Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas to you! I case'd several ideas from my friend Jody for this card. I like the way it turned out. I used watercolor crayons to color it to give it a softer look. I hope everyone has a fabulous christmas!

Tagged again

My friend Geeta tagged me:
The rules of the game:

Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.I'm to list 7 random things about myself and then tag others....

1. I was born in San Antonio, Tx, moved to McAllen, Tx from 1973-1978 and then we moved right back to San Antonio. We called it the "Tragic valley" instead of the "Magic Valley". It was awful! Our education suffered and we never recovered LOL.

2. I was married at age 22, and I have been married 21 yrs to the same man. We have a 16 yo and a 12yo. I went straight from my mom and dad's house to my husband and never lived alone on my own.

3. I can wiggle my ears

4. I eat shellfish like shrimp, and lobster, and crab but I absolutely hate any other fish, well except tuna salad sandwiches which I love.

5. I can't put on mascara standing up, I have to sit. I have tried to do it but I will make a mess and we all know how hard it is to clean up mascara mistakes.

6. I have hair*issues*. I was born with thick, straight hair but when I went through puberty, my hair completely changed and it got all wavy and curly. I hate it to be wavy so I straighten it with an expensive CHI hot iron. I will be very unhappy if I can not fix my hair on vacation.

7. I love dogs! I am a true animal lover but mostly its all about the pooches! If I see a puppy I will begin talking baby talk and get all goofy and have to hold it! I have almost always had a special dog in my life and the couple years that I was dog-less, I wanted one and was scheming to get one. Hubby finally gave up and got me a dog the second year we were married and we have had one if not two in our house ever since. And my dogs live very very long lives! My childhood dog lived to be 13, then my next dog lived 16 yrs, my current dog is going to be 9 soon. I am doing something right I guess!

Okay, my tagging obligation has been filled. I have no one to tag that hasn't already been tagged so I am breaking the chain.

Super Simple

After seeing this post on Sharon Johnson's' blog, I flipped! How professional and cool are those cards!!!!! I got the idea to make some very simple cards for a few people. I used my new Cuttlebug machine and Papertrey Ink white card stock and set out to make something similar. Oh how fun it is to Cuttlebug!!!! I will probably fancy this version up a bit because I just can't stand simple and I will tweak this until it has more ink on it someplace but I just had to try it!

Sorry I am a lousy blogger

This week has been very bad for stamping. I have been decorating 30 cookie tins for Brian to take to his office to hand out tomorrow with the office bonus' and its eating up all my time and my supplies LOL. I haven't stamped for fun in a week. Hopefully I can get caught up around my house and have a little stamping fun soon. I did try and take a cute bunny picture tonight but the lighting in this room is so bad that it didn't turn out very good. I need a camera with a better shutter speed....one made for rabbits LOL. He doesn't hold a pose well at all!

A RAK from a friend

A beautiful RAK from my friend Teresa in Florida......... thank you Teresa!

A Muse Admirer

I received my secret A Muse Admirer gift yesterday and it's so cute! Thank You so much. I love the gambling theme! We get to learn who are admirer is on the 15th of December! It's been very fun playing!

O' Christmas Tree O' Christmas Tree

Here is my tree. It has a lot less "bling" than normal. I left off a bunch of stuff this year. We are spending the holidays at the grandparents house and no one is coming for a visit, so we did the minimum. LOL. Looking at this picture tells me that we have too many ornaments on the left and not as many on the right side. I was worried about the side facing the door having enough and I guess the guys forgot about the other side. I guess I will rearrange some ornaments. I am a little disappointed because I have been collecting Hallmark Lighted ornaments for years and this year the ornaments can't be plugged into the lights. This tree has LED lights, its a new pre-lit tree. I added a new single strand of lights specifically for me to plug in the lighted ornaments. A few of the plugs are compatible but my lighthouse with the light in the beacon won't work, and I have an ormament that had a little train that goes in a circle and it won't work either. I guess my lighted ornament collecting ends this year. This is what we spent the day on yesterday. Now I am back to covering cookie tins for hubby's office.

A little atlering

I decides to alter some chocolate covered nuts for my husband to take to the office for co-workers that gave him gifts this year. Well, I figured 3 was a good start because not everyone will bring him something. I was totally mistaken. Hubby says there is no way he can only bring a gift to a couple people, its all or none! He tells me, " Go get 27 more and decorate them"! I don't think so! I spent almost an hour on the first one and probably 35-40 minutes on the second one. The 12 x 12 paper has to be pieced because it doesn't fit all the way around ! Not to mention I used the good ribbon on these!
I am not sure what I will do about it. I may see if I can get smaller cans and cheaper ribbon, buy a cuttlbug for the chipboard tags ect... He has no idea how much these cans of nuts will cost us LMBO!

