LOL, I'm rolling!

That last post was a draft, should not have been pubbed! LOL OMWord, I'm totally cracking up, which believe me, is a good thing today or I would go mad!

What was I considering, a blogation...taking a break from blogging until after the holidays. I'm considering it, thus the draft, not for sure if I am going to or not. But the next couple weeks are FULL, full I tell you, and blogging is another thing to stress about...

Well, now I guess I really need to make up my mind....


Gosh, I'm still bustin' a gut that the draft got pubbed somehow........

V.~

I'm considering

Drum roll, please!

Well, I didn't really pick you, but used Random.org to do the honors. The sentiment above is another sneak peek from the soon to be released Hanna Stamps sentiment set. Font is not to scale. Thanks to Kristi from Hanna Stamps for her generosity! You'll also note the new Hanna Stamps official website is now up and operational!

The winning post is:

stephanie said:

Val,
I visit your blog often and want to say thanks for being such an inspiration!

White meat with cranberry sauce!!! Yummmm...

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

November 23, 2007 10:47 AM,

And, as an unofficial Thanksgiving survey, white meat is preferred over dark meat by my blog readers about 2 to 1, stuffing/dressing is the preferred side dish with sweet potatoes on their tail, Stephanie's favorite side cranberry sauce, comes in 4th.

This was fun to see everyone's likes, preferences, recipes, and traditions! Thanks for playing!

Congrats, Stephanie, email me within 24 hours (you'll find my link if you click the View my complete profile under my mug shot) and send me your snail mail address and permission for me to pass on your address to Kristi so she may mail the soon to be released set your way!

Tex's Winter Playtime

For today's Featured Stamper Challenge, my good friend Beverly Gerard aka TexasGrammy is the stamper of the week! Hi, Tex!

I chose this card:
Baroque Brocade on River
and changed up everything but the layout and the ribbon slide.

The image is a new one about to debut December 7th over at All That Scraps, and is in a cute little set called Winter Playtime. I stamped the image in Palette Burnt Umber and quickly splashed color with reinkers and a watercolor brush, a bit of glitter accents Lulu's jacket.

The image layers are cut using Nestabilities dies: circle and scallop. The card is an A2 card that has been trimmed a bit, corners rounded, and patterned paper adhered to the top panel. The delicious red satin ribbon is wrapped around the card and tied off with a hardware slide. The sparkly embellishments are Sugar Coated Limeade brads, they are uber cool! You can find the patterned paper, satin ribbon, and sparkly brads at All That Scraps.

Stay tuned for a few more hours and the blog candy winner will be announced!

V.~

Supplies: Stamps: Winter Playtime, Reindeer Games © C.C. Designs by All That Scraps, Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, SU! Reinkers: Celery, Caramel, Brocade, Pretty in Pink, Paper: SU! Certainly Celery, Real Red, Neenah Solar White, Baa Baa Black Sheep patterned paper, Accessories: Nestabilities dies, Red satin ribbon, SU! Hardware slide, Sugar Coated brads, SU! 2way glue, SU! Dazzling Diamonds, Watercolor brush, SU! Dimensionals

Saturday's Sneak

To all of you have already participated in the Hanna Stamps blog candy giveaway! There's still one more day to play if you want a chance to win a soon to be released Hanna Stamps sentiment set with over 25 sentiments. Click here: Sunshine and Blog Candy

I'll tell you, I get hungry all over again when I read the replies to your favorite side dishes! Which, truth be told, are my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal.

Happy Saturday!

V.~

On the 3rd day Sneak Peek

I selected this Hanna Stamps sentiment to share from the soon to be released sentiment set because so many are out doing just that today......Charging their Black Friday shopping. Not a tradition we share, either the Black Friday shopping or the Charge part. Our day after varies every year - the past few years it's been a soccer tournament, but not this year. Today is lake fishing for Jay and Brett, Morgan and I are chilling at home.

