Malachi's Birthday Invitation

A couple of months ago we decided on a Dr. Seuss theme for Malachi's birthday party. Being that I am a card maker, I wanted to make my own invites but I couldn't find any stickers, die cuts, or paper at any of the local stores. I looked online and found a few stickers but I didn't order them because I wasn't sure on size. I was to afraid that they wouldn't work and I would waste money. Someone suggested looking online for free clip art, so I began my search.

While searching I found a website that would design Dr. Seuss invites for $15.00 but then it hit me, I could make them with MDS and free clip art. So I went to work and this is what I made. It is very similar to the card I had originally found online. I found the wording for the invite on another website and I just altered it to fit Malachi's party. I did order a Cat in the Hat, hat and took a quick picture of Malachi to add to the theme. I love the invite.

Now I need to work on the other party items. I can't believe Malachi will be 1 in just a couple of weeks. Time sure does fly by.

Merry Christmas

For the past several years I have given out picture Christmas cards but this year I completely lagged on getting mine printed and now its to late. So I sent out a mass email to everyone with this Christmas card that I made using My Digital Studio.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Simple

For a long time I had a hard time creating simple projects because I would always look at them and think, "It needs more." Then when I started having classes with my cards, I learned that I needed to make them simpler or everyone would either have to plan a whole day at my house or they wouldn't want to come because they couldn't just play all day. So I have gotten better at the simple stuff, especially now that I have Malachi. OK, where was I going with this rambling? Oh, right.... that is why I love embossing folders, they just add so much to a card and it doesn't take much effort.

I currently own all the ones that SU! has available so I hope they come out with more. I almost forgot there is one that I don't have yet and it is a new one that will be released with the Occasions Mini Catalog on January 4th. Yippee!!

I am working on one more Christmas project. I hope to get it finished this weekend but we shall see. I have a lot to do, youth Christmas party, make some Tamales, Church, and maybe I should start Christmas shopping. I know I am horrible this year. I guess its because Malachi's 1st birthday is in 3 weeks and I have been trying to plan for that and then all the other stuff in life, I just keep pushing off the Christmas shopping. Well I hope to be back before Christmas with that last little project.

Merry Christmas Banner

Here is the Merry Christmas banner I made. I got the idea for this project from the December Stampin' Success magazine. I used the Table Setting die and the Bells & Boughs Stamp Set. This is the reason I purchased the set. Grandma and I both made these Merry Christmas banners. I hung mine over a mirror in the living room.

When taking these pictures I had to make sure the house was picked up because the mirror was showing more than just the project. LOL! I had to stand on the couch at an angle so you wouldn't get my big head in the reflection.

I also took this close up picture so you can see the banner a little better. It was a pretty simple project and it came along rather quickly. The coloring was what took the longest. I just love die cuts because it makes cutting things out so easy. I really am glad that SU! decided to add the Big Shot to their product line. I have been purchasing die cuts for several years and I do have a rather large collection of die cuts from another company and I have two other die cut machines but I never even use those other machines. I still use my dies for scrapbook pages but I can now use those dies with my Big Shot and I don't have to mess with changing out the platform etc... I love my Big Shot and the exclusive Stampin' Up! dies. Ok, I just love Stampin' Up!

Holy Family

I purchased this stamp set last year from the mini catalog but never used it. I had good intentions of using the stamp set but never got around to it. Maybe because I was getting everything ready for Malachi, I was at the end of my pregnancy at this time last year.

Well like I said in a previous post I was determined to put ink on this set. I actually used this card at my last card class. It is a simple layout but it does take time to color the image. I am still trying to perfect my coloring, one of these days mine will look like a professional did the coloring. One of these days!

Jesus is the reason for this season and I never want to forget that. It's so easy to get caught up in the holiday shopping, parties, and gifts that we forget to remember the real reason for this season. So today I give you a traditional "religious" Christmas card instead of one that has Santa or snowman.
Merry Christmas!

