Figgy Fruitcake Chocolate Snowflake

Coffee of the Day - Eggnog Latte

I apologize for being so long in posting. I've still been having some health problems and am trying to get it all sorted it out. No fun whatsoever, and hopefully this next round of specialists and such will find the answers.

This is another of the cards I entered in Sue Daly's card contest. What fun to actually have a vintage category to make cards for! I used Basic Grey Figgy Pudding and Fruitcake papers and Joyeux Noel stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms. The flower is from Prima and the laces and buttons are vintage finds from Etsy.

Hopefully I won't be so long in posting again. Please take care and hope all of you are doing well!

Jennifer

Vintage Winter is Calling

Just a quick post today. Sorry to have been out of communication for so long. This was one of my submissions for Sue Daly's card contest on her blog. I really like the way this one turned out. All the vintage pieces came together so well - from the paper flowers and book page to the buttons and laces! lots of shimmerz was painted over the main image as well as the cream button. I try to leave some of the vintage thread in wherever possible, which is the case with the navy button in the upper left corner under the paper flowers. This is one of my fave Stampin' Up! sets by far! Have a great day! :)

A Shimmerz Sale!

What could be better than Shimmerz Paints? Finding them on sale of course! For a limited time, the wonderful Shimmerz paints that I use all the time are on sale on their newly created online shopping page! Run, don't walk, to check it out!

Thanksgiving Thankful Cross

Coffee of the Day - Caramel Truffle

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends! I hope that today finds you happy, healthy, and enjoying the many ways in which you find yourself blessed! May your day be filled with joy and laughter!

Today's card is another one for a SHINE challenge over at Paper Craft Planet. The 2nd challenge was to create a project showcasing something for which you are thankful. My middle son, Mick, and I had spent Wed. together listening to CD's and talking about music. So as I contemplated this challenge, the lyrics for many of my favorite songs were running through my mind. Immediately I knew that I wanted to use this portion of "The Wonderful Cross" for my card. I have several cross stamps, but decided to step out of my comfort zone, which is something that in 'real life' God asks me to do quite often. So I used some colors that I would rarely pick up in my every day stamping. This card has a different look than mine usually do, and I struggled with it quite a bit. At one point I actually went into the kitchen and prayed, "God, this card is supposed to be for You. But it is ending up being one of my worst ones yet. Show me how to bring some kind of glory to you." And then the pieces started coming together.

So precious Father, this one is for You. Thank you for your grace, that I never deserve, but you pour out new for me every single day of my life. You bless me abundantly with these beautiful people I am blessed to call family. Thank you for loving me even when I am unlovable and for surrounding me with people who love me as you do that I call friends. Amen. :)

SHINE Personality Challenge Card - Angel Faith

Coffee of the Day - Irish Creme

I am a member of the Christian stampers group, SHINE, over at Paper Crafts Planet. The first challenge was to make a card that reflects your personality with an emphasis on how your faith in Jesus has shaped who you are today. This verse has brought me great comfort during difficult times. I don't think it shows well in the scan, so I will post it here.

'These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold - and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold.' 1Peter 1:7

I of course used Basic Grey papers, Periphery collection, vintage laces and button, my fave American Art stamps, Adriana Cirstea angel with palm. and finished off with a beautiful prima flower and rhinestones. Shimmerz paints were used here and there (thanks Lindsey, for the tip to paint the edges!) and I brought back out my SU! Linen bg stamp again. The rhinestones are a bit much, but the card was kinda empty without them, and sometimes I'm pretty over the top! (just ask hubby and sons!!!)

House Mouse Challenge Polka Dots and Snowflakes!

Wowzers - 2 challenges in 1 day! this chickie is on a roll! This is really a VERY GOOD THING since I spent several days not stamping. I'm finally starting to not hurt so much - PRAISE GOD!!! Truly I say! there is nothin' fun about hurting bones! I'm still staying either up or down and avoiding the stairs as much as possible, but man oh man, your prayers and well wishes have PAID OFF BIG TIME!!!!! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!! I have so many pulication deadlines and challenges to catch up on, not to mention holiday projects, so it feels great to feel great! :D

This card is my entry for the House Mouse Monday Challenge to use polka dots in your submission. Is that just not the best challenge?! This is another one of those cutie pie images that Dru gifted to me. The image is small, so the overall card size is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" square. I pulled out my ol' time fave Linen bg stamp by SU! Oh how I miss using that puppy! I stamped it not only on the main cs, but also on the inside and the red matting cs. I used to use bg stamps all the time, but got out of the habit. Need to start using them again as they are sooooo versatile. The ornament is covered in crystal effects and I painted shimmerz over the polka dots and white portions of the decorative papers. Now you need to sit yourself down for this. I did not use Basic Grey papers on this card. nope. not a one. These pretty papers are by Daisy D's. But aren't they GORGEOUS?! Thought I would throw all of you for a loop today!! :) Have a good one!!!