Remember, participate in the Sunshine and Blog Candy post to have a chance at winning this set courtesy of Kristi and Hanna Stamps.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

V.~

Another Sneak Peek, a Little Card Set, and a Touching video...

Happy Thanksgiving! We are having a quiet morning here and it's so nice! I'm not hosting this year, so there are no last minute preparations or house cleaning that needs to be done. I'm still in my jammies and sipping coffee. My sister, brother, and I take turns hosting turkey day and we also combine with family birthdays - there are 5 of us celebrating today! My mom, dad, sister, brother, and myself. One fell swoop instead of 4 times in one month trying to get everyone together. It works, even though it seems like Christmas!

Anyway, I chose this sentiment from the soon to be released set from Hanna stamps sentiment set because that saying pops out of someones mouth every year at birthday or Christmas...that and, "it looks just like you!" It's kind of a running joke now! Be sure to participate in the blog candy drawing listed in the post below this one for your chance at winning this new set courtesy of Kristi and Hanna Stamps! Or, click this link: Sunshine and Blog Candy

The card set is for my mom. We ordered her gift and it's not here yet, and I can't go empty handed today - she loves and uses my cards, so I try and make a point of giving her a set every now and then. This card set is all the same, but the sentiments differ; happy birthday, thanks, and feel better soon, all sentiments that she will use. The cards are 4.25 square, card stock is SU!, the patterned paper is by WeRMemory Keepers, Ink is Palette Burnt Umber and Color Box Cat's Eye Olive, Die cuts are Nestabilities, Ribbon is SU! Artichoke grosgrain (which should be Olive imo), the flower/leaf images are SU!'s Bodacious Bouquet, the sentiments by A Muse. We'll enclose a copy of the Digital Voice Recorder that is on its way so she'll know what her *real* gift is - all is good!

Click here for a touching Thanksgiving Video that I just found on Cami's blog....

Have an abundant day!

V.~

Sunshine and Blog Candy !

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Today's blog posting is a sneak peek of a new sentiment set coming out very soon from Hanna Stamps. This is just one of the over 25 sentiments that will be in this soon to be released set. I selected this sentiment to preview, well, paper sunshine and all. *grin* FYI: The font size is not to scale, it is smaller irl. In addition to this new set, soon the official Hanna Stamps website will open for business!! Stay tuned for the countdown to the new site and for the release date for this set.

What to do to have a chance at winning a brand new Hanna Stamps set courtesy of Kristi, the owner of Hanna Stamps?

Since we've already done a grateful blog candy posting previously, this one will be more lighthearted.

Please leave me your comment below and tell me your favorite Thanksgiving side dish and are you a dark or white meat lover. Me? Dark meat ( I know it's not the healthy part, but hey, it's once a year!) and my sister's spinach salad are my favorites.

I will randomly select the winner on Sunday evening, that gives you 5 full days to participate.

Rules and such: Just one comment per person, please. Respond to me by email within 24 hours with your snail mail address and permission for me to pass your address to Kristi, and she will mail the winning set from her office. If the winner doesn't email the information by the deadline, a new name will be randomly selected. I guess that covers it.

Jami's Dirty Challenge!

Jami and her challenges, she loves them! She issued a Dirty Challenge to any SCS Dirty Dozen member, current or alumni, who wanted to play and we needed to follow these criteria:

1. Use the Winter Song image by Elzybell (since I don't have any of these stamps, a little envelope was sent to me by Kittie so that I could play. THANKS, Kittie!)
2. There must be Pretty in Pink somewhere on the card.
3. No patterned paper could be used, not a snippet, or anything.
4. Upload creations on November 20th, using keywords DCE1107 over on SCS, and uploading to our blog with a link to the SCS gallery.

Jami's Dirty Challenge Gallery

I received my images a while back, and frankly forgot all about them with all the hub bub around here: soccer tryouts, a tournament, a company holiday party, homework assignments, birthday celebrations, well, I guess life in general kind of took over! So, always one who actually likes to work under pressure, I did it the night before it was *due.* It was a great release, I hadn't stamped in a few days and it felt so good to color and create, and it was wonderful to escape for a spell.

So, the card deets are pretty simple: the base is 5 x 5 Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, and Bashful Blue. The rose and blue panels have snowflakes stamped in Craft White and the edges of the card are dtp'd in white also. The snowflakes are from a set by C.C. Designs called Reindeer Games and are available at All That Scraps. The wasabi strip has been stamped tone on tone with SU!'s Linen background stamp.

The image panel, prestamped on white cardstock by Kittie in a black waterproof ink, was watercolored with lid ink and an aquapainter, a bit of glitter makes the snow, her beanie, and coat sparkle. After coloring the image, I ran it through my Cuttlebug with a Nestabilities circle die, cutting and embossing the edge. The finished image was mounted on Pretty in Pink Nestabilities Petite Scallop with dimensionals. In turn, the completed image layer was mounted to the card with dimensionals. A gingham bow, a couple of light blue brads, and an A Muse sentiment round out the card.

Thanks Jami, for the challenge, and for your friendship and inspiration~

V.~

Supplies: Stamps: Winter's Song by Elzybells , Snowflakes by C.C. Designs, Christmas Magic by A Muse, Ink: Craft White, Versafine Onyx, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel, Pretty in Pink, Blush Blossom, Paper: Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, White, Accessories: Nestabilities dies, Light blue brads, Pink gingham check ribbon, Aquapainter, Dazzling Diamonds, 2 Way Glue, Dimensionals

Way to Go, Morgan!

This is not stamping related but we are so stinkin' proud I had to post this today: Our daughter, Morgan, tried out for the high school soccer team this week. She was selected for the Varsity squad in her freshman year! Her goalkeeper skills are amazing and she really showed her stuff all week long during tryouts.

Way to go, Morgan!

A Trio of Trees

I wanted to stamp today. I tried to stamp today. I cut and tossed alot today. After dinner, the inspiration finally came to me. I checked out Card Positioning Systems to see what they'd posted as a layout for the week and came up with this card using SU!'s cute little set called Merry & Bright. For all you SU! enthusiasts out there, this card is entirely SU! (except the transparency) and is very easy to create. It will in all likelihood be one of the projects at my next Stamp Nite.

I stamped the snowflakes from Merry & Bright in Soft Sky randomly over the 5" x 5" card base before adhering a piece of Wintergreen Designer Paper. The focal image is three trees stamped in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White, and then stamped three more times on assorted Wintergreen scraps. After stamping the snowflakes around the trees in Soft Sky on the Whisper White layer I paper pieced the trees, popping the patterned paper up with dimensionals. Next, the Always Artichoke layer was adhered to the card, partially over the patterned paper. The Priceless flourish was stamped onto a transparency with StazOn Opaque White and adhered to the card using Mini Glue Dots. The Soft Sky ribbon masks the glue dots. The image is then adhered to the card using dimensionals. Two artichoke mini brads complete the card.

I really love how this card came together, I hope you do to!

V.~

All Supplies are Stampin' Up! and are currently available in the Idea Book & Catalog or the Holiday Mini.

Hanna Goes Baby!

It's Hanna release time again! Tomorrow night at midnight a new set called Rain, Rain Come This Way debuts over at Hanna Stamps. Again, I'm using a couple of the accessory stamps that are included in this fun set to make baby cards. Pink for a girl, Blue for a boy - yes stereotypical, but oh so cute!

For the Ducky congrats, the ducks are stamped 3 times on the die cut and embossed circles with Palette Burnt Umber ink, then stamped again on patterned paper. The duck bodies are cut from the patterned paper and paper pieced to the circles. The feet are colored in with an orange Prismacolor pencils, no blending or shading, just simple coloring. The finished circular panels are adhered to the card with dimensionals. For the card base, finished size 3.25" x 6.5", I adhered a scalloped piece of patterned paper to a white base, then wrapped a length of blue grosgrain around the card and knotted it with pumpkin and apricot accents (apricot grosgrain is a chameleon of sorts, changing hues to go with saffron or banana when you need it to!). Congratulations is stamped in pumpkin on the lower right. A fun Congrats card for a new little boy!

The Umbrella Baby is a fun card for a baby shower using the umbrella image from the set. Again, I stamped the umbrella on a die cut and embossed circle using Palette Burnt Umber and paper pieced using 2 different patterned papers. I kept the handle simple stamping, no coloring in. I tried several variations with coloring and wasn't happy with the look, so simple it is. The sentiment is stamped in Palette Burnt Umber as well. The finished image is floated on a celery scallop using dimensional foam. Adhere the distressed dotted patterned paper to card base to create a 5" x 5" card, patterned paper is slightly smaller than the base. A trimmed piece of coordinating paper is added and a length of May Arts striped grosgrain is tied around the card before attaching the image panel with to the card with dimensionals. A couple of celery brads in the upper right complete the card.

Either card will be fun to take to a baby shower for a friend who just told me she's pregnant.



V.~

Supplies: Stamps: Rain, Rain, Come this Way © Hanna Stamps, SU! Hugs and Wishes, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, Pumpkin Pie, Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU! Darling Doodles DP, Loves Me DP (retired), Accessories: Nestabilities dies, SU! Grosgrain Ribbons, May Arts Striped Grosgrain, SU! Celery Mini Brads, Fiskar's Scallop blade (ancient rotary cutter), Dimensionals

TK, Hanna, and Lucky.....

Same layout + different images = 3 different looks. I decided to challenge myself this morning by creating 3 identical layout cards. The previous card uploaded the other day is the layout inspiration, however, sizing has changed from a square card to a standard A2. I used 3 totally different images from the folks who have been so generous in providing me with stamps to create: Thomas Kinkade by Cornish Heritage Farms, Hanna Stamps, and C.C. Designs by All That Scraps. Thanks for the opportunity you have given me!

The top card uses a newly released Thomas Kinkade © by Cornish Heritage Farms stamp called Stonehearth Hutch. The full size image has been cropped into a oval shape, matted on Blue Bayou oval , and matted again with dimensionals on a Sahara Sand scalloped layer. The card base is Always Artichoke, Basic Grey Figgy Puddy, and Sahara Sand. The image has a bit of sparkle on the snow areas that was applied by using 2 way glue and loose fine glitter. The finished panel is mounted to the card with dimensionals. 2 brads, side-tied ribbon, and an SU! sentiment complete the card.

The middle card uses snowflake images from the newly released set called 'Tis the Season by Hanna Stamps. Such a fun set, although I have to admit, I'm hooked on the accessory stamps from this set right now (sorry Kristi!). I just love the snowflakes that she's added in this set. The snowflakes are stamped in Night of Navy, Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue onto an oval panel, matted on a celery oval, and matted again on a navy scallop with dimensionals. The snowflakes are highlighted with a Gelly roll pen and loose glitter. The patterned paper on the white base is one I picked up last year by Chatterbox. Happy Winter by A Muse is stamped in navy, a couple of light blue brads, and length of delicious striped May Arts ribbon finish this card.

The final card, oh, Lucky, you are such a cute little guy! He's also a newly released image from a set called Lucky's Christmas Wish © C.C. Designs by All That Scraps. He's stamped in black ink onto an oval shape, and quickly watercolored with reinkers (Cool Caribbean and Creamy Caramel) and a small watercolor brush. His candy cane is stamped onto a scrap of white, a bit of red marker for the stripes, and is cut out and attached with dimensional foam. A bit of hat glitter finishes the image. Layered on a Real Red oval, and matted onto a Wild Wasabi scallop layer, the image panel is complete. Making Memories Deck the Halls patterned paper on a Soft Sky base, a length of red grosgrain, mini brads, and a greeting from Reindeer Games by C.C. Designs finish out this last card.

All die cuts are made with Nestabilities dies using my Cuttlebug.

Have a wonderful weekend! It's my birthday weekend, no big plans that I know of are in the works, maybe I'll be surprised, who knows?

V.~

Happy Winter~

I have friends who live in the Midwest who've reported snow flurries already! Aye carumba, no complaints here, although I did have to put on a jacket tonight to run Brett to karate lessons.

This card took the long road to completion, I won't go into the boring details, let's just say there were many variations along the way that ended up in the circular file - all having to do with patterned paper. In the end, the only patterned paper is the tree that is paper pieced with a small scrap of an SU! designer paper (no idea what it's called anymore).

The base is textured Not Quite Navy that has been stamped with 3 snowflakes from a set called Reindeer Games, available at All That Scraps. The great thing about these stamps is that they are red rubber mounted on EZ Cling foam (they are also available in wood mount, or just rubber), so I placed all 3 snowflakes on one acrylic block and stamped away instead of having to stamp each snowflake separately; it went so very quickly! I scalloped the NQN bottom and attached the white strip from the back, giving me a perfect space to stamp the sentiment, Happy Winter, also from Reindeer Games. The tree is another image from Lucky's Christmas Wish, a brand new and available tonight set over at All That Scraps. I stamped the tree on the white embossed oval in Palette Burnt Umber, colored the trunk with a Creamy Caramel marker, and paper pieced the tree with designer paper, mounting it over the previously stamped tree with dimensionals. The finished image panel is mounted to a scalloped/embossed celery layer with dimensionals and then attached to the card with more dimensionals.

The ribbon is side tied and 2 celery brads are added in the upper left, and the long road has come to an end, and so has this post. :)

V.~

Supplies: Stamps: Reindeer Games and Lucky's Christmas Wish © C.C. Designs by All That Scraps, Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, SU! Craft White, Paper: SU! Not Quite Navy textured, SU! Certainly Celery, Neenah Solar White, SU! Designer Paper, Accessories: SU! Stampin Write Marker Creamy Caramel, Celery mini brads, Spellbinder Nestabilities oval and scalloped oval dies, May Arts striped ribbon, Scallop blade (Fiskars trimmer), Dimensionals

Meredith wants to know

About coloring with lid ink and coloring with reinkers.

Lid ink and blender pens: An old standby way of coloring that beginning stampers often learn first is using a blender pen and the lid ink. First, there are many blender pens out there, and I've tried several, I prefer the SU! blender pen, not because I'm a psuedo demo, but because it's the best one I've found; the tips stays in shape and it doesn't dry out too fast like some of the other brands out there.

So, Meredith, just squeeze your closed ink pad together, it will force a little puddle of ink onto the lid. Simply dip your blender pen into the lid ink and color away. Clean your blender pen after each color by swiping it gently on scrap paper until it runs clear before moving to a new color.

Reinkers and coloring is one of my favorite ways to paint images, the color is saturated and very easy to manipulate. I squeeze a drop of reinker onto a palette of sorts ( usually the Stamp A Majig Imaging Sheet, but any piece of plastic, acetate or even an inexpensive palette will work) and using a watercolor brush and a small dish of water, paint away, applying color by diluting with water or using full strength, depending on the look you are trying to achieve. For this technique it's best to use a watercolor paper or heavier weight card stock because of the water factor. A thin paper will warp or you might get pilling (is that a word?!) on the image.

For both applications, StazOn, Palette Noir or any other good waterproof black works best.

I hope this helps, Meredith.

Any time I see a question in a comment, I'll try and post my answer for you.

V.~

Be Merry & Dashing~

Sunday. Featured Stamper Day over at Splitcoast. This week Bethie has selected jpmayo as the featured stamper. A refresher for those who aren't aware of the idea behind this challenge: select a card or project for the featured stamper and change at least 2 things to make it your own. I selected this card from her gallery; I changed up the stamps, inks, and papers, but kept to the overall layout adding a couple brads and an oval sentiment. I debated on the ribbon, over the panel, under the panel, and am still not sure about it, but it ended up over the panel.

It's pretty straight forward stamping, so I'll just give the supply list.

Supplies all SU! Stamps: Merry & Bright, Warm Words, Inks: StazOn Timber Brown, Old Olive, Real Read, River Rock, Paper: Old Olive, Real Red, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Dashing DP, Accessories: Olive mini brads, River Rock stitched ribbon, Red gingham check ribbon, Artichoke grosgrain (a better match for olive in my book), Scallop punch, Circle punches, Small oval punch, Distressing tool, 2 way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals

Have a super Sunday!

V.~

Lucky's Christmas Wish

Still playing with Wintergreen Designer Paper and Soft Sky, I guess I need to clean off my area, huh? But I am so liking these colors together!

Meet Lucky. He's part of a soon to be released set from All That Scraps called Lucky's Christmas Wish. I always wanted a white dog with a big ole spot over his eye like that when I was a kid. Instead we had Patches, our black and white beagle terrier mix. I wanted to call him Rascal (like the raccoon in my favorite childhood book) because he had a black mask over both eyes. However, my dad named him Patches. He was such a great dog. But, I digress, back to Lucky. Lucky is one of 5 stamps in this new set, the gift boxes, a tree, and 2 sentiments round out this Little Bit set. Available November 7th, you can find him and many other stamps by C.C. Designs here: All That Scraps

Lucky was stamped in Palette Hybrid Burnt Umber on Neenah Solar White and quickly watercolored with reinkers and a watercolor brush. Nothing fancy, just a quick splash of celery for his hat, and caramel for his eye spot and ears. A bit of Stickles gives his hat and pom pom some sparkle. His feet were masked and I stamped an A Muse oval to give him something to stand on. The packages were stamped on solid and patterned papers, cut out, highlighted with a Gelly Roll pen, and attached to the card with dimensional foam. The sentiment was stamped onto a sky scrap, punched out and attached to the package with a bit of silver cording. The tag itself is up on dimensional foam. Add a sky bow and attach to the card base with dimensional foam. The base is Flannel Plain stamped on Soft Sky and with a swatch of Wintergreen Designer Paper.

Off to clean my desk....*wink*

V. ~

Supplies: Stamps: Lucky's Christmas Wish © C. C. Designs by All That Scraps, SU! Flannel Plaid, A Muse oval, Inks: Palette Burnt Umber, SU! Soft Sky, SU! reinkers: Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel, Paper: SU! Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Neenah Solar White, SU! Wintergreen DP, Accessories: SU! Soft Sky ribbon, Tag punch, Silver cording (retired), Dimensionals, Gelly Roll pen, Stickles

And the *Second Chance* winner is....

Randomly selected from the previous group of grateful comments using Random.org , click the link to see the sequence, is #17

Ashley said...

I'm so grateful for my family, friends and my health. Everything else in life is just material.

I include my cyber-stamping friends in my circle. I've found they are a true inspiration in so many ways.

Take care.

Ashley, please email me your snail mail address and I will get the blog candy light out to you.

V.~

Merry & Bright....

I've an upcoming SU! Workshop for a group of fabulous teachers and district staff from Brett's school. In years past we've met over the course of the year several times to play. This will be the first time we've gotten together since way before the end of school last year. I've gotten away from the home workshop, but this time allows them a little decompression time after a day at school. And they enjoy it so much.

The hostess is my friend and a kindergarten teacher ( she taught both my kids and gave them a great foundation for which to build their school career; she was their teacher first and we've become good friends over time) and she really liked the card from the SU! Holiday Mini that featured the new Holiday Harmony paper, a chipboard star and Tags for All set. However, I own none of those products, so I asked could I use that card as a springboard to create a card using supplies I already own - she agreed and that's how this card was born.

