Dog rescue Paper Smooches/IHP blog hop

Welcome to a very special Paper Smooches Blog Hop!

You all know by now I am a huge animal rescue advocate.  In addition to having two rescued dogs of our own (Mr. Barbo and BooBoo), in my spare time I volunteer with a rescue, drive transports and foster dogs.  Recently we took in a foster, Eclipse, from a high-kill shelter in NYC and saved her from death row.  She was adopted a week later and is living happily in upstate New York. Without opening our home as a temporary haven for her, she would have died in the shelter. 

And, as I write this, we have two more fosters, siblings Anderson and Amber, little 4 pound papillon mixes from a kill shelter in SC.  We even had a kitty foster, Bertucci, for 3 months who we trapped in our yard, got vetted and adopted out.  Anyway, a few months ago, I suggested an idea to Kim Hughes (owner/designer of Paper Smooches Stamps) to create a stamps and dies to support our rescued furry friends. We worked together to create some really fun dog rescue products! A portion of the sales will be donated to Home for Good Dog Rescue. Kim asked us to share these fun products with you, through our projects.  

My project for today was inspired by Eclipse.  I made this little card to congratulate her new owners on adding such an amazing dog to their family.  I used the two new rescue themed sets, Paws For A Cause and Lucky Dog.  I stamped them in Luxe Memento ink (my new fav ink for full coverage like on the solid stamps), A2 Sprig embossing folder, dimensional dots and the word bubble from another PS set called Fascinators.

Here's a closeup of the card for more detail:

On the inside of the card, I used the large paw print die from the Dog Icons die set and stamped the perfect sentiment from Lucky Dog in it.  I LOVE that this sentiment fits perfectly on the paw pad.

The goodie bag was filled with some cookies, tied off with some red twine and I added the small paw print from the Dog Icons die on a tag I made using my circle Nesties.

And just to show you a bit more of the versatility of these stamps/dies, here's a doggy sympathy card I made to have on hand.  I hate that I need these cards but sadly, every so often, I do.  It's very clean and simple.  I diecut the pawprint on heart die twice, once in red and once in black and overlaid the red fallout on top of the black.  I added a small piece of ruffled red ribbon and stamped the sentiment.  

To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up a prize! 

• TWO winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs.
• The prize - A Lucky Dog stamp set, Paws for a Cause stamp set and Dog Icons dies.
• Just leave a comment on any of the design team blogs listed for your chance to win! (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify but it increases your chances) 
• You have until midnight MT on Wednesday, December 18th to leave a comment. 
• Please check back HERE at the IHP Blog on Friday, December 20th to see if you are one of the TWO lucky winners.

And here are the rest of the blog Hop Participants:

Kate/IHP: http://www.blog.iheartpapers.com (HERE)
Sarah Gough: http://thinkingstamps.blogspot.com/
Lori Tecler: http://inkingaloud.blogspot.com/
Judy Rozema: http://www.jarfullofjoy.blogspot.com/
Deb Felts: http://withastampandasong.blogspot.com/
Vera Yates: http://lingshappyplace.blogspot.com/
Wida Miller: http://beachorado.blogspot.com/
Stacey Schafer: http://stampinwithstacey.blogspot.com/
Lindsay Amrhein: http://lindsayamrhein.blogspot.com/

I will also have some more projects using these sets here on Thursday during my day of the 12 Days of Craftmas.

Until then, remember, don't shop, ADOPT.  Every breed has a rescue.  It may take a little extra research and effort but you'll be saving a life and not supporting puppy mills.  If you are looking for a dog and don't know where to start, contact me and I will try to help get you in touch with some local to you that can help.

And for those of you wondering, these are our two current foster pups.  Aren't they adorable?  12 weeks old and only 4 pounds!

Have a great day!  And thanks for stopping by today!

Make sure you check in on our Facebook page, too!  We share news, updates, inspiration, and the occasional giveaway!

