Almost Time for a New Calendar

When I was a young kid I remember being allowed to stay up late to ring in the new year a couple of times. I think we tended to do our own thing until we were all called to gather in front of the television set to watch the ball drop in New York city.

Since we never lived in the east coast time zone I'm sure we watched a re-broadcast of the big event. I remember the big count down. FIVE......

 FOUR..... THREE..... (everyone is counting along now)  TWO.....  ONE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Everyone on TV would be jumping, yelling, blowing noise makers and smiling. In our house usually my mom would jump and yell and we'd join in, but really it felt so forced and fake. So what? The date changed. Big deal. It changes every day.

I remember one year as a young adult looking forward to the new year, but ultimately I was the same old me, everyone was the same old everyone, and the only thing that was different was the date.

If you think the date changing is a party-worthy event, then certainly enjoy your date changing party. If you'd rather catch a few Zs then enjoy that too. Whichever you prefer, just remember to write "2017" when you write checks.*

The Fine Print: *That's a joke, no one writes checks anymore.... Happy New Year dies by Cheery Lynn, various gold washi tapes from Amazon, star dies by Sweet & Sassy.

On My Mind

The other day I was trying to stand around on one foot and brush my teeth...

Wait, let me back this story up a bit. About a month ago we quit our far away gym and joined a place closer to our house. I started taking an evening yoga class they offer there. Here's the thing with yoga:  if you'd like to find out how non-flexible you are and how poor your balance is--yoga is the class for you!

I wasn't surprised to learn that my balance was so poor, but it was so poor that I was surprised that I am able to walk upright.

Anyway, since my balance is so poor I thought I'd do something about it, so I've been trying to practice standing on one foot. Except that I can't even stand on one foot for more than a tenth of a second so I'm not sure how I can get better at it. I do try though, which is why I was trying to brush my teeth while standing on one foot. I just wanted to share this folly with you in case you hear that I died in a freak bathroom accident. You'll know I probably fell over and jammed a toothbrush deep into my skull.

We call that "the corpse pose" in yoga class.

The Fine Print: Stuff from my stash, card topper by Club Scrap.

The Favorite

Since Christmas is done and over for 2016 (oops, spoiler alert!) and we haven't yet staggered into 2017, this week's Merry Monday challenge is to share your favorite card from the past year. It doesn't have to be one that was entered into Merry Monday, but just one that you made.

This is my favorite card from the past year. There is so much that appeals to me in this card. I love that it has kitties on it,I love that piece of designer paper, the deep red appeals to me, that I got the colors to match so well was cool, the base card was a piece of shimmer cardstock I've had forever so I was happy it finally got used, I was proud of myself for using one of my fancier shaped dies for a change, I used several paper flowers on one card and I even used bling.

Whew! So much to like on one card. I sent this card to my mom and I hope she likes it as much as I do. So that wraps up Merry Monday for this year. Stay tuned for next!

The Fine Print: Cozy Kitten digital image from From the Heart (shocking that my fave is a digi!), fancy oval die by Spellbinders, designer paper by Basic Gray, flowers from Prima.

Magical Dragons

Hubby got me the coolest stamp set for Christmas. Here is is in all its magical action. It has several dragons and greetings on it but I was taken by this one. For some reason I had a hankering to make a step card so I combined my dragon with a step card.

I also used up quite a number of snippets to make this and the following card so for once I'm remembering to trot along to Pixie's Snippet Playground where I can show off my new dragons. This second card is a get well card that I made for my mother who caught the Annual Christmas Cold.* I drew little puffies under the dragon's eyes because he was sick.

Well, now I'm off to build a puzzle. Hubby got me a several of those for Christmas too.

The Fine Print: Magical Dragons stamp set by My Favorite Things, designer papers by  Pebbles "Garden Party," flower punch by EK Success, swirly border punch by All Night Media, enamel dots by Stampin' Up, yellow sprinkle dots by Doodlebug, step card die by The Stamp Doctor. * Someone in our family always seems to be sick for Christmas. So glad it isn't me for a change.

