Outlined Occasions

Happy Wednesday!

Not really sure what to do with myself today.  Craig is back at work so it's just me and the girls (not gunna lie - I'm a little scared at the prospect of just me and them for 3 days this week and 5 next!!!)  Oh sure, I have LOTS of projects to work on but you know what it's like - without some sort of pressure bearing down on you the motivation to actually do ANYthing just isn't there!  Well, we'll see how it goes.  I have a few ideas for my treats for my club girls, I need to design about 10 cards for upcoming parties, classes, Stamp-a-stack and so on ... need to prep for Sale-a-brations ... the list goes on and on.  I'll take it slow and steady.  My back is already screaming at me for sitting so long over the last few days so I had better behave.

Right!  I promised you some new, NON-CHRISTMAS cards!  I was so excited to pull out some new sets, paper and embelishments.  I made our Thank You cards for the girls to send to everyone for their Christmas gifts.  Yes, I wanted something bright, fun and new ... no Christmas here!  ... Once I was done I sat back and looked at it ... and realized I had used red and green!  ... and a STAR!!!  *lol*  Well, at least they are bright and cheery!

I also made a few Birthday cards with the left over DSP I had cut:

I think I managed a Clean & Simple card for once!  I used some In Color DSP from last year (the little 6x6 hostess packs), the new Outlined Occasions (stamped in Poppy Parade) and colored slightly with Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizzazz (doesn't really show up here thanks to the fabulous camera I have!)  The start and the flower are popped up with a dimensional and a jewel finishes off the flower.  Quick and easy :)

Hope you have a fun day!


Tam

Christmas Cards

Heidi Ho.  Me again :)

I spent some time today de-cluttering the house.  I took down some of the Christmas garland, bows, stockings and so on and tidied up my Christmas cards.  I thought I would post some of the lovely hand made cards I received this year.

This one is from Jodi Kutz - it uses my favorite stamp set this year, Sounding Joy:

This one is from Lin Barry and Gert Coles:

Next we have Wanda Corcoran's.  So simple and pretty!

This one is from my upline, Lori Waples:

This one is from Corina Michetti:

And finally - by FAR the most labour intensive card I've EVER seen is from my direct upline, Amy Barry - simply amazing!!

Thank you Ladies - they are all absolutely beautiful!

Pop in again tomorrow - I made a few cards using my new Sale-a-bration set, Outlined Occasions.  Have a fun night :)


Tam

One More Christmas Craft

Well MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS!

I hope you had a FABULOUS day, week ... and month!  I for one do NOT want December to end.  This has truly been the most relaxing Christmas Season I have ever had and I just don't want to get back to the usual reality and day-to-day grind.  I have had SO much fun crafting and playing.  I hope you have too! 

How relaxed was I on Christmas Eve?  Well, we were having 21 people over for an Open House aroun1:00 p.m.  Everything was prepped and ready to go by 11:30 sooooo ... what else is a gal to do but head down to the craft room and squeeze one more craft in!  *lol*  WAY back in AUGUST, when I saw the new Holiday Mini catalogue the only craft I had planned to do was to make little stockings with the Girls.  We were going to make tree decorations with them and place markers for the Christmas table.  So here it was Christmas Eve and the one craft I HADN'T made was the stockings.  *lol*  Half an hour later this is what I had:

I swear I could make 100 more of these - I just LOVE them!!  They come together so quickly (with the help of a hot glue gun)!  The only tricky part is getting the names spaced properly!  I used some glitter glue I bought last year but the new Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details would look fabulous too!  I made these ones out of felt - they also work well with fun foam.  Next year I plan to make more for the tree.  TOO cute!

Soooo - that wraps up the Christmas Crafting season!  Thank Goodness!  I'm not gunna lie - I am now officially sick to deal of my Christmas stamp sets and colors.  Bring on Valentine's Day and Easter I say!  Heck ... how about a good old-fashioned Birthday Card??!!  Oh ya - I am ITCHING to ink up all my new stamp sets.  I had planned to get at them yesterday but instead I ended up reconfiguring my craft room.  OMG I thought my head was going to explode!  Michael's had the best Boxing Day special on their storage items.  50% off PLUS an additional 25% off.  WELL!  I had been thinking of getting their storage pieces for year now but it just never happend.  Coincidentally, last week Craig (the best husband on the planet "TBHOTP") had offered to make new legs for my crafting table.  You see I have a great craft table TOP but the legs were made of cardboard.  Very sturdy and strong but a waste of prime realestate.  Craig wanted to make legs with shelves, drawers etc to help me control the chaos in my room.  Whilst I greatly appreciated his offer when I saw the sale I said "thanks but no thanks" - buying the ready-to-assemble ones would be cheaper and faster and, as I think most of you know by now, I am NOT a patient gal.  So ... 7:30 a.m. off I trot to Michaels.  I scored 4 storage units and was out before the Boxing Day nightmare began all proud of myself and excited to get home a start organizing.  ... and then, about 3 blocks from home I realized that I didn't need 4 units - I needed 8!  I only bought enough for the FRONT two legs of my desk.  DOH!  Stupid Head!  I already had 2 other units at home from a few years ago so I technically only had to buy 2 more.  Good thing - although I loved getting them for $15 instead of $40 each another 4 would really jack up the cost of this little project.  Grrrr - yep, I had to go back.  It wasn't too bad going and getting parked - it was the getting OUT that took forever!  By the time I got home just after 11:00 am (a mere 4 hours after I started my little "pop out to the store") I was home and ready to roll.  Craig assembled the pieces for me while I shoveled out my room.  It was all set up and ready to organize an hour later.  We took a break to go skating.  It was +4 degrees outside - NOT the kind of weather to be inside on so off we went to St. Albert for a little fresh air and fun.