Five Minute Friday: Fight Like A Girl

Hello!  Happy Friday!  I have a quick card today, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month using the new Paper Smooches set, Hope and some more Angel Pink Tsukineko Fireworks.  I stamped in Memento inks and then added some white satin ribbon, some pink shimmer ribbon and my new scallop Edgeabilities.  I love these things.  Super fast.

Congratulations to Miriam Prantner who said...

Adorable. I too have a princess at home who would love this glittery wand!

(on Lori’s blog).  You’re the winner of the Fireworks giveaway from this week’s DT Challenge.  Please contact me with your mailing address so I can get them out to you. 

Swimming for Katie is still ongoing.  We made the first deposit for over $5800 this week, so thank you.  Katie has been having some radiation treatments to stem the bleeding on the tumor and is home resting but with all three boys’ birthdays coming up in Nov/Dec, they really need our help.  Please donate or purchase if you haven’t already.  All the information is here.  There’s even this beautiful shawl up for a random donor who donates $50 or more by 10/26.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a great weekend!

Mint Motif Release Day: Cake Shoppe and Cake Shoppe Too!

Hello! Big day here at IHP today! It’s Mint Motif release day! I hope you’ve enjoyed the sneak peeks of Cake Shoppe and Cake Shoppe Too! this past week. And today is the big reveal!

Here they are along with my card. You can obviously use them independently but with both sets you can make a 3 tier cake and have all the sentiments. For my card today I used the two biggest tiers.

I stamped them in Palette Belle Rose and Burnt Umber and then colored the cakes in with Prismacolor pencils. I cut out the topper and popped it up. I used a strip of SEI’s Claire paper and a piece of Venise Lace along with my Oval Nesties.

Be sure to stop by the design team blogs. We’ll be drawing a winner to win both sets from all of the comments left on today’s posts.

Kimberly Crawford – designer
Charlene Austin
Latisha Yoast
Geny Cassady
Kazan Clark
Julie Overby

Thanks for stopping by today! See you again soon!

Five Minute Friday: Summer Garden Peonies

Happy, happy Friday!  Today I have a quick card using Tracy’s new Petal Press set releasing on Wednesday, Summer Garden.  I stamped the jar and flowers in Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored with my Copics.  I used my Oval Nesties for the focal piece and Labels 8 to cut a piece from the Porcelain collection.  Then I finished it off with a white satin bow and some Glossy Accents on the jar.

That’s it!  I hope you have a lovely Father’s Day weekend.  The weather is going to be gorgeous here!  See you next week!  Don’t forget…blog candy is going on now.  Leave comments on all the Petal Press posts during this sneak peek week for your chance to win.  The more you comment, the more chances to win!  See this post for all the links.

Summer Garden: Petal Press Sneak Peek

Hello! As I mentioned yesterday during the DT Challenge, today begins the sneak peeks of Summer Garden, the newest release from Tracy’s stamp line, The Petal Press. The set has this fantastic little strawberry bunch and I wanted to make a flower pot of berries. So I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black several times, colored them with Copics and cut them out. I adhered three of the across the top of my pot (on top of my Classic Scalloped Petite Borderabilities edge…the holes are filled in with Frosted Lace Stickles) using i {stick} papers. Then I arranged the other three on my pocket card so. The berries are touched with some Ruby Slippers Stickles for a little sparkle. I finished it off with by stamping the greeting in Palette Noir. Just like in Tracy’s previous set, Happy Harvest, the words are all separate stamps so you can arrange them as you like. AND, the fonts in Summer Garden are the same as Happy Harvest, so you can mix and match! I wrapped the whole pot with a small piece of white satin ribbon, also adhered with i {stick} papers redline tape.

Be sure to check the rest of the DT today to see their amazing projects! The release for this set will be next Wednesday, June 23rd. Tracy will be having peeks all week between now and then.

As normal, the set will be $10, top quality clear photopolymer, clear stamp set.

