Something old, something new challenge

Hello blogland!  Today as I was cleaning off my craft desk for the last time in 2012 I had one more project to finish up for the Something Old, Something New challenge at Crafting by Designs.  Our challenge was to use a left over image from a previous project and use it up in a new project, and I knew just what I wanted to do.  I have a box of digital and stamped images and I found this page of colored images when I was making this year's Christmas cards, but forgot to use them:

These were Stampin' Up images were colored two years ago - here they are when I used them as Christmas cards:

  But I needed a thank you card, soooo......

...these cute little snowmen turned into a thank you card.  This time around I used some cardstock from a.muse studios that you can find HERE.  Easy peasy!  Come on over to Crafting by Designs and join us for this challenge and a brand new one every week.
 

An announcement and a blog hop

Hello blogland!  Well Christmas has come and gone and now we're in the last few days of 2012.  I'm so excited and honored to announce that I'll be part of a brand new Design Team at Cuttin' and Stampin'!  On January 4 and 5 we'll be kicking off the new team with a Celebrate Blog Hop which will include a $25 gift certificate from a.muse studio projects.

 

 

 

Be sure to mark your calendars and join us for our blog hop and our regular challenges that will start on January 8.



O Holy Night.....

May the peace and joy of Christmas be with you and your family today and throughout the year!

Quick Tag

Hello blogland!  Today I wanted to share a quick little tag that I made to add to some cookie bags for my neighbors. They took about 5 minutes to make from start to finish and was the perfect touch. Take a look:

 

I used a big snowflake stamp from Unity, some VersaMark and some embossing powder from Lindy's Stamp Gang (love them!), and a little sentiment stamp from Papertrey Ink then heat set it all.  Boom - done!  I tied the tag to a little gift bag filled with some Christmas cookies and hot chocolate and I was done.

Want to play along?  Come on over to Crafting By Designs today and add your tag to this week's challenge.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Heartbreaking day...

Like everyone else in the world I just want to hug my kids today, even they're all grown up.  Praying for all these families!
 

New StampersBest Christmas stamps

Hello blogland!  I've got two cards to share with you today which I made for this week's challenge over at Crafting by Designs that you can find HERE.  This challenge is a CAS one, and that's right up my alley and my favorite. 

I used the Angels Dancing rubber stamp from StampersBest that you can find HERE.  The first I used Versa Mark with blue embossing power and added some stickles to their wings and halos for just a little sparkle, then snipped a few pieces of white eyelash ribbon and added it to their dresses.  For the second version I used red embossing powder and red stickles which were added as polka dots to their dresses and white stickles to make their wings sparkle and just a little red ribbon.  Easy peasy!

Be sure to stop over at StampersBest and check out all their great deep etched rubber stamps, including all their new releases and holiday stamps - love 'em all.  And if you use the coupon code mbs10off you'll get 10% off your order  Then come on over to Crafting by Designs and join our weekly challenges!
 

Memories of St. Nicholas

Hello blogland and Happy St. Nicholas Day! When my daughters were growing up, it was a special day for them. They belonged to a Ukrainian childrens group and every year they put on a little program which ended with all the children singing a special song that asked St. Nicholas to come and leave them small treats.

 

 

This picture is from 1993 and was very special because their Uncle Taras made an appearance as St. Nicholas that year (and they didn't recognize him). He asked the children if they've been good and helped their Mama and Tato, then gave them a small present. They couldn't have been more excited if the real Santa Claus was there! It's one family tradition that we remember fondly and can't wait to share it with their children some day.  Where did the years go, they're all grown up now.... 

Snowman Soup

Hello blogland!  I've always had a thing for snowmen - there are dozen of them in my house right now, all different varieties.  Tonight I've got a new kind to share with you - the snowman soup kind.

Last year I made about 250 of them for a fund raiser that my daughter was doing, and they've made a small reappearance this week.  Inside is a packet of hot chocolate, some mini-marshmallows wrapped in white Bazzill cardstock.  I used a top note die for the top and a piece of patterned cardstock over the front and a Sizzix snowman die. In order to show the marshmallows I used a 1-3/8" circle punch and tied everything with some ribbon.  A little labor intensive, but so cute, don't you think?

Hop on over to the Crafting by Designs challenge blog and share a snowman project.  Toodles!
 

My little Charlie Brown tree

Hello blogland!  I spent yesterday afternoon doing some holiday decorating outside and while I was going in and out of the shed, I kept looking at some of the baby pine trees in the backyard.  I could see just the tip of one little tree peeking out from a pile of leaves and it reminded me of a "Charlie Brown" tree so I decided to put it in a big mug and bring it into my craftroom for a little while. 

It's a little lopsided from the one ornament, isn't it?  After Christmas I'm going to plant her outside the window in my craftroom in the wildflower patch so I can watch her grow.