Deck the Halls with Glitter Balls!

Nothing says Merry Christmas like glitter balls right?!? Last year, I made glitter ball ornaments for each of my stamp camp gals using their favorite Stampin' Up! colors. This year I had a handful of requests for wanting to know how to make the glitter balls themselves. So, for the December Stamp Camp, one of our projects will be glitter ball ornaments.

I'll have a couple of different colors of reinkers for my gals to choose from (or they can bring their favorite color reinker from home) and we'll be using gold and silver glitter. The glitter ball in the picture was made using 15 drops of Glorious Green reinker and gold craft glitter. If you switch to silver craft glitter, the same Glorious Green will come out looking totally different. These ornaments are especially pretty when the lights of the Christmas tree are shining behind them!!!

December Stamp Camp

The December Stamp Camps start this week, so I figured it was time to show you a couple of the projects we'll be doing! Here is a paper bow created from one piece of 6"x12" double sided patterned paper. I have a ton of patterned paper scraps, so each person will get to choose what their paper bow will look like. This project is super easy and its a great way to coordinate your gift packaging with tags and cards!

Check out www.splitcoaststampers.com for the directions on creating paper bows.

A Chocolate Chip Christmas

The pressure is on...with only a handful of my Christmas cards actually complete, I need to finish atleast 10 a day to get them out by the middle of the month! I buckled down today and finished 10 of this design. Whew! 10 down, 110 more to go!

Last month, I ordered some of the Shimmery White cardstock and Shimmer White envelopes and let me just say they are super-shimmery in person. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't do the shimmer justice! I used my Coluzzle to cut an oval out of copy paper and used it to reverse mask the image on to the Shimmery White cardstock. I stamped the tree-scape from Lovely As A Tree in Chocolate Chip and then sponged River Rock and Blue Bayou for the background. The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip and I used some of the GORGEOUS Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon (which is on sale right now!!) to dress it up a bit. This one got a thumbs up from the hubby - he really liked the color combo!

A Very Special Thank You

Yesterday all of the ladies at work gathered together at lunch for a session on women's health. This is something that we do about once a quarter - we've had speakers from a local hospital come in and talk to us about topics such as breast cancer, fitness & diet, depression, and menopause. This past session focused on ovarian cancer and was so very informative!

We've had the same nurse come to talk to us these last few times...and let me just say, she is fabulous! She's so full of energy and is so passionate about women's health issues. She can even make a colonoscopy seem not-so-scary! I thought that I'd make her a little set of notes with my Causeabella stamp. Similar to the pink ribbons for breast cancer, aqua ribbons show support for ovarian cancer research. I used my Soft Sky Designer Series Paper for the background and kept the layout pretty simple. I'm going to package these notes in a clear box with a cute little belly band and send them to her with a coordinating thank you note signed by all the ladies in the office.




While I have your attention, I'm going to pass along a few bits of important information:

1) Ovarian cancer not detectable by a pap smear alone - you need a blood test and an ultrasound to detect any abnormalities on your ovaries.

2) While familiy history of ovarian cancer can put you at a higher risk for developing it, an absence of ovarian cancer in your family doesn't make you immune!

3) Know your body. Warning signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer can be easily attributed to other causes. If something doesn't feel right, talk to your doctor. If you are not comfortable talking to your doctor or if he/she dismisses your concerns - FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR!

Long time...no post!

During my little "vacation" I took a break from everything...including blogging! I spent time with family, I spent time in my craft room, I spent time Christmas shopping...it was great. Unfortunately, it was back to the real world yesterday, so I figured I should get back to blogging as well.


I mentioned before that this year, instead of mass creating one card, I'm going to do a variety of different cards. While I was off work, I got a great start on different parts of my Christmas cards, but I didn't have a single card completely finished...until tonight. This is my first card that is completely finished.

The color combination that I used for this one is a little unconventional when it comes to Christmas cards, but I love Soft Sky, Regal Rose, and Wild Wasabi together! You may not be able to see it all that well, but there is irridescent ice embossed on the ornament. I think I might have gotten a little carried away with the different layers...I hope I don't have to pay extra postage!

What a FABULOUS day?!?

Let me just start off by saying that today was a FABULOUS day! I had a spa appointment this morning...so I have been scrubbed, exfoliated, moisturized, masked, waxed, polished and pampered. And to make it even better, I had a gift certificate so it didn't put a dent in my wallet!!! When I get out of the spa, my hubby called to say he was heading down to the hunting camp and he'd be back tomorrow night. You know what that means...I don't have to cook dinner! See what I mean about a fabulous day?!? Don't get me wrong, I love my hubby dearly and I'll miss him while he's gone...but he needs some time to enjoy his hobbies too!

Once I got home from the spa, I shut myself in my craft room to finally start my Christmas cards. This year, there were so many Christmas stamp sets that I wanted to use - I couldn't narrow it down to just one design! So I decided that since I have about 110 cards to send out, that I'll create 10 each of 11 different designs. That way I get to use all of my favorite images AND I don't get bored coloring/embossing/punching the same things over and over! (I may totally regret this later, but so far its pretty fun!)

Here are a couple of images from Big On Christmas that I'll be using on different layouts. I borrowed this set from my generous downline and friend, Trish. And since its on loan, I better get to stampin'!

Vacation time

I had some vacation days left and with the end of the year quickly approaching, I just HAD to take them (the company I work for has a "use it or lose it" policy when it comes to vacation days). So...I'm off work this whole week! I've caught up on all of my chores, so that means I get to spend some uninterrupted time in the craft room. Considering that I haven't even started my Christmas cards, I think I'll be stamping my little heart out!!

Here is one of the projects from the Stampers 7 workshop that was this past Saturday. This scrapbook page features a faux metal tag embossed with the scribbly-Christmas tree from Solemn Stillness. I'm getting better about making scrapbook pages, but I'm still bad about taking pictures. When I sat down and put this page together, I envisioned a cute picture of my hubby and I picking out our Christmas tree and another of the tree once its fully decorated. I'll make an extra effort to carry my camera with me when we go tree shopping and hopefully the finished page will look as cute as it does in my head right now!