seen other stampers stitch their cards with *snippets* here & there and I thought it looked very cool. I love the stitching (could ya tell! LOL) as it gives it a great homey feel which I love. Christmas is the perfect season for that homey-cozy feel! So I gave it a try on this card & really liked how it came out. I just got the little snowflake cutter for my cuttlebug machine and thought I'd use some of my coasters to make my own snowflake chipboard.... a little two way glue & dazzling diamonds gave the card some glitter festiveness. I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for the challenge Marie!
.j.

Christmas #4

I've been playing with a couple more cards due to a challenge on Marie's blog, so I'll have a few more to share with you :)

This is a very simple one, I did some tweaking on the second one so I'll post that one too over the next couple of day.

Busy morning here so I must run, but ...

have a happy day.
.j.

Christmas #3 & Soccer Saturday

Here's another Christmas Card I created. Ran the base of the card through my cuttlebug machine (I remember when I'd BUY paper like that at $2/sheet! Love this little machine!!). I colored with Prismacolor Pencils & again added the "dots" with my black ZIG marker. I used the ticket punch on the corners & tied cream organdy ribbon with some silver cord on the top. The bottom was a mistake... LOL. I was trying to line up holes for eyelets, but I was tired and I punched one WAY off.... ACK. So I had to improvise! {grin}. So I used some twill ribbon, stamped it with a sentiment and attached that along to bottom to cover up my oops. I think I might like it better than my intended design :) Hubby came home yesterday {insert BIG smiles here!!} so I was showing him my Christmas Card ideas to see which one he liked too. He thought I should make a few of each this year too :).
Well we are off to a few soccer games this morning, but first a family breakfast. Overnight Blueberry French Toast. If it's as good as it looks & smells, I'll post the recipe for you to share with your family :)

Have a happy day!
.j.

Christmas #2

OK -- here's the second one (and maybe *my* favorite... but don't let that taint your judgement! LOL). Maybe because it has a little bit of everything: stitching (which I can't seem to get enough of), dimension (with the sentiment popped up), paper piecing with DP on the Christmas ball, ticket punch, doodling (I added those little dots around the letters and around the swirls), brads & a little bling to finish off each swirl. Old Olive has always been one of my favorite greens so I used it as my card base & colored the "NOEL" with my prismacolor pencils.

have a happy day!
.j.

Let the Christmas Cards Begin....

The other night I decided to finally sit down and start playing around with Christmas Card ideas. I figure I'll post some here and you guys can tell me what you think :).... so LEAVE me a comment :)))
For this card I pulled out my Solemn Stillness stamp set. So pretty. I stamped it in white StazOn (the craft took too long to dry even with heat setting and the silver embossing powder stuck to it even with the embossing buddy... ack... Stazon saved the day!) and embossed it with Sterling Silver EP. I used Peaceful Wishes for the sentiment and stamped with Black StazOn on white polyshrink. I played around with my slit punch and *finally* figured out how everyone makes that cool scalloped edge (takes me a little longer than most - lol. I also used my square punches to created the photo corner (although I'm just going to break down this week and order the corner punch from SU today!). It's very faint but, the background on the Always Artichoke card base is all the Christmas words (drawing a blank for the name of it). I used Versamark, so next card I think I'll try using the A.Artichoke to see if it will be a bit stronger. Some ribbon, a little hemp & a touch of bling in teh corner of the photo corners.
Off to get the monkeys to school & head out in the rain for my run. Daddy comes home tomorrow -- how wonderful is that?!?
have a happy day!
.j.

Christmas Countdown...

Did you know there is *ONLY* 5-1/2 more weeks until Christmas -- FIVE shopping weekends left?! YIKES. I spent last night stamping a few Christmas card ideas (I'll post them over the next few days and you can tell me which one to go with :)!) I might do a few different designs this year. I usually pick ONE and go with it for the whole list. Think I might mix it up a bit this year :)

Winter is definitely here with our storms, rain, wind & CHILL in the air. I know it's funny to hear us in BC complain about the cold when in AB they already have snow, but as we all whine "it's a *different* kind of cold" here! LOL. It's damp and freezes you to your bone! UGH. I do miss the Alberta winter with the fluffy snow (and not mucky slush we get!) and bright blue sky! So pretty.

Anyway, here's a card I'm not too happy with. Just didn't come together for me. Blek. Thought I'd share anyway. LOL. I should have walked away. When I'm stuck on a card I typically put it aside and come back to it and seem to be able to work on it with fresh eyes.... not this time! LOL. Still a cute stamp though :)

I think it's the hoofs that are SCREAMING.... we're NOT suppose to be YELLOW! BWAHAHHA.....
...have a happy day!
.j.

Hello Monday.

A little late in my posting... not sure how the day got away from me. Got my 10K run in this morning -- ooooh... hurt a wee bit today! UGH -- Mondays! :) Love the final stretch though where I'm ALMOST done & happy I did it!! Here's another card I made while playing with the BIG ON CHRISTMAS set. How fun is this set?! Used the cuttlebug on this one with the snowflakes embossing *plate*, stitched the red piece of cardstock to match the ribbon (loving that Jersey ribbon from Stampin' Up!) and some silver cord to finish it off :) We're out tonight for a birthday party & then I'm hoping to stamp. Hubby is away so I must TAPE Prison Break and watch it with him.... my fav show! :))) Need to get some cards made for specific occasions, so hopefully I'll get that done to show you :)
Have a fabulous week!
-.j.