Day 1 of my 12 days of Christmas

Happy Monday! Today is day one of my Twelve Days of Christmas. I have been working on some cards and projects for Christmas and I can't wait to share them with you. So for the next 12 days we can be holly jolly with Christmas goodies. ;0) Maybe the next 12 days will sparke some creativity with you as well. Be sure to let me know in your comment if you have a Christmas creation you would like to share with me. I would be happy to look at your creations.



This adorable image is from Totally Stampalicious called Deacon and Ava HoHo. Is this just not the most adorable image? They are all spruced up and ready to make someone smile this Christmas. The snow is with liquid applique and then some stickles on top for the sparkle of the snow. This designer paper is from the Echo Park series called Season's greetings. This gorgeous shimmery dark green ribbon was the perfect touch to finish this off. Totally Stampalicious has a fabulous special running right now, here is how it works:
Stampalicious Dessert Menu
Level 1 - Vanilla Ice Cream - Buy 5 Get 1 Free
Level 2 - Strawberry Shortcake - Buy 8 Get 2 Free
Level 3 - Triple Layer Chocolate Cake - Buy 11 Get 3 Free
What better time to start your Christmas shopping early! See you back here tomorrow for my 12 days of Christmas! Have a wonderful day.

How about some Christmas cards?

Yes I have been working on Christmas cards and gifts lately so you will see more in the coming weeks. Today on Flourishes blog some of us are playing around with ink and paper. This card is using the new Christmas set A Season of Celebrations. The image is stamped in blue bliss ink, then I have added stickles all over the tree and some pearls for the garland the kids are haning. The frame is using Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares and I used the Classic Circles to cut out the center for a beautiful frame. I wrapped some ribbon around the top and bottom, added sparkle to the frame all around and voila a blue Christmas. Be sure to check out the beautiful creations from the design team today:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Dawn
Danielle
Barbara
Tammy
Sharon

Christmas Stocking and Catalog

It’s hot off the presses and offers some fabulous ideas for your Christmas creations! This 20-page full color catalog offers a look at not only every Flourishes Christmas set that is available, but a handful of tutorials showcasing projects that are perfect for the Christmas gift giving season. It even offers a sneak peek at some of our Christmas sets for November! At just $6, this catalog is a must have! You can check it out HERE!
Need a head start on some Christmas gift ideas? There are 6 different tutorial ideas that are perfect just for the occasion. Here is one of them that I made Canvas Stocking. The full tutorial on how to color with copics on canvas is in my tutorial. This is going to be filled with some bagged cookies and candies that I made and given to some friends of ours. A wonderful gift idea and a beautiful keepsake once the goodies are gone. Thanks for stopping in today!

House Mouse Fall Challenge

Happy Monday! It is House Mouse and Friends Blog challenge today brought to us by Sue K. She wants us to make a Fall creation. There are a few Prizes this week:1. Creative Classroom - Offering one free class 2. KnK Designs - Offering 3 Digi Stamp Sets 3. Pizzazz Aplenty - Offering $10 Embellies Gift Pkg

If you can believe it I do not have a single fall house mouse stamp. Gasp! I know.... however this is what I did come up with. I turned my sunflower into a darker fall turning sunflower, added a few leaves and some twine. Not the greatest fall creation but what can you do? lol Hope you get to play along with us this week! Have a great day.

Train

 File: I am unable to load the files to this post. If you email me at Twinshappy1@yahoo.com with subject line Train files I will email them to you. I have a PDF file, Silhouette file and a SVG file.

Supplies

Choose a file from the left, adhesive, score tool and scissors

Step 1

Take the train car piece that has 6 windows and pre-fold scored marks and adhere your tape to the back of the panel as shown. Make sure to cut the small half inch score line so you can fold in your sides to make the box

Step 2

Adhere one side panel as shown. Then adhere the other side and set aside

Step 3

Take the lead train car and pre-fold on scored marks. Add adhesive along the two end panels as shown. Turn over lead train car

Step 4

Add adhesive along the end panels as show

Step 5

Take larger end panel fold it up straight and adhere the side panel as shown. Adhere the other side panel of the lead train car 

Step 6

Take the end tabs and fold them in adhere and it should look like this. It will be open for now as shown. Set this to the back for a moment. Take lead train roof piece and add adhesive on the four ends as shown. Pre-fold on the scored lines.

Step 7

Place the two legs evenly right on the same line as the top of the window panel. It will look like this when one side is adhered. Now adhere the opposite side. Set this piece aside.