Stamper's Dream Challenge - Thanksgiving window card

Coffee of the Day - Irish Creme

Stamper's Dream has a challenge over on the blog to create a Fall card using a window of some sort. Join the challenge, but hurry because the contest ends tomorrow! I'm sorry for posting this late, but I just found about it late last night. Sorry about that! If you upload a card to your SCS gallery, use the code SDDC2 so Michelle can find it. Also as a wonderful side note, she has terrific sale going on at Stamper's Dream until Nov. 30 - 15% off all Holiday stamps and 50% off selected Just Rite products. nope, don't work for her and don't get kick-backs (grins!!) just happen to think she's pretty wonderful and runs a great store!

So I got to stamping today with my lovely stick chicks from American Art Stamps. I had asked last week 'what is your favorite stamp company?'. Several of you responded with some great companies. If I had to choose just one, (and thank goodness I don't!!) it would definitely be this company. I love these stick chicks and the angels by Adriana Cirstea. I could probably be happy to stamp with them forever. But I digress........ (hubby, be quiet, yes I know I do that a LOT!!)

on to the card..... I used this cute "Turkey Dinner" stamp because I wanted to make a Thanksgiving card for the new neighbors moving in next door this week. The sentiment is actually stamped on the interior of the card. Decorative papers are Basic Grey Mellow. All ribbons are May Arts. The leaf in the lower left corner is a felt one with cut-outs that don't show well in the scan for some reason. There are matching felt flowers on the inside of the card. Everyone stay warm today! We have white-out conditions here! So coooooooool - in more ways than one! ;)

Quick Ali Update ~

Just a quick update on Ali Schmidlin as posted by Tosh on Split Coast Stampers very early this morning ~

Quick update...The Schmidlin's are on their way home. The swelling is what they call rebound swelling which is caused when the blood (from when the tumor was bleeding) dissipates and begins to be absorbed by the brain. As the blood reaches the outer membrane, it gets closer to the nerve endings which in turn causes the severe headaches. They're still not sure what type of tumor they're dealing with and plan to biopsy it in Jan. Right now the headaches are under control, but there is always a chance that could change. Unfortunately Ali still has problems with nausea because of the location of the tumor, but they have medicine that will hopefully keep that relatively under control. They also discovered that the tumor is in the frontal lobe and not in the parietal lobe which they originally thought. From what I understand, it will be easier to biopsy because of this.

SCS Blogger Challenge - Holiday Sparkles Stick Chick & Blog Candy Winner!

Coffee of the Day - Hazelnut Cream
Tea of the Evening - Orange Ginger Mint by The Republic of Tea
(it was cold and rainy tonight and a cuppa tea hit the spot!)

Here is my entry for the Split Coast Stampers Blogger Group 2 Sketch Challenge. Danielle drew up this amazing sketch last week (we have 2 weeks to complete each challenge). and wouldn't you know it - my stampin' mojo just up and disappeared today! I had the best intentions in my wonky head, but man oh man, it didn't transfer to my card AT ALL!!! so sorry, Charlie! I'll try again later if I can get the time because her sketch really is cool.

My papers are from the phenom Basic Grey Wassail collection. Ribbons are May Arts and Stampin' Up! Way cool stamp is American Art Stamps stick chick "Big Ornament". The ornament is covered in crystal effects and the boot tops, dress ruffles, hat pom pom, ornament top, and boot jingle bells are all painted in shimmerz. Poinsettia dew drops are placed in the center of SU! felt snowflakes.

Our Blog Candy Winner for this time is Tiffany! Way to go! In case you wonder how I go about picking a winner - everyone is assigned a number and I ask my middle son to pick a number. (he is totally clueless as to why he is doing this by the way! grins!!!) he has done this twice now and has no idea that he has helped 2 lucky people win some great prizes! well, what do you expect from a teenage boy who has a certain girl and computer games on his mind?!!

Everyone stay warm and dry!

Prayers please for the Schmidlin Family

I haven't updated in a while about the health issues facing young Ali Schmidlin. You can go to this post at SplitCoast Stampers to read the latest in addition to the well wishes of the community there. Just to summarize, Ali (12 years old) had been sent home from the hospital in Seattle until January to see if the swelling in the growth in her brain could subside to the point that the doctors could then do a biopsy to determine if it was cancerous. She was airlifted back to Seattle 3 days ago because the headaches were so severe and the swelling had intensified. Her mother, Laurie, is a most talented stamper and has the blog, Just Give Me Stamps.

