Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Bah Humbug!

Celebrating both Chanukah and Christmas with the attendant family gatherings sure took away from my crafting time. I do love the holidays, most of the preparation, the gift-buying, the wrapping, the gift-giving, and the family time, so I'm not really complaining so much as lamenting the lessening of my "me" time spent creating. I have managed to sneak in a few cards and projects here and there and will get them scanned and uploaded soon.

I got some stamps from The Cat's Pajamas and Bombshell Stamps for Chanukah and can't wait to get some time to ink up those babies! Thankfully, things should slow down soon! Yahoo!

Meanwhile, you should check out the Twelve Days of Christmas Sale at Odd Bird Planet. It's a progressive sale (storewide--including the adorable new release stamps) with another percent discount added for each of the twelve days. Plus, there are additional items on sale. Get the info at Johanna's blog!

If you're celebrating this evening, stay safe while being festive!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Happy Chanukah!


We braved the weather and traffic to celebrate the first night of Chanukah with my family. It was a wonderful and joyful get together. My mom loved her "2009 Outings" mini-book filled with coupons for days out with my sister and me. Everyone else liked their gifts, but the true gift was togetherness.

This card had been picked up by a magazine, but didn't appear. I think it's because all the other Chanukah cards in the issue (including one of mine) had the alternate "Hanukkah" spelling. Then again, they might not have liked the card in person. For what it's worth, Odd Bird Planet has a stamp that spells Chanukah the way that I do! Here's a link for you.

Anyways, I used Odd Bird Planet's Birdie Menorah on the card. I did NOT use patterned paper which is very rare for me.

Thanks for visiting today.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Whoooo's waiting for Santa?


I've been insanely busy with a gazillion things to do and absolutely no energy or holiday spirit to do them. The freshman returned on Tuesday evening and we did some shopping on Thursday. Then I was prepared to finish up most of it yesterday and it snowed all day long. People in New Jersey can't drive in the snow, so I stayed safely indoors.

I also had been postponing the creation of a gift for my mother and then discovered (to my stunned disbelief) that I did not have the correct size of a key element (binding coil) and a title for said gift. Eek! So, I'm going with "Plan B", copping out on the title, and then ordering the correct gizmo to fix it at a later date. You'd think at my age that I would have learned that procrastination isn't a good idea. *sigh*

I just spent most of the day doing the stuff I would have done yesterday: running the errands, doing more holiday shopping, and the stupidmarket shopping for a family party tomorrow. I was going to make crudités and dip and a fruit platter for the party. I just found out that we are, indeed, going to get the second storm, so we will probably end up cancelling our trip and I'll end up with a ton of fruit I can't eat (silly diet). But, on the plus side, I get more time to finish that gift properly (if mail order works in a timely fashion) and I now have 98% of my holiday shopping done (though not wrapped). Every cloud does have a silver lining though I'd much prefer that the cloud brought rain rather than snow.

Hee. Enough blather. The stamps used on this card are Kelly's Owl in a Hole Big and Kelly's Tree Trunk Pattern (imho makes awesome water too). The Santa hat is a rub-on from QuicKutz with some added sparkly glitter. It shows up better irl. Coloring was done with Copic Markers and the patterned paper is from the Holly Jolly collection by Flair Designs. I know that's a big shockaroo.

Thanks for visiting today.

Monday, December 15, 2008

I can't see the Santa for the trees!


Here's another card using Flair's Holly Jolly Christmas patterned paper with OBP stamps. I do love how they go together.

The stamps used are Kelly's Tree Gnome and Kelly's Ragdoll Trees.

Images were colored with Copic Markers, Spica Pens, and Stickles.

Thanks for visiting!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Don't use your fireplace on 12/24!


You wouldn't want to set Santa on fire, would you?

Here I used Kelly's Stitched Gnome and Cathrine's Gnome Home to create a holiday card. I also used "Yo Ho Ho!", but deleted the "Yo" and added another "Ho"! *snicker*

I added a bit of fluff to the gnome's hat and added glittery snow and embossed ice to the house to make the scene more wintry. I don't know if you can see the icicles, but they are there.

The images were colored with Copic Markers and I added glitter with Stickles, Prisma Glitter, and holographic embossing powder. The patterned paper is by Flair from their Holly Jolly collection.

If you like the OBP gnomes, there will be some seriously cute ones coming soon. Check out the blogs of the other OBP DT members for "Sneak Peeks". I'll be creating some cards using them soon too, so check back here as well!