We had a great time ... well, until each of the girls had a good and proper fall ... then the fun was over, the tears started (and didn't stop for about an hour!) and the Christmas over-excitement, under-slept, over-sugared "fun" began.  Home we went.  Craig grabbed some McDonald's for dinner (yes, the healthy eating continues!) and all was well.  I was happy as a little pig in poop for the next 3 hours.  Craig just laughed at me each time I popped my head out of my room - I just had the biggest, dumbest grin on my face.  I was truly in my glory!  I still have to sort my 12 x 12 paper and properly go through all my forms, printed material and so on but the majority of it is done.  Now I can play!!!  I'll take some pics later and post them.  Right now I gotta go drink some coffee.  All this relaxation is making me tired!

Have a FUN day!!

Tam

All Clear

I just thought I post that I got the "all clear" from my breast biopsy a few weeks back. 

Thanks all for your prayers and wishes

XO  Tam

One More ...

One more thing to share - these are the Teacher Gifts I gave this year - packs of 6 Christmas cards.  I actually gave them to the teachers LAST Monday so they would have time to use them.  All 5 of them (and 1 secretary) were thrilled to receive them and every one of them stated that they still had their cards to send out.  I find it to be the perfect Teacher Gift - it's a consumable that everyone needs - and let's face it - every teacher has more coffee cups, candles and hand soap to last a lifetime *lol*

See you soon :)


\Tam

More Traditions

Wow!  2 posts in one day!  I must be procrastinating on something *lol* ... actually I am - I still have to make my Mom's no-sew-blanket but I don't want to start it tonight so I'm trying to do all the other "little" jobs I have on my list so I can work on that non-stop tomorrow.

So - another little tradition I started a few years ago was making Christmas Wish List Books for the girls.  I make each one a little 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" 5 page booklet for them to write down what they want for Christmas to leave out for Santa.  They pick the stamp set(s) they want me to use and then I design and assemble the book.  Here are this years' books:

The 1st one is Alicia's.  Once again I used Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler as my colours.  The snowflake is from Serene Snowflakes.  The sentiment is from Four the Holidays.  I embossed the snowflake using Cherry Cobbler Embossing powder and used a swack of rhinestones (when it comes to cards / gifts for the girls I spare no bling!).  To bind the booklet together I just used my Crop-a-dile to punch holes and then use the retired Jumbo Brads and threaded the Cherry Cobble seam binding through them and tied a bow.  You can't see it but I scored all of the pages (using my Simply Scored tool!) at 3/4" to make it easier to open the booklet.  I punched the snowflake out with the 2 1/2" circle punch and popped it up on dimensionals.  I popped up the sentiment too, after using the corner rounder on the corners.

Rebecca's book is virtually the same except with hers I punched the 2 1/2" circle out of the front color and stamped the snowmen from Merry Winter on a scrap piece of paper and taped that behind the hole.  You can't see it very well but I used Dazzling Details glitter glue on their hats and scarves for more sparkle.

The girls love their books and have spent a lot of time writing down every toy they come across inside it for Santa to ponder.  Once Christmas is over I then flip the book over and write down what the actually GOT for Christmas.  It will be so fun to look back on years from now.  I love this little tradition :)

OK - one more project for today.  Here is what I'm taking to school tomorrow for all the teachers and support staff:

I don't know about you but I can't read the tag from here.  This is what it says:

Look at the Candy Cane

What do you see?

Striped that are red

Like the blood shed for me

White is fro my Saviour

Who's sinless and pure!

"J" is for Jesus

My Lord, that's for sure!

Turn it around

And a staff you will see

Jesus my Shepherd

Was born for Me!