Bells & Boughs

I didn't plan on purchasing this stamp set Bells & Boughs but when I received the Demonstrator magazine Stampin' Success and saw a Christmas banner I just had to order it. Which reminds me I need to take a picture of it so I can show it to you. Anyway since I purchased the stamp set for the banner I figured I might as well use it to make Christmas cards too.

So this is a card that we made at my last card class. To be honest I kept wanting to make more vintage looking cards with this set. Maybe its because so many of the samples I have seen with this set are more vintage looking, or maybe because that is the craze these days but when it came down to it I didn't have the supplies for my all of my class attendees to make a more vintage card. I did wait until the night before the class to create the last couple cards and cut up all the materials so I needed to go with what I had on hand. So since I had a lot of old olive card stock and that beautiful satin old olive ribbon, I used those as my starting point. So this is what I came up with, not to shabby for 10:30 PM on a Friday night.

Well, now I need to go and take a picture of the banner I made. I already took a couple pictures of some other cards so I will definitely be blogging again very soon.

Peace, Love, & Joy

Now here is a simple Christmas card with a vintage feel. I created this card for my December stamp club. I just love the stripped ribbon in all the colors but this one is actually not a current ribbon in the Idea Book & Catalog (IBC) but you can find this Riding hood Red Stripped ribbon in the clearance section on my website for a $1.99, now that is a bargain!

Even though I was searching for ideas to steal on Tuesday I ended up just creating this card all on my own. I know it isn't anything to elaborate but I did want something simple since we would be playing Bingo and it still is pretty. I still need to take a picture of the bingo card so I can show you how cute they are. I think everyone enjoyed the little bit of bingo and who doesn't like free prizes, especially SU! product.

I used my Big Shot to emboss the Crumb Cake card stock then used a sponge dabber with Chocolate Chip ink and rubbed it on the snowflakes. I also sponged the edges of the card stock. I stamped the Peace, Love, & Joy sentiment from the All Holidays stamp set in Chocolate Chip and punched it out with the wide oval punch and mounted it on a tag that I cut with a SU! Sizzix die.

I might be back again this week with more Christmas cards, hope I can get the pictures taken and uploaded before we head out to Disneyland tomorrow. We shall see....

Hot Cocoa Gift

Last night at my club Erin mentioned to me that she is now an avid follower of my blog, that makes me happy since I now know that someone reads my blog. She also mentioned that she has been checking to see if my blog would update but it hasn't. I have been very busy with life the last couple of weeks and haven't had time to update.

I wish I could say that I was out shopping and getting my Christmas stuff finished but that isn't even the case. I was getting ready for our annual Youth Retreat in Angelus Oaks. We took 39 youth up to the mountains and it can be a little stressful. I had to lock the youth into going, get the finances taken care of, permission slips, purchase stuff for the snack bar, get games ready, and pack Malachi and I. Boy am I glad that is over for this year. I said all that to say this, "I have been neglecting my blog because I just had to much to do."

Yesterday I frantically worked on Stamp Club projects, I had no idea what I wanted to do for our projects. The only thing I knew I wanted to do was play Bingo with the Bingo stamp set and the Bingo Bits Stamps from the Holiday Mini Catalog. I even planned ahead on that one and purchased some extra little items for prizes. Anyway, I jumped on Stampin' Connection to see if I would get inspired or I could steal an idea. SC didn't fail me, I was able to steal this idea to make the lunch sack pouch. I got the idea from Sherry, you can visit her blog at Sherry's Stampin' Room, I think her bag is cuter than mine even though I almost copied her project exactly. Maybe I will give this cute little bag to my neighbor or something, that would be better than the alternative, leaving it on my desk or putting it in my cabinet to collect dust. I have so many project that I just can't give away because they are just to cute. What a hoarder!

I'll be back this week with the other projects from Stamp Club in a day or two. So never fear Erin, I will post again this week! LOL!