Thanks for visiting today!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Bargains Galore at the OBP Store!


Not only is this super-cute gnome part of the December Special Deal bundle of stamps and a great deal at 25% off retail, there are now other bundles & baskets on sale.

Johanna put together holiday-themed bundles of unmounted stamps, patterned paper, cardstock, and other goodies and then discounted them by 40-50%. She also took a bunch of related wood-mounted stamps, put those into baskets together with cards and other goodies and discounted those by 25%. Click HERE to check 'em out!

You'd better hurry though since those holiday-themed bundles and baskets are in very short supply! Don't you think they'd make great gifts for you from you with love? I do!

Thanks for visiting today!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Jingle Bell Rock!


Even rockers celebrate the holidays! Who could forget Jimi's rendition of "Little Drummer Boy" or David Bowie's duet with Bing Crosby?

Here Brody No Drum Left & Brody No Drum Right lay down the beat for "Jingle Bell Rock"! Rock on dudes!

The Brodies and sentiment were colored with Prismacolor markers. The paper is from the Holly Jolly collection by Flair Designs, which I've obviously hoarded.

Thanks for visiting today!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Did you gnome?


There are more Odd Bird Planet Gnomes that will be released soon. Several of them are perfect for the holidays. I gnome you'll want all of them. I gnome that I do.

This card features Kelly's Gnome with Birds Left with Cathrine's Mushroom Scene. I turned the gnome into Santa using a bit of stuff that puffs when you heat set it. The entire scene is embossed and is glittery. I added additional glitter to look like snow. The patterned paper and sticker are from Flair Designs' Holly Jolly collection. Love that.

Thanks for visiting today!

Friday, December 5, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...


I have oodles of Christmas cards to share and am still making more! I love Christmas, though I don't really celebrate the holiday!

Anyways, here's Priscilla Cane Cat and "Meowy Christmas" with Holly Jolly stickers and patterned paper by Flair Designs.

Don't you like how the "Ho! Ho! Ho!" looks like "Oh! Oh! Oh!" upside down?

Thanks for visiting!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

My 10X Rule or Yes - Another Squirrel Card!


I have a rule that when I buy new stamps, punches, or dies that I must plan to use them at least ten times to assuage any guilt. Do you have any rules like that?

Anyways, this card features the acorn stamp, paper, vintage clip art, felt, and dew drops from the red version of the Squirrels, Limited Edition kit. Sadly, my scanner didn't like the dew drops so they barely show. You also can't see the Distress Stickles (also new) on the flowers on the top and bottom edges or the lovely texture from the felt. Silly scanner!

Thanks for visiting today!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

OBP's December's Special Deal!


The "Special Deal" is truly special this month as it features two (2) BRAND NEW stamps that I "gnome" you'll love. As always, the bundle is discounted 25% off of retail and available only for the month of December.

December's Special Deal includes:
Gnome on Branch Right
Tiny Bird Right
Fairytale Birdhouse
"Thanks a Birdie Bunch"

Here's a link so that you can get one for yourself because after all, you gnome you'll want it! *grin*

Thanks for visiting today!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Nuts about squirrels!


I'm nuts about the squirrel stamps from the Squirrels, Limited Edition Kit from Odd Bird Planet!

This card features the tree-hugging squirrel, who likely has a fear of heights. It has one of the nutty sentiments from the kit. The patterned paper and ribbon also came with red version of the kit. Sweet!

I stamped the squirrel and the sentiment on patterned paper
and colored them with my Copics! I cut out the squirrel/tree image using my new Fiskar's Finger-tip Exacto thingy, which was recommended by Laura. Thanks Laura! I also used 1/16" eyelets. Yahoo. Two down, 539,003 to go!

There will be more squirrel cards to come, but I need to get crack-a-lackin' on those holiday cards too.

*Irony alert* -- the cute kitty on the right sometimes has an advertisement attached. They seem to run in rotation. But since I started posting more squirrel cards, the advertisement is for a gizmo to keep squirrels away from your bird-feeders. Hah!

Thanks for visiting!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Thanks!


It's raining acorns and the squirrel is happy!

The squirrel and the acorn are from the unmounted rubber sheet included in the Squirrels, Limited Edition kit. They were stamped on sky paper by Cosmo Cricket and colored with Prismacolor markers.

My inspiration was watching the squirrels in my yard combined with the song "Hallelujah! It's raining men!"

Yeah. My mind can be an interesting place. *snicker*

Thanks for visiting.