Step 8

Take the smoke stack piece and add adhesive to the tabs as shown. Turn smoke stack over.

Step 9

Add adhesive along the left side panel as shown. Fold into your smoke stack.

Step 10

Your smoke stack should look like this with the top pieces flared out for the top

Step 11

The tunnel piece should be scored for you, add adhesive along the long tab and the end tab. Add a bunch of little slits along the long tab only. Roll into a tube

Step 12

 Place the tunnel inside the hole of the tunnel panel. It should look like this. Take adhesive off and fold down all the little slits and attach them to the panel.

Step 13

Add adhesive down the two sides of the tunnel panel. Attach this to your tunnel panel as shown

Step 14

Adhere tunnel piece train car. Attach smoke stack as shown

Step 15

For the tunnel circle cover fold the little tab over once you added adhesive and insert it into the tunnel until it is squared up and bend down as shown. If you want grill marks in your grill you can score them or you can add little strips of paper. Score the short end of the grill about 1/4 inch or where you want your grill to lay on the ground. Adhere to the bottom side of the tunnell. Add tires and axels if desired. Finish decorating

Step 16

My finished train is a table decoration for Christmas. Added some cotton to the smoke stack. Enjoy

Winner and New Templates available

Before I show you the new templates available at Clear Dollar Stamps I want to announce the winner of my Dirty Blog Candy. That winner is Naomi, who said "Oh my GOODNESS! What FABULOUS news! Congratulations. You will DEFINITELY do The Dirt Pile justice since your cards are AMAZING! Awesome blog candy, too, thank you for the chance to win, you're SUPER generous!" I contacted Naomi and will have her package off Monday. Thank you all for the warm congrats on the Dirt Pile everyone!
Now for the New Templates over at Clear Dollar Stamps! You can see all the templates so far HERE and HERE! So the first one up is called the Beverage Caddy. However some of the girls have turned it into more fun ideas, so this really can be a lot of things caddy. ha ha Check out the fun other ways to use this template HERE.


This has to be my favorite or one of my favorite so far, its called Choo Choo Train. I adore this train and what it is for. This is a table decoration for a friend who asked me to make something to hold candies on her table for the kids. Something fun yet pretty so that it wasn't out of the element of her designs. Isn't this adorable? The flowers are from the set Holiday Nutcrackers set colored with copics and a pearl added to the center. I have stickles all over the flowers also, yet hard to see in the photo.
Another version of this can be seen on the CDS post that is a birthday train with banners and it is holding the waterballoons for a birthday party we attended. A fun and easy gift for kids that they will enjoy. Thanks for looking and Happy Shopping!

Free for all Friday

Today on the Flourishes blog its a free for all Friday. Christmas Candles is a new set that came out last week and I thought I would use that set today. I made a quick little 4x4 card with a shaped frame. I have stamped the candles in the background and colored them with the Copic Pastels colors. Added a few pearls and ribbon, voila. Easy Peasy today.
Check out the creations from the Design Team:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Dawn
Danielle
Barbara
Tammy
Sharon
Don't forget Flourishes New Release Bundle at 10% off all 4 sets ends today!
Check back in tomorrow for the winner of my Dirty Blog Candy and the New Templates from Clear Dollar Stamps!

TS Christmas Blog Hop and New Release

Welcome to Totally Stampalicious Christmas Release and Blog Hop!!!We are so excited to share SEVEN NEW SETS with you all tonight and they are AVAILABLE NOW at TOTALLY STAMPALICIOUS!!
As always we have some FABULOUS PRIZES to give away including:
1st Prize - All 7 New Sets
2nd Prize - $15 Gift Certficate
3rd Prize - $5 Gift Certificate
All you have to do is Hop along with us and leave your comments along the way and maybe YOU could be a WINNER!!!! So now, without further ado.....
HERE IS THE CHRISTMAS RELEASE from the Totally Stampalicious Bugaboo Line by amazing artist Jodie Mackerell! They are ALL must-haves for this year's Holiday Cards!!!
Now it's time to hop on over to Angel's Blog to see what Awesome Christmas Confection she has for us!
Here is the entire Blog Hop Line Up in case there are any glitches along the way!
Totally Stampalicious
Angel
Jessica
Kendra
Dawn
Lori
Julie
Jessie
Laurie
Lynda
Becky
Joycelyn
Vicki
Sue

Girlfriend Gift Set

Happy Thursday! The kids have today and tomorrow off from school so time is limited on stamping. However I did get this finished last night and photo'd this morning.
One of the girls at DH work wanted a gift set of cards and matching box for a friend. Feminine Charm is a perfect girlfriend set so I went with it. The paper is using Kaiser Krafts Miss Nelly pack. Along with the beautiful Spellbinders Die Picot Edge Circles and some fabulous pink wrinkled ribbon you can't go wrong with a gift set. The box is using the tutorial from Beate found HERE. Be sure to check back at 6pm as Totally Stampalicious has a blog hop and new release for you. Thanks for stopping in today!