New Stuff - The After

Well its here! Its not in place and no decorating has been done , but the furniture is in the house. And now I see I haven't gotten all the tags off yet LOL. On Tuesday the old stuff is getting hauled off and I can arrange the living room the way it should be, but until then, you just get a peek.

This made me laugh

http://www.fruitguyfans.com/

Vince Gill stayed in charactor the whole time. It just made me laugh!

Before and After

I have decided to post a few pictures of my old furniture in the family room so you can see how nice my room will look after I get the new furniture. Can you tell I am bored? I tried stamping but I didn't like anything I was making so I stopped. Now I am just bored.

So, in 2000 we had a flood in our house from a broken hose on our washing machine. We woke up to the sound of water running when it should have been very quiet. At 3am......because apparently that is when emergencies happen. We ended up having to replace our whole living room with furniture. I decided to get a whole new look at that time. Well, time has passed and although the furniture was nice in 2000 its not so stylish and its all worn out now. We got our money worth in other words LOL. My colors were burgundy, moss green and taupe. *don't judge me, it looked good to me back then*

Tomorrow we are getting a trailer and driving to San Antonio to pick up my new sofa, end table, and a chair. I will still be on the hunt for a new recliner. I thought I wanted my grandmothers but its not the right color so instead of taking a practically brand new leather recliner, I am going to spend even more money buying a brand new one because I want it to be the right color. I will still need drapes and wall art and maybe accessories, but I am moving into a new color scheme finally and I know it will have to last for many years so I want to chose wisely. I can not wait to have new stuff finally!

I will post pictures when I get the furniture home.

Van De Walle Thanksgiving

Here is the annual family picture from Brian's parents house on Thanksgiving. We are all here except for Brian's brother Steve and his wife and 3 kids. Its getting harder and harder to hold us all in one shot LOL. We are still multiplying I guess, my SIL Delayne announced she was expecting her second child in June. WooHoooooo! Van De Walle's are taking over the world!

*my family is on the far left side, my daughter is holding her cousin Taylor who is 2, I am on the sofa on the end, my husbund has the glasses and is standing between my 2 kids. Notice my son is almost taller than my 16 year old daughter and he is just about to turn 12.

The 'do

And in other news........ I have a new hair color, I will try to get a better picture when someone is home to take one of me. LOL. This is taken in my bathroom mirror and I know its hard to believe but this was the best of 8-9 pictures I tried to get. LOL. I will have to figure out how to get a picture of my hair some other time. A couple of my SCS friends wanted to see the new color. I went dark with a few light highlights in my crown. My hair stylest had to talk me into it because I was a blond for many years naturally, then artificially when I was an adult and my hair darkened. She told me that my hair has darkened considerably over the last 7 years since she has started coloring it and keeping it blond was really high maintenance. Now I have the added bonus of grey hair creeping in too. :( Anyway, bottom line here is the back of my head and ends of my hair were 2-3 shades different than the rest of my head and so she colored my whole bottom half with a solid color, then she did highlights over it. Its like starting over with a new color pallet. By next spring she tells me we can lighten it up again. So here it is....the new me.

Shameless Cute dog post

This is how my dog rides in the car to grammy's house, on her own seat. She usually is hanging her head on the arm rest like this no, she isn't spoiled at all. I shouldn't mention this but I am in a *I wish I was a single, career woman with no kids* mood and the dog is the only one in my house I feel like taking a picture of this week.

Another A Muse December card

I am stuck on this background, print pattern and snowflakes dots. I am almost over it *I think*.

A Muse December Entry

Here is a card I entered for the A Muse Addicts Yahoo group, for the December home page contest. I used markers to color the main image and paper from Basic Grey Figgy Pudding collection. There is liquid applique on her robe and I sprinkled glitter on it before I heat set. It was very hard to photograph.I also used Spica glitter pens on the gifts and on her boots.

Believe color Challenge

Color challenge today is Wild Wasabi, Pink, and white. I started in a whole 'nother direction with this card and ended up here LOL.

