One more scrapped page!

This is the last of my scrapped Christmas photo card pages. This is my friend Melan and her 3 furkids. I scanned the pic and enlarged the bottom three pics and turned them into black and white to add some visual interest. The papers and embellies are all from my stash.

Now I'm moving on! My mother gave me a crap-load of pics of the kids at Christmas that she wants scrapped. So I'll be spending the next year or thirteen working on them! I'll share a few here and there as I go.

A feel better card

Sister Jan's niece is at All Children's Hospital in St Pete. She has CF and has had a pretty rough road this last month. She's on week 5 of being in the hospital. They cannot get her stats up and she keeps getting unexplained blood clots. Really sucks when you're just 13 and have to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas, and probably New Years in a hospital bed. I decided to make her a cheery card to help boost her spirits.

I used CTMH Veranda pp, along with my new Maaatha Stewart Lattice punch. The flower and the drops are more of what was in my goodie tin from Debbie and Evan for my birthday.

CPS challenge

For the last week of the year, Tami challenged us to use any of the 147 sketches at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/. I went almost to the beginning and chose number 8!

I'm working on my Thank You cards for Christmas, so this fills one of those spots. The ASL metals are part of my birthday goodie tin that Debbie and Evan sent that was chock full of all sorts of scrapping/carding goodies. The mask at the bottom was part of my Christmas gift from them. I stayed pretty basic and simple with my color choices beacuse I wanted the ASL metals to take center stage.

Great bargins

Debbie and Evan sent me a Michael's gc as part of my Christmas gift, and of course it was burning a whole in my pocket, so I had to go see what was marked down yesterday! I had looked at the Santa stamp before Christmas, but refused to pay the $15.00 I think it was price. So my patience paid off! I picked it up for just over $3.00!! And I never look at the Maaatha Stewart stuff unless it's on sale because it's marked so high just because it's got her name on it! The Bakers twine was $1.59 (for SIX rolls!) and the punch was $4.79! And I can use both year round. I also scored three boxes of Turtles that happened to jump in my hand and stick like glue as I passed the candy section! They might just as well have jumped onto my hips, cuz that's where they'll end up!

She's still scrappin'!

Two days in a row! This must be a new record.

This is favorite youngest sister Jan and her family. Paper pack is the CTMH Caboodle, which I thought lent itself well to the green background Jan chose for the photo. The flowers at the top are CTMH Fancy Cut Botanicals and the ribbon is from the Sweet Leaf collection.

Everyone have a safe and Merry Christmas. We're off to spend the evening with my side of the family at Jan's and tomorrow the in laws will be here, as usual.

She scraps!

Miracles never cease! I think this is my first scrapped page in a year. My New Years resolution for 2009 was to scrap more. This is my first page of the year. Now you see why I don't make resolutions?!

We got some GREAT Christmas photo cards this year, so you'll be seeing more scrapped pages. This is my friend Evan. I used to say he was my CTMH sister Debbie's son, but now I consider him a friend just as I do her. He is such a handsome young man and I'm proud to call him "Friend."

I used the CTMH winter special Felicity papers for this layout along with the accompanying stamp set. I made another brad with my i-top brad maker. LOVE that I can make my own brads any way I want now!

Treasure Life

Tami challenged us with a circle card this week at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/. So fun!

I pulled out another new CTMH new for Spring stamp set. This one's called A Tweet and is an "A" set, which CTMH has lowered the retail price on, making it a very affordable $7.95. You get 5 clear stamps in this set. The paper pack is Veranda. I cut out the bird and it's pop-dotted, along with the bottom flower for some visual interest. The bird's "feathers", bottom flower and the branch all have Smooch pearlized paint on them for some shimmer. I stamped the sentiment on Twill ribbon.

Perio visit

Had my two month post-op check yesterday.

First, can I just say how much I HATE the taste of latex?! It is still lingering in my mouth, despite brushings.

Overall, he was very pleased. Glad someone is! He said the back three molars have tightened up nicely. They were very loose at the beginning because of the extensive bone loss. He said that is a sign that the new bone is growing. However. The nerves that are giving me such pain/sensitivity issues will be part of the last to be covered by the new bone growth. That did not make me a happy camper. He said I could go back to my regular dentist on the 31st for my cleaning. He is sending them a letter telling them NOT to poke, probe or generally disturb that area because of the bone grafts. I told him there was no worries for them doing anything like that so long as I had breath in my body! I go back to see him in April. At that point, HE will clean them and since we will be at 6 months post-op, he will also probe and see where we stand. What was originally supposed to be a year long, once every four months procedure now looks like it will be closer to two years to complete. Because I am such a slow healer, he does not want to make it impossible for me to eat/chew/drink on both sides of my mouth at the same time. I don't know if that's a good thing or not! He did give me a Rx for a sensitivity toothpaste. It has more "stuff" in it than what you can buy over the counter to ease the sensitivity issues. He said it would take a few days for me to feel the effects of it. So I guess I keep on keepin on. And maybe one morning when I wake up, the pain will be gone. One can only hope!

Tea Pocket Card

I saw something similar on the Hero Arts blog and decided I'd give it a try! I always like to do a little giftie for the ladies at Jan and John's for Christmas. I usually do cello bags of candy, so I decided to mix things up a bit for Christmas! These went together in a snap. I random stamped using the new Cherished Flourishes stamp set, cardstock with Chocolate, Baby Pink, Heavenly Blue and Vineyard Berry. Then I used the blue B&T from the new CTMH Topstitch paper pack along with the floral strip B&T for some contrast. The sentiment is also new, called State of Mind! It is a set of nine different words with the definition of them. Words like Favorite, Happiness, Joyful. I think this will become a "go to" set for me! I left the top edge of the blue B&T loose so that I could slip a couple of tea bags in and I have some pretty simple but nice gifties for the ladies!

Edited to add:

I ordered a new toy! An I Top brad maker. I've been thinking for a long time how cool it would be to be able to make my own brads and naturally someone else came up with the same idea, but acted on it! I love this thing! You use coordinating papers, lace, fabric, whatever you can dream up and make your own brad. So I added a brad to each of the tea pocket cards I made earlier this week. I think this could become a new addiction for me! And yes, the tea bags changed! I've been looking for the new Twinnings Lady Grey tea bags since I saw them advertised in a magazine. My grocery store finally had them in stock, so I bought them to go in the pockets instead. The tea is very nice. Light, with a hint of orange and lemon. I like it very much.

Layers upon layers upon layers...

Tami created a multi-layered sketch at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ this week. So much fun!

Another new CTMH paper pack for Spring! This is the last of the four new paper packs and it's so fresh and pretty! It's called Caboodle and has Buttercup, Crystal Blue, Sorbet and Sweet Leaf. I think this would also would make ideal Easter layouts or cards! The stamp set is called So Sweet and has flowers that can be layered, or like I did, used Staz-On and my waterbrush to make the flowers a softer color. The hummingbird is also a multi-layer stamp. I used Dutch Blue and Crystal Blue for my hummer then added Diamond Stickles to make him shine. It also has a couple of nice sentiments in the stamp set. All of the layers have been sponged using Sweet Leaf. There are three new Tiny Tabs along the side of one of the layers. These have designs and words on them and are so versatile!

This card will be headed out to my Aunt Reen (otherwise known as Groovy!) later today. She had eye surgery yesterday so I thought this would brighten her day.

CardPatterns challenge

I think the thing I love best about the challenges at CardPatterns is that as a general rule, as soon as I see the sketch, I know what I will do with it. This week was no exception!

Since I've got all of these new papers from CTMH just begging for use, I pulled out Topstitch. This is a beautiful paper pack with Baby Pink, Chocolate, Heavenly Blue and Vineyard Berry as the primary colors. I covered some chipboard letters with the blue B&T paper, then sponged the edges in Chocolate ink. Chocolate Rub-ons completed the words. There are new Filigree Charms in Pewter, along with new Soft Suede Pinwheels with buttons for centers on the card. And a new Colonial White Designer Brad in the center.

Like a rock star!

Another sneak peek at upcoming stamps and paper packs from CTMH. This is my favorite of the new papers! It's called You Rock and the stamps set is Star Power. Both of these say "t!m Holtz" to me.

I decided to try something new for the card base. This is an easel card. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the wings are pop-dotted for dimension.

Tweetie Pie

I got a loverly box of new Spring CTMH toyz the other day! I love all of the paper packs and there are quite a few new stamp sets that I am in love with as well. One new set in particular just smacks of t!m Holtz to me so I'm already thinking of how I will be using this set to make my cards for Susan's swap.

This first card for her swap uses the new Veranda paper pack. Lovely greens and yellows in a floral pattern in this paper pack. I think this would be an ideal paper pack for Easter scrapbook pages. In addition, the stamp set is Love Birds. Three different cages in this set, along with 4 different birds and numerous sentiments. In the corner is new Soft Suede Pinwheels. There are 6 of these to a package in three styles and two colors, Bamboo and Blush with Chocolate stitching.

Card purses

I found these adorable Card Purses on Splitcoaststampers News and knew I had to try them. Sister Jan has three nieces who are with us on Christmas, so I always like to give them a little token something. I used CTMH Jingle paper pack along with CTMH Posterboard Alphabet. I used my Nesties to cut the circles. I used Stickles on the inside of the letters for the girls names for the required girly bling! Ribbon and flowers are unknown from my stash. I'll get some nail polish and candies and put in the purses for each girl. And while they are *supposed* to be used for cards, I would think that the possibilities for uses would be endless, so long as the items aren't too big or heavy!

Gift Card Holders

I needed some gift card holders for Christmas. And I can't just put them in a card! What would people think?! Every year it gets harder for me to come up with a new idea to house the gift cards.

This year I pulled out some of my round coasters and using CTMH Jingle paper pack, I covered them and inked all the edges in Juniper ink. Santa is from Magical Season and he was colored using my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. He's got Liquid Applique on his hat and Diamond Stickles on the stars and his beard. The gift stamp is from Jingle Borders.

And on a totally unrelated note, we got 4.5" of rain yesterday! A nice, steady, all day soaking rain. We didn't get enough rain over the summer to bring our totals back to normal, so I was very encouraged to hear that we would be in an El Nino pattern this winter. Basically that means a wetter than normal winter for us. Anything we get that helps bring the water table up to where it shoud be works for me!

CPS challenge

I FINALLY got the last of my Christmas gifts finished up yesterday, so now I can move on! Still bothered by the nerve pain in my mouth. Not a whole lot else to say about that! It is what it is. I'm learning to just deal with it. Not that I've got a whole lot of other options in my arsenal!

Another great sketch at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ this week. And since I've still got the new CTMH promo Felicity pp sitting next to my table, that's where I went! I tried to stay with a monochromatic pallette with this one. I only used three colors of ink; CTMH Autumn Terracotta, Bamboo and Cocoa. The circle is discontinued CTMH Twill Stickstock that I random stamped with one of my Technique Tuesday flourish stamps to try and match the flourish on the background B&T paper.

Bags and Tags

Trying very hard to work thru the mouth pain and get my hand-made Christmas gifts done this week. I need to move on to other things and the only way I can do that is to just work thru the pain. I keep hoping that this morning will be the morning I wake up and the bone has grown enough to cover the exposed nerves. But so far, this morning hasn't come. But you didn't come here to listen to me complain!

I make cards every year to give both of my sisters and mom as well as my hair and nail gals. They look forward to recieving them every year and I enjoy coming up with new and different ideas to make them. I also come up with some sort of "holder" for the cards. This year I decided to buy plain white gift bags and alter them in non-Christmassy papers so that they could re-use them later on in the year. I used some of an old CTMH promo pack called Tickled Pink. Each bag is just slightly different with flowers and colors used.

For my tags this year, I stayed traditional, using CTMH Jingle paper pack. The ribbon is Making Memories (I think!) from a few years ago as is the puffy sentiment on the tag.