Flourishes Christmas Mini Catalog

It’s hot off the presses and offers some fabulous ideas for your Christmas creations! This 20-page full color catalog offers a look at not only every Flourishes Christmas set that is available, but a handful of tutorials showcasing projects that are perfect for the Christmas gift giving season. It even offers a sneak peek at some of our Christmas sets for November! At just $6, this catalog is a must have! You can check it out HERE!
Need a head start on some Christmas gift ideas? There are 6 different tutorial ideas that are perfect just for the occasion. You don't want to miss your chance at a great catalog!
Tomorrow is Totally Stampalicious Blog Hop and New Release at 6pm. Be sure to check back in!

Happy Fall Blog Hop

Welcome to Clear Dollar Stamps Monthly Blog Hop. This month's hop is Happy Fall. If you just came from Jerusha Blog you are in the right spot. If you are just joining us head back on over to Lori's Blog to start hopping.
For my card I used Charlie Harvest. I have masked the stalked of wheat behind him on both sides. Added a few pearls to each of the corners and the hay stalks. Took a bit of yellow twine and added a sentiment using Spellbinders Lacey Pennants. The panel is using Spellbinders Labels Eight.

Some Blog Hopping Details
PRIZES: One lucky winner will receive a $25 Clear Dollar Stamps gift certificate for digital images!
WINNERS: Winner will be randomly chosen from comments received on a DT member's blog. The winner will be announced on the CDS blog Thursday, October 20th.
Your next hopping spot is over to Sarah's Blog.
Don't forget about my Blog Candy and Dirty Little Secret. Have a wonderful day!

The Dirty little Secret is OUT! SQUEEELL.....

Oh my goodness! I am the new Dirty Dozen girl! Squeeel..... Talk about keeping the hardest secret ever. And I am horrible at keeping secrets but I did this one. So overwhelming and honoring all at the same time. I have wanted and dreamed about being on the Dirty Dozen ever since joining SCS. This is so totally COOL! I am completely over joyed right now to finally share my news. The last month has been such a joy and so fun. The girls are wonderful and encouraging in every way. My Dirty Sister is Lisa and I am thrilled to work along side her not only on the CDS Design team but now the Dirt Pile! WHOHOOO!!! I sure hope that I do the Dirt Pile justice. Thanks Lydia for this awesome journey!

So excited that I have this fabulous Blog Candy up for grabs. This includes some NEW RELEASES from Flourishes and Clear Dollar Stamps. I will list out the details below. This Blog Candy will run through Friday October 21st at 8pm Central time. I will announce the winner on Saturday October 22nd! Good Luck!
Blog Candy includes: Flourishes Stamps Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Christmas Candles, Warm Winter Wishes, Christmas Borders. Clear Dollar Stamps Poinsettia Joy, Antique Ornaments, Little Bethlehem. Assortment of ribbons and trims, Echo Park dp Holly Jolly Christmas, BoBunny dp Blitzen, Spellbinders Holiday Tags, Pearls, flourishes jewels.

Christmas Candles

Today is the last of our October Sneak Peeks with Christmas Candles. I went with a simple and fairly flat rate mailer for this one. The gorgeous red scalloped lace trim was still on my table and well I just love it so I used it again. hee hee A little bit of white lace and pearls to finish this off. The sparkle on the leaves is not showing but there is a hint of it on them.


The Design team has some beautiful creations for you today:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Dawn
Danielle
Barbara
Tammy
Sharon
Important New Release information you might be interested in:
**Flourishes is decking the halls to get ready for the Christmas season and we’ve stocked the shelves with a brand new 2011 Flourishes Christmas Catalog. This 20 page full color catalog offers a look at not only every Flourishes Christmas set that is available, but a handful of tutorials showcasing projects that are perfect for the Christmas gift giving season. It even offers a sneak peek at some of our Christmas sets for November! At just $6, this catalog is a must have!
**We have the Mystery Blogger for the day by commenting on each of the DT blogs.
**Your chance to win our entire release is by playing in our Heavy Metal Challenge found HERE.
**Don't forget the New Release Bundle that includes all 4 new sets at a 10% discount for a short time.
**Our new 1,2,3 Create Kit is available called Sunshine.

