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!

A new little furball...

Let me start by saying that we had NO intention of getting another dog right now! About 3 years ago we lost our little dog named "Baby". She was a little terrier mutt and was a total sweetheart. Ever since Baby died, my husband always keeps his eye out for another little mutt that he knows I would love. We last Friday, he found her. She was at the local shelter. Her name at the shelter was Peco (which we are changing), she is 4 years old, weighs 15 lbs, is housebroken, spayed and doesn't chew on anything. She is total sweetness and super easy little dog. The best part ~ she and Jazz love to play! We are still trying to come up with a good name for her. So far: Rosey, Millie, Peek-a-boo (Peeks for short), Dixie, and Pixie have made the list. BTW ~ we don't name any of our kids or pets very fast. My son Matt was nameless for 2 days! My leading choice right now is Pixie. I'd love to hear your suggestions...

A Christmas Page...

My assignment this month for Lizzie Anne Designs was to use this fun retro-looking Christmas set called Holiday Cheer. This is one of my very favorite pictures of my daughter which I took last year at the holidays. Isn't she just gorgeous?

Supplies Used: Stamps ~ Holiday Cheer by Lizzie Anne Designs; Cardstock ~ Real Red Textured, Green Galore, white; Ink ~ Real Red, Green Galore & Black (SU); Pattern Paper ~ Memory Box Christmas Pack; Other ~ Nestabilities Die Cuts; Velvet Ribbon (unknown); Jewels (K & Co); Circle Scallop punch (SU).

And the winner is....

The winner of my "Thankful" blog candy is.... Bluemoon.

I've written so many thankful comments, trying to differ in each...sooo here
goes...I am thankful for some fun and blog candy !! (wink wink)

Thank you everyone for playing.

Christmas Invitations...

Ahhhhhh... 65 invitations done! Each year I am asked to make invitations for this client's Christmas party. I finally finshed them and got them in the mailthis week. I've done a variety of things over the years for this group, but this year I decided to just do a front-panel post card type invite. I was pretty happy with the result considering I had so many to make. I really don't like mass producing in such large quantities, so I had to make them as easy as possible. I still made too many steps, but they are done and the client was happy ~ so it's all good.

Now I'm off to finish my Christmas cards in mass production ~ 90 of them ~ BLECH! I won't be able to bring myself to mass produce anything until next Christmas!!!!

Supplies Used: All Stampin' Up! Cardstock ~ Purley Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla; Pattern Paper ~ Holiday Harmony DS paper; Stamps ~ Priceless; Ribbon ~ Mellow Moss Taffeta; Eyelets ~ Always Artichoke; Cuttlebug Embossing Folder.

Some Thanksgiving Blog Candy ...

Hmmmm...what's this? Well, it's a little sneak peek of a new sentiment set called "Things Hanna Would Say" coming very soon from Hanna Stamps! There will be over 25 sentiments in this very cool set. Some of the sentiments are great basics while others coordinate with sets that have already been released or will be coming out in the next few months. Each person on the design team has picked a different sentiment for their sneak peek, so check out the other girls on the team if you want to see a few more {everyone is listed on the right}. ALSO, the official Hanna Stamps website will debut very soon!! So stay tuned for that too.

So are you just DYING to find out how you can win this awesome set? Well Kristi, the owner of Hanna Stamps has offered each person on the design team a chance to offer Thankful Blog Candy and she will send one winner from each site the brand new set! How cool is that???? So leave a comment on this post letting me know what you are Thankful for this holiday. I will randomly select the winner on Sunday at 6:00pm (ET).

Here are the Rules: (1) Leave your comment on this post; (2) post your comment before 6:00pm on Sunday, November 25, 2007; (3) only one comment per person; and, (4) you need to 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. If the winner doesn't email the information by the deadline, a new name will be randomly selected.

Chipboard Coaster Calendars...

I'm in full swing with making Christmas gifts right now. I seem to start collecting stuff all year and then try and figure out later what to do with everything. The other day, a friend sent me a link to Erika Martin's blog. As soon as I opened the link, I knew what I would do with my little calendars and chipboard coasters. I had everything in my stash that I needed to complete this cute little project. The little calendars are from the Michael's dollar spot. They came attached to a piece of cardboard along with a note pad. I ripped them apart and used the calendar and the magnet that was on the back of the cardboard and now I have a bunch of note pads that I can do something with as well ~ I still have to figure that part out.

And, some Birthday Tins...

While I was making the Christmas Tins, I decided to get ready for a few birthday girls too. Just so you know, you CANNOT give Christmas stuff to people with December birthdays. Believe me, I know! My birthday is the week after Christmas and I can't even begin to tell you how annoying it is to get birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas paper ~ {I'm sorry, was that my outside voice ~ LOL}. Anyway, all the details are written in my blog post from yesterday (November 19), except that the colors are Green Galore, Only Orange and Pink Passion, all from Stampin' Up!

Christmas Gifts...