Peace

May you have a peaceful day and if not may you have many pieces of pie. 

Or if you want to put some jingle in your step, do that instead, and you don't have to jingle all the way, you can opt for part-way and no one will complain.

The Fine Print: Top card: I dunno. Bottom tag: A Muse Studio.

Waiting

Charles is patiently waiting for the big day. He hasn't long to wait....

Simple Joys

I'm fresh out of words today. 

The Fine Print: Dies and charm by Stampin' Up, inks by Memento, cardstock from my stash. 

Holiday Cheer

The week at Merry Monday the challenge is to make a card with some holiday cheer on it. My holiday cheerfulness is a bit tarnished at the moment so we'll have to make do with this version of holiday cheer which is a bottle topper.

Sparkly bubbles are nice and cheery, right? I think so. The tag was a fun little project I made at a workshop recently. As an added bonus we got to take the bottle of bubbly along home with us.

Here's a close up of the tag. I know the photo isn't the best as I took this photo long before the sun even came up today (not sure it ever got up...).

That wraps up Merry Monday for this year. I know I'll be back next year to play along because MM made this time of year a snap.  Take it easy, kids!

The Fine Print: Probably most things by Stampin' Up, bubbly by Martinelli's.

Dove of Peace

Here's a card design that could be a nice winter design or even a good one for the holidays. I actually made it for a music themed card swap. I was excited to get to use my Pretty Pines die set since they didn't get much use this year since I got them so late in the game. Expect to see more of them next year.

Hoping you're having a peaceful day!

The Fine Print: Dove punch by Martha Stewart, Pretty Pines by Stampin' Up, circle dies by Spellbinders, glitter card base and music designer paper by DCWV, twine by May Arts and ribbon from my stash. 

Jack O

RIP

Jack O'Lantern (those Irish roots)

October 31, 1998 - December 20, 2016

Pop Up Presents

Hi All! I made this card a couple weeks back for a Christmas themed swap. The focal point of the card is what is inside, which always leaves me scratching my head on what to put on the outside. I figured you couldn't go wrong with a glittered garland on a Christmas tree.

The inside has three stacked pop up presents. The presents are fairly easy to cut out when you have the measurements--I marked up the back of the card where to cut and where to score. Those presents are a bit tricky to wrap though. You've got to get the pieces of designer paper lined up just right and then carefully wrap the ribbon around.  The top present gets the teenest little bow so it isn't too bulky inside the card.

I'm thinking this design would make a fun birthday card as well.

The Fine Print: Tree stamp by Copper Leaf Creations, inside greeting by Hero Arts, designer paper, ribbon, and holly cardbase from my stash. 

Just for Me

I'm taking the day off from blogging. I'd take the day off from life but who'd scoop the poop, feed the cats, do the laundry, vacuum the floor, take out the trash and eat the rest of this bag of potato chips?

This card is from a friend. She's a good enough friend that she's probably volunteer to finish off the bag of potato chips for me. It's good to have friends to rely on.

The Fine Print: Yeah, I'm sure that's Stampin' Up stuff. My friends try to out Stampin' Up each other.

Last Night in Paris

I made another one of those.... yeah.... one of those folded cards. I don't know what you'd call them but it is a gatefold and has a full front and another piece on the other side so it sort of sits up at attention all fancy like.

The Fine Print: I'm clueless but it could be Stampin' Up. 

Time to Dream

I took the time to dream the other day and my boss smacked me upside the head and said, "Get back to work." So definitely take the time to dream just don't do it on someone else's dime.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Stamps Happen, enamel dots by Stampin Up, papers from my stash. By the way this story is a work of fiction and bares no resemblance to persons real or imagined. 

In the Summer

I made 4 similar cards recently using the dregs from kits (you know, my same old story). Apparently I only photographed 3 of them though. Rest assured the 4th one looked just like these.