Season of Celebrations Ornament

Don't you just love that graphic above? These kids are darling and the set today is A Season of Celebrations. Fun project today as I embossed the kids sledding image in white powder. I then cut out the shape using Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornaments to make a tag or ornament for the tree. Haven't decided which idea I like best as I love how this turned out. Now I don't want to use it as a tag and give it away, I want it for the tree. ha ha The top is tied off with a button using some silver cord and red solid wrinkled ribbon. Stamped the sentiment on Spellbinders Fancy Tags One with a few jewels on each end.

The Design team has some beautiful creations for you today:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Dawn
Danielle
Barbara
Tammy
Sharon
Some New Release Details you might be interested in:
**We have the Mystery Blogger for the day by commenting on each of the DT blogs.
**Your chance to win our entire release is by playing in our Heavy Metal Challenge found HERE.
**Don't forget the New Release Bundle that includes all 4 new sets at a discount for a short time.
**Check back at 12 Noon Central for the noon challenge and your chance at winning the set of the day!
See you back here tomorrow for more sneaks and goodies!

Noon Challenge Monograms

Flourishes Noon Challenge today is our Customer Suggestions Challenge.
Last release, we challenged players to come up with a fun and unique twist on a challenge, suggest it and they could win a chance to be in the Flourishes spotlight – not only would their challenge be picked, they would be the superstar of the day ushering the challenge as well! Our first challenge hostess this noon is the talented Suzanne Czosek! We loved her challenge to use your own name in a creative way!
How to Play: Simply use your monogram as the inspiration for your creation! So, if your name starts with an “J” – add jewels! What about “B” –add a bow! How about a “P” – use a punch! Just that simple! Just make sure you share your initials and the things you used on your creation that were name inspired! When you are done, link your creation back up here using our inlinkz widget. You need to do that in order to be in the running. If you upload to SCS, please use the keyword FLLCORW1. You have until Friday, October 14th at 5PM EST to enter! Let’s get that name game started and get creative!

My initials are SLM so I have Silk ribbon, Lace ribbon and using the new set Meet Me Under the Mistletoe for my monogram. My button and twine combo were sitting on my desk from another idea that didn't work out but it worked out perfect for this card. This makes for a flat postage rate mailer this year too! Check out the creations from:
Makiko Jones
Christine Okken
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Suzanne Czosek

Mistletoe tissue box

Welcome to day 2 of Floourishes Christmas release. I am so excited whenever we get to work on the new sets, especially Christmas ones. This new one is called Meet Me Under the Mistletoe. Sorta different for a mistletoe idea but I wanted to make a festive new tissue holder. This tutorial can be found on SCS HERE. they make great gifts and are really simple to make. All the mistletoe is cut out and adhered to the four sides. The sparkle is yet to show up in the photo however they do have sparkle all around the leaves on each one. The designer paper is from My Minds Eye called Lost and Found. Ofcourse who could resist the new Red Scalloped Lace trim for the border. Have you seen the new trim Laces that Flourishes has in stock? Check it out HERE.

The Design team has some beautiful creations for you today:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Dawn
Danielle
Barbara
Tammy
Sharon
Jan Marie

Some New Release Details you might be interested in:
**We have the Mystery Blogger for the day by commenting on each of the DT blogs.
**Your chance to win our entire release is by playing in our Heavy Metal Challenge found HERE.
**Don't forget the New Release Bundle that includes all 4 new sets at a discount for a short time.
**Check back at 12 Noon Central for the noon challenge and your chance at winning the set of the day!
See you back here at noon for more sneaks and goodies!

Flourishes Holiday Sparkle FTTC139

Yes it is that time for Flourishes October Sneak peeks. This week is sure to put you in the Christmas mood and make you feel like a kid again. I combined my card today with the Timeless Tuesday Challenge FTTC139 create or use an ornament. I went with the new release called Holiday Sparkle. I cut out the santa ornament and have him hanging from the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Three that I gut out using my Grand Calibur. Tied the twine off with a button bow combo. I sponged around the tag before I took it off the shape. Added a little bit or sparkle to santa and the tag and voila! The Design team has some beautiful creations for you today:
Beate
Cindy
Heather
Makiko
Rosemary
Silke
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Dawn
Danielle
Barbara
Tammy
Sharon
Jan Marie
Some New Release Details you might be interested in:
**Your chance to win our entire release is by playing in our Heavy Metal Challenge found HERE.
**Don't forget the New Release Bundle that includes all 4 new sets at a discount for a short time.
See you back here tomorrow for more sneaks and goodies!