I found the poem on Stamin' Connection from fellow demonstrator Michele Reynolds - the girls go to a Catholic school so I thought it would be fun to attach it to candy canes (using the retired Tinsel Trim) on a tag.  The tag is punches using a Cretive Memories punch from my pre-Stampin' Up! days.  I tried to get it onto the Two-Tags Die but I would have had to have made the font smaller thatn I wanted it.  I could have put it on the Scalloped Square die but it was getting to be more expensive and time consuming than I wanted to I used this punch instead.  I like how they turned out - a little something for the teachers that was quick and easy - only took about an hour to do all 30 of them.

Right - that's it for today - I think those are all the projects I had to share.  Next up I will be making and sharing projects using all my new toys from the upcoming Occasions Mini and Sale-a-brations catalogues.  (But first I need to make that blanket for Mom .. after all, Christmas IS only 6 days away!!!)

Have a fun night :)

Tam

Christmas Traditions

Happy Monday!!!  Yep - my favorite day of the week is here once again :)  I gotta say, though - today I am a TOTAL waste of makeup!  I'm sooooo tired!  I realize I'm a bit of an over achiever AND a bit of a perfectionist but I like doing things for others and I like doing them well soooooo that naturally resulted in me gettingup at 5:15 am Sunday morning!  The cat woke me up around 4:00 am and then my husband ketp me awake with his snoring so after an hour of thinking about all the things I had to do I figure I should just get up and DO them ... so I did!  I got so many little but very time consuming things done!  You know the things I'm talkin' about ... finding the bills ... seeing which ones need paying ... which ones HAVE been paid ... which ones are now overdue ... oops!  Then finding the cheque book, seeing if there is any money TO pay the bills and then paying them.  Cross referencing the credit card bill with the 6,000,000 receipts that have accumulated in the last 30 days of Christmas spending ... paying the bills ... filing the bills ... and then wondering how many air miles I just racked up ... so checking the air miles balance ... and then seeing what I can GET with that air miles balance ... and then figuring I need to spend about another $80,000 MORE on Christmas presents before I can earn enough air miles to even get out of the PROVINCE!  That little project took the better part of 2 hours.  I did another 2 hours of Stampin' Up! paperwork (thanks to the AWESOME Clearance Rack sale that is now going on!!) and then it was a blur of cleaning, sorting, washing, tyding, purging and crafting.  I thought I should take a nap ... but what about dinner?  Soup and sandwiches - seems simple enough but of course I couldn't just open a CAN of soup - oh no ... I decided to cook up the left over chicken and bones and make home-made chicken noodle soup.  Nap time?  Nope - I promised the girls that we would decorate the door so we did that.  (Every year we warp up our basement and bathroom doors to look like presents.  I remember doing this in Elementary School and loved it so it is now an annual tradition around here.)  After dinner I did a bit of crafting and before I knew it 9:00 pm had rolled around.  It took me a usrprisingly long time to fall asleep given how hard I went all day - I guess it just took a little longer to wind down.  I LOVE this time of year.  Yes, it is CRAZY busy but I LOVE that because the craziness is all fun stuff!  Making Christmas cards, shopping for presents for others, wrapping, baking, making teacher gifts and little things to give away ... not because I HAVE to but because I WANT to!  So many of us don't have time to do the "little" things for others that they are so thrilled and appreciative when someone does something nice or gives them a little something that it just makes my heart smile :)  Yes, it means that I wake up at 4:00 am and can't get back to sleep but it's for a good reason and so I don't mind at all.

Right - blah, blah, blah ... wanna see a project or two?  I now only have 6 minutes before I have to go get the girls so I better crack on!
Here is my FAVORITE craft I made this year.  Every year I makes a special ornament for my girls with the year I made it.  My plan is to give them a box of all these special ornaments when they move out and set up their own homes.  They will have a tree filled with special keepsakes made by me or by them WITH me.  I thought the little snowman ornaments would be this years' contribution but then I stumbled across these cuties:

Aren't they fantastic??!!  You may recall my "Glitter Balls" ( check my tutorial back in October, 2011).  They were made using re-inkers.  These ones were made using "Pledge" Finish ... yep, the one for floors!  Trish Miles, fellow demonstrator had shown us how to do these at our group meeting in December.  I had heard of using the Pledge but hadn't tried it yet.  Trish said the Pledge gave better results than the re-inkers so I had to try it.  My first batch gave me terrible results - but I realize now it was because I didn't have enough glitter on hand.  A quick run to my local craft store fixed that problem and then yes, I got great results.  You do the same think with the Pledge that you do with the re-inkers but a) it isn't as messy as the Pledge is clear, not colored like the re-inkers b) it doesn't take as long as the Pledge isn't as thick as the re-inkers and c) it costs a lot less than the reinkers (the bottle which will last me about 56 years and 10,000 glitter balls!) was $6.50'ish.  I used the black satin ribbon for the belt, the 1 1/4" square punch for the silver glimmer buckle and then used an exacto knife to cut slits in the glimmer paper to feed the ribbon through.  I used sticky strip to attach the ribbon to the ball.  I used the "eyes" from the owl punch for the buttons and stuck them on with mini glue dots.  Soooo quick and easy ... and beautiful!  I can't decide which balls I like better - the flat front ones or the all-round ones.  Either way I love them, the girls love them and they will be a great addition to their boxes.