BLOG CANDY ALERT!!! I will be drawing a blog candy winner from all the comments posted on all of the DT blogs on any Petal Press project during sneak peek week, starting today. So...the more you comment, the greater your chances at winning! And that includes Tracy's additional posts all week long.

Amy
Cathleen - one of the new DIRTY DOZEN gals!
Gretchen
Heidi
Julie
Krysten
Natalie
Tiffany - one of the new DIRTY DOZEN gals!
Tracy – designer
Kate – owner (that’s me!)

Thanks for stopping in today! Be sure to wish Cathleen and Tiffany congrats on their Dirty Dozen appointments when you stop by their blogs!

I’ll see you Friday for Five Minute Friday!

Blog Candy Winner!

RACHEL JOY! Congratulations! Please email me your snail mail address by Tuesday so I can get your box ‘o goodies out to you.

A HUGE thank you to everyone for doing a great job of stalking me on Facebook, here on the blog and signing up for the newsletter (did you get yours this morning? It’s got your chance to win a gift certificate for $25!) A few of you even joined our PCP group.

If you missed the newsletter (check your junk mail folder!) or didn’t sign up for it you can still view it online here. But, if you’re going to enter to win the $25 you MUST be a subscriber so be sure to go over to the homepage and signup if you haven’t.

There will be more candy coming up so check back often!

Thank you again for the great response to the new Mint Motif stamps! It was an amazing release weekend!

See you again soon. I’ve got a few project lined up to show you this week!

Blog Candy and tomorrow is THE day!

As promised over on Facebook during our unfortunate website outage last week, here is my blog candy offer!  But, there’s a catch!  There is SO much going on here at IHP that I don’t want you to miss a thing, just like that Aerosmith song.  Well, not exactly like it.  :)

So, make sure you’re a follower, either here through Blogger or subscribed through you Reader.  And come over to Facebook and “like” us.  I much preferred the term “fan.”  “Liking” something just makes me feel like Sally Field winning her Oscar  - “you really, really like me!”

And lastly, click over to the homepage or on the left of the blog to sign up to receive the newsletter.  We don’t bombard you with messages – usually just one a month unless there is LOTS of stuff going on.  The next one will be going out this weekend and you don’t want to miss it.

So…go do these things and then post here in the comments which you’ve done.  You get one entry for each method of following us.  I love stalkers.  :)  

You have until Saturday 11:59PM EST to enter and I’ll draw a random winner on Sunday.  What will you get?  Well, I haven’t actually decided yet – only that it will be awesome and plentiful.  The winner will get a HUGE goodie box of all sorts of stamps, papers, ribbons and whatever else I can manage to find that I think you might like, valued at at least $75!  Check back here to find out who the lucky winner is.  If it isn’t claimed within 48 hours I’ll pick someone else!

TOMORROW is the day so many of you have been waiting for – the Mint Motif release!  I’ll have a card and so will all the DT members so be sure to check back in tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by today!  See you tomorrow!

1000 stamps=8+ hours of work

That’s right.  I spent the better part of all day yesterday sorting and inventorying the 1000 stamps I won from Unity.  All I can say is WOW!

I sat down thinking it would take me an hour or two but WOW!  I eventually had buried myself in, surrounded with piles and piles of stamps, trying to sort them and match them into sets or like pieces for rebagging.  Eventually I went from this (above and below pics):

 

to this:

The folder is there for perspective (it’s my Unity catalog – standard 81/2”x11” folder).  I haven’t counted but based on the number of clear envelopes I went through, I think I bagged about 150 goodie bags of assorted stamps.  Some are mostly complete sets, others are a random assortment, while others are a cute image and greeting to go along with it.

I will be giving away these little baggies with orders or maybe some as blog candy until they are gone!  I want to share the love and the unmounted rubbery goodness!

Thanks for popping in.  Have a great weekend!

Blog Candy winner #29!

Congratulations to Sarah from Sarah’s Paper Tray!  She is the lucky winner of the blog candy.  Thank you so much for all of your comments and enthusiasm for the new Chicken Girl Design stamps!