The Fine Print: Card bases, cardstock, and stamps by Club Scrap, Friends die by Walter and Winnie, other stuff from my stash. 

Hot or Not?

There used to be this website (and maybe it still exists for all I know) that was called Am I Hot or Not? People could upload their pictures to it and then others could vote, hot or not. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Yea or nay.

I learned about it only because an acquaintance of mine uploaded a picture to it and then asked everyone to vote for it. I was fascinated by this website, sort of like if you discovered a worm under your skin--curious, horrified and wondering.

However, since that time I find myself thinking of that website because I frequently ask myself, "Am I hot? Or not?" It has nothing to do with my beauty but my temperature. My body can never make up its mind if it is hot or not, especially now that I have an infection.

Whew, someone turn on a fan.  No wait! God, turn that off and flip the space heater on--mama's got goosebumps!!!

The Fine Print: I made that card I did indeed. It's a self-mounted stamp I got from my friend so no one knows who makes it. Well, maybe someone knows but not I. Flourish did by Magnolia, probably. 

Puppy Power

I know... all those Christmas themed cards in a row from me. Now it is time to sit back, read the paper and relax.

SURPRISE!

Oh dear, I guess jumping out like that wasn't too restful. I'm sorry you piddled on yourself. No, I'm not laughing at you; I'm laughing near you.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Stampin' Up, circle dies by Spellbinders, banner die by Magnolia, border punch by Fiskars. Can you see where Charles was trying to edge into that second photo? 

Mousie Monday

How about some festive mice to start your Monday off nice?

The Fine Print: Stamps by Stampin' Up "Merry Mice," snowflake punches by Martha Stewart, Christmas die by Sizzix, papers and ribbons from my stash. 

Christmas Magic

Quick and simple, ba-da boom, ba-da bing. How about that? It's like magic.

The Fine Print: Stamp "Christmas Magic" and designer paper "Candy Cane Lane" by Stampin' Up, dies by Spellbinders and gingham ribbon from my stash.  

Brotherly Love

Even though Merry Monday. Rudolph Days, and the ABC Christmas Challenges got me through to the holiday season totally on top of things, there were still a few Christmas cards I needed to make for special people.

For instance I needed to make this huggy bear card for my little brother. They call him Bear because he is big, grizzly, and likes to hibernate. This seemed appropriate for him.

Then I needed to make this Fa-la-la-la-Fabulous La-la-llama card for my friend who has this thing for llamas.

The really funny thing about these cards is that I made them totally separate from each other, a couple of weeks apart. Yes, look how similar they are, right down to the same designer paper.

The Fine Print: Bear, llama, and bow from Stampin' Up "Fa-la-la-la-Friends" and "Holly Berry Happiness" with matching dies and punch, designer paper by DCWV, stitched tag (bear card) by A Muse Studio, stitched rectangle (llama card) by MFT??, large snowflake punch by Martha, smaller snowflake from Recollections. Using up mad fat stash here!

Just Say NO!

The other day I decided to make a card. I looked around at my desk that had a bunch of remnants from Christmas/winter card making and I just said NO. NO way was I going to make another holiday themed or colored card. NO way was I going to make something frosty and wintery.

I don't care what the rest of y'all are doing. I'm going over here and gonna march to the beat of my own banjo.  Here goes:

Lookie! It's a pink and green flying pig! How cool is that? And it isn't the least bit wintery or Christmasy. I feel that I have redeemed my soul.*

The Fine Print: Stamp by Penny Black, colored with copics (this is me pretending I know how to shade), ribbon and designer paper from my stash. *You know, if I have one. 

Merry Monday Candy Cames

This week at Merry Monday we are being asked to make cards with candy canes on them. When I first heard that I was distraught that I had recently gotten rid of my candy came stamp. Now hear me out... I'd used this thing to death, on the front of cards, on the back of cards, on the front of envelopes, on the back of envelopes... frankly I was sick of it. Also, it wasn't the the only candy cane I owned, so I have no idea why I had a moment of panic.