• Stamps: Papertrey Believe santa, A Muse sentiment, Su Print pattern and Dot Snowflake sets
• Paper : Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi, White
• Ink: Versafine Black, white craft
• Prismacolor pencils, ribbon
  

Color Challenge

Color challenge card for this week. I really am not that happy with this card and I really didn't want to post it. Something is just not right about it to me. I don't like to waste cardstock so I went ahead and finished it but its a so- so card. LOL. The colors this week were Kraft, Pomagranite and white.

I am an ELF

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9517435179

It's been awhile

Sorry I haven't been blogging. I have made a few things but I am saving them to use as gifties and don't want to show them off yet. I did alter this making Memories album a few days ago and I can show it. It has no stamping on it and I am not sure who I am giving it to yet.

Sketch challenge

Sketch challenge from SCS # 149. I figured I could get as many new images on one card as possible LOL. No , I just saw a way to mask off the parts that don't fit and use these cuties. I am still lovin' Figgy Pudding paper.

• Paper: Sage Shadow, White, Figgy Pudding backgrounds
• Inks: Versafine Black, Various markers from SU
• Ribbon, Sakura Glue pen, Glitter, sponges
• All stamps by Elzybells

Elzybells are in the house!

They are here! My very first Elzybells! I ordered these a few weeks ago and I finally received them. Now I am going to try and figure out what to do with them. I only chose a few to start with, I am hoping they come out with some cute ones after the holidays and I will collect them too! These were my very favorite to start with though. I originally only had 5 on my order then I just had to have that little reindeer and birdie! They are just too sweet!Off to see if I can come up with something cute.

Jody's color challenge

This morning Jody asked me if I wanted to do a color challenge with her today. She was playing with ribbon *surprise ;)* and saw 3 ribbons laying togather and liked the colors. She picked Chocolate Chip, Really Rust and Sky Blue/Bashful Blue. Well I said yuck at the first glance but then she said try it, actually she called me a wuss first. Anyway, here is what I came up with. Notice there is just a *hint* of blue in there.

• Paper: Really Rust, Chocolate chip, Sky Blue, Shimmery Whte, Apple Spice DP.
• Ink: Chocolate, rust, sky
• Stamps: Stem Silhouettes, Sanded, Warm Wishes
• Flocked brad by Making Memories, Prima flower, Spiral punch, Janome sewing machine

Bella Challenge 02

Bella challenge #2 and I broke in Cosmobella. I like her alot, she reminds me of someone. I used the Cheers stamp from one of the Papertrey sets. The paper is figgy pudding by Basic Grey. I used a creative candy scallop sticker from Amuse over the top of the sentiment. I like this sketch but my measurements aren't really balanced enough for me. I need to tweak it, I actually discovered measurements were given in the posted challenge but I neglected to notice until it was too late.

• Paper, artichoke, rose red, white. basic grey figgy pudding
• Ink: Black, Rose, Watercolor Crayons were used to color
• Scallop punch by SU, circle punches in 1 1/4" & 1 1/8", Creative Candy Scallop circle by Amuse

Service Announcement

I have a mini rant, or shall I say a statement/ warning:
If you are a large 6' tall over 200 lbs aging, balding, yet oddly hairy man, I beg you, Please do not go to the neighborhood gas station wearing no shirt, grey stretchy athletic shorts hiked up to your belly button, no socks no shirt and house slippers................You are scaring old ladies and small children.

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging

Magical Amuse Christmas

This is a card I made while trying to come up with a completely different idea. LOL. I actually hated the other one but I hate wasting a whole notecard so I cut it in half and used the back as a new front. The benefit from being so cheap, I mean frugal, is I can now layer more. I love to layer. It hides ribbon when you layer so there is no ribbon showing when you open a card. I used a sakura gelly roll clear glitter pen to write over the word Magical so it shimmers a little.

• paper: Papertrey White CS, Black, Notecard from Amuse
• Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, Basic grey for the moon
• All stamps from Amuse
• Ribbon is may Arts Shimmery Irredescent Woven

Dryabella

New rubber is in the house! When I saw this bella I knew she was made just for me. Anyone of my close friends can tell you, "its all about the hair baby". I have hair issues LOL.

• Blush CS, Chocolate chip, Basic Grey Infuse, Shimmery white
• Inks: Blush, chocolate, Pink, Caramel, Clear Glittery Sakura Gelly Roll pen
• Polka Dot grograin ribbon
• Scallop oval, smooth oval punches

Bella Sketch challenge

SCS has a new thing going on for the Bellas. I happened to spot the first sketch challenge using Bellas. I only have 2 Bella stamps right now (I ordered 5 more about 3 weeks ago) so I really don't hang out in the Bella forum much. I am pleased with how this one turned out.