Sarah, please email me with your choice of set and your mailing address by Sunday midnight EST.

The two new sets that she can choose from are are Into the Forest and Hugs from a Bug and are available exclusively at i {heart} papers!

  

The entire DT is giving away sets all month so be sure you’re checking their posts so you have more chances to win!  Or, you can just go buy them. *wink*  They’re only $10 each!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a new crafty post for you!

And, another reminder, don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter either here on the blog to the left or on the homepage of the store.  That way you won’t miss any specials, announcements or new stamps!

Release Day!! & Blog Candy!!

HELLO!! BIG DAY HERE at IHP! Today is the day we’re releasing our very first exclusive stamp sets and our first newsletter is going out! (You can sign up on the side here or on the homepage of the store). I hope you’ve been enjoying the sneak peeks from the entire DT this past week. And today is the day you’ve been waiting for. So, without any further waiting – here they are!

They are 4x6 high quality photopolymer stamps and they stamp beautifully. They are manufactured here in the USA by the top manufacturer in the industry and they sell for $10 each.

Introducing Hugs from a Bug:

and introducing Into the Forest:

Aren’t they adorable?? There will be plenty more samples in the next couple of weeks and even some blog candy to go along with those samples so be sure to check in with the entire DT for your chances to win!

Lori
Meredith
Natasha
Shelly
Shannon
Judy
Tammy
Kendra
Loretta

Thanks for stopping by! I’ll be drawing a winner for one of these sets from all of the comments I’ve received this past sneak peek week. I’ll be drawing Tuesday night so if you “forgot” to leave me comments on my posts from earlier this week, you still have a little time. Good luck!

DT Challenge and SOA Challenge

Happy Memorial Day!  I hope you’re taking some time to enjoy your day off and to ultimately remember why we all have this day off.

This card is serving double duty today.  As I mentioned, PCP is hosting a Stampin’ Out Alzheimer’s fundraiser beginning TODAY and IHP and the IHP Design Team are sponsoring a challenge.  So this card is a combination DT Challenge and my SOA Challenge card.  You can play along to get a change to win a Flower Soft assortment (hand selected by me!) that is valued at over $30.  The winner will get:

• Flower Soft PVA Glue
• Mini Bouquets and Mounts – Pink
• Flower Soft Heather Mix
• Flower Soft Bright Pink solid
• Flower Soft Baby Peach solid
• Flower Soft Pale Green solid
• Flower Soft Wires
• Sentiments - Elegant Wishes

All you have to do to play along is donate at least $5 to the SOA fundraiser HERE and then make a card or project that uses some sort of textured flower as your focal point.  It can be Flower Soft or flock or glitter or textured paper or any other flower that is textured. 

Additionally all SOA donors are invited to use an exclusive 10% off coupon through May 31 in our store off all items, including new and on sale items. And, as always free US shipping on orders $40 and over!  But, you have to donate and login over at SOA to see our ad to get the code!

PLUS…(as if that wasn’t enough!) go HERE and leave me a comment to tell me you donated and you’ll be entered into my special thank you blog candy drawing.

So…all those incentives plus amazing giveaways through other SOA sponsors (over 40 companies!) and a chance to reach out and make a difference for a very worthwhile cause…what more reason do you need to donate just $5!?!!?  GO NOW!!!!

Back to my card details…

For my card I kind of CASED myself because I love the look of the Sunshine Yellow Flower Soft as daisy middles.  So I used some fabric flowers I had and made them into daisies.  I used the Olive Vine ribbon for stems – cute huh?  The background is embossed with the new Impressabilities Butterfly.  The greeting is from Chelsea Greetings and is stamped in Paris Lights (P.S. – ALL PALETTE INKS ARE only $5.50 now!) onto a tag from Nesties Ribbon Tag Trio and is adhered with the sage faux suede ribbon. 

