Sites of the week

New stamps are coming, new stamps are coming, new stamps are coming! I thought I should warn you, because I know some of you have Christmas cash that you are dying to spend

On January 2nd, Stamp A Sweet Impression/Taylored Expressions is coming out with several new sets and lotsa lotsa {as Ellie would say} goodies to play with. Today the Design Team {<--click to see links to everyone's blogs} is featuring projects using stamps from each of the three calendar sets: Year of Sweets 1, 2 & 3. These sets work with both the perpetual calendar {which I am working with} and also the hanging calendar that will be available on Friday. Both of my calendar pages use stamps from Year Round Sweets 2.

Here is July...

Detail shot of the SPAR-KA-LAYS {even the star is a rhinestone!}…

Here is August…{sentiment from the Year of Sweets Sentiments}…

Detail of the popped up beach ball…

In addition to the stamps and calendars, a new Key Ingredients Kit {which you’ll see a lot of tomorrow and Friday from me}, AWESOME new Choice Cardstock {supah dupah blendable with Copics} and binder boxes with be available. I just now got a binder box from Taylor and will be ordering more. I thought that it was a good idea to begin with, but now I know that they really are great. I love the size! You can store 4 sets in the same area that one SU! set takes up. Storage space is becoming quite a premium in my room, so I certainly appreciate this.

I’ve mentioned already that a new look is coming for me. It’s not going to be up right on the first, but I hope that next Monday will be the reveal day…with lots of goodies, too!!

Hope you all have a SAFE and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It’s been a fun and crazy week! I have been creating away for the upcoming book. I will have more share-able details for you next week…promise! I created MANY projects and can’t wait to see them in print. As a pat on the back, I gave myself a little prezzie…a SLICE! It’s not in my hot lil’ hands, yet, but I promise to share when it is!

I want to thank everyone for their input on what a good amount of AVERAGE posts per week is. When the new year begins I plan to do 4-5 on average. I think that not having to plan on something everyday will take a load off my shoulders. I am getting lots of new stamps in, along with some great product and I look forward to just sittin’ and playin’ after Christmas. It may takes years off my life to have to wait that long, but I just have to face the facts of reality. LOL!!

Well since I have been absent all week, I figured to make this a good {in my humble opinion} ABC Friday. I really like the Stamp A Sweet Impression Treat Tags set and I knew that they would be perfect for what I had in mind for today. For the first project I created a short 2-4-6-8 box with a lid. I covered it with Making Memories FaLaLa paper {LOVE this stuff!} and then attached ribbons, a poinsettia flower, a button and the stamped tag. Oh, I also inked the edges of that yummy paper. I thought that it just needed something and I could bear bringing out the sewing machine for each of those pieces. I’m all about working smarter and not harder…for the most part!

A more detailed shot of the top/tag…

Now before I go on, I must warn you that you might be hungry after this part…and not for anything healthy or remotely good for you. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you!

First, here is the project in it’s entirety. I’ll get to the goodies in a sec. The bag is a small frosted tin tie bag that I got from Papertrey. I think that you may be able to get these in bulk from sites like clearbags.com, as well. The tag on the front was created by die cutting the bracketed square {I really have no idea what that shape is, but this is the term that works for me, k?} in both white and from FaLaLa paper. I trimmed the DP so that there was enough room for the sentiment on the white. For a little added flair, I attached a scalloped edge along the edge of the DP. There are times that I just can’t stand to see a seam in the paper, and this was one of those times. So, I added a very thin strip of retired Cranberry cardstock. The ribbon treatment is pretty much the same as above. I took a piece of cream sheer ribbon and tied 2 bows in it. Then, I took my green ribbon and wrapped it around the center and tied another bow. I topped it off with the poinsettia flower and button with linen thread.

Now for the yummy part! I love chocolate covered pretzels. I love Heath bar…and the fact they you can purchase a bag of crushed Heath bar at Wal-Mart for about the same price as 3 of the candy bars themselves. So…why not put those things together? Yummy, yummy in my tummy CHOCOLATE AND HEATH BAR COVERED PRETZELS.

I really like sweet and salty together. I think Tony would rather smash a brick against his head than endure that combo, but I love it! To make it just a little saltier, I sprinkled sea salt on the wax paper before dipping the pretzels and setting them there to dry. YUM-O!

I just have to share these couple of pictures from Ellie’s tea party last weekend. I just love the one of her feeding T-Rex! Recently Ellie has picked up the term, “probably.” I just think that it’s a hoot to hear her use it in context. I mean, she’s not even 2.5 yet! I asked her if her friends were having fun at the tea party. Her answer, “Yea, probably.” She cracks me up!

Did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Black Friday? I hope you all found some great deals on your shopping adventures! Well, hopefully you have some more time to rest, relax and, of course, STAMP. Here’s the Sketch For You To Try for this week…

Here is my sample using Stamp A Sweet Impression by Taylored Expressions stamps…

Here’s a detail shot. I used Platinum Stickles to dress it up a little, along with some Zva Creative Rhinestones. LOVE these!

Another beauty from Becca Feeken, November’s Designer of the Month…

Check out the samples from a few of my stampin’ friends, Amy R., Amy S., Carole, Shannan and Susan!

Wanna play? I hope so!…really, I do!! Here’s what you should know…
1. ANYONE can play.
2. Have fun with this!
3. When uploading to SCS, use the keyword SFYTT.
4. Post a link to your blog or gallery on this post.

