Are you there?

Once again I'm sorry about disappearing on you.  Things got super hectic again and I got caught up in too many things. 

So I slowed down....................well, as much as the kids would let me.

I played LOTS of Christmas music (love my Johnny Mathis) and cooked and shopped and visited and ate way too many goodies.  Way too many.

I hope you were able to enjoy the holiday with your loved ones.

Now a new year is going to start and I'm thinking of what I want to do differently this year.  There is so much room for improvement.  Leave a comment here or shoot me an email and let me know what your 2012 goals are and I'll share mine as soon as I narrow the list down. 

So for today I want to show you a few things I worked on for Christmas.  The Dec. Daily is really behind but I will be showing you that also in the next few days. 

Delicate Doilies.  Garden green, crumb cake and poppy parade cardstock.  Versamark ink.  Whisper white embossing powder, simple letters die, big shot. 


Remember 17 had that Secret Santa thing in yearbook?  Well this was another little gifty for the girl. 

Quick, simple and cute.  I used the Coluzzle to cut out the circle. 

Loads of Love stamps.  Crumb cake, whisper white, old olive and riding hood red cardstock.  Black Stazon ink.  Leaves #2 die, big shot, 1/2" circle punch, cropodile, Brights Patterned DSP, old olive striped ribbon, cherry cobbler bakers twine. 

Teacher gifts.  I had some really old kraft boxes that SU! used to sell and are selling again in the Holiday Mini, to box up some crackers and cookies. 

The tags have a Starbucks gift card in them.  We had the idea to make the leaves look like holly but I kept thinking they look like antlers.  I didn't tell Grace that though :). 

Loads of Love and Woodgrain.  Crumb cake, riding hood red and whisper white cardstock.  Garden green and choc. chip markers, crumb cake ink.  White taffeta, Frostwood lodge DSP, Designer frames embossing folders, big shot, wide oval punch and dimensionals.

Here is THE Christmas card.  I really like them.  They seriously only took me a half hour to design.  That is super fast for me.  I don't send that many out so I got about 18 of them done in a few hours.  WooHoo!

My desk was too messy to take a pic on. 

This was the first time using the Designer Frames embossing folders.  I kinda dig them!  I don't have any Christmas stamps so I searched around for what would work.  The tree from Loads of Love fit perfectly!

I used markers to ink up the tree.  I sponged everything, which I don't normally do.  Too much work.  I've become a lazy stamper. 

Loads of Love and Delicate Doilies.  Crumb cake, riding hood red and garden green cardstock.  Garden green and choc. chip markers, whisper white craft ink.  Frostwood Lodge DSP, wide oval punch, Designer Frames embossing folders, corner rounder and dimensionals.


This is a gift card holder.  Super easy to do!

I made a belly band to go around it to hold it closed. 

And here I am working hard to get things done.  Just keeping it real................

Thanks so much for keeping the blog cozy while I was gone.  I have plans to be much more consistent. 

Blessings, b.

Dec. Daily?

Nope, not yet.  I did get my pics printed out today and started with some journaling but then, 17 needed some help.

She is doing a Secret Santa thing in her yearbook class and needed an idea of what to give tomorrow.  They are supposed to do a little something everytime they meet and then a bigger something on the last day before vacation. 

So I suggested a cute little packet of fruit snacks. 

She didn't like that idea.

What if I make a cute little tag and ribbon, like a present?

Yep, that would do. 

She picked out the bow and so I tried to match the color.  Welcome in Pear Pizzaz! 

Holy Cow!  I thought this would be a cute/fast/easy tag to make. 

HA!  I was wrong.  This sucker took me 2 hours!  I just wasn't feeling it.  Or I should say, I could think of things to use.........things I didn't have. 

So here is what I came up with.

Elements of Style.  Crumb cake, whisper white and pear pizzaz cardstock.  Crumb cake ink.  Big shot,  scallop square duo die, simple letters die, rhinestones, brights patterned DSP, 3/4" circle punch and dimensionals.


It measures 2.5 x 3.75.  I'm happy enough with it.  Considering I don't know a thing about this girl and for all I know she'll chuck it in the trash. 

And here she is all gussied up.  I'd be happy to receive this.  Wouldn't you?

Alrighty then, its past my bedtime.  Everyday I get one step closer to getting the Dec. Daily done.  Tomorrow I should have something to show you. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I love it when you do that. 

Blessings, b.

Oh Geez!

Nothing ever goes as planned. 

I have no December Daily pages together........yet.  I do have pics, well, except for one day (ahem....Michele, just when you get around to it ;)) and stories picked out, I just haven't had time to sit down to do it. 

I'm going to "getRdone" tonight........I hope........I think.......I'm going to try.

But, I do have another Christmas card to show you.  This one was fairly quick.  I got 3/4 of it done in about 25 min. while waiting for a buddy to come pic me up last night. 

Now see, I did sit down to work on the Dec. Daily today but, this card was sitting on the desk unfinished so I had to finish it first.  And of course I got nothing else done.

NO STAMPS!!!   Whisper white, old olive, pear pizzaz, wild wasabi, garden green and real red cardstock.  Bird punch, cropadile, hemp, jewelry tag punch, black journaler and misc. button. 

Cute eh?  I saw an idea like this several weeks ago.  I don't remember what they used exactly (because of course I don't remember when or where I saw it) but I thought the wing from the bird punch was perfect. 

With a pencil I lightly drew a circle and used that as a guide.  Then I just went for it.  I used the large hole punch on the cropadile to make the little holly berries.

I decided to wrangle some hemp to do my will.  Hemp is not always user friendly.  It started out looking like a hemp spider on my wreath....but I tamed it.  I found a red button in my stash and used the jewelry tag punch for a little "joy".  I had no joy stamps so I had to wing it. 

After I was done, I decided it needed a little something something.  So I drew the black line around the border.  Now it seems finished. 

Alrighty then, thats it for today.  The Boy just came home on his dinner break and announced that we had to go to Target when he gets home from work because he needs something for school. 

Yeah, great.

So, no, I won't be working on the Dec. Daily tonight.  But, tomorrow is another day....................

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

today..........

......is the day. 

The first day of the December Daily journal.  Did you get at least 1 picture today?  Have you thought of 1 story to tell?  I will get my page together tomorrow and I'll show you then. 

Tonight though, I have a card to show you.  Can you believe it?  I stamped!

I wanted to make a Christmas card.  I have our family card all sketched out but I need a family pic........that may take an act of God. 

So I got out all my stamps that are Christmas related.  Yeah, I have 2 sets.  Not much to work with here. 

So I started with Tree Trimmings.  I don't like this set.  There, I said it.  I don't like it. 

Stampin' Up! sent it to me to create display samples with a few years ago.  Because I don't really like it, I thought about how I could use it for non-Christmas things. 

When I opened the box tonight I found that I had started a project but didn't finish.  So I decided to finish it.  I did make it Christmasy though.

Tree trimmings and Teeny tiny wishes.  Very vanilla, red riding hood, crumb cake and garden green cardstock.  Riding hood red, garden green, black Stazon, and Versamark inks.  Clear embossing powder, big shot, top note die, stripes embossing folder, antique brads and stampamajig.

I made a poinsetta! 

Nope, this would not make a good production card.  I made the striped flower a few years ago and I remember it was a challenge to get the petals lined up.  I had to use my favorite tool; the Stampamajig.  Love that thing! 

The stripes embossing folder is new to me and I think its pretty groovy.

 HA! Get it? 

Groovy?

I bought these antique brads during the summer and this is my first time using them.  They are so cool!  They are pretty heavy duty and I love how big some of them are.


Alrighty then, I guess thats it.  Unless you want to see what an A+ state report looks like. 

 A big cookie in the shape of New Mexico.  She even labled Grampa's house.  

Okay, thats all.  I be back tomorrow with my Dec. 1 page to show you.  See, you're going to get sick of me now. 

If you are doing the December Daily, I would love for you to link up a pic in the comments section here.  Or you can email it to me since the comments section has been having problems.  I would really like to see your project. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.