Wow! It's been along time...

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. I'm definitely changing that tomorrow...

I took some time off for the holidays and then everything got really hectic. December and January have historically been sad times for me. It seems I always have a funeral to attend. But this year was the worst. I went to 6 funerals. After that, I lost my card-making mojo.

But I think I'm back! I made a gift box and a birthday card. My sister used the shaker card technique and made a really cute card for a 3 yr old. I just need to find my cable to move the pics from the camera.

Look for new posts after the weekend!

Amy

Snowflake Christmas cards

Here are a few Christmas cards. They are all basically the same idea, but with different bling. I wanted to use the things I bought on Friday. All of the cards have this really pretty ribbon I got on Friday (should have waited until Sat when they were even cheaper, but what if they were gone? They weren't though). The snowflake is from the Sizzlet Snowflake set #3. The paper is from the Paper Company Baby Boy collection. The acrylic snowflakes are cut out of a string meant for minature Christmas trees.


This one is my favorite. I used a Jelly pen to make the small snowflakes. The die cut snowflake is embellished with Glistening Snow Writer by Deco Art. It's so cool, and could become my new favorite way to add dimensional glitter.





Here's a closer look at the snow writer on the snowflake.







Same design. Used a self-adhesive rhinestone on the snowflake.






This last one uses acrylic snowflakes. They originally were stringed together to be used on miniature christmas trees. I cut them apart to use on the card.

Cards using Bubble Slot corner punch

I really like this new punch from EK Success. It's going to be great for adding photos to the scrapbook. It has a lot of potential for creating fun borders too. However, these first 2 cards came out horrible.



I love the circle with the border. I removed the corner guide, and punched across the bottom of the sheet. Then I cut them out, and adhered them to the circle. They even matched up pretty well, and it looks like they are continuous. However, the execution of the card leaves alot to be desired. I was just playing around, so didn't give much thought to the colors. And I didn't have anything to put in the circle. All my stamps were too small or too big. Definitely not a well planned card.



The upper corners are fake. Again, I removed the guide and punched across the bottom of the sheet, then cut them out. The bubbles were carefully glued in place to look like corner slots. Here I really like the colors of the paper - it's a lavendar with a putty colored paper (names unknown - they've been in my stash for years). But I was losing precious daylight to take pictures, so I panicked and threw something on it.

Black Friday Buys!

Yep, I'm one of them. I love the thrill of chasing a bargain. Cold, lack of sleep, only makes it better. This year I went through the ads on Thursday, wrote up my list, and layed out an agressive game plan all by 10 am in the morning. I had to analyze the sales, and determine which items would go really fast, and which ones would probably still be there later in the morning. It was tough, and I really took some risks. Overall, the shopping day was a great success!

For the first time, I went to the KB Toys sale. Normally the stores open at 5am and people have been lined up since 2am. This year I went to a store that opened at midnight. I expected the line to be huge and to miss out on some items. To my surprise, there were less than 100 people in line. The store is small, so it was still packed, but I got everything I wanted and was able to leave by 1am.

Then I napped for a few hours before waking up around 4am to leave for Target. Target doesn't open until 6am, so it was a pretty long wait. (I should have gone to Mervyns, because it was right next door, and I had my sister to hold the spot in line. I didn't see anything in the ad, but it would have been warmer than outside.) Target was so great! They came around and passed out goody bags. I got a re-usable shopping bag, a numbered collectible plush animal, cookies, granola bar, and gound coffee. Inside it was a madhouse. I wanted some items from Electronics, and they made us wait in another line. Actually that was good, there was less chaos in electronics. But the store is not set up for a big line of people and their shopping carts. While I stood in line, my sister did all the other shopping. We got some good deals on DVD's, clothing, an external harddrive, flash drives, video games. It felt like forever, but it only took us an hour at Target.

Next on the list was Best Buy. All the movies were really picked over, but we found the titles we were looking for. There were still plenty of inexpensive DVD players, MP3 players, and cameras.