I have known that I was going to do my ABC Friday post with some of the new Stamp A Sweet Impression/Taylored Expressions stamps. Hmmm…what to do, what to do?? Finally I came up with a musical ornament. What is that, you ask? Let me show you…

First, here is a pic of the ornament. I took 5 scallop square Nestabilities dies and scored them about 1/4″ in on each side. I cut the corner pieces off, embellished, glued them together, leaving the bottom open. When it’s hanging on the tree, you won’t be able to see that the bottom has been left open…well, unless you put it at the top of the tree.

Here is a detail shot of what the four sides look like. I used red and brown Prism cardstock from the Christmas Key Ingredients Kit, as well as Papertrey Stamper’s Select White. I colored the image with Copics, cut it out and mounted it on the Swiss Dots embossed panel with dimensional glue dots.

So, how did I make it musical? Well, it started off with a trip to Hobby Lobby to get one of those scrapbook voice recorder thingamajingies. I could not find one, even though I KNOW I saw one there last time I was there {which we all know was not that long ago}. I wanted the one that you can record into because I thought it would be darling to get Ellie to sing into it and that would be a perfect grandparent gifty. Anywhooooo, I asked one of the employees and she lead to me the doll area where I found this Jingle Bells button {for less than $2, I might add}…

I adhered it to the top of the inside of the ornament using 4 dimensional glue dots, 2 stacks of 2 high, to compensate for the ribbon that was pulled through the top panel. Viola…musical ornament.

******

Now I have to give myself a little pat on the back. It’s been one month since I started eating right and working out. I am now down TWELVE pounds! While I am doing cartwheels over that, I know that I still have a ways to go. I met with a trainer and he did all that measuring and fat pinching and assured me that I am still fat. Well, not in so many words, but the numbers and the charts don’t lie! So, I continue this adventure and in another month will hopefully be able to report that I am a total of 20 pounds down.
I’ve had some people ask what I am doing to lose the weight. As of this week, I am counting calories. 1,200 for three days and then 1,500 on the fourth. This is just to keep me on track of my goals. However, I must tell you…Yesterday was the fourth day and we had to go to the airport. Well, Johnny B’s Burgers is right by the airport and I had a DELICIOUS cheeseburger with fries. Next, I am doing cardio 6 days a week. Right now I am doing about 30-35 minutes on the elliptical machine to “warm up” and another 10-15 minutes on the treadmill after my weight training. I do weight training 3-4 days a week. I just hired a trainer to do 5 mini sessions with me. It’s more to show me what I need to do, rather than a coach for me. Although, today was my first day with him and I would love to be able to be coached and put to the limit with a trainer. I did 6 exercises that were core involved. The first 5 weren’t easy, but I didn’t want to curl up in a ball and cry for my mom…the last one was!! I want everyone to TRY this… get into a push up position {palms and toes on the floor, body straight}. Not bad, right? Now “walk” two steps to the right and do a push up. A little harder, huh? Repeat 10 times without resting. OMG!! I have to say that it was awesome, but soooo hard. The only thing that I could do to make it a smidge easier was to do girly push-ups {on your knees, instead of your toes}. Let me know if you try it and tell me what you think!!

Alright, this is getting waaaaay longer than I expected. See you tomorrow with another Sketch For You To Try!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! I know that I have mentioned this before, but I am just throwing it out there again {mostly just as a way to get this post jump started-to be honest}…I am not the biggest fan of Halloween. I don’t have any particular reason why; it’s just never been something that I loved. What’s funny is that can’t remember ever having a bad Halloween. I always had fun costumes. My favorite from when I was young is a Care Bear. I am sure you all recall the plastic costumes with the plastic masks. I don’t know why, but I just loved that one! When I was in middle school, one of my friends and I dressed up as Siamese twin aliens {yes people, seriously!}. Her mom made our costume, which was basically a gigantic jumpsuit so that we could both fit in it. We decorated it with paint pen and sparkly stuff. We then painted our faces and put on antennae. It was a riot. Where am I going with this? I dunno. Anyways, nowadays I am not the biggest fan of all the hoopla that is associated with Halloween. HOWEVER…I do love all things Halloween when it comes to paper crafting! So, that being said, here is my ABC Friday project…

The top…

The bottom…

Frankie detail…

This project all started out with the thought, or should I say question, “What in the world am I going to do for ABC Friday?” Right then I saw my Stamp A Sweet Impression Trick Or Sweet set. Ok, “easy enough, something with candy and this cute image,” I thought. Then I dove through my alterables, and dove and dove… Finally, I found this clear acetate box from www.clearbags.com. I created the top and bottom from Only Orange cardstock that I had run through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder. The black ruffled edges are May Arts ribbon that I attached to the inside of the top and bottom with red line tape. I used the same ribbon on the top to create the loop and bow. As for the main image, I popped lil’ Frankie up on dimensionals and topped him off with a red rhinestone. I filled the box with Lindt chocolates with black wrappers…perfect for this project. It is taking every ounce of will power not to dive into those chocolates. I am doing well on my diet and exercise plan, so I have to just keep thinking “just say no.” So far I am down 7.5 pounds. I love the fact that I now have a scale that measures 1/2 pounds, too!! LOL. Ok, this is getting to be a long post, so I am signing off. See you tomorrow with another Sketch For You To Try along with a brand spankin’ new Designer of the Month.