Besides this candy cane has a penguin with it and that makes it much more festive and fun. For some archaic reason I was bound and determined to stamp him on glossy paper. It took 5 tries to get the image to come out decent. I wasn't getting a smooth coverage on his little penguin wings.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Art Impressions, stitched die by A Muse Studio, picot circle die by Spellbinders, border punch but Stampin' Up, ribbon and designer paper from my stash. 

Viva la Fiesta!

So after yesterday's kind of meh card I thought I'd best step it up today by bringing in a mariachi band. These guys know how to party!

The Fine Print: All products by Stampin' Up except kraft card base (stash), the ink (Memento) and googlie eyes (Michaels). "Fiesta Birthday" and "Thoughtful Branches" stamp sets and "Festive Birthday" designer paper.

Time's Slipping Away

An artistically inclined friend of mine brought some items together so we could all make cards. I must have gotten distracted by a shiny thing along the way because I ended up losing the hands to the clock she provided.

I decided to go ahead and call the card done because time has always been a slippery concept for me anyway. I'm one of those people who can't wear watches because they quit working in short order (both my brothers were the same way; it must be our alien blood) and I've never been good about estimating time.

I thought the card was rather cool but I felt that maybe it was trying to make an artistic statement, except I don't know what that statement is. What do you think?

The Fine Print: Clock die by Cheery Lynn, everything else.... who knows, but that bit inside the clock is fabric so it probably came from a fabric store!

Sympathy Sunday

I've heard people suggest that they don't want to organize their craft rooms because then they lose the element of surprise by finding things they forgot they had. But truly I don't think that ever goes away unless you limit yourself to a shoebox sized craft stash (and who'd do that?!).

I found this card in with the birthday cards--SURPRISE! Yep, totally forgot I had this so it was exciting to see that I had a sympathy card at the ready, not that I hope to use it soon.

The Fine Print: Card topper by Club Scrap. 

Fall Gatefold

I saw a tutorial for a double fold gate card not too long ago and had to try it out. That worked out quite nice. So I thought I'd make another one.

I started out by thinking myself insanely clever by not looking up the directions and making it from wonderful steel-trap memory.  Yeah, that didn't go so well... but I did come up with an interesting card base that I'm sure you'll see at some point.

I scratched that one, pulled out the directions and made this one. Once you have the directions, the hardest part of this card is finding double sided cardstock that will work nicely for this style. You know, it has to be thick enough to make a decent cardbase and the patterns different enough to tell apart but not jarring.

The Fine Print: Double sided CS from my stash, card topper by unknown, greeting by Stampendous, squirrel and nuts by Taylored Expressions, leaf stickers from my stash. 

One for the Dudes

I have many wonderful things to say about Merry Monday. They've kept me on task all year so now I'm not stressed about Christmas cards at all. Just because I'm up-to-date is no reason to start slacking off now though.

This week they are asking for a manly Christmas card, one that puts hair on your chest! Okay, I think I made that last part up, but they definitely want a dude-friendly card.

I have this one to share, it is definitely dude-friendly but could work for someone of the female persuasion as well (I say that because I think I mailed all the man cards I need to mail). I made this in a workshop. The focus was on using and mixing patterned papers for quick holiday cards. There was no stamping in this class because the instructor designed and printed out card toppers for us to use.

The Fine Print: Homemade card topper, I suspect the paper is Basic Gray. That's all she wrote! 

In the Air

No more holiday cards today, I promise. Here's a nice happy one that makes me think of warmer times... you know back when the sun shone and the earth was warm....  *sob*  Unlike the frozen tundra it is now.*

This is not an original design. I copied this from an A Muse Studio Consultant who is now a Stampin' Up Consultant. She's still just as creative as ever.

*Frozen tundra by Southern Arizona standards translates to long pants weather for snow belt dwellers.

The Fine Print: Stamps by Stampin' Up "Bella and Friends," cloud dies and baker's cording by A Muse Studio.