Right - school is out in 7 minutes - I was hoping to post another project but .... now you'll just have to come back ..

Have a fun day :)

Tam

Where do I start?!

Hellooooooooooooooooo!  I'm back!  Yes, all the Christmas cards are officially in the mail so I get to "play" again!  I have already spent half an hour rummaging through my box of BRAND NEW STAMPIN' UP! TOYS that came days ago.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!  So many new things, so little time!!!!!!!  Hee hee - I get myself into a stamping frenzy when I get lots of new stuff at once!  I am suddenly stricken with MAJOR attention deficit problems .. I start making a card with stamp set #1 but then I spot stamp set #2 ... #1 is quickly pushed aside as I frantically reach for new paper and embellishments - as I reach for something else I spot yet another new item ... and on it goes.  half an hour later I wonder why I can no longer find the top of my desk and have completely lost the plot on what I started to do in the first place!  It's going to be a fun few weeks as I try to focus and actually complete a project *lol*

Now ... I tore myself away from my new toys to post a project ... but where do I start??!!  I have so many to share!  ... and of course, those who follow me regularly know I ramble on for 3 pages before I GET to the project ... and then the project itself usually has a 3 page story behind it.  So ... maybe you better grab the beverage of choice, get comfortable and then proceed ... we may be here a while *lol*

RIght. (here comes the start of the story behind the card(s))   As we all know I struggle with cards that are "clean and simple".  So imagine my delight when I attended our Stamping Christmas Party and we made this lovely, clean and simple little Christmas card:

Fabulous, isn't it?  Yes, once again Tamye Dunbar (www.stampinfun.ca) managed to put together a card that I could easily copy and mass produce to send to my 70+ customers this year.  So quick and easy!  She used a 1 1/2" strip of Very Vanilla - ran it through the Snowburst Embossing Folder - stamped the Easy Events Christmas image in black Staz-on ink, colored it with Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive markers, added some pearls and Wa-low (Voila to adults ... Wa-low to my 6 year old!)  Quick and easy.  So I head down to my craft room the next day all ready to ctrack off 70 of these bad boys.  Hmmm ... I think I would prefer it in Whisper White to the Very Vanilla.  Ok - still quick and simple - just a color change.  Well .. I just don't feel right sending out a card designed by someone ELSE to all my customers - it has to be a Tamara original.  No big deal - we'll just change the stamped image.  Well ... of course no other images were as simple ... or the right size ... or the right font.  Hmmm - ok, we'll try using Merry Winter and a different sentiment - ya - one from Four the Holidays.  How about this:

It's basically the same, right?  I just turned it on it's side, stamped the sleigh and snowmen in Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler ... added the sentiment.  Hmm ... needed something - ok - some snowflakes from the Serene Snowflake set ... and then some rhinestones to their little hats.  Wa-low!  I copied Tamyes.  Yep - quick, simple, easy ..... nope.  I hate it.  WHY is it that try as I may I can't bring myself to keep it simple?  I'm always finding cards I love that are 1 layer, 1 color, simple - lovely.  I make them and I instantly have to start adding something to it!  I can make the identical card that I loved on-line but when I see it live I don't like it!   Sigh.  It's hard being me *lol*
Right - so - now I'm back to the drwing board.  Quick, simple, mass producable ... is producable a word?  Hmm - gotta look into that later ... ok - so - here was another card I fell in love with - it was from Dawn Olchefske (www.dostamping.typepad.com)

Isn't it FABULOUS??!!  I love it!  So ... off I set to make the exact same card.  I made it 100% the same.  Sat and stared at it.  Hated it.  Maybe if I changed the small white layer to the Silver Glimmer Paper.  THAT would complete it.  No.  To sparkly.  Hated it too.  Right - what about if I COMBINE the layer idea of Dawn's card with the stamp set from Tamye's card ... ya ... let's try THAT:

NOW we're talkin!  Of course you can see a few little details that just had to be added.  Like the layers being slightly askew ... askew is a word, isn't it?  Oh sure it is ... I some how don't think that's how it's spelled though ... hmm - better look into that too or Dad will be on my case ....Right - back to my story.  So the base is your standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" but the layers are not my usual 1/4" smaller.  This time I have the first layer at 5 + 2 ticks x 4 - the embossed layer is then 4 3/4" x 3 3/4" ... I think ... it's getting late and my math isn't what it was ... ANYWAY - I ran the top layer through the big shot with the snowburst folder then punched out the circle with the BIG 2 1/2" circle punch.  I stamped the Easy Events image inside - popped the layer up on dimensional (THAT was fun ... NOT!  I used 8 per card ... actually I used 4 "full" dimensionals in the corners and then I used "scraps" for the other 4 around the circle.  I save all my dimensional sheets after they are all used up and then use the scraps for projects like this).  I added the Cherry Cobbler Quilted Satin ribbon for a little pop of color.  Speaking of color - had to then color the image (Cherry Cobbler & Old Olive - JUST LIKE TAMYE!)  Hmm.  Done?  No - couldn't be.  Let's add some Dazzling Details to each card too.  Kill me now!  Ok - so Tamye's quick and simple 1 minute card now takes a LOT longer, a LOT more paper and a LOT more wondering what the hell is wrong with me?!  ... on the bright side ...  I love it :)  Yep - love it, love it, love it.  So ... let's make 40 of them. 

Right - so that's the story of my quick and simple card.  Now .. I couldn't POSSIBLY send that card to my club girls could I?  Well NO, Tamara - you couldn't do that!  Every year you make and extra SPECIAL card for your "girls" ... (now if you are one of my club girls and you got the above card please don't be offended ... I simply thought that the above card suited your personal stamping style more than the following one ... and let's face it ... in the end I think the "quick and simple" card took more time and effort thatn the "over-the-top" card!)
So ... remember this birthday card I made for my friend a few weeks ago?

Well this little guy grew on me so I wanted to use him on my "special" card.  After looking at the size of him for a while it struck me that he HAD to be used on an easle card.  So - without further adeau (is that how you spell it??  Dad .... ??  I suppose I should mention here that my dad just shakes his head whenever he reads anything I write - my grammar and spelling make him twitchy.  *lol* He and my mom are great spellers and great with grammar.  I, on the other hand, suck.  When I was in grade school they tought me to spell by sounding words out. Well ... as we all know the English language really doesn't spell the way it sounds so I was pretty much doomed from Kindergarten on.  And my grammar?  Well ... sorry Mr. Hurley - I loved you as a teacher but we all know how much you liked the grammar section in High School ... and that we only ever did the 1 or 2 weeks learning it right before finals each year.  What chance did I have??!!)  But I digress ... need a refill on that drink yet?  I TOLD you to get comfy!  OK - right - focus Tamara - the card. Here it is closed:

... and open:

... and from the side ...

Hee hee - isn't it cute?  Yes, I made 32 of these ... I'm starting to bore myself with my ramblings now so I don't think I need to explain EVERY detail of it.  You know how to make an easel card, no?  Easy to figure out from the picture, I think.  Oh, all right.  Cut your sheet of paper the long way (4 1/4" x 11) - fold it in half and then fold one half inhalf again).  I used the ribbon punch for the strip that holds the card up.  I used my blender pen and inks to color the images.  I used Cherry Cobbler and Night of Navy.  Anything I missed?  I don't think so - the snowflake punch and some rhinestones finished it off.

So - as I said before, and as I'm sure you can now appreciate ... It's hard being me.  So hard, in fact, that I have now exhausted myself just telling you all about it so I'm off to bed.

I have more projects ... so keep comin' back for a look!  (Just remember to do it when you have an hour to read my ramblings *lol*).  Yes, I'm quirky and I know it ....

Have a fun weekend :)


Tam

Hang in There!

Hiya ... YES, I have LOTS of projects to post - I've been a crafting FOOL this week ... but I'm not allowed to post them until I get all my Christmas cards in the mail!  65 down, 21 to go!  Hang in there - they're coming! 

Oh ... and did you hear about the new sale?

From today until January 5th nearly 200 products are being added to the Clearance Rack in my Online Store -- with some being discounted up to 80%!!

My favorite (and MUST HAVE) items are:

PUNCHES, PUNCHES ... look at all the punches!!!

• THE VALENTINE DESIGNER SERIES PAPER FROM LAST YEAR!!
• RIBBON!!!
• PUNCHES ... THE SPIRAL PUNCH ... THE PHOTO CORNER PUNCH ... THE BAT PUNCH ... DO YOU HAVE ALL THE PUNCHES YOU WANT?? GET THEM NOW ... ON SALE!!!!!!!!! (I think my head is going to explode !!!!)
• BUTTONS!!!!
• DID I MENTION THE PUNCHES? THEY ARE THE OLD STYLE (less chance of pinching your hands!!!!!)