• Paper: celery, rose red, chocolate chip, white, basic Grey Pheobe
• Stamps: Cakeabella, Happy Birthday from Amuse
• Supplies: Heidi Swap ghost flower, brads, ribbon, sewing machine, quickie glue pen, glitter
  

Papertrey Tins

I decided to try a nugget tin today. I have had these sitting around for weeks and had yet to use them. I realize that lavender is not a very Christmas like color but, its the only full size chalk ink pad I have and well, you should know by now that I am lazy. LOL. I didn't want to take my small dew drop size ink pad and reapply the ink for all those labels. Its much more efficient to tap the stamp onto the ink than vice-versa.I also had a 12 x 12 sheet of Lavender CS which was need to make a band to go around the tin. Decision to use lavender was made! Anyway, I used the Hershey Nuggets with Milk chocolate and Almonds, had fun eating a few while I stamped too! *wink* I will get better at this if I keep practicing, today was the first try at those adress labels, I had some trouble getting it lined up just right. Even though the stamps are clear and the block is clear, the lines on the labels are very hard to see. It may be my eyes or the light, maybe I need jewlers loops LOL. Enjoy!

Hero Arts Clear Stamps

Today I decided to break out a new set I "just had to have" after I used the same little birdie on a shoebox card while I was in Salt Lake City. The set is from Hero Arts and I got the clear version. I believe they make a wood mounted version with 3 little birds in a set. HeroArts are not usually a favorite of mine but I liked this one.

• River Rock paper, Artichoke paper, Basic Grey Dasher (Flannel Shirt), White
• Hero Arts Laughter & Meriment Set, Riviting by Stampin Up, Amuse oval
• Stampin Up Scallop Punch, Paper piercer, Deminsionals, Sewing Machine
• Colored with Watercolor Crayons

Bwahahahaha! I baked!

I decided to bake a loaf of banana bread today. I had a whole bunch of over ripe naners this week. Well, I *may* have added a little too much to one pan. I should have divided the batter into 2 loafs but I am a lazy baker and decided that the silicon baking pan could expand. Well it did. It barely contained the loaf! I had a *Lucy and Ethel* momment when I opened the door and saw this monster! It smells great and I hope it tastes as good!

Amuse and Apple Cider Paper

Finally opened my brand spankin' new pack of paper...I have had it over a month now. I like most of it but there are a couple pages I am not so sure about. Still perfecting my sewing technique here too.

• Stamps: Flannel Plaid, Amuse Pumkin Tent, Amuse Sentiment, Amuse Fence
• Paper: Really Rust, Chocolate chip, DS Apple Cider from SU, Shimmery Vanilla
• Ink: Markers in River Rock, Really Rust, Cocoa, Versamark
• Hardware: Really rust eyelet, Buckle from We Are Memory Keepers
• Linen Thread, Stitched ribbon in River Rock, deminsionals, Rectangular Scallop Punch
  

SCS color challenge day

Today's color challenge is Soft Sky, Purely Pomagranite, and Basic Grey. I really like these colors and tried hard to stick with just those and none other. Stamps used are Garden Whimsey, Linen, Aida, and Polka dots. The party punch tab set for the tab and sentiment. Love the SU stitched ribbons and use them every chance I get. I tried to see if glitter would work here but decided against it. Not feeling sparkly today. Enjoy!

Ta- Da!

Here it is.....the finished product!