I love all the textures on this card – the Flower Soft, the suede ribbon, the embossing and the stems.  I wish you could feel it!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Five Minute Friday Owlie

Happy Friday!  I hope you have a nice Memorial Day planned!

I’ve got a few things to talk about.  First of all, how cute is this owl??  He is called a Feltie and he is from the new Sassafras Lass line Jungle Bungle.  He comes in a package with a few friends and they are are adorable!  The base of this card is SU! Garden Green, layered with SU! Summer Sun.  The little tree tag behind him is a sticker from Jungle Bungle.  There are some great shapes on this sheet and makes for a super quick card.  The ribbon is the Brown Leaf Vine and was the perfect tie-in to the tree/owl theme.  The greeting is from Chelsea Sentiments and I stamped it in Palette Burnt Umber and Sunflower.  Cute eh?

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Second, I would love for you to join me in PaperCraftPlanet’s Stampin’ Out Alzheimer’s week that is coming up.  I have a post (and blog giveaway!) about it here but I will summarize the details for you here: - Beginning May 25th and running through the 31st, PCP will be hosting a fast-paced, fun-filled week with amazing giveaways and a chance to make a difference for a very worthwhile cause.

- At the end of this event, 100% of the funds raised will be donated directly to the Alzheimer's Association.

- We are a proud sponsor and will be hosting a challenge during this special week as well as offering an exclusive coupon to those who donate.

- CLICK HERE to donate $5 and join the week long event!

- PASS THE WORD ALONG!

Lastly, be sure the check the NEW section of the website.  There are lots of new goodies including luscious 100% silk ribbon, new Our Craft Lounge sets and all of the new SPICA colors (shown at left)!  Copic has yet to provide the official color chart so I whipped this one up just for you to be able to see the new colors.  Aren’t they pretty?!!

Well, aren’t they?  Go get them now!!!  And, if you join the PCP SOA you can even use your exclusive coupon to get a discount on them!  How awesome is that??

Have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Help Stamp Out Alzheimer’s!

Did you know that 5.3 MILLION people die of Alzheimer’s disease each year in the US?  Please join us and PaperCraftPlanet to help Stamp Out Alzheimer’s! Beginning May 25th and running through the 31st, PCP will be hosting a fast-paced, fun-filled week with amazing giveaways and a chance to reach out and make a difference for a very worthwhile cause. At the end of this event, 100% of the funds raised will be donated directly to the Alzheimer's Association to help with

their efforts to provide and enhance care and support for all those affected by this heartbreaking disease. Please click on the widget to donate $5 and this will give you exclusive access to the SOA event.  This amazing papercrafting event includes over 40 generous sponsors, challenges for just about any type of papercrafter, hundreds of dollars in prizes, and a beautiful online community. We are a proud sponsor and will be hosting a challenge during this special week as well as offering an exclusive coupon to those who donate. So, please join us and make help a difference.  If you join, please leave a comment and let me know.  I’ll be doing a drawing at the end of the month and one lucky winner from this post will receive a very special box of goodies, selected especially by me. Thank you for helping!! Visit Stampin' Out Alzheimer’s

Ack! TOO MANY NEW GOODIES!!!

That's right...I have gotten SO many new goodies this week. The CHA orders are really starting to flow in and I get new shipping notices almost daily. It's causing quite a problem for my DT to keep up. :) They just want to keep ordering more and more!

Earlier in the week I got in the Three Bugs Caboodle kits. Very cute. Then I got in more Basic Grey stuff including the new 6x6 Marrakech pads and some Porcelain Collection packs.

Then just yesterday I got my order from GCD. I AM IN LOVE. Seriously. All of their papers are either glittered, shimmer, linen textured, flocked or die cut this time around. They're all gorgeous.

Need some convincing? How cute is this paper? It is glittered AND shimmered. And, if you're looking for elegant, check this out. The four new collections are Chic Bebe, Margarita, Spring All Over and Eye Candy.