Please, please say prayers for this family if you would. Not only is this a terrible thing for any family to have to go through, but Thanksgiving is approaching, and I'm sure they never invisioned spending it in the hospital with a child in this stage of illness. And then stop and say a prayer of thanksgiving to God for each and every one of your family members. Too often we take them for granted. At least I do. Thank you! I love you each so much! :)

Patriotic Snowflake Elvis

Coffee of the Day - Hazelnut Cream

Happy Sunday to all of you! It is a most beautiful day here in northeast Ohio! The sun is shining on the beautiful snow - looks like a picture postcard! I look out my upstairs back window and expect to see a few deer walking along creating their fresh hoofprints in the snow behind our barn. We live right in the village, but have a big 2 level barn/garage behind the house. From there is another half acre of property and wildlife frequently scamper across. It isn't unusual to see deer passing through. Truly a breath-taking sight! one of those little 'thank you, God, I really needed that today' moments!!!!

I'm sharing another of my Elvis Christmas cards today. I love the colors of this one. I had posted it over on the Cornish Heritage Farms gallery and someone commented about the patriotic colors. I hadn't thought about that when I made it, but I like it! I'm proud to be patriotic and I am pretty sure Elvis was, too. I am in LOVE with this vintage lace I found on Etsy. so much so that I went back to the seller and begged her to try to find some more (which she did so very kindly!!) and I bought it all! you'll even find it on my blog header! I'm such a sucker for those vintage laces and buttons! they add so much. plus vintage papers, too! I first painted the paper with butter cream shimmerz before stamping, so this baby SHINES!!!!! the Flair Designs paper is also painted in the shimmerz. I sponged the SU! ribbon with caramel ink to distress it, adding to the overall vintage feel of the card. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Bananas! It must be Elvis!

Some of you know that my husband David is the Director of Youth Ministries for our Church District. He returned on Wednesday from a big Youth Pastors Retreat that he hosted in New York. Well, one of the many things that he brought back home from this wonderful excursion was bananas! yep, you read that correctly, bananas! He prepares the food for the retreat and there just happened to be an abundance of fruit left, so he brought some home for us. Now some of us here in the house happen to have a real thing about peanut butter and banana sandwiches. oh yeah, baby....... nothing says lovin' like a big thick gooey sandwich oozing over with yummy-licious nanners and nutter butters! so we have been in hog heaven here at home!

so in honor of these time tested goodies, I am posting one of my Christmas Elvis cards. Trivia time for those of you who don't know that Elvis LOVED peanut butter and banana sandwiches! yep, I'm also a big Elvis fan! :) These stamps come from the ever rockin' Cornish Heritage Farms, the only company officially licensed to create and sell Elvis rubber stamps. The vintage buttons and lace are from Etsy. The entire image is sponged with gold ink to give it a shimmer and shine. Papers are from Basic Grey Stella Ruby. Hope that you enjoy! Thank you, thank you very much..........

Don't forget the blog candy!!!

I'll be back to post a card creation in just a little bit, but don't forget that today is the LAST DAY to enter for the blog candy giveaway! you can post either here or on this post. If you post here, tell me what your favorite stamp company is. I know that we all use many different stamps, but is there one that stands heads above the rest for you? Or some set of images that bring a smile to your face every single time?

be back to chat with ya later! :)

House Mouse Challenge Candy Cane Dreams

Coffee of the Day - Chocolate Cream

Here is my House Mouse Monday Challenge card, quite a bit later than Monday obviously! ;) The image is Candy Cane Dreams and comes courtesy of Dru - my new blogging friend who gifted me with some wonderful images the other day! Thank you so much, Dru! I love them all! I combined the image with some fun Basic Grey Wassail paper. I 'duded up' some of the stockings by adding either polka dots (with a gel pen) or stars (with a cutie pie punch from Michaels). I don't have any plain Jane stockings at my house and don't think mousie Amanda does either! grins! The great fuzzy ribbon is May Arts and comes from Jacksonbelle Embellishments. Sentiment, oval punch, snowflakes, & cardstock are from Stampin' Up! The card is a large 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" due to the image size.

Several of you have asked me how I color my House Mouse images. I typically use inks and a blender pen. I use several different shades of ink and blend them with the pen. For instance I will use (SU!) close to cocoa, chocolate chip, and creamy caramel and then blend those browns together to create a brown mouse or critter. I use sahara sand, basic grey and going grey for the grey critters. I hope that helps you some! Any more questions, just ask!

Stick Chick Birthday and Snow Slushies!

Coffee of the Day - Starbucks Cafe Verona with Cinnamon Spice

This is the last of the World Card Making Day cards. It features my fave stick chick by American Art Stamps. These stamps are just so much fun to play with! Not only are there stamps for every holiday and season, but the stamps themselves are top notch, high quality. Papers here are Basic Grey Cupcake. Sentiment, card stock, and ribbon are from Stampin' Up! Buttons came from a great find at Etsy.

We've started up one of our fave winter traditions again - snow slushies! Living here in the heart of the snow belt, we get well over 100" of snow each winter. So when it starts getting thick, the boys and I get our cups and go collect good, clean snow. Pack it tight, then fill with your favorite juice. Voila! a snow slushie! Sometimes we combine several juices to create a delicious treat - cranberry and orange juice is one of my favorites. These are sooooooooo good! Try one for yourself! :)

Christmas Card Contest - Go vote now! :)

Coffee of the Day - Caramel Truffle

Sue Daly has a Christmas card contest going on over on her blog, StampinDaly. You can vote in 4 different categories for your favorite cards. yes, I did enter, but I'm not allowed to tell you which cards are mine. ;) EVERY card is wonderful. Aren't we blessed to be surrounded by such talented stampers who provide so much inspiration each and every day?! I know I feel honored to call so many of you my friends! Thank you for all the creativity that you share with everyone!

so go vote for your favorites now!
I'll be back later to share some of my latest stamping projects. I've taken a bit of a break these past few days as I'm still having a tough time getting over my fall from a few weeks ago. blech!!! and double blech!!!! and don't forget to enter my blog candy contest! :)

House Mouse Sketch Challenge - Slow Down Bunny!

Coffee of the Day - Cinnamon Hazelnut

Howdy! I hope that you are having a great weekend so far! Here is a card that I made for a House Mouse Sketch Challenge over on Paper Craft Planet. It came together pretty quick because I had already colored the image! Guess where the papers are from? BASIC GREY!!!! Grins! Bet you would have never guessed that one! ;) The bubbles are covered in stickles to make them sparkle! Hope you like this precious little bunny! I thought that this sentiment from Stamping Bella suited perfectly!

Last night Ryan, my youngest, put in the musical, Godspell. I think it is probably one of my ab fab faves EVAH!!! Ryan & I were singing along! We watch movies all the time, but musicals hold a special place for all of us. Also check out Across the Universe or Jesus Christ Superstar - both wonderful movies!

So - what is your favorite musical? or movie? I want to get to know all of you, too! :)

another wonderful blog award!

I am so blessed! I just received this blog award from Gina of Makings and Musings. Isn't it beautiful?!

I am to pass it along to 5 people who's blogs I enjoy reading. Like Gina, there are a LOT more than 5 that I enjoy!!! ;) Please check out the wonderful pages of these fun blogs!

*Julie of Special Craft Mom of 4

*Carmen of QueenTomas

*Danielle of Danielle's Divine Designs

*Paula of Crop Notes and Crafts

*Edith of Today: From My Perspective

Melda Bella Challenge Card & Blog Candy

Coffee of the Day - Caramel Truffle

I made another card for the Split Coast Stampers Blog Group 2 challenge. It is based on the sketch of the Bella Sketch Challenge this week. This is my first time to play in a Bella Challenge, and it was fun! I really like this sketch!

All papers are from Basic Grey Romani, except for the whisper white. Ribbon came from an assortment I found on Etsy.

Now on to the blog candy! Since I have had over 1000 posts in the short time my blog has been up, I wanted to give out another little treat to say thank you to all of you! The winner will receive an 8x8 pad of Daisy D's designer paper (it also contains 2 pages of die cuts and 2 pages of stickers) , a few yards of matching fibers, and a package of tiny baby buttons that co-ordinate. Just leave a comment on this thread through Friday, November 21. I will draw a winner that Saturday morning. In your comment, tell me what you are most thankful for! I am thankful for God's amazing grace and love. And of course I am also VERY thankful for my wonderful family and friends. How about you?

Kreativ Blogger Award

Julie and Jackie have given me this wonderful award for my blog! I am thrilled beyond belief! It's my first award!







*The Winner may put the logo on their Blog
*Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
*Nominate 5 Blogs
*Put Links to their Blogs
*Leave a message for your nominees

These are the blogs that I am passing the award on to:
Michelle of Stamper's Dream
Lori of Make a Difference
Julia of Belle Papier
Melissa of LilyBean's Paperie
Dru of Garden of Dreams

please visit these wonderful blogs if you get a moment! They are wonderful and bring me such inspiration! :)
Thanks, Julie and Jackie!

SCS Blogger Challenge - Unique Snowflake

this card is for the Split Coast Stampers Blogger Group 2 Challenge. We were to use 4 different designer papers on any kind of creation. I actually used 5, as the large snowflake is stamped on one, too (and then covered in shimmerz). "Unique" is stamped in stazon on a piece of plastic wrapping that I found. Not too crazy about this card - perhaps it will grow on me! Stamps are from Cornish Heritage Farms - Joyeux Noel and Big Inspiration (my free set I received the other day!). Papers are Basic Grey Wassail and everything else (except bracket die cut - My Mind's Eye) is from Stampin' Up!

a Mousie for Christmas

Coffee of the Day - Hazelnut Creme

just playing around with some House Mouse images after I stamped a few to send off to a new blogging friend. The lights are covered in crystal effects, the wings are painted with white craft ink and then covered in stickles, and the halos around the lights are painted with different colors of shimmerz. More Basic Grey papers, of course! the card base is sponged in white craft ink and then the edges covered, too. oh yes, more shimmerz on the decorative strip of red. lots of shine for this card!

Blog candy should be coming again tomorrow!

CHF Snowflakes Hot Chocolate Gift set

Coffee of the Day - Seattle's Best Cinnabon

I'm showing you a photo I took of a holiday project that I made last month. please forgive the poor photo - I can scan photos just fine and take regular pictures just fine, but when it comes to taking pix of my projects I can't seem to get any good ones. I'll keep trying little tricks until something good happens! so hopefully you can tell well enough through this yucky photo!

The gift set is a painted Starbucks Frappucinno bottle holder. Each bottle was also decorated. I haven't filled them yet, but I will be putting hot chocolate mix in one, Kisses in another, marshallows in another, and peppermint candies in the last one. I think it will be cute! A friend who works with my husband loves hot cocoa, so I thought this would be cute for her for Christmas.

The stamps are from Cornish Heritage Farms, Winter Vintage Signage set. Papers are Daisy D's - both sides. Ribbons are from Stampin' Up!, May Arts, Martha Stewart, and others.

I hope that you like this and are inspired to try doing this for yourself! It was a fun project to make!

Jennifer

House Mouse Challenge Pizza and a Movie

Coffee of the Day - Irish Creme

Here is my entry for the Monday House Mouse Challenge. The theme was to use 'junk'. Well I have way tooooooo much of that to put on a card! ;) Anyhow, my boys had gone to the Aquire the Fire Youth Conference over Halloween weekend. As I was doing their laundry when they got back, I discovered these tickets had gone through the washer and dryer. Being the pack rat that I am, I thought, "Hmmmmm...... these might be cute on a papercrafting project." so I saved them. (oh, please don't tell hubby!) They ended up being perfect for this week's challenge! The twine really was in the junk drawer. really! :) The sentiment was printed out on my compy. papers are from guess where - Basic Grey of course! tee hee!

have a great day!
Jennifer

Crate Paper Stick Chick Love

Coffee of the Day - Starbucks Cafe Verona with Cinnamon Spice

Sorry to be late posting today. Spent the morning at the doctor's office and clinic. Ended up getting x-rays. The dr. thinks that I may have fractured some of my ribs when I fell a few weeks ago. pffftttt........ I am such a clumsy oaf! :) I always say - Can you imagine what I would be like if I DIDN'T have those 8 years of ballet??!!? So I am whooppped after being poked and bent into really weird shapes by the x-ray tech. Gonna try to hit the House Mouse Monday Challenge in a bit. Enjoying some coffee first! GRINS!!

Here is another of my World Card Making Day projects. love, love, love those stick chicks! This paper is actually from a Christmas collection by Crate Paper. It is both sides - dots and green. The diagonal stripe is also from their holiday collection. I challenge you to 'think outside the box' when it comes to holiday/theme papers. You'd be surprised at how often you can use these for something other than the holiday they were intended for. The heart is from Prima and is sooooo glittery shiny!! The sentiment is Clearly Wordsworth, brads are Stampin' Up!, and ric rac is from Walmart in the notions aisle. (great trims to be found there, by the way!)

It snowed here last night and all day today! yipppeeeeeee! I'm lovin' it! We have about an 1"-2" accumulated on the ground. It is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Thank you, God, for this beautiful treat!

Have a wonderful day! and thank you so much for all of your kind and gracious comments. It makes my day!

Jennifer