Then it was off to JoAnn's. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few things on sale that weren't mentioned in the ad (unless I was missing a page). Sixxix die cuts were 40% off, add 20% on top of that, and you pay only 48% of original price. What a deal! Paper was on sale, so into my cart went the DCWV Ultimate Christmas slab, and the Extreme everyday paper stack. I used the 50% coupon on an item, add 20% on top of that, and I paid 40% of the original price. So many things were on sale, it was hard to find something to use the 50% coupon on. I settled on a bubble slot corner punch by EK Success. I'll have cards to show soon. Plastic storage containers and stickers were 50% off too!! I had a very full cart.

I crossed 3 people off my gift list, and I just need to work on 4 more.

More Butterfly cards

Here are a few more butterfly cards. They are all variations of previous cards. I made most of them with ribbon bought (except the burgandy) this week. The flourish is from Target -$1.99 acrylic stamp. The ink is from ColorBox. There were some great deals yesterday, but overall I though last year was better.


There's no sentiment, so these cards are ready to be used for almost any occasion. I've got quite a few more butterflies to use for cards. I might box up a set of 8 w/envelopes for Christmas gifts. Just a thought right now...

First day of Christmas Shopping

I just finished my first day of Christmas shopping- very unsuccessful. ToysRus had a sale on Wii games, buy 2 get 1 free. They all had to be purchased on the same receipt. Do you know how hard it was to get all 3 games at the same store? I drove 63 miles, and visited 3 stores. I have 2 of the 3 games I set out to buy. I wanted to get Legos Star Wars, Simpsons, and Brain Academy. Instead I have Harry Potter, Simpsons, and Brain Academy.

Next time I'll try to read the ads on Sunday. But I was working this Sunday! I didn't finish reading the Sunday paper until Monday night. And this is Tuesday morning, and I can't find all the games. Though the store people were nice and very polite, they all said I should have been here on Sunday for the best selection. And I agree. Next time I'll read the ads first. I learned my lesson.

Black Friday - While I was at the first store, I say a stocker with an ad. I think it was for Friday. I asked and he avoided my questions, while remaining polite. Do I dare stand in line this Friday? ToysRus has one of the longest lines...I'd have to be up pretty early. I've been thinking about starting my Black Friday shopping at the Camarillo Outlet Center; some stores open at midnight with really good deals. And then just staying up for the rest of the night standing in line for another store.

It's really hard to decide where to go on Black Friday. In the past I've gone to Michaels, JoAnns, Circuit City, Best Buy. I can't wait to see the ads this year, and plan my all day, sleep deprived, shopping spree.

Side note: Met a cute guy while at the last Toys R Us. He's polite, and funny - always good if you're trying to return an item. It worked on the Customer Service people. They called two managers, but he finally was able to exchange his item. He had a badge in his wallet, so he's a firefighter or a policeman. We talked for a bit, but I don't have a name. What was the deal breaker? He's exchanging a PSP3 game. I'm buying Wii games. We have incompatible gaming platforms. Sigh!

I have married friend who has a theory that you should marry young. Then you and your husband will grow together and form ideas and standards . If she had waited until now, she would have all these standards to judge people by. She thinks it would be harder to meet someone who fit all the criteria. I think she's right. I mean I just rejected someone based on their game system. And I knew what I was doing, yet I still did it. Crazy.

Challeng card for Expressively Me

This is my card for Jen's challenge on her blog expressivelyme.blogspot.com. (I really need to learn how to hyperlink websites) I really like her website. She has really great tutorials and lots of card designs.

I made the card with acrylic paint and foam stamps from Michaels. I wrote the sentiment with a brush pen used for writing kanji.

The card was another contender for my co-worker's babies 1st birthday. I was going for the three basic colors, but the blue was too light. And the white behind the lamb didn't show up well. If I repeat this card I'll use a darker blue behind the seal and red behind the lamb.

I ended up liking this card the best, so it's the one she got.