Today I got my order from Best Creation. Remember, those are the people who make that AMAZING glitter paper.

Remember my scratchy, scratch video??!

Well, they only shipped me the silver in this order and not the colors I ordered but I did get the rest of the yummy papers. I couldn't resist - I ran into the studio and threw together this little St. Patrick's Day card with some of the new paper, some thick acetate as the base and my Just Rite Small Letter Set and 1-5/8" stamper. I stamped with Jardin Moss Palette ink and used SU! Garden Green for my scallop. And it needed those gold rhinestones on each of the scallops. And, because it wasn't blingy enough, I finished it off with a small piece of the new White Glimmer ribbon.

Here's a close up so you can see the clear embossing and glitter in the paper and the shimmer in the ribbon. Isn't it gorgeous?!! All of their papers are double sided, just in case you don't want to use this side.

I know there are a lot of items in the new section. I've been trying to pare it down but I don't want you to miss anything. You can view all so you don't have to scroll through pages and pages of items. A lot of those are scheduled to drop off 2/28 and 3/1 so make sure you check it out before then so you don't miss anything.

A few other things, Loretta and Lori both have blog candy going on. Loretta is giving away some paper and stamps and Lori is giving away a sampler of ALL of the Glimmer Ribbons. They both end very soon though so hurry up!!

Don't forget you have until Friday to participate in the Card Patterns sketch. I'm sponsoring this week and there is an amazing giveaway! Go check it out!

I'll be back Friday with a Five Minute Friday card! Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Candy Alert and what I've been up to

So what have I been up to, besides packing some orders, making CHA plans and enjoying vacation? I've been painting and sewing! Yes, I decided over Christmas that my bathroom needed a renovation. It was yellow and rubber ducky themed. It actually never became the cute little ducky oasis I planned, mostly because shortly after making my grand plans for stamping on my walls I realized my walls have an icky texture and stamping on them really just doesn't work. So, the the whole idea half done, I kind of abandoned it. And it stayed like that for the better part of 6 years.


So...I headed out to find a new shower curtain and then knew I'd plan around that. I landed the cutest pink and orange polka dot shower curtain and coordinating accessories, of course! How cute is that?


I picked up 2 shower curtains, knowing that I needed not only the shower curtain but then matchy matchy real curtains.


I came home, grabbed my trusty Benjamin Moore fan deck and picked out the orange in the polka dots and then went a half tone of that and settled on Peach Sorbet. Yummy name AND the perfect color. Off to the hardware store I went.


First the moulding needed a nice coat of white and then a few days later, the walls were all painted.


I dusted off my sewing machine - poor thing must think I hate it - and put it to good use making a valance, two cafe curtains and a curtain for my IKEA cabinet.
And the final result (it's dark out and the lighting in the bathroom is a little weird...the walls match the color swatch and aren't as bright as they appear in the picture)...*drum roll please*




Cute right?? Meredith stopped by to pick up her order today and she approves, although she didn't get to see the curtains. They were still being worked on when she stopped by.


So...that is what I've been doing and why I haven't got any stamping for you.

In other news, Dee posted her blog candy so be sure to pop over there and congratulate her on joining the IHP design team and to leave her a comment for your chance to win!

Have a very enjoyable and safe New Year's Eve tomorrow and I'll see you next year!!

First snow and lots of Christmas prepping

Today we had our first real snow of the season. I {heart} snow and it was a perfect day for it because I had nowhere to go. Bandit, even though he is almost 12 and very arthritic finds his inner puppy with each snow. Look at that face!!


I stayed home and baked, packaged up some Christmas goodies and crafted. What better day could I ask for?


So what did I do you ask? Well, first, I headed on over to PTI and purchased two of the My Time templates.


Then I preheated my oven and got to work on my gingerbread men. The dough has been waiting patiently in the fridge, well wrapped, for a few days - keeping my royal icing from my last batch, company.


Here there all are hanging out on the table, waiting to be packaged up. I'll get to that part later.


I did a few designs but they all have a white outline and white face. One was just plain white with no additional decorations. I did another design with a Christmas tree on the front, yet another with a heart and then a star version.


It kind of reminded me of Shirt Tales. Do you remember that show??


I was reminded of that show the other night when I found it on my Boomerang On Demand. They only had one episode available but it brought me back to Saturday mornings as a kid.


Here is a close up of them. Some came out better than others but for the most part I'm pretty happy with them.

Aren't they cute??

I also made a batch of Sarah's pretzel rings but the picture didn't come out so well. Oh, and I couldn't find the rings, despite a full on hunt that involved FOUR grocery stores, so I substituted the square waffles and they turned out just fine.

YUMMY!!


Then, after all that was done and I was exhausted, I settled down with some of my favorite Christmas movies and got to crafting! I made eight of the Lollipop boxes (minus the lollipop part and minus the boxey part at the top) and one of the Keepsake Boxes. The lollipop box is very similar to my bath salt box that I made a few months ago for a bridal shower. The only difference is that the cover is two pieces of acetate instead of a full sleeve. But...I bought it anyway because it was just so much easier than trying to find my measurements from a few months ago!

Speaking of acetate, you can now get it by the sheet here. This one is good for window sheets and boxes that are mostly supported by cardstock but I am also waiting for a much thicker version that I prefer for my card bases and boxes made mostly from acetate. I'll be sure to post again once I have it.

I used the Be Merry Snowball Fun for the DP on the boxes and SU Riding Hood Red for my cs. And, yes, I confess, I used the faux suede again, this time in red. I think I'm addicted.

Tomorrow I've got a few more baking things to finish off - mostly my favorite Christmas cookie, the pecan snowball. YUMMY.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget Carolyn's blog candy!!

More Decor Elements and blog candy alert!

I finally spent some time last night finishing up two more Decor Elements projects that I had started. Only one more to go!

The first one is the silhouette sleigh shadowbox. It is a very shallow shadowbox that I filled with Diamond Dust for snow. It's fun to tip and slide it around. I love the sparkle of this!!!

Here is a close-up of it.

Isn't it pretty?

Yes, for those of you paying attention, this is the
6th installment of my "Difficult Things To Photograph" series. :)

Oh! Before I forget! Carolyn, from my awesome design team, is offering up some Valentine's blog candy. So, if you're ready to move off of Christmas and start thinking about the next holiday, head on over and tell her who you make Valentine's Day things for!

OK, my last project for today is the long ornaments.



This didn't turn out as nicely as I hoped (or imagined in my head) but it's OK. What I can't capture is that shimmery snowy white mat. It is really, really gorgeous. I used some fabric ribbon curls that were starched to help them keep their shape and stuck them down with glue dots.

I'll be back later this week with my gingerbread men cookies. I've got to put together my Christmas menu tonight and go shopping tomorrow before the massive snow storm hits. I'm SO excited!! I definitely {heart} snow. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. I'm just a little excited, can you tell?

Hope you're enjoying your Christmas preparations and taking some time to really relax. Thanks for taking a few minutes to stop by and say hi!

I'm dreaming of...finishing my Christmas cards!

Where has the time gone?!! I have almost all of my elements stamped, Stickled, Shimmerzed and Nestabilitied, Yup, I'm just making words up. Reminds me of the most recent Sarah Silverman episode I watched where she was trying to come up with a new word so that it would catch on as a fad and she'd have some sort of legacy. I don't want new words for that reason, but I want words to describe what I'm doing! I remember when Photoshop became a verb for me. Heh...I was using Photoshop v2 back in college. HAHAHA.

Ok, anyway, I just wanted to check-in and give you a little sneak peek of my cards in progress.

I'm a little irritated because the USPS website for printing postage is down and my mail program pings USPS for me to use it...so I need to trek over to the actual post office today. Well, at least I can pick up my Christmas stamps!

Amber has some blog candy up for the taking so head on over there and try to guess what number is in her head!!

