Merry Christmas!

Well, we're almost there - only 4 more days and I'm not sad to say - 3 more working days until Christmas! I am very excited this year since my hubby and I and the kids get 8 whole days together over Christmas. I love that my time off is after Christmas so that I can enjoy my family and not worry about all the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the big day!

I have been very busy making cards over the past couple of weeks but not for myself. I have had a few people at work order sets of cards for Christmas and of course, my husband needs to bring homemade cards for his coworkers. How ironic is it that I was so busy making cards for everyone else that I didn't have time to make homemade ones for my own coworkers? Unfortunately, I had to give them store bought that I bought last year as back-up!

I made a bunch of these cute little cards that I cased from an idea on My Stamping Heaven. The card is so simple to make - 5 2x2 squares with inked edges, a scallop and a few circles, a cute Christmas sentiment and voila! A cute Christmas card! Hope you like it! This would be super cute with a birthday cake or cupcake in place of the reindeer - Stampin' Up makes so many different types of stamps that would be suitable for this sort of layout!

I hope that you all are blessed with health and happiness this Christmas season and on into the new year! Have a wonderful season!

It's been a while since I've posted anything but then again it's been a while since I've had time to craft. This past weekend, we had a family Christmas here at our house with family that we won't see at Christmas time. I always make way too much food and this time was no exception. Oh well - that meant no cooking on Sunday!

I got my Stampin' Up order this week which I am just thrilled about! I love my new Big Shot and hope I will get the time over the Christmas holidays to give it a real workout! In the meantime, I've been making a few cards here and there. I wanted to share my most recent card that I made (I'll be making these for my husband's coworkers). I got the brilliant pattern for the tree from Heather over at Stamp with Heather. I am fortunate to only live about a 15 minute drive away from Heather and have been to a couple of classes at her home. I just love all of her ideas and her infectious energy! The card is done all in SU cardstock and the brads on the tree are from Joanne Fabrics in the US. I think I'll do more tonight and try to incorporate some of my new SU chocolate chip ribbon - I'm so excited to use it!

I hope everyone's shopping list is getting shorter and that you won't have to hit the mall too much in the next couple of weeks. Take time for yourself! Cheers!

It has been a perfect weekend so far in my house. I got to spend 4 hours with family and friends on Saturday morning making Christmas cards. My friend and SU demo Rebecca came prepared to make 5 of each of 4 different styles of cards and we had so much fun! I finally got a chance to use the new Big Shot that SU has this year and I love it! I am getting one for sure! Those cute snow flakes were cut out with the Big Shot! I think I'm almost done with my Christmas cards - now I just need to write them and get them in the mail! Last night was our local Santa Claus parade which we enjoyed with family - cold but fun!

Today is a nice day in Southwestern Ontario - there is some snow on the ground but the sun is shining and it's not too cold. My daughter is off playing with a friend, my son has a friend over and my hubby is out at a meeting with his running club. That means I get to sip tea, tidy my house at my leisure and surf the vast array of stampin and scrappin blogs to find new ideas! We made our own homemade wine this year to give as hostess gifts for Christmas and I'm sure I've seen a pattern for a hand made wine bag so I'm on the look out for that today!

I hope you've all got a dent in your Christmas shopping and that it warms up enough for you to go out and put up your lights before the real winter hits - if it hasn't already!

I have mentioned before and still maintain that I am not a very creative person at all. I need a lot of inspiration and even some hints before I can sit at my craft desk. I spend tonnes of time on the internet looking at people's blogs and other crafting websites. Sometimes I'm inspired, sometimes, not so much.

This weekend I decided to try one of the many sketch challenges/shares that are out there. I used inspiration from i{heart}to stamp and her awesome little sketch. Of course, I don't think my card turned out near as nice as hers have but it's a start! My card doesn't have as many circles on it because I turned the card which I would normally make oblong, on its side, leaving less room for "stuff". I think I'll definitely use this sketch again! I used the adorable "Mr. Twigster" stamp set for the snowman and the presents and the sentiment came from the "So Many Scallops" set. Of course, both sets are SU as are the craft and red paper and the red grosgrain ribbon. The DSP is from The Paper Studio.

I hope you will all take some time this week to get inspired and do something out of your comfort zone! Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

It' s a miserable day here in small town Southwestern Ontario. What a perfect day to stay inside, sip a hot chocolate and create! I've already finished my errands for the day and don't plan to leave the house again until tomorrow when my daughter has to go to skating.

In light of the weather, I thought this stamp set was perfect to use this morning! The acrylic stamp set came from Impression Obsession. The sentiment inside the card says "Take time to smell the coffee". I think I'll give it to one of my many friends who are so busy that sometimes they need a reminder to slow down and take time for themselves over the Christmas season! I coloured the image with my water colour pencils and then cut out the mugs which I then pop dotted over another duplicate image with the steam. I used some glitter to make the whole thing a little fancier. I picked the SU DSP because it reminded me of the pattern on a pair of mittens.

I hope that it's warm wherever you are today! Have a great weekend and thanks for checking in!

This scrapbook page has to be one of the fastest that's ever come together for me. I got inspiration from a sketch on the Basic Grey website which I love! As soon as I saw this picture on my husband's cousin's FB, I knew I needed to scrapbook it. Doesn't she look so adorable standing among the tall stalks of corn? I used a variety of DSP and bazzil cardstock as well as my current favorite - rubons! I need to perfect the art of photographing my 12x12 pages since this photo doesnt' really do the page justice. Work in progress.

My next project is a cardstock box with a stack of hand made cards for various occasions as teachers' gifts for my kids' teachers. I'll include some sheets of stickers as well since I'm sure we all know how teachers can use stickers!

Thanks for taking a peek! Have a great day!

I have been lucky enough to have the last 2 days off work while the kids are at school which is rare. Yesterday my husband and I took the day to travel to the U.S. to do some cross border shopping. I did get a chance to stop at my favorite store - Hobby Lobby. Somehow I can never get enough!

Today I took some time to reflect on how lucky we all are and to remember those who have and who are currently giving themselves to our country. I attended my childrens' school Remembrance Day ceremony and needless to say, I'm glad I brought my tissue. It was a lovely and touching tribute.

This afternoon, I'm locking myself in my craft room to work on some unfinished projects before the kids get home. My family is hosting my husband's father's side Christmas dinner and I wanted everyone to have a little hand made place card and gift at their plate. I found this template in the Stamping, Stationary and Scrapbooking magazine that I purchased yesterday at Hobby Lobby. It's super easy to make and takes no time at all which is nice since I'll be making 11 of them! I used some of last year's SU DSP as well as the So Many Scallops stamp with the Christmas sentiment. I stamped it in baja breeze and rose red. The ribbon is also SU - white grosgrain.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wow - my first post! I never thought myself good enough at this art form to create a blog but I get excited every time I create and want everyone to see what I've done! I like to share! This first card that I am sharing is one of the very first I've created with inspiration only from myself - no lifting from anyone! The images are stamped from SU Bitty Basics set. I coloured them in with water colour pencils and punched them out and adhered them with pop dots. The ribbon is also SU - regal rose and the jewels are from doodlebug design inc in cupcake. I believe the cardstock that I used was SU as well as bazzil.