Happy Holidays

Here's my dh's gift --- for 28 years he has made his "famous" salsa -- which he gives to our friends and family at the holidays. Here's this year's production.

Seasons Greetings! Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Happy Hannukah! And Many Good wishes in other languages. And, of course best wishes for a Happy New Year --
"...peace on Earth and Goodwill toward men."

Thanks to all my followers and lookers -- I am looking forward to a stampingly and bloggingly good year!

Winter Wonder

Here's where to go for a great tutorial by Vickie Maduzia on how to create this "Magic Snowflake" -- browsing the blogs, instead of doing my laundry (and other housework), I discovered this beautiful technique -- after playing with this one, I went to bed with inky fingers - but oh, so worth it! Update: I just reviewed the instructions -- she used rubber gloves!

Stuff I used:

Stamps: Posh Impressions, All Night Media, Snowflake Punches, Martha S, Emaginations, Ice Stickles, Versamark, JoAnn's White Craft ink pad, clear embossing powder, re-inkers, ribbon and gems from stash, and a few other items listed in the tut.
(Isn't it grand when you have all the stuff you need for a project?)

Be Strong

The Stampin' Sisters in Christ DT has done another awesome job with the scripture:2 Chronicles 7:14 --"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (NIV)

and the challenge to make a card to let someone know you are praying for them. I am so glad for this challenge to remind me that I have a special Sister in Christ who needs comfort and prayer and now I have a card to surprise her with. The first photo has a little ray of sunshine so I took a second one but then realized that the sunshine is God's blessing so I've posted both.

Though this looks pretty simple, I used lots of Stuff:
Stamps: Stamps Happen, G-Rated, Penny Black -- Sizzix, EK Success punch, Bradletz,
Fiskar Border Punch, Prismacolor Metallic Marker,
Cuttlebug folder, Marvy Punch
The image is paper pieced and also colored with watercolor pencils -- I've raised up the little boy's collar with a pop dot for a little dimension
the heart charm phrase is computer generated

Thanks so much for looking,

Gingerbread Family

I'm wishing a very special family a Merry Christmas and to help with those wishes, I created a larger version of my coffee cozy recycle project to create a "carrier" for a Cashier's Check in an "undisclosed" amount (since my recipient might visit here). My dh and I selected this lovely family of four because they need a little extra help this Christmas. Inside is the "surprise" and a note telling them how my dh and I know what it is like to have "skinny" times and because the Lord has blessed us in so many ways, we are grateful to be in a position to pass on some blessing to others.

Someone Special

For Someone Special

Visit Just Magnolia's blog and enjoy the DT's beautiful creations for the challenge to make a card for someone special -- now that is an easy one! My Someone Special is actually two someone specials: This month, my son, Dain, is receiving his Master of Fine Arts in Painting; and his girlfriend is receiving her cap and pin for nursing. I am christening my very first Magnolia purchases for this event by making a celebration card for each of them. In Sherry's honor, the little Student Tilda now has a red cross for her hat. The bubbly has little gems mounted on a thin sliver of acetate behind the glass and inside for that someone special, I've stamped and colored a rose and added "It's Your Special Day." A Special Day indeed for someone very special.

For the other Someone Special -- Dain

I pieced Edwin and set him atop a collage of "famous art." Here's what the collage looked like before Edwin came aboard:

Sherry's: Stamps by Magnolia, Posh mpressions, All Night Media, Sizzix, Cuttlebug Embossing Folders, ribbons, gems, flowers from stash,Prismacolor Markers, Diamond Glaze, Art Institute Glitter
Dains: Stamps by Magnolia, PSX, Inkadinkadoo, Hero Arts, Zumbali, Rubber Tree, Museum Stamps, Ek Success - Image Tree, Sizzix, Diamond Glaze, Art Institute Glitter, Prismacolor Markers

Thanks for visiting, please tell me what you think.

It's Beginning to Look....

Penny Black has provided a wonderful sketch by Beth for this week's challenge (#77). Visit this blog, and you will be rewarded with some beautiful DT creations. I enjoyed this sketch so much and became so engrossed with stamping all the little squares, I forgot that it was supposed to have a Penny Black image.

The benefits of this forgetfulness, is that I now have two cards using this same great sketch! You may recognize this Penny Black image as "Moo Birthday" -- a delightful stamp that brings a smile to my face for several reasons: it was given to me by my sweet AZSIS and because I was raised on a farm and used to help herd and milk the cows. I have altered this "...to look like Christmas" by using just two cows, and by cutting out and mounting each of the gifts on a thin strip of acetate to suspend them above the cows. Components are raised with pop dots, and brightened here and there with Diamond Glaze. Here is a previous post using this image (also altered) . I could use this image until the cows come home. (My son is in the other room so he didn't "hear" me say this.)

Stuff I used:
Stamps: Penny Black, Hero Arts, Mostly Animals, and maker unknown
Diamond Glaze, Pop Dots, Liquid Applique, Prismacolor Pencils
tiny gem, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
Marvy Corner Punch , craft punch (Santa Hat)

The Gift

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge: create something that has a gift somewhere on it -- inspired by the following verse: “After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11. I am showing this off as a Christmas Gift for the C.R.A.F.T. challenge too! -- and for more challenge fun, go look at the Verve blog for a link to instructions for this mini-pizza box.

Now who doesn't like pizza? And, who doesn't like a little something delivered in a pizza box? So, not only is there a gift on the outside, inside are tiny little candy canes. I think my son, Dain, however, would prefer a gift card inside the mini-pizza box, and a real life-sized pizza in a real pizza box!

Stuff I used:
Stamps: PSX, Sizzix, silk flowers, DCWV for pizza box,
Polymark Fabric Paint - Crystal Glitter, rickrack from my sewing drawer, ribbons from stash.