Holly Berry House Medallions

Grrrr! I have been fooling around trying to teach myself how to do a Holly Berry House medallion style stamp. I have one stamp called Waterlily. Its very pretty and I bought it while visiting in Virginia back in April. I thought I could do it. I thought I could use my Art Institute Glitters and my pretty stamp and make a really special thing. Its frustrating me to no end. I didn't like the pastel ones I have seen online so I thought I would do mine in monochromatic black/grey/white. Its started off great. I embossed it in silver EP, stamped it twice on black, twice on basic grey, twice on going grey, and twice on white. On the white pieces I used markers to color it in the greys. It looked great. Then I started cutting out each layer. This is where it got dicey. I am not that great at cutting. I did my very best though. It looked okay. I lined up each layer to figure out where the glitters would go, stepped back and looked at it awhile. Then I had to make a decision about my glitter colors. I chose to use transparent glitters in Sea Shell and Blue Rain(they both look white or holographic to me). Then I had to figure out the metal tip that goes on the art institute glue. Its a special tip that is extremely narrow. I could not get glue to come through it. I tried using a pin to see if it was clogged, it wasn't, I could blow air through it. I have no idea why it doesn't work but it didn't. So in frustration I took some heavy duty wire cutter and I cut the tip off. LOL. When all else fails....cut it up and see if that works. Oddly enough, it did. I got the glue to come out finally. Now I got all these spaces I thought would look good glittered all filled in. Waited for it to dry. Then I hated it. It was too much glitter on 2 layers. So I stamped them again and started those layers over again. I still don't like one layer. So I do it again. Grrrr! Now I am waiting for it to dry. I am going to take a picture soon and show you before I make it into a card but I really am not having fun now. Its a mess. All that glitter everywhere. I think I must be one of those people that only likes a little glitz and bling.*sigh* BBL

Stuff everywhere, glitter everywhere, pieces of paper everywhere. I sure hope its worth it in the end. I still haven't put the card together!

No making fun of me!

Its not pretty sewing....but its the first attempt at it. I tried, I really did. Just don't look closely! I used the polished stone technique on glossy cardstock for the main background. I am experimenting with these colors for a tin I plan to alter. I used a whole sheet of glossy trying to get it right and decided to make some cards using it.. Inks are Ranger Alcohol inks in Latte', Mushroom and Pearl mixative. The papers are creamy caramel, chocolate chip and vanilla shimmery papers. Stamps by Penny Black. Stop laughing....I can hear you!

It's here, It's here!

Here its is. Isn't it just so cute and little? I got my Jenome Sew mini machine today. I have to read the instructions before I attempt using it but I plan to use it to sew on cards. I have 2 other sewing machines but they are really big and bulky, not to mention older than the Carter years in the white house. I didn't pay for those other machines so I feel like I could justify this one. It's new and shiny and clean. It also will sew a zig-zag stitch which my old machine wouldn't do on paper. I broke a needle on my last project so I needed to get a machine that would work on paper crafting. It is just so compact. I will miss having a light underneath by the needle but I think it will be okay. I can just get my reading glasses out for threading the needle. Anyway, I hope to create something soon using this cutie!

Remember the Incident?

Anyone remember the story about the very naughty bunny that escaped and was found in the same cage as his mama? Well, I took both the rabbits to the vet yesterday to have them spayed and neutered. I was completely convinced that Rosie was raped and would be having a million babies that I would never find homes for. She was nesting and pulling her fur and making a spot to give birth and showing signs of pregnancy in my eyes. I knew it was a bunny emergency! I just knew it! Well, I went to pick up the naughty bunnies last night after "the deed" had been done. I asked the technician if Rosie had indeed been preggers because they charge more if she had been. Guess what? She was not pregnant afterall. I was completely wrong. Sugar had just attacked her for the fun of it! She had bite marks all over her from him. He is such a little devil to her. So now I feel like an idiot. I could have saved myself a hefty sum of of money (to be used on stamping). I could have just had him fixed and my problems would be over! Now poor Rosie needs pain meds for the next 3 days. We also have meds for mites. Rosie had a wicked case of mites we didn't know about. So they both have to take mite meds every 14 days for 4 rounds. What a pain in the tush these bunnies are! The kids are afraid of the bunnies mouths so I am the medicine giver once again! I get stuck with all the fun jobs around here. I keep telling the kids that rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain and they need to stop being afraid of them. They are rabbits......nothing to fear there! *sheesh* I had to show them how to get them to open the rabbits mouth and insert a syringe full of the medicine. The lick like crazy when the medicine goes in so I know they got it. The rabbits have never bitten the kids but they still are afraid that they might. I on the other hand am not really afraid of them, after all I hold them on their backs like babies and trim their toenails when they get too long. Anyway, just thought I would share another Bunnytale. They are cute little things, I just wish they weren't so needy!

Amuse Saturday

Here are 2 cards I was inspired to make following Geeta's class on Saturday at Memory Depot. Her cards were better but I feel like I need to make my own and not copy someone else's work so I come home and see what I can come up with. In a few minutes I will post her designs so you can see the difference.. Here are 2 of Geeta's cards Iwas inspired by to make my own.

And then I made this one:After seeing this one: