The dog ate my cards

....not really but it's the only good excuse I can come up with for my absence :-)  Hi stampers!  So just being honest here I have almost completely lost my stamping mojo.  Between talking about our move and getting our house ready to put on the market, the holidays and just all the other junk going on in life I haven't spent much time in my room.  Add the fact that it's FREEZING here and I really don't want to do ANY activity that's not on the couch with 15 blankets :-)

I seriously feel like I have ZERO ideas so I haven't been forcing it.  BUT for the past two nights I made myself sit down in there because one, I got SAB and occasions goodies AND we flip flopped our family and living rooms to stage the house better for showings and I HATE my new family room, lol!  It's not small and cozy and it's freaking COLD with a gigantic window that faces west!!!!  Anyway, while I made some cards I hate some of them but some of them are ok and the one I'm sharing today although I don't LOVE it I was thrilled to think of the idea.  Like it totally just popped in my head!  Which is odd right now.  I stare and stare at sketches which can usually get me going but not so much lately!  So anyway, I'm going to try to both stamp more and share more.  I think I did much better when I worked and was pressed for time since I knew if I didn't get it done when I had the time it wouldn't get done.  Now....I just say oh I'll do it later, lol!!!!

Ok, so since I got some new goodies I wanted to combine stuff from the holiday catalog and the occasions and I had the genius idea to put Santa in a polaroid!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: Santa's list
Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, old olive, polka dot parade DSP
Ink:  Real red
Accessories:  Framelits

So last night I didn't think I liked it all that much but I like it better today I think.  And I was totally surprised when I popped the die cut out because it embosses it too!  Very cool!   But I must admit it did take me a minute to realize the die cut was stuck in the die after I cut.  I was like, where is it????  LOL! So there's a tip for that one....look IN the die, hehe!

I'm finding it really hard to figure out wether to use new mini stuff or holiday stuff!  Decisions, decisions!!!!!  So, maybe I can find more ways to combine them!!!  Ok, I'm off to the gym then hopefully home to stamp!!!

Happy stamping!

Fab Friday 31

Hi stampers and happy Friday!  I can't believe it's mid-November already!  While I'm all about Christmas time is just going too fast!  But since time marches on, it's time for another challenge over at Fab Friday!  And you really should play along because we only have a few more challenges until we take a break for the holidays!

It's time for a sketch and here's a fun one pulled straight from the pages of the Holiday Catalog!

The catalogs are a terrific resource for ideas!  You can copy a card exactly as is or you can just use it for color and sketch inspirations.  I look through the catalogs quite often and pay more attention to the actual card layout than the cards/images themselves.  If you find yourself stuck for a sketch or that to be the hardest element of cardmaking like I do you should try looking for sketches in the catalogs!  You can change up the colors, elements, and images to suit your needs!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Santa's list, Christmas messages
Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, season  of style DSP
Ink:  Old olive, cherry cobbler, craft whisper white
Accessories:  Cherry cobbler baker's twine, dazzling details, hung up cute clips

The card this sketch is based off of can be found on page 9 on the bottom right corner (and also on the bottom center of the cover).  It's hard to tell in the photo (and I know it's kind of blurry but I'm still fighting with GIMP) but there is dazzling details on the little pom pom on the end of his hat and the whole card is sponged with craft white ink.

Now make sure to check out the Fab Friday site and see the rest of the amazing samples and then play along!

Happy stamping!

Christmas in....August?

Hi stampers! Yep, it's Christmas in August!  Why???  Well because you can shop from the HOLIDAY CATALOG now (PS my site has a cool new look now, yay)!  You can download the Layar app on your smart phone and interact with the paper copy too! FUN!  If you need a copy, let me know!

So, before I show you my card I want to apologize for not posting much this past week.  It's not been the best year around here as most of you know and it's not getting much better.  So, we found out that we aren't pregnant again and my hubby got a not-so-good diagnosis for some problems he's been dealing with for a while and just a lot of other life stuff.  So, I needed some alone time :-)  They are also changing up my hours/schedule at work and I'm a bit worried I won't have much time to blog or even stamp.  Kind of hard to stamp if you're working ALL day every day and nights and weekends too..... :/  Anyway I'll try to share more stuff soon!

So, in honor of the new catalog I have a Christmas card today!  This was a quick swap I whipped up before I left for convention.  I have a soft spot for vintage Santa's....sorry it's a bit blurry.  It says he's making a list and checking it twice.

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Santa's list
Paper:  Very vanilla, baked brown sugar, season of style DSP
Ink:  Cherry cobbler, baked brown sugar
Accessories:  None

Isn't he cute?  I love him and I'm glad I got him inked up so soon, hehe!  Make sure to check out the holiday catalog!  It's super!!!!!  I hope I have some time this weekend to play with some of the goodies!!!!

Happy Christmas in August!  And happy stamping!