I can guarantee these items won't last long.

TO GUARANTEE YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT:

Go to my website www.tamara.bertram@stampinup.net

• click on the "Shop Now" link in the top right hand corner
• click on the "Clearance Rack Blitz" link in the middle of the page
• Add the items you want to your cart and pay
• Your order will be shipped directly to your house
• You can order items from the current catalogues as well and if your order is $200 or more you will qualify for hostess benefits (i.e. at least $35 in free stuff!!)

I CAN order items for you but I am out a lot today and the items you want may not be there when I go to place the order. Ordering on line is the best way to do it. Keep in mind that there is a $9.95 minimum shipping charge. If I gather a number of orders you may be able to save a bit on shipping but again, the items you want may be gone.

If you have any questions you can drop me a line but I'm only home until 4:00 pm today!!

Snowman Ornaments

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Don't you just LOVE when you wake up, have NO idea what day it is and then as you "come to" a little more you realize it's FRIDAY??!!  That happened to me this morning - woo hoo!  (mind you, I LOVE Mondays so it wouldn't have mattered much if I was wrong but it was just great knowing that the weekend is upon us!)

I'm ckind of floundering today.  I don't have any major projects hanging over me ... well, ok, I STILL have this Christmas Cards but HEY!  it's ONLY Dec 9th .... I have a few days before it becomes top priority, right?

What I DID manage to work on was these little guys - AREN'T THEY JUST THE CUTEST THINGS EVER??!!!  Hee hee - they just make me giggle every time I look at them:

They are SO quick and easy to make!  In fact the girls made a bunch for family in about 10 minutes.  MY kind of craft!!  I got the idea when I visited a friend for coffee on Wednesday (hi Rox!).  She had ornaments like these on a decoarative tree she has in her foyer.  She bought them at Superstore.  Well! I fell in LOVE with them and knew in an instant I could make them at home ... AND use up the 6 boxes of glass ornaments I had in my craft closet from last year.  Just the day before I had pulled them all out and was trying to figure out what to make with them.  Here they are!  You fill the balls about half way with the Mica Flakes (or any other fake snow-type product), grab a pipecleaner, some pom poms and a glue gun and glue the pieces on.  I then took a small orange pom pom and trimmed it in a triangle for the nose (gotta be careful not to cut too deep of the pom pom falls apart).  Grab your black Sharpie, draw on the eyes and mouth and Wa-low!  The cutest, fastest, easiest way to use up those glass balls ever!!

Hmm ... now what.  Clean?  Shower?  Prep dinner?  Paper work?  Ahhh - the options are endless :)

Have a fun weekend - I'll post another project soon!


Tam

Snow Much Fun

Happy Tuesday!!

Well, here I am ... blogging ... not designing Christmas cards *lol*.  I tell ya, I NEVER get as much done as I do when I'm procrastinating on something.  I remember when I was in University ... the ONLY time I ever decided the apartment HAD to be cleaned top to bottom (including drawers and cupboards) was just before exam week.  Heaven forbid they go 7 more days in that state of chaos!  Today has been much the same.  I think in my mind I tell myself that crafting is my "treat" - and only to be enjoyed once I have finished my chores.  Of course, as all us gals KNOW, those chores NEVER get done!  Regardless I got a LOT done today .. and none of it was planned.  I'm sure you have all had these kind of days ... stay with me here ...

... I have a busy day tomorrow.  I have a million errands to run ... deliveries to make ... stamp sets to pick up ... items to return .. Christmas gifts to drop off ... the list goes on and on.  I need to be organized because I am going out for dinner with my High School Best Friend tonight.  She is a Kindergarten teacher and she has bought a Little People Castle off me (I'm trying to do the pre-Christmas purge!).  SO!  I started the day off with a bang.  I dropped the kids off at school then came home and decided to get organized for meeting Lisa and tomorrows acitivities.  First thing to do:  go to the basement and get the Pink Castle.  While there I should also get the Noah's Ark and the Pirate ship that I have to deliver to Helen tomorrow.  Castle.  Check.  Ark.  Check.  Ship.  Check.  So far so good.   Now.  I need to get all the pieces, people and accessories that go with each toy.  Right.  Back up 2 flights of stairs to the computer to Google pictures of the sets.  Check.  Back down 2 flights of stairs to the toys.  Find the 4 buckets of Little People toys ... spend 15 minutes getting them out from under the other 12 buckets of toys (because of COURSE they were onthe bottom).  Got the buckets.  Find the toys.  Found all but one piece to each toy.  Back up 1 flight of stairs to get Ziplock bags for the toys.  Back downstairs to put the toys in the bags.  Forgot the pictures upstairs.  Back upstairs for the pictures.  Back dowstairs to the toys.  Right.  Where is the cannon ball.  Only 5 minutes in the storage room and I found it in the Dora bucket.  Still missing the poop deck, the purple chair and the treasure map.  2 more minutes ... found the treasure map.  WHERE is the purple chair?  I've moved it about 15 times in the last 2 months.  Up 1 flight of stairs to the Playdoh boxes.  Nope not in there.  It must be in the playroom (insert spooky, doom and gloom music here!).  In I go.  Woo Hoo!  3 minutes in and I found the purple chair.  Score!  Hmm ,.... missing the bed to the castle.  Back to the basement - score!  In the right bucket ... just missed it the first time.  Right - take the castle and the completed bag of accessories to the truck.  Oh!  I have to drop off another item to Roxanne tomorrow - grab the item, take it to the truck so I don't forget it.  Oh!  I need to take Grandpa B the toys "he" bought my girls.  Find the toys.  Check.  Put them in a bag.  Check.  Now, where is the receipt so I know how much he owes me.  Grr.  Receipt is upstairs in the "bills-to-be-paid" box.  5 minutes later - not in the box.  Down the stairs to my purse.  Nope not in the purse.  MUST be in the box.  Back upstairs.  Yep - in the box.  Put receipt in my purse so I remember the amount tomorrow.  Take the presents to the truck.  Now ... tired of this game ... let's call some customers to try to book some stamping parties ... in MARCH!!  ('cause THAT'S of burning importance at the moment!)  2 phone calls and 1 party later ... back to finding the poop deck.  There is only 1 place it can be.  The playroom (insert music again).  In ! go.  3 hours later EVERY SINGLE doll, toy, stuffy, outfit, shoe and figurine is in their proper, labelled container.  Phew.  That's job has been hanging over me for 3 weeks.  Done.  Yay!  It wasn't even on my to-do list!  Oh!  That reminds me ... the whole reason for being IN there was to find the damned poop deck ... and I didn't find it!  Oh!  I know where it is!  On the shelf in front of me - in the Diego bucket!  Of course!  There it is.  Down the stairs, in the bag - bag to the truck.

Sooo - sound familiar?  By 1:30 I had accomplished quite a lot.  Had a bite to eat and then the lovely Wanda came over bearing coffee, a card and a gift - what a great way to top off a great morning!  Off to get the kids and then make dinner for the family so I can go out with Lisa.  I THINK I'm ready for tomorrow.  If not ... oh well, at least I have a clean playroom!

Right - enough rambling ... I will now show you the card I made for Lisa's birthday (as it appears there is now NO chance I will go design those Christmas cards *lol*).  Lisa loves snowmen so I thought I would break open my new Snow Much Fun set and make her birthday card with it. 

Isn't her cute?  I cased the card from Dawn Griffith (dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com).  I used Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler CS, Night of Navy DSP and Vellum cs.  I stamped the snowman in bakc staz-on then flipped him over and "colored" him using my stylus to get his body and head white.  Flipped him back and used my blender pen with the Night of Navey, Cherry cobbler and Pumpkin Pie inks for the rest of his body. I tape the velum using snail just on the snowman image so the tape doesn't show through the velum.  I sued 3 pearls and the Very Vanilla Satin ribbon.  The sentiment is punched out using the Modern label punch and popped up with dimensionals.  There you have it!  A winter birthday card for a dear, true friend.

That's it for today ... hope it was worth reading through my gong-show of a day to get to the project *lol*.  I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings :)

Have a fun day - thanks for popping by :)


Tam

Mailing Deadlines

OK ... so it's a boring post ... but it's an IMPORTANT post!  I thought I'd share with you all the Canadian mailing deadlines (TOLD you it was boring!)

Parcels:
Regular PArcel - Dec 12 (that's next Monday!!)
Xpresspost - Dec 21
Priority Next a.m. - Dec 22

Cards:
Out of Province - Dec 15 (that's a week from Thursday!!!)
Within Province - Dec 16
Local Delivery - Dec 19

To the USA:
Xpresspost - Dec 16
Priority Worldwide - Dec 20
Cards - Dec 13 (a week from tomorrow!!)

International:
Parcels:
Air Parcel - Nov 22 - 29 (oops - missed the deadline on that one!)
Xpresspost - Dec 1 -6
Priority Worldwide - Dec 15 - 17
Cards - Nov 22 - 29.  REALLY??!!  Oops again! 

I guess I should get with the program and DESIGN my Christmas cards ... and then MAKE them ... and the ADDRESS and SIGN them ... and then MAIL them.  Oh poop.  The rush is on.  Oh well - gives me a reason to get up tomorrow *lol*

Right.  I DO have a cute cards to show you .... but the camera is downstairs ... and I'm upstairs ... and I don't wanna go get it ... so you'll have to come back tomorrow.  Chances are pretty good I will post it while procrastinating on design the above mentioned Christmas cards!!  hee hee .... I SO know how I operate!

Speaking of operating ... thanks to those who were thinking of me Friday as I had my right boob sliced open.  I TRIED to put on my Big Girl Panties but MAN I was bricking it!!  Craig went with me but they wouldn't let him stay.  The nurse held my hand (literally!) as I flat out told her I was quite nervous about the whole thing.  I was THRILLED, though, to hear that Dr. Dabbs (the boob specialist) was the TOP SURGEON IN CANADA last year!  WOW!  That helped calm me down a bit - if you HAVE to have your boob sliced open it's nice to know you're in good hands .... then again, I DID wonder why she didn't win the award THIS year??!!  (yes, Marianne, I do think like that even when under stress!).

The procedure was a lot more involved than I thought it would be.  I picture a small incision, some sort of long tool being slid in, it snipping off part of my body and then coming out, 1 stitch and Wa-low!  Done.  No.  Not that simple.  At least I don't think it was ... I couldn't look.  The whole idea of being AWAKE while being cut open just doesn't sit well with me - let alone WATCHING them do it.  I do know that I could smell the burnt hair smell when they cut me open and it took about 20 minutes ... 4 or 5 stitches and a lot of blood ... well, a lot by my standards.  The freezing lasted quite a few hours.  She gave me Tylenol 3 for later ... that worried me .. I didn't think I would need it.  I had some of my friends over for Craft Night and overdid it a little punching out snowflakes from the glimmer paper (yes, they tried to stop me but I'm a stubborn donkey sometimes!)  I did take a Tylenol 3 about half an hour before class ended ... I was stoned shortly thereafter :)  I'm such a light weight!

Since then it hasn't been too bad - I get the odd stabbing pain here and there.  It's very isolated and short lived, though.  Not at all as bad as I feared it would be.  I'm to call in 10 days for the results.  THAT I'm not worried about - I'm quite certain it is just fibrous matter.

So there you have it - a lot about nothing today.  Come back tomorrow - I'll share my card with you!


Tam

Santa Note Books

Happy Thursday!  BOY am I ready for the weekend - but I still have a mountain of paperwork to complete from last weekend's AWESOME stamping events!  I'm pooped but I HAVE had fun this week - I volunteered at the school a few days, did some stamping, put together some To-Go kits, disinfected the entire house (following that NASTY flu bug that hit the family!!), made some deliveries, and STILL managed to do the every-day chores and play a few rounds of "Don't Make Me Laugh Jr." with the small ones.  It's a good tired ... but  a tired all the same!

I DID find about 1 1/2 hours last week to put together these GREAT little prezzies for my club girls.  I can't take ANY credit for them whatsoever - they are 100% copied from fellow stamper Vicki Burdick (and many others on Stampin' Connection!).  Soooo fun to make:

"Where did you get those note pads?!" I hear you cry!  Well ... they are just legal pads cut (at the printing / cutting place I use ... Priority Printing in the West End) into 2 1/2" mini pads.  What are the measurements?  The real red is 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" (the standard card dimensions!) and then you score (using the FABULOUS new Simply Scored tool!!) at 2 1/2 + 2 ticks and 3" minus 2 ticks :)  The Silver Glimmer piece is 1" x 5 1/2" - the belt is 2 1/2" + 2 ticks x 1 3/8".  The buckle:  Black Square - 2" x 2" - Silver Square - 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" - Black square in centre - 1 3/8" Square punch.  The buttons are the 1" circle punch.  I snailed the pads to the real red inside and stamped "Wish Big" on the inside with the Word Play set in real red ink.  I cracked off 24 of them in 1 1/2 hours.  That's MY kind of mass production!!  I think next time, though, I will use mini glue dots to attach the buttons - the snail just doesn't stick to the glimmer paper ...

Right - that's it for now - bed time for The Momma ... I keep waking up at 4:30 am ... makes for a loooooooooong day.  Oh ... and tomorrow I have to go for a biopsy on my breast.  I'm not at ALL worried about the results - all my doctors and I are 99.9% sure "it's nothing" but as my most recent doctor said "what if we're wrong?" so I'm gunna go get it checked out.  Ugh.  I'm being a big baby about it.  They say it really isn't a big deal and that I can drive myself to and from the appointment but I just KNOW it's gunna hurt!!  Just one of those feelings!  Wish me luck - I'll try to wear my Big Girl Panties but ...


Tam