I used 3 coordinated scraps of Wintergreen Designer Paper, the cute little snowman from Merry & Bright, a bit of ribbon and brads and this card came together so fast and simply. I did add a sentiment banner using Be Merry from the set Warm Words. I also dropped the ribbon down so that it sits level with the top of the designer paper scraps, it just feels better to me that way. The image is colored with, are you ready? Blender pen and lid ink - with all the other coloring choices out there, it's been a while since I went back and visited how I first learned to color a line image with ink pads. I forgot just how fast and easy it is to do! After coloring, the snowman is punched, layered on an artichoke circle, and then mounted to the sky scallop with dimensionals. He's got a little dazzling diamonds glitter on his pom-pom. The sentiment is adhered behind the scallop and the completed image is mounted to the card with dimensionals.

So, using the example as a springboard allowed me to quickly create a card that will be perfect for a workshop. Plus, I may have just discovered my Christmas Card this year!

All supplies are SU! Stamps: Merry & Bright, Warm Words, Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Paper: Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Soft Sky, Whisper White, Accessories: Celery Grosgrain, Artichoke mini brads, Scallop punch, Circle punches, Square punch (to create the notched banner), Blender pen, 2 way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals

....And Blog Candy Lite


Holly contacted me early this morning and I was able to send out her blog candy package in today's mail. In her email to me she mentioned that she already owns a Palette Noir Black Hybrid Inkpad and would I consider using it as a *second chance* blog candy prize. What a great idea! It looked so lonely sitting there, so while I had the supplies out for the card above, I created a set of 4 simple mini cards and matching envelopes. Perfect to add to a gift bag in the coming holiday season. Since the ink pad was originally a gift from the wonderful Kristi of Hanna Stamps, I used the star snowflake from her new set 'Tis the Season as the focal point for the mini card. I highlighted the tips with a bit of Stickles. So, it's a little blog candy lite....a second chance for you!

I will be using Random.org in the morning to select another number from the previous comments to the Grateful posting. If your name is the winning *second chance* number, please respond to me via the email link you will find after you click on the View My Complete Profile tab found under my mugshot. I guess the following will apply: you have 24 hours to reply to me with your address or I will have Random.org select another number. Or, if like Holly, you already own the Palette Pad and don't need another one, please let me know.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lulu's Sweet Delights!

If you're like my household, we are all suffering a bit from a sugar hangover today! One too many Almond Joys for me last night, but hey, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't... I feel for the teachers today, all those tired and *hungover* kids at school. My kids always ask if they can take a bit of candy in their lunch as a treat. I always give the same response: No, I don't allow candy in your lunch, but nice try!

So how about a bit of card candy instead, it won't give you a hangover, I promise!

This card is made from a soon to be released C.C. Designs set called Lulu's Sweet Delights. Available on November 7th from All That Scraps, this is one of 2 new sets from a new series called Little Bits. I used the candy cane, gumdrop, and the bon bon images, plus the Sweet Delights sentiment from the set, there is also a Lulu the kitty, a sprig of holly, and a Merry Christmas greeting. A lot of fun in a little bit of a set! I colored the images with Prismacolor pencils and added a little sparkle with glitter. A yummy pink ribbon completes the image panel which is layered on a scalloped circle. The card base is Pretty in Pink. A swatch of Basic Grey Blush patterned paper is matted on chocolate, a length of wide chocolate grosgrain is wrapped around the layer, add 4 pink brads, and mount the whole panel to the pink base with dimensionals. The image and sentiment are adhered to the card with dimensional foam.

Even with a candy hangover, this is a sweet candy card!

V.~

Supplies: Stamps: Lulu's Sweet Delights © C.C. Designs for All That Scraps, Inks: Pallete Hybrid Burnt Umber, Paper: SU! Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Basic Grey Blush, Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, SU! pink mini brads, Linen Thread, 2 way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, Tag corner punch, pink eyelet, Wide chocolate grosgrain, May Arts pink satin ribbon, Nestabilities dies, Distressing tool.