A Cupcake & Penguin Christmas

Isn't this the cutest image? My stamping friend, Diane Zechman, (cookiestamper on SCS) designed the set called Cupcake Occasions! You can find it here if you'd like to take a look at all the cute images in the set. She's made an image to fit on top of a cupcake for almost all of the holidays! Too cute! I made this card for her and I know she's gotten it already (I hope!), so it's ok to post. I stamped the penguin and cupcake bottom using my stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up properly. The images where colored with copic markers. I cut them out with these cool nestabilities. I think these are the Labels 2 set. The layer behind the image is baja breeze, and the dp is SU's Ski Slope. Love this paper and ALL SU's paper! The felt snowflakes are also SU's called Little Felt Flurries. They come in white, blue, and red in various sizes in the package. I put some crystal stickles on them for some sparkle. The sketch is from Lauren Meader's sketch challenges (mytimess13). Once I had everything layered and attached to the card, I put some liquid applique on the image and sprinkled some glitter on it before I used the heat gun to puff it up. Well, that's it for today. I hope you are relaxing by the tree and drinking hot chocolate (I know I'm not!). Thanks for stopping by. I hope to have something for you tomorrow, so please stop by again! Happy Holidays!

Recipe

Stamps: Cupcake Occasions (CC Designs by Cookie Crumbs)

Paper: PTI white, riding hood red, baja breeze, Ski Slope dp

Ink: Adirondack black

Accessories: Labels 2 nestabilities, Little Felt Flurries, liquid applique, glitter, crystal stickles, dimensionals

The Delightful Miss Candy

Isn't she beautiful? I'm thinking of sending her to all our bachelor friends! Merry Christmas, guys! I just got her and two others today from Rubbernecker. I saw Linda doing a few of these on her blog (Linda's Works of Heart) and they are fabulous...so fabulous that I had to get the three Christmas girls! I had to ink one up today and thought Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge would work with this stamp. It's a little bigger than Julee's sketch, but I think it may pass. Here's her sketch...what do you think?

She's colored with copic markers and I put glitter on the fur of her hat, dress, and boots. The dp is the DCWV Christmas stack I've been using and the pointsettia is a Prima with a glitter dot in the middle. On the inside I used a lacy Martha Stewart border punch and a sentiment from Printworks. Hope you enjoyed this card as much as I did! Happy Holidays and thanks for stopping by! I have more tomorrow!

Recipe

Stamps: Miss Candy (Rubbernecker), Holiday Tag Collection (Just for You: PTI), Season's Greetings (Printworks)

Paper: Real red, white, DCWV Christmas stack

Ink: Adirondack black, copic markers

Accessories: Large and small oval punches, scallop border and Martha Stewart lacy border punches, Primas, glitter dots, glitter, dimensionals

The "Right" Tree

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is all about finding the "right" tree. Anyone who has one of these animals knows what I'm talking about! Isn't this image a hoot? I was standing in line last week at AC Moore (on Black Friday) and I picked up a stamping magazine. I don't remember which one it was, maybe Rubber Stamp Madness, and I saw a card using this image and I just started to laugh! It's from a company called Eat Cake Graphics. When I got home, I googled the company and ordered the stamp pronto! I'm a dog person, so I look for any cute dog stamps and make cards to send to my friends who love dogs like I do. I colored the image with copic markers and added glitter on the trees and the falling snowflakes. I used the sketch from the SCS sketch challenge SCS202. The dp is from a Christmas pack from DCWV. It's very old, but has some great papers in it that can be used anytime. I punched the dp with SU's scallop square. The ribbon is something I picked up last year at AC Moore. There is 9 feet of ribbon on the spool, so I can make a bunch of these cards! I used Garden Green as my base and white and real red as my layers. Super easy card to make, even the coloring went fast because there's not much to color. The inside says "Fleas Navidog"! It's a stamp from Stamp La Jolla that I picked up at a stamp show a few years ago in Buffalo. Well, I hope this made you smile like it did for me! Happy Holidays and thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps: Finding the Right Tree (Eat Cake Graphics), Sentiment (Stamp La Jolla), Snowflake (Art Impressions)

Paper: Garden green, real red, white, DCWV Chirstmas Stack

Ink: Adirondack black, garden green, real red, copic markers

Accessories: SU Scallop square punch, ribbon (AC Moore), glitter, dimensionals

Merry Christmas Dear Friend

***See the post below for the blog candy winner!***
Today's Featured Stamper is Anna (annascreations on SCS) and she has a great gallery. She does a lot of the brayered skies that Michelle Zindorf does. I love the look, but when I look at Michelle's tutorials, I run! They look like a lot of work! I'll just stand back and admire! I chose Anna's card Amethyst Butterfly because I really liked the monochromatic look. I don't do a lot of monochromatic cards, but they are beautiful and easy to do, I might add! I don't have the Top Note die from SU that Anna used, but my Labels 1 nestability die is very similar, so I used the largest one. I started by choosing my dp. I have a lot of last year's SU Dashing paper (I still love that one) and found this one in red and vanilla stripe on one side and vanilla and red dots on the other. The dots reminded me of snow falling and I wanted a Christmas card, so I went with this paper. The main image is from a retired SU set called Always on My Mind. I actually just bought this from Holly McMillen (aka Toy) when she was moving to Colorado from Buffalo this summer. She had a big garage sale, and I think I bought six of her sets! I really like the images in this set and it was perfect for this because it can be colored, but also can be left just one color. It's stamped in real red as is the sentiment, which is SU's Cute & Curly. It is punched with the curly label punch. The ribbon is PTI's Pure Poppy grosgrain and the half pearls are Hero Arts. I moved the pearls to the top of the card, as this is where they best fit on my card (Anna's were towards the bottom of her card). The base of the card is PTI's Vintage Cream (love that paper...so creamy-looking). The sentiment on the inside is from Holiday Wishes, also PTI. Well, that's all folks...it's back to work Monday (unless we have a snow day! Wear your pjs inside out and do the snow dance is what I tell my students to do! Excuse me while I do my jig! See you tomorrow!
Recipe
Stamps: Always on My Mind (SU retired), Cute & Curly (SU), Holiday Wishes (PTI)
Paper: PTI Vintage cream, real red, Dashing dp (SU retired)
Ink: Real red
Accessories: PTI Pure Poppy grosgrain ribbon, Labels 1 nestabilities, curly label punch, scallop border punch, Hero Arts pearls, dimensionals

And the Winner Is...

Pamela! Here's what she said:

We open our gifts Christmas morning. First we have a breakfast of "whompems"--which is actually donuts made from biscut dough. My husband's family started calling them that because you whomp the can of biscuts to open them. We strect the dough to make a hole in the middle and deep fry them. (I know, not healthy but it is Christmas!) Then we top them with a carmel like sauce made with brown sugar, butter, etc. After breakfast we gather together and my husband reads the Christmas story from the Bible that he was given by his family we he went into the Air Force at age 18. The Bible has been used so much that it is falling apart. My kids (now grown, still want the story read from that Bible. Then we pray and thank God for blessing and for trials and for bringing us through those trials. We also pray for whatever is on our hearts. Then...it is time to open presents. I then start the big meal while everybody else puts toys together or gets in their "stuff". It is a fun day.Thanks for such a generouse giveaway. Have a great day.

Congratulations Pamela! What a great tradition you and your family celebrate each year. I will be contacting you for your address to send you your blog candy!

It was so good to hear all of your holiday traditions! I'm so glad you all stopped by to comment. It's like getting "happy mail" when I see all of your comments! I wish all of you a happy and safe holiday season, and wishes for a happy stamping new year!

P.S. I used Random.org to pick the number 6, which was Pamela's number. Here's the info from the website:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:6
Timestamp: 2008-12-08 00:39:58 UTC

Thanks so much!

Blog Candy Time!

ETA: This contest is now closed. Thanks for commenting! : )

Hi everyone! Sorry I didn't post this sooner, but I fell asleep this afternoon! I never do that, but I had a doctor's appointment earlier, then had to deliver my SU orders and got very sleepy after an early dinner. Boy did that feel good!

Anyway, here is the blog candy I'm giving away for having 10,000 hits! There are two stamp sets from My Favorite Things and SU, some ribbon, SU rub-ons, holiday paper, brads, Making Memories frames, and some primas and other "stuff".

Here's what I'd like you to tell me in your comment: What are some of your holiday traditions? I love to hear what other people do...I find it interesting. In my family, we celebrate Christmas Eve with a Polish dinner called "wigilia". It's a meatless dinner of homemade kluski (made sort of like a dumpling) with honey poured over the them, a soup made from prunes and navy beans (my LEAST favorite part of the dinner), and a sort of mushroom soup that my mom starts making about a week before we eat it. We all start the dinner passing around the wafer my mom gets from our church. For dessert, I make my grandmother's cheesecake. It's not like the New York style with cream cheese. It's made with a yeast dough and farmer's and cottage cheeses on top (along with eggs, milk, lemon juice, sugar, etc mixed in). It's so delicious and I only make it at Christmas and Easter. That's the only time she made it and I think I'm the only one who loves it as much as she did! We've always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve as well...even as a child. Santa always snuck in while we were eating dinner...he was always so sneaky!

Well, that's it...my first blog candy giveaway! I'll leave this open until Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m., so leave a comment and please pass the word. I know there are lurkers out there who don't comment, and I'd love to hear from you! Thanks so much for stopping by!

It's a Blog Celebration!

Hey, have you seen my counter? Over 10,000 hits! It's time for a celebration! Watch tomorrow for my blog candy giveaway! I'll have a picture of the stuff I'm going to give away posted here tomorrow, so please stop by and thanks for continuing to take a peek at my humble blog!