These cute little Nugget Tins are a perfect little holiday gift for teachers, bus drivers, mail delivery person, or the piano teacher. I just love how they turned out! You can fit 12 little Hersey Nuggets in each tin (note: Hersey Nuggets fit better than Nestle Treasures). I used the Spooky Sweets set from Papertrey Ink. Nichole Heady is brilliant when it comes to designing stamp sets (among other things I'm sure). She designed a stamp that fits into an Avery Label. So I used the one from my set and then wrapped a label around each little Nugget. BTW, this is NOT a new idea ~ it's been done for years. Then I took odds and ends of coordinating ribbons to tie around the boxes. To finish off the tins, I stamped "Holiday Goodies" from the Lizzie Anne Designs set called Holiday Cheer, and made little round tags for the top of each tin. In all, I made 10 of these Christmas tin. Now I can just grab and go when I need a quick gift!

Supplies Used: Tins ~ Nugget Tins; Ink ~ Real Red, Green Galore, and black; Pattern Paper ~ Doodle Bug Christmas Dots, Real Red Textured Paper, white; Ribbon ~ May Arts & Michael's; Punches ~ SU Scalloped circle & 1 3/8" circle; Other ~ Avery Labels (#5160).

I just had to share this picture...

My son was playing the piano the other day and our kitty, Ally, decided to sit and listen. She just loves when the kids play the piano. I thought this was a cute shot.

I also wanted to thank everyone for all the nice comments about our sweet Kayla. Your words and sentiments were so comforting to us this weekend.

OK ~ back to stamping! I promise I will have some fun stuff to show tomorrow. I've been a busy girl.

Our Sweet Kayla Nichole...

Our hearts are heavy in the Wietstock household today. Yesterday, our 14 1/2 year old Golden Retriever died. She was a wonderful dog that had a long and pampered life. She was our kid trainer and then as she aged, our parent trainer. She knew our kids from the day they were born and was always so gentle with them. Our younger Golden, Jazz, adored her and is a bit lost right now, but I know she will adjust to being the only dog (for the time being). It was her time, but that never really makes it easier when it happens. I know we will all move on because this is part of having a pet and we will always have at least one. Kayla was part of our family and she really touched our hearts. Anyway, I just wanted to share this sweet picture of our Kayla that I took last winter. I'm sure you will see it again on a scrapbook page.

One more Hanna Peek...

Tonight is the night (at midnight) that the new Hanna set goes on sale over at www.hannastamps.com. It should be a super fun release. I'll have some new cards up soon with some of the other images in this set. You have got to see the little worm!

Supplies Used: Stamps ~ Hanna Stamps; Cardstock ~ Bazzill & Crate Paper (Cowgirl); Markers ~ Copic & SU; Ink ~ Black Craft.

More from the new Hanna...

Today Hanna is decked out is a lovely Ruby Red raincoat and boots. While her stylish More Mustard dress and matching umbrella make her look fabulous for dodging those pesky raindrops. Her little red hair bow made out of grosgrain ribbon, completes the coordinating outfit.

I hope you enjoy my newest Hanna creation. She will be available from Hanna Stamps on Friday, November 16th.

Hanna is Singing in the Rain...

Hanna's back and this time she is playing in the rain. So here is a little peek at the new set from Hanna Stamps called Rain, Rain, Come This Way! and it will be available this Friday, November 16th from http://www.hannastamps.com/. You can't really see it in the photo, but I used Stampin' Up's Crystal Effects on the puddle to make it shine.

Supplies Used: Stamps ~ Hanna Stamps; Cardstock ~ SU Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean, White; Markers ~ Copic (#B000, BG45, Y15, Y17, YR23); Pattern Paper ~ Mat Pack from Fancy Pants; Ribbon ~ unknown; Other ~ Crystal Effects.

The last bunch...

Well here are the rest of the pages. The one on top is my favorite ~ it's simple but I just love this photo of Matt exploring on his island. You can see the full story of "Matt's Island" in my July 3rd entry ~ Ketchikan, Alaska

More Calendar Pages...

LOOK AT THAT FACE! I just love that picture of my son hugging the dogs after we took a dog sledding trip in Juneau. It was his 8th birthday and I'm sure it will be a hard one to top!

These are the next 4 pages of my family calendar this year. You can see all details in my post from yesterday.






Tune in tomorrow for the last 4

pages!

Calendar Time...

Each year at Christmas, I make photo calendars for members of our family. It's the perfect gift for grandparents because each month they see a picture of their favorite grandchildred ~ LOL! These calendars have been such a big hit over the years that I think if I ever stop doing them, I will have a rebellion on my hands.

So here are the details ~ I bought an inexpensive calendar program at the local office supply store and I input all the family birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. I made them a custom size of 7 1/2" x 7 1/2" and I print them out on cardstock. Then I use my Rubi-Coil machine and spiral bind them. (You can also take them to the office supply store to have them done for about $2 or so).

I make the base of the scrapbook page 7" x 7" so that once the year is over, it can be removed and slipped inside the 8" x 8" scrapbook that I gave to each grandparent a few years ago. It's great because not only do they have a calendar to enjoy each year, but they also have a scrapbook to enjoy for years to come that show the kids getting older.
This year I decided to use pictures from our Alaska trip last summer. So I got all my pictures printed & started working on my pages. I decided to use up some of my retired Stampin' Up! scrapbook kits because the colors are perfect for my Alaska pictures.

So here is the first installment of pictures - January through April. Stay tuned for May through August tomorrow.