Happy New Year's Eve...

Have a little toast tonight with some bubbly ~ our Asti is in the fridge! We always celebrate New Year's Eve because it is also my birthday! I've always said that if you have to have a birthday in December, today is the day to have it ~ Everyone celebrates!

I thought I'd share another Hanna creation from the new Valentine set. It will be available on Friday, January 4th over at Hanna Stamps. It's a fun little set with lots of cute accessory stamps that just scream romance!

I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2008!

Chocolates, Hearts and Flowers...

What more could a girl want? Well ... maybe diamonds right? I am SO done with Christmas themed projects! This is the new Hanna set coming out next Friday, January 4th & it was fun to play with. The little chocolates are Cami Patties (an idea from my incredibly talented friend, Cambria Turnbow). I simply used the Stampin' Up! Scallop punch and a few circle punches and attached them to a York Peppermint Patty ~ YUM! Hey, how do you like Hanna's new hair? Don't worry, her long hair will make a return, but it's fun to see her sporting a new look.

Megan's Dontation to Locks of Love

My beautiful daughter gave a priceless donation yesterday to Locks of Love. She has been growing her hair for several years for this purpose and finally decided it was time to cut it. I'm so proud of her. She loves her new hair style {and Daddy didn't even cry when she got it cut}.

A note of thanks...

Music is a big part of who I am. I don't know how to play the an instrument & I can't sing the note of "c" if you ask me for it; but I do love choir and my singing voice is decent. This year for Christmas I really wanted to create something with this beautiful music set from Stampin' Up! There are 3 ladies that came to mind this year that I knew would appreciate something like this: the kids piano teacher, a friend at church who plays piano for our choir & the music teacher at my kids elementary school. They all are incredibly talented and give so much of their talents to teaching others.

I personalized the note cards by running them through the computer and then adding the stamped image. Then I thought the the stick-on labels were a fun idea so they could include their name on their sheet-music. They all loved the gifts & I was so pleased that I could show them my appreciation of their wonderful gift of music.

This picture is from my kids piano recital yesterday. They all played their Christmas songs beautifully with love (and a few nervous jitters). These were their happy faces once it was all over.

Putting it all together...

What a week! It's been totally crazy! It's all been a blur, but I did get a lot done & pretty much all of it was related to Christmas.

You've seen the Nugget tins before, but here they are packaged for teacher gifts with a yummy Coldstone gift card for the kids teachers. And, another one was packaged with a handmade bracelet, a coffee mug and a Starbucks gift card for my friends at work. I had a basket full of these wonderful tins this year & they all came in so handy! This is definately something I will do next year ~ have a basket of handmade goodies available for last minute gifts or fillers.

Wrapping up a little more Christmas...

Just a few more little gift ideas. Since everyone under the sun is out of nugget tins right now, I decided to make a few candy jars. These cute little jars are Ball canning jars and they are perfect for yummy little treats; not to mention they are a breeze to decorate! The silver snowflake stickers by Making Memories are on both the jar and the lid. I found them at my local scrapbook store & there are plenty for more jars.

The Snowman tin is a gift I put together for a friend. She loves coffee and chocolate ~ so that was pretty easy! The cute snowman tin was $3.99 from Target.

Fun Packaging Ideas...

I am totally hooked this year on the color Soft Sky from Stampin' Up! I just love it with snow themed items. I made some more nugget tins (different style from the red/green tins) and then used that color on some Kraft window bags to wrap them up. I added my Christmas card inside the bag (since it matched), a chipboard calendar, and then I stamped snowflakes on the white tissue paper for a finishing touch. It was a fun little gift for a friend. The bags, tins and stamps are all available from Papertrey Ink.

More from Hanna...

I received a fun package in the mail the other day ~ 5 new Hanna Stamps sets to play with. Right now, I can only show you the first two ~ The Perfect Package & Things Hanna Would Say. These are both available starting today over at Hanna Stamps. I love both sets, but the sentiment set is going to be a perfect compliment past and future sets ~ wooohooo!

Supplies Used: Stamps ~ Hanna Stamps (Perfect Package & Things Hanna Would Say); Cardstock ~ Real Red (SU) & MOD (Autumn Leaves); Markers ~ Copic; Brads ~ Stampin' Up!

A little birthday surprise...

One of my best friends came into town last night from Arizona and tomorrow we are going out shopping and lunch to celebrate our birthdays. Having a December birthday, it's one of my huge pet peeves when I get a birthday gift wrapped in Christmas paper. So whenever I do something for someone else's December birthday, I go crazy with spring and summer colors. I made this Little Lady card several months ago & decided to decorate this little Tea Tin to match. It's filled with chocolate and a few other little surprises.

Guess what I did this weekend...

I am now considered by my daughter to be the coolest Mom on the planet! Yes, I took her to see hottest concert on tour. NO, I didn't pay thousands of dollars for the tickets. Megan was totally thrilled to experience her first big concert event. I grew up in the Detroit area so we had a ton of great concerts come to Pine Knob, Joe Lewis Arena & the Silver Dome. However, living in a smaller area in Northern Indiana, the long drive to Indianapolis or Chicago, is usually our only option. What a thrill it was to see her face light up at this event. Thanks Debbie for making this weekend possible!

Last night we celebrated Megan's birthday with her new favorite cake, German Chocolate. WOW ~ where does the time go? She is so grown up!

90 of them...

Finally done! Yes, I am crazy and made NINTY Christmas cards this year. I really don't like making more than 10 of the same card, so this was a huge struggle for me. When I made the prototype last month, I really didn't think about how many steps were involved. That was a big mistake! I think there were over 20 steps for each card, so it took me forever to get them done. OK ~ I'm done complaining about it. I'm done and I'm happy! Here is my earlier the post that shows the outside of the card.

Supplies Used (All supplies are from Stampin' Up!): Stamps ~ Snow Jumbo Wheel, Season of Joy; Paper ~ Soft Sky, Old Olive, Fall Flowers DS paper, Sahara Sand; Ink ~ Soft Sky, Sahara Sand; Punches: Scallop Circle, 3/4" circle, 1 1/4" circle, 1 3/8" circle, small oval circle & large oval; Ribbon ~ Soft Sky; Scissor - Mini Scallop (Fiskers); brads ~ Making Memories & SU; Embossing Plate ~ Cuttlebug.

Some Holiday Cheer...

Here are a few of my Christmas projects for Lizzie Anne Designs. The top set of cards are personalized holiday note cards for my son's teacher. They say "A little Holiday Cheer from Ms. Lynn". I typed the greeting using my computer and then just added the stamp "Holiday Cheer" from the Lizzie Anne set of the same name. They were super quick and easy.

Supplies Used: Stamps ~ Holiday Cheer (Lizzie Anne Designs); Cardstock ~ White (Papertrey Ink), Green Galore, Real Red (SU); Ink: Real Red, Black, Green Galore; Punches/Die Cuts: Scallop Circle (SU), Ovals (Nestabilities); Ribbon ~ SU and other miscellaneous red; Pattern Paper ~ Memory Box; Jewels ~ K&Co.; Oval Punch ~ SU.

Bookworm Bella...

Today's creation was completely inspired by my good friend, Michelle Wooderson ~ maybe I should say completely CASE'd! When I saw this card back in September, I knew I had to have this stamp! You see, I'm the Library Director at our church & I knew this would be perfect for thank you notes to my staff. Thank you Mishie for your wonderful ideas!

Supplies Used: Stamps ~ Stamping Bella (Bookworm), Fontastic B/G, Lizzie Anne Designs (greeting); Cardstock ~ (SU) Really Rust, Old Olive, Soft Sky, River Rock; Pattern Paper ~ SU, Fall Flowers; Ink ~ Black Craft ink, Copic Markers; Cuttlebug flower die.

Holiday Goodies ...

I have had this little recipe box in my stash for so long and finally figured out what I wanted to do with it. I used my Holiday Cheer set from Lizzie Anne Designs to dress it up & now I have a place for all those seasonal recipes we make each year.

One of the recipes I remember the most growing up was Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. My mother would spend hours grating carrots & chopping nuts by hand and then mixing up the cake from scratch. It's a whole lot easier to make this cake now with Mix Masters and food processors ~ that's for sure!!! We used to make small loaves of cake and give them to all our neighbors as a Christmas treat. Those are some wonderful Christmas memories of growing up ~ holidays were special to my mother & she loved to go all out. She's been gone for 3 years today & I'm so glad I have this special memory of her. I've made these cakes on and off since I've been married, but plan on doing it once again this year so I can share them with our friends and neighbors.

I think one of my favorite things about the Christmas season are the traditions we carry on with our children. We've pulled some from our families & we have started some new ones of your own.

Carrot Cake
2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. cooking oil
2 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
2 t. cinnamon
3 c. grated carrots
1 c. chopped pecans
4 eggs
dash of salt

Sift flour once, add soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Sift again & set aside. Mix sugar & oil. Beat 1 minute. Add 1 egg at a time, beating after each. Add carrots, mix well. Add dry ingredients gradually. Add pecans, beat 3 minutes. Pour into 3 (9 in) layer pans. Bake 20 minutes at 350. May also be baked in a 9"x13" pan for 45 min. Spread with Cream Cheese Frosting when cool. Serves 12-15 people.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat together:
1 ~ 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
1 ~ 3 oz. pkg cream cheese
6 c. powdered sugar
1 stick margarine
2 t. vanilla

Can you say YUMMY!!!! This is by far the best Carrot Cake I have ever had!