Thanks for stopping in!

New goodies and tutorial!

Hi! Did you see the new goodies?

The new Chocolate Wedding paper is YUMMY! I mean, chocolate and paper - it's a no brainer. You really can't go wrong. The photos don't do it justice but it is this chocolate goldy kinda color with pearl and/or foil accents. YUM!!!

And check this paper out! How awesome would that be for New Year's Eve invitations?! It is black and silver foil. It's AMAZING!

I also received my first shipment of Our Craft Lounge stamps. Seriously, how cute is that dog? Adorable, I say. Oh and I got new colors of the double faced suede ribbon like this one! It's got an amazing texture. You're going to just want to sit and rub it.

Are you all getting ready for Thanksgiving? I am. And I've got some BIG things planned but you'll have to wait and check back to see what all the details are.

And, to wrap up our Design Team's first month of service, Lori and Tracy will be offering some blog candy this week so be sure to stop in on their blogs and see what they've got.

Oh, you're probably wondering what the details are with my little tree eh? Well...start saving those paper towel rolls!! Here are some detailed pictures and some tips.

Well first, I used our very own i {stick} papers double sided sticky tape for ALL my adhesive on this project. The paper is from BG's Wassail collection and is called Tree Lot.

From the bottom up:

The base of this project is a cut apart clear card box, covered with a thin layer of ModgePodge and then dusted with cotton ball white flock for snow. The presents were made with scraps of the Tree Lot paper and tied up with this super sparkly metallic gold string.

Cover your paper towel roll about 1/2 of the way up with trunk colored cardstock. I used PTI's Dark Chocolate.

Then cut one sheet of your Tree Lot paper into 4"x2" pieces and then into triangles, so that they are 4" long at the point and 2" wide at the top. Starting at the bottom of the tree, tape down (using ISP of course!) the top part of each triangle. Remember to leave room for your trunk to show. I started about 4 inches up from the bottom. Tape the pieces around the tube point to point like this:










Then move up about 1-2 inches, depending on how dense you want your tree to be and do another layer, IN BETWEEN the layer you just did so that it would look like this:

Are you still with me? Do this all the way to the top. Remember that you will be curling the pointy tips, so don't leave too much room or your bare paper towel roll will show when you curl them and that would be icky.




I did mine kind of sparse to imitate the tall, skinny bare trees I see in magazines. I used one sheet to make triangles.


As I got close to the top I used some of the scraps to make skinnier triangles that weren't 4" long. At the very top I wrapped a 2" piece of the paper around the top ring to cover the bare tube.









Then, out of my second sheet I made a cone (used a large dinner plate to get the arch).


Cut out the cone and roll and tape it. Depending on how large of a cone you made (and how far down it comes when it sits on the top of the tree) cut out triangles to create the fringe. I did this once it was sitting on the tree because it was easier to see.



I taped down my top but you could leave it removable and use the tube as a gift bag of sorts and fill it with tall skinny things. Biscotti? Sparklers? Pretzel rods? You decide!

Finally I topped my tree with a chipboard star covered in Goldenrod Stickles.

I hope you try your own!

And hey - have you joined the Planet yet? I sure hope so! Come join our group over there. There will be some amazingly cool things happening over there during December and I wouldn't want you to miss out!

Thanks for stopping in!

Kate

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MERRY!

One of my fabulous DT members is celebrating her birthday today - Merry, aka Merrymoo2 on SCS. Stop by her gallery or blog and leave her some love.

She is an amazing stamper and an even more amazing friend. But most of all, she is a terrific mom and VERY experienced shopper - especially for craft supplies, baby carriers and bags. Can you tell? :)

Love you Mer!!


Don't forget to scroll down for the NAMING CONTEST (ends on the 20th) and for my HUGE SU sale.

And, continuing with our month of blog candy, THREE more DT members will be posting blog candy this week. Be sure to check the whole team out to see who!!! They are all listed on the side bar.