Swimming for Katie Blog Hop

From October 10-12 some of the best stampers are joining together to support and encourage our friend and fellow stamper, Katie Renz, who is currently battling inoperable gastric cancer. If you're not familiar with her, Katie’s cancer story started just before Christmas last year. This young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant mother of 3 with her infectious smile was suddenly diagnosed with an inoperable cancer, virtually overnight. A few tummy aches and then stage 4 gastric cancer. Her first post about it is here. The idea of “Swimming for Katie” came from her recent post here.
This exclusive stamp used in my sample, designed by Becky Oehlers is available as a clear stamp, as well as a digis or a dig and SVG cut file. 100% of the profits go to Katie's fund to help her and her young family. Her husband Kevin and her three young children need our help and support. In addition to the Keep Swimming Octopus, Marianne Walker and True =D Doodle Designs both also donated digis that are for sale. Direct donations are also being accepted. Information central is HERE.

This is such a darling stamp and an even better reason to purchase it. I added stickles to the crown and the legs. hee hee Simple but cute. Katie should get this in the mail today if I planned it right. Be sure to stop by the other stampers today:
AJ Otto
Beate
Carolyn Mustopa
Dawn Burnworth
Deb Felts
Gretchen Belknap
Heather Jensen
Jen del Muro
Julie Ranae
Kate - i {heart} papers
Kendra Wietstock
Lisa Johnson
Loretta Lock
Lori Tecler
Lynn Mercurio
Marianne Walker
Michele Gross
Stacy aka Twinshappy
Tracy Schultz
Debbie Olson
Cindy Lawrence
Cindy Haffner
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Tammy Hershberger
Danielle Kennedy
Barbara Anders
Makiko Jones
Ashley N Newell
Shannan Teubner
Taylor Usry
Jen Tapler
Jenn Balcer
Jenny Chesnick
Jess Larsen
Jessica Knutsen
Jimmi Mayo
Joan Bardee
Joan Ervin
Julia Aston
Julie Day
Julie Ebersole

Hemmed Prayer

This is my last sneak peek of the October sets for Clear Dollar Stamps. They have one more day of sneaks so don't miss out check the design teams blogs.
Candy
Cassie
Laurie
Linda
Trudy
Barb
Christi
Shell
Lisa
Sarah

This set is called Build a Quilt. Very fun set and interesting if you make quilts. I am not gifted in this area at all and couldn't put together a quilt to save myself. ha ha So I went with one of the sentiment and I faux stitched the border on my card. Yep can't sew either, my mom can and she said she would show me how to put a pattern together. yea right. :0) Check in tomorrow as I am participating in a very special post! See you tomorrow. Have a great day!

CDS Sneak Peeks day 2

Welcome to day 2 of Clear Dollar Stamps Product Parade. Remember all the stamps you see are available on October 11th. This one is called Window Box Wishes. I went with a springy one and used the daisies in the set. I like the CAS feel to this as well. Is this bunny not adorable? Oh he just makes me smile.This is Snow Friends and such a darling set. I added stickles to all the snow flakes and some soft pinks and greys for color.

Next is the set called Christian Friendship. I went simple as pie with this one. These butterflies are using the butterflies die CDS has. Added a few jewels to the center and voila!
Be sure to check out the design teams creations today:
Candy
Cassie
Laurie
Linda
Trudy
Barb
Christi
Shell
Lisa
Sarah

Heavy Metal and Make is Shine challenges

***Clear Dollar Stamps Sneak Peeks below this post***

Welcome to Flourishes Heavy Metal Challenge. This is our pre-release challenge and your chance to win our entire new release coming out next week. We have some fabulous new sets in store for you. Check out the Flourishes Blog for all the details!
I used the single stamp Rejoice and embossed it in silver. The shiny silver cardstock really messes with the camera when I try to photo it. But it looks really cool. This is my Christmas card for Flourishes Noel challenge Shiny like a piece of candy. Added a poinsettia flower and some silver cord to finish it off. Easy Peasy!

Be sure to check out the Design Teams creations in Heavy Metal today:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Dawn
Danielle
Barbara
Tammy
Sharon

Very busy at the Morgan house the last few weeks and time seems to be slipping through my fingers. I am almost ready for soccer to be over and we are at the half way point. EEK! I do have a post everyday for the next 2 weeks. Even bigger EEK! However its all worth it you will come to see. :0) I will be catching up on blogs here shortly I promise. Till then hope you have a wonderful weekend!